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Texas Student Shot; Stadium Being Secured; Susan Boyle Announcement

Aired December 09, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Great to be with you on this Monday. I'm Brooke Baldwin, live from New York. Thank you so much for watching CNN here.

This very moment, confusion and grief on a college campus after the death of a popular student. And still, there are few answers about what happened in his final moments.

Let me take you back to Friday when all this happened. You will see this picture. This young man is Robert Cameron Redus, 23 years young, an honor student at a Catholic school in Texas.

Investigators say Redus got into an off-campus scuffle with a campus police officer after being pulled over in the early hours of the morning for erratic driver. During this whole altercation, we're told the officer fired multiple shots, killing Redus. His friends say he is not the kind of guy to fight with police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA DAVIS, FRIEND OF VICTIM: The story just doesn't really make sense to any of us. And I think we're mostly just angry and want answers. He's not aggressive and he's not any of those things that would constitute him getting shot at.

ANNIE JONES, FRIEND OF VICTIM: Genuine grief among hundreds, if not thousands of people in our community because he was just so well liked and loved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The officer is now on administrative leave. Joining me now, CNN correspondent George Howell, and HLN legal analyst with me here in New York, Joey Jackson. So we'll talk to Joey here in just a second.

But, George, first to you. We were just briefed, I know, by authorities about an hour ago. What new information do you have? What happened?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, Brooke, you know, putting all of this together, and you heard it a minute ago, friends, family, they describe Cameron Redus as a peaceful person, not aggressive, as an honor student. So the question has been, why and how did this happen? Well, we're getting some information from the university itself describing its take on what happened after this traffic stop with Corporal Chris Carter. I want to read this to you directly. It says, quote, "during the wait for assistance, the officer tried to restrain the suspect who repeatedly resisted. During the struggle, the officer tried to subdue the suspect with his baton. However, the baton was taking by the suspect who used it to hit the officer." The statement goes on to say, "the officer drew his firearm and was able to knock the baton from the suspect who continued to resist." It says "shots were fired."

Also the question, Brooke, about a dashboard camera. Was a dashboard camera there? Well, yes, it was, but here's what we have learned from the statement. According to the university, this officer was in a new police vehicle that was added to the fleet two days before the incident. We're told that because of a temperature change, a temperature change, the glue that was supposed to have fixed that camera to the front of the car didn't work, it didn't set, so the camera fell off a day before this incident.

As you can imagine, people at the university, students, we hear are upset about this story. They say that there are plenty of holes in it. You know, obviously, people are just taking this in. But this is new information we're getting.

BALDWIN: What about this officer and also this young man's family? What have they said, if anything, thus far?

HOWELL: Well, as far as the family, we know that they have asked for prayers. We know that they were also at that vigil that happened just a few days ago there at the university. Obviously, a very difficult time for that family.

And what we're hearing from the university, they're defending their officer. We did reach out to Corporal Carter. He did not return our call. We do know, again, that he is on paid administrative leave.

BALDWIN: OK. George Howell, thank you very much. Joey Jackson, the question here, and let's be clear, this officer has not been charged, right?

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Not, exactly.

BALDWIN: They're investigating. You just heard two new nuggets. One of which being the fact that according to this police department, this baton was grabbed out of the officer's hands by the suspect. I don't know if that is pertinent, entirely pertinent to this investigation or not. What are they looking for?

JACKSON: You know, it will be pertinent, Brooke, for the following reasons. What happens is, in any shooting, obviously it will be a thorough investigation and you want to get to the underlying facts. But you want to also get to what would provoke the officer to discharge rounds. And as you indicated opening the piece --

BALDWIN: Multiple rounds. JACKSON: There were multiple rounds. About six rounds that were discharged. So what you want to do is you want to determine the proportionality of the force. In the event that there was a baton used, and I know George, you know, read the statement -

BALDWIN: Right.

JACKSON: That - you know, that was placed out there. Doesn't mean it's necessarily factual at this point. There will be a full investigation. Is there anything to contradict that, Brooke? Are there any eye witnesses? If so, how many? Although there was not a dashcam, is there any surveillance that's in the surrounding area that may have caught exactly what the altercation is all about. In addition to that, Brooke, they want to know what proceeded that? What precipitated this? I know that there is some indication of reckless driving.

BALDWIN: It's so unclear at this point.

JACKSON: It's -- a lot of questions more so than answers.

BALDWIN: Yes.

JACKSON: But they want to identify in this encounter exactly what led to this. And did the officer act reasonably under these circumstances? That's what they're going to focus on, which caused him to discharge that weapon and kill 23 years young, as you mentioned, a student who would graduate in May.

BALDWIN: It's just -- one of the questions is why so many rounds, right?

JACKSON: Right.

BALDWIN: Why so many rounds from an officer who's legally carrying this firearm. It just -- so far there are a lot of holes.

JACKSON: Sure. What they'll do is they'll look at the officer. They'll look at the officer's conduct. Is there anything in his background that might lead to a belief that he would have not acted reasonably. Certainly they're look at the victim here. They'll do a toxicology. Not to suggest there's anything in his system, but certainly they want to know that to determine why he would have acted in the way that he acted, in the event that any of this is true.

And as you mentioned, it really confounds his friends who say, wait, this is out of character.

BALDWIN: It's a good guys, they say.

JACKSON: Right. This is not a person who would be fighting or otherwise provoking the police to engage in this construct.

BALDWIN: Yes.

JACKSON: So we're not there yet, but you can bet that this investigation will leave no stone unturned. And if there's any conduct that was amiss, they'll get to it.

BALDWIN: They'll get to it. Joey Jackson, thank you very much.

JACKSON: A pleasure, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And now to the weather. Air passengers on the East Coast, two words for you, brace yourselves. More than 1,500 flights have been canceled today, stranding travelers at airports nationwide. And about 2,600 flights were canceled just yesterday.

Freezing rain, it is falling from Central Virginia to southeast New York today. Some parts could see up to a quarter of an inch of ice. For those of you in Washington, federal agencies open two hours later today because of the weather.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh! Oh, my God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I can't get over those pictures. I mean they were lucky no one was walking on the sidewalks. Look at that. This is the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas. Sheets of ice careening from the buildings, the roofs, onto -

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You hear this woman -- onto the streets, the sidewalks, the cars.

In Virginia, it was a different danger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ORLANDO SALINAS, WDBJ REPORTER: All you got to do is go here. This is the overpass. This is where cars have been coming through. I'm telling you, you have to be careful because what they say is, when you get to these overpasses, be careful. Traffic's going all over here. Now, let me show you, right here on this overpass again, it's all frozen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That reporter skating in tennis shoes. And you do have this, slippery roads wreaking havoc for drivers all the way from Virginia to Wisconsin. CNN iReporter Paul Lee (ph) took this video. This is on I- 95 outside of Stanford, Connecticut, last night. He was driving to get home to New Jersey when road conditions got pretty frightening. You can see on the left side of your screen, some cars spinning out, losing control in front of him. And in Yonkers, New York, wow, more than 30 people were hurt after icy roads caused this massive pile-up early this morning. Chad Myers is in the CNN Weather center.

And, Chad, I mean, this is the story throughout. I was in the airport late last night. I was able to get out, but a lot of people I was talking to, not so happy.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I saw your tweet as you landed in New York yesterday. You looked out the window and said --

BALDWIN: Blanketed with snow.

MYERS: Is that snow?

BALDWIN: Yes.

MYERS: Welcome to New York, because here's the snow.

And there's more snow coming. There's more snow coming for D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York, coming up for tomorrow morning. Watch your local TV stations because there will be school cancellations in advance of this snow.

The cold air is in place. Sioux Falls, it's zero. The wind makes it feel like 15 below. Now, the car doesn't feel 15 below, but the pet does, your pet, the animals outside, your face, your fingers, all that other stuff will feel like 15 degrees below zero. That cold air slides farther to the southeast again. It's the same story that we had last time, but this storm is a week colder than the last storm.

So tomorrow, as the snow tries to get up into D.C., and it will, starting you through tomorrow, here's tomorrow afternoon, all of a sudden there's four to six inches for Lancaster, back into New York, also four inches for Baltimore, four inches for D.C., and probably two to four for New York City. Now that is snow, not ice.

But the problem is, there is ice under that snow because something's going to refreeze tonight. All of that stuff that's out there right now, Brooke, that's just liquid on all these overpasses across the Poconos and all the way through parts of Virginia, West Virginia, even D.C., that will freeze after sunset tonight, so please be careful. I know it just feels wet now, but it will be ice in about three or four hours.

BALDWIN: How about those ice sheets falling off those buildings in Plano, Texas, Chad. Have you ever seen anything quite like that?

MYERS: Well, kind of, yes, I have. But what tells me that they knew this was going to happen. There were two separate cameras that were already rolling. So they could see that this was starting to slide already, sliding off the roof.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MYERS: That is more indicative when I was growing up in Buffalo when the snow would slide off the roof and come down and take off the gutters and all that. BALDWIN: Oh.

MYERS: But that car there is a wreck. I've heard of golf-ball sized haul, but not like ping-pong table sized -

BALDWIN: Yes, that will do some damage.

MYERS: Yes, exactly.

BALDWIN: That will do some damage, Chad Myers.

MYERS: And the airports are slow as well obviously again today, Brooke, and that's going to be the case for many more days.

BALDWIN: Check your flights before you head out. Chad Myers, thank you very much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BALDWIN: We'll check in with you again.

Coming up, it is one of the biggest gatherings of world leaders in really decades. Tomorrow's Nelson Mandela memorial service. And onboard Air Force One right now, quite a gathering in itself. You will hear who hopped a ride with the president. And here's a hint, it includes a former rival and someone he criticized over and over again.

Plus, singer Susan Boyle reveals she has Asperger's. Hear about the diagnose she says is a welcome relief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN BOYLE, SINGER (singing): I dreamed a dream in time gone by, when hope was high and life worth living.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Tomorrow's memoriam for Nelson Mandela will be one of the latest gathers of world leaders in modern history, perhaps ever. The last time was the funeral for Pope John Paul II. That was back in 2005. Let me show you these pictures. Air Force One took off this morning with President and Mrs. Obama, George W. and Laura Bush, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, and National Security Advisor Susan Rice, all on that plane. The White House says the president is working on his eulogy during the flight.

Other world leaders going to South Africa include U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, French President Francois Hollande, Cuban Leader Raul Castro, and British Prime Minister David Cameron. Among the many other dignitaries to pay their respects, you have Bono, Oprah, Prince Charles, former President Jimmy Carter, and Republican Senator Ted Cruz. A short time ago, Archbishop Desmond Tutu paid homage to Mandela's home in the Johannesburg suburbs. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU: Everybody was saying we would have gone up in flames. (INAUDIBLE). And he was like, he really was like a magician. He really was like a magician with a magic wand, turning us into this glorious multicolored rainbow people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN's senior international correspondent Arwa Damon is in Johannesburg with a look at the extraordinary preparations involved ahead of tomorrow's memorial service.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These men have asked not to be identified for their safety. They are part of an elite task force usually operating in secret and under cover. South Africa is using its best to sweep and secure the FNB Stadium ahead of the nation's largest single event. There is no room for error. In action, thousands of military and police, sniper teams, canine units, continuous air surveillance to include helicopters and fighter jets.

BRIG. GEN. XOLANI MABANGA, SOUTH AFRICAN DEFENSE DEPARTMENT: Shoot anybody or anything dead to disturb or to disrupt the spirit of mourning. And finally taking and accompanying the former president to his last resting place and then that (INAUDIBLE).

DAMON: This is the Vatucuv (ph) air force base is where some of the heads of state will land, including U.S. President Barack Obama and his predecessors, Bush, Clinton, and Carter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We prepared for any eventuality. We've got our intelligence on the ground. We've got - you know, the East Air (ph) support, the support from the army.

DAMON (on camera): It's incredibly culturally sensitive to speak about funerals, especially when it comes to someone of Nelson Mandela's stature. There have been plans being worked on for years, but those plans have been kept very secret and under wraps.

DAMON (voice-over): In addition to the monumental task of securing routes and vehicles for the 80 plus dignitaries, they're also responsible for moving the public. The memorial is open to everyone on a first come first serve basis. FNB can accommodate upwards of 90,000 people. Two other stadiums set up to accommodate the spill over. But authorities expect they will have to turn people back. At midnight, a security lockdown, roads blocked.

DAMON (on camera): To get to it stadiums, people will have the option of bus or rail. This is expected to be the largest mass transit movement for a single event in this country's history. The numbers anticipated, at least double that of the World Cup.

DAMON (voice-over): These workers are part of a 1,500 strong team working for an event planning company. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're assisting in people club (ph) control also to see that people, they don't bring the wrong items (ph), knives, beer, everything like that.

DAMON: In the same venue where Mandela made his last public appearance during the World Cup back in 2010, the nation and the world will be bidding South Africa's savior farewell.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Coming up back here in the U.S., in court today, the woman accused of pushing her new husband off a cliff one week after their wedding. Was it murder? Was it merely an accident?

Also ahead, Susan Boyle, she rocketed to fame in 2009 after this shocking performance on the show "Britain's Got Talent." And now another surprise. This time about her health and the diagnosis she just received. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A young bride accused of pushing her new husband off a cliff is now facing first and second degree murder charges. In a Montana courtroom today, jury selection for Jordan Linn Graham began just a short time ago. Both the prosecution and the defense agree that Graham pushed her husband of all of eight days to his death in Glacier National Park. The question for jurors is this, will Graham's act be deemed as murder or was it an accident caused by self-defense? Cody Johnson disappeared July 7th. Four days later, Graham led friends and relatives to a popular spot in the park where they found Johnson's body.

And Susan Boyle, you remember her. The soft-spoken Scot charmed her way into our hearts when she became a reality TV sensation basically overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN BOYLE, SINGER (singing): I dreamed a dream of time gone by, when hope was high and life, worth living.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You didn't expect that, did you? Did you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Still gives me goose bumps. Now the hit recording artist has made a major revelation. She told "The Observer" newspaper that she was diagnosed last year with the development disorder Asperger's syndrome. And this is significant because when she was a child, she said doctors told her she suffered from brain damage. So let's talk about this with CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

And let's back up two steps and just -- what is Asperger's syndrome, and then what does this mean for her as far as this revised diagnosis? ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. So, Brooke, Asperger's syndrome is actually a form of autism. And people hear that and they think, how could someone like her have autism? You know, she's - people have this vision that someone with autism is completely unable to communicate. But, actually, people with Asperger's are considered high functioning people who -- they're very high functioning. They're on the autism spectrum, but they're very high functioning. So they do have problems, let's say, interacting with others. They have issues with reading social cues, kind of detecting when someone else might be feeling something. But they're high functioning and work and are out there in the world.

BALDWIN: I feel like, though, too, when you hear about these - you know, people with Autism on the spectrum, even higher functioning, they're incredibly talented in some form of fashion. I mean, is there a connection here?

COHEN: You know, you often do hear that.

BALDWIN: Yes.

COHEN: And we asked a psychiatrist who works with people with autism. And he said, you know, it's interesting, people with autism, and that includes Asperger's syndrome, are often very good at focusing on one thing. This doctor has a son with autism, and he said his son is an amazing chess player, because that's where he puts his energy. So now we don't know about Susan Boyle, but it would be interesting to know, is this -- is her singing something she focused on a lot throughout her life? Was she able to focus on it partly because she does have Asperger's?

BALDWIN: And I suppose she was wondering all along what it was. She said she's relieved to now sort of have this diagnosis. Interesting. An amazing, amazing voice.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much.

COHEN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, families of Newtown saying they do not want media outlets to come to town, to cover the one-year anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. That's this Saturday. But what is the right balance?

Also just a short time ago, the parents revealed how they will remember their little ones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll be lighting a candle on the eve of 12-14, the last night we spent with our sweet Charlotte.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we will be lighting a candle for our beautiful little girl Jessica.

(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)