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FBI Agent Attacked In ISIS-Related Raid; Theories On Where Escaped Convicts Can Be; Focus On Sharks As Another Attack Occurs. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired June 17, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Since you mentioned you got to know Donald Trump, from "The Apprentice," can you give me your best, "You're fired?"

SHAY DOYLE, 10-YEAR-OLD STUMPING FOR DONALD TRUMP: You're fired!

BALDWIN: Yes!

Shay Doyle, best of luck, to you little man. We appreciate it very much.

DOLES: You, too.

BALDWIN: Thank you. I need all I can get from you.

Shay Doyle, ladies and gentlemen.

Coming up next, we're going to take you back to the breaking story that we told you about at the top of the hour. A stabbing in New York. A suspect drew a knife on FBI agents during an ISIS investigation, this raid that happened in New York. We have more on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:34:47] BALDWIN: We are following break news here at CNN. This FBI agent has been attacked at a Staten Island, New York, home related to ISIS-related investigation. Sources tell CNN agents arrived at the home to perform the search when the man attacked the FBI agent with a knife. The agent was not seriously hurt. The suspect is expected to appear in federal court later today.

For more perspective, let me go to CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes.

Tom, here's my question, number one. You know this from all your years at the FBI. When you walk, as an agent, if you're walking to the home and you know the situation is involving this potential ISIS- involved plot, what are you expecting at the scene?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, you're expecting anything, Brooke. But you can't show up to every interview, every lead, every search warrant with a SWAT team either. You go about your business. This is part of the investigation that started over -- didn't start but became public over the weekend. As an extension of that they went to conduct a search on this person's house. When they go up the sidewalk, ring the doorbell et cetera and then the individual attacks them with a knife. You mean they're not expected to be greeted warmly when they show up with a search warrant. But they're ready for anything and anything happened and they were able to subdue the person and take him into custody without shots fired or without having to kill him.

BALDWIN: We now know the man who attacked this agent was searched in connection with the arrest Saturday of the man from queens who reportedly was planning some sort of explosion in New York City. My question then would be, if you have, you know, at least this home is connected to that other person who was arrested, how big of an operation could this have been or could it be?

FUENTES: There are still probably a few more people that will be arrested at some point.

BALDWIN: That's what they say.

FUENTES: Well, that's what they say. But again, this started with, you know, the port authority noticing one individual walking or lurking around the George Washington Bridge. The port authority belongs also to the FBI joint terrorism task force in New York.

So they alert the task force to look into this individual. They do so and then they find the very disturbing e-mail and internet traffic of him trying to learn how to make a pressure cooker bomb. His support for what happened in Boston at the marathon bombing using pressure cooker bombs. His support for is, claiming that al Qaeda is weak and no good but is, you know stronger.

And so that's what started investigation into him. And then because of circumstances, they had -- than they expect. Now they have the other two individuals that they're still trying to gather more information about, more evidence on and felt they had to go forward with that, which meant the search warrant today. And of course the individual attacks the agents.

BALDWIN: Again, at least the agent not seriously hurt, thank goodness.

Tom Fuentes, thank you so much as always.

We'll dig more on this story. As soon as we get more we'll bring it to you live on CNN.

In the meantime, next -- thank you -- we take a look at several of the theories behind what happened during the New York prison break. Are the escape killers in disguises right now? Are they hiding in plain site?

Plus, the teenage shark victim is speaking out after losing his arm. An expert from "Shark Week" joins me live next. Should the plan now be find and kill the sharks in this water off North Carolina? Critics are livid over that. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:58] Investigators are expanding the search area now for these two escaped killers. They've already searched more than 10,000 acres in their quest to find Richard Matt and David Sweat. Investigators released these -- not these -- here you go -- these age-progressed photos of what the pair may look like now, a tad scruffier 11 or 12 days later since escaping from the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York.

CNN's Polo Sandoval takes a closer look at some of the theories of where these two could be now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The early search for escaped killers, Richard Matt and David Sweat, focusing on the immediate area, covering a few square miles around the prison. Then the manhunt shifted. A local newspaper reported no police guard at the terminals for the ferries that cross Lake Champlain to Vermont. The two could have found easy passage. Another possibility, Canada, 20 miles north of the prison. But a former FBI agent says the killers would not try to drive past check points and going on foot is harder.

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER FBI AGENT: It's a harsh environment, cold at night. They're instantly setting themselves up for a fall.

SANDOVAL: Searchers are scouring the Adirondacks in Upstate New York, a six-million acre wilderness at the doorstep of the prison. It's filled with hundreds of cabins, many abandoned in the off season. Investigators think the pair could be holed up in one of them or they could invade a home and take hostages.

GILLIAM: That's a big chance to take. If you go in and do that, even if you leave, you've set a footprint for the police to latch on to you.

SANDOVAL: At least one escape plan called for Joyce Mitchell to provide a get away car. She told investigators that Matt and Sweat kept their destination vague.

ANDREW WYLE, CLINTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: All she's told us to date, approximately seven hours away, no specified location.

SANDOVAL: At an average of 60 miles an hour, they could get more than 400 miles away. That's putting cities like Boston, New York and Philadelphia within reach. Maybe the easiest place to disappear.

GILLIAM: In small townspeople are very aware of who's around them. They're aware of what other people are doing. Once you get into a larger city, people just stop paying attention.

[14:45:08] SANDOVAL: Now even New York's governor had to admit the trail has gone cold.

ANDREW CUOMO, (D), GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: We don't know if they're still in the immediate area or if they are in Mexico by now.

SANDOVAL: And Mexico, about 2,000 miles away, could be a real possibility. In 1997, Matt brutally murdered a man near Buffalo, New York. Back then, he fled to Mexico and killed another man there before being captured.

Now time may be on the killer's side.

GILLIAM: You can't sustain this type of a manhunt for very long. It's too much of a vacuum of all other resources.

SANDOVAL: Polo Sandoval, CNN, West Plattsburgh, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Let's talk about some of the new developments with Tim Williams, former chief inspector for the Regional Fugitive Task Force in New Jersey and New York, and former director of U.S. operations for Interpol.

So, Tim, welcome back.

TIM WILLIAMS, FORMER CHIEF INSPECTOR, REGIONAL FUGITIVE TASK FORCE IN NEW JERSEY AND NEW YORK & FORMER DIRECTOR OF U.S. OPERATIONS FOR INTERPOL: Hi, Brooke. Thank for having me.

BALDWIN: These investigators say they have no, quote, unquote, "hard evidence" that these two have left the area in upstate New York but they're expanding the search. What's the strategy here?

WILLIAMS: Well, I think when -- the initial swarm they didn't come up with them obviously. So I think it's normal for them to expand the search beyond in case, you know, their plan b for the escape was more elaborate and they may have, you know, gotten out of the area. You know, they're not sure of that yet. I'm sure they got to check every box and really plan for any of those kinds of things that could have happened.

BALDWIN: The progression photos -- let's throw those up on the screen. These are the pictures of what these two would look like after living in the woods. Who knows what they've done in the last 11 or so days. In your experience, is this what you would expect them to look like?

WILLIAMS: Could be. I mean, changing their appearance is not the smart thing to do, I would think. The public could play a key role in this and it's good you guys are keeping it on the news. Someone is going to see these guys if they do step out. It's going to still play a key role. The photos being flashed all over the world or certainly all over the United States, certainly in that region, the photos and what they look like is going to play a key role. Someone is going to recognize them.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about their options for hiding. We know in this part of upstate New York, beautiful green space, rolling hills and a lot of cabins for families. And the police chief said, you know, they've searched hundreds of the different cabins. In your experience here, would someone be more likely to hide out in a rural area like a cabin or hide in plain sight and go to a city. Is that crazy?

WILLIAMS: You never know. We've had fugitive cases over the years go either way. Certainly it would a lot better if they had a place in the mountains and they could hide out far while and lay low.

BALDWIN: They have to know that's the first place this task force would look, right?

WILLIAMS: Of course. And you got a lot of police up there, great trained police officers, a great task force up there. The Marshal Service coordinates a lot of the activities with the state police, and state and locals there. It's a great -- other federal agencies. They're going to be searching everywhere so eventually they will be found.

BALDWIN: The question is when.

Tim Williams, thank you so much.

WILLIAMS: Thank you very much, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, just in to us here at CNN, we're getting word of another kid bitten by a shark. And it is nowhere near those previous attacks. This, as the teenage victim who lost his arm last week is speaking out from his hospital bed. Hear from him. And from a shark expert from Discovery's "Shark Week" on how lifeguards are using drones now to spot the sharks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:53:17] BALDWIN: This just in, another shark attack. This time, a 10-year-old boy from Georgia. He was bitten by a small shark in Daytona Beach shores in Florida. We're told she has been treated on the scene for a minor cut to his calf.

All of this now comes just two days after two teenagers lost arms in separate attacks on the same North Carolina beach over this weekend. And one of them is well enough to talk. 16-year-old Hunter Treschl spoke from his hospital bed about what happened when a shark took off his left arm while he was just out in waist deep water. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER TRESCHL, SHARK ATTACK SURVIVOR: It just kind of hit my arm and that was the first I saw it was when it was biting up my left arm kind. . It got that off eventually and it swam -- I don't know if it swam away. But I was able to move and got out of the water with the help of my cousin.

So I have two options. I can try to live my life the way I was and make an effort to do this even though I don't have an arm or I can kind of just let this be completely debilitating and bring my life down and ruin anytime a way. And out of those two, there's really only one that I would actually choose to do and that's to try fight and live a normal life with the cards I've been dealt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That other swimmer attacked, 13-year-old Kiersten Yow, lost her arm at the elbow. The shark also bit her leg. Her parents say she's stable and her road to recovery will be long.

Joining me now, the shark expert and cinematographer for Discovery's "Shark Week," Joe Romero.

Joe, great to have you on.

JOE ROMERO, SHARK EXPERT, DISCOVERY'S SHARK WEEK: Thanks for having me.

[14:55:00] BALDWIN: Here's the situation in North Carolina, they can't tell which shark took off the limbs of the teens. They're looking for any aggressive shark that comes near shore. And according to the officials, if they see them, they will kill them. What do you make of that?

ROMERO: I don't think it's the proper action. I don't think it's the proper response. I mean if an area suspect, the first thing to do is pull the people away from the sharks and not just kill sharks. There's a huge migration of sharks passing through all along Georgia and North Carolina right now. And the chance that they're actually going to find the sharks or the chances that it's going to be indiscriminate. It's really low they'll find them and it's a high chance they're going to be killing different species of sharks that had nothing to do with this.

BALDWIN: When you talk about a migration swim, we just mentioned the kid in Florida. Why are the sharks coming so close? If you hear about they're in just waist deep water. Is that odd to you?

ROMERO: Well, any encounter with sharks and people, people are mostly in waist-deep water. They would see them at that time. But sharks go into shallow waters all the time to forage for food. There's a lot of sharks that are not dangerous to people that will come in to shore and do things and forage for food and people will see a shark and automatically respond. But there's a lot of species of shark and very small percentage of them are considered to be dangerous to people. I think going out there and indiscriminately killing any shark is a bad idea.

BALDWIN: I want to come back to the danger notion in a minute. In terms of looking for the sharks, I know one beach in Los Angeles is using drones to find sharks. What technology is out there to find them, to locate them, to potentially prevent attacks?

ROMERO: Well, the first step is to really just find the places that you find to be suspect, places that are near fishing piers, places where people are congregating or bathe is being dumped. There are a lot of areas that you really can't tell that stuff because things are underlying in the ocean. Being aware of your environment is first and foremost. They're using drones to look for sharks to make sure that swimmers are OK. And I know there are a certain kind of shark shields and things they've implemented to try to deter sharks from being close to shore.

BALDWIN: What is that, a shark shield?

ROMERO: Well, there's been like these kinds of almost constructible hard shell walls that are like on floats and stuff that they've managed to put around certain beaches in certain areas of the world to protect them from sharks. But very large sharks.

The chances of being attacked are very slim. You have more chances of being hit by lightning. Luckily, this boy in Georgia was a very small shark, which is the percentage of the sharks coming up the shore right now. Killing is not the issue -- not the answer.

BALDWIN: I have a factoid today. This is from "The Washington Post." Dogs, for example, dogs kill 28 people per year. Then you have horses, pigs, deer, kill about 52 people a year. But the number-one animal killer on an annual basis are bees, wasps, hornets. Responsible for 58 deaths per year. Sharks responsible on average for one death a year. Have we just all seen "Jaws" too many times, Joe?

ROMERO: I think it's an iconic animal that lives in a mysterious world that we don't understand and we don't understand how to manage when things happen. Really, what it comes down to is this animal is indifferent to us. This animal is just foraging and hunting for food. They're not targeting us in any way.

BALDWIN: Joe Romero, thank you so much.

ROMERO: All right. Thank you so much.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: All right. Let's get you caught up on the breaking news into CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We're at the top of hour.

This is what we know. An FBI agent has been attacked at a Staten Island, New York, home related to on ISIS-related invasion, investigation, rather. Sources tell us the agents arrived at the home to perform a search when this man attacked this agent with a knife.

I want to talk about this more with our justice correspondent, Evan Perez.

Evan, what happened at this home exactly?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, here's what we know at this time. An alleged ISIS supporter is due in court at any time now to face charges that he allegedly attacked an FBI agent with a knife. The terrorist investigators were doing this search in Staten Island earlier today and that's when this suspect allegedly tried to attack the agent. Now there were no serious injuries, not to the agent or anyone else. But we expect to see charges against the suspect announced any time now, any time soon. The search today was part of a broader case involving another ISIS- related suspect that was announced yesterday. In that case, a 20- year-old aeronautics student from Queens was arrested and charged with plotting to build a detonator.