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Suspects Arrested in Dadeville Shooting; Suspected Pentagon Leaker Waives Preliminary Hearing. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired April 19, 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]

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SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just moments from now, police in Alabama will give an update on a mass shooting at a sweet 16 birthday party that killed four people and left more than 30 people injured. We're live in Dadeville with the very latest.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This hour, the Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified documents will appear before a federal judge in Boston. This as his detention hearing has been delayed. We have new details coming in.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Another honest mistake leading to more young people being shot. Two Texas cheerleaders opened the door to the wrong car and now one is in critical condition and a 25 year old man is in custody.

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

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SIDNER: All right. We have a press conference happening right now. Let's listen in. It's out of Dadeville.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- officially arrested and charged, Ty Reik McCullough, 17, of Tuskegee, and Travis McCullough, 16, also of Tuskegee, with four counts of reckless murder each. That's four counts of reckless murder each.

And I really want to, before we go any further, I absolutely want to thank this community and the information that was provided. And I also want to reiterate how important it is going to be for you to continue to do that.

Please understand with the scene in a violent act, with the violence that went on and the magnitude of what happened, we are absolutely still in the early stages of this investigation. OK? This is absolutely the beginning. This is not the end.

There is a tremendous amount of work that is yet to be done. We're going to continue to do exactly what we've been doing. We're going to be very careful with everything that we say, with everything that we do because we absolutely are going to stay focused on the families and the victims. But we're going to need the public's help when we do that.

The other thing I want to point out if you were at the venue that night, so if you were physically at the venue and you have not come forward, meaning you have not contacted law enforcement, please hear me. I absolutely want you to do that.

We need you to come forward for these families for these victims, OK?

And I want to be clear, OK?

Make no mistake: this is Alabama. When you pull out a gun and you start shooting people, we're going to put you in jail.

OK?

We're going to do that because we're thinking about the families. We're concerned about the families. We were in the beginning and we will be through the remainder of this investigation because somebody's got to start thinking about Mom.

Because I know I'm tired of it. And everybody behind me is tired of it. We're tired of going to the mothers and having to tell them that these kids are not coming home. So that's what we're going to be concerned about. We're not concerned about the headlines. We're not. We're worried about Mom.

OK?

So that's going to be our focus. And we are. We're going to stay laser focused on this investigation throughout the duration. But again, it's going to take personal courage. It's going to take personal courage of the individuals if that they were there that night to come forward, come talk to law enforcement, tell the truth.

We need that information, OK?

I'm now going to turn it over to the 5th Circuit district attorney, Mike Segrest, for his comments. Thank you.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) names?

Can you say the names, please?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will send out an official press release with all the names immediately following this.

[11:05:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please hold all questions to the end of the press conference. Thank you.

MIKE SEGREST, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, 5TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, ALABAMA: Good morning, everyone. My name is Mike Segrest. I'm the district attorney for the 5th Judicial Circuit, which includes not only here in Tallapoosa County but also Macon, Chambers and Randolph Counties.

I know that there has been some frustration among our community and among media about a lack of information that has been provided up to this point. And I want to explain part of the reason for that.

As a prosecutor, I cannot discuss this specific facts of the case. It is highly inappropriate for me to come out and publicly talk about that and tell that information and the reason is being, defendants have constitutional rights. They've got to be tried by a jury of their peers inside this building. They have a right to be represented by counsel.

And for me to come out here and give information about what's going on in the investigation, I can't discuss the details of that with y'all. And I apologize but I hope you'll understand that.

North in (ph) law enforcement. So we won't be discussing all of the details. I can tell you a few things about the process of what will happen next with these individuals.

First, they will be entitled to in a lies (ph) law hearing, which is a bond hearing that will have to occur within 72 hours. The State of Alabama will be requesting that no bond. That's up to a judge to decide but that will be the State of Alabama position.

After that, there'll be an initial court appearance. Then there'll be a preliminary hearing. And then this information, depending on the outcome of that, will go to a grand jury.

The grand jury system in Alabama -- and each circuit operates differently; here in Tallapoosa County, the grand jury convenes twice a year, once in March and then once again in September.

Once the grand jury's impaneled in March, they are still the grand jury for that six-month period. We can recall the grand jury to present an indictment under special situations. That's unprecedented and hasn't been done that I'm aware of any time recently here.

This is an unprecedented situation. If we can establish the facts and are ready to present that, we will be asking our grand jury to come back in to present that so we can move forward efficiently and effectively.

This is a very complex case. We mentioned four counts of reckless murder. Obviously that just includes the four deceased that have been reported. OK? We've got a lot more victims in this. We've still got four that are in hospital, four that are in critical condition. There will be pending charges coming regarding all those.

So when I tell you that this is just the tip of the iceberg, forthcoming charges, literally, we're going to make sure every one of those victims has justice and not just the deceased.

I'd be remiss if I didn't just like thank you to all the agencies. I'm not going to try to name them all because there's been so many. Literally every agency from federal, state and local that has been involved in this, without the resources that they have brought to our community, we would not be where we are and have already made these first arrests here today.

I will tell you that, even though these are 16 and 17 year olds, we will be charging them as adults in this. When I spoke to the press on Sunday, I started off by talking about the victims and the victims' services and I want to go back over that.

We have information on our website, www.5thcircuitda.org, that has information to provide to victims and victims' families and we've got victim services from the FBI, victim services from the attorney general's office, victim service from the office of prosecutorial services as well as our office.

They're all working to provide the needs to the victims. When we talk about the victims, it's not just the 28 injured and 32 dead (ph). There were so many kids in this venue. And what they saw, it's -- they're victims in this, their families are victims of this.

And the ripple effect of this, you know, it's kind of like a wave rolling across Lake Martin. But that ripple didn't stop when it when it hit the banks. There are other communities involved. There are kids from Reeltown here; one of the ones in critical condition had gone to the prom that night in Reeltown.

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SEGREST: There's kids from Tallassee, kids from Booker T.W., kids from Alexander City. We haven't even identified possibly where all some of these kids came from. And it's a traumatic thing for them.

And if they need help, our services are available for them as well. And talking about the victims, I'll share something with you. I'm going to try not to get emotional and I'm not going to be taking any questions because I probably would.

But one of the victims that wasn't injured was Lexi, Lexi Dowdell. It's Lexi 16th birthday party, sweet 16. There's an uncut cake and unburned 16 candles that never got lit. Lexi's brother was one of the victims.

On her 16th birthday party, she's knelt by her brother as he took his last breath. That's what we're dealing with here. Those are what these victims went through.

The message that I want to send is I know some of these victims personally. Some of these kids are kids of friends of mine, people that I went to school with, people that I play ball with and against in the community back in high school. And these are my kids. These are our kids. Don't mess with our kids. Do not mess with our kids. Thank you.

CHIEF JONATHAN FLOYD, DADEVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT, ALABAMA: Good morning, everybody. I'm Jonathan Floyd, the police chief of the city of Dadeville. I want to echo what has already been said concerning our victims. Victims who were physically injured, our victims who were there -- and

even though they may not have receive physical injuries they have emotional scars and injuries that will carry them for the rest of their life.

To our families, we love you. The Dadeville police department is going to do everything we can to make sure that we have a successful prosecution for you. One of the decisions I made very early on was to get our state and federal partners involved.

The resources that they have provided have been invaluable. I ask for patience. As you've already been told, this is the tip of the iceberg. This is the very beginning. But we have one chance to get this right.

In a few days, most of you are going to be gone. Our community is still going to be here. Our victims, people that are affected, are still going to be here. We're going to be here with them.

As the police chief, as a member of law enforcement, we owe it to every person affected to make sure that we're very slow but sure we're very methodical, because, as I said, we have one opportunity to get this right.

Because this case is not just about making an arrest; that is not the finish line. If we hurry, if we're careless and we do make an arrest but it does not result in conviction, it does not result in ultimate justice for our victims, we have failed our victims.

So I ask each of you to please be patient. Please be understanding. To our victims who might not be Dadevillians but were here that night, I got news for you. Now you an honorary Dadevillian whether you want it or not, because we love you. And you're part of our city and you're part of our family.

I want to thank every one of you for your interest, for your concern for our families, for our children, for being here. There are too many partners to name them all.

SIDNER: We have been listening to a press conference out of Dadeville, Alabama, where four people were killed during a sweet 16 birthday. We now know from authorities that two people have been arrested.

[11:15:00]

SIDNER: They have been charged with four counts of reckless murder. One of those people, Ty Reik McCullough, 17 years old; the other, Travis McCullough, 16 years old, both of them from Tuskegee, Alabama.

I want to just first pause for a second to remember those who were killed in this. And they're here behind me: Philstavious Dowdell, celebrating his sister's sweet 16 birthday; He was just 18 years old.

Shaunkivia Smith was 17 years old, a senior in high school; Marsiah Collins, 19 years old, was set to attend LSU in the fall and Corbin Holston, who was 23 years old and you see him pictured there. We've learned a lot of new information that includes the DA saying,

look, the four people who were deceased, they now have suspect in that. But there are 30 other people who were shot and there will be justice for those who were injured as well.

He talked a little bit about Lexi Dowdell. It was her 16 year old birthday. She was there and, instead of blowing out the candles and, you know, being able to cut the cake, she was actually there beside her brother as he died.

So the headline now, two people have been arrested in that mass shooting in Dadeville, Alabama. We will hear more on this coming up.

Also coming up, the person who is accused of leaking those classified documents has gone to court. He's made his appearance and we will have more on what happened there when we come back.

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[11:20:00]

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BERMAN: Just moments ago, The air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified documents appeared before a federal judge. Jack Teixeira confirmed that he waives his right to a preliminary hearing.

His detention hearing, which was supposed to happen today, has now been delayed by two weeks at the request of both the prosecution and defense. CNN's Jason Carroll standing by outside the federal courthouse in Boston.

Jason, you have new details about what did just happen and what happens now.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's correct, John. The detention hearing or what was supposed to be the detention hearing has now been delayed. As you say, the hearing that just took place lasted all just for about just a few minutes.

The judge overseeing the hearing, David Hennessy, basically just wanted to make sure that he heard verbally from Teixeira, 21 years old, that he understood what was happening and that he was OK with this detention hearing being postponed.

And during, once again, this very short hearing, we heard the judge say, had he, in fact, signed the waiver to postpone the detention hearing. Teixeira simply said yes. And with that, it was done.

As you know, both sides had asked that this detention hearing be postponed. Teixeira, his attorney, saying they needed more time to prepare their arguments for the detention hearing.

So what happened here is the judge had suggested a date of May 3rd. This hearing ended without them setting a new detention hearing date, so we're still going to wait to hear what happens with that.

And finally, just to say that Teixeira's father was actually here in court. You remember that last week, he shouted out, "I love you, Jack."

Today during this hearing, he was silent. John.

BERMAN: All right, Jason Carroll. Thanks for your reporting. I think we'll probably see you in a couple of weeks.

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now with more on this is CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller.

And John, in Boston, you have the case unfolding with Teixeira. But also happening at the very same time is the fallout, far and wide, from the leak that he allegedly, they believe he is behind, including the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

He's now kind of ordered a deadline of when he wants to see a review done of May 2nd actually, to have it completed to try to figure out how to plug the hole from this leak. I'm just curious if -- how easy you think that is, how easy the fix to this is going to be.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it's not going to be easy. The good news is, you know, it's a 45 day review. The normal bureaucratic response is something like this is to do a review, which turns into a 18 month review and, you know, some document ends up on top of the bookshelf.

And then it falls behind the bookshelf and you never think about it again. He's putting feet to the fire here, saying, I want recommendations and I want them now. So what are -- what is the universe there is to limit the number of top secret clearances.

Are too many people given that kind of access?

Or to leave the number of clearances but to electronically limit the access that people have to only things that are within their job description?

And this is a tough balance because limiting the need to know is what brought us to 9/11. People weren't in the loop who needed to be. So we went from need to know to need to share.

But expanding the need to share increases the risk for things like this.

BOLDUAN: It's true. You are -- we returning, then, to the silos that we knew exactly so well what led to -- what then led to 9/11. At the very same time you have -- it's been, what, a week since this all really started unfolding.

And now we have the National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. He said yesterday that the Biden administration still does not have their arms around, I think is how he said it, arms around the scope of the leak and kind of the information that's all out there, which I was surprised in hearing that.

Does -- what does that mean in terms of how much damage they know has been done, the extent of it and where it is?

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MILLER: Not all pieces of paper are created equal. I mean, some of these secrets are routine analysis and some of these secrets are life and death stuff. So the real question is the mechanical piece.

It is 100 documents or 300 documents?

Or is it 500 documents?

And do we even know yet?

And the answer is we don't quite know yet.

But the larger question is, what's in those documents?

And what we are starting to realize now is there is reporting on the Egyptian president considering selling arms to Russia, to fight against the Ukraine. That's a U.S. ally.

There's reporting about the UAE, a key U.S. ally. There's reporting about Turkiye and the Wagner group possibly working together. That's a NATO country.

The intelligence world is supposed to be a hall of mirrors. And it's, you know, collecting these secrets gives you opportunities to deal with them behind the scenes diplomatically, not having it spill onto the floor of Congress and public debate or limiting aid to countries that we're friendly with, by diverting things like this or sabotage.

I mean, there's lots of options. And when you're the leader, knowing what everybody else is doing and thinking, why that is secret is because the bull's eye here is decision advantage. I know what everybody else is doing. I can make decisions that give us the advantage.

Once you go into the hall of mirrors and start marking where the mirrors are, you lose decision advantage. And that's the risk of the level of sensitivity of some of these documents that a 21 year old kid with an important job of keeping those computers running did by sharing them with his friends and having it spill outside.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and the spill, the spill out is going far and wide. And we, as the White House now says, they don't even have their arms around fully exactly how far this has gone.

MILLER: This is going to go on for a bit.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, John. Thank you.

MILLER: You too.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Still ahead, a simple mistake sends two cheerleaders to the hospital and a man is behind bars. How this all happened in a grocery store parking lot, coming up next.