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Kentucky Gunman Wrote Note before Shooting Up Bank; Most U.S. Families Affected by Gun Violence; Biden Departs for Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired April 11, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): At this hour, authorities in Kentucky are getting ready to release new information about the mass shooting that killed five people.

First on CNN, we're learning that the gunman's Instagram livestream showed coworkers saying good morning to him moments before she and many others were shot. More on that video ahead as we wait to hear from authorities this hour.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): At this moment, President Biden on his way to Northern Ireland, vowing to help keep the peace. This morning police there are conducting a public safety operation amid new security concerns.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And one of the so called Tennessee Three is now back at work after Republicans expelled him from the legislature. Representative Justin Jones sworn in for a second time after Nashville city councilors voted unanimously to reappoint him to the statehouse.

We're following these major stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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BOLDUAN: Soon we're going to get an update from officials in Louisville on the investigation into the mass shooting that happened yesterday. We're going to be bringing that to you live when it happens.

And also first on CNN, investigators now say new video shows the attack inside the Louisville bank lasted only about one minute. This is according to a review of the Instagram video that the gunman livestreamed as he carried out the shooting.

Officials also say you can hear on the video a woman greeting the gunman and he telling her, quote, "You need to get out of here." And then he shoots her. We have more details coming in. Let's get over to CNN's Omar Jimenez in Louisville for that.

Omar, what more are you picking up? OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So we know this video was livestreamed and we're now learning what investigators were seeing on that livestream video before it was taken down, according to an official.

So the shooter, as you mentioned, tells a worker to "get out of here" with a clearly visible a AR-15 rifle. And then, as she tries to do so, he then turns to try and shoot her in the back. But the safety was on and the gun had yet to be -- wasn't loaded, according to this official.

So then he loaded the gun and then proceeds to shoot her in the back. Her condition is unknown.

Then proceeds to continue firing on at other bank employees, who are trying to run as he continues shooting. As you mentioned, the shooting lasted in total just about a minute. But in that time, five people were killed and eight others injured.

After the shooting was done, again, according to the officials, describing what investigators were seeing, the shooter sat down in the lobby of the building just behind me, waited, looking out onto Main Street, which is the street behind me, until police arrived.

And then, as we know from police, that's when a gun battle began and then the shooter ended up dead. Here this morning, we see the bank behind me. The windows are boarded up. There's a disaster recovery team here as well, likely cleaning up a lot of -- I can only imagine -- just unspeakable carnage inside.

As for the shooter himself, we know from a law enforcement source that he wrote a note to his parents and friends, saying he was going to shoot up the bank because he believed -- there are separately -- he believed he was going to be fired.

And that's all part of the investigation into what may have motivated the shooting. We know that five are killed, eight others injured, four have now been discharged from the hospital. Three are in stable and fair condition but one remains in critical condition.

We do know one of the responding police officers, 26 year old Nickolas Wilt, was shot in the head while responding. He was put in critical condition. So obviously a lot of people waiting with bated breath to see what his recovery process is going to look like.

But of course, we're awaiting now new details, with the press conference set to get going in just about 30 minutes, with the mayor, interim police chief, hospital officials and more, who -- we're expected to not just get more details about this but also a planned vigil later on, as this community tries to process what's happened and what is still happening, as many of them are still dealing with the aftermath of this.

BOLDUAN: Omar, thank you very much for that update.

We're going to bring you that live when that press conference does begin -- John.

BERGER: Yes, we're expecting that in just a few minutes.

In the meantime, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller is here with me.

John, the revelations from the livestream, how will investigators use that to piece together the narrative?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, they're going to piece it together from three places. I mean, one, there is the bank cameras that give you the wide view. But in most cases they don't have sound.

Two, you've got the bodycam that the police officers have, which gives you sound and picture but only after they arrived.

The livestream is going to be critical in understanding what was happening before police arrived and what words were exchanged between the shooter --

[11:05:00]

MILLER: -- bank employees.

Did he say why he was doing it as he as he opened fire on these people?

What were his encounters?

So the livestream video, which was recorded and then taken down from Instagram, is going to provide a lot of valuable insight.

BERMAN: The very idea of a live stream in this case is heinous. It's diabolical. But it's also not the first time.

So what has been learned about people who choose to do something like this?

MILLER: That's a fascinating question. You know, this is something that emerged first in the New Zealand attack against the mosque, where the shooter livestreamed his attacks on two mosques in that country.

And that video actually became, unfortunately, the inspiration for other live -- for other active shooters to livestream theirs. But here's what it really means.

In this particular case, you have a shooter, who leaves a note at home for Mom and Dad and a friend. You know, think just back to the Nashville shooting, where she reaches out to a friend and, you know, contacts that person.

This is the kind of "I'm sorry about what I'm going to do and it's not your fault but I want you to understand" note. The video is something completely different. That's a more aggressive posture, which is, "I am broadcasting my taking of revenge against those who I feel wronged me. And I also want the world to see me as this strong figure."

BERMAN: Of course, it is not a strong figure who does something like that, not even close.

MILLER: No, but it's all about rewriting their life story. You know, these are people who are engaged in failure and disappointment and feeling marginalized. And this is their way of rewriting that story and literally broadcasting it.

BERMAN: Which is why, by the way, people -- and I'm one of them -- choose not to say the names of the shooters, show the pictures of the shooter as little as possible so as not to give them in essence what they were asking for.

This shooter stopped firing for 1.5 minutes in the middle.

Why do you think that was?

Was it to give the cops a chance to arrive?

MILLER: So we can't -- we can't get into his head at this point. But I think you hit on it, which is I have -- let's choreograph it because the victims don't get to choreograph this. They are set upon immediately. The police don't get to choreographic it. They get to train for it but they always walk in, in the middle.

It's a necessary fact in the active shooter dynamic. It's the shooter who gets to choreograph it. And his choreography is I'm livestreaming, I'm broadcasting; first, I'm taking revenge on those who I feel who wronged me.

There's a conference room with the senior leadership of the bank that's firing me. And I'm taking that out on them.

Now there's the pause. I'm waiting for the police. This is almost certainly classic suicide by cop. I'm going to wait for them to come. I'm going to engage. I'm going to shoot at them. They're going to shoot at me.

Unfortunately, it didn't just result in his death and not just the deaths of everybody he had already killed, but of a brave young police officer, only 10 days on the job, who comes through into that field of fire.

BERMAN: Look, the important people here are the ones who did not make it, the lives that were lost; also the officers who responded so quickly.

Any sense of how these officers -- and again they were there, what, in three minutes?

How they're doing today?

MILLER: So they're obviously having their own hard time. I mean, there's not just the trauma of walking into a field of gunfire with an individual with an assault weapon but there's that field training officer, who has this police officer; his job is to train this police officer on the street until he is able to fly on his own.

Only 10 days on the job, who runs into the danger with his trainee. And of course, he feels terrible about that. Probably feels responsible for that, although he did nothing wrong, except what the citizens of Louisville ask of him and his young trainee.

And that trainee is -- kind of traumatic brain injury -- is still in the hospital, still being assessed for how he will come out of this and what he will have. And his training officer is still going through that natural second guessing of woulda, coulda, shoulda.

But I mean, they both did exactly what they swore under oath to do.

BERMAN: These are human feelings they are no doubt having and the community is surrounding them with love and support at this moment.

MILLER: And they're both heroes.

BERMAN: They absolutely. Thank you so much for being with us.

Again, we are expecting a news conference in just a little bit -- Sara.

SIDNER: A sobering news survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 54 percent of U.S. adults have either personally experienced or had a family member experience gun violence.

That includes witnessing a shooting, being threatened by a gun or being injured or killed by a gun. Losing loved ones to gun violence is more common among Black adults than white adults. They are two times as likely to have a family member die from a shooting. CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us now.

[11:10:00]

SIDNER: Sanjay, there have already been 146 mass shootings -- that doesn't count all the other shootings that go on throughout the year -- so far this year. The harm and the fear of harm is real for so many people. That survey really pointing that out.

What more can you tell us about the survey?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think you're absolutely right, Sara. I mean, this sort of gives us an idea of the psyche of the citizens of this country around the issue of gun violence.

As you well know, first of all, guns kill more children and teenagers than anything else in this country. It's hard to believe, more than car accidents. These kids and young people are dying from gun violence. So it's a real concern.

What they tried to get at obviously in this survey was, what is the impact on the psychology, really?

How often are people consumed or thinking about this? And as you point out, that the -- how much we've actually witnessed is a big part of this. Now 17 percent of people have seen someone get shot. Think about that, Sara. One in five people have seen someone get shot.

It's really horrific; 19 percent saw a family member killed by a gun, suicide or homicide, and 21 percent threatened by a gun.

And then the next question they ask is, so how often are you fearful of this issue then?

Sometimes 40 percent, all the way to every day; 8 percent of people every day think about this issue for themselves. So it's sort of a snapshot into what is a pretty uniquely American phenomenon.

SIDNER: Yes, those numbers are really stunning. That 17 percent really hits you in the gut, that 70 percent of people have this experience.

Let me ask you about the 41 percent of the survey says, household, live with a gun. The survey saying that, it doesn't surprise me. I grew up in a rural part of this country, where they were prolific. People had them. Gun racks were still a thing.

But this is a big number. We know there are more guns than there are human beings in the United States.

What does it say about how these guns, though, are stored?

GUPTA: Yes, and let me just point out, there are more guns being acquired and more people owning the guns. So it's not just the same people buying more and more guns. There are more people who are acquiring these guns.

But you're right. This isn't about ownership. This is about storage. That's what they tried to get out in this particular survey.

And they were just trying to say, look, are we storing these safely?

Because so many of these stories that you've covered, that I've covered, are about these guns that were acquired, sometimes in the own home but weren't stored correctly.

So 36 percent of the time, more than a third of the time, they were stored loaded -- not supposed to happen; 44 percent, they're stored unlocked and 52 percent of the time they were stored with ammunition.

Those are all basic sort of no-nos when it comes to storage.

And this was, again, I think that the survey tried to get at, if we're not talking about owning guns, are we at least storing them in a safe manner?

And the answer more than not is no.

SIDNER: That could be a huge game changer really if the storage is better, because those numbers are disturbing. You mentioned this earlier -- and it is a number that I think, for all of us, shocked us, that that gun violence is the number one killer of our children in this country.

Can you give us more details about what this survey revealed?

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, as much as we're fearful of these guns overall for -- on adults or even more fearful when it comes to our children, I think, no surprise one of the things that stuck out to me was 20 percent of families have thought about changing schools for their kids because of the concerns of gun violence.

But you can see the numbers there. Sometimes worried about a 38 percent all the way to every day thinking about this issue; 12 percent of people. And again, these are surveys. It may be even higher than that in the wake of a shooting, Sara, as you might guess, for a period of time and in a difference in time.

But for a period of time, I think every parent in the country is worried about school shootings. So it waxes and it wanes but it's increasingly, trend wise, becoming a problem.

SIDNER: Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much for sharing this. It is really disturbing, some of these details, and the fears that parents have, the fears are real because this does keep happening.

And I know he is frozen right there. But that was Sanjay's voice -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Right now, President Biden is on the way to Northern Ireland. We're live from Belfast, as they prepare to mark the anniversary of the Good Friday agreement. But there are also facing new security threats the very same time.

Plus a Tennessee lawmaker removed from office and quickly gets the seat back. What he says this means now for the gun reform -- the gun reform that that sparked his protest.

And a leaked classified document reportedly revealed Egypt was secretly planning to send rockets to Russia.

We have the details ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[11:15:00]

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BERMAN: At this hour, President Biden is on his way to Northern Ireland. He took off from Joint Base Andrews last hour. He's going there to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement, which mostly ended decades of sectarian violence. After Northern Ireland, the president will head to Ireland, where he

will mix diplomacy, politics and a homecoming of sorts. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan live in Belfast for us this morning.

Donie, I think you've spoken to just about everyone on the island over the last several days.

What are they saying about the president's arrival?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: We've done our best.

Yes, look, there's two big parts to this trip, John. First here, he will arrive here tonight in Northern Ireland, in Belfast, as you mentioned, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace agreement. Now there is peace here but it is an uneasy one.

[11:20:00]

O'SULLIVAN: We have seen the terror threat level escalate here recently. And of course, the power sharing government structure that was set up under the Good Friday agreement, where both sides -- the two communities here, the Unionist Republicans, Catholics and Protestants work together in government, that is not functioning right now.

So he will speak here tomorrow. And then he will make his way south to the Republic of Ireland, where that is really going to be quite a personal trip. It was 60 years ago that JFK came to Ireland to find his relatives and really started a tradition of American presidents coming here, to track, to find their ancestral home.

We caught up with some of Biden's younger cousins a few days ago. Have a listen.

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O'SULLIVAN: Girls, how does it feel to be related to the president?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very exciting?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's president.

O'SULLIVAN: Have you met him before?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we met him twice.

O'SULLIVAN: What did he say to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was -- he was just eating our chips. And when the fancy meals came out, he just wanted the chips and chicken nuggets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's really proud of his Irish roots. Yes, we have had the other presidents. But this president is more important, I think to Ireland, than the rest of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: And so there's a real sense here that Biden really does have a true connection to Ireland. He's going to be visiting relatives on both sides of the country, in County Louth and in County Mayo, where he is due to deliver a speech in front of the cathedral in Ballina on Friday night -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, hide your chips. I mean, that's the lesson here, if Joe Biden is coming to town, hide those chips and nuggets. Donie O'Sullivan in Belfast, thank you. Terrific reporting from there. We really appreciate it -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Newly revealed leaked Pentagon documents suggest Egypt's president ordered military officials there to secretly supply rockets to Russia and keep it secret from the West. "The Washington Post" was the first to report on this document. CNN's Natasha Bertrand has more on this for us.

Natasha, Egypt is now responding to this.

What are they saying?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, Egypt is categorically denying this report in "The Washington Post" that cites a leaked U.S. intelligence document claiming that Egypt's president ordered his subordinates to start to produce up to 40,000 rockets to be sent to Russia, ostensibly to be used for the war in Ukraine.

Now we don't actually have this document. Independently, we are learning, though, that it does appear to be part of a broader set of documents that have been leaked online over the last month or so.

And they appear consistent with the kind of intelligence that has been leaked in recent days here -- or at least, I should say, have surfaced in recent days.

But look, this document, if true, if there were these conversations going on for Egypt to provide lethal aid to Russia at this moment, it would be potentially explosive, of course, because Egypt is one of the U.S.' closest allies in the Middle East.

And it would suggest that Egypt now is getting closer to the Russians, when, in fact, publicly, they have tried to maintain a more neutral position when it comes to the war in Ukraine.

Now it would also be kind of a slap in the face to the U.S. government, of course, because secretary of state Antony Blinken was actually just in Egypt at the end of January, talking about the U.S.- Egyptian partnership and how important it is for them to stand together in the phase of Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Obviously, this would be a very -- this would cause a big fracture in the relationship if Egypt did move forward with this kind of production. We should note that a U.S. official did tell "The Washington Post" that there are no signs at this moment that Egypt has actually gone through with this lethal aid to Russia -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, much, much more to learn as with all these documents, Natasha, thank you so much for that reporting.

And also because Egypt receives tons of aid from the United States.

BERMAN: Yes, this pile of dirty laundry is getting bigger and bigger around the world, as we learn more revelations from these documents. Thanks so much.

Minutes from now, police in Louisville are expected to give an update on their investigation into the mass shooting at a bank that killed five people and wounded several others. We're standing by for that.

And in Nashville, an ousted lawmaker has his job back. What he is vowing to do now.

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[11:25:00]

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SIDNER: We are standing by right now for an update out of Kentucky. Officials there are set to provide new information on their investigation into yesterday's mass shooting in Louisville.

This morning we've learned some disturbing details. The gunman's Instagram livestream showed him using an AR-15 style weapon during that rampage. The shooting lasted about a minute and, when it ended, the gunman simply sat and waited for police in the lobby.

The mayor of Baltimore is calling for a citywide curfew for young people during the summer months. The move comes after two teenagers were shot over the weekend. Mayor Brandon Scott says the loss of one life in our city is one too many.

He said the curfew is another tool to help keep young people safe.

And Paul Whelan, an American wrongfully detained in Russia, was able to call for the first time in nearly two weeks, according to his brother. Paul has become aware of the case of "The Wall Street Journal" reporter, Evan Gershkovich, another wrongfully detained American.

The Biden administration has urged the Russians to immediately release both of them -- John.

[11:30:00]