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Wagner Chief Says His Fighters Will Leave Bakhmut On May 10; Police Arrest Former Student Accused Of Stabbings Near U. S. Davis; Suspect In 2nd Serbian Mass Shooting Arrested After Manhunt; Four Horses Dies In Separate Incidents At Home Of Kentucky Derby; Surprising Culprit May Play Role In Record High Ocean Temps; FL Man Charged For Punching Umpire During Baseball Game. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired May 05, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:08]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, the Wagner military group is threatening to leave the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. This is in the eastern part of the country where we've seen some of the fiercest fighting. Wagner's leader Yevgeny Prigozhin says his troops are running out of ammunition. So this private military group has played key role in Russia's war in Ukraine, but they've also been engaged in this backroom bickering with the Russian Defense Ministry.

With me now is Retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson. General, thanks so much for being with us. Two questions about this claims from the Wagner group here. Number one, and I'm not sure we believe him, first of all, but if Wagner did pull out of Bakhmut, what would that mean for the military situation there? But two, and perhaps more importantly, what does this bickering tell us about discipline and coordination inside the Russian military?

BRIG. GEN. STEVE ANDERSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, thank you, John. What it tells us is that it's a really bad army and they've got a lot of issues. I mean, mercenaries make great security guards. They don't make good soldiers. And we're seeing that play out right here.

I mean, obviously, this would be a terrible blow to the Russian military. They're trying to fight for that city of Bakhmut. Can imagine if General Patton in the middle of his assault on Germany in 1944 and said, hey, you know, I'm not getting all the ammo I need. I'm pulling the third army out of this fight here.

I mean, it's ridiculous. It just shows how poorly led, how poorly equipped, how poorly trained, and what a bad army that the Russian army is. They're 10 years away from being a competent fighting force.

BERMAN: General, a key piece of reporting from our Alex Marquardt, our Senior Pentagon Reporter, and his team saying that the Ukrainians on the ground and U.S. officials are concerned that the Russians have been able to jam, electronically jam the guidance system of the HIMARS. This is the artillery rocket system that the U.S. has been providing to the Ukrainians that has shown some success on the ground. How significant would that be?

ANDERSON: Well, it is significant. I mean, you need the HIMARS to conduct the deep strikes that they're going to need. I mean, if they're going to conduct a counteroffensive, they're going to have to achieve a breakthrough somewhere and they're going to have to use their superior maneuver, their ability to integrate indirect fire, direct fire, and aviation.

And of course, HIMARS is a very key component of this indirect fire capability. My big concern with the HIMARS is the maintenance requirements. I mean, my understanding is that many of them, perhaps as much as 50 percent, are not operational. We don't have the maintenance capability and the repair parts to keep those things operational.

The jamming, though, of course, is an issue. We just need more HIMARS systems and we need to use those HIMARS systems effectively, and that means maintaining them appropriately.

BERMAN: You talked about this potential Ukrainian counter offensive here. I have a map of Ukraine. I just want to show people the Dnipro River here, which is this key -- one of the world's key waterways, but a strategically important waterway in Ukraine right now. You can see it divides the Ukrainian forces and the Russian forces toward the south of the country. Where do you think it would be important for Ukraine to strike, if it can?

ANDERSON: Well, they've got about a 400 miles front there. The good news is that the Russians are spread thin. And what they've got to do? They've got to find one place, a weakness in that front and they need to penetrate. And then they've got to be conducting an envelopment that gets around them because they're not going to be able to go toe to toe with the Russians.

I mean, the Russians are too strong. They've probably got a couple of hundred thousand troops in there now and they're dug in. They've been there for a year. They're preparing great defensive operations and defensive mechanisms in each area.

So they've got to be able to find a weakness in the wall, they got to penetrate it, and then they got to use their superior maneuver, their ability to integrate aviation, ground, direct fire and indirect fire. All of that in a synergistic effect to defeat and envelop the Russian army.

BERMAN: General Steve Anderson, always great to talk to you. Thanks so much for being with us today.

Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: After a series of stabbings that terrified the campus of U.C. Davis, police have arrested a former student now in connection with the attacks. They say that 21-year-old Carlos Dominguez, that he was arrested on two counts of homicide, one count of attempted murder. Officials believe that Dominguez is behind these stabbings that we've been talking about that took place over just the course of five days. Two of the stabbing victims you'll recall died, one was left severely wounded.

CNN's Camila Bernal is tracking this for us. She joins us now. Camila, what led police -- what are you hearing about what led police to the suspect?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kate. Well, it was really the community that led police to the suspect. And keep in mind, this was a community on edge about these three stabbings. Now, we know that about 15 people on Wednesday called police saying that they saw someone who possibly looked like this suspect.

I want you to listen to one of these callers and what he told police. Here he is.

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[09:35:06]

CARTER CARLSON, WITNESS: I had called in a report while I was in the car just saying that there was a person matching this description walking down the street and kind of tried to keep them updated. I'm hoping that this is the person and that Davis can kind of be done with this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And police say, yes, they believe that is the person. And one of those 15 callers actually followed this suspect, and police were able to find him. When they did, he had a large knife inside of his backpack. That's what they initially arrested him for.

He was interviewed by investigators for hours. Police describing him as someone who was very reserved. Of course, what's interesting here is that he was a third year student at U.C. Davis, and the university said he'd been separated for the university for academic reasons just days before these stabbings.

And so, of course, a lot of the students, members of the community, they were just terrified. And now, they're grateful that he was arrested, but still hoping and praying for that third victim who is recovering at the hospital, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and still so many questions about what the -- I mean, why?

Camila, thank you so much. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. There's been a second mass shooting in Serbia just this week. The bloodshed is sending shockwaves through a country completely unaccustomed to something like that. A live report is still ahead there. Plus, it's being called unacceptable and troubling ahead of the Kentucky Derby. Four race horses have died mysteriously in the span of just days at Churchill Downs. An investigation is underway. Details on that also ahead.

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[09:41:10]

BERMAN: This morning, a second mass shooting in just two days in Serbia. Overnight, the gunman suspected in the latest shooting was arrested after an hours long manhunt. Police say the 21-year-old opened fire on three villages about 30 miles south of the capital, killing eight people and injuring 10 others. This comes just one day after a 13-year-old boy killed nine people at a school in Belgrade.

Until this week, mass shootings in Serbia were extremely rare. This last one was the last one, was a decade ago when a veteran killed 13 people in a central Serbian village. So this is despite the country's high rate of gun ownership, a remnant of the wars in the 1990s, Serbia has the highest level of civilian gun ownership in Europe and the fifth highest in the world.

CNN's Scott McLean is in Belgrade for us this morning. And this latest shooting, this really did lead to this intense manhunt, Scott?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yesterday, it seemed like it was a wakeup call. The school shooting on Wednesday for this country and then this latest shooting overnight was something on an entirely different level of shock for this country. And you're right, it was a huge manhunt. Some 600 officers spawned out across a very large swath of the country.

We saw heavily, heavily armed police officers in full tactical gears, balaclavas, heavily armed, manning checkpoints and searching even along the side of highways in lines. It was a very tense situation for hours and hours, and very terrifying for the people, especially those who lived around the villages or in the villages that were actually affected by the shots that were fired.

And what is especially concerning is that when this suspect was actually found in the early hours of this morning, he had four hand grenades with him and an automatic weapon, something that is impossible for ordinary civilians to obtain legally in this country.

Even after the school shooting on Wednesday, the government was already promising, John, to really crack down and to really strengthen the existing gun control system. They wanted to put a moratorium in place for two years on issuing new gun licenses. And after this latest shooting, the President went on TV, President Aleksandar Vucic, and he promised to do even more.

He also promised to put a school -- an armed police officer inside of every school. He says that great nations have managed to find solutions after tragedies, and he believes that Serbia will be no exception, John. BERMAN: And it is certainly a great tragedy. Two of them now.

Scott McLean in Belgrade, thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: Tomorrow is the famed Kentucky Derby, but people are not talking about which horse is going to win, rather why several horses have died at Churchill Downs this week. The racetrack calls the deaths of four horses troubling and unacceptable.

Saffie Joseph Jr. trained two of those horses in Churchill Downs, has now suspended him indefinitely, which means another horse he trains will not run in the Derby as planned. Joseph tell CNN affiliate that he is being made a scapegoat in this case.

CNN's Nick Watt is following this story for us. Nick, I know you have covered racetracks and that the problem with horse death at racetracks, including in California. It happens more often than we think, doesn't it?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It does, Sara. Listen, you know, Churchill Downs called these four deaths within a week, you know, highly unusual. And, yes, that might be an unusual cluster, but deaths do happen. You know, there's an organization horse racing wrongs, an activist group. And they say that actually last year, 28 horses in total died at Churchill Downs.

This is a problem. This is a problem, particularly when it comes in a week like this. You know, right now we should be talking, who's going to win the Derby? mint juleps, nice hat. Instead, we're talking about, you know, humane euthanasia of a couple of horses injured, the sudden deaths of two others. That's not really what the industry wants.

[09:45:11]

Now, four horses, two broke bones were then euthanized. Two died suddenly, both of them trained by this Saffie Joseph Jr. Take a listen to what he has to say and to another trainer about what might have happened here, what they don't know.

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SAFFIE JOSEPH JR., SUSPENDED TRAINER: It's -- I'm shattered, basically, I mean, because I know it can't happen. This is mind boggling. Like, the odds of it to happen is a trillion. I run 4,000 -- almost 4,000 horses, and never happened like that. So it doesn't make sense.

DALE ROMANS, HORSE TRAINER: It's not the surface. I think we're just running into a bad streak here.

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WATT: Now, the track often gets blamed in issues like this. Churchill Down says that is not the issue. But, you know, Saffie Joseph says I'm the scapegoat here. We don't know why these horses died yet, but I'm suspended. He says that the track is just trying to save their image. Calls it sad. Sara?

SIDNER: It is extremely sad to see these horses die in such quick succession.

Nick Watt, thank you so much for your reporting, as always. John?

BERMAN: All right, thanks so much.

New this morning, scientists are ringing alarm bells over just how warm the oceans are becoming. But you know what? Don't take my word for it. Here's Bill Weir.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: John, they are off the charts ocean temperatures. This has a number of destructive effects, but we're wondering about the cause. Could it have to do with something with the shipping industry inadvertently cleaning up? The shipping industry could be warming the planet. We'll have details when we come up.

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[09:50:48]

BOLDUAN: Ocean temperatures are off the charts. Surface heat levels hitting record breaking points in mid-March. Scientists are now scrambling to figure out why and why now. It goes without saying that ocean water heating up like this is extremely dangerous. It can lead to all sorts of things like bleaching coral, killing marine life, and, of course, increasing the actual sea level.

CNN's Bill Weir has been looking into this data. He's joining us now. Your location is key. It might be surprising to see where you're standing and why, Bill, but what do scientists think could be the reason behind this temperature jump?

WEIR: Well, we really don't know. That's what's so interesting. This is so off the charts, such an anomaly right now. They don't know could it be the El Nino, a seasonal effect? We know that name goes back to the 1700s when fishermen noticed that the fishing went horrible around Christmas time. They called it the child El Nino after Christmas there.

La Nina is the inverse, the colder pattern. That's what we've had the last couple of years. Looks like that's over and El Nino is moving in. But another culprit could be what you see behind me. We're in the shipping yards of Jersey City right now.

And a couple of years ago, there was a global change in the kind of fuel that these massive containerships could use as they cross the oceans. As a result, there's less sulfur coming out of these big boys as they cross the Pacific and the Atlantic. They're making a different kind of ship trail in the sky.

And as a result of that, that could have been that old pollution, a sunscreen, all these years masking the effects of global warming. We know the oceans have been absorbing about 90 percent of the excess heat since the Industrial Revolution, sort of hiding the real damage that's being done right now.

And so they're worried, could this be a dangerous new tipping point? Could it be seasonal? Could it be the result of a change like this? We really don't understand fully what's happening in the stratosphere, weighed twice as high as our Flights to Grandmother's.

Just a couple of months ago, NOAA sent the first flights up there to kind of test the upper stratosphere to see what volcanic ash and wildfire smoke and shipping pollution and all of these things, even space junk that's disintegrating is having an effect on the reflectivity of infrared light coming in and heating up the planet. But it is right now alarming, to say the least. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Bill, it's great. Thank you for putting it the way you do so well. I really appreciate it.

It's really remarkable that pollution can act as sunscreen. John?

BERMAN: Yes, SPF, what, like, 70? It's too high clearly.

BOLDUAN: 55, 55.

BERMAN: All right. A Florida father is out on bond this morning after he was arrested for punching an umpire during a high school baseball game last month. Video shows 41-year-old Jorge Aponte Gonzalez approach the field and punch the 63-year-old umpire after an argument between the umpire and a player. His son is one of the baseball players.

CNN's Carlos Suarez following this story. Carlos, what could this man now be faced with in terms of charges?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, that 41-year-old, who has been identified as Jorge Gonzalez, as you mentioned, has since gotten out of jail. He was able to post bond on two charges. His first charge is battery on a sports official, and then that second charge is disruption of a school function. He was able to post $1,500 bail.

Now, according to the Osceola County Sheriff, all of this happens during a baseball, high school baseball game last month. Osceola County is just south of Orlando. According to authorities, the umpire gives one of the baseball players an unsportsmanlike conduct warning. Apparently, the two go back and forth.

And it's at that point, according to the surveillance video that you're taking a look at, that you've been able to see, Gonzalez walks up to the umpire, this 63-year-old, and he punches him in the head. That causes the umpire to essentially go cold, right? He's knocks out.

You can see folks running up to him. And then we're told that Gonzalez just casually walks off. Now, according to the sheriff in Osceola County, this isn't the first time that Gonzalez has had an issue at a baseball game, and he apparently showed zero remorse about what happened.

Here's what the sheriff said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[09:55:07]

SHERIFF MARCOS R. LOPEZ, OSCEOLA COUNTY, FL SHERIFF'S OFFICE: He's basically laughing because I told him, you're being arrested. Because I'm being arrested for defending my kid? It's not funny. And this is not his first time. I've heard that he's gone to other, like, a harmony game in another school and causes a disruption. However, it never got to this level where he actually struck someone.

And then after he strikes him, you know, the guy's not even facing him because he's a coward, and then he just leaves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: All right, John, so that umpire, that 63-year-old, we're told, is doing just OK. He said he is relaxed considering what happened and that he's ready to officiate his next game. And that once he's kind of over some of all of this drama, he says he might go ahead and just pack things up and go fishing.

BERMAN: Carlos, I got to say, the amount of anger on the sideline, you know, children's sporting events, it's just awful. Thank you so much for that report. Sara?

SIDNER: A terrible lesson for kids.

All right, just ahead for us on CNN News Central, police are now saying, a former student is responsible for a string of stabbings near the U.C. Davis campus in California. A live report for you on what we're learning about the suspect this morning.

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