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New Day
Six Dead in Texas, Oklahoma Flooding; Baltimore's Deadliest Month in 15 Years; Police Looking for Accomplices in D.C. Murders. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired May 26, 2015 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:34:13] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And we are following breaking news for you this morning. At least six people dead and 12 missing in Texas and Oklahoma. The result of record setting rains and flash flooding.
The governor of Texas declaring a state of emergency in 37 counties. Houston closing all schools this morning. Near Austin as many as 400 homes have washed away. That same severe storm system spawning a tornado across the border in Mexico, killing 13 people there.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We also have breaking news this morning in Iraq. Government forces are going all-in to take back Anbar province, and their pride after a number of recent setbacks including the loss of Ramadi and the strategic oil refinery. Word of the operation comes as the U.S. and Iraq engage in a war of words after Defense Secretary Ash Carter questioned the Iraqis will to fight in an exclusive CNN interview.
[06:35:04] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Memorial Day fun turns terrifying in Florida. Waterspout comes ashore, creating havoc on a busy beach. That entire ordeal caught on camera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, bounce house!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, there's kids on it!
PEREIRA (voice-over): Parents on Ft. Lauderdale beach watching in horror. Moments before a waterspout forming just offshore makes its way onto land. Watch as it cuts across the beach sending this children's bounce house soaring an estimated 20 feet into the air with children inside.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It gets high up by the palm trees. Next thing you know you see kids flying out of the bounce house. Girl hits the floor, boy hits the floor. And the bounce house takes off.
PEREIRA: One little girl who suffered a fractured arm describes her ordeal.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: I was in the bounce house and then the bounce house flew while I was in there. Then I fell in the dirt. I was thinking I was about to die.
PEREIRA: In total, three children were injured. This mother watched helplessly as her daughter lifted off the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was like, oh, my God, I can't believe this.
PEREIRA: Waterspouts are similar to tornadoes but are usually less intense, however they can be just as dangerous. The waterspout on Ft. Lauderdale beach packed enough force to snap this concrete basketball post in two.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is an act of Mother Nature, something that could not be prevented.
PEREIRA: Inflatable bounce house injuries are becoming more common according to one study, rising 1,500 percent from 1995 to 2010.
Around the same time last year two young boys were seriously injured when a gust of wind sent their inflatable house airborne. Both children fell two stories.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PEREIRA: So you saw that little one with the broken arm. Another little child was sent home with some injuries. But one child was kept in the hospital overnight for observation. Stable but observing to make sure they're OK. Imagine being a parent watching that happen. There's nothing you can do.
CUOMO: Yes, I don't know -- I don't know that that's true, though. The parents can't do anything. But why do the castles keep flying away?
CAMEROTA: It just happens all the time. I mean, we've seen this all the time. And they're really fun. I mean, bounce houses are great at a party.
PEREIRA: I'm not used to seeing them at a beach, though.
CAMEROTA: No, that is different. But they fly away too much. I mean, that is a design flaw that they need to --
CUOMO: Or it's about who is in charge of the bounce castles and what the rules are and the rules are not. I mean, 1,500 percent up from 95 to that period they've measured.
PEREIRA: How many times have we reported this story on NEW DAY?
CAMEROTA: Too many.
PEREIRA: Yes, far too many.
CUOMO: Another story we've reported on many times but still the need is great is Baltimore. We're not there. So things must be better at least, right? Wrong.
The fact is there are more killings in Baltimore than ever. There are over two dozen shootings just this weekend. And arrests however are down. That's a very troubling combination. We will tell you what's going on there. And you're going to want to know.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:42:05] CUOMO: May is now the deadliest month in Baltimore in 15 years. There have been 35 homicides. The question is what is behind this deadly increase.
Let's bring in Reverend Jamal Bryant. You remember him. He's pastor at Empowerment Temple Church and president of the Empowerment Movement. Now, he's going to hold a demonstration today to bring attention to what he believes is contributing to the problem.
Rev, it's good to see you. I'm sorry it's under these circumstances.
Thirty-five, maybe even more homicides, but fewer arrests. You say both statistics are important. Why?
REV. JAMAL BRYANT, PRESIDENT, EMPOWERMENT MOVEMENT: It is so critical, Chris, when you will consider nine fatalities just this weekend. Last year 2014, we didn't hit 100 homicides until July. We're now past that number still in the end of May.
It's critical and alarming when you will consider that school isn't even out and a lot of young people are still in classrooms. What happens in three weeks when these young people go out and they have no employment opportunities, no recreation centers and nothing to occupy their time? And so, we're in dire crisis and our whole city is gasping its breath hoping there's some sigh of relief.
CUOMO: And you say that the fact arrests are down is also relevant because?
BRYANT: It is so critical when you will consider arrests are down by 50 percent of what it ordinarily is. Commissioner Batts is going to have to be answerable because it looks as if the police have taken on the posture of substitute teachers who go into a classroom, turn a blinded eye but really don't infiltrate any discipline or give any expectation.
And so, it's really become the Wild, Wild West. So we're looking for law and order to happen both on the end of the police and accountability from our citizens.
CUOMO: Now, what to you say to the argument of backlash? You know, you go after the police, you say everything they do is bad, every altercation is excessive force, that this is what happens. The police wind up pulling back to make all their critics and you get less arrests and you get more crime?
BRYANT: Well, we've not used those universal terms. We've got incredible police officers who gave their lives every day to protecting our community. But we do believe that there are some rotten apples that need to be turned out. That's the same example by saying that all of the protesters are rioters. This is a false analogy and a bad premise.
CUOMO: You're also calling out government's choices of where to put its money. You say it's not putting money into teachers and schools but it's building a new juvenile detention center for tens of millions of dollars. And you see that as what?
BRYANT: The philosophers, scholars all agree there's a direct connection between poverty and criminality for our governor to make the willful bad mistake of electing not giving $11 million to surge Baltimore public schools.
[06:45:06] But on the same day, elect to erect a $30 million juvenile detention center shows misplaced priority.
Chris last week, 121 employees of the Baltimore public school system got notices that their services are no longer necessary for next school year. I don't know how you do that with good conscience and you hire then people to break ground on a brand new juvenile detention center. Today, we're demonstrating to help the governor know that this is bad politics. And you've got priorities out of place.
CUOMO: You talk about government responsibility, police responsibility and what about personal responsibility, Reverend? What is your message to people about raising their kids and about what the element is in these communities that winds up breeding crime?
BRYANT: Well, here in Baltimore we don't call it a riot, Chris. We call it an uprising, when you consider after Dr. King was killed it took in Baltimore $113 million to restore the city. Our own mayor and comptroller agreed to restore the city after the uprising on April 23rd and 26th, it just $23 million.
Dr. King says riots are in fact the language of the unheard. And so I think that there were just a few who went in measures that we don't ascribe to but speaks that young people in this city want opportunities to develop jobs, they want to have opportunities for education. And they feel frustrated that the governor would in fact give them an opportunity to spend the night in a new jail but not spend the night on a college campus.
CUOMO: All right. Reverend Bryant, thank you very much. This is an urgent situation. We pledge to keep attention on it. And we will do that. Please let us know how it goes going forward.
BRYANT: Absolutely. Thank you.
CUOMO: Mick, over to you.
PEREIRA: All right. Chris, we're also watching this story. Did the suspect in the Washington, D.C. mansion murders act alone? Police are looking into whether Daron Wint had accomplices. His former attorney joins us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:51:07] PEREIRA: Good to have you back with us here on NEW DAY.
Police say the suspect in that horrific quadruple murder at a Washington, D.C. mansion may have had help. They are now looking for accomplices. Daron Wint is accused of killing a prominent D.C. couple, their 10-year-old son and housekeeper before torching their home.
I want to turn to Wint's former attorney, Robin Ficker. He spoke with Wint's family last night and he spoke with us last week on NEW DAY.
Mr. Ficker, good to have you. I'm curious what the family is making of the charges against their sibling and mother?
ROBIN FICKER, FORMER DARON WINT'S ATTORNEY: Well, I spoke to the mother by phone, and met with brother and a sister. There are nine children in this family. They impress me just as Daron did as nice island people. They're horrified by these charges and don't believe that Daron had anything to do with it.
If you note in the records filed by the U.S. attorney it says that a black man with short well-groomed hair was driving the stolen blue Porsche that ended up being burned two miles from Daron's father's house. However, all the pictures of him show that he has long dreadlocks and indeed he still has long dreadlocks.
So, someone else was driving that car. Someone else burned the car.
PEREIRA: So, Mr. Ficker, you're talking as though you also believe he may have had accomplices in this as prosecutors are alleging?
FICKER: I think that prosecutors should start looking at current or people who work for the deceased very recently. Daron was a part-time laborer for him ten years ago. You don't harbor a grudge for that long only to see it spring forth ten years later.
PEREIRA: Again, we don't know if this was a grudge or if it was something to do with the money that was found and taken from the area. Look, we also know that DNA was found on a pizza crust there, DNA that belonged to Daron Wint.
FICKER: Well, his brother and sister both told me without being asked that Daron doesn't like pizza and never eats it.
There were three messages coming out of this house while people were supposedly being held hostage. One by the mother who ordered pizza and gave her credit card number, one by the deceased gentleman who called for the money, and then another message that went out to a housekeeper telling her not to come.
Couldn't someone have said call the police we're being held hostage during this time?
PEREIRA: Well, they were likely under duress, do you not assume?
FICKER: Well, they may have been under duress but there are at least three contacts and it's very suspicious to me that no word, no cry for help went out at all.
PEREIRA: Well, you're making the assumption that the people being held that were actually sending out those messages, they could have been the people that were holding them.
I want to ask you about his description. You described him on our air last week when you were speaking with my colleague, you described Wint as kind and gentle. Well, I want to point you to a 2010 case, the charged document read that Wint threatened to kill a woman and her 2-year-old daughter, broke the windshield of her car and stole their television.
Kind and gentle?
FICKER: There was no injury in that case. We all --
PEREIRA: Threatening to kill a 2-year-old?
FICKER: The 2-year-old wasn't injured at all. These are idle threats often resulting from a custody battle.
PEREIRA: All right. Well, kind and gentle isn't a description I've heard when someone (AUDIO GAP) a 2-year-old child.
I want to ask you also about the fact that you maintain that he has been wrongfully accused. And I believe that's what the family is also saying, correct?
[06:55:02] FICKER: There's no question about it. If you look at the photograph of the man running away, it doesn't look at all like Daron Wint. And even though there's some implication by police that it is, there are no facial features that can be observed at all.
PEREIRA: Could have been one of the alleged accomplices. Again, my point is there are many questions we still don't know the answer to.
But one of the questions I have for you is if he is wrongfully accused and if he is innocent, why would his girlfriend in Brooklyn say that he was planning on turning himself in once he realized that the police were after him? And then why would he run to D.C. instead reportedly some local media reports are saying that he took $1,000 cab ride to D.C.?
If he just wanted to go for the Memorial Day weekend to D.C., probably just hop on the mega bus or something.
FICKER: He was probably coming back to family. I've met with members of the family. They're all very nice island people. He was coming back home to talk to his family as to what to do.
PEREIRA: Why was he afraid?
FICKER: He was afraid because of the media attention and the allegations made by police. The police were referring to him as a murderer on national TV.
PEREIRA: So why not walk into the precinct and say here I am, what questions do you have, here's my representation?
FICKER: Well, he should have gone and talked to a lawyer right away. That's for sure. I represented him in six cases, he was found not guilty in all six cases.
But when you have a national dragnet out you become afraid. And when you're being called a murderer on national TV, of course you're going to be a bit defensive. Wouldn't you?
He's presumed innocent. The police should have said that from the very beginning.
PEREIRA: Have you had any more contact with the family about whether you're going to represent Daron Wint?
FICKER: They're going to be talking about that this week. There are nine children, as I said, it's a large family.
And they don't want the public defender to represent him. They're going to be getting back to me at the end of the week. I hope that I can represent him because I think we'll win and he'll be found not guilty.
PEREIRA: Robin Ficker there's still a whole lot of questions that need to be answered at this point. What we do know four people are dead. Thank you so much for joining us today.
FICKER: My pleasure.
PEREIRA: All right. We're following a whole lot of news this morning. Let's get right to it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two hundred to 300 homes completely destroyed still looking for 12 missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never our wildest imagination think of the wall of water that would come down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The road was washed away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The challenges are not over yet.
CUOMO: A massive attack on ISIS.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The ministry operations will be northeast of Fallujah and around Ramadi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've talked about this as a battle for territory. It is a battle of will.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love it and I hate it, you know? But it's home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An Iranian-American journalist for "The Washington Post" is on trial for espionage in Tehran.
CUOMO: May is now the deadliest month in Baltimore in 15 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've come too far to have this type of setback.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you think that there is a great increase in the murder rate?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY.
We have big stories breaking at home and in Iraq where a major military operation is underway against ISIS.
But first, parts of Texas and Oklahoma reeling from severe storms and flooding. The relentless rain and violent weather blamed for at least six deaths and a dozen people still missing at this hour.
CUOMO: Texas' governor saying people in his state have never seen anything like this. In Houston, the flooding is so bad schools are closed today.
Let's get to CNN's Jennifer Gray. She's in Wimberley, one of the towns hard hit.
What does it look like there now?
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, well, Chris, it looks more like tornado damage than flood damage. You have 200 to 300 homes completely destroyed, a lot of homes wiped clear off their foundation. As we mentioned a dozen people still missing. In fact, the Blanco River rose three times flood stage on Sunday with the flow 2.5 times that of Niagara Falls.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRAY (voice-over): This morning record breaking and deadly flood waters continue to wreak havoc across central Texas and Oklahoma.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: The challenges are not over yet. There's going to be more rain to come.
GRAY: Nearly 40 counties throughout Texas now under an emergency disaster declaration. A dam rupturing just east of Austin unable to withhold the historic amount of rain flooding a highway.
UNIDENTIFIE MALE: It's not over. The rain is still here.
GRAY: Family members desperately wait on dry land.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I kept calling him over and over and I was like are you OK, are you OK?
GRAY: As rescues continue by air and water. The National Guard called to rescue 13 people, including three children trapped in a rental cabin in southeast Oklahoma.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The water came up quicker than expected. Road washed out and we couldn't pass by it.
GRAY: In Wimberley, Texas, around a dozen people are still missing, including two families with children.
