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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Orlando Mayor: 48 Of 49 People Killed Identified; Reports: Orlando Gunman Visited LGBT Nightclub Several Times; LA Times: Orlando Gunman Had Used Gay Dating App; FBI "Highly Confident" Gunman Was Self-Radicalized; Shooter's Wife Cooperating With Investigators; Pres. Obama To Travel To Orlando On Thursday; Trump Renews Calls For Ban On Muslim Immigrants. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired June 13, 2016 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:03:45] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: If you're alive, raise your hand. That's what police shouted as they entered the Pulse Nightclub here on Orlando about a block. It's just down that block right there from where I'm standing in about 5:00 in the morning yesterday. Three hours after a gunman started shooting.
And what happened during those three hours, the way it unfolded it's a puzzle in which each it seems more tragic than the next. Frantic text messages which we've shown you. A survivor hiding under bodies in a bathroom, phone is running incoming calls from people desperate to make contact with their loved ones. He calls that would never be picked up.
In the end, the carnage was simply unimaginable. 49 people killed, at least 53 injured. The shooter is also dead. We're not going to say his name or show his pictures. It has been all over the place far too much we think. We are learning new details though about his past. There are reports tonight that this was not the shooter's first time at that nightclub.
Joining me now in the phone is Chris Callen. He's been at Pulse, says those reports are absolutely true. Chris thanks very much for joining us.
You actually -- did you see this shooter at the nightclub previously? And if so, how many times, for how long?
CHRIS CALLEN, REGULAR PULSE NIGHTCLUB CUSTOMER: I have personally seen him a couple times. I've never really talked to him. But I -- like I said, I introduced myself once before when we first saw him there, me and a security guard that used to work at Pulse. We said hello and everything and he was very friendly and all that.
[21:05:08] But yes, he had frequently been to that bar and it's been going on three years. And it's been almost a year and a half since the security guard left. So I mean, it's been awhile that he's been going to that bar. COOPER: Wait a minute. So this is the first time I'm hearing this. You're saying for at least three years this guy was ...
CALLEN: Yeah.
COOPER: ... seen in the bar?
CALLEN: Yes, in and out. I mean I would say maybe two times a month, maybe more. I mean, I know when I was going there, I'm a performer and I was going on Tuesdays and I would maybe twice a month see him on Tuesday night.
COOPER: Did he seem comfortable there? I mean, when you saw him, did you think, this is a straight guy going to a gay bar or did you think he was gay?
CALLEN: He really did. I mean, he was (inaudible). He didn't seem like this, the kind of guy that just did what he did. I mean it makes no sense of with why. I mean and I don't know.
COOPER: I understand there was an incident with a security guard. Would you know what happened?
CALLEN: I'm really not totally for sure. She said something about that she had to throw him out at least or to -- one to two times. But like I told -- I gave you the guys the number for her so you guys can actually talk to her as well.
COOPER: Do you think -- I mean, again, if you don't know then don't say. But I mean, do you think he was there to meet people, I mean was he there to meet guys? Was he there to -- do you know why he was there?
CALLEN: Yeah. I mean, when I -- when we met him and I mean, we introduced ourselves and said hello and that was really all I got to do with him because I was performing. But he seemed like and even my partner said that he seemed like a very nice, comfortable. He love going over that. He was drinking with another guy. At one time he was actually standing with another guy when we were performing. I mean, it's a lot of it don't make sense. I mean we don't -- and we're never going to know I mean.
COOPER: Well, we're trying to learn all we can. Chris, I appreciate you talking to us every little bit of information helps. Chris Callen, thank you very much.
Our chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto joins me with me now with more, what we know about the investigation and where it stands. Do we know much about motivations of this guy?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It's a confusing mix. And what we just heard there is part of this extremely confusing picture. So let's talk about terror groups. So we know the night of, he expressed allegiance to ISIS and that's something that ISIS calls on its members to do substantial. But we also know the FBI has said in the past, he have expressed allegiance to other groups on this which is Al-Qaeda tied Hezbollah, which is a Shia Lebanese groups.
COOPER: Right.
SCIUTTO: This, for an ISIS are Sunni. These are groups that are definitely opposed to each other. That makes no sense.
COOPER: You wouldn't be part of pledging allegiance to all these different group?
SCIUTTO: It would knew. It appears that as he was claiming to the FBI and others. To do this, it was a bit of a bravado, I mean hide to this group or that group and they couldn't substantiate those ties which is one reason they ended those investigations. On top of that, you have the other layer.
His father is saying that he have been offended by seeing two men kissing and that that might have been a motivation, yet resentment. It was a hate crime. And now you have this new line of inquiry which I know that is a part of the investigation as well, but he had visited this club many times before. They're taking that very seriously.
COOPER: And been on hook up of staffs.
SCIUTTO: Exactly. Which then becomes a personal profile, was he homophobic, was it a self -- an active of self-loathing.
COOPER: Right.
SCIUTTO: You know, this is complicated. Now, that is not unprecedented. In previous cases, it's not always as simple as then have attackers like this having one allegiance to one group. There could be mental health issues and we've seen that in other attacks. So that's not entirely unusual, but this particular mix and you and I have covered a lot of these things before in different countries. It's particularly unusual.
COOPER: And while we think back these reports in Belgium of one of the French attackers, they had eligibly been seen in gay bars as well in Brussels, whether that was confirmed or not. I never really -- it didn't seem to be pursued. But again, this is kind of an interesting thing in the mix.
In terms of this target, I mean, the idea that he had been here multiple times, and again, we don't know, was he scoping it out, was he conflicted and drawn here? Were there other targets possible?
SCIUTTO: That is something that they are looking at now and they know in part because we know that his current wife, his second wife is cooperating with investigators, including telling them of other places that he visited to possibly to scope them out, one being a Disney property here. There are several that he went with his family in April just two months ago. His wife provided that information to the FBI.
Now, that could have an innocent explanation. He went with his family to Disney World, but in light of course of what happened here ... COOPER: Right.
SCIUTTO: ... it could also have a nefarious explanation that he went there in part to scope it out.
[21:10:00] COOPER: All right Jim Sciutto, I appreciate it. Thank you working your sources.
Now, another survivor story, Norman Casiano was just released from the hospital a few hours ago. He was shot twice, both in the back, once in the side of the back or once in the side and once in the back.
He was in the bathroom of the nightclub. He had to climb over the bodies of friends of his in order to get out. It's more than any 25 year old should ever have to go through more than he should have to see. I spoke with Norman just a short time ago after being released from hospital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So you crawled out of the bathroom?
NORMAN CASIANO, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: Yeah and it just from that point forward, I just already knew that this was those going to go south from there like.
COOPER: While you crawling in the bathroom were their continued to be shot?
CASIANO: Yeah. So it was like the fastest crawl. Like, we were like military crawling. Like, let's get out of here. So we went into the bathroom and we open this door there's already people lined up near the wall. So I could only sit near the front where, if something was going to happen.
COOPER: Was this a small regular bathroom?
CASIANO: Just like it. Probably like this whole square right here. So like, it's about like four by like 10. Like a small -- like a little -- like to the point where those people sitting on top of each other. So once I got in there, we went dark and we got quiet and I'm like, I just -- I tried to call 911, it wouldn't go through. It was busy. At that point, the gunshots are getting closer and I called my mom. And I don't know if something was wrong with service or it had something to do what was going on.
But, I heard it pick up and I said mom, mom, mom, and it dropped. And that was the time span of like not even five minutes from that point forward. That's when the gunshots got extra close. And at that point, you hear everyone just under their breath like praying and crying and like trying to be quiet. So if he, you know, if he wasn't going into the bathroom, he would have hear us.
COOPER: Could you hear people outside the bathroom?
CASIANO: No. It was just gunshots after gunshots and you could hear the bullets hitting the floor. You could hear when he was like adding more bullets. I don't know how ...
COOPER: Reloading.
CASIANO: Reloading the gun. Yeah.
COOPER: How many people were in your stall?
CASIANO: I've counted about like 20 or 30 people.
COOPER: Wow.
CASIANO: Yeah, because there wasn't any room for you. It's just like everyone had their own little niche to stand in. It was like you need to sit on top. Like, one of my friends was lying on top of other people and to that point where the people didn't care.
Everyone just like ducking and, you know, just hoping for the best. Praying and I myself was saying like please, don't let this be, you know, where I go. Like this cannot be what's going to happen tonight. So, at that point after the phone call right directly immediately after I see feet and we're thinking it's the assailant and ...
COOPER: You see feet under the bathroom stall?
CASIANO: Yeah because there was like a little space like this big under the stall.
COOPER: Right.
CASIANO: I'm thinking it's the shooter and you just hear the door get slammed on, and then someone drops to the floor. And it was another patron of Pulse and he was bleeding the floor. He started bleeding. Like, it was just all the over and ...
COOPER: He was shot right then in there?
CASIANO: I figured that he was running away from him to go hide in one of the stalls. And as he was running, I guess he shot him from a distance. Once he shot him, he left.
COOPER: The gunman left?
CASIANO: Yes and that's something that's imprinted in my head for the rest of my life. Like, I've literally been in the hospital for two days trying to sleep and one of the first things I hear when I close my eyes are guns, bullets hitting the floor, and just that laugh. Like, it wasn't like a multiple laugh, it's like a villain in a movie. Like, it was like a laugh of satisfaction. Like I am doing what I came here to do.
COOPER: Was it an extended laugh or just ...
CASIANO: It's just like a really quick like a chuckle. I can't even do it from how I like in tense. Like it was just pure and everyone I talked to, I think its pure evil. That's what it sounded like. It didn't even sound like a person at that point. He didn't speak. The only time we heard was a laugh. So at that point, someone started screaming like please, please, please, don't shoot us, don't shoot us, and he does the first round through the door.
COOPER: Of the stall where you were?
CASIANO: Of the stall that I was in and that's when I got my first wound which was an entrance and an exit. We started yelling again, please, please, don't shoot. There are people in the background just begging him like please, please, don't shoot. Like, we haven't seen your face. We don't know what you look like. You haven't spoken, we don't know anything just please, let us go, like don't do this. And I guess that just, like I felt I can just say like enticed him to do it more. And he put his hand over the stall and just free shot.
COOPER: You saw his hand over the stall?
CASIANO: Yeah. That's only the description that I was able to get to the police it was that. I know he was Ken (ph).
[21:15:03] COOPER: Do you remember the gun that he was using when he do that?
CASIANO: Yeah.
COOPER: Was it a ...
CASIANO: It was the smaller one that that ...
COOPER: With the hand gun?
CASIANO: The hand gun. Yeah. The nine millimeter. I could see it clearly. I remember I just looked up for five seconds and I looked down, and like shimmied over. And that's when he got me here. And he got other people and people screamed, so like, you know, a few of them did pass away at that moment in time. And I just dropped to the floor. And I guess he thought that whoever was in there he already got. So he left.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: He'd been shot twice at that point. He was bleeding badly. When the gunman left the bathroom, he stepped on the body of his friend, young woman who died by his side, he had to step up on her body in order to get up over the stall and get out. He was able to leave, he tried to get some of the other people he says and the stall they were still alive to come with him, but they decided to stay. He made it out alive. We're going to more survivor stories ahead. We're going to remember those whop lost their lives. So many people will tell you about their lives cut far too short.
Next, what we know about the layout of the club and how those logistics may have effected delay law enforcement responded. Also, a two very different responses from the two people vying to become the next president of the United States. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, there are certainly new details tonight in the investigations in the massacre here in Orlando. We mentioned the shooter's current wife has spoken with law enforcement and is cooperating core in a multi-federal officials. Investigators are try to using the information to help put together a time line of his activities leading up to the attack.
A customer, performer Pulse Nightclub just told me in the last segment that he had seen the shooter at the club multiple times over the course of three years. Pulse is a gay nightclub in the heart of Orlando, a place where people gather to dance and socialize, to be themselves, to feel safe and happy.
Now is the site of the worst mass shooting in the history of this country. Tom Foreman tonight, joins me with some information about the club itself. Tom?
[21:20:04] TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Anderson. As best we understand from police at 2:00 in the morning, the gunman pulled up about where I am on the back side of the club. And let me give you a sense of the layout of this place. Down here is sort of the paddy o' bar down here, this is the main performance area in here, and then down there's another bar and another performance area.
What we know is like 2:02, according to police in this night he made it to the main area of this bar. There about 320 people there according to police. And that's where the shooting initially began. A few shots followed by many, many more. People screaming and running out, there's a promotional photo from the bar, from sometime back showing how crowded it would have been.
He shot and he shot as people ran in this area. And then police say he turned around and started to go out the way he came in. That's where he was met by an armed officer working security. Two other officers who joined him, they certain shooting at him and the gunman then came back inside, Anderson.
COOPER: And so when he got back in, what did he do?
FOREMAN: Well, obviously a big threat to people in this main room, but he didn't stay there. He moved to that long, narrow room at the end, that gave people in the main room, dozens of them, a chance to escape. But people down in this area had been trying to get out a narrow door at the end. Many had not been able to, according to eyewitnesses and so they went into restrooms and a small dressing room at one end of the building.
This is exactly what the eyewitness was telling you about a moment ago, that victim, Anderson. They were in these little rooms on the end, and that's where the standoff began. This is where people were texting, that they were trapped, and they couldn't get out. And these were people had this man somewhat contained but they could not get to him. Finally by 5:00, they determined they had to do something. That's when they set off a couple of distraction explosions and they hit with an armored vehicle the wall out there, and punch through this five holes in the wall. It's important to note that center hole, you may notice a long sort of narrow one there, that is the one where he tried to come out with the hostages. And you can see around in the photographs bullet holes everywhere as he was met by the full force of police there. Finally shot down in those three hours of terror inside this club came to an end. Anderson?
COOPER: Got it. Just incredible to actually see the layout and sort of you understand to understand the marks. I've talked to some -- two people at least were in bathroom stalls. Tom, thank you.
CNN law enforcement analyst and former U.S. marshall service assistant and Director Art Roderick is with us, also CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem, former U.S. assistant secretary for Homeland Security.
Art, I mean when you look at that club, you sort of realize one of the problems police were facing, I mean that the limited number of entrances, the tight quarters, it's pretty small room they had to operate in.
ART RODERICK, CNN ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: You know, I spent 10 years with marshal special operations, we believed to practice these types event is all the time. This is the worst case scenario, you've got 300 people packed into this -- we got several different rooms that people can get into and the shooter can get into.
COOPER: And you don't know how many shooters there are, often eyewitness reports ...
RODERICK: Of course. And there was actually initial reports that there was more than one shooter ...
COOPER: Right.
RODERICK: ... because of the amount of rounds going off. But this followed the regular protocol up to a certain point on responding to a mass casualty situation where the two officers engaged initially and then this the individual retreated back sort into the rooms and into the crowd. And that's when it becomes difficult because you don't want to be firing there rounds and take down to innocent people that are trying to get out.
COOPER: One of the -- but Juliette, one of the people who was in the bathroom Sony (ph) he heard the off in the guy talking on the phone saying that there were other people with him at locations, and even said like north, south, east, and west, which again must have made the police kind of unsure about where to enter.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, FORMER U.S. ASSTISTANT SECRETARY FOR HOMELAND SECURITY: Right, and they're getting a lot of phone calls. So that guy is telling the police there's eight people, and other guy saying there's one. But the story does tell me is different in what I believe did they go.
I think of Omar wanted to get away. He left the front door, his car is there, he did not anticipate that those guys were going to meet him at the front door. That's a very different story, and more it case in the Boston marathon. That also explains maybe why he picked up a phone.
COOPER: In a case like this, I mean there's so many pieces to try to piece together, not just motivation, and again, we don't know. I mean obviously he has, you know, he pledges allegiance throughout to ISIS, but also late earlier had done until our news right talk about the Boston bombers. It clearly his targeting gay club his father said, he saw two men kissing and that freaked him out. But now we learn he had been going to this club for at least three years.
RODERICK: Yeah, it been nice to put him in one little ...
COOPER: Box.
RODERICK: ... box, but that's not going to happen here. I think we're going to have a couple, if not three different boxes.
Obviously at some issue with the gay community, number one, he claimed allegiance to ISIS and we're also hearing now and probably got some psychological issues to go along with the other two issues that he's got, so.
[21:25:10] COOPER: You also Juliette, you hear from his father, saying, oh I am surprised by this I can't believe this. For his father at the same time says gays are going to be punished in heaven ...
KAYYEM: Right.
COOPER: ... it's not our job to kill them here on earth.
KAYYEM: There are many fathers of mass murderers who like to pretend like, you know, they couldn't have stopped it or they had no idea, the father should be the relevant figure in all of this in terms of understanding.
And I agree with Art, there's not a single motivation in this case. There are multiple motivations, and we should stop thinking there will be a light bulb, its ISIS, its radicalization, its homophobia, it may be that he is gay, its mental illness, its all of the above.
And I think that's why you're hearing people talk about but we also have to address the needs whether its guns or access to guns because the motivation is always going to be jumbled.
COOPER: Right. Juliette Kayyem, thank you, Art Roderick as well. Thanks very much. Hope your voice gets better as well.
(OFF-MIC)
COOPER: It's very dramatic though I like, and as we said, these are still early days, the grief here in Orlando, it's really extraordinary to be here and talk to people who their lives are forever changed and, you know, in the blink of an eye.
I talked to a man who is partner of three years was killed and found out about his partner dying hours before I got there. We saw some of the other people I have talked to. Bit by bit we are learning more about the 49 people who were killed, who they were, what made them special, who they left behind?
Gary Tuchman brings us more stories.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nobody should ever have to endure this. Family and friends of those who were missing in Orlando told to meet at a makeshift crisis center where they will receive the official word on whether their loved ones were have been identified.
Sara Lopez was told to show up at 8:00 a.m. to find out about her closest friend in the world Franky Jimmy De Jesus Velazquez who is missing. But instead, she received a call in the middle of the night that he had indeed been killed.
SARA LOPEZ, BEST FRIEND OF VICTIM: I thought that he was immortal. You know, he always said that he would never left, that he would never abandoned me and I trusted him.
TUCHMAN: Sarah always called him Jimmy. He worked in retail, she is an artist. They met where they both grew up in Puerto Rico. And both moved to the Orlando area.
When did you first meet Jimmy?
LOPEZ: I meet Jimmy when I was 16 years old in a -- in a get to her sisters house and we fell inlove immediate -- we knew that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together that very moment even when he was gay and I was gay, so it was not a sexual attraction, it was a soul mate maybe.
TUCHMAN: The two were best friends.
LOPEZ: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Your soul mates.
LOPEZ: He was my brother.
TUCHMAN: Most of Jimmy's family remains in Puerto Rico, same with Sara. They relied on each other when they moved to the main land. And relied on each other for three in half decades since. When she received the call that Jimmy was dead, her mind raced.
LOPEZ: I remember when we use to dance salsa. I remember when my son was sick and he stayed with me at the hospital. I remember when my sister and I, I remember when our best friend died few years ago in two seconds that he does in front of me. TUCHMAN: Sara says Jimmy was at the Pulse Nightclub with two of his friends who survived. They told her they started crawling towards the bathroom when the gunman was reloading. But one of those friends say Jimmy didn't follow, he was playing dead, hoping the gunman would ignore him.
LOPEZ: When he looked back, and he said that he saw Jimmy in failed position and the guy was shooting in (inaudible) to everything that move he said to everyone. I can (inaudible), ba, ba, ba, bang in a minute.
TUCHMAN: Sara's mind plays tricks with her. What if Jimmy crawled too, would he be alive and with her tonight? Instead she now begins to help his mother and three sisters from Puerto Rico plan a funeral and wonders what her life will be like now.
LOPEZ: We don't know, I may be surviving but I know I'm not without him. And I can prove you when I clean my home, when I listen to salsa, he is right here with me. He is going to be right here.
TUCHMAN: Shortly after we talked with Sara, she and the niece of Jimmy went to the medical examiner's office. Jimmy's body had arrived.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It's incredible how many people's lives that have changed, I mean 49 people dead and the circle of love that was around them is so huge.
[21:30:00] TUCHMAN: Right. I mean these two people loved each other so much. He worked for Forever 21, the apparel store, and he recently got a promotion. He was a style merchandiser, which he was meant in charge of the look of the store. He loved that, but Sara said he put love so much also about his dancing. She talked about salsa dance. And she said he was an award winning dancer over the decades, even won many awards.
She says at the age of 50, he was a better dancer than when he was at 16 because he was dancing with a band then, he become free. And what was really interesting is when he used to dance together in their teens, in their 20s, in their 30s. She says that people would part the floor just to watch them dance because it was so magnificent, the couple.
COOPER: We heard about one young man who had just come out this year to his family and he was -- he had been really worried about how his family would accept him, and his mom embraced him, and was very accepting. And, again, we're trying to learn as much as we can about the people who ...
TUCHMAN: That's what's beautiful about this couple because she was a gay woman, he was a gay man but they loved each other ...
COOPER: Yeah.
TUCHMAN: ... for 35 years.
COOPER: Gary, thank you for that story.
Just ahead, an exclusive look inside the trauma center where dozens of shooting victims were taken. I'll talk to a doctor who's been working to save lives, what he faced in those early hours with so many people in desperate need of care.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:35:13] COOPER: Well, as we mentioned, we're about a block away from the Pulse Nightclub where 49 people were murdered in cold blood just two nights ago. 53 people are wounded by the killer's bullets, they were rushed to a nearby or near by hospitals, including the Orlando Regional Medical Center which is a level one trauma center, just couple blocks from here.
Some of them were put into the backs of pickup trucks like the one you see right there. That's simple fact, how close help was and now quickly the doctors, we're have to work on them that may have saved lives.
Joining us now with Dr. Nicholas Sakis who was on duty on call with the first of victims arrived. Thank you so much for being with us ...
DR. NICHOLAS SAKIS, TREATED ORLANDO SHOOTING VICTIMS: Thanks for having me.
COOPER: ... and for all you've done.
SAKIS: Thank you.
COOPER: What -- you clearly have never seen anything like this before in the trauma center. What was it like when people started to come in?
SAKIS: To this magnitude, absolutely not. You know, we owe it all to our mentors that taught us everything that we know. How to be prepared for something like this. But to see the patients rolling back, to see the nursing, all of the entire staff in the emergency department falling into their roles, and appropriately taking care of patients as they came in two by two was incredible.
COOPER: The wounds you're dealing with too, I mean and they are15 from what I understand, you know, the bullet enters and it can go a lot of different directions, it can tumble around, it can cause a massive internal bleeding damages.
SAKIS: Correct. So, when this fragments enter the body, they break apart, they spread, they, you know, don't just go in one side, come out the other end, they're unpredictable and how they come in.
So triaging patients, understanding the possibility that there might be injury toward the bullet penetrated through the abdomen, through the thorax and, you know, they now have a life threatening surgical emergency was the most important thing to find out which patients needed to get to the operating room the quickest.
COOPER: Obviously, you know, training kicks in, but you're also a human being. And I mean, can you talk this personally what is like to see death on this scale in this, you know, enclosed confined space all coming in at once?
SAKIS: It was -- it's tough. You know, we see this on a smaller scale. It's no easier, when everything is being thrown at you this quickly to have to stop and allow yourself to think. I know, you know, one emergency attending physician came up behind me at one point and said stop, breathe, you're doing fine. Stay calm. And to keep that going through your head, you know, throughout the entire night as the patients came in was important, because it's difficult.
COOPER: You're also suddenly I mean learning people's stories, I mean you're trying to save the life, but you also probably assumed are talking to them, or nurses are talking them and I mean its -- it's so intimate what you're doing.
SAKIS: Absolutely. Everybody came in, was at a similar, you know, situation but has family and friends that they're looking for, that they're yelling to find their cellphone, to contact loved ones, and to look into the eyes of some of these patients and try, you know, to answer to them, especially when they're asking you, am I going to die is a difficult question to answer. But ...
COOPER: People asked you that?
SAKIS: They did.
COOPER: What do you say?
SAKIS: At that point it's reassurance that they're getting top quality level one trauma center care and to keep them as calm as you possibly can because there's nothing worse than them being anxious and scared for themselves.
COOPER: If you're anxious that they feel that.
SAKIS: Absolutely.
COOPER: Doctor, thank you so much for all you've done. It's extraordinary.
SAKIS: Thank you. Thank you very much.
COOPER: We appreciate. Thank you Dr. Sakis.
Up next, the politics of all this, how Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the presumptive presidential nominees responded to the Orlando attack. And let's take another look at some of the vigils under way tonight here on Orlando and also extraordinary scenes out of New York City.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [21:43:23] COOPER: Welcome back. President Obama is going to travel here to Orlando, Thursday. We're told to pay his respects to the victims' families.
Meanwhile, the presidential candidates responded to the Orlando killings by outlining early competing visions of America. Hillary Clinton calling for a ban on assault weapons while Donald Trump renewed his call for ban on Muslims entering the U.S.
Mr. Trump went even further and seemed to try to imply that the president wasn't being vocal enough about the attack here in Orlando, it could be sympathizing with radicalized Muslims.
Here's what he said on Fox and Friends this morning.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He doesn't get it or he gets it better than anybody understands. It's one or the other and either one is unacceptable.
We're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind. And the something else in mind, you know, people can't believe it.
People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can't even mention the words radical Islamic terrorism.
There's something going on. It's inconceivable.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COOPER: Around the same time, Hillary Clinton had this to say on CNN's "New Day".
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: From my perspective, it matters what we do more than what we say. And, you know, it mattered we got Bin Laden, not what name we called them. And I have clearly said that we face terrorist enemies who use Islam to justify slaughtering innocent people.
And, you know, whether you call it radical Jihadism or radical Islamism, I think they mean the same thing, I'm happy to say either.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COOPER: Joining me now, our political analyst, David Gergen and also Gloria Borger.
Gloria, I mean, is it clear to you or anyone you've been talked to do exactly what Donald Trump was suggesting about President Obama today? I mean, if you take Trump's own words at face value, where is he going with that? [21:45:09] GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, good question, Anderson. It's really hard to say. I mean, here's a clear insinuation there that the president somehow has another agenda, an agenda that perhaps, you know, it doesn't share American values.
And in talking the Republicans today, they were having a hard time kind of trying to figure it out, and, you know, as one of them pointed out to me, this is kind of a pattern you see with Donald Trump, which is he throws these statements out there and then kind of tries to walk it back that as she did later in the morning after that Fox interview, he said there are a lot of people who think maybe he doesn't want to get it, his referring to Obama. And then he said, I happen to think he just doesn't know what he's doing. So he puts it out there, he puts it on other people, and then it kind of moves away from it a little bit, but he's thrown it out there, which is kind of red meat for people who distrust and truly dislike the president.
COOPER: Yeah. I mean, David it is also remarkable that just hours after the attack, Donald Trump tweeted, "Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness and vigilance, we must be smart."
I mean the idea that he, I mean it sounds like, he is patting himself on the back at the time like this which he did again this morning on NBC and Fox News.
DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENT ADVISER TO REAGAN, FORD, CLINTON AND NIXON: Well, Anderson, this has been a disappointing day in many ways for all of us that hoped for a moment of unity as we had after 9/11.
Families in both sides came out swinging. I think Donald Trump is really got in trouble the deeper water again with this dark insinuation that somehow the president is on American or he does. You know, he has different allegiances than the rest of us. We don't know what he is saying but it's very dark and it's very conspiratorial and does -- is not fitting for this particular moment.
On the tweet, I must tell you on that one, Anderson, I do think that certainly among his followers there is a belief that he was out early warning about this. And so when he said just tweet I think there is recognition that there are people who believed actually, he should have been listened to earlier.
His problem is that, he -- whatever he does, you know, he so off goes of it -- he engages so much excess that people listen the point of what he is saying. I mean today this ...
COOPER: You know, certainly he is not the first person to warn about radical Islamic terrorism in the United States ...
GERGEN: No it's not.
COOPER: ... not like he brought up this issue.
GERGEN: Well, that's right. But he's certainly at the forefront of the presidential parade of candidates saying that, you know, this is an ever present threat, so threatening I'm going to, you know, I'm going to ban Muslims from coming here. He walked back a little from that today.
But I have to tell you, you know, for him to let the day, to get a bad headline, now the "The Washington Post," and then the yank the credentials of "The Washington Post" from covering your campaign.
COOPER: Right, yeah.
GERGEN: That's extraordinary. Why would he do something so stupid? I mean it just doesn't make any sense.
COOPER: I mean he is assembling an enemies list.
GERGEN: Yeah. Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: You know, Anderson, most presidents like Richard Nixon ...
GERGEN: I got it. But ...
BORGER: Keep it private.
COOPER: Right.
BORGER: I mean, you know, Donald Trump publicizes it, says this is my list.
COOPER: I'm going to say, Gloria, it is interesting to hear some of the politicians who have come over the last 24 or so hours, you know, sort of talking about gay people in a way I've never heard them talk about gay people before. You know, there sort of talking about, you know, at Muslims and radical Jihadists targeting gay people. Where frankly a lot of their positions, you know, are not exactly embracing gay people in the United States.
BORGER: Right. Right. And also don't forget today, you heard Donald Trump embrace, you know, the gay community. Right? You heard Donald Trump. And there are a lot of Republicans ...
COOPER: Right, that he will -- he's a greater supporter of gay people than anyone else.
BORGER: Then anyone else, but, you know, as you point out, there are lots of Republicans who don't. And I think real conservatives who, for example, are against gay marriage, et cetera, would listen to Donald Trump and say, you know what, he's not a real conservative.
GERGEN: Yeah.
BORGER: However, however, you know, I think that, you know, to me Trump was coming out saying, you know, I'm a friend to this community as I am to all communities because don't forget he is still cleaning up ...
COOPER: Right.
BORGER: ... the mess from last week.
GERGEN: But let me be clear on one thing though, Anderson is. He did in fairness, Trump was out there against Republican orthodoxy supporting transgender people on these question of bathrooms and every ...
(CROSSTALK)
GERGEN: Yeah, but at the same time they're in the community as you will know and the LGBT community is very suspicious of him because at the same time he is against same-sex marriage. You know, that really ...
[21:50:03] COOPER: Right. Though he attended gay weddings in the past.
GERGEN: Yes exactly.
BORGER: Right, right.
COOPER: All right. Gloria Borger, David Gergen, thank you all.
GERGEN: Thank you.
COOPER: Up next, Orlando hero those who risk their own lives to save others. As we take another look at the vigils tonight for the victims. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: But we may finally learn more and more about what happens here, but if may never actually make any sense. How could it, 49 lives cut short, 53 others wounded by killers and bullets. Some are still fighting for their lives at this very moment. The nightmare is just beginning for all of those who lost loved ones.
It might be tempting to say this is a story about radical beliefs, or about hate or about evil pure and simple. But, we also know this that when it mattered most in the thick of the chaos two nights ago just down this block, there were selfless acts of courage as well.
Randi Kaye takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He was spinning records when bullet started to fly. Ray Rivera, other wise known as, "DJ-infinite", had just started playing reggae music.
RAY RIVERA, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I heard just where the shots getting closer and closer. At that point, I was like, all right, it's time to go.
KAYE: Time to go, but he wasn't alone. He was hold up behind his DJ booth along with another man and a woman.
The man took off running, but the DJ helped the woman escaped unharmed.
RIVERA: The girl was down there panicking. So, I kind of, you know, told that she needed to be quite. And as soon as there was a break in the shots, then I kind of just pushed her and said, come on let's go.
KAYE: When the shooting started, Josh McGill ran outside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god.
KAYE: Then more shots and screams. So, he took cover underneath a car. That's when a stranger this man named Rodney Sumter began stumbling toward him, covered in blood. Josh pulled him behind the car.
JOSH MCGILL, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: He had multiple gunshot wounds one on each arm. So, I took my shirt off, tied it around one arm as tight as I could. Took off his shirt, tied it around his other arm.
KAYE: The man had been shot in the back, too. Josh applied pressure on that wound all the way to the hospital in the ambulance.
He talked to Rodney to keep him conscious, telling him, "God has got this."
MCGRILL: I was mainly scared. I was like, God, please don't let me break my promise.
[21:55:02] KAYE: Rodney Sumter is alive and recovering. Chris Hansen thought the sound of gunfire was part of the music. Until he realized the gunman had entered the club.
He hit the ground then crawled to safety across the street.
CHRISTOPHER HANSEN, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: There's people who were just blood everywhere. I was helping somebody because he was laying down. I wasn't sure if he was dead or alive and I was like, "Hey, are you alive?" "Hey, are you OK?"
KAYE: The man, Chris says, was named Junior.
HANSEN: I took my bandana off and put into knot and I shoved it in his hole, on the bullet hole that was in his back. I was like, "Talk to me." "Stay with me." And I was holding pressure down. It's OK.
KAYE: This woman also jumped in to help. Her friend, a nightclub employee was bleeding badly.
JEANETTE MCCOY, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: My only instinct was to help everybody else around me. I saw my buddy, Juan, who was the bartender, and first thing I do as I see his wound and I take off my shirt and I just tied my shirt around his leg to stop the bleeding. KAYE: This medical student stayed around to help too, instead of running for his life. Carlos Rosario saved one man who fell to the floor on his stomach.
CARLOS ROSARIO, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I realized he was hit. He had a gunshot wound to his back. I held pressure on his wound for about 20 minutes or so and still, you know, checking in with him, keeping him conscious.
KAYE: He also helped a woman who'd been shot in the hand. Even using his own cellphone to call the woman's mom so her daughter could speak to her.
ROSARIO: It was so heartbreaking because I -- even though she was saying those messages, I didn't want her to give up. And I didn't want her mom to give up on her like I didn't want them to say the last goodbye.
KAYE: In the face of hate, heroes emerged.
Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Something to hold on to on this dark day. We now know all the names of the victims. The 49th name has just been released. We'll have that name for you in just a moment.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:00:00] COOPER: Well, the name of the 49th victim has just been released, Geraldo Ortiz-Jimenez. We remember him and all those who loss their lives here and all those who are still in hospitals struggling to recover from their wounds.