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Stage Collapses During High School Performance; Protests Heat Up Over Freddie Gray's Death; U.S. Drone Stroke Kills Two Hostages. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 24, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just collapsed underneath.

[05:58:12] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody just started screaming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was this one girl who had, like, nails in her leg.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some objects are being thrown. I'm not sure why that man was arrested.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They really did a number on him. And then on top of all of it, they're denying it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. drone strike killed two Western hostages held by al Qaeda.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mistakes, sometimes deadly mistakes, can occur.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tensions flaring in the 2016 race to the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are those as leaders who take a very different view.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's every appearance that Hillary Clinton was bribed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to your NEW DAY. Yes, it is Friday April 24, 6 a.m. in the east. And we have news breaking overnight. Singing gives way to screams at an Indiana high school. A stage collapses during a rock concert, all caught on video. You'll see it here. Nothing too grisly. Two dozen students, though, were hurt.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And students were standing at the front of that platform, which gave way, sending the singers crashing into the orchestra pit. CNN's Ryan Young joins us live from the scene.

Ryan, what's the latest?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

We watched that video over and over. And talking to so many who were there, that's a ten-foot drop that everyone watched and experienced, dozens of parents running toward the stage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG (voice-over): Breaking overnight, a frightening scene at a jubilant high school rock concert in Indiana. Nearly two dozen injured, one critically. Watch as, in the final moments of a performance of "American Pie" at Westfield High School, the platform beneath these students gives way. Terrified screams filling the air as the stage collapses, and the student performers are sent plunging below. Witnesses describing a chaotic scene.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was then last song and then you just hear this huge bang. And then all the students disappear. What we saw was just traumatizing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of this confusion and then began screaming from parents and faculty and staff in a rush to the stage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, there was this one girl who had, like, nails in her leg. And she was getting taken out on a stretcher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people were crying. And people were scared.

YOUNG: Students taking to social media, some updating their condition from the hospital. Westfield's mayor says it's still unclear why this stage collapsed.

MAYOR ANDY COOK, WESTFIELD, INDIANA: Before we left the site, the Indiana fire marshal was on the scene. So I'm sure they will comb through there and determine exactly what happened.

YOUNG: The heart-pounding video's reminiscent of a similar stage collapse at Indiana State Fair in 2011, when a wind gust from an approaching thunderstorm collapsed the roof structure, sending it onto a crowd of spectators. That deadly incident left seven dead and dozens injured.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: All right. Thank you very much to Ryan for that.

Joining us now is Blake Rice, a senior at Westfield High. He was playing guitar on stage when that platform collapsed. And his mom, Sara Camden. She shot the video of the terrifying incident. I'm sure a lot of parents were shooting, expecting this to be a

night that they would want to remember instead of one that now they're going to have to try to forget. But young man, let's start with you. How are you? How are your friends?

BLAKE RICE, SENIOR, WESTFIELD HIGH SCHOOL: Myself, I'm doing the best I can. I have not slept since the incident. I've been, you know, making sure all my friends are OK and everything and doing whatever I need to do for them. And it's just -- I'm just doing everything I can, you know, trying to stay awake, trying to stay positive, you know, keep the positive energy going. So I'm doing well.

CUOMO: Now we know that there's a whole range of injuries. One student there was critically injured. Do you know who that student is and how they're doing?

RICE: I am unsure of who that student actually is. I was not heavily informed on all who was injured and was hospitalized. But I know quite a few people were. And I've heard updates from some of them.

CUOMO: And the friends that you have who were hurt, are they all doing OK? Are they mostly out of the hospital and home?

RICE: For the most part, they are doing OK. Some are on overnight stay for concussions. One, for sure, has a torn calf and tendon which, you know, definitely hoping for a very full and fast recovery for her. And for the most part, everybody is doing pretty well though.

CUOMO: What was it like to be on that stage?

RICE: I mean, it was -- you know, it was -- for me it was just like any other performance right up until the incident actually occurred. And then it was -- I could tell everybody down there was afraid. I mean, I was afraid. I was a few feet from falling in myself. So, you know, I definitely wasn't out of the line of danger, by any means. And it was honestly just shocking. You know, I never would have seen anything like that happening.

CUOMO: You were in the crowd, Sara. You're watching this go on. When did you realize that this wasn't part of the act that you were seeing before you?

SARA CAMDEN, MOTHER OF BLAKE RICE: You know, it took me just a few seconds. You can actually hear my scream in the video. So there was kind of a moment of pause. There are a lot of folks, you know, talking after the show that did have a moment where they thought, you know, was this planned? But it came to realization very quickly that, no, this indeed was not planned.

CUOMO: What did it look like from the audience there? I mean, the video's pretty clear. But it's different when you're there, obviously. It wasn't the biggest height for kids to fall, but there's so much weight in such tight quarters there. What did it feel like to you?

CAMDEN: There was. I mean, it was like a dog pile down in the pit. And just the cover for it was pinning students underneath. And so there was a lot of men that got up there right away, were trying to free the students that were caught up underneath debris. And you know, there was definitely a lot -- a lot of kind of pandemonium panic going on there for a little bit.

It's just one of those moments as a parent that you just dread. You never want to experience that.

You know, Blake, when the crash happened, he was actually behind the crowd. So, you know, he backed up, and the singer moved forward on the stage so that the whole cast could come out and kind of celebrate the close of the show. So I couldn't really see him. And I assumed that he was in the pit when it happened.

So, you know, it was certainly a huge relief when I saw that he was still standing. But still just a sick feeling of dread for all the parents, all the kids that were impacted more directly.

CUOMO: No worse feeling than not knowing whether or not your kid is OK. Tough to imagine for people who aren't parents.

CAMDEN: No, there really isn't.

CUOMO: This was no simple situation, you're saying, where the stage fell and the kids fell, and they then had to get up. People had to try and help get kids out you're saying?

[06:05:03] CAMDEN: Yes, yes. Absolutely. I mean, some of them were definitely pinned underneath the cover and other debris. You know, it was definitely a relief to see many of them walk out of the stage. I mean, these are kids that we've known for forever, you know. And so you care about all of them like family. And so just every time you would see one come out, it was just such a huge feeling of relief.

CUOMO: And, Blake, were you talking to your friends all through the night? I'm sure a lot of kids feeling the same way you do this morning.

RICE: Yes. No, definitely, I've been -- you know, I've been there trying to talk to as many friends as are still awake. I know some of them -- a lot of them did go home, and they're asleep now.

But I've talked to a couple of my close friends, especially Nicole, who was the lead singer during the number. And, you know, she is just very shaken up by the whole event. But, you know, we're just trying as much as we can, you know, keep the energy positive and keep everyone's spirits up as much as we can.

And really just try and move forward from this in the best way that we can. And just, you know, staying strong, being there for each other. I mean, we're much more of a family than a cast. So I mean, it's -- we're very close-knit, and we're always going to be there for each other. And that's very, very helpful. CUOMO: Well, Indiana's certainly known for that. You've got

tight communities out there. It will help now. You've got to take some solace in the fact that it probably could have been worse in a situation like this. You had parents there who wanted to respond quickly. You got emergency medical help there quickly.

So hopefully look at it that way. And everybody who is hurt, like you said, hopefully they have a quick recovery.

It's good to see that you're OK, Blake. Thanks for telling us about it.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely.

CUOMO: And, Sara, I'm sure it was equally difficult for you to watch especially with your kid up there. So thank you for sharing your story with us. And we're glad that you two are OK.

CAMDEN: Definitely.

CUOMO: All right.

CAMDEN: Thank you.

CUOMO: Alisyn, over to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris. Now to another top story.

Demonstrators in Baltimore clashing with police overnight in the most heated protest yet. They're confronting officers, demanding answers about how Freddie Gray died after being taken into police custody. This as the victim's family begins the heart-wrenching burial process.

CNN's Joe Johns is live with the latest for us.

Good morning, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Two people were taken into custody in the protests here in Baltimore Thursday night. One was arrested for assault, the other arrested for destruction of property.

Baltimore's governor has sent 32 state troopers, state police officers, here to Baltimore to assist in crowd control.

Meanwhile, the investigation into the death of Freddie Gray continues. And there are continuing questions about why he was apparently not strapped into the transport van when he was taken away, because of concerns that he could have sustained his fatal injuries to his neck by a rough ride in the transport van. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL DAVEY, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE ATTORNEY: He was placed in the transport van. Whether he was seat belted in, is that what you're asking for? I don't believe he was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Today, a coalition of civil rights activists is expected to meet and call for the governor of Maryland to use executive action to address some of the issues that have been raised by the death of Freddie Gray.

The police commissioner here has said he'd like to see the investigation wrapped up by a week from today. Freddie Gray's funeral is scheduled for Monday at 11 a.m.

Michaela, back to you.

PEREIRA: All right, Joe, thank you so much for that.

We are learning more this morning about that drone strike in Pakistan that mistakenly killed two hostages that were being held by al Qaeda, including American aid worker Warren Weinstein. We have new information about efforts to try and free him.

CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has that. Good morning to you, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

Well, about a year into his captivity in 2012, Warren Weinstein's family actually sent money to his captors, hoping that that would help bring about his release. After that, they only heard demands for an al Qaeda associate being held in the United States, for her to be freed as part of some deal to free Dr. Weinstein here.

But we're also learning, and I talked indirectly with his family a couple of years ago, they -- back then they had been in contact directly with Warren Weinstein. The family had actually spoken to him directly. We're now learning when they last made a similar communication.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARREN WEINSTEIN, HOSTAGE HELD BY AL QAEDA: I came to Pakistan to help my government.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Overnight new details emerging about the last time American hostage Warren Weinstein was heard from, before being inadvertently killed by a U.S. drone strike.

According to a source involved in the negotiations for his release, Weinstein called his wife in June of 2014. The family hoping for another call, but just seven months later he and another Western hostage were dead, casualties of a U.S. drone strike targeting an al Qaeda compound where they were held on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

[06:10:15:] OBAMA: It is a cruel and bitter truth that, in the fog of war generally, and our fight against terrorists specifically, mistakes, sometimes deadly mistakes, can occur.

ROBERTSON: The death of Weinstein, a U.S. government contractor abducted in Pakistan in 2011, and Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto, renewing the debate over the controversial use of technology.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We can't use Special Operations troops to go after every terrorist in the world. We can't conduct an Osama bin Laden-style raid against every terrorist.

ROBERTSON: A former hostage kidnapped by the Taliban says they work.

DAVID RONDE, FORMER HOSTAGE: They were killing senior commanders. My guards hated the drone strikes because they were effective.

ROBERTSON: Drones also killing two American terrorists: Ahmed Farouq, a leader from al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent; and Adam Gadahn, a spokesman for al Qaeda.

ADAM GADAHN, SPOKESMAN FOR AL QAEDA: If this is not the time to act, then when will the time be right?

ROBERTSON: In this latest video, Gadahn urges Muslims in Pakistan to attack the U.S. four months before he was killed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: Now, what's interesting at the moment, al Qaeda has gone ahead and recognized that Farouq had been killed, but Gadahn, who had been such a useful propaganda tool for them, they haven't yet announced that they're confirming that he's dead, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Nic, thank you very much for the reporting on this.

Also breaking overnight, Italian police issuing 18 arrest warrants for Islamic extremists in a nationwide terror sweep. Among the suspects: two of Osama bin Laden's former bodyguards. Now authorities say some of the suspects took part in a number of deadly terrorist operations in Pakistan. Others are accused of financing al Qaeda operations.

CAMEROTA: Armenians around the world remembering the victims of mass killings 100 years ago. Russian president Vladimir Putin and other foreign leaders attending a memorial in the Armenian capital observing a minute of silence. As many as 1.5 million were massacred under the Ottoman Empire. Pope Francis calls this the first genocide of the 20th Century. But other countries, including the U.S., avoid using that term.

PEREIRA: The defense is set to take over next week in the penalty phase of the Boston bomber's trial. Last night our Anderson Cooper spoke with survivor Adrianne Haslet-Davis. She is a dancer who lost her leg in that attack. She reaffirmed for testimony -- her testimony for the prosecution that she believes that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev deserves to die for what he did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADRIANNE HASLET-DAVIS, BOSTON BOMBING SURVIVOR: I do feel strongly in the death penalty for this case and for -- I believe there's a justice system for a reason. And I support the prosecution's, you know, going after that. And I'm going to be really upset if he doesn't get the death penalty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Haslet-Davis also spoke about moving on with her life and says that she has started competitive dancing again.

CAMEROTA: All those survivor stories are so powerful.

PEREIRA: Really intense.

CAMEROTA: How they're able to move on.

CUOMO: And she became a metaphor for the resolve of one life that was basically, even though she lived, was taken away from her and how she got it back.

PEREIRA: She got it back. She claimed it back.

CAMEROTA: Right. God bless.

Well, there are growing concerns about the U.S. drone program, as we've been talking about, following the deaths of those two hostages held by al Qaeda in Pakistan. Are the drone attacks creating too much collateral damage? Our experts are going to debate this issue for you.

CUOMO: And when it comes to Baltimore, there are four different investigations into Freddie Gray's death and yet nothing made public. We now know when answers are supposed to come. And there's a new question about the past of one of the officers involved. We have it ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:17:46] OBAMA: I take full responsibility for all our counterterrorism operations, including the one that inadvertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni. I profoundly regret what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, there are lots of questions after those two Western hostages, including an American, were killed in that counterterrorism operation. The mistake highlighting the shortcomings of the drone program.

Let's debate this with Philip Mudd. He's a former CIA counterterrorism official. He's also on the advisory board of the National Counterterrorism Center. And Admiral James Stavridis. He's the dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and he's the former supreme allied commander at NATO and the author of "The Accidental Admiral."

Gentlemen, it's great to have all of your expertise with us here on NEW DAY this morning. Phil, you don't call this a mistake.

PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: I call it a tragedy, because two Americans died, two innocent Americans. But let's step through the operation for just a moment.

You get intelligence that identifies a target where the enemy is congregating. You have hundreds of hours of surveillance to look at the compound. In this part of the world often in these kinds of compounds you have women and children in one part of the compound, men at the other. You want to establish pattern of life, so you know what's going on there to ensure you minimize the loss of innocents.

If you want to take a further step and identify every single person in that compound and assure me that somebody in the basement isn't an American, I'd say you can't run operations like that. That's a bar too high.

CAMEROTA: So the reason you don't think it's a, quote, "mistake," is because this is the cost of doing business?

MUDD: It is. You look at this and say, if we want to run operations against al Qaeda, and the trigger puller has to sit there and say, "Well, maybe there's a one in 1,000 chance that one of those hostages who disappeared four years ago might be in the basement," you are not going to get an intelligence picture that allows you to identify that person.

One more thing: we haven't talked about the fact that this intelligence doesn't stick around forever. These guys, that is al Qaeda, know drones are in the air. They hate drones. Over time if they determine that that facility's being looked at, they're going to scatter. You're going to lose an opportunity to take them out. It's going to take you potentially months to figure out where there are again.

CAMEROTA: So, Admiral, without any boots on the ground pinpointing exactly who's in which target, how can the drone program do better than this?

[06:20:12] ADMIRAL JAMES STAVRIDIS, DEAN, FLETCHER SCHOOL, TUFTS UNIVERSITY: Well, first of all, Alisyn, I agree with Phil. This is a reality of war. Sometimes it's called the fog of war. It's simply the reality of the modern age.

When we use a weapon like this, it's really no different than using a precision-guided bomb from a jet or even a sniper. There's still a person in the loop; there's still analysis.

And to your question, we have overhead sensors. We have cell phone monitoring. We have the ability to use the visual projections from the strike aircraft. We have many, many means.

CAMEROTA: OK, but Admiral, I mean, but given all those means, then what went wrong here?

STAVRIDIS: As Phil said, a one in 1,000 chance that there's going to be an American hostage. It's a tragedy, but it's simply the reality if we're going to go after these people. We're going to use our best means, but we have to take our best shot.

CAMEROTA: Phil, this happened in January. Why are we only learning about it four months later?

MUDD: Look, al Qaeda isn't picking up the phone in the White House saying, "This is who we just lost in this operation." You're trying to pick up intelligence to identify which targets were killed. You don't have DNA evidence. And you've got to wait for the adversary to make a mistake. That takes months to piece together when they're trying to hide who they lost, because they just lost some of their key guys.

It takes months to piece bits and pieces together to watch them make a mistake to say, "Not only do we think some people died, but we have enough confidence to go to the president of the United States and say you can announce it to the American people."

CAMEROTA: And part of the issue here is that the drone program is shrouded in so much secrecy. Americans don't exactly know how it works. Can you shed some light on this? There's somebody thousands of miles away who pulls the trigger, based on some overhead scanning surveillance. But it sounds like we never really do know who exactly is being targeted.

STAVRIDIS: I think it varies, Alisyn. At some times, we'll know with a great deal of precision. AT other times we're going to have, as Phil said, very fleeting intelligence.

But again, this is the reality of how we're going to go after these targets. There is due process. The attorney general has talked to that. It is highly classified. But there is congressional involvement, as well. And I'm convinced it's a reasonable process, given the realities of war.

CAMEROTA: Phil, I do want to bring up something else that is just into our newsroom. CNN is just learning that Warren Weinstein's family did transfer money to his captors in 2012. They were obviously hoping that that would secure his release. But then the captors switched it to saying that they wanted a prisoner swap.

MUDD: Yes.

CAMEROTA: We've seen this before with families. Families want some control. They want to be able to get their loved ones back. What do you think of this?

MUDD: I think after the Bowe Bergdahl release, remember the release of an American military individual from Afghanistan for Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo, there's a question in the White House that is still unresolved. And that is if you want to trade people for a Taliban prisoner in exchange for an American military individual, do you want to do the same for American civilians? In this case, for example, an aid worker in Pakistan.

I think people in Washington don't know the answer for one simple reason. You might bring an innocent home, but as soon as you open that door people like the Taliban or al Qaeda are going to say, "Hey, I know how to make some money. That's take some more prisoners."

CAMEROTA: Admiral, there have been eight Americans killed with drone strikes, one of them Warren Weinstein, is -- was not at all associated. He was the hostage. He wasn't associated whatsoever with al Qaeda. Do you think that this incident is going to make the U.S. rethink its drone policy?

STAVRIDIS: I think there will be a continuing debate about the use of this kind of strike, but again, let's face it. In a war, if you're going to go after your opponents, there's going to be collateral damage. During the Libyan operation, for example, we dropped thousands of precision-guided weapons. We use these kind of weapons, but we minimize collateral damage. We'll continue to do that. But there will be a debate that will follow. I don't foresee significant change in this program.

CAMEROTA: Admiral James Stavridis, Philip Mudd, thanks so much for all of your expertise. Great to have you on.

Let's get over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Alisyn.

[06:24:07] Anger is boiling over in Baltimore. Protesters clashing with police demanding to know what happened to Freddie Gray. Answers still very hard to come by following the young man's death. Why won't police tell the family what they know?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: We have some breaking news overnight to tell you about. About two dozen students recovering after a stage collapses at an Indiana high school. Watch this video. There you see the floor giving way during a performance, sending students into the orchestra pit below. One student was in critical condition but has since been upgraded. The cause of this collapse remains unclear.

PEREIRA: New details emerging now about a U.S. drone strike that mistakenly killed two hostages being held by al Qaeda in Pakistan in January. Seventy-three-year-old American aid worker Warren Weinstein died in that attack. A source telling CNN Weinstein's family had transferred money to his captors back in 2012, but the captors then changed their mind and demanded a prisoner exchange instead. Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto was also killed, along with two terrorists. President Obama calling the tragedy a deadly mistake in the fog of war. CUOMO: After five months Loretta Lynch confirmed by the Senate

to replace Eric Holder as attorney general. And it was a relative landslide, ten Republicans, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, joined Democrats in voting for Lynch. Now when she is sworn-in on Monday, she'll become the first black woman to serve as attorney general.

CAMEROTA: A marathon brawl erupting in the seventh inning of last night's...

PEREIRA: I like it when you talk about sports.

CAMEROTA: I know. I'll try to get through this one.

CUOMO: This isn't really sports.

CAMEROTA: This is a bad story, because there was a big brawl during last night's Royals-White Sox game in Chicago. Five players were ejected after the benches cleared. It started when Kansas City pitcher Yordano Ventura -- there you go -- exchanged words with Chicago's Adam Eaton after fielding his ground ball. Several fights broke out, Michaela, earlier in the game. Players from both teams were hit by pitches. Even I know that's bad. And that prompted warnings to both sides by the umpires.

[06:30:00] I got through it.

PEREIRA: You did.

CAMEROTA: No good. No good.

CUOMO: One of the worst swing-to-hit ratios in a sport that's all about swinging and hitting: baseball fights.