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The Global Brief with Bianca Nobilo
Texas School Shooting Timeline; Fighting Rages In East Ukraine; Political History In Colombia. Aired 5-5:30p ET
Aired May 26, 2022 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:46]
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Lynda Kinkade in Atlanta, in for Bianca Nobilo. Welcome to THE GLOBAL BRIEF.
Tonight, Texas police are under scrutiny over their response to the mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
Then, Ukrainian officials say that Russian forces are bombarding cities in eastern Ukraine on maximum intensity.
And we'll take a look at the life of Francia Marquez. She is the woman who was on course to become the first Black vice president of Colombia.
Well, even as the grief stricken town of Uvalde, Texas, mourns the 19 school children and teachers a gunman murdered on Tuesday, new questions
are being asked about the gunman's activities and the police response. In the past few hours, the top Texas law enforcement officials give new
details about what happened before the gunman reached Robb Elementary School, and wet the first officers did on the scene when the gunman shot at
them.
CNN's Jason Carroll is in Uvalde, and filed this story. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Moments of agony for parents gathered at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday, anxiously
awaiting beyond the police line, knowing the shooter was inside their children's school.
VICTOR LUNA, FATHER OF ROBB ELEMENTARY 4TH GRADE STUDENT: They were breaking the windows to get the kids out of the windows. At that point, I
knew the shooter was still alive.
CARROLL: Some parents ready to go into the building, held back by loved ones and police. Victor Luna was one of those parents. His son, who was in
the fourth grade, survived.
LUNA: I told one of the officers myself, if they didn't want to go in there, let me borrow a gun and a vest and I would go in myself to handle
it. And they told me no.
CARROLL: Another parent who heard the gunshots at the scene told "The Washington Post," we don't care about us, we wanted to storm the building.
We were saying, let's go, because that's how worried we were. And we wanted to get our babies out.
His daughter, Jacklyn Casarez, was one of the 19 students killed along with two teachers. Chilling video shows the moment the gunman entered the
elementary school through an unlocked back door, holding a rifle.
VICTOR ESCALON, SOUTH TEXAS REGIONAL DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: 11:40, he walks into the west side of Robb Elementary. According to
reports, video we have obtained from outside, inside, and, again, we're still combing through that, so bear with us. Multiple rounds, numerous
rounds are discharged in the school.
CARROLL: Troubling questions emerging, as authorities investigate how the shooter could navigate through the school and why no armed resource officer
was on site.
The Uvalde school district had a safety plan in place, listing 21 measures for ensuring school safety, including a police force and physical security
measures, like fencing and a buzz-in door system.
ESCALON: From the grandma's house to the bar ditch, to school, into the school, he was not confronted by anybody. To clear the record on that.
CARROLL: Authorities also investigating how the gunman was able to barricade himself inside the classroom for up to an hour before law
enforcement gained access to the room by force, killing the shooter.
ESCALON: Approximately an hour later, U.S. Border Patrol tactical teams arrive, they make entry, shoot and kill the suspect.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, impassioned pleas for gun reform can be heard across the United States. Four Republican lawmakers, they have had many chances to
take meaningful action after other mass shootings, but have made no move.
CNN's Brian Todd has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Another slaughter of children inside a school, another instance where a shaken president pleads for an
end to inaction.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When in God's name we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?
TODD: But if there's any new movement in Washington after the Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting, any movement to ban or cut back the sales of assault
weapons, any movement to strengthen background checks, it could join a heartbreaking list of past attempts following horrific school shootings
that failed.
[17:05:09]
BILL CLINTON, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: We must do more to keep guns out of the hands of children.
TODD: That was President Bill Clinton three days after the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado in April, 1999, when two students killed
12 fellow students and a teacher. Federal legislation was proposed to close loopholes for background checks at gun shows. It failed in Congress.
MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: For president after president since Bill Clinton, there are tragedies, there is a call to action, there are
efforts at legislation, and that legislation falls short.
TODD: The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012, when 20 children were gunned down along with six adults,
was a moment so horrifying that Democrats and Republicans said something had to be done.
BARACK OBAMA, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: This time, the words need to lead to action.
TODD: Many believed tighter gun laws had a real chance of passing. They didn't pass. Not a proposed assault weapons ban, not a bipartisan measure
for expanded background checks.
President Barack Obama was still upset years later.
BARACK: Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad.
TODD: Four years ago, after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, then-President Donald Trump went
against the NRA and called for sweeping gun legislation.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We want to be very powerful, very strong on background checks and especially as it pertains to the mentally
ill.
TODD: That movement lasted about a day at the federal level.
The father of a Parkland victim following the Texas shooting on Tuesday remained pessimistic and angry.
FRED GUTTENBERG, LOST DAUGHTER IN PARKLAND SHOOTING: It is so infuriating because all of these instances, we know the next one is going to happen
because we haven't done anything to fix it.
TODD: One analyst says there's plenty of blame to go around. And not just among politicians who point fingers at the other side of the aisle.
TALEV: The public has not demonstrated a will to put this issue above everything else at the ballot box. Are they willing to prioritize that
above voting on inflation or their pocketbook?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (on camera): And now, after this school's shooting, a similar conundrum in Congress. House Democrats passed legislation strengthening
background checks. Now, Democrats in the Senate can either try to ramrod that through quickly with the likelihood that it would lose, or they can
take more time to try to negotiate something bipartisan with Republicans, with the outcome of that far from certain.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
KINKADE: Well, let's go to Uvalde, Texas. With the latest mass shooting, it left 19 students and two teachers dead.
CNN correspondent Lucy Kafanov joins us now for more on all of this.
Lucy, several students survived that massacre. But are in hospital, fighting for their lives. What can you tell us about their condition?
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lynda, we know that three little girls were airlifted, medevaced here to San Antonio about 90 minutes away
from Uvalde on Tuesday evening. Two of the patients -- sorry, four patients in total, 66 years old and three little girls, two of them age 10, one age
9, they are recovering, two are in serious condition, two are listed in good condition.
But this is going to be a fight for their lives. Not just from the physical scars, but the emotional ones, too.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAFANOV (voice-over): Look at their faces. Fourth grader Jackie Cazares just had her first baptism and first communion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was full of love, full of life. And she would do anything for anybody.
KAFANOV: Nine-year-old Ellie Garcia just a week from her 10th birthday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sweetest girl you ever had the chance to meet.
KAFANOV: Ten-year-old, Nevaeh Bravo, her name spelled back words is heaven. Angels now to their families, 19 children and two teachers.
This is the pain of their loss.
ANGEL GARZA, RAISED AMERIE JO GARZA: How do you look at this girl and shoot at her? Oh, my baby. I miss you, my baby.
KAFANOV: Angel Garza who raised Amerie Jo Garza wants them to know she tried to call 911 to save her classmates and teachers.
GARZA: She was the sweetest little girl who did nothing wrong. She listened to her mom and dad. She always brushed her teeth. She was
creative. She made things for us. She never got in trouble at school.
KAFANOV: Lexi Rubio loved sports and just at ten years old, she dreamed of traveling the world.
FELIX RUBIO, LEXI RUBIO'S FATHER: She wanted to go to Australia.
KIMBERLY RUBIO, LEXI RUBIO'S MOTHER: She wanted to go to law school, at St. Mary's.
KAFANOV: Jackie Cazares' father, Jacinto, called her a firecracker, posting his range of emotion first at the cowardly way his daughter was
killed: It hurts us to our souls.
[17:10:07]
Then, a note to his daughter. Be in peace with the rest of the angels, sweetheart. Baby girl, we all love you with all our hearts.
At a community vigil last night in Uvalde, the dead are mourned. They include teacher Irma Garcia who was in her fifth year teaching along side
Eva Mireles, both died, their family say, shielding students from gunfire.
Not lost here, the children still being treated in the hospital. A pediatric trauma director described them as critical but stable, wishing
there were more lives she could save.
DR. LILIAN LIAO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY HEALTH PEDIATRIC TRAUMA: I think that's what hit us the most, not of the patients we did receive and we are
honored to treat them, but the patients that we did not receive. That is the most challenging aspect of our job right now.
KAFANOV: The Flores family among those who rushed to hospitals in search of their children. It was there that Jose Flores Sr. lived the moment that
would befall families in his close-knit community.
JOSE FLORES, SR., JOSE FLORES' FATHER: So I didn't get to hold him anymore. I didn't get to see him no more.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAFANOV (on camera): So much grief, loss, and trauma. Not just for the victims and their families but this entire close knit community, less than
16,000 people, almost everyone is impacted as is the nation as a whole.
The weapons used in that shooting, an AR style rifle, the kinds of wounds it creates, we have heard from the doctor at the University Health Hospital
behind, me she described these as destructive wounds. Large area of tissue missing from the body, because the little girls are recovering in the
hospital lost so much blood.
I know that sounds graphic, but that is a reality that these victims are dealing with. Like I said, the scars are not just physical, but emotional -
- Lynda.
KINKADE: Yes. Lucy, some -- it's really hard to watch. So much grief, for so many families. Thank you very much.
We are going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(VIDEO GAP)
KINKADE: -- advancing on the outskirts of Severodonetsk. Dozens of towns across the Donbas are coming under attack. Ukraine says its forces may have
to retreat in several areas and the deputy defense minister acknowledges that some losses are quote, inevitable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GANNA MALYAR, UKRAINIAN DEPUTY DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): The situation remains difficult and show signs of further --
(VIDEO GAP)
KINKADE: Good to have you with us, Nick.
So, you are in a region that has been seeing the fiercest fighting right now in this war. Talk to us more about these cities that are under assault,
because Ukrainian officials say that Russians are sending in more weapons.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes. It is quite clear, Linda. Not only from the stark change in the rhetoric we normally
hear from very bullish Ukrainian officials, and from what we are seeing on the grounds here that Russia is finding possibly a rare moment of momentum
here in the Donbas and the neighboring areas of -- so you can possibly and the distance here the rumble of the artillery around here, Kramatorsk, and
we have been hearing all day as Russia seems to be exacting a lot of pressure on key towns here, Bakhmut as well.
All forming part, of most of the triangle of its supply lines here and bulwark of resistance. But Russia also finding some success in the smaller
towns outside of that, specifically Lyman today, which does appear now to be under their full control.
So, part of a broader picture in this area where to the north, Ukraine is trying to push towards a key town held by the Russian called Izyum, that is
a vital part of Russia's supply line down to here. Why it's all this so important, Lynda, because the reduced goal of Russian President Vladimir
Putin was essentially to take the Donbas area, as I stand here right now, that looks like something that may be possible in the weeks ahead.
There are still relatively high morale and strong positions around Izyum, slate of north where I am standing which we saw a day or two ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH (voice-over): Putin would leave little of what he claims to liberate, an artillery duel has been raging for days torching around the
vital Russian held town of Izyum. Up on high, in the position we are asked not to reveal, these Ukrainian troops dug in, and have a clear view of the
damage below, but also the enemy.
The Russians are just a kilometer a brow on this hill in that direction.
This unit only here today's vote say they have already destroyed a Russian tank. Yes, they play to the cameras, but it is pretty clear appear that
their morale is sky-high.
UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (translated): Where is my armored Hummer?
WALSH: They are exposed, but ready, keen to show off actually gleeful at the international menu of weapons that they have been sent, almost a silly
amount. The Swedish anti-tank munitions, and, of course, a British NLAW, then from out of the grass, the German one which I particularly like, a
Polish grenade -- no training on them, just practical use, they joke, giving them the widest experience of anti-tank weapons in Europe.
Parading also with the Russians left, thermal optics. And a Soviet era anti-tank weapon that they wind up like a telephone.
Yet still, the Russians persist, even as the prisoners, the troops have taken have revealed how young the soldiers they are fighting are.
UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (translated): They're children who have grown up only under Putin. They don't know any other kind of power. They say, "Putin said
so -- he can't deceive us". We're doing everything right.
Like zombies. It's like the firmware in their brains was updated because they only quote phrases. Poor and unhappy. Sad to look at them.
WALSH: In the village below, the endless shelling is flushing the remaining life out.
This woman said telling me her name would make no difference.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): There were eleven explosions around my house last night. Holes! Eleven! Go and count them. I sat in the cellar, on
my knees asking God to put goodness in people's brains. Will the brain hold up? It will. See? I am here.
They really do not know where they will go, or what if anything they can come back to. Just that life has no space left here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH (on camera): Now, I have to say that it is remarkable after seeing Ukrainian forces so often on the front foot to see the swift change in
territory here around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Towns that were so key to the 2014 initial bid by Russia to use separatists to take Ukrainian
territory, and to hear the consistent firepower just as you are watching the report, here deep rumbling of artillery.
Things are certainly moving here. And they are moving not in the direction Ukraine wants them to. There are fears that troops here could be encircled.
And that seems to be behind a lot of the multiple smaller movements that Russia as doing here.
In fact, even an admission from Ukrainian presidential advisor that there is finally a tactical commander with some talent here, guiding this Russian
advance. But concerns certainly among Ukrainian officials that there could be larger losses of territory and personnel in the days ahead, and some of
that is being used on the global stage to appeal to the United States for a multiple rocket system here. A bit for Ukraine to protect the same kind of
firepower it is on the receiving end, back towards Russian forces here.
But I have to tell you, Lynda, it is remarkable here to see the pace that the territory seems to be changing hands.
KINKADE: Yeah, incredible pace. Our thanks to you, Nick Paton Walsh, in Kramatorsk and the team. Stay safe.
Russia is trying to end in the hearts and minds of Ukrainian civilians they have occupied. This video was taken in more ravaged Mariupol. It shows a
monitor playing Russian propaganda in the city center.
Despite what Russian wants to show the world, life in Mariupol, and other occupied cities has not come back to normal. Our Melissa Bell reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After three months of war, with Azovstal, that simple of Ukrainian resistance and
ruins, Mariupol is a city of ghosts.
These exclusive pictures obtained by CNN show the dead only now being retrieved from the rubble. At least 22,000 people are now believed to have
died, according to the city mayor's office, now working in exile.
PETRO ANDRIUSHCHENKO, ADVISER TO THE MAYOR OF MARIUPOL: It's absolutely, absolutely dark inside the city. Just lights by Russian troops, you know,
by Russian patrols. And everywhere is the smell of death and really, the smell of the fire, smell of the smoke and smell of death. It's Mariupol
reality.
BELL: Very different to what's now being transmitted inside Mariupol. Russian TV channels, to go with the Russian passports residents here have
already been issued with.
Twenty-year-old Nicole is one of the lucky ones. She fled Mariupol with her 5-year-old nephew in early April. It took them five days to get to
Ukrainian held land on foot.
She won't give their full names, because her parents are still trying to get out.
As she starts to tell us her story, Kirill, who had to be silent, she says, for five days it took them to flee, says he wants to speak. He says it was
very scary getting out, showing us how he had to hide his head from the shelling. His message now -- "I want everyone to stay alive," he says.
To the west of Mariupol, the city of Kherson. The pictures now emerging, secretly filmed lines of residents waiting to buy oil and medicine, tales
of hardship shared by those who fled the city since it fell to Russian forces on March 2.
[17:25:03]
Those still inside, too scared to be identified. One man telling CNN of a protest four days at the main train station, when a Ukrainian flag was
raised, he says, anyone within a mile radius was arrested.
In Mariupol, too, the images speak of the new reality of what lies beyond the reach of the free press, Russian controlled Ukraine.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: The U.N. special repertoire on human rights in Afghanistan says the Taliban's new measures aimed to make women, quote, invisible in
society.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD BENNETT, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN: Measures such as the suspension of secondary education, severe barriers to
employment, no opportunities to participate in political and common life, limits on freedom of movement, association, and expression, directed,
enforcing a strict form of hijab. It fits the pattern of gender segregation, and aims at making women and visible in society.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: The U.N. called on the Taliban to immediately reversed these policies and prioritize women's involvement and all aspects of public life.
Let's take a look at other key stories making international headlines today.
The World Health Organization says that global COVID-19 cases and deaths are still declining. The WHO's weekly update says that there were more than
3.7 million cases reported between May 16th and the 22nd, with decreasing trends in four regions including Europe, and Africa.
Prosecutors in the U.K. say London police have given them enough evidence to charge American actor Kevin Spacey with a sexual assault. Britain's
crown prosecutor services Spacey illegibly abused several men between 2005 and 2013 in London. He will be formally charged at a later day.
The actor who is known for his compelling movie roles in "Field of Dreams" and "Goodfella" has died. Ray Liotta passed away in his sleep. He died in
the Dominican Republic where he was working on a new film. Liotta was 67 years old.
Thanks so much for watching THE GLOBAL BRIEF. I'll see you again tomorrow.
END
