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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Officials: Cell Phone Tower Detected Co-Pilots Phone Around Time Plane Vanished; Three Killed At Kansas Jewish Centers; Victims' Families Share Memories; Death Toll Rises In Ebola Outbreak; Mystery of Flight 370
Aired April 14, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. There's breaking news in the search for Flight 370, the first dive by a high tech sonar sub was aborted in the middle of the mission. We'll tell you why.
And the striking new development for first time after five weeks we're learning about a cell phone transmission from the plane itself. It came from the cockpit.
Also tonight homegrown hatred. A killer takes three lives at two Jewish center outside in Kansas City. The horror unfolding a day before Passover.
And breaking news as well tonight, an Ebola rampaging in western Africa. The question is, is it just a single international flight away from arriving here? Dr. Sanjay Gupta -- frontline in the fight to contain the deadly virus and goes there.
We'll also have the latest on the crisis in Ukraine.
We begin with the breaking news out of the Indian Ocean. The search area shifting slightly. The big news, though, day one using the underwater sonar scanning submersible called Bluefin-21, that's somewhat shorter day one than planned. In a moment a 360 exclusive we'll take you down with it so you can exactly see for yourself what it sees.
First, though, the U.S. naval officer who's heading Bluefin operations. Before that, he headed up the search with the towed pinger locator. Captain Mark Matthews, director of Ocean Engineering, supervisor of Salvage and Diving.
Captain Matthews, the Bluefin only spent six, I understand, out of a possible 16 hours searching the sea bed today. Why was that?
CAPT. MARK MATTHEWS, U.S. NAVY: Well, that's correct. It aborted its mission at about the six-hour point. What this vehicle was programmed to do on this mission was maintain an altitude above the sea floor of about 30 meters while it conducted a side scan sonar search of the area.
Now one condition that causes it to abort its dive if it reaches its maximum operating depth of 4500 meters. So that's what happened in this case. The charted sea floor depth that we have for this area is between 4200 and 4400 meters and that 5 by 8 kilometer square or rectangle that it's searching.
We just hit a deeper spot than we initially planned so we just got to bring it up, reprogram it, shift it a little bit away from that deeper area and adjust our search pattern.
COOPER: OK. The Air Chief Marshal Angus said that the Bluefin is being used in a, quote, "the most likely spot." I just was wondering about that. What makes that the most likely spot? Is it simply in relation to the four sets of pings or is there other data that's pointing to that particular location?
MATTHEWS: Well, the information that tells us is the most likely location is really the nature of the detection from the towed pinger locator that we had in that area. It was the site of the highest signal strength or the loudest received signal. It was also where we had an increase in signal strength as we drove through the area and then a decrease as we drove out of the area. You know, typically gaining and then losing the contact as we'd expect. And we had very good crisp clear signal in that area.
An additional factor pointing us into that direction is, you know, that oil slick that was observed the other day. You know, certainly, we're analyzing the water sample from that area to see if it was a petroleum product related to the air craft and we'll know that over the next couple of days and there's many possible sources of an oil sheen on the surface of the ocean but it's, you know, would be -- one explanation is that it was lubricating fluid or control oil from the aircraft.
COOPER: So -- just so I understand on the aborting the Bluefin today, it is -- it's not manually controlled, it's just -- it's automatically set at a certain depth.
MATTHEWS: You want a good signal return from that sonar. So you kind of program it to maintain a certain altitude above the sea floor. And you program it before it goes in the water. You have some rudimentary communication between the vehicle and the ship, giving the position where the vehicle is at. You can command it to abort, you can command it to start a certain search pattern than you've already programmed.
COOPER: And are you seeing things in real time from the vehicle or is that just data that you get once it comes back up?
MATTHEWS: So once you recover the vehicle you go through this four hour process where you replace the batteries, you reprogram it, and you download the data that you collected on the previous mission. You then take about two to four hours to go through that data to see what the vehicle observed. So there's no live data link transmitting the information giving real time feedback.
COOPER: Do you have a sense of -- the area that you're looking at based on the four pings that you did receive over time, how big an area are you talking about and how long would it take the underwater vehicle, the Bluefin that you have, to actually kind of scan that entire area?
MATTHEWS: So it would take approximately six weeks to two months to cover that whole entire area. Right now what we're doing is we're targeting specific areas based on the information we received from the towed pinger locator, giving us kind of an indication of higher probability areas or higher priority areas to go searching and that's what we're doing. This is more of what I'd call a tactical search than a strategic search.
COOPER: Do you believe you have pings from two separate -- I know you can't say for sure that they're black boxed, but from two separate manmade devices?
MATTHEWS: The best indication we have is we've got a very crisp indication that it's a manmade transmitter, at least one. So I'm more confident saying one than two.
COOPER: Captain Matthews, good to talk to you. Thanks very much.
MATTHEWS: Nice talking to you, Anderson.
COOPER: Let's bring in our panel. CNN safety analyst David Soucie, author of "Why Planes Crash: An Accident Investigator's Fight for Safe Skies," CNN analyst David Gallo of the search for Air France Flight 447, director of Special Projects at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 777 captain and CNN aviation analyst Les Abend, and former Department of Transportation inspector general Mary Schiavo, who currently represents accident victims and their families.
David Gallo, is it a surprise to you that this Bluefin-21 reached its underwater depth, the maximum?
DAVID GALLO, CO-LED SEARCH FOR AIR FRANCE FLIGHT 447: Not a -- not a surprise to me, Anderson. I mean, they are operating right at the edge of their operating capability. So much of the sea floor is right at that depth about 4500 meters. If they come in a little bit to the south they're going to be on the flank of an underwater plateau. It's going to be more rugged. If thye go to the north it's going to be deeper still. But they've got the maps. You know, I don't know what the accuracy of the maps they have.
COOPER: Does it -- I mean, if they seem to be caught by surprise by this trench or depth, does it --
GALLO: Sure.
COOPER: Does it indicate that they don't have a real good sense of the floor, what they're dealing with?
GALLO: Well, it's tough to get that kind of detail when you come right down to the operations of a vehicle. You get some general sense. You heard Angus Houston talk about a gently rolling terrain. That's could be based on -- he must have seen some map someone produced. But inside that rolling terrain there could have been crevices, gullies, that kind of thing, very easily. So it's not that surprising. And the fact that they are tracking the terrain so they're keeping 30 meters above the sea floor. So if the sea floor takes a dive so does the vehicle. And that's where they got into trouble because the vehicle got over its depth and kicked out.
COOPER: And there's a crush depth for the vehicle. I mean, if it goes too deep the pressure actually --
GALLO: Yes. My understanding is that 4500 is their comfortable operating depth and that they could get down to about 4900 before the vehicle actually implodes but you don't want to go anywhere that boundary because then you're talking about losing the vehicle.
COOPER: It does raise a question, David Soucie, on whether they're going to be experiencing this kind of aborted mission frequently.
DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Yes. It does. And I don't know if, you know, David knew about how deep it was but what I heard him say also is the programming of it. So what worries me about that is what other programming things have to be reset when it comes back up. Is it -- we've been talking before about doing 18 square miles a day. At this rate there's no way they'll get that. And much longer than I thought.
COOPER: Mary, what do you make of this oil slick or what they believe to -- could be an oil slick. It's going to take a couple of days to analyze. What do you make of it?
MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, I think it's a little late in terms of the number of days that it would have had to be out there to still be existent this close to where they think the wreckage it is. And it is -- and the other problem is it's so close to the wreckage it would have dissipated or, you know, kind of changed, you know, (INAUDIBLE), and floated away.
But the good thing is that it's aviation fuel. Jet A or aviation oils or lubricants, they're hydraulic fluid and they are very specific to aviation. They are separate oil company divisions just manufacturing aviation products and they'll know right away if it's aviation as opposed to maritime lubricants.
COOPER: Mary, do you know or does anyone on the panel know what's involved in trying to determine if in fact it is fuel from this plane or even just aviation fuel?
SOUCIE: An spectral analysis is what's usually used. On this aircraft you have a continuous monitoring of that oil. So every time that it comes in for servicing they take it out, they send it in to see if there's metals or any kind of -- any other breakdown in the oils themselves so they do spectrum analysis of it.
COOPER: Les, why would there be -- I mean, if it is from a plane why would there be oil in the water?
LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, the engines on these Rolls Royce engines they have about close to 20 quartz a side, which doesn't sound like a lot for a big airplane but you really don't need much in a jet engine. It could be slowly dripping up to the surface.
I mean, you know, they're saying an oil slick. I'm wondering if it's just some sort of fluid slick. It could be hydraulics. These gentlemen can answer better.
COOPER: So that's interesting, that it's not something necessarily that would have been on the surface from the plane actually hitting the water. It could actually be coming up from the bottom.
SOUCIE: That's right.
ABEND: Yes. The Arizona in Pearl Harbor leaked -- is still leaking until this day, 75 -- almost 75 years later so.
SOUCIE: And this is a synthetic oil as well. So it's something a little bit different than a standard oil. It could see coming up there. But nonetheless it's lighter yet than the water is.
COOPER: But certainly if that was the case, if it was a question of bubbling up, it would actually give you a relatively clear sense of location, wouldn't it?
SOUCIE: Well, not necessarily because it has to go through a lot of --
GALLO: Yes. There's currents --
COOPER: Right.
GALLO: Going in every different direction. So --
SOUCIE: Yes.
GALLO: But it'd be close. It'd be nearby, for sure.
COOPER: The other issue on the possibility of this cell phone, underwater (INAUDIBLE), of the cell phone pinging, I mean, that's -- does it surprise you to hear that? What does it tell you?
SOUCIE: What surprises me is that we only got one. If -- and I'm not sure if they're just not telling us there were others or they're just focusing saying that the co-pilot's phone was on.
COOPER: Right.
SOUCIE: So to me if it's just one it's very suspicious, it's very awkward. I can't figure out why there would be one phone that would connect. If it was on, surely somebody else in the airplane would left theirs on as well.
COOPER: We're going to examine that a lot in our coming segment as well. We're going to take you to the flight simulator. Just got to give you a sense of how low you would actually be flying in order to get something like that.
In terms of -- you know, they only have one side scanning sonar vehicle right now, I mean, A, is this the right piece of equipment given the depth issues, and I still don't quite understand why not have multiple pings.
GALLO: Well, you heard Captain Matthews say that this was a tactical survey. Meaning that they felt that they were going to get -- be able to throw the dart right at the bull's eye of one vehicle, one pinger locator, and it didn't turn out that way. They got an area instead of a point to throw that dart at.
We did things differently with Air France. We said somewhere in this area is that aircraft and let's just start way to the west and sweep all the way to the east.
COOPER: You had three vehicles.
GALLO: We had three vehicles at once. Yes.
COOPER: And so they can operation -- I mean, there's no reason you can't have multiple vehicles?
GALLO: No, no, they could do that. But I mean, he mentioned going to high probability areas. And again what we would rather do is start with a wider area and cover it completely and then the aircraft will fall out of that. And so if we say let's do this whole -- instead of 3 by 5 area let's do a 6 by 6 area, and if the aircraft is there we're going to see it. So --
COOPER: And David -- David Gallo, what's happening in that first six hours of data? What's happening to it in terms of the analysis?
GALLO: I'm sure a lot of people staring at a couple of screens on board that ship, watching. If it's a waterfall display, so line by line by line. Every time that vehicle set out about every second a ping, and then got the echo back. It's painting a picture line by line like -- almost like a tapestry. And so they're probably -- they're waiting for that to see what the texture, you know, what they're going to see on the bottom. Are they going to see rocks, are they going to see sediment, are they going to see something that looks like it's manmade sitting there?
COOPER: There's a -- we're going to have more on the conversation just after the break, more on the Bluefin itself. And you'll only see it here. In a 360 exclusive, our Randi Kaye takes us underwater. Actually let's take a look at that right now. Takes us underwater to see exactly how this Bluefin-21 works. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On board the RV Resolution in the Boston harbor, we've come here to see for ourselves how the Bluefin AUV operates.
WILL O' HALLORAN, MARINE OPERATIONS ENGINEER, BLUEFIN ROBOTICS: AUVs like the Bluefin-21, they are the tool you would use to conduct a wide area side scan survey in ultra deep water. KAYE: Will O'Halloran is a marine operations engineer for Bluefin Robotics which designs and builds these autonomous underwater vehicles in Quincy, Massachusetts.
(On camera): If this were a mission, a real mission, what would it be doing?
O'HALLORAN: So the next thing that would happen is the radio instructions we receive is that red antenna there, the vehicle would say, OK, I'm going to start this mission. The propeller would spin up and then it would dive.
KAYE: Here in the Boston Harbor the water is only about 40 feet deep which is easily manageable for the Bluefin because this autonomous vehicle is used to working in depth several miles below the surface.
(Voice-over): The Bluefin-21 can dive about two and a half miles. But Flight 370's wreckage in the Indian Ocean may be deeper than that. It takes about two hours for the Bluefin to reach the bottom, where it can operate for another 16 hours. It scans the ocean floor as if it's mowing a lawn using side scan sonar which identifies objects that stands out from the sea bed.
(On camera): When it's working with the side scanner, it's not actually taking pictures, right?
O'HALLORAN: No.
KAYE: It's measuring sound.
O'HALLORAN: Correct. What it's doing is it's actually -- it's converting sound to electricity and then turning that electrical value into numerical value then turns into an image.
KAYE (voice-over): When it returns to the surface scientists download the sonar data to computers. The results may look something like this.
O'HALLORAN: And what we're looking at here, for example, this is a ship wreck in Boston Harbor. So you can see how it's different than the area around it. You can see there's a -- parts of the steam engine right there.
KAYE: If something catches their eye the Navy will send down a high resolution camera on the Bluefin-21. It can take black and white photos covering about 15 square miles a day. It's a slow process. Moving at just three nautical miles per hour. Only made worse by horrendous conditions, freezing temperatures, mountainous terrain and complete darkness. But even diving blind there is much hope the Bluefin-21 AUV will see something.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Quincy, Massachusetts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Amazing technology. You can follow me on Twitter tonight @andersoncooper, tweet using #ac360 with any questions.
Coming up next we're going to look more at the cell -- the cell phone transmission from Flight 370's flight deck. Reports about that and what it could mean. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Two big headlines in the search for Flight 370 tonight. The first mission of that Bluefin-21 underwater scanning vehicle ending early, aborted when the deepwater it found itself in was even deeper than expected.
Also this, attention is once again returned to the flight crew. This time the first officer, the co-pilot there on the right, Fariq Abdul Hamid, specifically to his cell phone. Now remember as far as we knew up to this point not one single cell phone transmission had been received from anyone on board the Boeing 777. Now we're learning that may not be true that there was something and it came from Hamid's phone itself. Whether or not anyone said anything on it that fact alone could speak volumes.
Our justice correspondent Pamela Brown has been working her sources on this, joins us now.
So what do you -- this is really -- I mean, again, remarkable if true. What are you hearing from your sources about the co-pilot's cell phone being on during the flight?
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, we're learning from sources with firsthand knowledge of the investigation that the first officer's phone was not turned off like it should have been and that it was on roughly 30 minutes after the plane's communications mysteriously shut off, and the jet disappeared.
Now this is according to information that Malaysians shared with U.S. investigators a while ago. And that data apparently is from a cell tower from Penang, Malaysia, Anderson. That's roughly 250 miles from where that plane turned around indicating that it detected a signal from the first officer's phone.
COOPER: There's no confirmation, though, of any actual calls that were made, right?
BROWN: Yes, that's right. So we know officials have been pouring over millions of phone records and U.S. officials, Malaysian officials say there is no indication that anyone actually placed a phone call on that plane. The Transport minister of Malaysia wouldn't rule out the possibility, though, that the first officer tried to make a call and sources I've been speaking to say that is a possibility. We just don't know.
COOPER: What -- I mean, does it raise suspicions, even more about what was going on in the cockpit? What -- I mean, how are investigators looking at them? BROWN: It does. It adds to the mystery, Anderson. Of course it refocuses attention back on the cockpit. And what it tells investigators basically is that the first officer's phone was turned on. That the plane did indeed turn around and that it was likely flying low enough to connect with a cell tower. But what it doesn't tell us here is who was alive, who was dead. Doesn't tell us anything about a motive.
It is curious, though, for investigators because experts we've been speaking with say that crews are supposed to turn off their phones in the cockpit. It's extremely rare for their phones to be on while they're flying.
And also just to throw this caveat here, Anderson, this is Malaysians sharing information with the U.S. We simply don't know how reliable this data is.
COOPER: And also, just one other question, I guess this means that the plane was flying low enough to have been picked up by a cell tower. Does this mean for sure that nobody else on board the flight had their phone on or do we just not know?
BROWN: That's -- at this point the information that we shared with U.S. investigators according to the sources I've been speaking with was focused on the first officer's cell phone being detected by the cell tower, Anderson. So, of course, there's a possibility that the passengers' phones could have also been on but at this point all -- the only information we have --
COOPER: OK.
BROWN: That the first officer's phone was detected.
COOPER: All right. Pamela Brown, appreciate it.
Again, we're going to be running through a scenario on the flight simulator in just a moment about how low the plane will have to be. But back with the panel, David Soucie, David Gallo, Les Abend, and Mary Schiavo.
Les, are -- do you buy this? Are you skeptical about this?
ABEND: I'm really skeptical about this whole thing.
COOPER: Why?
ABEND: Well, I mean, number one, as a professional, we even have our electronic checklist to shut off the device. Now I don't know, you know, whether this was an accurate report, whether the co-pilot had it off, left it on. I mean, we've all left our cell phones on, I mean. But, you know, this is a violation of a sterile period. You know --
COOPER: Sterile period?
ABEND: Sterile period is the period that we should just be talking about cockpit operations below 10,000 feet primarily or any activity involved, you know, with flying the airplane. So that's what we call the sterile period. In the U.S. it's below 10,000.
But, you know, like you brought up, Anderson, why weren't other cell phones, you know, had the handshake? It just doesn't make any sense to me. And why would the co-pilot use this form of communication, you know, for various scenarios. If it's -- you know, if he was locked out of the cockpit under nefarious scenario possibly but he wouldn't know where he was.
COOPER: Right.
ABEND: Because there's no way of knowing without navigation equipment.
COOPER: We simply don't know what could be behind it. I mean, David Soucie --
SOUCIE: Well, the fact that it was just a brief one and never really made a connection would be typical if it's flying over a cell, flying too fast to communicate but it's fast enough to make that connection. So that's what I would wonder is if it's actually just made a connection or did it connect and then try to transmit.
COOPER: Right.
SOUCIE: That's -- again, we don't know.
COOPER: Mary, I mean, even though the instinct is to say well, it wouldn't make any sense for the co-pilot to turn on his cell phone. There's also nothing that makes sense about this entire tragedy so far. Could very well have been -- I mean he was trying to make contact. We simply don't know.
SCHIAVO: Sure. Well, it could make sense if you had some kind of a catastrophic event just after they said good night, Malaysian 370, and they had a catastrophic event that took out the communications the pilot could have said to the co-pilot, hey, I'm going to get down low. See if we can get them. We don't want to head back into airspace as an unidentified aircraft. Because there's not a lot of ways at night to let them know who you are.
(INAUDIBLE) have had a scenario like that. There are millions scenarios you can think of. But maybe it was intentional. Maybe they were trying to contact somebody.
COOPER: Well, also, David Gallo, I mean, the other question, though, is why wouldn't anybody else's phones on the plane have been on.
GALLO: I've been in flights and, you know, I look around for my seat, I have to see --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Everybody has it on.
GALLO: Exactly. Yes. Exactly. So it's curious. COOPER: Particularly if there was something going wrong in the air craft, you know, all along. Because we've been getting tweets about this from the very beginning. And people say well, why weren't there cell phone calls and the information we always had up until now was well they were never within range of a -- of contact that would actually pick up the phone call.
But if this report is true that they were close enough to actually pick one up from Penang, then other people on board that plane with phones on should be able to pick up.
ABEND: I think there would have been some awareness that the plane actually went down a low altitude. You've got lights outside of the airplane. I mean, I know it was dark. But it's people would have been aware that something was not happening that was correct.
We -- as I said, we're going to take you inside the flight simulator coming up. Show you what it looked like from inside the cockpit and show you what kind of maneuvering would have brought the plane there at that altitude to actually get a cell phone signal.
Also later what we're learning about the three whose lives were taken and what appears to be an attack in killing Jewish people the day before one of the faith's holiest days.
CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT:
COOPER: We've been talking about the information that Flight 370's co-pilot may have had his cell phone on indicating the Boeing 777 was low enough in altitude and close enough to a cell phone tower that made some kind of connection. Like so many other developments it's a data point that opens the door to a variety of possibilities and as always it helps to explore them just as investigators are.
We're taking a look inside 777 simulator where Martin Savidge and flight instructor Mitchell Casado join us.
So if this report is accurate and, again, it's based on Pamela Brown's -- U.S. sources with information they got from Malaysian law enforcement sources, the co-pilot's cell phone did make contact with the cell tower in Penang, in Malaysia. How low would the plane have had to have been flying in order for that to happen?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's -- you know, that's a really good question and there is a lot of different thought on that. But let's show you one example at least from the simulator's perspective here. We're flying over Penang. We're dropping now from 10,000 down to about 5,000 feet. It begins with a steep turn, a bank angle and then also into a strong descent.
We're thinking, of course, initially when this aircraft went off course it was 35,000 feet over the South China Sea and I should point out it was also night, not daylight. But you wouldn't be able to see the maneuvering as well. So it seems to fit the story that the aircraft of course turned back, went over the northern part of the -- Malaysian Peninsula, and was descending at some point and when it got around Penang, maybe could it have been around 5,000 feet, around 4500 feet and it was at that point that perhaps this connection was made. You know, there have been reports that you need to be at 3,000 feet, others say no you can do it at 15,000 feet. It's difficult for the simulator to tell you the exact altitude. We know that it fits with what had been reported earlier. The weird thing is why was it on?
COOPER: Although it's even lower than earlier reports about various altitudes and a 777 flying over Penang, Malaysia at 5,000 feet is pretty noticeable?
ABEND: That's a recreational area. That's a resort type area. It's going to make some noise. That's why the whole thing adds more.
COOPER: People would notice it.
ABEND: Absolutely. Even at night.
COOPER: Martin, it's unusual for a co-pilot to be using his cell phone while in the cockpit particularly at this stage of the flight?
SAVIDGE: Yes. I mean, Mitchell can talk more about it goes into sterile cockpit.
MITCHELL CASADO, PILOT TRAINER: Below 10,000 feet you want to be focused on your task. I mean, ideally you should be doing that at any altitude. But it's not unheard of.
SAVIDGE: Cell phones are shut off. Pilots of course know that. It's not something you forget.
CASADO: Everything is on the checklist. It's on the checklist.
SAVIDGE: If this was on, what does that say to you?
CASADO: It says that to me that something abnormal happened. It was outside of the standard operating procedure, which in itself is rare and unusual.
COOPER: Just what we're seeing out of window of the plane again this is during daytime, is that the ground that, as you were turning is that the ground that we see there?
SAVIDGE: Yes. Yes. We're at 4900 feet. Doing about 238 knots. Yes. This is over the area. You could have been over the water somewhat and still presumably from an altitude connect with the cell tower. I don't know what would be required, but in theory that would be possible.
COOPER: The other --
SAVIDGE: Exactly how this happened we don't know.
COOPER: The other question, David, again, we talked about this before is that this would be the only phone that happened to be on a plane of 239 people virtually impossible. SOUCIE: It doesn't make any sense point that way. Again, she said what they were doing is to discussion on the investigation for the co- pilot. If they were to discussion on that, have that cell phone number they are checking against the records. Are they check being against the records for every cell phone. They may not know what other cell phones were on there.
COOPER: You would think that's something they would check on or contacted family about.
SOUCIE: I would think so. They said they did.
COOPER: I want to thank our panel. Les and David. Also Martin, thanks very much and Mitchell.
Coming up, we remember the lives cut short by what authorities are calling a hate crime, shooting outside of two Jewish centers near Kansas City. The victims include a man that was driving his grandson to a singing audition, both of them gunned down. What their family is saying next.
Also breaking news, a deadly Ebola outbreak in the West African nation of Guinea, in an area very near an international airport. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is there in the middle of the panic with the rising death toll. We'll find out what they are doing to keep the virus from leaving the area.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: "Crime and Punishment" tonight, investigators are planning to pursue a federal hate crime charges against the suspect in shootings who left three people dead outside two Jewish centers near Kansas City yesterday. The suspect is a 73-year-old man with a long history of racist activity. This is not a story about a coward with a gun, this is a story of three people whose lives were cut short.
And tonight, we want to tell you about them. William Corporon was a doctor who cherished his family, drove his grandson, Reid, to a Jewish community center so he could audition for a singing competition. Both were gunned down in the parking lot. He was just 14 years old and a high school freshman with a beautiful voice as you'll hear in this YouTube video. His mother had this to say about the death of her son and her father.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MINDY LOSEN, SON, FATHER KILLED IN ATTACK: I prayed and prayed and prayed that he would survive. But I later found out why he didn't. I know they both died from head trauma. I feel confident from what I heard that they didn't feel anything. They didn't know what was coming. They were ambushed. So, it's going to be really hard and I wanted to tell people that last night at the vigil, this isn't easy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Reid's uncle also spoke about his nephew and his father and why he is not wasting time thinking about the shooter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILL CORPORON, NEPHEW, FATHER KILLED IN ATTACK: It takes no character to do what was done. It takes no strength of character. It takes no back bone. It takes no morals. It takes no ethics. All it takes is an idiot with a gun. So, there's no need to focus on that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's why we're not focusing on that. We're not using the killer's name tonight. I hope you noticed that. We want you to know the names of those who died. Terry Lamono who was is going visit her mother was also shot. In a statement her family said, she was a warm, loving and beautiful person. Ed Lavandera has more now from Kansas City.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just hours after her father and son had been killed in a senseless rampage, Mindy Losen appeared at a candlelight vigil in their honor.
LOSEN: I went to a vigil last night impromptu because I heard that students from Reed's school would be there and he loved school and he loved his friends so I wanted to there.
LAVANDERA: The 14-year-old Reed Underwood was getting out of a car at the Jewish Community Center when a man almost 60 years older than him ambushed him in a hail of gunfire. Reed Underwood loved to sing, sang in the school choir. He was at the Jewish Community Center to audition in a singing competition. His grandfather was there too supporting his grandson. Reed's mother said he planned form the hit song "Cups," the lyrics painful to sing now, when I'm gone, you're going to miss me, when I'm gone.
LOSEN: I was lucky enough to get to hear both of those songs before he left the house. I waited for my dad to pick him up, make sure everything was OK, and I had him sing it one more time. And I got to kiss him and tell him I loved him.
LAVANDERA: Reed who also loved to act had just earned a role in a summer production of Tom Sawyer and he was an avid debater too. Bill Corporon was the quintessential grandpa. His grandkids called him Popeye. When wasn't playing the role of Popeye, Bill was a doctor running a family practice in Oklahoma for more than 30 years. He then moved to the Kansas City area so he could do things like take his grandson to a singing competition.
CORPORON: We don't know why bad things happen to good people. Nobody does. We choose not to focus on the why or what happened or it really doesn't matter to us. The fact remains that two of the people we love most in our life are now not here with us and we do take comfort that they were together.
LAVANDERA: The 53-year-old Terry Lamona was not too far away. She was visiting her mother at a Jewish-assisted living facility. This week she was supposed to be celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary. She worked with children who are visually impaired. This mother was honored today with the words from her son. He wrote, "My mom was a beautiful soul. She always thought of everyone before herself. The world needs more people like her. She was a warm, loving and beautiful person.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So unbelievable. Ed Lavandera joins me now. Obviously, I mean, for the families to speak out today takes tremendous strength, one day after this horrible violent act. Why was it important for them to do so? Did they talk about why they wanted to speak out?
LAVANDERA: It was one of the first things they talked about. They said they didn't, Mindy Losen said she didn't want to hide from this. She had gotten so much attention and phone calls from family, friend, even people that don't know the family that they wanted to be able to share publicly in the grieving process and she talked about going that ceremony yesterday that vigil with her son's friends and thought it was important because of that.
One of the things that she's hoping for and hoping to get good news of is her son on his own accord had checked off the organ donor box and she's waiting to hear if some of the tissue or organs might be able to be used to help save someone else's life. She hasn't gotten word on that yet, but she is hopeful that his legacy will carry on in that way.
The family has prepared its funeral services, grandfather and grandson will be memorialized Friday afternoon here in the Kansas City. One funeral service for both of them.
COOPER: It sounds like such a great family. Ed, I appreciate the reporting.
Just ahead, tears in confrontation in the "Blade Runner" murder trial. Stuff of horror movies, deadly virus that could go global. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on the front lines. He joins us from Guinea with an up close look at the Ebola crisis.
Also tonight, the crisis in Ukraine. More clashes with pro-Russian supporters. Major deadline passes. President Obama and Vladimir Putin talk. An update ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Up close tonight, breaking news on the deadly Ebola outbreak in the West African country of Guinea. A rising death toll and our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta is there tonight getting a firsthand look at the fight to help the stricken. It is a tough fight indeed one that officials hope does not go global. The swift and bloody killer has struck the country's capital. The city of 2 million people and the city is a short distance from the international airport.
A person may not know they are infected and fly to the other side of the globe and potentially spread the virus. That has not happened, but that is certainly a concern. More than 100 people have died over the last three weeks including 14 health workers. You can get infected with one microscopic drop of a saliva or blood hitting a break in your skin. With Ebola there's no cure.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now with more of the crisis. Sanjay, I understand the death toll is continuing to rise?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. There was some unwelcomed news with regard to the numbers, Anderson. Since April 10th just a few days ago the death numbers have gone from 101 to 112, 11 more deaths now being reported just over the last few days and that's the wrong direction, Anderson. I'll point out a lot of the care that's being given to these patients is happening over here right behind me.
We have pretty unique access. This is doctors without borders camp isolation camp. They set it up literally in the middle of this field, trying to isolate patients. It's remarkable work they are doing. It's dangerous work. I can tell you just even getting the testing to get these numbers that we're talking about, getting that testing can sometimes be risky. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): A simple blue box potentially carrying one of the most dangerous pathogens in the world on its way to be tested. In less than four hours, we'll find out whether it contains the Ebola virus. The fate of three patients depends on what's inside. Simply getting the blood samples is a life-threatening job.
One of these workers told us he has a 9-month-old baby at home. They'll do everything they can to protect themselves. Three pairs of gloves, booties and layer after layer of gowns. They go in to see the patients.
Every single inch of their body covered in permeable suits. Nothing in. Nothing out. Even the drop of the Ebola virus that gets through a break in the skin can infect you. We all have breaks in our skin.
(on camera): This is the painstaking detail and process you have to go through to be able to interact with these patients with Ebola. This is as close as we can get. They're decontaminating themselves. They've taken the blood samples and put them in this blue ice chest over here. It's highly suspicious it contains Ebola.
(voice-over): WHO lab technicians suit up next. They've been handed the blue boxes. It's their job to test the sample for the deadly virus. They're going to have results just two hours from now. A few years ago being able to test for Ebola on its own turf was impossible. Precious blood samples had to be taken out of remote forested areas in Central Africa and flown to the CDC in Atlanta or the WHO in Geneva.
Pilots would sometimes refuse to fly the dangerous pathogens. Even if they did, it could take days or weeks to get the results. At 8:00 p.m., we get the call. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two of these are positive.
GUPTA (voice-over): Two of the three patients now have confirmed Ebola.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It's incredible, Sanjay. I was reading your blog on this on cnn.com that the number of health workers who have died from this because they are really the ones under constant exposure. In the past, Ebola rarely made it out of these remote forested areas of Africa. Now there are outbreaks in the major city with an international airport in the capital of Guinea. So how big of a concern is that?
GUPTA: I think it's a real concern, Anderson. I mean, you know, in some ways it was sort of a grim reality because Ebola kills so many people, nine out of ten people in the past have died and because it killed so quickly, it didn't spread. People would die too soon, too suddenly. But now as you point out that 2 million people here and an international airport and there's an incubation period that can take anywhere from two to 21 days after you've been exposed before you develop symptoms.
To your point could someone get on a plane, be on the other side of the world during that time. That's the concern. It hasn't happened anywhere -- Ebola has not left Africa as of yet, but that's a real concern. It's part of what these doctors back here are trying to prevent, identify these patients, test them, isolate them and get them whatever treatment they can.
COOPER: The mystery, where it comes from there's so much we don't know. How contagious is the virus? I mean, you're right outside of the tents. You don't have a mask on. How risky is this to you to others?
GUPTA: Yes. First of all with regard to the mystery you're right, in 1976, Anderson, when they first identified this and we still don't know from where it comes. We don't know why it goes away. We don't know how to treat it. We don't know how to vaccinate it. We don't know how to cure. There's more what we don't know than what we do know. That's part of what adds to the fear surrounding Ebola.
For me, there's a lot of science here that's important. This is not an airborne virus not like the flu. So me standing here just outside these tent where's you have patients with Ebola I'm really not at risk. I've studied this. I feel very comfortable being here. That's why I'm not wearing a mask. But if you go inside and you're around patients, you got to cover up every square inch of your skin because even a drop as you said earlier if it gets on your skin and there's always breaks in your skin that can cause an infection.
So here I'm OK. You go inside where those patients are and it's a whole different story. Again these "Doctors Without Borders," I know you worked with them, I've reported on them, they are the ones doing this. Going in and putting suits on and taking care of these patients.
COOPER: It's a heroic organization. Remarkable that these health care workers continue to treat patients even though, I mean, 14 as you said have died in this outbreak alone. Sanjay, we appreciate you and your team being there. For more information on how you can help those suffering from Ebola, from the outbreak right now, you can go to cnn.com/impact.
There's a lot more happening tonight. Pamela Brown is back with the 360 Bulletin -- Pamela.
BROWN: Anderson, Oscar Pistorius was back on the stand in his murder trial today where the chief prosecutor accused him of hiding the truth about what really happened when he shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Listen to one exchange between Pistorius and the prosecutor. He's chosen not testify on camera so this is just an audio feed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERRI NEL, PROSECUTOR: You fired at Reeva. These other versions of yours --
PISTORIUS: It's not true, my lady.
NEL: Why are you getting emotional now?
PISTORIUS: I did not fire at Reeva.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: "The Washington Post" and the United States and "The Guardian" have received the Pulitzer Prize for their stories based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden. Snowden said the awards are a vindication for everyone who believes that the public has a role in the government -- Anderson.
COOPER: Pamela, thanks very much. Up next, a Russian war plane getting dangerously close to U.S. Navy warship in the Black Sea. The latest from Nick Paton Walsh on the ground in Eastern Ukraine.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: A busy night for breaking news including the crisis over Eastern Ukraine. Pro-Russia activists storming several buildings throughout the country and staying put dismissing a deadline to move. Exactly who they are that's a question. At his request, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with President Obama today on the phone.
Mr. Obama calling on Putin to use his influence to get these pro- Russian forces to leave and over the weekend echoes of the cold war Russian warplane coming dangerously close making a dozen very near passes over a U.S. naval vessel in the Black Sea.
Our Nick Paton Walsh is in Donetsk with new developments tonight. Nick, the tension between the Ukrainian government and the pro-Russian militias certainly seems to be getting worse rather than better, right?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Momentum it seems on the side of the pro-Russian protesters are now in at least ten towns in the region. We've had a remarkable absence of Ukrainian government response. Law enforcement police, the military nowhere to be seen despite the deadline set by the government here where protesters to vacate buildings passing and their threat to institution anti-terror operation.
I should say we've seen social media in the last few hours suggesting the Ukrainian Army is on the move. That could be the harbinger of something to come, but frankly right now people who have been behind are these pro-Russian protesters -- Anderson.
COOPER: You talk about pro-Russian protesters, I mean, do we know, are these also Russian troops or mercenaries? I mean is this the same kind of playbook we saw in Crimea?
WALSH: It's hard to discern who these really efficient well-trained Russian militants, pro-Russian militants actually are here. And that was obviously Russian servicemen as though as we saw moving in the Crimean Peninsula who had the same gear obviously just troops and (INAUDIBLE) taken off. These are men in similar camouflage, uniforms, who are trained, really know what they're doing for the reason that same sense of obviously them being part of a broader force.
But there is similar tactics of Crimea that are backed up by pro- Russian protesters who are moving too and is very well-organized, very well coordinated with a strategic points they take that makes sense if you're looking to take control of a border area. Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Nick Paton Walsh. Nick, thanks.
That's it for us. We'll see you at 11:00. "CNN TONIGHT" with Bill Weir starts now.
