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Indiana Toxic Recycling Plant Fire; Louisville Police Bodycam Video; EPA Proposes Strongest Ever Standards for Vehicles. Aired 11- 11:30a ET

Aired April 12, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This morning, deeply disturbing video that appears to show the beheading of Ukrainian soldiers. President Zelenskyy's defiant message to Russia.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A new perspective on the mass shooting, heart pounding bodycam footage of those critical and terrifying minutes. Officers rushing toward the gunfire. And now the killer's family is speaking up about what they call his mental health challenges.

BERMAN (voice-over): Officials say the smoke pouring into the skies over Indiana is definitely toxic. We are live on the scene of this huge recycling plant fire. Thousands have been told to evacuate. These stories and more all coming in to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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BERMAN: There is an emergency unfolding in eastern Indiana. Happening now, toxic smoke billowing into the air over the city of Richmond. This as fire crews are making progress.

They have contained the fire to the plant itself but they are still battling that plant at the fire, still very much burning, as it has been for the last day; 2,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their homes.

And officials say it could be days before the danger clears. Omar Jimenez is live for us on the scene.

Omar, you've been there now for some time, described the situation. I don't see quite as much smoke behind you as I did before.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. One thing that we've noticed is that the smoke has seemed to go up and down at points. But it's definitely smaller than when we first arrived, at least in terms of proportion of black smoke.

We've also been keeping an eye on the changing wind conditions because, obviously, when we got here, it was blowing away from us. And that was one of the warnings that officials were giving that, you know, you see it blowing away but that could obviously change at any moment.

Let's take a look at what it's looking like right now. You see a combination of some of that darker smoke and some of the lighter smoke, which oftentimes we see as fire officials try to extinguish some of these flames. So it seems they're making some progress.

As for what caused this, that is really the main question here. The fire chief and others are trying to get to the heart of it. But one thing that the mayor said was that the mayor said that this is a property they've had issues with before in terms of potential fire hazards on the property.

And as far as how this came through, we knew it was a semitruck trailer that's on fire; that fire spread to plastics around that trailer and then into the building itself and is burning about 14 acres worth of plastics now, spewing those definitely toxic chemicals into the air.

But take a listen to the mayor and other officials about some of their frustrations with this property in particular.

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CHIEF TIM BROWN, RICHMOND FIRE DEPARTMENT, INDIANA: The issue was a unsafe building and unsafe grounds.

MAYOR DAVE SNOW (D-IN), RICHMOND: This person has been negligent and irresponsible and it's led to putting a lot of people in danger today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And again, it's a blame they're putting squarely on that -- on that -- on that owner, whoever is owning this particular property. And so that's something we're trying to get more details on.

But also a key thing that's been happening today is the testing of the air quality in and around. Now officials say the plumes itself, that is definitely toxic.

But a major question is, at the ground level, what sort of air quality have we been seeing?

So representatives from the EPA on the ground, they said the main concern on the ground for breathing air is smoke particulates. It's so things that masks would help with.

But it's not so much the toxins at the ground level. Now you mentioned the smoke coming down. They said, as this flame and smoke begin to extinguish, some of those toxic plumes that were going up into the air could end up being around this ground level.

And so that is something they are monitoring very closely so that the 2,000 that were told to evacuate now doesn't grow into something much more.

BERMAN: And what I still can't get over, the 14 acres of plastic that you describe as now in flames or in smoke over all of you.

Is this something that you can smell?

I mean, what are you and people saying, are experiencing?

JIMENEZ: You can definitely smell it in the air. If it's not a chemical type of smell, it is the smoke itself.

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JIMENEZ: Yes, 14 acres worth. The fire chief said that, if it's 14 acres of plastics, 13.5 acres have actually burned. And that half may just be the spot where those crews are actually standing to take care, try to take care of some of these flames.

You talked about one of the more important parts here is that they do feel like it's contained at this point. So at this point, they don't feel like there's a risk to surrounding homes as far as flames go or anything like that. So that is good news.

But we also talked to a resident that lived basically at the epicenter of where this was happening, at the heart of all these -- all of this black smoke. And she said that when she got the evacuation order, she didn't hesitate. She ran. She got out of there.

Even if she didn't have all of her stuff -- and even if she hadn't gotten the evacuation order, she would have just been able to step outside, look up, look up and see the amount of smoke that was bearing down on her property there.

She doesn't know when she's going to be able to go back safely. People here don't know as well, as far as those that are in the evacuation zone. Officials say they're working to try and get this as safe as possible.

But obviously, the long term effects or something that are going to have to be paid attention to hear, especially if some of those toxins come down from the air where they are now and end up in more of the breathable area here on the ground.

BERMAN: Look, we spoke to Sanjay Gupta last hour. There aren't answers just yet into how long people will have to wait. It depends how long this fire burns and how far it spreads. Omar Jimenez, you and your team, thank you. Please stay safe -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: The mayor of Louisville, says his city is heartbroken as it prepares for a vigil today for those five people who were killed in a mass shooting at a downtown bank.

Louisville police have now released the body camera video from the officers who responded. It includes images from officers Nickolas Wilt. He was on just his fourth tour of duty and is now in critical condition after being shot.

We also have new video from the training officer that was training Mr. Wilt, Cory "CJ" Galloway. It shows both officers charging toward the bank as they faced gunfire from the suspect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're making entry from the from the east side, pressing the main (ph).

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SIDNER: You hear Officer Galloway there, talking about the other officer was down. But he himself, you saw, fell backwards. He was grazed by a bullet.

There are also new images from inside the bank, showing the gunman walking the halls. Officials say it took him just a minute to carry out the attack before he appeared to wait for police to arrive. CNN's Adrienne Broaddus is in Louisville for us.

Adrienne, give us an update on what more we have learned about the shooter in this case.

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sara, I want to direct your attention first to the bank behind me. You can see plywood now covers the windows. On the other side of those windows is the lobby.

And investigators say the lobby is where the shooter was waiting. Take a look at these still images we received from police.

The first picture shows the shooter inside of a bank hallway before the shooting. The other photo shows the shooter in the lobby of the building. And that is where he was waiting for the officers.

We now know Officer CJ Galloway fired the shot that ended the life of the shooter on Monday. We know that 25 year old shooter texted a friend. He called a friend and he left a voicemail, saying, in part, he wanted to kill everyone at the bank and that he was feeling suicidal.

Investigators executed a search warrant on the shooter's home. We do know investigators learned, the weapon that was used in the shooting that killed five people was purchased last week, six days before the shooting. So we're talking about on Tuesday, April 4th, it was purchased legally.

And that gun he purchased from a local dealership here in Louisville was used to kill five people who worked at this bank; the youngest victim, a 40 year old. Tonight, all five will be honored and recognized and remembered at a vigil.

Meanwhile the shooter's family is working closely with investigators, releasing a statement overnight, saying in part, the family was aware the shooter struggled with depression. However, they said, they didn't see any signs or even know he was capable of such violence. I want to read part of their statement to you, which says, in part.

[11:10:00] BROADDUS: "No words can express our sorrow, anguish and horror at the unthinkable harm our son, Connor, inflicted on innocent people" -- Sara.

SIDNER: I don't know about you, Adrienne, but it always leaves me with questions as to why someone, who says they want to kill themselves, ends up killing so many people and then doing a suicide by cop. All right, let's go over to Kate.

This is just hard to watch. And I know you and Shimon are going to go through this for us.

BOLDUAN: And you talked through some of the key moments that have been revealed in the body camera video, especially. Shimon Prokupecz is here just to walk through what sticks out to you in some of these key minutes?

I mean, it was five minutes, all told, for them to neutralize the suspect once they got the dispatch and got on the scene. But let's start with Officer Wilt's body camera, Shimon, because you think this shows some important elements about the police response.

Wilt, Nickolas Wilt is the officer who was shot in the head, who is recovering from his injuries, in critical condition right now in the hospital. Let's play this.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right, just 10 days on the job. On his fourth shift only. He's driving here. And you hear Galloway as they're trying to get -- as gunfire is coming to them.

He's "Back up, back up," and what you see here -- and I want to stop it here a little bit. You see, Galloway, this is Galloway. This is Wilt. Wilt is just armed with his sidearm. That's all he has.

Wilt goes right to the back of the car to get his long rifle. Why this is important because this is how they train, that in active shooter situations, they go to get their long rifle to give them more firepower.

And you're going to see eventually --

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BOLDUAN: -- encountering someone with --

PROKUPECZ: -- correct but this is how they train. And I think that's so significant. You see almost immediately their training go into effect and you see them go toward the gunfire. Keep in mind here, they have no idea where the gunman is at this time.

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE) seconds, right?

They run up this staircase. Wilt is shot in the head almost immediately as they get up the staircase. And then Galloway, then he's also shot. And he goes to -- he goes to get into a position where he can kind of get his bearings.

PROKUPECZ: Well, yes. He, over here, is where you see he is now taking cover. He falls down. He gets shot around here, he gets grazed in the head and he falls. And then he takes position, because now he's trying to find the gunman.

BOLDUAN: And this whole time he's speaking in the -- you can hear in his body camera video, he's alerting them that he can't get a view on where the gunfire is coming from. Clearly he knows Officer Wilt is down right over here, right?

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BOLDUAN: And but then, he -- eventually, other officers arrived to try to rescue Wilt.

PROKUPECZ: Right, because he knows Wilt is down. He can see that Wilt is down and all he's doing here is he's trying to find the gunman. And you can see his --- in his video earlier that -- we showed, if you want to show it again.

BOLDUAN: Yes, we can show it again.

PROKUPECZ: The Galloway video, you can see him here. He's looking. He's looking. He's looking. The glass here is shot out. Now they can't see --

BOLDUAN: That's when he shot --

PROKUPECZ: -- that's when he's shot and he falls. And you see, he falls back here. And then this is where he's taking cover.

BOLDUAN: And so he -- and then he tells those officers to stand by, because as the -- as these -- as the new officers come on scene, that is when the gunman shoots. They take -- they take fire from the gunman.

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

BOLDUAN: That shatters the glass and more glass, where he gets a clear view.

PROKUPECZ: And that long rifle, the long rifle comes into play. And that's why that was such a key moment, that he thought to go to the back of his car and get that long rifle. That was an important part of this.

But what you're seeing here is, despite the fact that these officers are taking gunfire, despite the fact that one of their officers is down, they're still going forward and then eventually they go in and saved the lives of the people --

BOLDUAN: And confirmed that his shot, he was able to take out the suspect.

(CROSSTALK) PROKUPECZ: He killed the suspect.

BOLDUAN: The deputy chief after this is who they were talking about this, he spoke about what it took. You talked about the training but what it took for these officers to respond so quickly and in this way. Let's listen to that.

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DEPUTY CHIEF PAUL HUMPHREY, LOUISVILLE METRO POLICE: What you saw in that video was absolutely amazing. It's tragic but it's absolutely amazing. There's only a few people in this country that can do what they did. Not everybody can do that.

They deserve to be honored for what they did because it is not something that comes easily. It is not something that comes naturally.

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PROKUPECZ: And so he talked about it's one thing for officers to train for this. But when you're actually in this kind of a situation, to see officers react this way and just how remarkable it was, to see them behave this way, to see them be so courageous, to go toward the gunfire, continue to go toward the gunfire.

You know, just a rookie officer.

BOLDUAN: And keep their nerves about them to let their training, let their training, even the rookie officer, even the rookie officer training taking effect.

PROKUPECZ: And then the trained officer, the one who has more seniority.

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PROKUPECZ: He's been you know, on the job more. You see his instincts and his actions to go and get that long rifle.

BOLDUAN: As you mentioned, these are the five victims of this, as Adrienne and Sara were talking about earlier. There's a vigil tonight to honor these victims. And we remember them as well.

It's important also, as we -- Shimon, thank you so much for walking through this.

We're going to continue to get more images coming out. But also the programming for all of you, make sure to tune in tonight to "CNN TONIGHT." Kaitlan Collins is going to be joined by Kentucky's governor, Andy Beshear, for his first interview since this Louisville bank shooting.

And as you see, one of these victims was one of his very close friends, as the governor has spoken very emotionally about. That begins tonight 9:00 pm Eastern -- John.

BERMAN: Thanks, Kate.

Developing this morning, Ukraine's security service has launched a war crimes investigation into the horrifying video that appears to show the beheading of a Ukrainian soldier.

This is the second video to emerge on social media, showing graphic violence against Ukrainian soldiers. Now CNN is not showing these videos. But we do have some freeze frames from the clips that appear to show the victims and the perpetrators and give us a sense of who they may be. Let's look at some of that.

You can see the white leg band that indicates support for the Russian military. The person appears to be kneeling next to a body on the ground. Additional stills that CNN has not yet released show the yellow armband worn by Ukraine's military.

Ukrainian president Zelenskyy vowed to hold those behind the videos accountable.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): There are things nobody in the world can ignore. How easily these animals murder. What kind of creatures are they?

They don't care about a human being, a son, a brother, a husband, someone's child. This video shows Russia trying to make it a new normal."

BERMAN: All right. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Eastern Ukraine for us.

Ben, as we said, there is now a Ukrainian war crimes investigation.

What is actually known about these videos that are now out there?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, for instance, CNN can't verify the location. There are two videos that appeared on pro Russian social media channels.

The first appears to be shot at this time of year and purportedly in the area of Bakhmut involving soldiers of the private military company, the Wagner Group. What you see in that video is the beheaded corpses of two Ukrainian soldiers next to a destroyed military vehicle.

It also appears that their hands were severed as well. Now on that video, you can hear a voice say, "They killed them. Someone came up to them. They came up to them and cut their heads off."

In the second video, which appears to be perhaps shot in a different season, it looks like this summer, it's somewhat blurred. But what you do see is a soldier cutting the head off of a Ukrainian soldier.

And from the sound of it, it appears that the Ukrainian soldier was alive as this was going on. And as you pointed out, there has been shock and outrage among Ukrainians at the sight of this video. In fact, the defense ministry is asking people to stop sharing this

video on social media as soon as possible -- John.

BERMAN: It's barbaric, again the veracity at this point can't be confirmed. But it is simply barbaric.

What are the Russians saying about it, Ben?

WEDEMAN: Well, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's chief spokesman, has said that the video is terrible but that the authenticity has yet to be proven. Now Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, says that he sees no indication that his fighters were involved.

But we know in the past there have been videos of similar atrocities. There have been videos of Russian soldiers killing in cold blood Ukrainian troops, who had surrendered. So such atrocities are not unknown in this war -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, again barbaric and horrifying. Ben Wedeman in Eastern Ukraine. Thank you so much for your reporting. Please stay safe -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: New rules out today on auto emissions. The EPA says they are some of the strongest ever. We're going to lay out the new standards and what they mean for you.

Plus there are new developments in the investigation into those leaked Pentagon documents.

Are officials any closer to finding the source of that leak?

And we'll also take you back to Ireland for President Biden's historic visit to the island. His message of peace for a region still facing political turmoil, that's ahead.

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BERMAN: This morning the Biden administration is announcing its most aggressive climate change policy yet. And it could change the face of the U.S. car market with the strongest ever federal pollution standards for cars and trucks.

Now if implemented, the new rules aim to increase electric vehicle sales to two-thirds of the total sales by 2032. That could cut planet warming pollution from cars in half. CNN's Pete Muntean joins us now with the details of this.

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BERMAN: Really could be a huge shift in the market -- Pete. PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A mega shift, John. We're talking a

very aggressive move by the Biden administration here. Think about this, up until now, it's been all tax credits and incentives, trying to lead manufacturers and consumers to water.

Take the metaphor one step further. These new regulations would really cause manufacturers to jump into the ocean when it comes to electric vehicles. These emissions standards laid out by the EPA today stair- step up, starting in the 2027 model year.

But it really gets interesting in 2032. We're talking less than nine years from now. The goal is to have two-thirds, 67 percent of all new vehicle sales be electric vehicles. That would be a huge shift because, right now, electric vehicles make up only about 7 percent of all new vehicle sales.

Not to mention the range anxiety that people have, the issues with supply when it comes to cars, manufacturers having to put these cars out. Also, the rare minerals needed to put out these batteries.

A Gallup poll just came out and said only about 41 percent of Americans are interested in having an electric vehicle. So I want you now to listen to EPA administrator Michael Regan, what he had to say about this earlier on NEWS CENTRAL today.

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MICHAEL REGAN, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: We know that, in the next couple of years, we're going to see automobile manufacturers offer a suite of products that will be attractive to consumers.

We know that we'll see charging stations all across this country so that we can reduce that range anxiety and those who are concerned about where they can charge. And people will have a number of years that they can take advantage of these tax credits.

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MUNTEAN: Top industry group calls this aggressive by any measure, John. So we'll just have to see how this plays out. But I think you look pretty good in the Tesla there, John. Maybe a Ford Mustang Mach- E.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: I am an EV believer, Pete Muntean, and these changes, all by 2032, when both of you -- you and I will be 35 years old. Pete Muntean, thank you very much for that.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Well, let's quickly move on from that. Now the Justice Department has launched an interagency investigation to find who leaked those classified Pentagon documents online.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, he is now vowing to, in his words, "turn over every rock to find who's responsible."

Three U.S. officials tell CNN that the investigations, though, could take months. Different batches of documents were leaked and in stages, as we know, some revealing the extent to which the United States eavesdrop on -- eavesdrops on key allies, including Ukraine and South Korea and even Israel.

Other documents appear to have detailed information about Russian casualties and Ukraine, also their current -- their current military supplies and capabilities. Joining me now to talk much more about this is the general -- former general counsel to the NSA, Glenn Gerstell.

It's good to see you. Thank you for coming in, Glenn. First and foremost, you think that this leak is odd. It's unusual. Tell me why and what you see.

GLENN GERSTELL, FORMER GENERAL COUNSEL, NSA: Thanks. This is really one of the most unusual if not bizarre leaks that I've had occasion to analyze or study, certainly since the Snowden leak in 2013.

And why do I say that?

Because there doesn't appear to be any political motive for this. This doesn't look like Snowden or Chelsea Manning releasing classified documents in order to score political points or reveal what they think is wrongdoing.

It certainly doesn't look like another country like Russia or China or someone was able to get into our networks and release secret information. There wouldn't be any reason for them to do that.

This looks a little amateurish and a little odd; if someone was trying to make a point, why would these documents wind up on an private Internet chat room?

And of course, the sheer scope of the documents is alarming. It's not just focused on one point, say, say, Ukraine. We have their documents, as you mentioned, that relate to Israel, South Korea, elsewhere, China. And so the sheer scope is very unusual.

So this is a very peculiar leak. I think at this point we have more questions than we have answers.

BOLDUAN: It does seem that way. Glenn, I mean the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, he, understandably, he seems furious and he wants to get to the bottom of it. And let me play for you kind of how he put it and what they're going to do to figure this out.

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GEN. LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I will tell you that we take this very seriously. And we will continue to investigate and turn over every rock until we find the source of this and the extent of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The documents that we see -- have seen, at least, in part, they look like printouts, pictures of printouts.

What does this mean in terms of tracking down the leak?

Kind of that piece of it?

GERSTELL: Well, first, I should make clear that we don't really know if the documents are all authentic. Some of them appear to have been doctored. The United States government still hasn't confirmed that they're legitimate.

But let's assume for a moment that that either some of them are all of them are.