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Don Lemon Tonight
Ten People Killed In Colorado Shooting; Suspect Now In Custody; Boulder P.D. To Update Again Tomorrow Morning; Witnesses Felt Terrified For Their Lives; Justice Guaranteed To Be Served; Authorities To Dig Through The Shooters' Motive. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired March 22, 2021 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
JESSICA CRUMBY, BOULDER, COLORADO SHOOTING WITNESS: Yes, definitely.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST (on camera): Well, Jessica, I really appreciate your time. I'm glad you're OK, and I appreciate you talking to us as we're trying to kind of piece together information on this.
CRUMBY: Yes, no problem. You get anything else.
COOPER: All right. Jessica Crumby, thanks so much.
Well, the breaking news coverage continues. I want to hand things over right now Don Lemon and "CNN TONIGHT."
UNKNOWN: This is CNN breaking news.
DON LEMON, CNN HOST (on camera): We have been following the breaking news here on CNN with details still coming in at this hour,
This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon. Thank you so much for joining us.
There you see the scene live now in Boulder Colorado. Here's what we know about our breaking news, the second mass shooting in this country in a week. This time in Boulder, Colorado at a supermarket. There are multiple people including a police officer killed at the King Soopers store in Boulder. Police not yet saying how many people lost their lives. Boulder County's district attorney says families are still being notified at this hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL DOUGHERTY, BOULDER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: There is a lot of investigation already underway, a lot of things are being realized as the crime scene is being processed, including the number of victims which is known to police investigators. But I want to stress that victims' family members are still being notified, so we're being really sensitive to the victims' families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Michael Dougherty the district attorney there. Official say one person is in custody and being treated at a hospital right now. Again, the information just coming in. You can see live pictures now from Boulder, Colorado. It's 8.01 p.m. mountain time.
And they say there is no ongoing threat to the public at this time, one senior law enforcement source is telling CNN that the weapon used in the shooting was an AR-15 style rifle. Police asking witnesses who have information to contact the Boulder Police Department.
I need to let you know that we are expecting another press conference later on tonight, as you know in the press conference a little bit earlier. Not much information was given, hopefully in the press conference coming up at any time in the next couple of hours, we will get more information and we're going to bring it to you, bring that to you as it happens.
But you have -- you must see this video. This video is from a witness, and I have to warn you as well it is a graphic, it shows what appears to be a body. You also hear what appears to be a gunshot. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: He went in the store?
UNKNOWN: (Inaudible) down there.
UNKNOWN: My God, guys we've got people down inside King Soopers. Look, there's -- holy (muted).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Again, a horrific scene there. This was the scene as police called for the gunman to surrender.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: Exit the building, this is the Boulder Police Department. The entire building is surrounded, I need you to surrender now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Witnesses on the scenes there, they're saying that they were stunned by the sudden explosion of violence in the middle of a supermarket on a random Monday afternoon. One man learning his son- in-law was there to get a COVID vaccination when shots rang out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: I got the call from my daughter. My grandchildren and my son- in-law were -- walked into the pharmacy for him to get a COVID-19 shot. The shooter came in, shot the woman in front of them. They hid, ran upstairs, they're hiding in a coat closet for the last hour. They were trying to stay in contact with my daughter, they're OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): One witness, another witness emotional at his close call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN BOROWSKI, COLORADO SUPERMARKET SHOOTING WITNESS: This feels like the safest spot in America and I just nearly got killed for getting a soda, you know, and a bag of ships.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (on camera): Live reporting now from the scene. Lucy Kafanov has been -- our Lucy Kafanov has been reporting from the scene since this happened. Lucy, good evening to you. Details still very limited as we learned from the press conference, but what do we know about what took place?
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very, very few details as you point out, Don. We know that there were multiple lives lost, police were tightlipped about just how many people lost their lives. They say that they have a person of interest in custody, they say that the person of interest is injured at the hospital and receiving treatment. And that's all that they would reveal about the shooter or the suspect. There wasn't a lot of details coming out.
We know that about 2.30 p.m. local time, this is according to several witnesses who are inside this King Soopers store, they heard gunshot. One witness said as he heard the gunshots, he ran to the back. Employees helped him.
[22:05:03]
Other customers flat out of the back. And I want to apologize to you and the viewers for my voice. Other people reported hearing gunshots outside. We saw footage in fact that showed what appeared to be lifeless bodies outside in the parking lot area, as well as inside.
So, we're not really sure whether this began before the shooter entered the store or not, police are simply not revealing those details. They do say that they're going to have a second press conference. We did see video of an individual, it was a man, he was almost half naked, he was just wearing a pair of shorts, bleeding out of down one leg, walked in handcuffs by police officers, placed into an ambulance and taken away.
And moments ago, before we went on air with you, a powerful moment here, Don. We saw a procession of law enforcement vehicles line up one by one and there's a lot of vehicles here. You know, dozens if not more than that, presumably to escort the body of that fallen officer home. We do know that one a Boulder police officer lost his life in this tragic incident. We're still trying to get those details, Don --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Lucy, you're right. This video of the ambulance transporting the body just moments ago. Lucy is getting some new information. Lucy, if you need to jump in, you can. But Lucy, just to ask you --
(CROSSTALK)
KAFANOV: Just to let you know there's going to be another press conference in about 10 minutes, less than that, six minutes.
LEMON: So, in six minutes we'll get another press conference. OK, Lucy, we'll hang with you just for a minute here. So, Lucy, the man that you saw, you said was bloody and I believe were shirtless. They will not confirm if that was the shooter or not or how this man, what relationship he had with this incident, correct?
KAFANOV: They're being very tightlipped, they're not revealing a lot of information about this at all, in fact, they wouldn't even confirm how many people lost their lives today. Only to say that multiple lives were lost. They did say that there could have been more loss of life if there weren't so many agencies who responded to the scene.
There is ATF, the FBI showed up, we actually saw several FBI officers walking around and then several Denver metro agencies. So, the police presence here was just massive, Don. When we pulled up several hours ago, I mean, as far as the eye could see, different vehicles from law enforcement, lights flashing.
The whole area cordoned off, and this is a popular shopping area. I mean, there is a supermarket where this incident took place, but there is a lot of other eatery and shops. And you know, we were expecting a snowstorm in Denver and in Boulder today. So, this afternoon would have been a perfect time to go to the store and stock up on some essentials, and some water, and some food, and some supplies. You know, it's a tragedy that yet again we're talking about another mass shooting here in America.
LEMON: So, I know that you got the press conference, what they say, 8.15, was that, so 10.15 Eastern Time, OK? So, we'll get one --
(CROSSTALK)
KAFANOV: Yes, 8.15, local --
LEMON: Ten-fifteen Eastern Time.
KAFANOV: That's right.
LEMON: Lucy, let me ask you about the weapon. The reporting now is that it was an AR-15 style weapon, what do you know about it?
KAFANOV: That's all we know a senior law enforcement source told us that that's the style of weapon that was used here. Again, police were not confirming or denying that they indicated no information about this. But it would help us understand why witnesses reported hearing so many gunshots, at least one witness spoke to CNN he said he heard these rapid style pops eight in a row. Again, a lot of conflicting stories there, it's just hard to go beyond speculation at this point.
LEMON: Lucy, there were a number of witnesses I would imagine the witnesses obviously are telling what happened at the scene but they can't give accurate numbers just sort of just what they saw. But we got so very little from the prior press conference that happened just, you know, over an hour ago. Basically, all they said that there was a shooting, that they had
someone in custody, that there wasn't a danger to the public. And that there were multiple fatalities, but they wouldn't give a number. They said they were working on notifying family members and next of kin.
But still understandably, I would imagine, you know, there's chaos going on. But people expected a little bit more transparency about the, at least an estimate of the numbers. So, do we know what's going on with that?
KAFANOV: We don't, and it's surprising because the briefing that gave us a little information was actually delayed by 45 minutes. Which, again, is just speculation but we don't know if that's an indication of sort of more complicated details coming up behind the scenes.
It is surprising just how little we're getting from officials. And you know, it is, I mean, clearly, multiple losses of life. There's a lot of agencies involved here, they are trying to, you know, dot their I's and cross the T's.
[22:10:00]
But we would have at least expected to get the number of lives lost by now but perhaps --
LEMON: Yes.
KAFANOV: -- they're still trying to contact relatives. I did ask the police chief, or the officer who is giving the briefing of the gentleman who is seen in handcuffs escorted to the ambulance. If that was the person of interest that they referring to, but he said that's just speculation at this point, he wouldn't answer that.
LEMON: All right, Lucy, I'm going to let you go, you had to get ready for the press conference, you have more reporting. If something happens between now and the press conference, you need to jump back in, let us know, we'll get you back in.
Thank you, Lucy. Our Lucy Kafanov on the scene reporting there. She's -- we're awaiting a press conference. It should happen in under five minutes if it is on time.
In the meantime, I want to get to another guest as we await this press conference in Boulder Colorado. Colorado State Majority Leader Steve Fenberg. Thank you, Majority Leader for joining us. We appreciate that.
I'm sorry to have to speak to under these circumstances, it's a very tough time again, awful. Sorry about this, but the latest that you're hearing about what happened in your district today?
STATE SEN. STEVE FENBERG (D-CO): Yes, Don, thank you for having me and for having this conversation tonight.
This is something that unfortunately is all too common in communities across our country. We have seen a time and time again, but of course it's still shocking when it happened so close to home. This happened at a grocery store that I shop at, that is just on the street from where my wife is a middle school teacher.
This hit close to home in my heart. It's incredibly heavy as I know many Americans are tonight. What we are hearing is that this was one individual that walked into the King Soopers where people are grocery shopping, some people are at the pharmacy getting their COVID-19 vaccine. And then all of a sudden, their day was changed forever.
And we're hearing different numbers. I know there's going to be a press conference again soon and we hope to get more information after families have been notified. But what we are hearing the report from the ground here is that at least six individuals, one police officer.
You never want a police procession to go down in your street because of a fallen officer, and that's what happened in this community tonight.
LEMON: Yes, we just saw that moment ago the procession with the ambulance with the, presumably with the police officer's body inside moving down the street there in the darkness in Boulder, Colorado.
Now the new information that you're getting, Leader Fenberg, is that you said at least six people and one police officer, that's the update you're getting from officials?
FENBERG: The latest I've heard is and we've heard a different number throughout the day as you can imagine it's a pretty chaotic situation. There was a second incident that turns out to have been a bit of a false alarm, but of course everyone's nerves were on call. So, there's a lot going on, and I think that's why the press conference was delayed at first. But, yes --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: But they are saying that second incident was not, they believe it was unrelated. Is that confirmed it was unrelated at this point?
FENBERG: My understanding is that it was related, but there is no -- there is no known threat. But potentially somebody who, you know, unfortunately just wanted to get in on the attention and it was a false alarm.
LEMON: What about the man that we saw police in custody, or at least police walking with him that was bleeding shirtless, do we know his connection to this incident?
FENBERG: My understanding, and of course I don't know this necessarily firsthand from law enforcement. But my understanding is that he is the suspect, that he was the individual that they were attempting to get out of that store to secure it. And that he is now at a hospital recovering from his, from his wounds.
I'm not sure if it's a gunshot or what, but he is clearly bleeding. There was some confusion of course, and all these situations it's confusing. People want to make sure everything is secured. But unfortunately, this seems like something --
LEMON: OK.
FENBERG: -- that too many communities have seen.
LEMON: Leader, I want you to standby because I want to get to someone whose family --
FENBERG: Yes.
LEMON: -- was inside the supermarket. That's Majority Leader Steve Fenberg in Boulder Colorado, thank you for joining us. We'll get back to him if warranted.
I want to bring in now Steven McHugh. His family was at that supermarket during the shooting. And as we get to him, I'm going to want to warn the viewers that we may have to jump out and get to this press conference scheduled to start in less than a minute. Steve, I appreciate you joining us. Thank you so much.
STEVEN MCHUGH, FAMILY WAS AT KING SOOPERS DURING SHOOTING: Glad to be here, Don. Glad to be here.
LEMON: Sorry that we have to meet under circumstances. Your granddaughters and your son-in-law were in the store during the shooting. Your son-in-law was actually getting a COVID vaccine. How are their doing, what are they're saying to you?
MCHUGH: They're pretty shaken up, and they were right there from the first shot to the last. And Paul was in line to go get a COVID shot, third person in line and that's when at least one shooter came in and killed the woman at the front of the line in front of him.
[22:15:08]
I think thankfully the girls didn't see that. They were on the phone with their grandmother. And they all then, eight shots in a row and Paul grabbed the girls and ran upstairs and there happened to be, there's a staffing area above the pharmacy.
LEMON: So, once again, you said they were third in line to get a COVID shot, correct?
MCHUGH: Yes. He was. Yes.
LEMON: He was third in line, but the girls were on the phone with their mother, with a family member, correct?
MCHUGH: Yes, with their grandmother. Nearby.
LEMON: Nearby.
MCHUGH: And then this all started happening.
LEMON: How close was he to the shooter? How close were they? Did they see it? They -- the girls didn't see, he did. MCHUGH: They weren't -- he did not know what they didn't see it happen, but they ran upstairs to hide, they hid in a coat closet standing up for 45 minutes. And then another people, there were like 20 other people up there and there were stifling phone calls, and it was quite a scary scene for the little -- for the girls. You know, these are 7th and 8th graders.
LEMON: Wow.
MCHUGH: Yes. No family should ever have to go through this ever again in the United States, Don.
LEMON: Yes.
MCHUGH: Really, no ideas here, but just saying that the intensity the awfulness is going to last for them for the rest of their lives.
LEMON: How many girls?
MCHUGH: There are two.
LEMON: Two, 7th and 8th grade.
MCHUGH: Seventh and eighth grade, yes. And there are really great kids, and we love them a lot, and it was terrifying to think that we might lose them.
LEMON: If you, Steve, if you can take us back to the beginning, and listen, I'm so happy you didn't lose him, if you can take us back to the beginning.
MCHUGH: Yes.
LEMON: So, they are in line, and you said they heard eight shots coming from -- is that correct, it was eight shots you said?
MCHUGH: That's what the grandmother said who was on the phone when the shooting started. To the girls.
LEMON: She could hear it through the phone?
MCHUGH: The grandmother said that she heard eight shots. She -- and they know about that, you know. So, yes, that was at least the start. There may have been as many as 50 or 60 shots according to my son-in- law.
LEMON: And so, your son-in-law quickly scooped up the girls, and they ran upstairs to a closet and they hid?
MCHUGH: Thank God. You know, and then when Paul would come out to try to silence phones, and didn't know who was coming up the stairs next. A lot of the action was right below them at the pharmacy. Extraordinarily terrifying. Of course, the little ones saying, yes, you know, the coats weren't long enough to hide our feet as they were standing behind the coats in the closet.
LEMON: I don't -- just terrifying for your family. And were they on with your wife, right, the entire time?
MCHUGH: Say that again?
LEMON: Were they on with --
MCHUGH: The other grandmother? Yes.
LEMON: Yes.
MCHUGH: Yes, the other grandmother. But yes. They -- I don't know, they stop the call said we got to go and ran upstairs. I think that saved a lot of people. I talked to other people who work for the King Soopers who were up there, it was a very frightening scene for everyone.
LEMON: Steve, I want you to stand by, I just want to tell everyone that we are awaiting a press conference to start at any moment, scheduled to start at 8.15 --
MCHUGH: Yes.
LEMON: -- mountain time in Boulder, Colorado. It is now 8.18, three minutes after it's supposed to start. But they are getting themselves together, and hopefully they'll have more information this time than they did with the last press conference, just about an hour or so ago. Maybe a little bit, an hour and hour and 15 minutes.
Steven McHugh is on the phone, his family was in the store, his son- in-law two of his grandkids were in the store at the time his son-in- law was getting a COVID shot. The daughters 7 and 8, were on, his grandchildren, were on the phone, not with his wife, but the other grandmother.
MCHUGH: Yes.
LEMON: She heard, apparently according to Steve eight shots. As we wait, they are getting the press conference together, there's going to be some name roll calls and that sort of thing. So, Steven, I want you to standby, they are stepping up to the mic.
MCHUGH: Yes.
LEMON: Standby, we're going to get to the press conference. Let's listen in now to Boulder, Colorado.
UNKNOWN: Mic check or white balance something.
UNKNOWN: The movement is getting on.
UNKNOWN: Check, check, mic check.
[22:20:02]
LEMON: So, they're asking for mic checks and white balances for the camera as they always do in this situation, so they want it perfect so that all the news organizations can be there you can get the right pictures and the right sound.
They said it's going to be about a minute or so before they have it all together. So, this press conference will start moments away. I believe this time they will have more information they've had before what they're working on, which is correct. But they are doing the right thing, is notifying the families before they hear about it in the media.
Here is the press conference. let's listen in.
DIONNE WAUGH, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, BOULDER POLICE DEPARTMENT: Confirm. Everybody ready?
UNKNOWN: Yes, ma'am.
UNKNOWN: Yes.
UNKNOWN: Good. Good.
LEMON: Again, still getting their act together. If you're watching here, and I don't want to step on it because I want you to hear every single thing they have to say. The public has the right to know.
WAUGH: How about now?
LEMON: But it's also important that they get their acts together so they can hear.
WAUGH: Yes?
LEMON: There are other local news organizations -- organizations there, I would imagine, international press. And this is the Boulder Police Commander, Kerry Yamaguchi who is going to lead this press conference in just a short order. But again, she's allowing the courtesy of -- to allow all of the media to get together.
The district attorney, Michael Dougherty who we heard from at the top of our show in our open here will also give some new information as well. There are other agencies there as we are told, the FBI, the ATF, and many other local and surrounding agencies who were working with the Boulder Police Department to try to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.
What we know about this alleged shooter and about the people who sadly perished in this including one police officer who moments ago, we saw their body being taken away by ambulance through a procession in the streets of Boulder, Colorado.
So, again, just awaiting everyone to get their acts together here. I'm not sure how hastily this press conference was called, because initially we thought that this press conference would be maybe in an hour or so. And then all of a sudden, our Lucy Kafanov was on the air with us live at the top of the show and she said in about six minutes, Don, you are going to get a press conference. And here it is. About 10 minutes after that.
WAUGH: Good evening. My name is Dionne Waugh, the public information officer for the City of Boulder Police Department.
We are going to have three speakers during this press conference, the first is going to be the Boulder Police Chief, Maris Herold. Her name is spelled M-a-r-i-s, H-e-r-o-l-d. Then we are going to have district attorney Michael Dougherty. And then we're going to have someone from the U.S. attorney's office. Chief Herold?
MARIS HEROLD, POLICE CHIEF, BOULDER POLICE DEPARTMENT: Thanks, Dionne.
The first thing I want to say is I want to say that our hearts this community go out to the victims of this horrific incident. We know of 10 fatalities at the scene, including one of our Boulder P.D. officers by the name of Eric Talley who's been on the Boulder Police Department since 2010. He served in numerous roles supporting the Boulder Police Department and the community of Boulder.
And I have to tell you, the heroic action of this officer when he responded to the scene, at 14.30 hours the Boulder Police Department began receiving phone calls of shots fired in the area. And a phone call about a possible person with a patrol rifle. Officer Talley responded to the scene, was the first on the scene and he was fatally shot.
I also want to commend the heroic actions of the officers responding not only from Boulder P.D., but from across the county and other parts of this region.
The police officers' actions fell nothing short of being heroic. I also want to thank the men and women who responded including state, local, and federal authorities.
Obviously, this is a very complex investigation. That will take no less than five days to complete. And again, my heart goes out to the victims of this incident, and I am grateful for the police officers that responded. And I am so sorry about the loss of Officer Talley.
[22:25:06]
And again, we will be here working night and day. We have one suspect in custody. I want to reassure the community that they are safe. And that we will try to do our best over the next few hours to identify the victims. And we'll be working with the coroner's office to do that as promptly as possible. Because I know there are people out there waiting for an answer. And I am very sympathetic to that, and we will work around the clock to get this accomplished.
UNKNOWN: The chief recognized --
HEROLD: With that in mind, I'm going to turn this over to District Attorney Michael Dougherty.
UNKNOWN: Michael, go till the end --
DOUGHERTY: Good evening. Boulder has suffered a terrible and horrific mass shooting today. And I now want to second what the chief said about the appreciation for the local, state, and federal partners that have responded to this location and to help with the investigation.
This is not the first mass shooting that we've had in the State of Colorado. And one thing that's happened in response to each and every one, including today's horrific acts, is the response that we have from law enforcement partners throughout the metro area, victim advocates throughout the area around Boulder, and investigators from local, state, and federal agencies, as well as prosecutors. From the U.S. attorney's office, and from my office, to ensure the justice is done.
My heart goes out to Eric Talley's family, his loved ones, and his colleagues. He was, by all accounts, one of the outstanding officers of the Boulder Police Department. And his life was cut far too short as he responded to the shooting that was taking place at King Soopers.
I also want to stress how incredibly sorry I am for all the victims who were killed at King Soopers. These were people who were going about their day, doing their food shopping, and their lives were cut abruptly and tragically short by the shooter who is now in custody.
I promise the victims and the people of the State of Colorado that we will secure justice and do everything we must to get justice in this case. In order for that to happen, a painstaking investigation is already underway, both at the crime scene, and in interviews to make sure that we receive all the accurate information.
Once that information is secure, we'll be sharing that with the media and with the community. I would say that I hope the people of this country send the families of their loved ones their thoughts and prayers. But from my perspective, there is more for us to do than just give us -- give them our thoughts and prayers.
We are going to go all out to ensure that the right result is released. And that's why I'm very grateful that we do have local state and federal agencies, all responding to this location here today, to ensure that the investigated -- the investigation is thorough and complete and ensures that we reach justice in this case.
As I mention, the shooter is currently in custody. He was injured with an eye towards the prosecution of that case, I'm going to be very careful about the crime scene and how we go about this investigation. We owe it to the families of all of the victims. Each and every one of them to ensure that justice is done.
I promise you that is our commitment, and we will work tirelessly to get there. I'm going to turn it over to the U.S. attorney, Matt Kirsch is here on behalf of the U.S. attorney's office. And again, I greatly appreciate the local, state, and federal cooperation on this investigation.
MATT KIRSCH, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY, COLORADO DISTRICT: Thank you, Michael. I'm Matt Kirsch. I'm the acting U.S. attorney for the district of Colorado.
This is obviously been a tragic event. And I'm here simply to assure both the families of the victims and the community, that the full weight of federal law enforcement is going to support the effort that the D.A. Dougherty just describe to seek justice in this matter.
I've already spoken with my counterparts at the ATF and the FBI. They are here on scene, as well. And as I said, we're going to continue to support this investigation as completely as we can. Thank you.
WAUGH: We're not going to take further updates as of this evening, we will put out our next update early tomorrow morning. We will post a picture of the officer on our Twitter feed shortly. Thank you for your patience. We will continue to post updates as soon as we can. But the next update, anticipated update will be first thing tomorrow morning.
UNKNOWN: Can you confirm (Inaudible) his name?
[22:29:53]
WAUGH: Yes. Officer Eric, E-R-I-C, Talley, T-A-L-L-E-Y. He was 51 years old. He has been with the Boulder Police Department since 2010. Thank you.
UNKNOWN: Are you taking any questions?
(OFF-MIC)
WAUGH: Since 2010.
Not tonight. We will have our next update, of course tomorrow morning.
UNKNOWN: Will there be via conference?
WAUGH: We will announce it on Twitter, yes, we will have another update in the morning. Thank you.
UNKNOWN: And those 10 fatalities including the officer?
WAUGH: Correct.
LEMON: OK, so we are listening to the press conference. This is really worse than we thought, initially we had heard that they were probably six, up to six, and then up to eight people who were killed in this. Now we are learning that it is 10 people dead including the officers.
This is the second mass shooting in America in a week. It's truly awful. It's quite frankly, sickening that we have to deal with these shootings on such a -- what has become a regular basis.
Again, the new formation coming out now from the press conference, 10 people dead including the police officer. Officer Eric Talley, 51 years old, he has been with the Boulder Police Department since 2010. He was really heralded as a hero by the police chief just moments ago, saying that he was the first on the scene and he was shot and killed by the gunman.
They are saying that the gunman is in custody, the question that so many now is he speaking to police? How did they take him down? And of course, the motive behind it. This is the moment that you are looking now as they are saluting
Officer Talley earlier this evening as his body was removed from the scene in that ambulance. And then a procession through the streets of Boulder, Colorado.
An awful sickening time in our country. Again, the press conference just moments ago, three people speaking there, the U.S. attorney, the police chief, and also the acting U.S. attorney and the district attorney speaking as well.
The U.S. attorney and I second that the Boulder county, district attorney, I should say, saying that Boulder has suffered a horrific tragic shooting today. It certainly did. His heart goes out to Eric Talley and his family and also his colleagues and coworkers. Saying that he was sorry for all of those who were involved, and all of the victims' families as well.
And they are working at this hour to identify the victims of this horrible shooting. Working with the coroner's office, and saying that they wanted to get that done as quickly as possible because they owe it to the family members, the loved ones and the friends of those victims.
Here's the latest information. According to this press conference that at 14.30, they are saying, that's what they are saying, at around 2.30 in the afternoon, calls of a person with a patrol rifle - that's how they described it - started to come in to the police department. The officer was the first on the scene. He was shot.
Members of other agencies throughout the area was -- were in assistance. It took no less, they said it will take no less than five days at least to get all the information that they don't feel comfortable about giving you determinative information on why the shooter did what he did. And the circumstances behind it.
CNN's Lucy Kafanov has been working the story for us, she's been there since the very beginning. She's at that press conference. I want to bring her in now.
Lucy, we now have, we know that there is a suspect, no identification of the suspect. But identification of at least one person involved in the shooting, and sadly that is a Police Officer Eric Talley, 51 years old on the -- at the department since 2010.
KAFANOV: That's right, Don. And you know, we spoke before this press conference where we saw that beautiful procession of the law enforcement here who rode out truck after truck presumably carrying Officer Talley's body away from this area.
As you point out, he's 51 years old, he's been on the force since 2010. We understand according to the officials here that he was the first officer to respond to these calls about a gunman here at the supermarket in Boulder. He arrived in the scene and tragically lost his life in the process.
We do understand that there were 10 fatalities. This is an incredibly sad large numbers including the officer. Ten people losing their lives today on this Monday afternoon. The officials called this a complex investigation, that's going to take no less than five days to conclude. They say that they'll be working night and day to try to get the suspect to deal with the suspect who is in custody.
[22:35:03]
We know from earlier reports that the suspect was injured and was taken to hospital for treatment. But again, no details on motive, who this person was, why they did what they did. They did mention the calls reporting someone with a patrol rifle, although a different source told us that this was an AR-15 style rifle.
So, we are waiting for more details on exactly the nature of the weapon that was used. But yes, I mean, a terrible and horrific mass shooting is how the district attorney describe this. You know, these victims, they were shopping for groceries, doing something that almost all of us do regularly and had their lives cut short in this terrible incident.
They are not going to be doing any more updates today. They say that they will be doing another update tomorrow morning, and this investigation is just beginning to get underway, Don.
LEMON: Yes. And listen, I'm remember standing there in Colorado just not long ago covering the Aurora theater shooting, and one wonders just how much the folks of Colorado can endure when dealing with these types of horrible shooting incidents.
Lucy Kafanov has the latest information for us from the scene. Lucy, standby. Lucy is going to get some more reporting and we'll her back momentarily here.
In the meantime, I need to go and give you the national picture which really is the picture from the White House. Because in these incidents the president is briefed quickly. So, I want to get to the White House now and get to Kaitlan Collins, our White House correspondent.
Kaitlan, have you had a chance to speak with anyone in the administration? What are they saying? How are they monitoring this? What's going on?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Don, we've been in touch with them throughout the night talking to them. President Biden was briefed earlier, they said he would be kept updated on these developments. But earlier when he was briefed, we still didn't know a lot about what was going on, we didn't even know the number of fatalities until just a few moments ago.
So, we should note the White House as they are keeping an eye on this, because of course federal agents are there on the ground helping with this investigation. We saw them going into the grocery store earlier today.
But it seems that the next time we may hear from President Biden is around one o'clock tomorrow when he is scheduled to leave the White House to go to Ohio to talk about that coronavirus relief plan.
But, Don, we'll see if this changes, his schedule, or if he makes any public comments on it as he's leaving the White House. But what we should note is, you know, he is only two months into his presidency and now this is the second shooting in a week that he has had to deal with from a federal level.
We saw him go to Atlanta last week and meet with an Asian-American community leader after those shootings happened. And now of course this one has happened, and it is going to be something that is now raising this issue. Guns and everything. Of course, what he talked about in the campaign trail really to the forefront of his agenda given there have been two mass shooting within a week here in the United States.
LEMON: Yes, the second mass shooting in a week. I mean, it's just horrific, Kaitlan. Kaitlan standing by. Kaitlan, when we get more information -- if you get more information from the administration from the White House, we'll get back to you.
I want to bring in now Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado. Senator, thank you so much. You listen to the press conference, correct?
SEN. JOHN HICKENLOOPER (D-CO): yes.
LEMON: So, 10 people killed in today's shooting including officer Eric Talley, Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley. An absolute tragedy here. Your thoughts on the situation?
HICKENLOOPER: Well, it's just -- it's like it just puts you back, their case back to Aurora, and you know, they say you're heavy hearted. And what it really means you can't breathe. You -- I just feel so deeply for the people that have -- they're worried about their loved ones, those who know that they've lost a loved one. They've been injured.
I mean, these are the hardest events of all, and I'm sure, I mean, Vice President Biden saw firsthand again and again -- I mean, President Biden saw again and again when he was vice president. I mean, there it's just so important that they're there but such a difficult job.
I remember President Obama came out to Aurora and spent several hours with the families and closest friends of the deceased victims. And at the end he told me, you know, it's part of his job. He's consoler in chief. And now, you know, now President Biden has to. It's just, it's unspeakable, it's unthinkable, it's inconceivable.
LEMON: Listen, as we watched what is believed, this is believed to be the suspect, we haven't gotten absolute confirmation on it, but the suspect is in custody and was injured and they spoke about the suspect in the press conference moments ago.
Listen, who knows what would drive someone to do these, to commit these terrible horrendous acts. But you did mention Aurora which was 2012. And Colorado. [22:40:00]
So, this is, listen sadly, Colorado has had to deal with this over the last few years in recent history with a number of fatalities. How -- how are people there dealing with this? This is, again, this is the second time you've had to deal with this within 10 years?
HICKENLOOPER: Yes, well, in a way you can't deal with it. You just, you have to kind of get through it. Especially the first couple days and reach out to the families and make sure that they have all the support that anyone could possibly need.
Again, the devastation, you know, it really is an assault in a way on the whole community because everyone experiences as something grievous and something that's happened to their family in a way. Especially once -- once you've been through it a couple of times, again, your heart is just even heavier. It's just harder to think and to breathe, and to function when you feel so deeply for the people that have lost their lives, and their families.
LEMON: Senator, I would imagine that they are updating you as well, being the senator from Colorado. Are you hearing any details that you can give us any details about the suspect?
HICKENLOOPER: I haven't heard any more details than what you've heard. I mean, I try to stay out of law enforcement's way when they are in the heat of this, you know, when it's in real-time. They are busy and they know exactly what they're doing and they are -- the last thing they need is to have one more question, one more question to have -- or one more, you know, one person to answer questions from, you know that. I mean, it's just -- I haven't heard anything, anything beyond what you, we've all seen on television.
LEMON: Yes. And I just want to make it clear, the person we saw in that video we're not sure that is the suspect, that is what folks are saying on the ground. But again, that has not been confirmed.
Senator, this is the second mass shooting. You know, we talk about the second mass shooting within 10 years in Colorado, but the second mass shooting in a week here, you know, for the entire United States. We had that horrific mass shooting in Atlanta last week. Democrats are now in control of the House. They are in control the Senate. Should President Biden make tackling gun violence a priority at this point?
HICKENLOOPER: Well, he's already talked -- I mean, he's made it a priority, it is a priority. It's being talked about in real-time. You know, Mark Kelly is in the U.S. Senate. And I can guarantee you that he -- well, I mean, I can't even imagine the conversation he had with Gabby Giffords.
LEMON: Yes.
HICKENLOOPER: Earlier, you know, over the course of this evening. I'm sure that the Senate is going to take this up in the House and the president.
LEMON: Yes.
HICKENLOOPER: Again, it's beyond -- beyond what any state should have to go through, and yet as you point out, twice in two weeks and it's happening across the country.
LEMON: Yes, Mark Kelly is the senator now. His wife was a congresswoman at the time and was shot at a mall in Arizona as she was at a campaign style or a public event listening to constituents. They have -- they are both now proponents for gun legislation, sensible gun legislation around this country. Now he is in the Senate.
Governor, listen, at these moments you really don't know what to say when these situations happen. Obviously, the families now are in grief, some of them according to the officials on the scene haven't gotten confirmation that their loved ones have perished in this incident. But one can only imagine the weight when you haven't heard from a family member, whether they're involved in the supermarket incident, whether they are OK or what. Can you imagine the families are dealing with right now?
HICKENLOOPER: Yes. I unfortunately, I can't imagine. I've heard those stories, and I will tell you. Those are some of the hardest calls I've ever made. And I know that Mayor Weaver and Governor Polis and again, these are just the hardest, this is the single hardest thing that I've ever dealt with in public life. That I think anyone can deal with in public life.
LEMON: Yes. Senator John Hickenlooper, thank you. Senator, if we need you, I would hope you would allow us to give you a call back so that we can talk to you about what's happening. Now we don't expect another press briefing until tomorrow but one never knows what might transpire in these breaking new situations. Thank you, Senator.
HICKENLOOPER: You bet, Don, thank you.
LEMON: Thank you very much.
Just to give an update now. Press conference held moments ago in Boulder, Colorado. As you see they are on the bottom of your screen.
[22:44:57]
Ten people killed in the shooting including one police officer. A 51- year-old veteran of the police department, an 11-year veteran of the police department, joined the force in 2010 according to the police chief there. Eric Talley.
At this hour they are still trying to identify some of the victims in the shooting and to alert their next of kin.
The breaking news continues right after this break on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON (on camera): We're back now with a live and continuing coverage of the horrific shooting that happened in Boulder, Colorado earlier today. Ten people dead including a police officer.
Let's get updates on what we should be learning from police officers, and how the investigation might go. I want to bring in now former FBI special agent Asha Rangappa, and Cedric Alexander, CNN law analyst here on CNN.
Good evening to both of you. Asha, you first. Ten people dead including one officer with one suspect in custody at this hour. What are investigators trying to figure out right now?
[22:49:49]
ASHA RANGAPPA, CNN LEGAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think their first step is going to be to determine what the motive for this was. They have a suspect in custody who may speak to them, but if this is a lone, you know, actor, I think they're going to have you delve into, you know, his family, his acquaintances to find out what he was doing in the time leading up to it.
I think they are also going to look to see how he obtained his weapon? Was it legally obtained? Where did he buy it? How far did he travel? All of these things. In the press conference they mentioned that this investigation will take -- I mean, it's going to be at least five days before they really get to flush out the information in a way that's going to paint a picture of what actually happened here.
LEMON: Cedric, take us behind the scenes of law enforcement, you have worked, sadly you've had to deal with these similar situations. What are they learning, were they're trying to discern about the crime scene, the challenges they're dealing with?
CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, certainly, they're going to be a number of challenges and a lot of questions that are still yet to be answered, Don. And I think one of the biggest is going to be of course the motive. And I think we'll learn that over next day or so hopefully, as some more information to share about this case.
But throughout the night they will be certainly looking at this scene, but probably more importantly they're going to be trying to identify those who lost their lives in this tragic event earlier today. So, it's going to be an ongoing investigation, as you can only imagine it's certainly someone like myself and many other chiefs who have been through this.
This is a very, very tough and difficult time for law enforcement especially when you lose one of your own. But in addition to that, very importantly, you lost 10 people in that community. And that's going to be painful for that community and this country.
LEMON: What we do know, Cedric, is that in this time of, you know, cell phone and security camera video, I'm sure the police and the investigators will get video tape, security camera footage from the supermarket from the parking lot, and maybe some cell phone footage from others who were on the scene. That footage will start showing up on the news. I'm sure sometime
shortly if not tonight then tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon. Though, that will help out in this case as in previous times maybe not. But they are going to get information if the suspect is not talking to them, there certainly going to see his actions and the steps he took that lead up to this.
ALEXANDER: Yes, absolutely but I think we all can reasonably assume there is going to be a lot of video footage in and around the store, up and down the street, across the street, et cetera. But what you're not going to see immediately is what occurred. Because this is still very much a part of an initial investigation in which your local authorities there with state and feds are going to review.
And of course, your district attorney's office is going to need to review this footage. That footage probably will be coming, but I don't know if you can expect it very soon. But then again, I don't know. But I know that law enforcement themselves are going to be reviewing this footage, and probably reviewing this footage as we're speaking. So, this is going to be an ongoing investigation here again for some time.
LEMON: Asha, does it depend on how they classify this as to what, how the suspect answers? I'm sure what they find in the suspect background about his motivation. But you know, if he, if it was connected to one person that he was going after, or if he was just trying to create a lot of chaos, or if it was just random in some way.
It depends on how they qualify or classify this, one would think immediately, well, this is obviously domestic terrorism because it was -- they were -- it was a mass shooting, but not necessarily. So, does it depends on -- does it depend on the answer of the suspect?
RANGAPPA: In terms of the terrorism link, it does, Don. You know, there is a very specific kind of violence that, and maybe association with, for example, an international terrorist group that would result in it being classified as a terrorism event.
But in terms of a mass shooting, the FBI classifies any incident where at least four people are murdered as a mass shooting. And just on that front, I do think I collected some statistics from the FBI page on active shooter incidents from 2000 to 2018. Just to give us a sense of the scale of the problem.
In this time period there were 277 mass shootings in which 884 people were killed, and 1,546 people were wounded. Forty-three-point-seven percent of them were in commerce, like shopping areas, like this one, 20 percent of them in schools or higher education, and 4 percent in houses of worship.
And I just think it's important to give that context because we have a lot of debate right now about freedom to, you know, go out, go shopping, go back to school. And I'm just, you know, struck by the irony that to have the freedom to do that but then also, to not know whether you may be a victim of one of these crimes when you go out in any one of those context.
[22:55:08]
LEMON: You know, Cedric, it really, it just breaks my heart I'm saddened and sickened by this. Having covered Aurora there on the ground, and covered, you know, what happened in Littleton, Colorado, the shooting there at the school from afar it wasn't on that scene but all within my time as a journalist.
And every time you cover one of these incidents, it does not get any easier. Because as the people there on the scene said, these people were going about their daily lives. They were just buying groceries in a grocery store, which is just we take for granted every day. And just do it and we never think that we are going to be gunned down or shot or injured just going out doing our daily errands and daily chores.
Quite sadly though, the police departments in Colorado are trained for this given the history of mass shootings in that state.
ALEXANDER: Yes, they are, and certainly across this country as well too. But regardless of how well trained you are when these events happen officers respond with a great deal of courage. And they know the mission, oftentimes they know what they're going into, oftentimes they may not. But regardless of the case, they have to go in there courageously to locate a target and to neutralize that target if necessary.
But here is what's really important in all of this, the American people are traumatized over, and over, and over, and over. I can go all the way back to Colorado with you there at the high school 20 years ago.
LEMON: Columbine.
ALEXANDER: Columbine, that's correct. And being a psychologist at that time in upstate New York and a number of people that I saw who just frightened and traumatized by it who was 2,000 miles away. And then over the course of the last 20 years, we've seen too many of these events. We continue to see them -- we continue to see an inaction from our leaders in terms of trying to really trying to find some resolution around this whole gun issue in this country.
It's a very complicated, and it's very convoluted. But one thing is for certain, nothing has changed even in this pandemic environment that we are all living through. We are still seeing these acts of this type of violence that's been carried out in the same way we have in months and years past.
So the question becomes for the American people, when are we going to get serious enough to really take a real look at this and put politics aside if possible, and put party affiliations aside if possible, because that is still a very much a real threat in this country to our democracy, to our public, and to our safety.
Just think about it, every time you go into a grocery store, drugstore, you walk in a mall, or go to school or go to church, we all have this insurmountable amount of fear that we're walking around with, that we are all concerned about. We as Americans, we've got to do something about this and not just
come back and talk about it each incident in two or three days it's off the radar until the next one. We're in a place we've got to really do something about this, Don.
LEMON: Yes. Listen, we say that and we have every time there's a conversation about this and there are many who say well, it's not the time for the conversation --
ALEXANDER: That's right.
LEMON: -- because we need to deal with the victims and what have you, and then the conversation never happens.
Asha, Cedric, I want you to stand by because I want to get to Laura Coates, our legal analyst here on CNN. Laura, good evening to you. Thank you for joining. Let's talk about the legal aspects of possible charges, what happens after this. Police have this one person in custody. We don't know what the suspect is saying right now. But take us behind the scenes, how are they figuring charges, what happens next legally in this situation?
LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, the sad thing about this the tragedy that is exponentially worse when you have a suspect who was no longer living and unable to be prosecuted and the families can feel as though justice has evaded them in an exponential fashion.
Here we actually do now have a suspect who would be able to be prosecuted, if they're able to demonstrate it on both state and possibly even federal charges. Right now, they're interrogating that particular suspect trying to understand the motivation. I suspect both state level and federal prosecutors are chomping at the bit to understand which aspects of either the state or criminal federal code will actually apply here.
Normally, states are the ones who have purview over homicide charges, as we see here. But there could be some federal laws that have been implicated as well. We don't yet know the motivation. We don't know if there's any legal hooks in terms of federal crimes. Whether somebody it was targeted at a certain, whether he himself may have been somebody who was a felon in possession of a firearm, or the type of weapon that was used or the way or reasons when he targeted somebody.
[23:00:01]
If you look at the El Paso Walmart shooting, remember they were both state and federal prosecutors involved. That had a different connotation, because there was a hate crime element as well.
