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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Quadruple Murder Suspect Apprehended; What Triggered Waco Shootout?; ISIS Tightens Grip On Palmyra; Six Officers Indicted In Freddie Gray's Death; Lumber Liquidators CEO Quits. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired May 22, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, manhunt over. The suspect believed to have slaughtered a Washington, D.C. family in their home before setting it on fire is now arrested in a dramatic takedown overnight. The new details ahead.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Bikers revenge. Police warned bikers may soon be the targets of rival biker gangs, a very new threat in Waco.

BERMAN: And then new victories for ISIS, dramatic victories in Iraq and Syria. They now have practically annexed lands controlling as much territory as ever. What does this mean for the president's strategy if there is a strategy to battle ISIS. A live report coming up. Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It's 31 minutes past the hour. The search is over. Let's start here with this dramatic manhunt. Daron Wint, the prime suspect in a quadruple the murder that rocked and terrified the nation's capital, taken into custody late last night near Washington.

Investigators say the 34-year-old ex-Marine killed his former employer, Savvas Savopoulos along with the executive's wife, son, and their housekeeper before setting their $4.5 million mansion on fire.

Here's what we know about Wint's arrest. He was tracked by police to New York City, but they missed him. They just barely missed him. He was then found at a hotel in College Park, Maryland with five other people, three men and two women.

Police say all six people left the hotel in two vehicles. They were followed for five miles before being apprehended. No one was hurt during those arrests.

Now who is Wint? Wint has a long history of run-ins with police. Court records show he has three assault convictions in New York State dating back to 2007.

He also had an outstanding arrest warrant for violating an order of protection involving a former girlfriend. In the Washington, D.C. area, he's been charged with domestic violence, burglary and assault. But listen to Robin Ficker, this is Wint's former attorney. He insists there is no way his old client could commit this kind of crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBIN FICKER, WINT'S FORMER ATTORNEY: It is not his act. He is a nice guy. He is patriotic. He is kind. I defended him in six cases. He was not found guilty in any of those cases in 2005 and 2006. They've got the wrong guy. It's not him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Police connected DNA found on pizza crust in the burned down mansion to Wint. The suspect worked for the company belonging to Savvas Savopoulos at least ten years ago as a laborer, welder, we are told. He is facing first degree felony murder charges this morning.

BERMAN: Happening this morning, Texas law enforcement officials say they are investigating specific dangerous threats against police officers from local biker gangs including car bombs. This comes in the wake of a shootout between rival gangs in Waco that left nine people dead. Some bikers believe that police escalated the violence.

Now the Texas Department of Safety has sent out a dramatic warning that top level officers and their families are being targeted. CNN's Evan Perez has more.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: John and Christine, the Bandidos biker gang is, quote, "out for blood." That's the warning from a new bulletin issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

This is all in the wake of a shootout last weekend at the restaurant in Waco, Texas that left nine dead and nearly 200 people arrested. The bulletin warns law enforcement agencies that the Bandidos and Black Widows motorcycle gang members have ordered a hit against Texas troopers and local police.

The warning lists potential trouble spots, including Austin, El Paso, Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas. The gang members are trying to obtain grenades and C4 explosives and plotting to attack high ranking members of Texas law enforcement with car bombs.

Now the bulletin is based on information from an informant and that hasn't been corroborated. Bu with the coming Memorial Day weekend, a popular time for motorcycle club gatherings, police are taking the threat very seriously.

John and Christine, according to the bulletin, gang members believed police shot their fellow, quote, "brothers" at this Waco event.

BERMAN: All right, our thanks to Evan Perez for that report. Still not clear just what ignited that deadly shootout in Waco. Police have recovered hundreds of weapons from the crime scene, that scene at the Twin Peaks Restaurant there. There have been reports that it was some kind of fight over a parking space and also a fight over one biker having his foot run over in the parking lot.

[05:35:05] But a waitress at the restaurant tells CNN it is more complicated than that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Contrary to what everyone is saying, it is not just over a parking space. I mean, it is a long -- it's been a long issue between Bandidos and Cross X for a while. It just finally brewed and that's where it erupted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Waco Police have been under fire a bit. They are accused of arresting innocent bystanders in the aftermath of that shootout. Remember, they arrested 170 people. Police say that everyone they arrested was involved in a brawl.

ROMANS: All right, ISIS forces on the move in Iraq after taking control of Ramadi less than a week ago. ISIS is now heading east toward Baghdad. Overwhelming government troops with mortar and rocket fire, one Iraqi military official describing that situation as very critical.

Meanwhile in Syria, ISIS is tightening its grip on its conquest, the city of Palmyra. The extremists dumping the decapitated bodies of their opponents in the city's historic streets, they are calling on citizens to turn in government soldiers.

For the very latest on all of these moves, I want to get to CNN senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson. Ivan, you know, you've heard from the White House that its strategy is working.

But when we see these dramatic gains so quickly and each of these gains, Ivan, gives the terrorists more money and more ammunition and more Iraqi army gear and I guess more confidence.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. They will likely play this to the hilt for propaganda reasons and to try to get more recruits and try to maintain the momentum on the battlefield. The developments we saw in Syria and Palmyra and another place.

You know, they captured one of the last remaining border crossings between Syria and Iraq that had been controlled by the Syrian government in the last 24 hours after the Syrian government pulled back from there, Christine.

In the case of these two most recent conquests in Syria, ISIS went after Syrian government forces. This is something we have not seen very much of in the past. ISIS had been going against other Syrian rebels. Now they are going after Syrian government forces and both of these cases, winning. It's putting the Syrian government even more on their heels and showing that despite air strikes, despite fighting a war in two separate countries simultaneously, this is an armed movement that is not afraid of backing down and it is seizing the moment -- Christine.

ROMANS: The really frightening thing, I think here is that you are talking about the Iraqi army up against an opponent prepared and pleased to die in the process, right.

I mean, when you look at these car bombs or these truck bombs that they have been using to battle into Ramadi, for example, in Iraq, it is remarkable what they are up against.

WATSON: That's right. According to the U.S. State Department official who gave a very detailed briefing after the fall of Ramadi, the Iraqi city that fell last Sunday, according to this official, ISIS attacked with some 30 moving car bombs in a period of 96 hours.

That is wave after wave of suicidal car bomber. Not just attacking an old taxi. They are attacking in bulldozers and construction trucks that are wrapped in jerry-rigged armor and packed to the gills in explosives.

I would compare this to some of the images of this most recent "Mad Max" movie, of just kind of these homemade kind of death machines that are being used. It is not just ISIS that is using kind of these bizarre weapons of war.

The Syrian government has been employing some pretty crude and devastating weapons over the course of its war for more than three years now. Barrel bombs on the Syrian battle field against civilian population centers.

We have seen video emerging the last couple of days of these barrel bombs crudely made chucked out of the back of helicopters. Fuses being lit by Syrian soldiers with their cigarettes that are then just dropped from thousands of feet up onto civilian population centers.

This is something we have been hearing about from human rights organizations, from eyewitnesses, and now some pretty incontrovertible evidence coming from what looks like Syrian soldiers themselves filming what arguably a war crime being carried out.

Everybody, it seems on the battlefield, whether in Iraq or in Syria, is making use of more and more crude weapons of war in just a cycle of violence that just seems to be getting worse and worse and worse.

ROMANS: Ivan Watson, thanks for that assessment this morning. That is remarkable when you think, John, when you think of that huge expanse under control of ISIS.

[05:40:06] He said one of the last border crossings between Syria and Iraq now in the control of ISIS. I mean, that's exactly what their goal is. Their goal is to amass this huge caliphate and it looks as though they are almost there.

BERMAN: You talk about occupation. We should start talking about annexation. They've been there for more than a year in some places.

ROMANS: All right, 40 minutes past the hour, six officers now indicted in the death of Freddie Gray. The charges they face this morning next.

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BERMAN: Big news out of Baltimore, a grand jury has indicted six police officers on charges connected to the death of Freddie Gray. The state's attorney there, Marilyn Mosby says based on new evidence, some charges against the officers were dropped and others were added.

Freddie Gray died last month after suffering a fatal spinal injury while in police custody. CNN's Miguel Marquez has more.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and John, this is the corner in West Baltimore, a corner that seen some of the violence in recent days and weeks here. This is Edmonton and Pulaski in West Baltimore. The people out here are with the 300 men march.

It's a movement that's been present here in Baltimore for several years. And certainly in the last several weeks have tried to bring down the level of violence in this city.

The word that these charges came down today is being treated as a victory on these corners here in West Baltimore, the first time that Marilyn Mosby, the state's attorney brought charges. She brought 28 charges total.

[07:45:02] The grand jury has now returned 28 charges, slightly different. The most serious of charges was second-degree murder. That is still there. There are six manslaughter charges, six assault charges, nine misconduct charges and six reckless endangerment charges.

The one big difference here is that the false imprisonment charges from previously have now gone away. The other thing that happens, though, because these officers were meant to be in an initial hearing next week, now that the grand jury has spoken, it moves it all into a different court.

Basically an end-round to her critics who said that she should recuse herself from this case, the motion that was filed in the lower court now is null and void. They have to file it again or figure out another way to take on Marilyn Mosby whose position seems to be growing stronger -- Christine, John.

ROMANS: All right, Miguel, thank you for that. Time now for an EARLY START on your money this Friday morning, investors are in a good mood heading into the holiday weekend. The S&P 500 city at a record high, stock futures are up right now. Markets in Asia are also higher.

Guess what? The Cuban government is opening a U.S. bank account. Stone Gate Bank, a Florida based chain that opened about a decade ago says it will host the Cuban government's finances.

Cuba previously had to do business with all cash transactions. The move will help renew U.S.-Cuba ties and will make it easier for Cuba to open an embassy in the U.S., something it hasn't had since 1950. Wall Street likes the news. Stone Gate stock is up in pre-market trading.

BERMAN: So I think no ATM fees. Cuba wants no ATM fees in its account. You get that at some banks.

ROMANS: I would advise the Castro regime to make sure that they watch the fees and those automatic withdrawal, debit withdrawal fines.

BERMAN: Be careful about that, Raul. All right, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." Alisyn Camerota joins us now.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, John Berman and Christine. Great to see you, guys. We will have more on that breaking news, the arrest of the suspect wanted for that D.C. quadruple murder. We will talk with the U.S. marshal who helped capture him about how they did it late last night.

We will also talk to someone who knows the suspect well about why he says Daron Wint could not have done this.

Also we are tracking the latest on ISIS, what happens if the terror group advances? Can the Iraqi military protect Baghdad or will the U.S. have to send in ground troops? So some in the GOP are now calling for. Our military and terror experts will be here at the top of the hour to give us their take. We'll see you then.

ROMANS: Can't wait for that, thank you so much, Alisyn.

BERMAN: All right, scientists now assessing the damage of that California oil spill, how long will it take to clean up and what will ramifications be on the company that own that pipeline? That's next.

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[05:51:24]

BERMAN: All right, this morning, Coast Guard officials say that cleaning up the oil spill along the Central California coastline could take months. Crews are now working around the clock to scoop up patches of the crude oil.

The pipeline spill that closed beaches and endangered wildlife. The pipeline operator is still trying to determine what caused the rupture. The accident is raising new questions about the company's past performance. Let's get more now from CNN's Sara Sidner.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, the cleanup continues here in the beaches of Santa Barbara. We are still smelling the smell of crude oil and you can see the crude oil splashed all over the rocks. There is still plenty to do. It will take at least a week before they begin open some of these beaches here. And we should also talk about what has happened with this company in the past.

Because they have a checkered record when it comes to dealing with their pipelines, about ten years ago, they had between 2004 and 2007, they had a series of ten different spills in states across the country including Kansas, Texas and Louisiana.

Those spills culminated in the settlement with the government, with the EPA and with the Justice Department, they ended up settling for $41 million. That $41 million was supposed to go towards paying to upgrade about 10,000 miles of crude oil pipeline.

The company says it did that and that safety is a priority. But certainly, we are seeing again a problem her with that same company. We asked a lot of questions, but we didn't get very many answers when it came to their record -- John, Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Sara Sidner, thanks for that. You know, this is the 24-inch pipe rupture in the pipe. They are investigating what happened here. The oil is flowing right into this protected state beach. It's just so sad.

The company has had settlements and fines in the past and it's a company that is -- ticker symbol is paa, so it is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It fell almost 3 percent yesterday and in pre- market trading, my producer just checked, the stock is down again so real concerns about that company and what happened there.

All right, 53 minutes past the hour. Memorial Day weekend is here that means big sales, the deep discounts, and guess what, there is a bunch of stuff you should wait to buy. I'll tell you what not to buy this weekend and what to buy this weekend. That's next.

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[05:57:16]

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. U.S. stock futures are higher. Markets in Asia are up as well. The S&P 500 hit a record high yesterday. For the record, the market is closed on Monday so there is a three-day weekend for investors coming up.

We will also be keeping an eye on shares of Lumber Liquidators one day after its CEO unexpectedly resigned. The stock tanked 16 percent yesterday. It is down nearly 70 percent this year.

It's dealing with the fallout of a "60 Minutes" report finding that some flooring contains dangerous levels of toxic chemicals. Flooring imported from China. The company has stood behind that flooring for a long time now. Its CEO is resigning.

A Memorial Day weekend is here so are some big sales, but what are the real deals this holiday weekend? Retailmenot put together this list. A "what to buy" list, the best deals this year are on mattresses, up to 70 percent off at some major retailers. Patio furniture also, this is a smart weekend to buy patio furniture.

Because look, they have to move them out and also grills up to 20 percent off. Here are sales to avoid, wait to buy electronics and tools, the best deals for those are going to be around father's day.

Hold off on buying swim wear and video games. You are going to get better prices toward the end of summer.

BERMAN: I'm waiting for a nice one-piece.

ROMANS: A nice one piece.

BERMAN: Just saying. All right, it's 12 minutes before the hour. The man police say killed a Washington, D.C. family and then set their home on fire, he has been captured. That is dramatic breaking news overnight. "NEW DAY" picks it up right now.