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After 23 Days David Sweat Now in PoliceCustody; First Interview of David Sweat's Mother. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 28, 2015 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL BLANE, FORMER LIEUTENANT, CLINTON CORRECTIONAL CENTER: I couldn't believe it. I was -- I thought -- I didn't think it was real at the beginning.
[19:00:03] JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Because now you're safe, too.
All right Poppy, I'll send it back to you. But as you can see the inmates are probably watching this at the same time and I know in the maximum security facilities I have been here in New York, I've been to Sing Sing recently, they do have television and they can buy their own televisions. And so they are watching this unfold knowing that one of their own was captured and will be going back to a maximum security prison in the state of New York as soon as they probably get out of the hospital, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Jean Casarez, thank you very much.
I do want to let our viewers know that for the first time since David Sweat escaped from prison 23 days ago his mother, his mother Pamela Sweat has spoken, she spoke with local media. We are turning that interview. As soon as I hear we can air it for you, you will see it as we see it for the first time. Stay with us for that.
Also, you see at the bottom of your screen, we are waiting for a press conference from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who is going to be speaking there in upstate New York about what we know. We're still waiting for a number of key questions to be answered. We're still waiting to find out what the condition is of David Sweat. We know he was shot twice running across the field.
What are -- what is the extent of his injuries? Have they been able to ask him any questions? Have they been able to determine whether or not he was with Richard Matt who was shot and killed by police 48 hours ago on Friday evening?
If he was with him, when did the two of them separate? How did he hide out for so long in that camouflage gear?
All of these questions we we're hoping to get some answers from the governor. He will also be joined at this press conference by New York State Trooper, Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico. He will be joining the governor. We are awaiting that press conference.
It is nearly the top of the hour, 7:00 Eastern, CNN Breaking News.
HARLOW: 7:00 Eastern. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York.
Captured, fugitive David Sweat is now in the hands of police. Take a look at this photo obtained exclusively by our Deborah Feyerick. It was taken just moments after Sweat was shot and captured this afternoon by a New York State Trooper.
We have also just learned the name of the officer who shot him. His name is Sergeant Jay Cook. You're looking at a photo of him now. He is with the New York state police.
Any moment, police and New York governor Andrew Cuomo will address the media live in a press conference in Malone, New York just a short distance away. Sweat was being treated inside of a local medical center Alice Hyde Medical Center.
He is on the move right now though he has been taken to Albany a bigger facility there where he can be treated. He has been on the run for 23 days he was taken into police custody just 2 miles from the Canadian border.
And just 30 miles away from the prison where he escaped, he was walking down the road at 3:20 this afternoon raw day light that is when he was stopped, he fled across the field and he was shot twice. But he was taken in to custody alive.
Alexandra Field joins me now live in Constable, New York. Alex what are the authorities on the ground there saying?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well they're still at that field Poppy. They are bringing in there forensic investigators, they've got to do all the processing of that deal before they can clear out of here.
But what we are seeing is just this sort of resounding side relief. They had 1300 law enforcement officers who were involved in this. They had, you know, more than 2,000 tips that were called in leading to various leads which set law enforcement officers on the trail of both Richard Matt and David Sweat. But in the end this was the New York State Police's investigation. And it was a New York State police sergeant who laid eyes on David Sweat in a field just about 2 miles down the road from where I am standing.
We're told by law enforcement sources that David Sweat took off running, we are told that he did not appeared to be armed. But we are told that when he ran he was shot by that officer.
We know now that he was taking into custody. He remains alive. He was taken to a local hospital, then to be transported to in Albany Hospital where they have a level one trauma center.
This is just a collective side of relief though in this community Poppy and in communities all around the North Country. These are people who've been need to live on edge for more than three weeks now, knowing that they had two fugitives hiding out in their woods. There was a trail for investigators to follow. Over the last week a series of breaks in this case, investigators finding several cabins which -- with signs of burglary and then finding evidence that connected those cabins to the fugitives on the lose.
What we saw over the last two days Poppy, since Richard Matt was taken down by a tactical unit, that swopped in via helicopter to take him out was an intense concentration on the area where they found Richard Matt.
Early on you'll remember that they found a second set of tracks near Matt. Investigators hoped that that would lead them to David Sweat. They operated under the assumption from the beginning of this investigation that these two convicted killers where traveling together. They established a 22 mile search area. They comb through it, they did a grid search, they did not give up on the possibility that he remained in the region.
[19:05:02] Today, they find him just south of the Canadian border.
Investigators publically said earlier this week they believe that both man had every intention of crossing that border. How did they get here, how did David Sweat get here on foot, it would certainly seemed there was the trail of cabins connected to the fugitives. And also this vast network of old railroad beds crisscrossing the Adirondack Park, Poppy when you speak to the locals in Constable which we've been doing since we've been on the ground here.
They will tell you that's almost a straight shot if you follow the railroad that from Lake Titus, the area where Richard Matt was found to the spot where David Sweat was shot and apprehended by authorities.
HARLOW: And Alex what we're hearing is that no, I mean luckily no officers were injured, whatsoever in this takedown is that right?
FIELD: Absolutely. And again, we are being told by law enforcement sources here at CNN that David Sweat was not armed. We know that Richard Matt was armed that he had a shotgun that he had taken from one of the cabins that had been burglarized when the tactical unit surrounded him and told to put his hands up he did not, that's why they shot Richard Matt.
Richard Matt, never got a shot off at police officers. Now we learned that David Sweat didn't either.
This was the main priority throughout the course of this very intense manhunt. That the 1300 law enforcement officers on the ground would be safe, would be protected and that those in this community would be as well. And that's why you're hearing just so many people expressing their relief and also their gratitude to law enforcement officers.
We've been seeing this in the weeks that we've been up here Poppy, just a number of local restaurants, hotels putting out food for law enforcement officers doing the things that they can to try and accommodate the people here to keep safe. HARLOW: And Alex, you and your entire team have done an extraordinary job reporting for three week straight in all of these and the law enforcement deserves a lot of credit for all they have done.
Thank you, Alexandra Field.
What you're looking at on your screen live pictures of this press conference just about to begin. It is being held at the Titus Mountain Ski Resort in Malone New York, right up by where David Sweat was captured.
We're going to hearing from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. We are also going to hear from New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico as we wait for this press conference to begin.
A number of questions that everyone wants answers too. The first question obviously a lot of people want answers to is, is David Sweat in a condition to talk, is he telling police anything about how this happened, how he and Richard Matt were able to escape from a maximum security prison 23 days ago.
Let's listen in to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK GOVERNOR: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
CUOMO: Well we are here with good news as I'm sure you've heard already the nightmare is finally over. It took 22 days but we can now confirm as of two days ago, as you know, Mr. Matt is deceased and the other escapee, Mr. Sweat, is in custody. He is in stable condition. And we -- let's give a big round of applause to the men and women of law enforcement for doing a great job.
It has been a long, long time but as you've heard, and the Superintendent will go into further detail, Mr. Sweat was spotted by a New York State Police sergeant. Sergeant Jay Cook. He was approached this afternoon.
The Sergeant recognized Mr. Sweat obviously from his description. He encountered and engaged Mr. Sweat. Mr. Sweat fled. The Trooper gave chase. The Trooper was unable to catch him on foot. At one point, the sergeant decided to discharge his weapon, hitting Mr. Sweat twice in the torso. Mr. Sweat went down, help arrived and Mr. Sweat is now in a hospital in stable condition.
This happened to mile and a half from the Canadian border in the Town of Constable. I had a chance to speak with Sergeant Cook and congratulate him on his great police work. He was alone when this happened. Sergeant Cook happens to be from Troop B, which is this area, so he knew the area very well. But he was still alone and it was a very courageous act.
I said to Sergeant Cook, who has two daughters 16 and 17, I said well, you to go home tonight and tell your daughters that you're a hero. With teenage girls, that will probably last a good 24 hours and then you just you can go back to being a regular dad, as I well know.
This was an extraordinary situation in many ways. The prison at Dannemora is over 100-years-old. This is the first escape in 100 years.
[19:10:05] And if you were writing a movie plot, they would say that this was overdone. You had hacksaws delivered with a -- by a facilitator in a ground-up meat. You had two prisoners who were on the honor block. They hack-sawed through the back of their cell, they got into the catwalks. The catwalks took them into a labyrinth of tunnels where they came across a contractor's job box, large tool box.
One of the prisoners was a burglar, knew how to pick the lock, picked the lock repeatedly. They used those tools then to do the work of breaking the wall, cutting the pipe, cutting the chains and making way to the sewer pipe.
The -- It was an extraordinary circumstance. And the first escape in over 100 years but one escape is one escape too many. We will have the ongoing investigation to find out exactly who was involved. We have two people who have been arrested for facilitation or accomplices in this situation, but the investigation is not over.
Now that we have Mr. Sweat, it gives us the opportunity to ask some more questions and provide more facts on the overall situation. Anyone who we find who was culpable and guilty of cooperating in this escape will be fully prosecuted.
The D.A.'s have done a great job, of both Franklin and Clinton County. And I want to thank them, but we will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. If anyone else who was involved, we will find that. We will also be conducting an investigation into the systems in that prison and how could this happen and how did they have access to the catwalk et cetera.
So there are a lot of questions to be answered and we have already started a full investigation that's being headed by the inspector generals of the State of New York.
But today ends with good news. These were really dangerous, dangerous men, both Matt and Sweat. They were killers. Mr. Matt killed at least two people, Mr. Sweat killed a sheriff's deputy in Broome County in a savage, savage way. So these were dangerous people. But they -- we could not tolerate them being on the loose.
The terrain was very difficult. This prison happens to be located in a heavily forested area, so it was an extraordinarily difficult row to hoe so to speak. And this was an unprecedented coming together of law enforcement on every level. We had local law enforcement; we had federal law enforcement, state assets all working together, hand in glove with gears meshing.
And I would just want to thank the Department of Corrections SORT team, headed by Colonel Bradford, the New York State En-Con Police, headed by Captain Chafia, the Forest Rangers, the FBI - which did a -- an outstanding job. I spoke on the phone to Agent Vale and Agent Tim Dunham who is with us today and I want to thank them. The U.S. Marshals, the Clinton County Sheriff's Office, the Clinton County D.A., the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, Franklin County District Attorney's Office, Plattsburgh Police, Vermont State Police, Governor Peter Shumlin who was extraordinarily cooperative visited the prison, brought Vermont assets to work hand in glove with New York., the DHSES, Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection which did an outstanding job in apprehending Mr. Matt two days ago, Washington County Sheriff's Office and the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal assets.
We want to thank them all very much.
And last but not the least, I want to thank the people of State of New York who were as usual stepped up to the challenge, people in Franklin County, Clinton County they had all sorts of leads, they were on the lookout. Law enforcement did not end here. Every citizen did their job and they did it bravely, and they did it courageously, and they dealt with the increased police presence and the fear, frankly, of having to go three weeks knowing that there were murderers loose in your backyards.
But New Yorkers are tough and they stepped right up. They stepped up to the challenge, they provided help and they stood with us every step of the way. I want to thank the people in Franklin and Clinton County personally for their courage and every law enforcement officer - literally thousands of law enforcement officers were engaged in this. And it is nice when it ends well.
[19:15:18] And we said that we're going to have a celebration at the appropriate time, but that everyone goes home safe and the escapees have been dealt with. You could not have a better ending. We wish it did not happen in the first place, but if you have to have it happen, this is the way you want it to end.
Another round of applause for the men and women of law enforcement.
And now I turn you over to Superintendent Joseph D'Amico who runs the New York State Police Superintendent.
JOSEPH D'AMICO, SUPERINTENDENT NEW YORK STATE POLICE: Thank you governor.
Good afternoon. I'll give you the facts that I know but I just caution that the shooting investigation into the apprehension of David Sweat is on going. So I'll give you whatever I do know though.
About 3:20 today, Sergeant Jay Cook who's assigned to troop B, spent most of his career right here in S.P. Malone, a 21-year veteran, was on patrol.
He was supervising perimeter post up in the area in our continued ground search. As he was driving down the road he spotted a male who is basically jogging up along the side of the road. He approached him. And as he exited the car the male turned to him. He says "Hey, come over here." The male kind of ignored him, called out to him again. At which time the male turned around kind of like, you know, what do you want from me? And he recognized him to be David Sweat. And at that time, Sweat turned and fled on foot with the sergeant in pursuit.
At some point running across a field, he realized that Sweat was going to make it to a tree line and possibly could have disappeared and he fired two shots from his service weapon, his handgun, hitting Sweat twice in the torso. Local EMS team responded and treated Sweat on the scene. He was airlifted to Alice Hyde Hospital and he's in stable condition.
And I would expect that he's going to be moved to one of those trauma centers for further treatment.
We've been in the area, as I told you on Friday. We started up at the northern border near the Canadian border. This event took place about a mile and a half from the Canadian border.
Our concern was that they could have made it to the border and we were pushing southward from the border. And I think that it was effective today being in the right area, where Sweat was. I could only assume he was going for the border that he was that close and we couldn't be happier that we were able to apprehend him and not lose him. It's been a long three weeks.
We had done some investigation of the mad shooting and found it was a camp that we located where we thought maybe they bed down up in the area of route 41 in Malone. And we were able to obtain some DNA off discarded material there that came back to David Sweat.
It was a picnic style pepper shakers. And we believe that possibly these two males were using pepper to throw the scent off for the dogs who tracking them. And we did have difficulty tracking so, you know, it was fairly effective in that respect.
So I just want to echo the words of the governor, thank my law enforcement partners, tremendous effort. You know, I've seen them out here over the last three weeks in the fields, 24 hours a day, in the rain and cold and the swamps and the woods, a tremendous effort by all our partners in law enforcement.
I also want to single out our on scene commander, Major Charles Guest who has been the face of the State Police over the last three weeks, tremendous leader.
He has really done a phenomenal job over the last three weeks leading our ground troops and coordinating with our PCI, our investigator sides. You know, we track down over 2500 leads coming in from the community. We appreciate the partnership that we received from all the community members. It's a team effort. Its law enforcement and the community working together, I think that was effective here.
Again I said it the other day. I appreciate the support that everyone has shown us and the patience that they've had. Hopefully on everybody's life can get back to normal.
But at this time, I guess we'd be willing to take questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Mr. Sweat was captured, well north it seemed of the search area, the heart of it. And I was told that you were hammering that area of the last day or two. So can you tell us what led you to suspect that he might be so far?
[19:20:08] D'AMICO: Well, you know, at the time when we located Matt we were already searching from basically the Canadian border southward. We had moved our deployment sometime around last Thursday. After the burglary we figured we'd go further north and push the event they might go for Canada. This was right in that search area, it was approximately 16 miles north of where Matt was shot and killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Superintendent, was Sweat armed and with what, and are injured within to the extent that he won't be able to speak and talk to the authority, haven't said anything either to the officer that the Sergeant Cook being shot and after since he came in custody.
D'AMICO: Well, his injuries, he was shot twice in the torso and he's considered in stable condition. He hasn't been interviewed by our investigators. Obviously we're looking to interview him, there's a lot of blank spaces between the time they left Dannemora prison three weeks ago and when they were apprehended. And we would like to fill in some of those spaces.
And I'm guessing at some point, you know, we'll be able to do some of that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... was he armed?
D'AMICO: He was not armed at the time he was apprehended though.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Superintendent, can you confirm that -- you saw him had an interaction with him and called in a tip and that led in to the sergeant finding him. Is that how that went down?
D'AMICO: Not today. Today was routine patrol by the sergeant who spotted him on the side of the road and some good heads up police work by the sergeant, very alert. He was by himself supervising perimeter posts as a sergeant. He approached him, he did an excellent job, I think he did a courageous and brave act of policing and as the governor said we've commended him. And I couldn't be prouder of him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Superintendent, how the 22 mile radius lockdown pretty tight yesterday. How did Sweat get so far from that area, is it possible, how did he get up that way?
D'AMICO: You know, you've been around for the last three weeks like we have. The terrain is so dense you can't see five feet in front of you. So I mean if you stayed in the tree line, you know, use something as a guide to -- whether a road or rail bed or anything else, you know, could make your way.
In this case, like I said, if you stayed in the tree line you wouldn't have been able to see him from the road. So it's not impossible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Superintendent, were there standing orders to the 1300 of law enforcement that if Sweat was spotted and he did surrendered to shoot him as supposed to letting him run away.
D'AMICO: No, absolutely no. I mean our intention as law enforcement was to bring him in without having to use force. You know, sometimes as in the case of Matt, you know, where he was armed and presented a threat, sometime force is necessary. It's a dangerous job that our law enforcement officers do.
And in the case today of sweat, I mean if Sweat made the tree line and would be -- you know, would have been gone, you know, who knows what kind of damage. You know, its kind of -- I'm just thankful, three weeks no innocent civilians, no innocent law enforcement were hurt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Superintendent, is there any indication that they were together, close by each other, you know, (inaudible) when was Matt was shot, did they split up at some point?
D'AMICO: Well, obviously, you know, since they escaped there was a time when they were together and there was a time when they split apart. You know, when was it, I couldn't say for sure other than the fact that Sweat's DNA was recovered in the area of that to kind of route 41 burglary.
So, you know, it's to north from there, very possible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right they'll split around with that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you everyone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you all very much.
One more round of applause for our partners who were all here and with the New York State police, thank you.
HARLOW: All right, you have just been watching a live press conference held there in upstate New York with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as the New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico.
The governor shaking the hands of all of the law enforcement officers, so many of whom have worked so hard over the last three weeks to help.
Let me recap for you because a lot of breaking news coming out to this press conference. First what we have learned David Sweat was shot twice in the torso. We are told that he is in stable condition. We are told that he was alone when he was captured this afternoon at 3:20 in the afternoon. He was captured just 1 1/2 miles from the Canadian border.
Again shot in the torso, he is in stable condition. We are also told from the New York State Superintendent of police there that he has not yet been interviewed. He has not yet been interviewed. You're looking at a picture of him obtained by our Deborah Feyerick right after he was shot.
But we are told he is in stable condition. He is being treated at a hospital on his way to a hospital on Albany.
Also what we have learned is that it was Sergeant Cook who the governor just lotted as a hero, who spotted him on a typical routine patrol and was able to identify him and then he was shot twice and taken down.
[19:25:11] We also know, we are told now by police that Sweat was captured 16 miles north of where his follow convict and escapee Richard Matt was shot and killed on Friday late in the afternoon, 16 miles away.
What we have not yet found out, is how long they were together, whether they split up on Friday when Matt was shot or whether they split up a long time ago.
One other thing, fascinating detail that we learned from the Officer Superintendent Joseph D'Amico in that press conference, DNA of Sweat was found in a matted down area in the region. And they found what he described as picnic style pepper shakers that authorities believe were used to throw off the scent of their trail saying that it was effective, very effective. And as you all remember through this the authorities kept saying they were loosing that scent, the blood hounds were loosing the scent trail.
Now it is believed that they used pepper shakers to cover their scent just unbelievable.
One of our producers on the line with me Shimon, are you there?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN PRODUCER: I'm here Poppy.
HARLOW: Shimon, what do you make up all of these? We'll that's pretty -- it's pretty courageous and he sound like the pepper shaker. Then it also shows just how well planned I think Matt and Sweat were for this.
I think investigators have been spending sometime with the jail, talking to jail guards, talking to inmates, talking to staff of the jail. And are learning that perhaps Matt and Sweat were, well prepared for this and had initially thought there has been a lot of talk at the jail about this. Matt and Sweat has spend sometime talking to guards about what life was like outside of the prison, you know, sort of the area where they went hunting.
So, you know, investigators are starting to learn a lot more about how much they went here -- how much when did they planning this for them. And, you know, just how much sort of I don't know, I guess it's a lock of a better words, intelligent, you know, that these two escapees were doing sort of the information gathering that they were doing before they escaped.
HARLOW: Yeah, it is just incredible. Shimon, thank you, stay with me. Deborah Feyerick, I just wanted to get your reaction in, we got to read a quote from a transcript here of what Governor Cuomo said as we turn the sound because I want you to hear this, if you're just joining us just wrapping up the press conference near Governor Andrew Cuomo and the head of the New York State police leading this press conference, talking about some new details about how this capture went down.
He went into detail for the first time, I believe Deborah on sort of getting to this lock box. So let me read this from the governor, talking about Matt and Sweat and how they got out of this prison "They got into the catwalks, taking them to tunnels, where they came across a contractor's job box a large tool box. One of the prisoners was a burglar, he knew how to pick the lock, he picked locks repeatedly. They used those tools then to do the work of breaking the wall, cutting the pipe, cutting the chains and making way to the sewer. It was an extraordinary circumstance. And the first escape in over 100 years, now we know more."
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right well one of the first thing that jumps out to me. First of all, they say one of the prisoners was a burglar, we know that Richard Matt in fact had some expertise at breaking in things.
But also just the sloppiness of the contractor leaving a tool box in the catwalk, a catwalk very well known not only to these two but to all of the prisoners in that facility. That was the first thing that jumped out at me.
The second thing is that when you think of all of the sources that we're brought to bare up in that area, the one who shot him was alone lived in the area for 21 years, New York State police officer sergeant, and he saw David Sweat called out to him, Sweat kept going, called out to him again. Sweat turned around, that's when he recognized him and although there was a short chase it wasn't until David Sweat was running towards that tree line that the officer opened fire.
He shot two times he hit David Sweat both times and still managed not to kill him.
So that in and on itself is remarkable. The fact that David Sweat was wearing this camouflaged gear all right meant that once he got to that tree line that again would've been a game changer. And you have to wonder given the weather, given the conditions of the terrain whether in fact David Sweat took a calculated risk that his chances were better if he simply got on to the road looking like an ordinary hunter and, you know, assuming that he was far up north, far in up north that he won't be spotted. That he won't be seen.
[19:30:00] But that the sergeant was alone and actually was the one who shot and took him down is remarkable that he was only a mile and a half from the Canadian border which would have been another game changer.
We've talked about this game changers a lot. So all of this to me is just -- is it remarkable and one thing that I do want to point out and that also is that the DNA from Matt and Sweat was identified together a week ago.
HARLOW: Yeah.
FEYERICK: So nobody in an indication whether in fact they were still together after that...
HARLOW: Right.
FEYERICK: ... with discovery of the DNA together. Now it could have been that once Richard Matt opened fire at that camper, all right and essentially exposed his position that maybe that's when he either told Sweat to start taking off to run whatever. But at that point.
HARLOW: Right
FEYERICK: You know, it's like sending up a flare. Somebody is going to respond.
HARLOW: Absolutely.
FEYERICK: That's when you have chances of escaping or better apart then they would have been together.
HARLOW: Very quickly I want to get Tom Fuentes former FBI, Assistant Director. Tom, can you just react to the fact that we are now told that it appears that they used pepper shakers to cover up their scent?
THOMAS FUENTES, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Yeah, that sounds a little bit funny to me that the dogs wouldn't then follow the pepper scent but, you know, again we talked about this early on. Some people thought, I think dogs are the greatest think and sometimes they just don't keep the scent and aren't able to track. And, you know, unfortunately this is a situation where it took 1,200 officers in the woods and on patrol, overseeing those officers to actually do it the old fashion way, without the dogs and without the infrared in the helicopters. Both techniques didn't help them as much as just having officers out there and mass being able to see him.
Secondly I think that that officer looking at the heavy jacket that he was wearing that the victim was wearing. I think he was shooting center of mass. I don't think he was able to deliberately, place two shots in the torso that would not be fatal. So, I think that Sweat could just as easily be dead, given that the officers running, the subject is running. Those are very difficult shots, but I give him, hit him twice is actually great shooting in and of itself.
HARLOW: It really is your Governor Andrew Cuomo allowing his efforts, calling Sergeant Cook a hero. You are indeed a hero he said. Tom Fuentes, thank you very much. 7:30, half hour passed 7:00 here. Let's reset for you in this breaking news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
HARLOW: All right. I want to update you on our Breaking News this evening. An escaped, convicted murder, someone who shot and killed the sheriff's deputy, shot him 22 times, David Sweat, has been captured alive in up state New York. New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo just wrapping a press conference where he spoke about the capture. He also revealed many new details about how Sweat and his accomplice Richard Matt escaped.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK GOVERNOR: This was an extraordinary situation in many ways. The prison in Dannemora is over 100 years old. This is the first escape in 100 years. And if you were writing a movie plot, they would say that this was overdone. You had hacksaws delivered with a -- by a facilitator in ground-up meat. You had two prisoners who were on the honor block. They hacksawed through the back of their cell. They got in to the account catwalks.
The catwalks took them into a labyrinth of tunnels where they came across a contractor's job box. Large toolbox. One of the prisoners was a burglar, knew how to pick the lock. Picked the lock repeatedly. They used those tools then to do the work of breaking the wall, cutting the pipe, cutting the chains, and making way through the sewer pipe
The -- it was an extraordinary circumstance. And the first escape in over 100 years. But one escape is one escape too many.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Also want to show you this new video. Brand new video into us of David Sweat being transferred by ambulance to the Albany Medical Center under great, great police guard as you can see. We are also told that he is in stable condition after being shot twice in the torso, learning in this press conference from New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo. He was twice in the torso by a New York State Police Sergeant on regular duty in the middle of the afternoon when he was spotted walking down the street. The Sergeant is this man. Jay Cook.
And he was also spotted and shot just a mile and a half from the Canadian border. Sweat, let's take a look at that picture again, dressed in camouflage. We are told he was not armed. Another remarkable detail we've just learned, police say that he may have been using pepper, just typical pepper. They say picnic style pepper shakers to cover up their scent and they say that is why they believed their blood hound were having such a hard time following the scent trail consistently of these two men.
[19:35:01] We know that David Sweat was in the town of Constable, New York. This is a very rural, rural area. His capture, now brings to an end a three week, long man hunt that has gripped the nation and grip certainly the people that live in that area. As all remember just about 48 hours ago, Friday late afternoon, that is when his accomplice Richard Matt was shot and killed.
For the first time we're hearing from David Sweat's mother, her name Pamela Sweat. Her first interview since her son was captured, watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAMELA SWEAT, DAVID SWEAT'S MOTHER: I felt I felt like a big lift was off my shoulders that he was captured and he is alive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And again talk to me about those feelings when he was captured.
SWEAT: And it's Just a sigh of relief and we started crying because he wasn't killed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you ever afraid that he was going to try to come to this area while he was on the run?
PAMELA SWEAT: Oh, no. My son knows that if he would have came here I would have knocked him out and had them take him to jail by themselves because that's just the way I am. I have always done it to him when he was bad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We spoke a just few weeks ago and you described to me that these problems with David really began at early age. Can you describe to me, I know it was when he was about nine-years-old. Can you describe to me when these problems began and what they were like?
SWEAT: In the beginning, he was 9 years old and his dad brought him a broken fishing pole and tackle box that wasn't new and he got mad, and his dad told him to get down the stairs or he was going to throw him down the stairs. He went in the bedroom and he took his baseball and threw it to the window hoping it would hit his dad, and because it didn't he broke his new TV that he just got him for his birthday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So the violence began at an early age obviously. And talk to me a little bit, you know, as he grew up, did he grow out of it? Did it get worse? What was it like?
SWEAT: He always got in trouble and every time he did I would grab him by the ear and take him to the police station. Or one time he had a knife in his backpack and the school called me. They wouldn't go of his backpack. I had to. While I grabbed him by his ear right in front of everybody, took him right to the principal's office. I don't deal with that stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So your son right now, he's 35, correct?
SWEAT: Yeah, he just turned 35 the same day as me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, what do you think about what it's going to be like now for him to go back to prison for the rest of his life?
SWEAT: I don't know. I know if that's where he should have stayed. And if that's what he needs to do then that's what he needs to do is go back and do what's going to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you been watching the media coverage, have you been watching the news outlets? SWEAT: I don't know. I know that's where he should have stayed. And if that's what he needs to do then that's what he needs to do, is go back and do what he's got to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you been watching the media coverage? Have you been watching the news outlets?
SWEAT: No. I don't want to. I didn't want to know what's the matter with my son.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: A pain and grief of his mother there. Speaking with our affiliate there in Binghamton, New York. I want to go to Polo Sandoval he is on the ground in Constable, New York where David Sweat was apprehended. What do you hearing from Law enforcement there?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well they're posted right now. It's just road block that you see behind me Poppy. This is the closest that we can take you to the very spot where David Sweat faced off with that New York Police Sergeant. This road will take you, actually just west and then there's a road, only about a block down. If you take that North, it would be just yards from the U.S. Canadian border. And that puts things in the perspective, just how close a David Sweat surely was to crossing that international boundary. You're able to see that part of the tree line that extends further in. Part of that tree line that officers were so afraid that he was going to be able to jump into and potentially even get lost.
And what truly speaks to just how unexpected, so many of these turns have been Poppy. We've seen 11 nearly 1200 police officers, saturate this area and yet a lone police Sergeant on patrol, Sergeant Jay Cook was the one that ended what was just so much pain, so much agony and concern for just so many people so you may imagine really what, not only what this means for the people that have kept their doors locked, kept their children inside. But also even for that family of Deputy Kevin Tarsia. He's from Brook County, shot and killed in 2002 by David Sweat, early on in this thing, three weeks ago in the start.
And I have opportunity to speak to his supervisors. They said this -- that this escape basically tore open a wound that took years to heal, knowing that this very dangerous cop killer was on the run. So anybody wanted to see David Sweat back behind bars. It was not only that Deputy Tarsia's family but also his colleagues and now the people here in Upstate New York. Poppy, again, still a very active scene if you were to make your way down this road, pass that road block, you would see, really a very active crime scene still, investigators trying to make sure all their bases here.
[19:40:03] And finally, call it interesting or really just call it quite ironic, we're not told by New York City Police that Richard Matt, the inmate that was shot and killed by police officers two days ago, was taken was taken to Albany Medical Center for the autopsy to be done.
And now, 48 hours later, his injured alleged accomplice, now being taken to the same facility, again, after just a very remarkable turn of events here, after three weeks, Poppy.
HARLOW: All right. Polo Sandoval, thank you for the reporting. I want to get back to my panel here on the set.
First guys, let's talk about the fact and, Deborah, beginning with you. The detail that we got from Governor Cuomo on how these guys were able to access a contractor's toolbox.
FEYERICK: Yeah.
HARLOW: Talk about a systemic breakdown.
FEYERICK: It's definitely a systemic breakdown. And the interesting thing also is that, you know, all of us are sort of rolling our eyes thinking, "OK. How did two men do what they did with two hacksaws smuggled in by frozen meat?" This makes sense. A contractor left a toolbox in the catwalk, these men were accessing the catwalk, they were able to get into that toolbox, they were able to get the kinds of tools and weapons that -- not weapons, I'm sorry, the kind of tools that they needed to make the cuts that they did to get out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which could be used as weapons, by the way.
FEYERICK: Absolutely, it can be used as weapons. You know, one -- a couple of interesting things, when you look at the picture of David Sweat also and he's wearing that camouflage gear, we just from the New York State police that, in fact, they were using pepper shakers to throw the dogs off the scent. And again, dogs are trained to pick up the scent of humans.
Also interesting, the fact that he was wearing somebody else's clothing would also throw the dogs...
HARLOW: Throw the scent dogs.
FEYERICK: ... off the scent. And he may have been able to stay as hidden as he was because of the fact he was sticking towards the tree line. So he had access -- visual access to the road, but staying by the tree. And again, when you think of this trooper, this sergeant who was by himself, he is a firearms instructor, they use glock -- it's a glock 45 and very, very accurate. And the fact that he was able to fire twice and hit David Sweat both times is pretty impressive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. An issue on that quickly. You know, in terms of the torso shots.
HARLOW: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's important to talk about it and I think Matt will corroborate this. The police officers aim for center mass and you know, you learn this just through trials involving (inaudible). But the center of mass is to terminate the threat. A lot of people as, Poppy, "Well, why not shoot in the leg?" You want him to answer questions, you want him to be in a preserved, you know, state of physical health so you can talk to him. Well, there's a number of reasons. One thing is it's inconsistent with your training. You know, you're avoiding ricochet, you can miss because such as a small target and potentially endanger someone else. But that speaks to the issue of why center mass, why the torso. Beyond that, it is very interesting, going back to the point I've made earlier. All the assets that are our there, police officers are plenty, searching for him, it comes down to one officer, who happens to be a veteran, who happens to be very good with his gun based upon his training, experience and the fact he, you know, teaches this, and that's the officer who actually, you know, ultimately apprehended him.
And if you look at this and you look at what have occurred, based upon him being in camouflage, based upon him being so close to the Canadian border, based upon him being so close to the tree line, you have to think that he did what a good deed in really brining him on the justice, shooting him, capturing him and ending this for a community in fear and certainly much anger.
HARLOW: Yeah, absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, remember also, whenever these things happen, this is a very dynamic situation. When he first identified Sweat, his adrenaline is going, his heart is pounding. And even if he's aiming at center mass, he may in fact miss a round or two. He didn't, he hit both. And think of the irony of this.
HARLOW: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The State police run the investigation, the State police make the capture. In the sense of Matt, the customs and border protection, who's responsible for 3,000 miles of border from New York to Seattle, end up shooting and killing Matt because they're familiar with the region, they have the resources and they make the kill.
HARLOW: Absolutely. Guys, thank you. Stay with me. I got a quick break in here.
About much more of breaking news right after this.
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[19:45:00]
HARLOW: I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. We're back with more on our Breaking News.
After 23 days on the lam, convicted murderer David Sweat has been apprehended by authority. Shot twice, but not dead, in stable condition.
Right now, you see him in an exclusive picture obtained by our Deborah Feyerick. Bloodied, clearly exhausted, desperate after his fellow convict, Richard Matt was shot and killed. But he is alive.
Authorities are saying they have not been able to interview him yet. But of course, they are planning to. They want to know everything they can possibility find out from this man. How he got out of prison and how he stayed on the run for 23 days.
Let's go straight to our Jean Casarez. She is on the ground there, right near where he was captured.
What are you seeing, Jean? What are you hearing?
CASAREZ: Well, we're here at the Medical Center and David Sweat was just taken away. We're here at the medical center, David Sweat was just taken away and we do know where he is bound for, Albany Medical Center.
But the people here in Malone, I think that they cannot believe that this medical center, right behind me, is not only where Joyce Mitchell came in with her anxiety attack when she decided she wasn't going to man the getaway car for these inmates.
And now, David Sweat, taken to the very same hospital three weeks later. And they're saying to me, "Oh, no this is what we're all going to be known for." And I said, "No, you're known for good things because this is where he was captured. So you all are now safe."
But this community is so grateful. They cannot believe that 1,300 law enforcement officers today...
[19:50:00] HARLOW: Right.
CASAREZ: Were out and about, and that one found him so close to the borders, so close to them and capture him alive because they want answers.
HARLOW: Jean, stay with me, I want to show our viewers this image, what you're seeing now are all the people Jean's talking about going to up to this officers in Malone, New York thanking them for putting there life on the line for three weeks straight to try to capture these two men and now they have done so, this two convicted murders of the street, no longer on the run.
David Sweat apprehended and you come bet he will be interrogated as soon as they are able to talk to him we are told he is in stable condition after being shot, twice in the torso by a New York State police sergeant whom Governor Andrew Cuomo has called a hero tonight.
Jean Casarez to you, what do people want to know, now that they now, they're safe from this two men. What lingering questions do they have about this prison and how this could have happened?
CASAREZ: They want to know who else is involved, they do not believed that only two people could be involved in this because it was intricate as the Governor Cuomo was talking about a whole board out of the back of there cell.
HARLOW: Yeah.
CASAREZ: But then the intricacies of going to through pipe single and going through to other areas. They want to know how, they found that route. You could, you just can't find that route half hazardly. They believe more people are involved and they want the truth and they want the answers because this community here is all about law enforcement. It's all about corrections.
There are several prisons in this area not only Clinton Correction, it is the maximum security facility but they are many others. And so, all most every family has someone that is employed by the prison system and they believe this is tarnished their reputation because they had a reputation of being flawless for 100 years and now because of people on the inside that for some whim decided that they we're going to help inmates, they're angry and they want to answers. And they want answers from David Sweat.
HARLOW: Jean, you earlier this evening spoke with a former correctional officer from this prison where they broke out, Clinton Correctional Facility just for tired. What did he say that stood out most to you?
CASAREZ: I think, you know, when I talk, spoke with him and I has spoken with him previously and he had discussed with me that the inmates have a lot of television in Clinton. They have it on a recreational area there, there is a break area. So throughout the facility they can watch television and they can also buy one for there cells and they are watching all these as it comes down. And I think that's fascinating to think that they are watching inmates that they use to be with knowing that one is dead and one is recaptured and, you know, there's going to be emotions from those inmates one way or the other.
And I think also the fact that he said it was not normal to bring in hamburger meat that's frozen with tools inside not normal to bring in a screw driver and pliers from the outside as prosecutors are alleging that Gene Palmer did.
HARLOW: Yeah.
CASAREZ: To help inmates in one way or another that isn't done and he was a lieutenant there. And so, this is an extra ordinary of behavior, not normal behavior in his eyes.
HARLOW: Right.
CASAREZ: But obviously it led to these inmates having a lot of freedoms they wouldn't have otherwise.
HARLOW: Yeah, also we've learned that they were so, they could wear plain clothes, they could wear sort of sweat suits if you will. Where in prison even. Jean, as you heard the governor of New York in that press conference saying.
CASAREZ: Yeah.
HARLOW: If this were a movie script, you would think it was over done but this is reality. Jean Casarez, thank you very much. Stay with us, Alexandra Field also reporting on the ground she's been on the story throughout.
Alex, what we did hear is that Sweat was 16 miles away from where Richard Matt was shot and killed on Friday afternoon and as Deborah Feyerick was reporting, we know that a week ago there is DNA place in the two men together. Any more leads as to when this two broke apart?
FIELD: No, at this point, you know, have them reporting through the last week that they first cabin that they apparently had broken into have the DNA of both of them that was recovered more than a week ago. Saturday, then there was this chain, this trail of evidence that investigators followed two more reported break-ins. It was unclear though two investigators, if the two men were in fact together but they were always operating under the assumption that they very well maybe. No clear indication now of when they split up, but when you look at where David Sweat turned up here in Constable.
The people in this community say it makes a whole a lot of sense to them that he could very well have been at Lake Titus, that area where Richard Matt was shot because he could have follow the rail road that right up here. He could have followed that distance from Lake Titus right to Constable.
[19:55:00] And then we know we are just shy of the Canadian border here, where investigators said that they believe the men intended to cross that border.
Poppy, I did just get off the phone with a gentleman who lives directly next to the field that David Sweat was shot in. And what was so overwhelming to me, what was so powerful from what he said was this. He didn't even realize it had happened until a neighbor called him. He went out, he looked, he saw the field that was just flooded with law enforcement.
And what's so fascination about this, is given the incredible footprint, the incredible vast enormous amount of resources that people had noticed in this region in terms of the law enforcement presence, it goes back to this single State trooper, on a roving patrol, who saw someone, followed his instinct, called out to Sweat and ultimately shot him. But it went down like that, like two of them together, one trooper, David Sweat, facing off with each other there.
It was so under the radar that the person who lived right next door didn't know it was going on at the time, Poppy.
HARLOW: Right. It is extraordinary. A certainly a hero tonight, Sergeant Jay Cook with the New York State Police there.
Alexandra, thank you very much.
Deborah Feyerick, to you. Looking at all of this, it is an extraordinary feet that this happened. You brought up an issue earlier of did they have any map. How did they know how to navigate so well? FEYERICK: Well, yeah, and that's very interesting and that's one of the things that, obviously, law enforcement is going to be looking at. You have all these hunting cabins and clearly, many of the hunters know the terrain in the area. But you have to wonder whether in fact there was something, some books, some maps, some -- anything that may have suggested to these two individuals where they were going to go.
But this really all -- just to sort of reset everything. This really came tumbling down, this whole escape, starting on Thursday when investigators found candy wrappers in the area of Malone, New York. Then came that campervan which was fired on by Richard Matt that immediately brought it members of the customs and border patrol, the elite team into that area. They searched a nearby cabin. They smelled gun powder in that cabin and they listened and they actually heard a cough, a cough and movement. Richard Matt trying to get away and that's when they were able to shoot and kill him. He was shot three times in the head.
Now, we don't know whether in fact the two men were together at that moment or once Matt, effectively exposed his position, whether he told David Sweat or whether David Sweat simply took off. But he took off, he was wearing this camouflage and the camouflage, making it very difficult, not only to see David Sweat, especially as he stuck near the tree line, but also because of the scent of ...
HARLOW: Yeah.
FEYERICK: ... somebody else's clothing.
HARLOW: Yeah.
FEYERICK: That was a big factor as well.
HARLOW: Well.
FEYERICK: And I just got some very interesting information. And this is -- this could be a complete coincidence, but that area Constable, New York a known serial killer lived in that area, had land in that area and ...
HARLOW: Wow.
FEYERICK: ... David Sweat was shot on the same Road.
Now, it could be a coincident, but these men were so clever that whatever it is they were reading, whatever it was they were doing in the prison ...
HARLOW: Yeah., yeah.
FEYERICK: ... library, it could have been something that small
HARLOW: Who knows?
FEYERICK: That led them to that area a mile and a half.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible) not clever enough.
HARLOW: We have to get a quick break in here, guys. We're going to be back with much more of our breaking news right after this.
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[20:00:00]
HARLOW: 8:00 Eastern this Sunday night. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. And we begin with our Breaking News.
"The nightmare is over," those words just spoken by New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Escaped convicted murder who killed a sheriff's deputy, David Sweat, has been captured. Shot twice and in the hands of police as we speak.
This photo obtained exclusively by our Deborah Feyerick chose the moments just after Sweat was apprehended by a New York State trooper, the officer who took him down, New York State Police Sergeant Jay Cook. He brought down the fugitive all by himself. As we speak, Sweat is on his way to Albany Medical Center. You see his ambulance and the police patrol right there. He is going to get further treatment there.
[20:03:00]
