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Police: Shooter Used "Assault-Style" Rifle; New York Man Kept 860 Snakes in Home; Navy Yard Shooting: Possible Motive; Colorado in a "Race Against Winter"; Robbed at Gunpoint in iPhone Line; 3D Faces from Strangers' DNA; Ravens Quarterback Missed Son's Birth
Aired September 20, 2013 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
And I want you to take a look at this face. At three years old, his family says Deonta Howard (ph) will need plastic surgery. Not because of something he was born with, but because of something seriously wrong with where he lives, Chicago. Deonta was shot in the face. One of 13 people hit by gunfire last night at a park on the city's south side. His family is thankful Deonta is expected to recover. But as for the streets of Chicago where gun violence has killed more than 300 this year alone, well, you can hear the despair in the voices of Deonta 's loved ones.
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SEMEHCA NUNN, GRANDMOTHER OF 3-YEAR-OLD VICTIM: Y'all out here killing these innocent people, kids, parents, grandparents, mother, fathers. It's got to stop.
ROCHETTA TYLER, AUNT OF 3-YEAR-OLD SHOOTING VICTIM: I go home. I'm in the bed. I get a call. He got shot in the face. A 3-year-old. My nephew got shot in the face.
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BALDWIN: Three years old. Chicago's mass shooting has prompted the mayor there, Rahm Emanuel, to cancel a trip to Washington. He is promising the people responsible will be prosecuted. He's asking for tips.
In the meantime, one community leader says the personal who riddled Cornell Square Park with bullets needs to surrender for his own safety.
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REV. COREY BROOKS, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST: There are people who know exactly who the shooter is, and I'm sure he will not be safe shooting 13 people. You can believe that. So if I were him, for the safety of him, himself and
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REVEREND COREY BROOKS, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST: -- there are people who know exactly who the shooter is, and I'm sure he will not be safe shooting 13 people. You can believe that. So if I were him, for the safety of him, himself, and his family, I would definitely turn myself in.
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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Want to go to Jeremy Gorner, a reporter for the "Chicago Tribune." Jeremy, I read your piece in the "Trib" this morning. You know, I know that Chicago police just held this news conference. The superintendent sounded tired, sick and tired of repeating himself and called for a ban on assault weapon. Could you tell me more about that?
JEREMY GORNER, REPORTER, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": Well, it's really -- it's really early to tell in the investigation, you know, what this stemmed from. The early indication that I'm told, is that it stemmed from a rivalry between two street gangs in the area. You know, that's early in the investigation, though, and it's really not that surprising. I mean, it could be either/or.
It could be, you know, gangs and guns. You know, in that part of the south side. You know, that area in particular, there's a lot of gang graffiti on that block and not just gang graffiti from one gang representing itself, but you know, one gang, you know, representing itself in graffiti, disrespecting another gang.
So that area has been, you know, where the shooting was last night, is so entrenched with gang violence. As many of the south side communities, we've reported on in the last few years, that you've reported on as well.
BALDWIN: I have. I was in the south side in 2009. I rode along in a car with a gang member. I said, how many people have you killed? He's like, I have no idea. Are you remorseful? Not at all, but he also interestingly, toward the end of the interview, he said hopefully the younger people won't make the mistake I have.
He was saying he can't get out. I know you're on the streets. I know you talk to the people who live there. You talk to the cops. When the recorder is not rolling, how do they tell you? How do they think this violence will end?
GORNER: It's really hard to tell. That's, you know, a $20 million question. You know, they've been -- law enforcements have been racking their brains for years over this. One of things that I heard from law enforcement is these criminals, these shooters, they keep getting younger and younger. You're seeing a lot of younger victims. You know, in the teens and their 20s.
And you know, we did a piece last week about 10 children 7 and under, who were shot in a span of seven weeks across the city. So that's -- you know, this seems like a continuation of that. And you know, what you're finding is not only are the victims young, but the offenders, you know, once they're caught, prove to be young as well, like in their teens.
BALDWIN: You just shake your head like you said, the million dollar question is how does it stop? Jeremy Gorner, you look tired yourself, working. I'm sure, the story, all night long. I appreciate you being up for us this afternoon in Chicago so much, from the "Chicago Tribune."
Join me next hour. We're going to stay on this issue in Chicago and I'll be talking live with the mother of a murdered Chicago man who made headlines this week in a call for more gun control. We'll talk to her about what she thinks should change.
Meantime, investigators bust into illegal home business and take a look at what they found, creepy crawly snakes, nearly 1,000 of them slithering around, and that is not all. We'll show you what other dangerous wildlife was kept in this one guy's home.
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BALDWIN: Imagine living next door to someone who owned a bunch snakes? What if your neighbor kept nearly a 1,000 of them, some as long as six feet, that is what New York authority found inside this one Long Island home. An Animal Control officer from the town of Brookhaven kept 850 exotic snakes including two 6-feet Burmese pythons.
Police say he was running some kind of rogue pet shop, secretly storing the creatures in containers inside a detached temperature- controlled garage. He was discovered when investigators wanted to see if he was working while on disability leave from his job.
So let's talk about this with Doug Warmolts, director of animal care at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio. You're there at the zoo. Have you ever seen 850 snakes in one place before?
DOUG WARMOLTS, DIRECTOR OF ANIMAL CARE, COLUMBUS ZOO: No, I have never seen that many, although over the years there have been similar incidences like this that have happened in Ohio and other places that I have heard about.
BALDWIN: Tell me where you are? Are you near snakes?
WARMOLTS: Yes. Behind me is Hannah. She's a reticulated python we have on exhibit in our Asia Quest region of the zoo. You know, large snakes like this are not common, are not common pets and we need to -- whoever has an animal like this needs to be very careful. We have very strict protocols ourselves in terms of when we go in and work with an animal of this size because even though it's a pet, if someone owns one, it's a pet. It's still a wild animal and still can be unpredictable. You can't become complacent.
BALDWIN: In addition to the unpredictable animals, the snakes at this man's house, he also had turtles, frozen mice, tarantulas. I have to imagine there are potential dangers to the animals when they're all kept in one facility like this.
WARMOLTS: You know, Brooke, let me first say there are a lot of responsible hobbyists and pet owners and pet stores that are out there doing it the right way. I can't speculate how he acquired his animals or I haven't seen how -- the condition that they're in, but the unfortunate side of things is there is an underground or black market out there for exotic animals.
And it is a concern in this country right now for safety reasons as well as for wildlife reasons. I think you only have to look at the state of Florida and the introduction of exotic species like those and pythons for an example.
BALDWIN: Doug Warmolts of the Columbus Zoo. Doug, thank you very much. Frightening.
Coming up next, stunning new details on what may have led to the Navy Yard shooting this week and why the victims may not have been random targets after all.
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BALDWIN: We are learning some new details this afternoon on the Navy Yard shooter, Aaron Alexis. Authorities are now investigating whether a work place dispute may have sparked Monday's killing spree. Law enforcement officials told the "Washington Post," Alexis worked on the fourth floor in that Building 197 where the shootings began.
And those sources believed Alexis shot first at co-workers he was having problems with and then his rampage turned random. Alexis killed 12 people before authorities shot and killed him. We have also learned the same company that did a background check on Alexis also did a background check on the NSA leaker Edward Snowden. Back in a moment.
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BALDWIN: The governor of Colorado says the state is now in a race against winter. They have to repair the 200 miles of road and 50 bridges wiped out by this week's floods because snow will begin falling soon in the Rockies. The governor says a rapid response team has been set up to make the repairs before the first of December, but the governor says, too, it could take not just one, but two years to fix all the infrastructure damaged by those floods.
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GOVERNOR JOHN HICKENLOOPER, COLORADO: Absolutely confident that Coloradans are going to be able to rebuild the state better than it was before. And that's what I mean when I say that I have seen plenty of broken roads and bridges and homes, but I haven't seen a single broken spirit.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: At least seven people died in the Colorado flooding, 17,000 buildings were damaged including some 2,000 homes. And stay tuned. Here's a look at what's coming up tonight on primetime.
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ANNOUNCER: CNN Tonight, at 8:00 on "ANDERSON COOPER 360," a new resident of a small North Dakota town wants to make it all white.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not hate. It's the first amendment.
ANNOUNCER: See how some long time locals are fighting back.
And on "PIERS MORGAN LIVE" at 9:00, who is really to blame in the death of Michael Jackson as the defense rests in the wrongful death trial. What does it mean for the doctor already behind bars for his death? Piers gets Conrad Murray's side of the argument.
It's all on CNN Tonight starting with "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" at 7:00, "ANDERSON COOPER 360" at 8:00, and "PIERS MORGAN LIVE" at 9:00 tonight on CNN.
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BALDWIN: Coming up, the wait is over for customers and even some thieves. Find out where people are being targeted as they wait to buy the new highly coveted iPhones.
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BALDWIN: If you plan on hopping online today or this weekend for the new iPhone, stay alert because a couple folks actually got robbed at gun point while they were in Houston waiting in line at an AT&T store earlier this morning.
Our affiliate, KHOU, is reporting that two guys with guns got out of a car, demanded these customers hand over the wallets, their phones, their tablets. They got away. There is surveillance video. Thankfully, no one was hurt. By the way, that shiny gold iPhone that I know so many of you want to buy, well, it is sold out online until October.
You know, we leave our DNA everywhere without even realizing it, on the side of a wine glass, on a strand of hair left in a public rest room. What if I told you that an artist is creating 3D faces from the DNA you are leaving behind? We learn more in today's "Technovations."
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BALDWIN (voice-over): You may want to think twice the next time you spit out your gum or drop a cigarette butt in public. New York artist, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, might pick it up, extract the DNA, and turn it into a 3D face that could look like you.
HEATHER DEWEY-HAGBORG, ARTIST: A lot of my work begins with a question. In this particular case, the question was, what can I learn about someone from a single hair?
BALDWIN: Once she finds a sample, she takes it to the lab to mine it for DNA and then analyze the results.
HAGBORG: From a cigarette butt, I can learn where someone's ancestors likely came from, their gender, eye color, hair color, complexion.
BALDWIN: That information is then fed into a computer program that generates a 3D model of a face.
HAGBORG: The way that I'm using code here is a lot like how a sketch artist would use a pencil.
BALDWIN: It takes about eight hours to print in 3D at NYU's advanced media studio. Then the excess powder is removed to reveal the disembodied face from a stranger's DNA, but there are limitations. The length of the nose or shape of the face cannot be determined.
HAGBORG: The faces have a general likeness. It might look like a family resemblance. Right now, I can't determine an age so all of my masks are aged between 20 and 40.
BALDWIN: Dewey-Hagborg started the project called "stranger visions" after creating her self portrait two years ago. Now she's hoping it will raise questions about genetic privacy.
HAGBORG: It's meant to be an exploration at the intersection of art and technology and science. And it's meant to be a provocation.
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BALDWIN: Coming up, NFL star Joe Flacco skips the birth of his own child in order to make kickoff. You're about to hear how he responds to all the critics.
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BALDWIN: Just 90 minutes before an NFL game last week, quarterback Joe Flacco's wife who was in New Jersey went into labor with their second child, so decisions, decisions. Flacco decided to skip the labor room in favor of the locker room. His baby boy, Daniel, was born an hour before kickoff, and Flacco said the schedule conflict might happen, his wife, Dana, was OK with it. He talked to CNN's Rachel Nichols.
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RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Tell me what happened on the morning your wife, Dana, went into labor.
JOE FLACCO, BALTIMORE RAVENS QUARTERBACK: I was way more fidgety than I normal am, just walking back and forth, just doing a lot of things I don't normally do. I was so much more amped up.
NICHOLS: Now obviously, when she was pregnant and you go to the doctor and they say the due date is in the fall, you know it's possible that the baby could come on a Sunday.
FLACCO: Yes, it never really was an issue. We talked about it pretty quickly. It was what it was. To be honest with you, we never thought it would happen that way.
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BALDWIN: Ravens won Sunday. The game ball went to Daddy Flacco, a little better than a cigar.
Coming up, parents livid after their kids went on a slavery re- enactment field trip that apparently included racial slurs and white master threats. I'm going to talk live to the director about what the heck they were thinking.
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