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Gunman In Standoff With Police At "The Miami Herald"; Shiite Militias Out For Blood Across Baghdad; Deceased Russian Spy Accuses Vladimir Putin Of Ordering His Assassination

Aired November 24, 2006 - 14:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm T.J. Holmes, in today for Don Lemon.

We've got a developing situation in Miami we've been keeping our eye on, reports of an armed gunman in "The Miami Herald" newsroom. S.W.A.T. teams on the scene, and we're awaiting a news conference with Miami police.

PHILLIPS: Iraq's deadliest day sparks a bloody round of revenge. Is there any way to break the cycle?

HOLMES: And back here in the U.S., economic indicators. Will Black Friday live up to the retailers' expectations? Hope so.

And you're in the NEWSROOM.

We want to go now to CNN's Susan Candiotti, who's been working her sources on the story in Miami. A gunman, alleged gunman at "The Miami Herald" news building there.

Get our viewers up to date, Susan, and give us the latest.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The latest, T.J., is from Police Chief John Timoney, who says that his offers, S.W.A.T. team, has now been able -- have now been able to establish contact. So they are talking with the alleged gunman.

The chief confirmed that man's identity as Jose Varela, a freelance cartoonist at "El Nuevo Herald." That means "The New Herald." It is a Spanish-language newspaper that shares the facility with "The Herald," English language, but the two papers are run separately.

This alleged gunman, Mr. Varela, according to police, made it past a security guard inside the building. The security guard told police that Mr. Varela appeared to be armed with a machine gun with a laser site (ph).

He then made his way up to the editor's office of "El Nuevo Herald," and said that he wanted to see the editor. The editor is not in the building, was not in the building at the time, and is, in fact, safe. That editor's name, the executive editor, Humberto Castello. The S.W.A.T. team now talking to Mr. Varela to try to find out what the problem seems to be. They are talking either by cell phone or by the phone in the office of Mr. Castello.

Now, the police chief says he does not know at this time whether they will be able to peacefully settle this matter. He says he feels good about it, but of course he said it's hard to predict these things.

Everyone from the building has been evacuated. There do not appear to be any hostages, therefore, involved in the situation.

According to the executive editor of "The Herald" newspaper, Tom Fiedler, the man claims that the paper "wasn't telling the truth." And apparently, according to Mr. Fiedler, had some concerns about how the newspaper was being run. That seemed to be his main concern, said Mr. Fiedler, as opposed to seeing the executive editor of "El Nuevo Herald."

So right now, you've got S.W.A.T. teams, police officers surrounding the building. Also on the waterfront, which is on the opposite side of the building that you're looking at right now, as they are trying to peacefully settle the situation.

HOLMES: All right. We'll -- appreciate you, Susan Candiotti.

Actually, before we let you go just yet, we're keeping an eye for this -- this press conference. It looks like it's about to start at any moment. But while we've got you here -- and we might have to cut away from you, but I'll ask you while we've still got you here, Susan -- you said the police chief feels pretty good about the contact they've made and they might be able to resolve this peacefully. So, any word that -- does the man sound calm? Is he agitated? Have any demands?

Actually, Susan, we are going to get to this press conference now with Miami police.

DELRISH MOSS, MIAMI POLICE: ... armed with what we believe is a machine gun, or what's being described as a machine gun by security. Somebody pushed his way past, he ended up on the sixth floor, where we have him contained right now.

Now, what we've done is evacuated most of the building, and we're working to establish contact with him so that we can talk him out. Hopefully safely, without any incidents.

At this point, we're not really sure what the origin of his -- his situation is or why he's doing this, but we do understand that he does claim that "The Herald" has been censoring some of his work, or "El Nuevo Herald" has been censoring some of his work. And apparently he has a beef with a particular editor there.

Now, as far as we know, there's no -- it's a non-hostage situation. There are no hostages. He's on the sixth floor. He's by himself, and the S.W.A.T. team has him contained, and we're working to establish contact with him.

But, with that being said, most of the people have been evacuated from the building, with the exception of the people that are in our control. And we're actually working to establish a tactical way to move in, trying to establish contact with him. And we're working -- excuse me -- and we're working to move everyone that doesn't need to be inside the building out.

It looks like we're starting to have a little bit of -- a little bit of progress. It looks like things are starting to work to our advantage. But a lot of things that are happening inside tactically I can't go into.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

MOSS: Well, with -- thus far, he has no demands. The only demand that he made was he was looking to see one person, and that one person he had -- had a problem with. Now, that person is talking to police and is in a safe position with police. Thus, he's not in any danger. And thus far, we don't believe that anyone else inside the building is danger at this point.

QUESTION: Humberto Castello?

MOSS: I don't have a name. I've been hearing a name float around. I haven't gotten it, so I don't want to go ahead and verify it and find out that I'm wrong.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE), there was some concern about an open window on the sixth floor, about busy -- you know, North Bay Shore (ph), about the waterways. What about public safety here?

MOSS: Well, the situation is this: You work to move everybody out of the immediate area, because if this guy has a machine gun, like it's being described to us, then that's a problem for people that are outside. If he turns into a sniper suddenly, then we've got a problem.

So we're asking people to stay out of the immediate area. If you don't need to be here, don't come into the area -- Nick (ph).

QUESTION: Did he just burst into the building? Did he have any confrontation with anybody in security?

MOSS: He had...

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) shooting people at random.

MOSS: He didn't come in shooting people at random. He came in -- the only conversation that he had was with security, basically stating his intention, basically to talk to that particular editor.

He seemed agitated and nervous, according to the description that we're getting. But he didn't come in shooting. And thus far, no shots has been fired. No one's hurt. That's a good sign.

QUESTION: And that editor was not in the building when he got there?

MOSS: That person, I don't know if he was in the building at the time that he arrived, but certainly he's with police now and not in a dangerous situation now.

QUESTION: So you are speaking to him?

MOSS: Yes, we are.

QUESTION: What is his state of mind? Do you know?

MOSS: Well, we're not speaking to the -- we're not speaking to the gunman at this point. We're working to establish that contact.

Thus far, it's not been successful. But the people that we're talking to are people in "The Herald" that -- and "El Nuevo Herald" that have information on background. Thus far, he's not established contact with us, but we're working to do that now.

QUESTION: How did he get past security?

MOSS: Well, security says that he's armed with what is a machine gun. When a person has a machine gun, I submit to you that he can get just about anywhere he wants to if he's got you outgunned.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

MOSS: Yes. Yes.

QUESTION: He's alone on that floor, except for police now?

MOSS: We believe that he's alone on the floor, and there are police on the floor as well. And we're working to get him down.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

MOSS: I don't remember if they're armed or not, but this is -- this is not one of those buildings that's tightly, tightly secure. Probably on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the best, this is probably a two or three.

You have a booth where a security guard actually signs people in. But if someone comes in with a machine gun and gets a drop on him, no matter how heavily armed the security guard is, he's at a disadvantage. And it's probably not tactically safe for him to do anything other than what he did.

QUESTION: Is he a (INAUDIBLE) employee of "El Nuevo Herald?"

MOSS: He's a freelance cartoonist that has done work with "The Herald." And my understanding is, he believes that "The Herald" has censored his work.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

MOSS: I don't know. I haven't heard anything about a knife. Yes?

QUESTION: When he got to the sixth floor, we heard he released some women. Can you tell us what happened when he got to the sixth floor?

MOSS: Well, all of those things, those subtle little nuances that are taking place inside, I don't have all that information. Our primary concern right now is tactically working to make sure that we establish contact with him and get him out safely.

I'm going to get all that other information on background at a later point. But right now, we just don't have it.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

MOSS: Yes.

QUESTION: Officers or civilians?

MOSS: There are some civilians inside the building, but they're all behind police lines. So they're in a safe position.

No one is in danger unless there's someone that's unaccounted for. But right now, we believe that everyone that was in the building or that should have been in the building is accounted for and is in a safe place.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) situation right now, have you cut power, water, some of the (INAUDIBLE) you're doing to...

MOSS: Well, I'm not privy to all of the tactical things that are going on inside. What they do is, on a case-by-case basis, they look at things, they establish what -- what the best needs are, and then they work to address that situation.

That's something that we never talk about while it's operational anyway, because, you know, we have future situations that we have to deal with. Not only that, but if he's in a place where he can hear or learn what we're doing, then we're at a disadvantage if we give him more information than we need to.

QUESTION: Since you have a perimeter up already, are you going to begin letting people back into other parts of the building?

MOSS: At this point, no. At this point, what we have we're going to contain until we get him out of the building, and then we'll move people back in safely.

We do understand that we are certainly a cog in the wheel as far as operations are concerned. But the primary concern is keeping people from dying in this situation.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)? Is he up against those windows, or...

MOSS: Well, we're using I don't know exactly where he is on the sixth floor, but we know that he's contained on the sixth floor. Our primary concern as far as that is concerned is the windows and what he might do to people that are passing in eye shot of the window.

QUESTION: Did you attempt to contact him by people on the sixth floor just shouting his name, or are you on the phone, or...

MOSS: Well, we're using several different methods to try and establish contact with him. And hopefully one of those will be successful.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) other businesses, other areas that may be evacuated, or the perimeter size?

MOSS: Well, we've only evacuated "The Herald" building and the immediate surrounding area. We haven't evacuated any of the other buildings, because people in those buildings are probably safer in the building than they are standing out on the street. But we think we have a sizeable perimeter on the outside of "The Herald." We think that people are at a safe distance, and we think that that's -- that's sufficient at this point.

QUESTION: The major thoroughfare is not affected?

MOSS: Major thoroughfares are not affected except for the traffic that would normally be traveling on these street that are starting to back up on to those. But for the most part, it's a slow day, it's a day after a holiday, and thus, we don't have a lot of traffic out anyway. So that's good.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

MOSS: Yes, the Venetian is closed I'm sorry.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) working right now, or are you trying to get them help?

MOSS: Right now, all the civilians inside are behind police lines with us. And we're working to get information. The numbers I don't have.

QUESTION: Was the person that he wanted to see in the building?

MOSS: The person that he wanted to see is with police. I don't know if he was in the building at the time, as I said before. But he is with police now, he's not in any danger. In fact, as best we believe, no one is in danger at this point, except the police officers that obviously have to confront him.

Yes?

QUESTION: Do you know anything about the nature of the censorship that he claimed?

MOSS: No. Right now, tactically, that's our primary concern, and getting enough background to establish mindset and what he's capable of and what he might do. In terms of the background of the dispute and everything else, right now that's secondary to our primary concerns.

QUESTION: Delrish, it's a little different than other S.W.A.T. situations. And I just want to harp on this point because you brought it up, because this person, if he does have a machine gun and a window, does have access. Is that part of the concern here why you want to get this resolved quickly?

MOSS: One of the reasons you bring S.W.A.T. out on any scene is because S.W.A.T., of course, is heavily armed and specially trained. And the hope is that when you use because S.W.A.T., you can save a life rather than have one lost.

Hopefully the fact that he's outgunned, that he's out-manned and that he's out -- he's being outmaneuvered is to our advantage and will cause him to safely come out and not do anything foolish. But right now, this situation, like every situation, is unique, because we've got this guy inside who, if he's worked for "The Herald," from a tactical standpoint, he knows the building probably a little better than our guys do.

So we have to do everything that we can to establish an advantage where his advantage exists.

And I'll be back.

HOLMES: All right. You've just been hearing there Miami police giving the rundown about what's happening inside that building.

Again, no one injured, no hostages. But they -- like they said, they do have the suspect cornered, the man, the gunman.

They say the suspect, who is a person who is a cartoonist, Jose Varela, for this -- freelance cartoonist for "El Nuevo" newspaper walked in. They believe he has a machine gun, but he is now holed up in an -- in an office there.

They are trying to establish contact, trying to get him out of that building safely, peacefully. Still working it. But again, no one injured, no hostages at this point.

So we're continuing to monitor that situation -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Our security analyst, Mike Brooks, on the phone. He was also part of a S.W.A.T. team for a number of years.

Mike, the good news is, according to Susan Candiotti, that police, I guess, have made contact with the suspect. They have been talking to him by either cell phone or hard line out of the editor's office there, which is a good sign, because at least they have a chance to try and negotiate with him.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: That's a very good sign, Kyra. And what they'll try to do is go ahead and contain him in the sixth floor there and negotiate with him, hoping for a negotiated (INAUDIBLE) tactical resolution. But, no, that is a good sign. And the other good sign is that he does not have any hostages. And they do have him contained. They'll attempt to establish a rapport with him, find out exactly what his complaint is and what happened in the last 24 to 48 hours that brought him to this particular point.

And they'll also put out snipers. One of the concerns, of course, as we just heard from the spokesperson, is the windows. And there also is water on one side.

So they'll put up -- put up snipers who are also observers. And if they can see into there, see exactly what he's doing, and hopefully contain him, negotiate with him and have a negotiated surrender.

PHILLIPS: Well, and most likely police already have their sights on him and will take whatever action they need to take. But you're right, that's the good news, that nobody is on that floor, that he's by himself. It looks like he could only do harm to himself.

So that's a good sign as well, that he can't put anybody else in harm's way, unless, of course, he starts to use that firearm outside one of the windows. But by this time, the S.W.A.T. team knows what it's doing. I'm sure they've got a number of eyes on him. Right, Mike?

BROOKS: Absolutely. And both up there on the sixth floor, and it is a good sign that they have established contact with him.

But no, they do have eyes on him. One of the things they're trying to do is gather enough -- some good intelligence on him also, find out if he has a history of mental illness, find out everything about him, his family life, what might have driven him to here. And that's what the negotiators will do.

They work in a team, a negotiator and a coach, and then they have the intel people. But the tactical officers also act as intel people to try to find out as much information as they can about this man so they can negotiate with him and develop a strong rapport.

PHILLIPS: And just reading his biography and seeing some of his cartoons, he definitely has a political message. And according to those inside the building, apparently he had felt that his work was being censored. He wasn't happy with the way that the newspaper was handling certain issues.

So he does have some type of -- well, it appears to be he's got some type of grudge about content...

BROOKS: Right.

PHILLIPS: ... which would -- which would lead to this behavior, if it's pushed him to this point.

BROOKS: Exactly. And what they'll do, they'll go back and talk to family members, if they're available, his co-workers, his bosses. And especially the one he had a particular beef with. They'll try to find out exactly, you know, how long has he been exhibiting this behavior and what brought it to a crescendo today.

PHILLIPS: Now just from your experience, final thought, Mike, he didn't take any hostages, he's on his own. He possibly is continuing these talks with negotiators. Is this somebody that will more than likely, if you look at the odds, your experience, this will end peacefully?

BROOKS: Usually instants like will this end peacefully. But again, when it comes to situations like this, a barricaded subject, there's nothing that's written in stone, Kyra.

So the negotiators are going to continue to negotiate with him, find out what's wrong, and hopefully they'll be able to resolve this through negotiations. But they're also going to be listening. Negotiators are not just listeners, they're active listeners. And they're going to try to make sure that he also doesn't get into a depressed state and would want to take his own life.

PHILLIPS: Mike Brooks, appreciate it.

BROOKS: Thank you, Kyra.

HOLMES: A town without pity. The vicious vendetta between Sunni and Shia boils over in Baghdad.

We'll have a live report. That's coming up next here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: One day after the slaughter in Sadr City, Shiite militias are out for blood across Baghdad. Their target, Sunni mosques, Sunni neighborhoods, Sunnis in general. And their methods are brutal.

Straight to the Iraqi capital and CNN's Michael Ware -- Michael.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, what we're seeing is vicious blowback from the terrible Thanksgiving Day massacre that we saw yesterday in which at least 200 Shia lost their lives, men, women and children, in the crowded Shia ghetto known as Sadr City. In the period of half an hour, as many as six car bombs were detonated.

At the same time, the Ministry of Health, controlled by the same Shia faction, was attacked. What we've seen since then, in the immediate aftermath yesterday on Thanksgiving, we saw mortars lobbing on surrounding Sunni neighborhoods. Today we've seen that intensify.

In predominantly Shia neighborhoods with small Sunni communities, we've seen gunmen turn on those isolated communities. Four Sunni mosques have been attacked, perhaps as many as six. Two burned, two hit by rocket-propelled grenades.

We're hearing unconfirmed and wild horror stories from Sunni witnesses about people being driven from their homes by hand grenades. Even claims that people have been taken from their houses, covered with flammable liquid and set alight.

It's an absolutely appalling situation here. And all of this during a lockdown, during a curfew designed specifically to prevent it.

Nonetheless, as I'm speaking to you now, I can hear the sounds of a battle or some kind of gunfight taking place just a suburb or two away from me. So what we're now seeing, imagine Manhattan with two different districts shelling and bombing each other. This is what Baghdad is like, with American fighter jets sounding overhead, and the U.S. military, frankly, appearing impotent, unable to stop it.

PHILLIPS: Michael Ware, live from Baghdad.

Wow.

Well, bloodshed and boycott threats aside, the U.S. president and Iraqi prime minister still plan to meet next week in Jordan. Muqtada al-Sadr is warning his allied members of parliament will shun the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki if al-Maliki doesn't shun President Bush.

This from the White House: "We condemn such acts of violence that are clearly aimed at undermining the Iraqi people's hopes for a peaceful and stable Iraq. The United States is committed to helping the Iraqis, and President Bush and Prime Minister Maliki will meet next week to discuss the security situation in Iraq."

Also headed abroad, Vice President Dick Cheney. He's bound for Saudi Arabia and talks tomorrow with King Abdullah.

HOLMES: Dying lips utter damning accusations. A former spy goes to his grave blaming Russia's President Putin all the way.

The radioactive story is next in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're being told the suspect is in custody in Miami, Florida.

HOLMES: Just getting that word. Of course, that situation we've been -- we've been watching for the last hour or so here in the NEWSROOM, the situation at "Miami Herald," at the building where an alleged gunman, a guy who worked at this "El Nuevo," the place there that (INAUDIBLE) on the floor of another newspaper there.

But the alleged gunmen was in there with a machine gun. They had him cordoned off. They had him cornered.

Police now -- WSVN, a local affiliate there, is reporting that indeed that gunman is in custody. Now, it doesn't appear, we're not getting any word from this local affiliate that there was any kind of violent situation with the police. Don't know if it was exactly peaceful, but it does appear no word of any injuries, or any shots fired, or anything else that we're getting right now. But we do -- at least getting from WSVN, the affiliate there, that the alleged gunman is in custody. So possibly this has been resolved like everybody was hoping for, peacefully.

PHILLIPS: That alleged gunman, cartoonist Jose Varela, that -- he was -- according to the negotiations, had voiced some concern with the newspaper. Getting our first image of Jose Varela in right now.

Voiced concern that his work was being censored. He didn't like the way the new editor was operating the newspaper there in Miami.

Apparently, he wanted to go see the executive editor, Humberto Castello, a new editor there at the paper, we are told, at "El Nuevo Herald." He had stormed the building, according to employees, allegedly with a machine gun. Police were able to evacuate the whole floor, get him into the editor's office, and communicate with him by phone. And now we're being told through WSVN that this alleged gunman, Jose Varela, the cartoonist for the "El Nuevo" paper, is in custody.

HOLMES: And we want to hear now again from local reporter Rosh Lowe from WSVN with the situation and how they've reported now that this suspect is in custody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSH LOWE, REPORTER, WSVN: Well, we just confirmed through Miami police, public information officer Delrish Moss, that the suspect in this case is in fact in custody. We are told that it was not a violent end here, that he finally gave himself up. He's in custody.

Delrish has just left this media briefing site to get us more information exactly how it went down, but obviously a very tense situation al morning long outside "The Miami Herald" building, where we are told that he was a freelance cartoonist for "El Nuevo Herald." He was upset about censorship, was able to get into the building with what witnesses called a machine gun, was able to get up to the sixth floor.

Obviously, Miami police were concerned, so they evacuated the building. They were also concerned that there were open windows up there on the sixth floor, and that's why they stopped traffic on the Venetian Causeway, stopped a lot of traffic here on North Bay Shore Drive.

But as of 2:25 this afternoon, Miami police say this situation has ended, that the suspect is in fact in custody.

You heard from Delrish Moss during that news briefing that they were very concerned about this, not only because of the open window situation, but because this is a well-populated area. They wanted this to end peacefully.

They wouldn't go into details about what tactics they in fact used. But obviously, those tactics were successful. As soon as we get more information from Delrish Moss, who is getting that right now from the S.W.A.T. team members themselves, we'll get that information along to you. But the headline this -- this half hour, the suspect who held all of downtown Miami in suspense for hours is in fact in custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now our CNN's John Zarrella on the phone with us.

John, I'm being told that we have confirmed that this suspect is in custody. What more do you know?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's correct, Kyra.

Jose Varela, the freelance cartoonist who had moved into the sixth floor of "The Miami Herald" building a few hours ago, has, according to Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss, has been taken into custody. It appears that it did end very quietly, very peacefully.

A few minutes before that word came down, Delrish Moss was here and talked -- talked to the assembled media and said that they weren't quite clear on exactly why this man had gone into the sixth floor, other than that he apparently wanted to talk with the executive editor, Humberto Castello.

Castello apparently was not in his office at the time. They said that -- that Varela apparently told other workers there, other employees there that the "El Nuevo Herald," the Spanish-language edition of "The Miami Herald" for which he had freelanced as a cartoonist, was censoring his work.

Now, he never took any hostages. It was not a hostage situation. Police had isolated him on the sixth floor and had evacuated all other workers on that sixth floor, and any other workers still in the building were behind police lines.

So, according to police, no one was ever in any serious danger. He may have been carrying, according to Miami police, some sort of a machine gun with him. But again, the good news here from downtown Miami, Kyra, is that it has ended, and it has apparently ended peacefully with Jose Varela being taken into custody -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: John, do we know anything else about Jose Varela's activism, involvement in the Cuban-American community? We've been reading a little bit about him. Do you know anything about him politically?

ZARRELLA: No, not really. Don't know much about his background. Again, don't know other than that he is considered fairly prominent in the Cuban-American community here. He has been certainly with members of the Cuban-American National Foundation and others in the Miami Cuban community. So he was fairly well known in the community.

But exactly what his politics are, exactly what his feelings are, or why exactly he did this, or why he was claiming the Herald was censuring his work, is at this point unclear -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. John Zarrella, thanks so much.

And we just want to let you know, our Susan Candiotti, who has been able to make contact with the police chief there in Miami, no confirmation yet that the gun was real. It's possible that that gun was a fake.

Police still working that information for us. But there is a possibility that gun was not real. Also, our Susan Candiotti saying that the suspect turned himself in, Jose Varela turned himself in after peaceful negotiations with police.

We're going to take a quick break. More from THE NEWSROOM straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: El Nuevo cartoonist Jose Varela has turned himself into police. That's the good news here at the half hour.

Right now, we're just finding out the S.W.A.T. team was able to successfully negotiate with Varela. Still don't know if the gun was real or not.

But this is what happened. We've been working this story for more than an hour now. It's actually been a couple hours since we've been talking about this story. He stormed the building, according to witnesses, allegedly carrying a machine gun. Wanted to see the executive editor. Felt that his work was being censured. He had an issue the way the newspaper was being run.

Police responded. Got everybody off that floor, that news room floor. And Varela barricaded himself inside the editor's office.

The editor was not there. He had been with the police chief during all this. So he was safe.

And then the police -- the S.W.A.T. team was able to start negotiating with him. And he gave himself up peacefully.

We're also being told that Elynna Fernandez, she is a CNN contributor, she's also a radio talk show host there in Miami, she's also Fidel Castro's daughter. Apparently Jose Varela had left a voice mail on her machine. Don't know exactly what he said, but we're working to get Elynna on the phone to find out what his motive was, what he was upset about, why he decided to do what he did.

But nobody was hurt. There were no injuries. And now Jose Varela is in custody.

HARRIS: It's being compared to a cold war novel, except it's all too real. The former KGB agent becomes a high-profile critic of the Russian government. Then he becomes seriously ill. Now he's dead. Tests point to radiation poisoning.

Our Ryan Chilcote is standing by for us in Moscow. Hello, Ryan.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello.

Well, before Alexander Litvinenko passed away, he accused the Kremlin, and specifically the Russian president, of ordering his assassination.

Russian president Vladimir Putin today was in Helsinki, Finland for a European Union summit there, and almost immediately at a press conference he attended he was asked to respond to those allegations. Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): A death is always a tragedy. And I deplore this. And I would extend my condolences to the family of Mr. Litvinenko.

As far as I understand in the medical statement of British physicians, it doesn't say that this was a result of a violence, or this is not a violent death. So there is no grounds for speculation of this kind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHILCOTE: There you hear the Russian president really brushing aside those allegations that the Kremlin and he personally had something to do with ordering the assassination of Mr. Litvinenko.

However, at least one Russian official was dealing with those allegations today head on. In a very unusual move, a spokesman for Russia's spy agency granted me an interview today, not only denying that Russia had anything to do with Mr. Litvinenko's death and with his poisoning, but going into great detail into exactly why he thinks that would have been illogical from Russia's perspective.

Basically saying that as far as Russia's agents are concerned, Mr. Litvinenko was really a small fry in comparison with the other, as he put it, traitors that are out there. Really an individual that has caused very little damage for Russia's spy agency.

He also said that it was something that Russia would never even have thought of doing because of the political fallout if Russia was somehow implicated in that assassination.

And finally, he said, and this is a point he repeated many times, that Russia has not carried out any political assassinations since 1949 -- 1959, excuse me, when the Soviet Union killed Stipora Bondera (ph) a Ukrainian nationalist in Germany.

He was very clear, he said that the Soviet Union -- Russia is no longer the Soviet Union. Russia spy agencies are not the KGB. And that climate of carrying out political assassinations simply doesn't exist anymore.

So again, the Russian spy agency giving us a very, very rare interview today denying that Russia's agents had anything to do with Mr. Litvinenko's death.

HARRIS: All right. Ryan Chilcote from Moscow. Thank you so much, Ryan.

COLLINS: Straight ahead, attentive shoppers. Why do you think they call it the mall? Black Friday is here, the day shopping becomes a contact sport. We're keeping an eye on the bottom line right here from THE NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's update you real quickly about what happened in Miami. In a nutshell, a disgruntled cartoonist stormed the "Miami Herald" building. He was a freelance cartoonist actually for "El Nuevo Herald," which is also based in this building where the English newspaper is. He was peacefully talked out of the building, through the S.W.A.T. team there.

Miami police S.W.A.T. team. He was apparently disgruntled with the company, thought that his work was being censored. And apparently he had left a phone message on the voice-mail of Alina Fernandez, she is a CNN contributor, also a radio talk show host there in Miami. Also Fidel Castro's daughter. Alina, thanks for getting on the phone with us. Tell us what the voice-mail said, what Jose Varela left on your voice-mail.

ALINA FERNANDEZ, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he said he was going to be the owner of the bad newspaper at least for one day. He said that he was going to overthrow at least for one day, the chief editor, who is not the most popular person right now here. And I thought, actually, that it was a joke. So that's why I understood, he never (INAUDIBLE) to do anything violent or anything like that. He sounded pretty normal and I was convinced that it was a joke, until I found out on the news what was going on.

PHILLIPS: Alina, did he say anything about storming the building with a gun?

FERNANDEZ: No, nothing, nothing that sounded violent. Nothing that sounded -- other than a joke.

PHILLIPS: So, are you familiar with this cartoonist, Jose Varela?

FERNANDEZ: Familiar is much to say, we have a relationship more based on mutual sympathy and admiration. He's a very good cartoonist. He's an intelligent person. He has a great sense of humor. He's wife is really wonderful, so they had a very close marriage. I don't think they have, had many friends. And I think that maybe what's going on is because, as I learn early today, they separated.

PHILLIPS: Oh, he separated from his wife?

FERNANDEZ: Yes. That might be a reason.

PHILLIPS: OK. He's under a lot of stress. Obviously. Do they have kids?

FERNANDEZ: Yes.

PHILLIPS: They do have kids? Do you know how many kids they have?

FERNANDEZ: Two. That's all I know.

PHILLIPS: Two children. Have you been able to talk with his wife or with his kids?

FERNANDEZ: No. No. I did not try. I think this is a very stressful time for her, too. I did not try to contact her.

PHILLIPS: Is he a political activist? Is he politically active within the Cuban community there?

FERNANDEZ: Yes. Jose Varela came on the (INAUDIBLE) you know in the '80s and he's been working on his career for such a long time. He signs every day on the newspaper. The one he tried to, you know, own for at least one day. And he's, of course, involved in a political way in this community. You cannot avoid that if you live in Miami.

PHILLIPS: Sure. You were saying that this editor that he actually wanted to talk to, this is the one he was saying he had an issue with ...

FERNANDEZ: He was going to replace him at least for one day.

PHILLIPS: Saying that he wanted to take over. Well, tell me about the editor, Castello, Humberto right? You were saying he's popular with the paper, with the community?

FERNANDEZ: Not the most popular lately, because they seized two of the writers of the paper a couple of months ago. Really, the community was very upset about it. Our two Cuban writers in the paper. And he's not the most popular person in town right now -- Humberto Castillo.

PHILLIPS: Interesting. Not very popular right now.

FERNANDEZ: Not very popular right now.

PHILLIPS: So, why did he want to let these Cuban writers go?

FERNANDEZ: Some collaboration with the radio station that was out of their job, as journalists in the paper. You know, some weak reasons to let them go.

PHILLIPS: So, Alina, you're a radio talk show host there in Miami, do you see anything here? Do you see more to this situation that would lead to talk on your radio show? Do you think there's more to this than a disgruntled employee that may be having a hard time at home right now? Do you think that this could move into a bigger story with regard to the paper, the direction of the paper, the issues the paper writes about, and these two Cuban writers being let go? FERNANDEZ: The Cubans generally have been affected back. One of them announced a few days ago again, so we've been busy with that story. I don't think there's going to be more than this, you know. It's an unhappy accident -- a disgraceful accident. It was a person that has been going through a lot of stress. And I hope everything is going to be safe.

PHILLIPS: Alina Fernandez, thanks for your time.

FERNANDEZ: You're welcome.

HOLMES: If you're at the mall early, you're probably about ready for a nap right now. But not these folks, live picture here, out of New Jersey, where these folks are still bargain hunting. We'll check in with our Allan Chernoff who's getting his shop on right about now. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMESH RATNESAR, WORLD EDITOR, "TIME": Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is the president of Iran, this year emerged as a dominant player on the world stage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Iran's president also emerges as a candidate for "Time" magazine's person of the year.

PRISCILLA PAINTON, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "TIME": We saw Ahmadinejad essentially defy many of the wishes of negotiators from the West in terms of refusing to stop the development of possible nuclear weapons. That's number one.

And number one, we saw the role that his country played indirectly in the Lebanese-Israeli conflict.

And number three, we saw the degree to which he has been effective, for better or worse, at using major international platforms to essentially make his case.

ADI IGNATIUS, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "TIME": He continually has talked about wiping out Israel, has talked about denying the Holocaust. I mean, these are outrageous statements that make him no friends internationally.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Just one day now after Thanksgiving, a month and a day before Christmas, and a lot of folks do have this day off, folks like Don Lemon. But what does that all add up to? A trip to the mall, maybe.

CNN's senior correspondent Allan Chernoff, he's kind of got it both ways there. You have to work but you're also getting to shop. He's at the Roosevelt Field Mall outside New York City.

How's it going?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Hey, T.J.

You know, shopping is hard work, especially for us men. And today, my goodness -- today is really for the hard-core shopper. This mall on Long Island has been open since 5:00 in the morning, including this J.C. Penney that we're standing in front of.

Most of the early-bird folks, they've already gone, but people who are still here, they have to deal with the rest of us, the slackers, the people who are now filling up the mall. So how do you deal with the crowds?

Well, one way is to actually get a nice aqua massage. Yes, right here in the mall, people can get the massage. The water hammers your body, going up and down, all the way through. And they say that this massage relieves muscle pain, husband pain, wife pain, kid pain, shopping pain as well. Shawnie (ph) is actually getting a nice massage.

How does it feel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's great. Feeling great.

(CROSSTALK)

CHERNOFF: All right. And she will be ready to do some more shopping right after this. Boom, you're ready to go, get back to the stores, do more heavy-duty shopping.

And I can tell you, T.J., people here are definitely hitting the stores in a hard way. Serious shopping going on here in Long Island.

HOLMES: Oh, my goodness. Is that lady OK? I mean, she's been shopping hard. That thing doesn't look that comfortable, for one. And then you put her on live, national television, how relaxing can that be? Is she all right?

CHERNOFF: T.J., actually it's great. I did it before.

HOLMES: All right.

CHERNOFF: It's very, very comfortable, really relieving. It's fantastic.

HOLMES: Let's see her face one more time, if we can, just for the fun of it.

CHERNOFF: All right, let's see how Shawnie's doing over here.

HOLMES: There she is.

CHERNOFF: Her body's getting hammered with that water back and forth. You look like you're enjoying that. All right. I think she is.

PHILLIPS: She's having an anxiety attack, Allan.

CHERNOFF: She looks a little nervous, but I think she's doing OK.

PHILLIPS: Like, I have to get the hell out of here.

HOLMES: OK, we want to ask you about some items. What's everybody shopping for? What are the hot items today, at least?

CHERNOFF: Well, we've actually conducted an informal survey, and I can tell you, these are some of the top gift items. I was asking, what do people want, what's the number one item?

First of all, as you can see, clothing, 13 of our people here said clothing. Five people wanted to get the PlayStation 3. No luck for that, of course. It is entirely sold out. The iPod, five respondents there and TMX Elmo, two people want that.

And to get the Elmo, you had to actually reserve it at KB Toys here. Only if you have a reservation do you have a chance of actually getting that toy. That's how in-demand it is right now.

HOLMES: Oh, my goodness. Well, good luck to you. Grab your couple of items while you're out there and tell the young lady thank you for being a sport and hope she enjoys her massage there.

Well, of course, you see a lot when you're standing in those long lines, from the worst Grinches to the kindest of Santa's helpers. So be a correspondent for CNN on this Black Friday. Send us an i-Report. Go to CNN.com, click on i-Report, or you can type in IReport@CNN.com on your cell phone.

PHILLIPS: Coming up in the next hour of the NEWSROOM, he got home safely after a year in Iraq, but where is he now?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody's heard from him. Not me, not his friends, not chain of command, nobody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: A soldier vanishes. His family fears the worst. We're on the story from the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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