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Chicago Police Release Video of Officer Shooting 13-Year-Old Boy; Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) is Interviewed About the Indianapolis FedEx Facility Mass Shooting and U.S.'s New Sanctions on Russia. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired April 16, 2021 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This all starting at about 11:00 last night. That's when the calls initially came in. The suspect started shooting the minute he got inside this parking lot, got into the parking lot, started shooting, got inside, continued to shoot as well. By the time police arrived at the scene of the FedEx facility, they say he immediately, almost immediately took his own life. One of the eyewitnesses here at the scene, a FedEx employee said he heard the gunshots, briefly saw the shooter, and took cover.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMIAH MILLER, WITNESSED FEDEX SHOOTING: And he was firing in the open. I immediately ducked down and got scared, and my friend's mother, she came in and told us to get inside the car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Again, police say eight dead. We now have an update on the number transported to hospitals. It's now five transported to local hospitals. Initially it was four, now five transported to local hospitals. One in critical condition. But it's also clear that these numbers are going to change, simply because there are a number of walking wounded. People who were either wounded inside or in the parking lot, and took themselves to the hospital rather than being transported by ambulance. So investigators still trying to get a handle on that.

Also, earlier this morning, a family reunification center was set up at a Holiday Inn express not far from where we are right now. A number of FedEx family members were there trying to be reunited with the employees. Apparently some of these employees aren't allowed to have cell phones on the floor of the facility, and so when the shooting broke out, they ran out and, as you can imagine, were unable to reach their loved ones. And so they are working on that.

And we've been in contact with one of the clerks at the hotel calling and texting, going back and forth. One of the clerks there just telling us just a few moments ago that he is now hearing that the employees are going to be heading to the hotel within the next hour, so they'll be able to be reunited with their family members. We did get a statement from Federal Express. I want to read that to

you. It says "We are deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of our team members following the tragic shooting at our FedEx ground facility in Indianapolis. Our most heartfelt sympathies are with all those affected by this senseless act of violence. The safety of our team members is our top priority, and we are fully cooperating with investigating authorities." Again, the FBI has now joined this investigation to help with their efforts. They are working on a motive for this shooting. We are expecting to hear an update in terms of where this investigation stands. That's going to be at 10:30. John, Poppy?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Jason Carroll for us on the scene in Indianapolis. We appreciate the hard work you're doing. Thank you for your reporting.

So we're told President Biden will be briefed on the mass shooting in Indianapolis later this morning. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live at the White House. Jeremy, I'm not quite sure I understand fully what that means. Does this mean he wasn't told overnight or woken up overnight on this? What exactly is going on here?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think it's fair to assume that the president is aware of this situation, but he hasn't yet received that full briefing on everything that took place in Indianapolis yesterday. The White House official telling us this morning that the president will be briefed on the FedEx shooting, but the White House chief of staff Ron Klain, who we should note is an Indiana native, he has already been in touch with the mayor of Indianapolis to discuss the situation on the ground, and the Homeland Security adviser to the president has also been in touch with authorities on the ground.

Look, it is remarkable to see the pace of the shootings in America that are happening now as this country is beginning to return to that pre-pandemic normal. And this is unfortunately a big part of that pre- pandemic normal. It was just a week ago yesterday that President Biden signed a half-dozen executive actions to try and address gun violence in the wake of those shootings in Boulder, Colorado, and Atlanta, Georgia. And once again, another shooting in America. We will see how President Biden chooses to respond to this.

Of course, he has already called on Congress to take action to ban assault weapons, to ban high capacity magazines, and to close those background check loopholes. No actions so far from Capitol Hill. As we know, the political dynamics there very much still firm with Republicans refusing to get on board with many of those measures. We will see whether President Biden chooses to address this with another slate of executive actions. That certainly is something that the White House has been considering as they do anticipate more mass shootings would take place in America.

BERMAN: Jeremy Diamond, I do appreciate your reporting on that. Thanks so much for keeping us posted. Again, President Biden to be fully briefed later this morning on the shooting in Indianapolis. I want to bring in CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem.

She's a former assistant secretary with the Department of Homeland Security. I'm sorry, I did hear the control room before. Do we have new audio? OK. Listen, Juliette, we just got some new sound in of a witness who was on the scene during the mass shooting, so I want to play that and get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:01]

JEREMIAH MILLER, WITNESSED FEDEX SHOOTING: I was outside of the building when this happened. And across from the building is the parking lot. And so I hear three shots after that, and I assumed someone has an engine problem. This is when I hear six shots fired rapidly and then I hear 10 shots. This was when I stand up, and I'm sitting on a bench. And so I stand up. I see a man, a hooded figure. I was unable to see his face in detail. However, the man did have an AR in his hand, and he started shouting, and then he started firing at random directions. But at first, it was at his right. And I thought he saw me, and so I immediately ducked for cover.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, a witness on the scene there, Juliette, explaining what we were told by the deputy chief of investigations, that the shooter got there in the car, began shooting in the parking lot before going inside. We're told he had a rifle. And we're told it didn't last very long, shooting outside in the parking lot, then inside some, but it ended fairly quickly after he got inside and he didn't get very far. What's your takeaway there?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So the information is clear that this was a one to two minute episode with mass casualties and many injured. So we know the pace of the killings, and the person speaking just before said it was two, then six, then 10. That is a very fast weapon that killed people very quickly with barely any time for anyone to respond in any meaningful way. So they were just sort of sitting there. So that's the first thing, is what weapon is used and what was the access issue. You're going to have the second issue, of course, around motivation. But did he know people? Had he worked there? Was he a former employee?

But I want to talk about the victims for a second. We don't know who they are. These are people -- America functioned over COVID because of people who work at places like the Boulder supermarket, the FedEx here in Indiana. These are critical frontline workers whose exposure to COVID also made them exposed to a different kind of pandemic, which is, of course, our gun violence here. Their family members and the focus on family unification is just so necessary now, and we're hearing that that's happening right now. Some people don't know whether their family members are victims, so we need to respect a process that could take -- it's 8:00 a.m. now, could take a couple of hours until we hear who the victims are. So these are people that made America function over the last year and are now dead. POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Juliette, five mass shootings in the last

month. It's been a month to the day of the mass shooting around Georgia that killed eight. Look at this map, and these are going to show you mass shootings across the country recently.

KAYYEM: Right.

HARLOW: What is it like for you, an expert on this, to get woken up -- I assume you get called in the middle of the night by our teams when this happened?

KAYYEM: I do.

HARLOW: How can this be described as anything but an epidemic and a health crisis, a health crisis in America?

KAYYEM: It's an epidemic. So the mass shootings did not end -- did not go away during the pandemic. Our focus, obviously, was on other issues. They tended not have the high-profile-ness, the public nature of the ones we're seeing in Atlanta, in Boulder, and now in Indiana. Those are newsworthy events for a variety of reasons, but because the -- because they are public places. So let's -- so gun violence continued through the pandemic. But we are coming out, there's a lot of mental health issues. We have always had guns and weaponry that is accessible. I've been on with you many times. I get tired of the motivation question only because sometimes we don't know why someone does something, and sometimes it doesn't matter.

The numbers I'm looking at as a Homeland Security person, I just think about risk reduction. I know we're not going to eliminate gun violence in this country tomorrow. But what we can begin to look at in terms of Homeland Security risk reduction is, why are there weapons accessible to so many people that kill so many people quickly? That's the issue. This is uniquely American in this sense, that you can walk into a facility, have 90 seconds, and eight, nine, 10, we don't know how many are dead. That, to me, is why gun violence is our sort of primary Homeland Security issue right now. The motivations matter, but we know that the weaponry -- that the means do, too. It's not just motivation. The means do, too. So that's why I have gotten a lot of 4:00 a.m. phone calls from you guys over the last month.

[08:10:04]

BERMAN: We'd love to be calling you for something else. We appreciate you being with us. Juliette Kayyem, thank you very much.

HARLOW: Thank you, Juliette.

New video just released of a deadly police shooting of a 13-year-old in Chicago. The attorney for his family is with us, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Chicago police releasing body camera footage of an officer fatally shooting 13-year-old Adam Toledo. Police say it shows that less than a second passed from the time that Toledo, they say, was seen holding a handgun to when he was shot and killed by the officer. Our Ryan Young joins us live in Chicago with more on this. Ryan, what do we know this morning?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy, such a tough story when you think about the circumstances here with the 13-year-old who was killed by an officer in this police-involved shooting. We should warn everyone the video is disturbing to watch. But what you see here and what's been released is an officer chasing behind the young man. And that's apparently after a shot spotter recorded about eight gunshots in the area. That's what the officer was responding to.

There is a foot chase, and you hear the commands from the officer to stop running. At some point, the officer made a split-second decision to open fire. And you see him opening fire on the 13-year-old, Adam Toledo, hitting him once in the chest. He did try to render aid.

There's been so many questions about where the gun was at the time of the shooting. And that's been the big question so far throughout the community.

[08:15:04]

We know there's a lack of trust in the community between community members and the police department. The police department for its part has released a video trying to show where the gun was as the officer was giving commands, but, obviously, it's been a tough situation, especially in this city.

They were bracing themselves for large demonstrations last night. That did not happen, but, Poppy, I can tell you, there are plans for tonight for larger demonstrations because people are upset. They are hoping to call into question how the police department handles things but, look, at this point, you have a 13-year-old who has been shot and killed -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Thank you, Ryan Young, in Chicago for us.

And joining me now is Adeena Weiss Ortiz, the Toledo family attorney.

Adeena, thank you for your time this morning.

ADEENA WEISS ORTIZ, ADAM TOLEDO FAMILY ATTORNEY: Thank you for having me.

HARLOW: Again, as Ryan said, we are talking about a 13-year-old, and the last time that Adam's mother Elizabeth saw him was when she put him to bed that night. I don't think any mother can imagine what her pain is like.

What does the family want the world to know about their son right now?

ORTIZ: Well, she last saw her son Sunday evening at 11:00 p.m. when she put him to bed in the room that he shared with his little 11-year- old brother. The next time she saw her son, he was dead.

Adam was a loved little boy. He was involved in sports, involved in his elementary school. He was known as a timid kid. He attended pumpkin patches and amusement parks. And over 200 individuals came to his funeral, when other community members said that this individual had nobody, who was a very much loved child.

HARLOW: Police say that Adam Toledo was holding a handgun at the end of the foot chase with the police officer. And police say that gun was later recovered behind the fence feet from where he was killed.

Officer Stillman is heard in the video yelling stop four times, and I want our viewers to watch this and listen and then I want your response on the other side. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLICE OFFICER: Stop! Stop! Hey! (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(GUNFIRE)

POLICE OFFICER: Shots fired. Shots fired. Get an ambulance over here now. Look at me. Look at me. You all right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: My question to you is, did Adam Toledo have a gun in his hand at any point during that pursuit?

ORTIZ: You saw that video. The whole world has seen that video now. Do you see a gun in his hands?

I don't see a gun in his hands. But let's assume, for the moment, the worst. That he had a gun in his hands. The officer gave him a directive. The officer told him show me your hands.

The child complied. He surrendered. He lifted his hands. They were empty and the child was shot.

HARLOW: Four times is what we hear on the video. I watched it over and over again. The officer yelling stop before Adam stopped.

My question to you is, what the family believes, though, the officer should have done? Remember, police do say that there was gun residue on his hand. They found the gun feet away. And they say that he had a gun in his hand as he was running and as the officer was chasing him and telling him to stop.

What does the family believe the officer should have done then?

ORTIZ: The officer should have given him an opportunity to comply. The officer gave him a directive and the child complied. It's not to give the child a directive and not give him an opportunity to comply. What is the point of that?

HARLOW: Let me get your response to this because this -- after yelling stop four times previously and asking him to comply, this is what the Chicago Police Union president told CNN last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CATANZARA, PRESIDENT, CHICAGO POLICE UNION: We do not have to wait to be shot to respond. The officer had every reason to believe that that offender was turning and pointing the gun at him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The officer, he says, had every reason to believe that the gun that they say was in Adam's hand was about to be turned on the officer. I want to give you a chance to respond to what he just said.

ORTIZ: I believe that individual also said that he had many years of experience. He has been in that same position with an offender who was armed or unarmed. And that he never shot at the alleged offender.

So by virtue of his own statement yesterday, if he was in that same position, he wouldn't have shot at that child.

HARLOW: Can I ask what are the main questions the family has this morning that are still unanswered?

[08:20:02]

ORTIZ: Well, there's an ongoing investigation by three entities. Us as counsel for the Toledo family, Chicago Police Department and COPA, which is the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

They want to know everything that transpired that night. We have bits and pieces of video footage. A lot of it is not clear. A lot of it is at a far distance way. But they want to know the whole picture of what happened that night and also a little bit about the officer and his background.

HARLOW: Adeena Weiss Ortiz, the attorney for the family of Adam Toledo, I appreciate you joining us this morning. Thank you.

ORTIZ: Thank you.

HARLOW: Breaking news, eight people killed overnight at a shooting in a FedEx facility in Indianapolis. We have the latest on that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Breaking news. The FBI assisting Indianapolis police this morning as they investigate a mass shooting. Eight people dead in an attack on a FedEx facility near the Indianapolis airport.

Four injured victims transported by the ambulance to the hospital.

[08:25:01]

Police say the gunman took his own life. Now, this happens 14 years after the Virginia Tech mass shooting that left 32 people dead. Joining us now is Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner.

This is the 14th anniversary of that awful day. But honestly, Senator, the entire calendar is now filled with anniversaries of awful days when it comes to mass shootings in this country.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): You're right, John.

BERMAN: So, your reaction this morning.

WARNER: Well, unfortunately, it appears that we have become immune to these tragedies. The whole notion of elected officials offering thoughts and prayers and doing nothing is actually fairly sickening.

Yesterday, my fellow Virginian, Tim Kaine, and I introduced what we call the Virginia plan. It was six bills. They may not have been everything gun rights groups wanted or gun control groups wanted, but we thought Virginia was a fairly good microcosm of the United States.

We've passed legislation at our state level to do universal background checks to make sure that people who have got mental health issues may not have access to firearms, to make sure we close the boyfriend loophole, to make sure you can only purchase one handgun a month.

So we thought, you know, it took us a long time in Virginia to get this kind of legislation. We put that forward for national consideration.

I know other members of the Senate are still trying to at least revitalize universal background checks. But until and unless we act, these tragedies are going to continue.

Let me be clear. It's not that gun control legislation is going to stop every one of these tragedies, but if we can just stop one or two and prevent a whole series of families from the kind of havoc and pain that they're going through, it would be a step in the right direction.

BERMAN: Senator, you're the chair of the Intelligence Committee in the Senate. Yesterday, President Biden announced a series of new sanctions against Russia for maligned activities which include election interference, which includes the SolarWinds huge hack.

Did these sanctions go far enough in your mind?

There are those saying, look, could have sanctioned the Nord Stream 2 pipeline or entities surrounding that pipeline. That really would have set Russia back. Did these do anything or what do these do to stop them from maligned activities in the future?

WARNER: Well, what Biden's actions were, they were clearly much more than Trump. He was willing to call out Putin, something Donald Trump never did. Donald Trump managed to criticize virtually everybody involved in political activity in the United States and abroad with the exception of Vladimir Putin.

But I've got to think -- I think we need to realize that sanctions alone, we could have gotten even tighter, but sanctions alone are not going to do -- are not going to stop this type of activity. We have to look at ourselves as well.

For example, on misinformation and disinformation. We still have not put any guard rails in place on companies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, where a lot of this misinformation and disinformation is being, frankly, put forward by Russia or more recently amplified by Russia because some of the crazy theories are coming out of Americans.

On the question of the SolarWinds hack, perpetrated by the Russian services -- 18,000 companies were penetrated and the truth is, thank goodness, it was only an espionage attack and not an attack that could have actually shut down our whole economy.

We still have no clear cyber policy. No red lines to our adversaries, Russia, China and others, about where we won't go. And frankly, the fact that someone voluntarily came forward with this information about SolarWinds, we might not still have known if FireEye had not come forward.

We need some level, at least, with critical government infrastructure to have mandatory reporting. So, I applaud Biden for taking steps forward but we also have to take these domestic actions as well.

BERMAN: In the process of making this announcement, we heard from the Treasury Department, the first administration verification that in the 2016 election that the polling data that was given by Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, the two guys in charge of the Trump campaign at that time, basically, they gave polling information to Konstantin Kilimnik, a known Russian intelligence asset, he gave that information to the Russians. He gave that information to the Russians. It's in writing now as part of the sanctions.

You, obviously, were deeply involved with various Senate investigations into this.

What's the significance of that, that direct connection from the Trump campaign to Kilimnik to the Russians? The significance of that?

WARNER: Well, it shows what our bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation showed, that the Russians were intimately involved with the Trump 2016 campaign, whether Trump knowingly or not, but clearly was inviting in outside influence.

And I think one of the things that -- I'm not sure all the viewing audience realizes is, when they said, we kind of suspected that. We knew that.

[08:30:00]