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Teen Thugs Killed for Fun; School Gunman was Heavily Armed; Egypt's Mubarak to be Freed; Wildfire Jumps Highway into Yosemite; Bradley Manning Sentenced Next Hour; Interview with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg
Aired August 21, 2013 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Just because.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a young man. He's got blood on him.
COSTELLO: A 23-year-old Australian baseball player gunned down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not conscious. Is he still breathing? Barely.
COSTELLO: And now a warning from his home country -- stay away from the United States.
TIM FISCHER, FORMER DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Think twice. Evaluate the risk. There's murder mayhem on main street USA.
COSTELLO: Shocking new video coming out of one of the alleged shooters.
Also Miranda rights.
DAVID MIRANDA, GLENN GREENWALD'S PARTNER: I didn't know what's happening.
COSTELLO: Glenn Greenwald's partner David Miranda breaking his silence.
MIRANDA: And they keep threatening about me going to the jail.
COSTELLO: Detained at Heathrow. Alleged misuse of power. A CNN exclusive you'll see nowhere else.
Plus, Mark Zuckerberg. One-on-one with CNN.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: How do you do this? How developed is the plan?
MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO, FACEBOOK: You know, we have a plan, a rough plan for what we think we're going to need to do.
COSTELLO: His next world-changing project.
And the kiss seen around the world. The Russian track stars and now the real story behind the lip lock.
Pucker up. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Good morning. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Carol Costello. Today in the nation's heartland three teenagers wake up charged with murder. And the nightmare of a ruthless thrill killing rattles two continents.
One newspaper in Australia calls these mug shots the faces of evil. The accused killers 15, 16 and 17 years old.
And a search of the social media Web site Vine the youngest boy, 15- year-old James Edwards Jr., is seen laughing. And showing off a gun.
Prosecutors say the boys are thugs, who went hunting for someone to kill. One allegedly told police they were simply bored.
The victim apparently chosen at random, 23-year-old college student named Christopher Lane. He's from Australia. He came to the United States to chase his dream of playing baseball and was in Duncan, Oklahoma, that day to visit his girlfriend's family.
His murder has shocked and repulsed Australians. And a former deputy prime minister is calling on his countrymen to boycott the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FISCHER: You are 15 times more likely to be shot dead in the USA per million people than here in Australia. And people should factor that in. They should think twice in the circumstances, it's jugged along by this senseless killing.
The shooting in the back of an outstanding young Australian on a scholarship in the USA which has caused quite probably deep seated anger right across Australia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: CNN's Alina Machado is here with a closer look at the victim in this case.
Good morning.
ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Chris Lane was on a baseball scholarship at the university. His baseball coach tells us that the 23-year-old was kind hearted and had a magnetic personality.
His death has sent shockwaves here in the U.S. and also across the world and this morning his three accused killers sit in jail facing felony charges.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a young man in -- he's just standing on the ditch. He's got blood on him.
MACHADO (voice-over): A frantic call for help by a woman who saw Chris Lane moments after he was gunned down during an afternoon jog.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is he breathing? Is he conscious? Is he talking to you?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not conscious. Is he still breathing? Barely.
MACHADO: Police in Oklahoma say the 23-year-old East Central University student from Australia was the victim of three teens on a mission to kill.
DANNY FORD, DUNCAN, OKLAHOMA POLICE: It was in the second interview of the 17-year-old, he was asked why they did it and he basically said, we were bored. We didn't have anything to do, we decided to kill somebody and he was our target.
MACHADO: Fifteen-year-old James Edwards Jr. and 16-year-old Chancey Luna are charged as adults with first-degree felony murder. Seventeen-year-old Michael Jones is accused of being an accessory to the crime.
JASON HICKS, STEPHEN COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: And I'm going to do everything that I can to ensure that we see these three thugs pay for what they did to Christopher Lane.
MACHADO: The father of one of the accused says he has also suffered a loss.
JAMES EDWARDS, EDWARDS JR.'S FATHER: Families in Australia, they are hurting. I'm hurting the same way. I don't cry on the outside, I'm crying right here from the heart right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACHADO: The two teens charged with felony murder are being held without bond and, Carol, police tell us they continue to search for the murder weapon.
COSTELLO: OK. So these kids are being tried as adults, right? Oklahoma has a death penalty. Could they face the death penalty if convicted?
MACHADO: You're right. Oklahoma does have the death penalty. And typically a felony murder charge could carry a maximum sentence of death. But in this particular case because the victims are minors, the district attorney tells me that they are not eligible for the death penalty, if they are convicted.
COSTELLO: All right, Alina Machado, thanks so much.
In suburban Atlanta haunting questions of what could have been. This was the chaotic scene outside an elementary school as frantic parents are reunited with their children.
Just moments earlier a gunman surrendered ending a standoff in which he allegedly vowed that cops would die.
Witnesses say 20-year-old Michael Brandon Hill was armed with an assault rifle and other weapons and opened fire as police closed in. And now we've learned Hill was arrested this year for making terroristic threats and acts.
CNN's David Mattingly is in Decatur, Georgia, with the latest.
Good morning, David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
The students at this school were actually expected to be back at class today, but not at their regular school building. They'll be meeting at a nearby high school. But they will be back at their desks at their old school it is expected tomorrow. That is if some parents decide to let them come back here after they got the scare of a lifetime.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Hundreds of kids, ages 4 to 10, running for safety as gunfire erupts in their school. Inside 20-year-old Michael Brandon Hill armed with what police say was an AK-47 and a number of other weapons takes office workers hostage and tells them to call a TV station with a chilling message.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never experienced anything like this. He wanted us to start filming as police die.
MATTINGLY: The gunman fired at police, maybe a half dozen times. Officers returned fire. When one officer worker convinced him to surrender.
ANTOINETTE TUFF, SCHOOL CLERK: I held him there the whole time because he actually wanted to go outside and start shooting again. And I just start telling him my life story and what was going on with me. I asked him to put all of his weapons down and then I told the police that he was giving himself up.
MATTINGLY: Police searched the suspect's car for explosives, children had to be escorted to buses away from the school as a precaution before being reunited with their anxious parents.
Now in police custody, Hill faces charges including aggravated assault on a police officer, terroristic threats and a possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Parents complain about a lack of communication, most say they heard about it on local news.
CELISA RAYSON, GRANDMOTHER: After they put the school on lockdown and they secured the kids, the parents should have been called immediately, right then and there.
MATTINGLY: And there are new fears about security from parents deeply shaken by what could have happened.
REVA FIGUEROA, MOTHER: We have a button to push to go in and you're supposed to show I.D. And it aggravates me.
MATTINGLY: Are you going to let your daughters go back to school?
FIGUEROA: I don't want to. And I want to home-school them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: And we've learned that the alleged shooter in this case Michael Brandon Hill was actually arrested back in March for threatening to kill his brother in a text message. He was arrested by authorities in a neighboring county here. That went through the courts. He was actually released on three years' probation. Was ordered to stay away from his family.
And, Carol, to attend anger management classes.
COSTELLO: So I guess the most obvious question is, how did he get inside this elementary school? Because I understand they lock the doors. You have to be buzzed in.
MATTINGLY: They do have security here. There are double doors at the entrance of the school. But what he was able to do, he waited until someone was buzzed in through that door and before the door closed he actually grabbed it and went in himself. Very easily defeating the security system that they had in place.
COSTELLO: David Mattingly live in Decatur, Georgia, this morning.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
COSTELLO: Breaking news to tell you about this morning. Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian dictator, accused of ordering the slaughter of protesters during the Arab spring, could be released from prison soon. This new report coming from state media.
CNN's Ivan Watson in Atlanta to tell us more about this and to kind of figure out what this means.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're still chasing the developments from our teams in Cairo right now, but this has been the trial of the century in Egypt going on during these tumultuous two years. This man who ruled as a dictator for 30 years in prison on a number of charges.
Now this latest development, it's far too early to say that Hosni Mubarak is going to walk free. If anything he's supposed to remain in custody for at least 48 hours pending the prosecution's appeal.
So until we see those images of Hosni Mubarak walking free or being pushed in a wheelchair with his trademark shades on, I think it's too early to say that the man will be --
COSTELLO: So if --
WATSON: Be set free.
COSTELLO: If this is true, with all the turmoil going on in Egypt right now, what might this mean to that country?
WATSON: I mean, it would be a bombshell on top of the slaughter, the massacres that we have really seen as well as the coup over the last two months. And boy, I can't really predict, but, you know, there was one thing that pretty much all of the factions agreed on two years ago and that was that Hosni Mubarak had to go.
The Islamists agreed on it, the secular liberals agreed on it, and now these groups are kind of at each other's throats. And we're seeing that in Cairo. If you tried to set Mubarak free, who is the original target of all the hatred and anger, that could perhaps unite these groups, once again, or --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Or divide them further apart.
WATSON: Yes.
COSTELLO: And as far as the people in Egypt right now, I heard some people actually say, wow, we kind of missed Mubarak.
WATSON: Well, I mean, I can understand that given the economic troubles of the past two years. Given the security problems and given the bloodletting. I mean, we've seen perhaps more than 1,000 people killed in just the last month and a half.
So if you look back at his time, well, you couldn't criticize the government, you couldn't speak out, but you didn't necessarily have to worry about being robbed.
I could see some people making that argument. But, again, I think it would really go against what millions of people had protested about two years ago. And would really trigger a great deal of popular anger, I just suspect.
COSTELLO: Ivan Watson, thanks so much.
We want to warn you about the graphic video we're about to show you. It is disturbing, so you might want to look away this morning.
Syrian opposition groups are claiming government forces used chemical weapons and it attacked on rebel strongholds today killing hundreds of people. CNN cannot verify the legitimacy of this video who was posted online by opposition activists. The Syrian government is denying a chemical weapon attack and a top U.S. official says he cannot confirm chemical weapons were used.
But if it is indeed confirmed, such an attack would have serious implications for the United States. In June the White House went on record saying the Syrian regime had crossed a red line by using chemical weapons. We'll keep you posted.
Anger, outrage in the vow of legal problems. Those threats are flying both ways in the case of Great Britain versus Glenn Greenwald and his partner, David Miranda.
Glenn Greenwald is the reporter who exposed Washington's secret surveillance program and this morning the British government is warning his newspaper, The Guardian," to hand over any classified material.
Apparently that search that led to the weekend detention of Miranda as he was trying to make a connecting flight at London's Heathrow's Airport. Last night both men spoke exclusively to CNN's Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLENN GREENWALD, JOURNALIST, THE GUARDIAN: What they did is ludicrous. First of all, of course, we have multiple copies of every single thing that we're working on. Nobody would ever travel with only one copy of anything even if he just lose it or it's stolen. That would be inane. Of course we have multiple copies around the world in different places. So taking it is in no way accomplishing anything.
Secondly, everything that both David and I carry, even personal items, things for his school, are protected by very advance and heavy forms of encryption which they can't access. So taking it doesn't enable them to know what's in there either. It's not going to stop our reporting. It doesn't do them any good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The men are taking legal action of their own filing a lawsuit claiming that Miranda's detention was unlawful and that British authorities abused the anti-terror measure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Did they actually ask you anything about terrorism?
MIRANDA: No, they didn't ask me anything about terrorism. Not one question about it. And I think it's really weird because I was in there for like eight hours without talking to anybody outside and like they're just like kick me. I have to ask them, do I have to answer this, and they just telling me, like, if you don't answer this, you're going to go to jail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The British government isn't bending on its assessment of Miranda's detention. Officials say they have a duty to protect citizens and uncover anything that might help terrorists.
It's been one month since the very first woman accused San Diego Mayor Bob Filner of sexual harassment. Well, now, a 17th woman has come forward saying she is also a victim.
San Diego businesswoman Diane York says three months ago Filner touched her inappropriately in his office. She says pictures show her with the mayor but what you can't see is where Filner's right hand is.
This new accusation comes as Filner's representatives meet with the city of San Diego for a second straight day in mediation talks that could end with the mayor's resignation.
Kyung Lah joins us now with the story you'll only see on CNN.
So going back to that picture, his hands really was there?
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's what she says. She conceded the picture. You can't see Filner's right hand is. She says that this happened inside the mayor's office. She went to the mayor to get help with an with her property, by now, Carol, a very familiar story here is what he told us happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANNE YORK, ACTRESS BOB FILMER FILNER: A sexual harassment After approximately 30 minutes or so, the conversation with the issues at home. We got up to leave and took photos. And he place his hand on my exterior. On the back of my -- you know, my buttocks is what he did. He totally startled me. And I feel -- I feel very violated. I felt extremely violated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: So, why now? It's still difficult when I was asking her, why are you coming forward right now?
Even with the number of women who have already come forward, it's still difficult to put yourself out there. Diane York is a prominent businesswoman in San Diego. She says she will be filing a complaint this morning with the San Diego's sheriff department. Carol, the 17th accuser coming out as the mayor is now in mediation with the city -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, the mayor was supposed to go back to work yesterday. I take it he did not. He's still going through these talks with the city.
LAH: You're absolutely right. He didn't show up for work at city hall. He is not really expected. No one is really expecting him to show up on the job today.
But, he's been completely unpredictable. What all the city hall sources are telling me is they cannot predict what the next move will be by Filner. The mediation talks, though, Carol, are still ongoing, expected to continue today.
COSTELLO: Kyung Lah, reporting live for us, thank you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Still to come in the NEWSROOM: Fire in Yosemite. A tornado of flames tearing through the national park.
Plus, how do you get 114,000-ton ship right side up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We still have hundred divers in the water every day. We have 55 coded welders on the project, 24 hours a day.
COSTELLO: A massive maritime project getting the Costa Concordia to shore.
And is it a phone or a tablet? Samsung's new 6.3-inch whatever.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 20 minutes past the hour.
A camera captures a truck riding in the median and then, look at it. Oh, it just falls into a ravine. This happened on Friday on I-96 near Lansing, Michigan.
Police say the 59-year-old driver had a medical condition. Drove off the highway and drop about 20 feet into an empty ravine. They ended up with a fractured leg. He suffered a partial lung collapse, but he's expected to make a full recovery.
Watch as huge flame shoot into the air at Yosemite National Park. The main road in and out of Yosemite is now closed after this raging wildfire jumped the highway. Officials say the fire was zero percent contained, more than 10,000 acres have burned. At least two homes have been destroyed. But now, more than 2,000 buildings are in the fire's path.
Let's bring in CNN's Indra Petersons now because -- as you watch those flames, you see this very strange, narrow plume of fire shooting into the air. It's sort of like, I don't know, it's a spiral of flame. What is that?
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A little fire-nado.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Wow.
PETERSONS: Yes. I mean, what you're actually dealing, remember in the area, the storm starting to push through. So, you're seeing some strong winds. And then also, keep in mind, you have all that vegetation there at the ground.
So, that's carbon, if you can follow this through. When you start to see that carbon get lifted up by the wind and it gets higher up by fresh oxygen, you actually see that combust and there you go -- you see those huge flames out there, kind of whirling around.
And, unfortunately, it looks like we're still going to be dealing with poor conditions in the burned areas. Let me take you over to the map here, and we're going to talk about red flag warnings. Now, the reason this is going on is that you have strong winds, will remain in the forecast. Little tough to follow when you talk about the reason is, storms are coming. You think rain. That's a good thing, right?
Well, unfortunately, it also means strong winds, erratic fire behavior like you just saw. More dry lightning, which actually started some of these fires. And then, of course, the threat of too much rain. Once you have a wildfire, you burn up all that vegetation that makes the run up typically slower and, of course, you have the threat of flash flooding below any fire burn areas.
So, all of this is the concern as we move forward in time. Yes, good news and more rain in the forecast. And again, that mixed bag, Carol.
COSTELLO: Indra Petersons, thanks so much.
Private First Class Bradley Manning learns his sentence next hour in what prosecutors call the biggest classified material leak in history. Manning faces up to 90 years in prison for passing documents and videos about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to WikiLeaks. Manning was convicted on numerous counts last months, but he avoided a potential life sentence after the judge rejected a charge of aiding the enemy.
CNN's Chris Lawrence is outside the military court at Ft. Mead, Maryland. Good morning, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDEN: Hey, good morning, Carol.
And, yes, we're just minutes away from heading into the courtroom in probably just a little over half an hour away from learning the fate of Bradley Manning. The prosecutors are asking for 60 years in prison. Also for him, the forfeit pay and benefits and pay $100,000 fine. They argue that there is value in deterrence and that Manning's actions disrupted diplomatic missions and put lives at risk.
On the other hand, the defense is saying that he should serve no more than 25 years in prison, saying this was someone who was struggling with gender identity issues, whether he wanted to become and that he deserves a chance to at least rebuild his life at some point.
It's a big concern here because, remember, Manning is only in his mid- 20s. So, his sentence could have a big effect on what happens later. He's already got credit of 3 1/2 times served in pretrial detention and, basically, what they are arguing on the defense side is to try to give him a lighter sentence.
One clue -- the prosecutor's asking for 60 years, not the full 90 that he could be eligible for. That may signal that they don't fell his crimes are not as egregious, as if he had sought out foreign agents and given them information directly. At no point did the government prove that Manning knew these documents would end up in the hands of al Qaeda -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Chris Lawrence, you're going to join us next hour. That sentence expected to come down at 10:00 Eastern Time. Chris Lawrence reporting live.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM: Mark Zuckerberg is a busy, busy man.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ZUCKERBERG, FACEBOOK'S CEO & CO-FOUNDER: We just believe that everyone deserves to be connected and on the Internet. So, we are putting a lot of energy towards this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Facebook's co-founder has a plan to get the entire planet online, oh, while tackling immigration reform in the United States.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Talks over immigration reform will likely be on the agenda today between Senator Marco Rubio and Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
CNN has learned it was Zuckerberg who invited Rubio to the Facebook campus in California. Zuckerberg has been pushing immigration reform through an advocacy group he founded. He also has a new plan to get everyone on the entire planet online and he's turning to his competitors to help.
CNN "NEW DAY" anchor Chris Cuomo joins me now, because you sat down with Mark Zuckerberg for one interesting conversation.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Carol, I would sit down with you for any reason, by the way. I want you to know that.
COSTELLO: Thanks you.
CUOMO: I think the interview shows Zuckerberg's savvy on two levels. His first is what you mention first, his ability to reach out politically and think his positions on immigration one way and the politicians he's courting go a different way. That's interesting.
And then his big idea -- how to give the 5 billion people in this world without access to the Internet a new life through social media.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ZUCKERBERG: When we were first talking about doing this, a lot of people actually were worried about it, that it was going to be a problem for Facebook, right? And I just decided, I think that this is too important of an issue for the country. I mean, there are 11 million undocumented people who came here to work hard and contribute to the country. And, I'm -- you know, I don't think it's quite as polarized as people always say.
CUOMO: What would be your advice to the people in D.C. who are trying to balance these two, almost diametrically opposed positions. One is immigration policy is about what you're talking about. Let's bring in our human potential. And the other one is, let's find a way to get them out.
How -- if you had to enter that, this is your new team. You have to make these Democrats and Republicans come together, what advice do you think you'd have that is not going on down there now?
ZUCKERBERG: Well, I can't really tell anyone how to legislate, right? I mean, that's -- everyone understands the stuff way better than I do. So, you know, my goal in this is just to try to help support folks who care deeply about getting this done on both sides and hopefully we can make a difference.
CUOMO: In terms of the politics of it, you think it's just important enough where you're going to do it anyway?
ZUCKERBERG: Yes. I mean, I think there are some things in life that if you believe it is such a big problem, you just stick your neck out and try to do it, right? And -- I mean, a lot of people think that it's going to be really challenging to connect 5 billion people, too. It is.
But I think it's one of the biggest problems of my generation to get everyone in the world to have Internet access. And when similarly, you know, 11 million undocumented people, I mean, that's a lot of people whose lives we can improve and make the country stronger.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: So, there you have it, Carol. I mean, he's got some bold ideas in two different fronts. I guess that we're seeing the maturation of Mr. Mark Zuckerberg. Remember, he's not even 30 yet.
COSTELLO: Yes. I know. He does have a powerful tool to get the Democrats and Republicans together on immigration. He's got lots and lots of money.
