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Ukraine Accuses Russia of Placing Explosives at Nuclear Power Plant; Four Killed in Louisiana Shooting; Philadelphia Shooting Suspect in Court. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 05, 2023 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:28]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: The suspect in the holiday mass shooting in Philadelphia made his first appearance in court this morning. We will have new details on the shooting massacre and the person police are now calling an armed and armored assailant, while we're learning more about gun violence on Independence Day.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, an urgent warning from Ukraine's president. He says Russia has placed objects that look like explosives on the roof of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Now Volodymyr Zelenskyy's direct message to the Kremlin: The world sees and the world is ready to respond.

We're going to take you live to Ukraine.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And take a look at this, a shark in shallow water just off a Florida Gulf Coast beach sending people scrambling for the shore. Just take a look at those fins and how close it came to the shore.

In the meantime, a spring of shark attacks off East Coast beaches prompting officials to step up surveillance.

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

SCIUTTO: Any moment now, we do expect an update on this weekend's deadliest shooting -- and there were several.

The district attorney in Philadelphia will discuss the case against the suspect in Monday night's mass shooting. there. He says that 40- year-old Kimbrady Carriker set out to randomly kill strangers, shooting people in passing cars, people just walking down the street.

Carriker appeared in court today. He will be held without bond, is now charged with five counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder as well, a 15-year-old boy among the dead, a 2-year-old boy among the wounded.

CNN's Danny Freeman, he is live outside the courthouse.

And, Danny, listening to Philadelphia officials yesterday as they described the details of this shooting, they used words like disgusting. Clearly, the community is reeling from this. Tell me -- tell us what we're going to see in court today.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim, a lot of passionate remarks from city officials yesterday and from this morning.

You heard it right from -- or you mentioned, I should say, from the district attorney, Larry Krasner, he beside himself, basically saying that this was, it seems, a random shooting, and that there's no other explanation, beside that this person woke up, in his words, and just wanted to kill people.

But let me tell you about what we did see in court today. So, again, Kimbrady Carriker, 40 years old, he had his preliminary arraignment earlier this morning. It was only about 15 minutes' long. But the laundry list of charges that were read did make it feel like a longer time.

Those charges include murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and also a violation of the Uniform Firearms Act, just violations of laws relating to having firearms when you should not be allowed to have them.

And the magistrate judge, the judge made the comment when it came to holding him without bail that public safety is clearly an issue in this case. And the judge added, "That no set of conditions that exist in which you would not be a flight risk," speaking to the defendant there.

And, Jim, I will say that, throughout this entire proceeding, the defendant sat in a white jumpsuit with his arms crossed, fairly motionless, only really answering one-word answers to questions from both the judge and his federally appointed defense attorney.

And, at this point, the defense is not commenting on this case. But that's the latest here. His next court appearance, I should say, is going to be on July 24 -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: You mentioned that among the charges involved here are not -- having a weapon illegally?

Do we know details about how he got the weapon -- weapons, I should say?

FREEMAN: Yes, Jim, we're still waiting for details about exactly where the weapons may have come from.

The DA, Larry Krasner, he said that one of the weapons may have been a ghost gun in this shooting, and then the other was an AR-15. The police actually arrested him and found that on his body at the time. We're still waiting for more details as to exactly how it happened. But the district attorney and others in this community have suggested that these are likely guns that were acquired illegally.

And, again, I think that you can expect to hear more from the DA in this press conference that is started any minute about the guns specifically, Jim. SCIUTTO: Yes, you hear from police departments and cities across the country about how much more frequently they're seeing ghost guns involved in shootings.

Danny Freeman in Philly, so much more to learn there -- Boris.

[13:05:00]

SANCHEZ: There was yet another July 4 holiday shooting to tell you about, this one at a block party in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Police there say that four people were killed, seven others wounded.

CNN's Ryan Young has been following the latest developments in this story.

So, Ryan, walk us through what happened.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, police are still trying to figure that out.

And this is pure chaos from everything that's been described to us so far. There were so many people who were parked down a certain road there, when police tried to respond, they had trouble getting to the area. We have talked to people community members in that area who said they believe the shooting lasted for more than 10 minutes at one point.

And just think. That fourth victim was just found this morning, that body found in tall grass, police not even able to find it until first light. So, all the shell casings, all the evidence still has to be gathered. This community is reeling from this.

This is a Fourth of July celebration that has been going on for 15 years, never with any violence. And then, all of a sudden, these shots are fired. They're not sure if there was multiple shooters or not. We do know seven people were injured, four people killed in this. Listen to one of the commissioners in that community who's very angry about what's happened in her community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TABATHA TAYLOR, SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA, COUNCILWOMAN: You will not get away with this. What you have done is traumatized this community. You have traumatized us in a way that is unfathomable. You have hurt us in ways that we cannot echo into words. You have caused us grief. You have caused us pain.

And I want whoever you are to pay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Boris, you hear the pain in her voice. You can understand why she's so upset.

Shreveport is a city that has been reeling from gun violence for the last few years. It's something that we have covered and been talking to community members for quite some time about.

But, right now, you have this police investigation where the police chief got out there and basically said the next 48 hours is going to be pretty important. There were people who were running, losing their keys, couldn't find their kids, couldn't find their family members for quite some time as the shooting was going and people were scattering toward the wood line.

So, so many questions, and we still haven't gotten an accurate picture of the video of that scene. We also know community members are calling for drones to go up to make sure there's no additional victims in the wood line around this area. Just another troubling shooting in this country -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Investigators have their hands full there.

Ryan Young, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: The biggest nuclear plant in Europe is once again on high alert, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy saying Russia may have planted explosives at the Zaporizhzhia power plant.

Today, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog team says they have no visible indication of explosives there, but they want more access? That tracks with what Zelenskyy recently told CNN. He said Vladimir Putin's forces are ready to carry out an attack on Zaporizhzhia and that the U.N. team there simply isn't big enough to safeguard the facility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Zaporizhzhia.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Yes. Yes.

BURNETT: I know you have been touring the nuclear plants. You have warned that Putin could be prepared to have a terrorist attack on Zaporizhzhia. Do you feel that that could be imminent?

ZELENSKYY: So what I have really -- from intelligence, I have documents. I don't -- I can't tell you what kinds of documents. But it's something connecting with Russia.

I said that they are technically ready to do something. It's very important that they mined some local minings, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: At Zaporizhzhia?

ZELENSKYY: Yes, at Zaporizhzhia, in the station.

They technically are ready. And that's why we pushed (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) in English. I'm sorry..

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: IAEA.

ZELENSKYY: IA...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: EA.

ZELENSKYY: ... EA, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

ZELENSKYY: We pushed them. And we said, look, your team there, your four -- there are four, four people. And this plant is like city. It's really, like...

BURNETT: Huge. Huge.

ZELENSKYY: It's huge. It's very big.

BURNETT: Yes.

YOUNG: Four people will not find mines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That is part of Erin Burnett's exclusive interview with President Zelenskyy, which will air in its entirety tonight at 7:00 Eastern.

Right now, let's go to CNN's Ben Wedeman, who is in Ukraine for us.

Ben, I mean, here we are again, a standoff at this nuclear power plant that has the whole world on edge.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna.

The Russians in the Ukrainians are trading accusations that the other is about to do something sinister. As you mentioned, President Zelenskyy said in his nightly address that intelligence indicates that the Russians have planted explosives on the roofs of some of the power units.

The implication is that the Russians are going to try to create essentially a false flag, the impression that Ukraine is firing upon the nuclear power plant. The Russians, on the other hand, say, no, it's the Ukrainians who are up to something no good.

[13:10:06]

In fact, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said, "There is a great threat of sabotage by Kyiv, which can have catastrophic consequences."

Now, in the middle of all this is the International Atomic Energy Agency, which, as President Zelenskyy mentioned in that interview with Erin, has inspectors on site. We're not quite sure if it's four, more or less. Not clear at this point. But they have said that there's no visible proof at this point that any explosives have been set at the site. However, they did put out a statement today saying that: "IAEA experts

have requested additional access that is necessary to confirm the absence of mines or explosives at the site. In particular, access to the rooftops of reactor units three and four is essential, as well as access to parts of the turbine halls and some parts of the cooling system at the plant."

Now, over the last week or so, we have been hearing more and more claims that -- for instance, we have heard from the head of Ukrainian intelligence that the Russians have put mines in the cooling ponds and explosive-laden trucks outside some of the reactors. At this point, we -- I suppose we should wait for the IAEA to say what they have discovered -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, they need to get a good look at that.

Also today, Ukraine, Ben, is touting some success in Bakhmut. Where do things stand right there?

WEDEMAN: Well, they say they have taken ground or they're gaining ground in the village of Klishchiivka, which is a small village on the outskirts of Bakhmut.

But they continue to have to grapple with the fact that the Russians have a lot of artillery, they have far better airpower in the area than the Ukrainians do. So, this is continuing to be hard going. Their strategic goal is to encircle the city of Bakhmut. So they're trying to approach it from the north, as well as the south.

It seems that they're having more success on the southern axis. But on the north, they have conceded for several days in a row that the fighting in that area is particularly difficult -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Ben Wedeman live for us in Eastern Ukraine, thank you -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Let's expand the conversation out with former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor. He's also the vice president for Russia and Europe at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Ambassador, always great to get your perspective on these matters.

Let's start with the situation in Zaporizhzhia. How likely is it that we may see a nuclear disaster?

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: So, Boris, the Ukrainians are putting out this word in order to deter that.

SANCHEZ: Right.

TAYLOR: They, of course, don't want a nuclear disaster on their own territory.

The Russians have a hard time making the case that they should be believed. I mean, these -- Boris, these are the Russians who said they weren't going to invade Ukraine. SANCHEZ: Right.

TAYLOR: And now they're saying they're not going to do anything on -- so the question there is, who are you going to believe? Right now, I think you have to believe the Ukrainians.

SANCHEZ: From a diplomatic perspective, is there anything that IAEA or the West or even Putin's allies can do to calm the situation down?

TAYLOR: They can put pressure on President Putin to do what he should have done a long time ago, which is pull his troops out.

That is the cause of all of this tension. That's the cause of all of this damage. That's the cause of all the killing. If he were to pull his troops out, that would calm things down.

But the Chinese could do some of that. This -- and you're right to point out there are some people who have some influence with President Putin. And they should use it.

SANCHEZ: President Xi of China reportedly warned Putin about the nuclear fallout from any kind of incident in Ukraine back in the spring, the Kremlin now denying that report.

Is there an opening there for the United States to find a diplomatic angle to bring calm to this situation using Xi Jinping, for example?

TAYLOR: The opportunity is for the Ukrainians or the Russians.

The Americans are not going to step in. The Chinese can lean on President Putin. They can't cause a negotiation to take place. It's between the Ukrainians and the Russians. And that doesn't seem to be on the cards on either side right now.

SANCHEZ: And complicating things is the fact that Vladimir Putin just had to stomp out an attempted mutiny, an attempted coup.

Does that make him more dangerous, the fact that he may now have to show force and exert his grip over Russia?

TAYLOR: So it makes it more dangerous to Russians, that he does need to show force.

And he's probably looking to see who we can trust and who he can't do. There are reports that some of his own generals were associated with this mutiny attempt.

[13:15:03]

SANCHEZ: Right.

TAYLOR: So he's not sure who's on his side and who's not.

So I think it's dangerous for people around President Putin.

SANCHEZ: I want to get your perspective on the progress in the Ukrainian counteroffensive, and specifically in Bakhmut.

Russia has sent some 180,000 troops to the eastern front. And yet we have seen mixed results. How do you feel the counteroffensive is going? And does Russia need some kind of landmark victory, as it has faced so many setbacks?

TAYLOR: They have faced so many setbacks. The Ukrainians are still in phase one, the first phase of this, looking for weaknesses, looking for strengths.

SANCHEZ: Right.

TAYLOR: I mean, they're looking to see if there are 180,000 troops somewhere.

And if they're there, then Ukrainians are not going to fight. They're not going to try to break through there. They're going to look -- the Ukrainians are going to look for where it's weak. And that's what they're probing for right now.

But you're right. The Russians have not had any success so far. And they don't look like they're about to have any.

SANCHEZ: How likely is it that, because of a prolonged stalemate, we may see the cease-fire near the end of the year that President Zelenskyy reportedly had said in private that he wants?

TAYLOR: President Zelenskyy would like to see a cease-fire once he has pushed the Russians out. That cease-fire is possible.

In order to get to that point, he needs a breakthrough. He needs to find that weakness, run those -- break through the Russian lines. But once they do that, once they push the Russians out, then that's the time for the cease-fire.

SANCHEZ: The question is, push the Russians out to where? Does that include Crimea?

Because, privately, he has said some things, reportedly. Publicly, he has said others.

TAYLOR: The Ukrainians are very clear. Everybody knows what the boundaries, what the borders are for Ukraine. They were established in 1991. And they were good until 2013.

Those are the boundaries they are looking for.

SANCHEZ: Ambassador William Taylor, always appreciate the expertise. Thanks.

TAYLOR: Thank you, Boris. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: This just into CNN. A U.S. defense official says the Navy foiled multiple attempts by Iran to seize two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. Iran apparently opened fire on one of those tankers.

CNN's Oren Liebermann has been speaking to officials at the Pentagon.

Multiple attempts. This is a dicey situation, to say the least, there. Tell us about the U.S. response here. And does the U.S. believe the threat is gone now?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Look, Jim, we have seen attempts by Iran to seas and has successfully seized commercial vessels in the past.

I don't know that we have ever seen attempts this close together, though. The first of these incidents occurred at about 1:00 in the morning, local time, in the Gulf of Oman, when the U.S. Navy says that an Iranian Navy ship approached a commercial oil tanker. The U.S. Navy was watching this happen and deployed not only one of its own destroyers, but also an MQ-9 Reaper drone and a maritime patrol aircraft.

And, at that point, according to the Navy, the Iranian navy vessel turned course, changed course and left the scene there. But it didn't end there. And if we can pull it video of the second incident, only three hours later, that's when the U.S. Navy says another Iranian vessel approached a different commercial oil tanker. That's the Iranian vessel right there.

In a moment, this will zoom -- zoom out. You can see the oil tanker there in the top right of the screen. According to the U.S. Navy, personnel on board the Iranian vessel opened fire with small-arms fire, as well as crew-served weapons.

And although it's quite difficult to see in the video, they are highlighted here in a moment. You can see what the Navy says are the ricochets of those shots off of the hull of the oil tanker there. Nobody was injured there, according to the U.S. Navy. But those shots that were fired at the tanker did impact and hit and cause damage very close to the crew living quarters on board the oil tanker.

It was the same U.S. Navy destroyer that responded. And at that point, again, the Navy says the Iranian navy vessel turned and left the scene, happening just hours apart. Again, I'd mentioned this isn't the first time we have seen this. In April and May, Iranian navy vessels seized two oil tankers within a matter of days.

It was after that, that the U.S. deployed more ships to the region and more aircraft to the region specifically to monitor this sort of activity in an absolutely critical waterway, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, certainly escalatory for coming from Iran, Jim. The question, where does this go from here?

SCIUTTO: Listen, and it has two effects. It certainly has effects to the lives and well-being of the cruise there, but also potential economic effects if folks don't believe they could get oil through there safely.

Oren Liebermann, we know you're going to stay on top at the Pentagon. Thanks so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, let's go to Philadelphia, where the district attorney, Larry Krasner, is speaking about the mass shooting that happened on Monday night that claimed the lives of five people.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

LARRY KRASNER, PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I would say that's about right. The bullets don't care. But we do.

And I know the rest of the city does. And I know the rest of this country does. I want to identify some of the good people who are here today, many of whom we will be speaking. We have ADA Joanne Pescatore, who is the chief of the DAO's Homicide and Non-Fatal Shooting Unit.

[13:20:08]

We have the prosecutor specifically assigned to this case and assigned to the case from the beginning, and that is ADA Bob Wainwright of the DAO's is Homicide/Non-Fatal Shooting Unit. We have with us the Reverend Myra Maxwell, director of the DAO's Victim Support Services Division, who has done incredible work with her team to try to reach out to so many different victims, survivors, co-survivors and families affected by this tragedy.

Reverend Maxwell is here with Shakina DeShazor, who is the administrative manager of the DAO's CARES Unit. Now, the CARES Unit is the sub part of the Victim Witness Unit in the DA's office that is specifically tasked with working intensively with the families of homicide victims in the first 45 days.

Just imagine for a second what it's like when you can't afford the funeral, what it's like when you feel that you're endangered, what it's like when all that grief is crushing you and causing health problems in your family. Just imagine what it's like to try to deal with all the immediate logistics and simultaneously try to find a way in the future to address your own trauma.

Well, that's the kind of work that is done by Reverend Maxwell and Shakina DeShazor. And we also have Shalin Harris (ph), who is a victim witness coordinator specifically working in our Homicide/Non-Fatal Shooting Unit and specifically working on this particular case.

Ant Brown, Anthony Brown, Ant Brown, is here for ABRO -- that's A-B-R- O -- which is an anti-gun violence organization that works in schools. As you may know, a lot of juveniles have been affected very directly and indirectly by this. And we appreciate his work, appreciate his being here.

We have several members of the DAO's LGBTQ+ liaison group, some of whom are also victim witness coordinators. And they include Kelly Burkhardt, who is a victim witness coordinator in the DA's office, in addition to filling this role. We have Asa Khalif. Mr. Khalif, I mean, frankly I shouldn't have to introduce him. He should be so well-known to many of you for his remarkable work as an activist and in many other ways. We also have the wonderful Sappho Fulton and Mikah Thomas here on

behalf of that group, our sheriff, Rochelle Bilal, is here, Senator Sharif Street of PA Senate District 3 who has done so much with his colleagues in the Senate to try to address issues of gun violence and issues of prevention around gun violence, is here.

We have Dr. Zaf Qasim. That Z-A-F, next name, Qasim, who is a medical doctor and emergency physician from Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. He is here with registered nurse Stephanie Horton, also works in emergency at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. And both of these individuals have come here to tell you what it was like to treat many of the injured in the emergency room on the night that occurred and to speak more generally about the reality that their everyday situation is gun violence victims coming in for years.

Dr. Qasim has been doing this work at Penn Presbyterian for eight years. But he has been a doctor for 22 years.

We have with us Voffee Jabateh, who is the executive director of ACANA. That's A-C-A-N-A. ACANA is the Africa Cultural Alliance of North America. The offices of ACANA are very close to where this incident occurred. And Voffee is very well-known. Some call him the mayor up here, the mayor of that neighborhood anyway. Voffee is very well-known and played an important role here in assisting the DA's office in reference to one of the homicide victims who is the son of an immigrant from Africa.

He is present. We have Reverend W. Lonnie Herndon, senior pastor of the Church of Christian Compassion, who has worked, collaborated with us many times and, among other things, is providing assistance to one of the families to deal with one of the most traumatic aspects of the aftermath of the shooting.

We have Imam Kenneth Nuriddin of the Philadelphia Masjid, whose anti- gun violence work is constantly. And we have the Reverend Dr. Cean James, senior pastor here at the Salt & Light Church, which is our host.

In the back at this time, we also have Josephine (ph) Wamah and we have Jasmine (ph) Wamah, who are the two sisters of one of the homicide victims. If they are able, they will be speaking today. And, if they are not able, you will understand the reality of what they're up against.

[13:25:13]

So, let me just say a couple words, because it really should only be a couple of weeks before we hear more from community. As many of you are aware, there were a lot of people who came to the scene of this crime yesterday, within several hours of the shooting itself.

My office at that time had fully deployed our CARES team, our victim witness coordinators team, who immediately got in contact with the families of all of the victims of the shooting, with the exception of the one young man who had not been identified at the time. As soon as he was identified, they kicked into gear to address that. While we were out at the scene yesterday, we were accompanied by

Leader Joanna McClinton, who is the speaker of the Pennsylvania House, Representative Jordan Harris, who is essentially her right-hand, the number two in the Pennsylvania House with Democrats.

Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson was there. Councilmember Jamie Gauthier was there by phone. She was actually a couple thousand miles away, but wanted to know everything that was going on. And we were in close contact. Voffee Jabateh of ACANA was there as well, Reverend G. Lamar Stewart was there as well.

And we were all struck by many things. But just one of those things was the bicycle, which is still there. I don't know if you saw it. But right at the corner where this all went down yesterday, 24 hours ago, actually 28 hours ago, there was a small bicycle. Looked like a child's bicycle, which was sitting on that corner.

And we were informed by some people who were there that bicycle was dropped by someone, I presume a child, during the shooting. Hours later, nobody had touched it. Nice little bike. Hours later, nobody had touched it, as if they all felt they couldn't, that it was a memorial. It was some kind of a silent memorial.

Well, it's there now. It's been moved a few feet. Maybe somebody came along, some child came along and moved it, and somebody else told them put it back. But it's there now.

And I think that that fact, the desolation on those streets, the absence of cars, the absence of people, the curtains closed, the doors locked in that neighborhood, and also the comments from neighbors, the ones who did come out, about how close they themselves came to being shot and killed: Thank goodness I didn't go get that bag out of my trunk right then because.

Those are the kinds of things that we heard. Obviously, this office is 100 percent committed to the vigorous prosecution of this mass killer. And we will do justice in court with this case. But it's not my time to keep talking.

It's my time to call forward some people who have, in my opinion, very important things to say. It is my pleasure, my honor first to call forward Zaf Qasim, M.D., an emergency physician from Penn Presbyterian, as well as registered nurse Stephanie Horton to speak...

KEILAR: Right.

So we're listening there to the district attorney, Larry Krasner, of Philadelphia talking about the mass shooting over the holiday in their city that left five people killed and four people injured, just talking about the effects there on this community that is struggling with the aftermath of this.

We're going to continue to monitor this press conference and bring you any news from it -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: There are some new details into CNN about a substance found at the White House, lab testing confirming it was cocaine. The latest on that story.

And a heavy rush of travelers heading home from the holiday. Which airports are seeing major delays?

Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're back in just moments.

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