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New Day

Is New York Prepared to Handle Ebola?; Video of Ottawa Shooting Emerges; Was Hatchet Attack on NYPD Islamic Extremism?

Aired October 24, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Breaking overnight: Ebola hits New York. A doctor returning from Africa tests positive but only after traveling throughout the city, even bowling. His fiancee now quarantined. Did he put others at risk?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Also breaking, ax attack. A man suddenly strikes a group of NYPD officers with a hatchet. Two were injured. Why were they targeted? And police are investigating whether extremist views motivated that attack.

CUOMO: This as we get new video of the moments the Ottawa gunman carried out his attacks. CNN learning new details about the shooters and his ties to extremist groups.

Your NEW DAY STARTS right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY, with Chris Cuomo, Kate Boldaun, and Michaela Pereira.

CUOMO (on camera): Good morning. Welcome to NEW DAY. It's Friday, October 24th, 6:00 in the East. Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota here and we have breaking news.

Overnight, new fears about the spread of Ebola as the disease reaches the most populated city in the United States. A New York City doctor, 33-year-old Craig Spencer. He's tested positive for Ebola after about a week since his return from West Africa. Now, he worked in West Africa for Doctors Without Borders. Right now, he's in a hospital isolation unit as officials trace his movements since he's been back.

Officials say he had no symptoms until Thursday, and that's when he was rushed to the hospital. Before that, however, he was out and about in the city, riding the subway, bowling. And other things that they're still trying to discover.

CAMEROTA: That is troubling to many New Yorkers, that he was out in the general public. Spencer's fiancee and two close friends who had close contact with him are now under quarantine and being monitored.

New York's mayor insists there is no cause for alarm. But the CDC has dispatched a go team to New York to help with the Ebola response. So our coverage begins with CNN's Poppy Harlow. She's at Bellevue Hospital where Dr. Spencer is being treated. What's the latest, Poppy?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Alisyn and Chris. We can tell you this is the designated hospital to deal with a situation just like this. At this hour, the 33-year-old doctor is being treated here. Two priorities -- save his life and contain this virus in New York City. New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo, saying the city is as ready as can be for this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: We want to state at the outset, there is no reason for New Yorkers to be alarmed.

HARLOW (voice-over): This morning, the first positive case of Ebola hits New York City. 33-year-old Dr. Craig Spencer now in an isolation unit like this one, at Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital.

Dr. Spencer returned to New York after treating Ebola patients in Guinea last Friday, though doctors say he wasn't symptomatic until yesterday.

October 14th, Dr. Spencer flies from Guinea to Brussels, Belgium, arriving at New York's JFK Airport, showing no symptoms on his journey. On Tuesday, Spencer feels tired and fatigued. He was self- monitoring for symptoms, taking his temperature twice a day. But without fever, he goes out in public. Wednesday, he goes on a three- mile run, eats at a restaurant, and visits the popular park, the Highline. He then travels from Manhattan to Brooklyn on the subway. He later takes an Uber taxi to go bowling in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at an alley called The Gutter, now closed until it can be sanitized.

Thursday morning, Spencer develops a fever and immediately contacts Doctors Without Borders, who calls the health department. That afternoon, he is rushed to Bellevue Hospital and put directly in isolation, later testing positive for Ebola.

Authorities reiterated Thursday that careful protocols were followed smoothly at every step, and for New Yorkers the risk is, quote, "close to nil."

DR. MARY FRANCES BASSETT, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: He was not symptomatic at that time. He had no fever. And so he did not have a stage of disease that creates a risk of contagiousness on the subway.

HARLOW: The city now on heightened alert.

CUOMO: Coordinating and drilling from airports to transportation to subway stations, to ambulances to hospitals, so we are as ready as one could be.

HARLOW: Health officials note three people had contact with Spencer, two friends and his fiancee, all doing well but in quarantine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW (on camera): And, guys, I can tell you that officials have ruled out the Uber cab driver as a contact. Therefore, that person is not in quarantine.

Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where Dr. Spencer is employed, issued a statement last night calling him a committed and responsible physician, saying importantly that he has not been back to work, he has not treated any patient since returning from Guinea.

Importantly, his condition, what do we know at this hour? Really, the only word we've gotten is from New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, who said yesterday that he is in, quote, "good shape." We also heard from a doctor in the press conference last night, saying they are looking forward to a speedy recovery.

So our thoughts of course are with the 33-year-old doctor, who frankly, it's important to note in all of this, gave of himself to go to Guinea to help save lives for all of the people suffering there from Ebola. Chris?

CUOMO: Thanks, Poppy, strong points to finish on.

Let's bring Dr. Alexander van Tulleken in, he's CNN medical analyst and senior fellow at the Institute for International Humanitarian Affairs, and Dr. Kent Sepkowitz, he's infectious disease specialist and deputy physician-in-chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, also a "Daily Beast" contributor.

Gentlemen, thank you very much. So let's start with what matters most. From what we know, Doc, should he be OK?

DR. ALEXANDER VAN TULLEKEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: In terms of his survial from the disease, he's been exposed to a really dangerous disease, and all the questions of whether or not he's been responsible, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that he's now sitting, facing a really, really seriously -- we don't know how bad the prognosis is, but potentially, you know, 10, 15, 20 percent mortality for someone like him. So, yes, he's going to be very worried.

CUOMO: In your opinion, did he do the right thing here?

DR. KENT SEPKOWITZ, DEPUTY PHYSICIAN IN CHIEF, MEMORIAL SLOAN- KETTERING CANCER CENTER: Absolutely. I think that even though there's -- the story is quickly becoming how he had fun in New York City. We know from years now when Ebola is contagious and when it's not contagious, and I hope that the lessons learned from Dallas, where we had a guy living much sicker than Dr. Spencer, living with family for days, exposing them but not infecting them, I would hope that that observed, collectively observed fact would assuage some of the discomfort that people are having. He's put no one at risk at all other than his close contacts and now the health care workers at Bellevue.

CUOMO: Well, I want to talk about that, because that's hard for people to digest at some levels.

SEPKOWITZ: I know.

CUOMO: And the extreme of the position would be why don't you quarantine anyone who has been in contact with an Ebola patient just to be safe?

VAN TULLEKEN: So I think there's a very good answer to this, which is you're dealing with a cost-benefit analysis. And the cost of doing that is hard to see at the moment but it's massive. So MSF alone, Doctors Without Borders, has sent about 300 people overseas, so that's 300 health care workers coming back. We're talking about 18 years of man -- of work lost as a result of those people being quarantined.

The benefits, which as we say are probably close to zero, if not zero absolutely. So the benefit we get from doing that is very, very small and the cost is massive. Because t means that an organization like Doctors Without Borders, which is the only organization that's really been doing the bulk of work in this, will find it harder to recruit, harder to staff their programs.

CUOMO: From what you've heard so far from the authorities, do you think they know what they're doing here and they've handled this the right way?

SEPKOWITZ: Yes, I actually think New York looks very competent, very together. The way the ambulance went there, the ambulance workers were prepared, the hospital is prepared. Yes, I think they absolutely know what they're doing.

CUOMO: OK, so now let's get to what the big frustration is. It's frustrating for you guys to have to keep answering it but I have to tell you, everyone keeps asking this.

Either you have it or you don't. This Ebola seems to confuse that truism, OK? If I'm rubbing my nose and kind of sneezing and you ask me if I'm sick and I say yes, but I'm not contagious, we all know that that's one of the biggest lies that's told. But this Ebola, it seems like you're consistently giving what, to the uninitiated, is the mixed message. This guy's sick, we're trying to round up everybody he came near, but don't worry, you can't catch it.

VAN TULLEKEN: So the reason we do the contact tracing is because we want to know everything that happened to him, right? Maybe he cut himself on the subway. Maybe he was sick on the subway. Maybe there is some exposure that needs to be traced down. So you have to do the contact tracing. That's how Nigeria got on top of this disease. That's --

CUOMO: But you say you can't get it unless there's stuff all over you.

VAN TULLEKEN: If the story that we're hearing is true, and we have no reason to believe it's not, he didn't have a temperature. And therefore the virus might have been detectable in his blood, but it would have been at such low levels that he really is not at risk of spreading it on. I mean, I said last night on CNN and I'll say again, I would bowl at that alley today. He actually lives five blocks from my house. He drinks at the bar I drink at. I would happily go for drinks there tonight. I would not be worried about that.

CUOMO: Now, is this the statement of obviously someone who is almost an untreatable alcoholic? Or someone who is being reasonable about where the risk lies and where it doesn't?

SEPKOWITZ: Very reasonable. The risk has to be said to be zero.

CUOMO: Then why did they shut down the bowling alley?

VAN TULLEKEN: The city didn't do that.

SEPKOWITZ: So what we have is a real patient who has exposed a couple of people, his fiancee and a few others, to the possibility of contracting Ebola. And we have eight million worried people who feel somehow threatened by this.

One is quite rational, which is science-based, which is, yes, you can spread it to intimate contacts. The other is the cloud of excitement and panic that follows this around that is unrelated to science or reality.

CUOMO: So let's deal with what you say is the best idea of reality. People in New York City, they're waking up this morning. They're an edgy bunch. It's in a very dense city, OK? We already have our germophobia issues. How worried should you be on the subway? If you live around this area, now that it's here, will it spread much faster? What do you say?

VAN TULLEKEN: I would say, and this is the area I live in, I would not be worried about the spread at all. There are two different people who could be worrying. There are the people who live in the city, I would say they should not change their behavior. They should go and bowl at the alley to make sure it doesn't go under. We need people, we need bowling alleys not to close.

But the city officials do seem to be employing the appropriate level of worry. They want to make sure that every part of his story is accounted for and true. They want to make sure they know every single exposure. They want to make sure they've locked down the possibilities of it being transmitted as the level of virus in his blood increases. They seem to be worried, and I think it's right that they're worried. The rest of us -- business as usual.

CUOMO: All right, Dr. Van Tulleken, Dr. Sepkowitz, thank you very much for keeping an even keel on this. Because it is going to be very edgy around here for sure.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right, Chris, as you know, this morning Ebola is not the only scare here in New York City. Take a look at this chilling surveillance video. It captures a man with a hatchet about to attack four police officers. The attacker was shot and killed after injuring two of those officers. Given the attack in Ottawa on Wednesday, there are fears that the New York attack was not a random crazy man on the street, but possibly another case of Islamic extremism.

Alexander Field has the latest on the dramatic attack. What do we know?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, really a horrifying and a hideous attack. You see that man there holding that hatchet, it just really raises fear for a lot of people. Look, two officers bravely able to stop him by shooting him and killing him. Now there are a lot of questions about what motivated this attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (voice-over): This morning, law enforcement authorities on heightened alert after this terrifying ax attack in Queens yesterday. The assault, caught on camera. watch as the man rushes at four NYPD officers, a metal hatchet in hand. The suspect hitting one in the arm, striking another in the head, before two uninjured officers shoot and kill him.

Law enforcement officials say it appears the suspect was stalking the officers, hiding behind a bus shelter waiting to attack. The suspect identified as Zale Thompson. CNN now learning he has a criminal record in California and was discharged from the Navy for misconduct.

On a Facebook page bearing his name and location in Queens, the black and white profile photo shows an armed masked fighter, spear, sword and rifle at the ready; the cover photo, a quote from the Koran judging those who have wandered astray.

This brutal assault comes on the heels of heightened security across North America after radical jihadists recently threatened to attack military and police officers, and two attacks in Canada believed to be motivated by Islamic extremism. Authorities are investigating any possible links Thompson might have had to extremist groups.

BILL BRATTON, NYPD COMMISSIONER: There's nothing that we know as of this time that would indicate that were the case. I think the certainly the heightened concerns relative to that type of assault based on what's just happened in Canada.

FIELD: Both officers struck by Thompson's ax now recovering at Jamaica Hospital. An additional person, a 29-year-old bystander, was shot in the back during the scuffle. She was taken to the hospital, but her condition remains unknown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (on camera): At this point, there's a lot we still do not know about Thompson. But the context here is important, given the recent call of ISIS to sympathizers in the west to perpetuate these attacks on uniformed people. Given the backdrop of the events of the last week in Canada, there is a lot that authorities feel they really do need to learn about Thompson now. CAMEROTA: Absolutely. I believe that the ISIS spokesman even

mentioned use an ax if you must. If you don't have access to a gun, use whatever you can. So of course they're looking at that.

Alexandra, thanks so much for all the information.

CUOMO: All right, so as police here in New York investigate the attacker's background, we're learning more about the gunman in Ottawa this morning and his links to Islamic extremism. Are there more of these one-off deranged men looking for some sense of warped meaning in their lives and how do we stop them?

Plus chilling new video of the moments he carried out the attack. NEW DAY returns for you in a moment.

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CUOMO: OK, so Wednesday, it was Ottawa, right? On Thursday, it was New York City. So, now, we've had two attacks on western soil. The question is -- were both of them linked to Islamic extremism?

We have footage now surfacing of what appears to show the Ottawa shooter in the midst of his deadly rampage. Sources tell CNN the 32- year-old had social media links to jihadists in Canada, including one who went to fight in Syria. And as Canada mourned, a man in New York City attacked four NYPD officers, injuring two.

Now, his social media activity also draws questions about connections to radical Islam. So, is this a pattern? Or is this one fool following another? And if this is the ongoing threat, how can law enforcement keep it from becoming a trend?

We're going to cover this in a very full way here. Let's begin with CNN's Ana Cabrera live from Ottawa.

Ana, good morning. What do we know?

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

We know this gunman came to Ottawa on October 2nd. Apparently, he wanted to get a passport. And his mother now revealing to authorities that he may have planned to go to Syria.

As investigators continue their probe into his background, we also have the new video to share this morning, of Wednesday's attack that began here, at Canada's National War Memorial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA (voice-over): This surveillance video released by Canadian police Thursday gives a chilling play-by-play of the shooting rampage on Ottawa's Parliament Hill, the 32-year-old shooter, Michael Zehaf- Bibeau, is seen running from car after gunning down soldier Nathan Cirillo at the War Memorial. Spotting his gun, some bystanders run in fear, others rush to Cirillo's aid.

MARGARET LERHE, WITNESS: There are four or five people around this fallen soldier all working as a team.

CABRERA: Next, he hijacks a car, the driver seen running away. A different angle shows Bibeau running into a main parliament building with Canadian police giving chase. Inside parliament, shots fired.

(GUNSHOTS)

CABRERA: Moments later, sergeant-at-arms, Kevin Vickers, shoots and kills the suspect on the scene.

As parliament reconvened Thursday, Vickers' bravery was honored by a standing ovation.

Now, authorities are learning more about a possible motive, looking into Zehaf-Bibeau's suspected ties to Islamic extremists in Canada via the Internet.

BOB PAULSON, RCMP COMMISSIONER: I think the passport figured prominently if his motives and I'm not inside his head, but I think it was central to what was driving him.

CABRERA: Authorities believe that prior to his attack, Zehaf-Bibeau had converted to Islam and say he was applying for a Canadian passport to travel to Syria. Those actions tipped off police to conduct a background check.

This man told CNN's Martin Savidge that he and Bibeau were staying at the Ottawa mission for homeless men and that he talked to him about travel plans.

BRIAN, WITNES: He wanted to go back to Libya apparently. I don't know if that's where he was from or if that's where he just wanted to go or -- to take part in whatever is going on over there.

CABRERA: In 2011, facing robbery charges, Zehaf-Bibeau underwent a psychiatric evaluation. In papers obtained by CNN, the doctor told the judge Zehaf-Bibeau was addicted to crack cocaine and that he wanted to go do jail to break the addiction, and as a sacrifice to pay for his mistakes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Now, given Zehaf-Bibeau's criminal record including violence and drugs, authorities tell us he was on their radar.

But we also know he was never on the 90 or so names, a list of sorts that were considered high-risk threats. He wasn't on that list. Meantime, we know U.S. authorities are also investigating whether Zehaf-Bibeau had any communication with Islamic extremists inside the U.S. or suspected extremists in the U.S. We do know that he had traveled to the United States several times -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Ana, it is a dangerous combination -- people with a troubled past, desperate for meaning, and seeking it in the form of religion and violence. Thank you for the reporting.

We'll continue the conversation, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: And we see some pieces of that, Chris, with this New York City attack.

So, for more details on the attack on the NYPD, and the threat of similar attacks, let's bring in CNN's national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem. She's also the former assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and Paul Cruickshank, CNN terrorism analyst.

Great to see both of you this morning.

I want to play a part of the disturbing surveillance camera. There was a camera on top of a building, as there are in New York, and you can see this man coming with a hatchet from around the corner, this is at 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon, the police were just posing for some pictures with some passersby and this is what happens.

Juliette, what do you see here?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, you know, I saw this for the first time on air last night. And I think the words "my God" came out of my mouth. Because there's a brazenness to it and even an intimacy, if that's the right word.

You know, a lot of terrorist attacks are, are big. Like 9/11 or there's something anonymous about them. This is you know, sort of -- you're, it could be anyone. You could be standing on that subway.

And that's been ISIS or those who might follow that kind of terrorism, that has been their ability to create more fear than, than their numbers, right? It's the long videos of a decapitation that we see coming of the Middle East or something like this. And this is someone who didn't care if he was caught or didn't care if he was identified.

And the biggest issue now is obviously force protection for our police officers and our military, because the word has gone out by ISIS or other groups, and there are people sitting, listening to them who may have you know, mental disorders, may be looking for a higher cause, who are going to focus on police or military at this stage.

CAMEROTA: And, of course, we don't know, Paul, if that's what happened. We don't know if he was taking his orders from ISIS.

Here's what precious little we do know about him. He had a Facebook page and this is according to his friends, this was really his Facebook page. This is legit. It shows an African-American Islamist warrior armed with a spear, a sword, and a rifle. Also, there's a quote from the Koran in Arabic, talking about judgment against those who have gone astray.

What does that tell us?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, that's the first verse of the Koran that you see on his Facebook page. There's nothing definitively radical about his Facebook page. I think the NYPD is concerned that this could have some link to Islamic extremism. But we don't know that for sure yet.

But there's obviously a lot of concern because there have been two fatal Islamist terrorist attacks in Canada this week and ISIS itself have called for lone wolf attacks in the United States, including against police officers, including with knives. When I see these images, I recall the attack in London, in East London in 2013 when two radicalized British Nigerians killed a British soldier on the streets of London.

CAMEROTA: So, Paul, very quickly, how well authorities figure out? Given that scant information on his Facebook page, none of it screams anything imminent is going to happen, how will they figure out if he's connected to something bigger?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, they'll try and access his computer drives, his online history, has he got any contacts with Muslim extremists in the United States or around the world? Look at all of those kinds of things, interview people close to him to build up a profile picture of this guy.

CAMEROTA: Juliette, we also know that he had a criminal record in California. We don't know for what. Also, the Navy, had discharged him for disorderly conduct.

CRUICKSHANK: So, again he seems to be fitting that sort of profile of a wayward person, sort of on the margins of society, sporadically employed. And are these the people who are most susceptible?

CAMEROTA: It may be. I mean, there is a pattern emerging that's very different than the sort of traditional pattern of the disciplined, you know, sort of under the radar terrorist organization that has no -- you know, you can't, you don't know who they are because they're not committing crimes beforehand. So, you can't think of the 19 men on 9/11. All of them were you know, were never on anyone's radar screen.

The kind of terrorist or the kind of activity we're seeing now, I'll be careful with my language, is people who have run into the law for other reasons, been discharged from the military -- wayward may be the right word to use -- and then may get impassioned by some cause that gives them meaning. We don't know the last link.

But, I'll tell you in a week in which we've seen three incidences, it's got to be at the top of the mind of every investigator right now and it should be.

CAMEROTA: And, Paul, here's what you were referring to, the spokesperson for ISIS last month put out this directive to anyone, and let me read a portion of it for you.

If you are not able to find an IED or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman or any of their allies, smash his head with a rock or slaughter him with a knife or run him over with your car.

And two of those things have happened in the past week, counting Canada, as well as, of course, the gun attack. So, it's hard not to draw the parallel, but it's impossible to know at this point if it is connected.

CRUICKSHANK: Well, that's absolutely right and this fatwa by the ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani a month ago really was a game- changer, because ISIS supporters in the West view ISIS leaders as the divinely ordained rulers of Muslims worldwide. So, when they put out statements like this, they carry out, even more impact than what bin Laden or Ayman Zawahiri or leaders of al Qaeda were putting out in years before. They make a very, very big impact.

So, there's a lot of concern. We could see more of this in the days and weeks ahead.

CAMEROTA: Very quickly, why do they carry more power than something that bin Laden would have put out?

CRUICKSHANK: Because they've declared themselves to be an Islamic State and an Islamic caliphate. And for their supporters back in the West, they really believe this. They believe that they are the justifiable rulers of Muslims worldwide, that they can issue fatwas.

These people are saying, it's your religious duty to launch attacks in the West. If you don't do that, you'll be punished. If you do do that, you'll be rewarded in the afterlife.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh.

Paul Cruickshank, thanks so much for all that information. Juliette Kayyem, thanks for you analyst. Great to have both of you.

Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: Well, I'll tell you, Alisyn, as if an axe-wielding maniac weren't enough to worry about, New York City's mayor is also trying to calm fears because the city's first case of Ebola has been confirmed. Did the patient put others at risk by eating out, going bowling, riding the subway, all before being hospitalized, of course? We're going to have medical experts weigh in on what the real risk to others is.

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