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Hot, Gusty Winds Fueling Wildfires Across California; 9 People Injured In Shooting At Michigan Splash Pad; Putin To Visit North Korea As Russian Vessels Start Departing Cuba; Texas Megachurch Pastor Admits To "Moral Failure" After Accusation of Molesting A 12-Year-Old Girl. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired June 17, 2024 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[13:34:12]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: California's first major wildfire of the year is raging out of control north of Los Angeles, destroying buildings and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. Dry brush and fierce gusty winds are fueling the Post Fire.
This erupted Saturday afternoon in Gorman, California. That's about an hour north of L.A. And since then, it's scorched more than 15,000 acres. Right now, as of last check, it's only about 8 percent contained.
Let's discuss with Captain Sheila Kelliher-Berkoh. She's the spokesperson for the L.A. County Fire Department.
Captain, thank you so much for being with us.
Give us a status update of where things stand right now.
CAPT. SHEILA KELLIHER-BERKOH, SPOKESPERSON, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Thank you for having me.
You're right on. We are at 14,625 acres. We're at 8 percent contained. That's up about 6 percent from last night.
[13:35:00]
And what we're really contending against right now is the wind. Ae are in red-flag conditions until about 5:00 this evening. And it may push even until Tuesday.
And you can see I'm out here and we're in the -- the not so windy part. So I can't imagine what's happening up on the Hill.
SANCHEZ: Yes, I wonder what your message is to folks that are in that area, what you would want them to be doing right now.
KELLIHER-BERKOH: I think it's really important that you stay vigilant, make sure that you pay attention to all a look at aids. Because we've got all the information going out on our social media and our Web sites.
And really be prepared. If this wind shifts and starts going to the east and that puts into a much more populated area. Right now, it's kind of burning out into the wilderness, which is good for us, as far as keeping people safe.
SANCHEZ: CNN's affiliate, KPC, is reporting that two adults and a child were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Do you have any updates on them and any updates on other injuries?
KELLIHER-BERKOH: Yes, we're lucky, so far, it is minor. We had a firefighter with a minor heat-related injury. And then it sounds like two civilians that had some sort of minor injury. But all we're treated and released so they didn't do a whole lot of follow up.
But as a right now, no serious injuries, which is great news to report.
SANCHEZ: We're glad to hear that.
I want to share with our viewers that we're looking at live images now coming in from KPC. It looks like a helicopter over the area where the fire is burning.
There are already some other fires burning further north and south of this one. How do resources look? Do you feel like you have what you need in order to get this thing contained?
KELLIHER-BERKOH: Yes. We've got this down to a science here in southern California. We've got unified command where we get help from agencies all up and down California.
And if you look at our base camp, it's amazing to see all the different units from all the different fire departments. So this is not new to us. We practice for this and we're ready for this.
And if there's any indication -- like you said, north of us, the Antelope Valley and they already, in the last four weeks, have had a bunch of starts.
Starts meaning it was a brush fire that could have turned into something big. But the crews were on it quickly and they extinguished those fires really fast. They're keeping them from being something really big.
But here, with this fire, everything lined up. There was high temperatures, low relative humidity about 15 percent. We have the terrain with shutes and canyons. And that wind just really kicked it off. That's what got it going so fast.
SANCHEZ: All right, Captain Sheila Kelliher-Berkoh, we appreciate your time. Thanks so much for being with us. We hope that things stay relatively sane and normal out there.
KELLIHER-BERKOH: We appreciate it. We're getting arms around it.
SANCHEZ: Thank you so much, Captain.
Still to come, a weekend of deadly mass shootings across the country. In Michigan, families running for their lives after gunfire erupted at a community splash pad. Nine people injured, including kids. Police now trying to figure out a motive. We'll discuss in just moments.
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[13:42:23]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Police in Michigan are still searching for A motive after an apparent random mass shooting at a splash pad near Detroit, where at least nine people we're wounded, including young children.
This past weekend, there was a disturbing surge in gun violence, with the least 14 reported mass shootings across multiple states. In all, at least nine people we're killed and more than 70 we're injured across the country.
We have CNN's Rafael Romo joining us on this story.
Rafael, what more are you learning about specifically the shooting at the recreation area in Michigan?
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, for the first time since this Saturday shooting, we're learning new details about what happened to a couple that was at the splash bad with their two young children.
Michela and Eric Cofilin (ph) had taken their two daughters, 2-years- old and seven-months, to the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad near their home in Rochester Hills.
This is according to a GoFundMe page organized by a friend of the family who says that, after getting ice cream, they headed over to the splash pad and hadn't even been there for a minute when they heard gunfire.
The post goes on to say that, "In total, Michela and Eric sustained seven gunshot wounds. They are hospitalized and undergoing necessary treatment. Because of their heroic actions, their children were protected and able to go home that evening. "Michela and Eric face a long and unknown recovery from this thinkable tragedy."
Altogether, nine people were shot by the suspect. They ranged in age from 4-years-old to 78. An 8-year-old boy and his 39-year-old mother are in critical condition. Seven others are in stable condition, including that boy's four-year-old brother.
Michael William Nash, the 42-year-old suspect, was later found dead at the home he shared with his mother of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Officials also found a rifle on the kitchen table.
Sheriff Bouchard said, we may never know if Nash tended to use that weapon to attack more people. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL BOUCHARD, SHERIFF, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN, SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: I believe that, because we had quick containment on him, that if he had planned to do anything else -- and it wouldn't surprise me.
Because having that on the kitchen table isn't in an everyday activity, that there was probably something else, a second chapter potentially.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: Now, Brianna, this new tragedy has hit Michigan especially hard. The community is still reeling from two other mass shootings.
Last year, in February, a gunman killed three Michigan State University students and left five others critically injured. And in 2021, a teenager killed four students at a high school in Oxford, just 15 miles north of Rochester Hills.
A lot of people very sad there today -- Brianna?
[13:45:00]
KEILAR: Yes. So hoping that they are on the mend. Obviously, very serious injuries sustained in that shooting,
Rafael, thank you for the update.
Boris?
SANCHEZ: We're also following two big headlines from the Kremlin this hour. First, a Kremlin aid says that Russian President Vladimir Putin is going to travel to North Korea for a two-day visit with Kim Jong-Un tomorrow. This is going to be Putin's first visit there in more than two decades.
And more evidence of a deepening alignment between the two leaders. Kim has not hosted in another world leader in Pyongyang since the pandemic but analysts believe he's exported millions of rounds of ammunition to Russia since it launched its invasion into Ukraine.
And Russian naval vessels are now leaving Cuba after a six-day visit aimed at highlighting what the Cuban government calls "historically friendly relations" between those two nations.
The convoy arrived last Wednesday and was the largest from Russia to visit the Communist island in years. It's unclear where the vessels are headed next. But earlier this month, the U.S. suggested that Venezuela was a possible stop.
Still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, the U.S. surgeon general says he wants to see warning labels on social media like the kind that you see on cigarettes, adding to the pressure on lawmakers to protect kids on social media apps. We'll be right back.
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[13:51:00]
SANCHEZ: A Texas megachurch pastor and former Donald Trump spiritual adviser is admitting to inappropriate sexual behavior with an underage girl.
Pastor Robert Morris' admission comes after a woman, now in her 50s, accused him of molesting her when she was 12. Morris says he was in his 20s when he had what he describes as a "moral failure."
CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us now live from Dallas.
And, Ed, all of this came to light after Morris' accuser shared her story with a blog.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We should point out that Robert Morris is the senior pastor at one of the most prominent evangelical megachurches here in the north Texas area, in Southlake, Texas. It's Gateway Church.
But these events that are being described happened while Morris was affiliated with other churches, as you mentioned, more than 30 years ago.
The pastor gave a statement to CNN affiliate, WXIA, where he essentially acknowledges the crux of what Cindy Clemishire is alleging.
She says, "When I was in the -- The pastor says in the statement, "When I was in my early 20s, I was involved in an inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying. It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years."
The pastor, in the statement, goes on to say that he left ministry for some time, received counseling, what he described his freedom ministry.
His current church described it as a two-year restoration process. And then was allowed to come back into the ministry.
The pasture concluded by saying, "Since that time, I have walked in purity and accountability in this area.
Boris, we really need to point out that the statement is of inappropriate sexual behavior. What this is, is a sexual molestation of a 12-year-old girl who is not legally able to give any kind of consent.
And it also describes it as a situation that was -- involved a young lady. Again, this woman was 12-years-old at the time.
She's also speaking out, saying she hopes that, by coming public, it helps others who've been in similar situations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY CLEMISHIRE, ACCUSES PASTOR OF MOLESTATION WHEN SHE WAS 12: The story is gut wrenching when I read it on paper. And I've been sharing for years. So it just happens to be God's time, I think, for it to come to light.
He didn't come forward and confess. He was turned in. And when someone's turned in, what are they sorry for? Are they sorry because they got caught or are they truly repentant of what they did?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Robert Morris was not in the pulpit this weekend at his church.
Gateway Church put out a statement to WAFA, also saying, "Pastor Robert has been open and forthright about a moral failure he had over 35 years ago when he was in his 20s and prior to him starting at Gateway Church. He has shared publicly from the pulpit the proper Biblical steps he took in his lengthy restoration process."
Robert Morris had worked on -- was part of Donald Trump's Evangelical Executive Committee you back in 2016. Also campaigned for him in 2020, holding roundtables at the church.
It's not clear, Boris, if he's involved in this 2024 election cycle. We've reached out to the campaign and are still waiting to hear back -- Boris?
SANCHEZ: And, Ed, that that woman hired Evangelist Billy Graham's grandson as her attorney. But since this happened in the late 1980s, the statute of limitations for some kind of litigation has likely expired, right?
So what -- what recourse are they seeking?
LAVANDERA: Right. The statute of limitations has expired. So, as far as we know, criminal charges -- well, criminal charges we're never filed. And it's not exactly clear if that can happen at this point.
But the lawyer did say -- her, Cindy Clemishire's lawyer did tell us in a statement saying that, "She has spent 30 years trying to tell the world about Robert Morris. So she's been" -- said that, "She's been ignored while Morris has been promoted as a, quote, "man of God" over the decades. But she's encouraged by coming forward.
[13:55:03]
And what has happened over the last few days since her story's come out, that, in her words, "She's encouraged that this darkness is coming to light" -- Boris?
SANCHEZ: Ed Lavandera, live for us from Dallas. Thanks so much for that, Ed. A historic move by Maryland's governor as he pardons more than 175,000
marijuana convictions. We're going to speak with the state's attorney general about it, still ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
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