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Authorities Piece Together Gunman's Actions; Abdulazeez Reportedly Went To Jordan In 2014; David Wyatt Among Four Marines Killed Thursday; Kenyan Mall Reopens Two Years After Massacre; U.S. Wildfire Jumps Highway, Destroys Cars; F1 Driver Jules Bianchi Died At 25; FBI: Shooter Wore Vest For Extra Ammunition; Destroys Cars; Prison Workers Charged In "El Chapo" Escape; U.S. Mission In Havana Set To Become An Embassy; Sky-Diving Plane Bails Out On Busy Highway. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 17, 2015 - 03:00   ET

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

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: He had plenty of fire power and reportedly travelled to the Middle East, but investigators still cannot say why the suspected Tennessee shooter went on a murderous rampage.

A rising Formula One star dies from massive injuries suffered last year as a typhoon bore down on the racetrack.

And drivers scramble to escape a brush fire in California that torches dozens of cars.

Welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin in the state of Tennessee where authorities are trying to determine what led a 24-year-old man to go on a shooting spree killing four Marines. Federal investigators say Mohammad Abdulazeez had three guns on him during the rampage.

They also found a rifle at his house. Police say he had every intent to kill officers if they had not killed him first. Authorities have looked into at least 70 leads they perceived about him and they are treating this as a terrorism investigation.

Officials believe they pieced together exactly what happened during Thursday's shooting. Gary Tuchman breaks it down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A senior defense official tells CNN several Marines inside the Chattanooga recruiting center, the gunman's first stop, were Marine combat veterans who went into combat mode when Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez started shooting at around 10:45 a.m.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He lifted up his arms like this with a big black gun. It was one shot and endless shots just one after another just unloading.

TUCHMAN: The Marines told everyone to drop to the floor and then cleared the room by getting everyone outside in the back. Everyone survived. But Abdulazeez, who a law enforcement source and authorities say, had at least two long guns including an AK-47 style rifle and a handgun, was not done.

(on camera): It is believed Abdulazeez never got out of his rented Ford Mustang convertible. After firing his first barrage of shots at this location, he made a right turn out of the parking lot heading seven and a half miles to the next location.

We have now arrived at that location driving at normal speed it took us about 13 minutes.

(voice-over): Within that short of span of time, something very dramatic happened.

CHIEF FRED FLETCHER, CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE POLICE: Officers began searching and located the gunman driving down the highway, Chattanooga police officers immediately began following and chasing that vehicle between the first and second locations.

TUCHMAN: This is the second location which remains closed off. The gunman made a right turn to this entrance and continued driving down the road to the Military Support and Reserve Center. The police still in pursuit.

FLETCHER: Eventually officers encountered the suspect at the second location.

TUCHMAN: But the gunman was a moving target firing dozens of shots and killing four Marines before he could be neutralized.

FLETCHER: Our officers drove down there, encountered him, and engaged in a battle with him.

TUCHMAN: Abdulazeez was shot to death. Officials believe he was killed by a Chattanooga police officer.

FLETCHER: I am absolutely convinced if it weren't for the bravery and the sacrifice of officers in the Chattanooga Police Department more people in this community would be dead.

TUCHMAN: The home where the gunman grew up with his parents and siblings was searched for hours. Bomb squad and canine unit inside the home. This picture showing a woman taken away in handcuffs, not arrested but as a precaution. Karen Jones lives right next door.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was scary because you don't know what they are going to find.

TUCHMAN: Karen has known the family ever since they moved in about 14 years ago.

(on camera): When was the last time you saw Mohammad?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably this weekend. I can't remember.

TUCHMAN: But it was this weekend, though?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The gunman no longer lived in the home, but according to his neighbor visited quite a bit. Karen Jones saying this weekend the visit was routine.

KAREN JONES, NEIGHBOR OF ABDULAZEEZ: Except for the beard he didn't usually wear that. Guys like to grow beards every once in a while and he is of age.

TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Abdulazeez traveled last year to Jordan to visit his uncle, according to Jordanian sources, a friend says Abdulazeez came back from that trip a changed person, very distant. Jordan is not considered an ISIS hot bed, but as Nick Paton Walsh told us earlier it could have been a jumping off point to another place in the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a place of transit of course. But after that, frankly it is speculation. I think the key issue with people these days, the lone wolves, for example that that radicalization could occur online in the United States.

[03:05:03] He could simply be here on family visits and meet other people who are like minded. It's extraordinarily hard I think for investigators to work out what that key pivotal moment when someone chooses to commit that crime is and necessarily him.

So they will be piecing together who he potentially met here to see if there were individuals who gave him a window on ideology, but also bear in mind the violence he committed in Tennessee doesn't at this stage appear to have required particularly lengthy training like bomb making like other previous al Qaeda attackers in the U.S. have had in the Middle East.

This is a man who got high-powered weapons and shot them at relatively open targets. That doesn't necessarily suggest he had to go to a training camp, having to work out if the idea for the crime was hatched here in the Middle East while he was here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh in Amman, Jordan for us.

We are also learning more about the victims of Thursday's attack. Thomas Sullivan was originally from Massachusetts. He joined the military in 1997. He served three tours of duty and was a two-time Purple Heart recipient. Carson Holmquist served two tours in Afghanistan. The Wisconsin native has been in the military six years. Skip Wells was from Murrieta, Georgia. He studied at Georgia Southern University before becoming a Marine last year.

Staff Sergeant David Wyatt enlisted in the Marines in 2004 and served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. His father spoke with CNN's John Berman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Mr. Wyatt, first off, we're so sorry for your loss. How are you holding up tonight?

ALLEN WYATT, FATHER OF DAVID WYATT (via telephone): I'm holding up OK. I'm trying to be strong for my daughter-in-law and her children.

BERMAN: Your daughter-in-law and two young grandchildren. How are they doing tonight?

WYATT: They are doing OK. They don't understand exactly what's gone on. My daughter-in-law explained to my youngest grandson that his father was killed by a real bad man.

BERMAN: Tell me about your son. This was a Marine who loved his job, loved his work and served with enthusiasm.

WYATT: Yes, he worked really hard at this job. He joined the Marine Corps to do this part for his country. He was an eagle scout and always tried to do the right thing. He found his calling in the Marine Corps. Worked hard and was particularly proud of taking care of young Marines. He served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

BERMAN: You said your son was an eagle scout and in some ways that was an inspiration. I understand he got you and others to run the Marine Corps marathon?

WYATT: That's correct. He was in Afghanistan and we had done some other small runs, my wife and I. His stepmother and I had done a smaller run and sent him a small note via text. He texted back would we run our Marine Corps marathon.

And we had never considered running a marathon. And we texted back get back safe and we'll run. So that fall, he and I, his sister, two brother-in-laws and wife ran the Marine Corps marathon with him. We are all proud to be able to do that, share that day with him.

BERMAN: You kept your promise when he got back, you all ran it together. I'm sure, Allen, like so many parents and family members you were terrified when you son was overseas serving in war zones. He made it through that only come back to the United States to be killed in all likelihood because he was a Marine on U.S. soil. That has to be difficult to come to terms with that.

WYATT: It is very difficult. We always feared we might get the same kind of call that we got last night. But it was different because serving in a combat zone you kind of prepare yourself to hear with the son in the combat zone. You prepare yourself to hear such news.

At the same time you are proud of them for doing what they can for their country. Our words to him when he went over were to serve honorably but not be a hero. We wanted him back. He did his job well and we're stunned that this happened like this.

And the country lost -- excuse me, four fine young men yesterday. It's a great loss for the country.

BERMAN: Indeed, it is. Allen Wyatt, our thoughts are with you tonight. We know it's hard, but do know that we here are thinking about you and the country is thinking about you and thanking you and grateful for your son's service. Thank you, sir.

WYATT: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Quite chilling to hear that father talk about his son.

[03:10:06] Well, ISIS is claiming responsibility for one of the deadliest attacks in Iraq in recent months. At least 86 people were killed and dozens injured when a truck packed with explosives blew up in this predominantly Shia town.

The blast struck the market as people were shopping for celebrations to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Officials say the death toll could rise as they search through all of that what you see there.

Iran's supreme leader says his country's newly brokered nuclear deal will not change Iran's stance toward the United States. A short time ago during his traditional speech marking the end of Ramadan, Ayatollah Khamenei said the draft of the nuclear deal must go through a legal process before being approved.

And he asked that Iranian officials put national interests first. The supreme leader declared that Iran will continue to support Syria and its other allies whether the deal is approved or not.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYATOLLAH KHAMENIE, IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER (through translator): Our policies will not change vis-a-vis the arrogant government of the United States at all.

Death to America, death to Great Britain death to Israel, death to hypocrites, death meaning the -- and finally death to Israel. As we have repeated multiple times, with the United States we have no talks vis-a-vis regional issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: A huge milestone for a shopping complex in Nairobi, Kenya. The Westgate Shopping Mall is opening this hour nearly two years after Islamic militants stormed it killing 67 people. Many Kenyans see the reopening as a victory over terrorism. Others refused to go back there. CNN's Robyn Kriol has more on the reaction from the survivors and others impacted by the massacre.

She joins us live from Nairobi. It's amazing that this mall has come back after all of that carnage that we saw two years ago -- Robin.

ROBYN KRIOL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Natalie, the doors to Westgate Mall just reopened. There was a small crowd and clapping inside the mall. Those shops that reopened held short prayer services to remember their colleagues that were killed on the 21st of September, 2013.

During that day, this area became almost a war zone, Natalie, besieged by police and military with gunfire ringing out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRIOL (voice-over): It was an agonizing 80-hour siege for Kenya. The world watched as Al Shabaab gunmen stormed this busy upscale shopping center in Nairobi and killed 67 Kenyans and foreigners.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I spent quite a few hours at Westgate waiting for help to arrive.

KRIOL: Many of those who survived still bear the scars. She was shot five times and continues to suffer from grenade shrapnel in her body.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are quite prominent, these really, really tiny ones, but if you feel them, there are little balls of metal.

KRIOL: She was taking part in a children's cooking competition when the assault began. She cradled a small boy she didn't know as he died in her arms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Out of a mark of respect of those who died there I will not be able to walk in there. I think it's opening up as a shopping mall. I would be happy if it opened as a memorial site.

KRIOL: This was the interior of Westgate four months after the attack.

(on camera): It's hard to find any visible remnants of the massacre that took place inside the shopping mall. While the walls have been rebuilt and painted and the shattered glass replaced, many Kenyans are asking just how this attack could have taken place, who carried it out and what happened to the killers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It bothers me for the families and also for me to feel safe in this country. Our questions are not answered or nothing has been brought to surface.

KRIOL: This survivor asked not to be identified because she's afraid of speaking out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now personally I'm not going back for reasons being I was there. I experienced it.

KRIOL: She was having lunch when a hand grenade rolled towards her table killing her waitress.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She died right in front of me. She like took her last breath and I was there and experienced it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was there at the rooftop.

KRIOL: This man works at the same jewelry store, determined to return to work at Westgate.

ELIJAH MUSYOKA, JEWELRY STORE EMPLOYEE: If you don't go back or if you give up, these people, they think that we are too -- we are weak or we are coward.

[03:15:08] But life has to go on. We have to show them we have courage. The gunmen were here.

KRIOL: He hid here for three hours watching gunmen pump bullets mostly into women and children. Although they differ on whether Westgate should open up or not all three agree they are survivors, not victims.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KRIOL: We have been hearing a lot of that sentiment, people saying they are indeed survivors, not victims and remembering also the heroism of that day, how many civilians as well as police and military went in to try to save anyone they could.

In fact, hundreds of people even thousands were saved by people who went in while the gunshots were ringing out to try and rescue people trapped inside that mall, some amazing tales of bravery. Natalie, back to you.

ALLEN: Yes, we'll wait and see next hour when we talk with you again. How many people have come to the mall on this opening day as it reopens? Thank you, Robyn Kriol, for us live in Nairobi.

Drivers on a major California highway had to run from their cars when a wildfire jumped the freeway. Coming up, see how people are trying now to save their homes.

Also people in Greece -- are worried about -- an arson fire that could be arson.

And also a Formula One driver hospitalized after a terrible crash last year has died.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:20:34]

ALLEN: Formula One Driver Jules Bianchi has died after being severely injured in a race accident. A family statement says the 25-year-old died in a hospital in Niece earlier today.

Bianchi was admitted there after sustaining a severe head injury during the Japanese Grand Prix last October. He lost control of his car on the very wet track and crashed into a recovery vehicle as a typhoon bore down on Japan.

We want to talk with our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam. He had newly joined CNN at that time. I remember and Derek remembered talking about the conditions on that racetrack that day.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it so vivid in my mind and a very sad situation. As meteorologists we all talked about how dangerous it was going to be to hold a race of this magnitude with an impending typhoon. I mean, why would we do that?

For American viewers this was an equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane at one point. It made landfall 3:00 a.m. local time in Japan on October 6th. Now the Japanese Grand Prix was on October 5th in the evening time.

So there was only a few hours that separated landfall from the actually grand prix. So that was made us so concerned about this. And the Japanese Grand Prix, the actual International Automobile Federation that governs the Formula One racing put together a ten- person accident panel to review the evidence behind the crash.

They never directly attributed the rain or the wind from the storm as a facto to either of the crashes including Bianchi's death, but they did acknowledge that the track was overtly wet.

They said the weather conditions at the time were rain and a deteriorating track condition. The semidry racing line at turn seven was abruptly narrowed by water draining on the track and flowing downhill. Should they have held this race?

A lot of people were concerned about it and not to mention just the dangers for the people watching as well. But they said that going forward they did learn some important lessons from this situation, unfortunately, the track drainage is going to be reviewed before each race just in case this particular instance happens again.

Rain they don't cancel events under rainy circumstances. It has to be excessive rain and bad drainage to be considered. And for tires they need the latest technology for tires on the vehicles leading up to each Formula One racing event. So fortunately, they did learn some lessons from this.

ALLEN: It's a very sad story. He was in a coma and he never came back around. It's so sad for his family. That is Jules Bianchi learning that he has died. Derek, thank you for bringing us that context.

Well, at least 20 vehicles were destroyed when a massive wildfire jumped to California Freeway. Drivers scrambled to get out and some climbing a nearby mountain to get away. Officials say the brush fire grew to 1400 hectares in just four hours. No word that anyone was hurt. CNN's Paul Vercammen has more on the fire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As the sun was going down here's where they started to make their stand. This is Phelan, California. They opened up a fire hydrant nearby and created their own pool of water for the choppers to go down into to reload and drop water.

Homeowners also making a stand here doing everything that they possibly could to try to protect this neighborhood from the advance of the flames. Some of them grabbing hoses and soaking their hillsides.

Now all of this started, of course, on the 15 Freeway, the Cajon Pass, that major artery between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Cars were abandoned and many of them, of course, caught fire and were completely burned.

Then the fire made its advance north and that's where we saw so many different efforts whether by air or by citizens grabbing hoses and the firefighters trying to stop this blaze before it could burn down major parts of this small city.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:25:13] ALLEN: Paul Vercammen reporting for us from California. Four lives lost in a senseless tragedy. Ahead here, more on the American Marines killed in the Chattanooga shooting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen. Here are our top stories, investigators found three guns on the suspect accused of killing those four U.S. marines in Tennessee. A rifle was also seized from the home of Mohammad Abdulazeez. Police killed him on Thursday after that shootout. The FBI says it's treating the shooting as a terror investigation.

ISIS claims responsibility for a truck bomb in a predominantly Shia town north of Baghdad, at least 86 people were killed and dozens wounded. The bomb exploded at a market as people were shopping for eve celebration to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

People cried and many of them went running from their vehicles and even got sick as they ran, throwing up, we're told, trying to get away from a fast-moving brush fire and all the smoke there on that freeway in California.

At least 20 vehicles were destroyed when the fire jumped a highway on Friday. At least five families may have lost their homes. Official says the fire grew to more than 1400 hectares or 3,500 acres in just four hours.

Convicted Boston marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been moved to the Super Max Prison in Colorado. Reports say the facility is considered the most secure prison in the U.S. and most inmates spent 23 hours a day in isolation. He may spend years there while appealing his death sentence.

Many people in Tennessee are mourning the death of four men after Thursday's shooting. They were fathers and sons who died in the rampage while serving their country. One of them just 21 years old, another a Purple Heart recipient. We learn more about them from Alexandra Field.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Sullivan earned two Purple Hearts fighting the war in Iraq, a son of Massachusetts, saluted today in the city of Springfield with flags lowered to half-staff.

JIM SHEREMETA, SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENT: My heart went down to my toes because I said, my God. I suppose when things hit home, close to this area, it affects you a lot deeper.

FIELD: "He was our hero and he will never be forgotten. Thank you, Tommy, for protecting us," a loved one wrote on Facebook. From Massachusetts Governor Charley Baker, "Terror comes home to Massachusetts. God bless Tom Sullivan and his family and his friends."

Sullivan's last day of duty spent in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the Naval Marine Reserve Center, his Marine brothers by his side. Sergeant Carson Holmquist, a decorated Marine from Wisconsin served two tours of duty in Afghanistan before he was killed here at home. He leaves behind a wife and son.

The youngest victim, 21-year-old, Lance Corporal Skip Wells graduated three years ago from Sprayberry High School in Murrieta, Georgia. Service was in his family.

GARRETT REED, FRIEND OF SKIP WELLS (via telephone): He loved his country. You know, his mama, served in the military, I believe she was a Marine, also. So I figured he just wanted to follow in her footsteps. He was in ROTC in high school. He loved that. I think that's just a calling that he had.

FIELD: Wells recently took a trip to Disneyworld with his mom. She says, "My son died doing what he loved for the love of his country and his family."

A decorated 11-year veteran who served multiple tours, Staff Sergeant David Wyatt is pictured with his two children. There's no sleep tonight someone writes. Wyatt was from Arkansas, but he lived in Chattanooga where they are honoring the fallen and the families they left behind.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: We are also learning more about the gunman's last stand with police on Thursday. Let's bring in our CNN military analyst, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. What are you learning that is interesting about this? LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I'm looking at his background and noticed the key was he went to the Middle East and changed. Obviously something happened in the Middle East, in Jordan. There is a lot of al Qaeda and ISIS sympathizers in Jordan.

The Jordanians have a tremendous problem with al Qaeda. Al Zarqawi, the founder of al Qaeda in Iraq, the forerunner of ISIS, was a Jordanian national. There are a lot of things that could have happened there.

I'm a little concerned though as he came back he was arrested for dui. That does not fit the profile of a committed Jihadist. There is a lot we don't know and a lot of contradictions here.

But these lone wolf and people operating under the radar are so hard to detect making them almost impossible to stop. And your heart breaks when you hear about these fine, young Marines who were killed because they didn't have any weapons there, veterans of our wars overseas killed in Chattanooga.

ALLEN: Right, and Colonel, let's talk about the difficulty it is in tracing all of the people that could possibly be these lone wolf types. How important is it for there to be a paper trail or a cybertrail?

FRANCONA: Well, we always find this after the fact. The problem is we are not able to monitor them as the radicalization is ongoing because it is so settle and so pervasive. If you go on the internet there is so much out there and there are so much attempts, these chat rooms are just full of ISIS, al Qaeda, other Islamist groups looking for people just like this.

And they're looking for people that are not going to come to the attention of law enforcement so it's very, very difficult. I don't know how we solve that. I know that the FBI is doing a lot of undercover work now, but it's probably not going to be enough.

I think the FBI director was very cogent in his remarks he is not going to be able to stop everything.

ALLEN: Right, but how long before we find out a little bit more about Abdulazeez and perhaps what his exact motives were. What will you be listening for next?

[03:35:09] FRANCONA: Yes, you know, I want to hear what the Jordanian intelligence service has to say about him. As you know I was an adviser to the Jordanian service and they are very good. They will figure out what he was doing in Jordan.

We'll know shortly what he was up to over there and if he had any role in this if he was approached by someone over there. I think his motivation was obviously clear here. The fact he had three weapons and wearing load-bearing equipment with multiple magazines.

You don't do that if you are firing a few shots, he went out to kill people and he was able to do that partly because these facilities, and there are hundreds of them all over the country, they are soft targets. It's almost impossible to secure them.

ALLEN: Absolutely. We understand that. We see them on all of our street corners and neighborhoods throughout this country as you say. Colonel Rick Francona, thank you for joining us.

It was policy at that recruiting office not to be armed. Now four U.S. states are changing that. Governors for Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana all announced plans on Friday to arm state military personnel to protect their facilities.

Seven workers at a maximum security prison in Mexico have been charged in connection with the escape of the drug lord, Joaquin Guzman, better known as El Chapo. Mexico's interior minister says it is likely that prison workers helped the drug lord get away. But as Polo Sandoval reports relatives of prison employees don't believe that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mexico's most-wanted man seems to have vanished into thin air. Experts think that Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is relying on his unique skill set to elude authorities with nearly a week on the run. The Sinaloa Cartel boss is ruthless and cruel, but he is also extremely street smart and cunning according to Anabel Hernandez.

ANABEL HERNANDEZ, JOURNALIST: This guy is a terrible criminal. A very primitive man that raped woman when the woman doesn't his favor, that can kill people, kids, women, men, this man is very bad.

SANDOVAL: Hernandez is a journalist and an expert in the cartel problem in her country. She lives with death threats that come with reporting and writing about Guzman, a man whose power did not diminish behind prison walls.

HERNANDEZ: He organized one hunger strike inside the jail, more than 900 prisoners. So with 900 prisoners on your side, you're able to do everything.

SANDOVAL: Hernandez believes El Chapo threatened and bribed prison officials facilitating his escape. Families of some of the employees at the Altiplano Prison defend their loved ones saying their relatives would never help the inmates.

A woman who won't tell me her name out of fear for her safety says she hopes security measures at the prison would keep her loved one safe. She says her relative risked his life after time he went to work.

The prison continues housing a laundry list of ruthless cartel heads and killers. Several prison employees have been arrested. Federal prosecutors now want to talk to people they believe visited Guzman during his imprisonment.

A state legislator from Guzman's home state of Sinaloa is one of them. Sanchez did not respond to CNN's request for comment, but she's taken to social media denying claims she knows Guzman, let alone visited him in prison. She is not the only Mexican official ensnared in a cloud of controversy. Hernandez says sadly corruption is part of the fabric of her country.

HERNANDEZ: El Chapo didn't create the culture. The corruption created El Chapo. The corruption and impunity is the mother defiant of El Chapo. El Chapo is just the best example of how bad the things are in Mexico.

SANDOVAL: El Chapo's escape could carry serious political implications for the presidency of Enrique Pena Nieto. His administration's recent arrests of cartel figures are being overshadowed by the escape of El Chapo. Despite the humiliation, Nieto promises he will be recaptured.

ENRIQUE PENA NIETO, MECIXAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I'm fully confident of the courage, bravery, and determination of our armed forces and the police of the federal order to catch him, just as we did last year.

SANDOVAL: Nieto has faith and trust in his government. Many in Mexico don't feel the same way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: There is plenty of frustration here on the streets of Mexico. So many people here are asking why their government didn't do more to make sure that Guzman stayed behind bars. The latest request for extradition to the U.S. came two weeks before Guzman crawled into that tunnel and made a dangerous escape. Polo Sandoval, CNN, Mexico City.

ALLEN: Again, that was the second time that Guzman escaped from a prison.

[03:40:06] People in Greece are being vigilant as a wildfire continues to burn. It has officials suspecting foul play. We'll talk about that in a moment with Derek.

Also after more than 50 years the Cuban flag will soon fly over Washington at their embassy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: More than 200 people were injured when a commuter train slammed into the back of another near Johannesburg, the force of the coalition caused one of the trains to derail.

The spokesperson for the rail company says that the injured were taken to local hospitals, but no one was killed in the collision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LILIAN MOFOKENG, SPOKESWOMAN FOR METRO TRAIL: Two trains that have collided and we had around 239 people that were injured, 100 of those are already released from the hospital. I can confirm that all the others are still being attended to at various hospitals around Johannesburg and so far it's seven hospitals that are attending to the injured commuters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: The cause of the crash is of course under investigation.

A forest fire bearing down on Athens has people there on edge as some of the government suspect it was deliberately lit. Meteorologist, Derek Van Dam is at the weather center for us. As if Greece doesn't have enough on its plate.

VAN DAM: It is a bit suspicious, Natalie, when 50 some fires simultaneously begin at the same time. I would be questioning arson, myself, if I was an authority making decisions on this as well or investigating the cause of these fires.

But look at these images of volunteer firefighters and upwards of 100 professional firefighters battling these blazes in and around the greater Athens region. The smoke is billowing in the distance creating that thick haze across the cities.

[03:45:10] You can see just some of the local community members banding together to do whatever they can to prevent these blazes from taking over their neighborhoods. There have been some evacuations of small neighboring towns.

It is threatening the urban areas there. And unfortunately, it's similar to what was Greece's worst break out of fires back in 2007 when dozens of people died. That is very reminiscent of what is taking place now although we have not heard of any injuries although there could be a couple of fatalities.

We have had about 50 fires in and around the Athens regions coming in at four different fronts, four locations they are monitoring closely. You can see the proximity to the city center and the fires on the mountainside here.

Suspected of arson in this area and the fire brigades taking their aim at dousing the fires, Chinook required to dump water on some of the fires. Low humidity, strong winds and very high temperatures that lead to perfect fire temperatures.

This is the seven-day forecast for Athens. There is no relief in sight. It is going to stay sunny and very hot. That will allow the possibility of more brush fires in the coming days -- Natalie.

ALLEN: All right, Derek, thank you. Well, after more than five decades of broken relations the U.S. and Cuba are expected to reopen embassies in Washington and Havana on Monday.

As our Patrick Oppmann reports it is a historic turnaround for two nations who seemed stuck in a permanent era of cold war mistrust.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For decades, when Fidel Castro came here, the U.S. intersection in Havana. Since Cuba and the United States broke off relations in 1961, this officially at least was considered a Swiss territory although there is no American flag or embassy sign, the United States says it has more diplomats in Havana than any other single country.

The intersection has long acted as the frontline in the U.S.-Cuba conflict. During the Elian Gonzalez saga the Cuban government even built this massive stadium to hold demonstrations against the United States.

Former U.S. diplomat, Vicki Huckleston, remembers seeing Fidel Castro at the demonstrations just below her balcony.

VICKI HUCKLESTON, FORMER CHIEF OF U.S. INTERESTS SECTION: With a stone I could have thrown it and hit Fidel. We are the best of enemies. There is a trust underlying. I'm not going to go out with my stone and throw it as Fidel, am I?

OPPMANN: Not to say there hasn't been tension. James Cason, another former chief shocked the Cubans by installing an electronic ticker on top of the building in 2006.

JAMES CASON, FORMER CHIEF OF U.S. INTERESTS SECTION: I knew I would not be allowed to talk to the people. So we would talk over the heads of the regime by putting the moving billboard inside our windows.

OPPMANN: Cuban officials responded by putting up rows of flags to cover the American messages. Eventually diplomacy won out and the flags and ticker were taken down.

There have been fewer demonstrations since Fidel Castro left power in 2006 and anti-U.S. government propaganda signs have been removed. U.S. diplomats say they face less harassment, but are still watched by Cuban government cameras and guards that surround the building.

As relations normalize, the work of U.S. diplomats in Havana may transition from cold war era confrontation to addressing the needs of an increasing number of U.S. visitors to the once off limits island.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have many more American citizens coming to Cuba and they have accidents and become injured or ill and look for the U.S. Embassy to provide assistance and we will, I believe, need additional full-time staff to deal with these challenges.

OPPMANN: New challenge for a new chapter in U.S.-Cuban relations as the United States on Monday for the first time in 54 years opens an embassy in Havana. Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Ice, mountains and surprisingly smooth planes, that's next. The incredible images from NASA's flyby of Pluto.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ALLEN: NASA's New Horizon spacecraft zoomed within a cosmic hair's breadth of Pluto this week and sent back even more incredible images of the dwarf planet. The space agency released this flyover view showing vast plains, surprisingly no craters.

Pluto also has ice mountains, which scientists believe were formed within the last 100 million years and are as tall as our rocky mountains in the west.

A pilot in New Jersey had no other choice but to make an emergency landing with his airplane in the middle of a busy highway and it was all caught on a traffic cam.

Jeanne Moos talked with a pilot who pulled off this tricky stunt and finds out more about the ironic roadside souvenir he wants to keep from his adventure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You know when you're driving down the highway and you see a plane landing in your rear-view mirror. It's not exactly the miracle on the Hudson. This was the miracle on Route 72.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via telephone): I wouldn't call it a miracle.

MOOS: That is Pilot Michael Barbardo, whose excellent emergency landing in traffic was captured by a traffic cam in New Jersey.

[03:55:08] This skydiving plane carrying the pilot, two instructors and two first-time jumpers lost its only engine.

(on camera): Did you consider jumping because you all had parachutes on, correct?

MICHAEL BARBADO, PILOT (via telephone): There was no chance that I was going to be jumping out of that airplane. Once you leave that airplane you have no control over where it goes.

MOOS (voice-over): Besides an altitude of 4,000 feet was low for jumping. The pilot came in at almost 100 miles an hour and steered to the median to avoid hitting cars. A motorist shot the sky divers hugging in relief. The only injury, a cut on the instructor's arm from the plane's wing hitting a road sign.

TADES SIMONS, INSTRUCTOR, SKYDIVE EAST COAST: The landing was soft. It's like a landing at the airport.

MOOS (on camera): They don't give you a ticket do they?

BARBADO: No, sorry about the road signs.

MOOS (voice-over): Like the one crushed under the plane, keep off the median. The pilot wants that as a souvenir. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: He deserves that. He just sounded like it was another day at the office, amazing.

Well, many people can't solve a Rubik's cube, period. But have you ever seen someone do it with their feet or blindfolded? Those are some of the 17 events speed cubers from around the world are taking on -- how do you do that, at the Rubik's Cube Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil this weekend.

Competitors are timed to see who can crack the puzzle the fastest. The world record for the standard 3 by 3 cube is 5-1/4 seconds. Someone did that.

Thanks for joining us this hour. I'll be right back with another hour of news. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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