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Sheriff: Deputy's Killing Was "Cold-Blooded"; Deputy "Executed" At Gas Station, Man In Custody; Train Terror Attack Spurs New Security Talks; Erika Weakens, 5 Inches Of Rain Expected; Trump: Vets Not Treated As Well As "Illegals"; Remembering Hurricane Katrina. Aired 12-1p

Aired August 29, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now in the NEWSROOM, a Texas deputy is shot and killed while gassing up his patrol car. Now one man is being questioned and police says it's his mother who called police.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Who is Huma married to? One of the great sleazebags of our time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: GOP presidential frontrunner, Donald Trump, now suggesting one of Hillary Clinton's aides shared classified information with her husband.

And Florida bracing for floods as remnants of Tropical Storm Erika takes aim at the sunshine state. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

All right, hello again, everyone and thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We're following breaking news out of Texas where police have arrested a man or we should say they're actually questioning a man now following the execution style killing of a deputy.

Police are saying that they have not taken him under arrest. No charges have been filed. Police do believe that this man may have allegedly shot or killed or at least know something about what happened to Sheriff Deputy Darren Goforth while he was gassing up his patrol car.

CNN's Nick Valencia has been following the story since it broke last night. We're talking of someone that's now in the presence of police and being questioned. We also understand according to the police that it's his mother that made the phone call.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We got off the phone earlier with the Texas Department of Public Safety and they tell me that they have a person of interest. The spokesman there, William Cannard, a sergeant here with the Texas DPS saying they believe that this is the gunman, though, they have not filed formal charges.

Meanwhile, deputies with the Harris County Sheriff's Office, they are grieving and clearly very emotional after a ten-year on the force was gunned down. They say he was assassinated.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Captured at his mother's house. The man believed to be the gun man who fatally shot a sheriff's deputy at a Houston area gun station has been taken into custody.

The Texas Department of Public Safety tells CNN, the man's mother called the Harris County Sheriff's Department after learning her son may have been involved in the shooting. Police say it appears to be an unprovoked execution style killing.

DEPUTY THOMAS GILLILAND, HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: The witness called 911 to let us know one of our deputies had been shot. Multiple units arrived. Ems arrived on scene -- unfortunately, the deputy passed.

VALENCIA: The deputy is identified as 47-year-old Darren Goforth, a ten-year veteran who was married with two children.

SHERIFF RON HICKMAN, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS: I have been in law enforcement 45 years and don't recall another incident this cold- blooded and cowardly.

VALENCIA: Authorities say the uniformed deputy was refueling his patrol car Friday evening when this man caught on surveillance camera came up behind him and opened fire.

GILLILAND: The deputy then fell to the ground. The suspect then continued over to him and shot the deputy again multiple times as he lay on the ground.

VALENCIA: The suspect then fled the scene in a red or maroon-colored Ford Ranger pickup truck also caught on surveillance camera.

GILLILAND: It's a very bizarre incident. You know, people understand, you know, that it's tough enough being a deputy and being law enforcement in this country right now. But for people the way that they are right now, I have no words for what this type of person did.

VALENCIA: There's no apparent motive in the case. The deputy had investigated an accident about a half hour before the attack. Police are looking into whether there's any connection.

GILLILAND: So I think it's important to ask for the prayers of our community, for this deputy, his family and our department family.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VALENCIA: Local office with the FBI and Texas and U.S. Marshall's all involved in this investigation. Still unclear the motive in this shooting and Fredricka, it just seems like we are talking every weekend of another officer being killed in the line of duty, this time happening in the Houston area to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

WHITFIELD: We're going talk more about this and bring in law enforcement analyst and former assistant director of the FBI, Tom Fuentes. Tom, this was so random and cold-blooded.

The president of the Harris County Deputies Organization told the "Houston Chronicle" this saying, quote, "We have been warned of things like because of public sentiment nationally, an event over the last few years."

[12:05:09] So in your view does this sound like something so random. Does this sound targeted? How do you look like this and investigate this?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I think, Fredricka, you know, law enforcement across the nation especially for uniformed police officers on the street are on very high alert because of the rhetoric that's been out there.

The narrative that police officers are racist and brutal and use excessive force in many circumstances where it's not justified and then get away with it so there's been a very strong anti-law enforcement, anti-police in particular sentiment and narrative in the public domain over the last year. There's no denying that.

Police officers that I talk to that are on the streets today realize it. You just had this case in Birmingham a week ago where the detective said I did not shoot my gun because I did not want to be another statistic, another headline.

And then the person took the gun away from him and beat him unconscious. You have them using force now, and unfortunately there are people that roam our streets that there's no other alternative for an officer but to take their life if necessary.

WHITFIELD: So Tom, how do you suppose that the investigators will look into this because as you heard our Nick Valencia reporting just moments ago that this officer, Deputy Goforth, had responded to a vehicle accident just 30 minutes prior. How will they try to see if there's a relationship between his response to that or followed or someone that came out of the blue or what?

FUENTES: With this particular suspect in custody and I don't like all the word games, person of interest, and all this dancing around that we do --

WHITFIELD: Because what does that mean to you?

FUENTES: It means nothing to me. If this person is in the police station and he decides, I have had enough of this interview and interrogation, I am going home. If he is free to get up and walk out the door, then he is not under arrest, and you can call him a person of interest.

If the police say that you're not going anywhere, you're staying here then that's technically a custodial arrest, and at this point the police would be trying to see if there's still microscopic evidence on his hand that he fired a hand gun in the last few hours or in the last day.

They would be wanting to do search warrants to look at his clothing if there's gun powder residue in the clothing that he might have been wearing last night, forensic examination of that red truck if they've come across that.

That's part of the activity. With regard to the accident, they're looking to everything that the officer has done. Was there an encounter he had while on the street or on or off duty with someone with this person in particular?

That might have caused this person to want to come back and seek retribution on him personally, or was he driving around and saw a police officer in a well light gas station at night refueling his car and decided that I am going to go and kill him?

WHITFIELD: All right, Tom Fuentes, we're going keep it there and talk to you on this. We're in the beginning of the investigation. All right, thank you so much, Tom Fuentes and of course, our Nick Valencia earlier as well.

All right, meantime officials in Europe are meeting today to discuss terror threats on trains after three Americans helped stop an attempted terror attack on a high speed train just last weekend.

Now European transport and interior ministers are deciding how to prevent this from happening again. Joining me right now is Martin Salvage who is live in Paris. Martin, what are you hearing?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in light of the tragedy and remember no one was killed, but it could have been far worse. Thanks to the efforts of four Americans on the high speed train was deported. It was over the eyes of the public and government officials say to say that we need to figure out how to increase the security measures and one of the popular ways to get around Europe, which is by train.

That's what you have got. You have ministers from nine different countries including France. It was called by the Interior Ministry of France and they are discussing possible ideas. Maybe they go to something else like the airplane security and it's tough for the people that go on the train.

Maybe they do something like putting more armed guards on the trains or maybe more intelligent sharing. Whatever they come out with today is not the final answer. What it does show you is that given what happened a week ago, add it to the public and government officials have changed significantly. They feel that they're going have to adapt in some way -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes, Martin, you know, rail travel is so much more common there across Europe. How about the U.S.? Are there new examinations about the security on the trains and subways here?

[12:10:10] SAVIDGE: Well, subways, you know, that's the real issue. It's the same problem here in Europe. Massive amounts of people take the subways for their daily commute. Just imagine if you say that everybody is going to line up.

It would almost make the kind of transportation impossible and so this was they're trying to do both in the U.S. and in Europe. Balance security versus the need of people to easily gain access.

In the U.S., what they're looking at more and more is the idea of the intelligence in other words, trying to spot the person before they get on the train, but if it's a lone wolf, and they don't necessarily have any connection to any group, that's extremely tough to do. It's got everyone worried on both sides of the Atlantic.

WHITFIELD: All right, Martin Savidge, thank you so much in Paris.

All right, still ahead, Florida braces for major potential flooding from what was Tropical Storm Erika. It devastated parts of the Caribbean killing 20 people there. The latest forecast track coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, Florida bracing for flooding as heavy rains move in from what was Tropical Storm Erika. Erika dumped 12 inches of rain over parts of the Caribbean in about ten hours' time. At least 20 people are dead and dozens are missing in Dominica.

Meteorologist Allison Chinchar has more on what's left of the storm and its track and the threat of all of that flooding potentially.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Yes, we are still keeping an eye on it because even though it is no longer a tropical storm, we still have the potential for some flooding. Again, a lot of times they pack a bigger punch with flooding than the bigger hurricane storms.

Here is a look at the remnants of Erika and there are heavy areas of showers and thunderstorms over parts of Cuba and the Bahamas.

[12:15:02] Now really over the last ten years or so we have not seen that many storms. The reality is that we have been a little jaded because the number of storms has been there. They have actually not been that far off. It's the number in the U.S. of the land fall that's lower.

We talk about the numbers in the U.S. Mexico and a lot of the islands and a lot of storms this is all of them. There's a lot of color on that map again indicating that there's a lot of storms out there.

This is a map of 2010. This is the most active year that we had since 2005, which was when Katrina happened. There were 19 named storms, 12 of them were hurricanes and five of them were major hurricanes.

But again, a lot of folks in the U.S. don't recall it because we had zero make land fall in the U.S., Fredricka. So again, it's one of the things that we forget that the systems themselves have had plenty of storms, but our perception has been jaded because they have not hit the United States.

WHITFIELD: Yes, here we are almost September and by now we have gotten into further down the alphabet so it seems like there's a slow down for this year.

CHINCHAR: Yes, but keep in mind that September is the most active month. So even though we are far late into the season, really the peak time is yet to come.

WHITFIELD: All right, Allison Chinchar, thank you so much for the continued warnings on all of that.

All right, coming up, Donald Trump is pointing a finger at undocumented immigrants again. Why he says they're to blame for gun violence in America.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:20:31]

WHITFIELD: All right, right now a live look at Donald Trump addressing the crowd at the National Federation of Republican Assemblies in Nashville. We are continuing to monitor all that he is saying.

Meantime, let's talk further about Donald Trump and what he has been saying. CNN politics reporter, Jeremy Diamond, is in Washington and CNN politics reporter, MJ Lee is live for us in Nashville.

So MJ, you're there in Nashville and he talked about the issue of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. as it relates to crime and he adjusted this and say specifically.

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Fred, Donald Trump is wrapping up his speech right now hosted as you said by the National Federation of Republican Assemblies. It's a pretty conservative crowd and he has talked a lot about the issue of immigration and illegal immigrants in the country, topics that he has talked about a lot as a candidate so far.

Take a listen to what he said. He did take a shot at one of his rivals, Lindsey Graham.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I won the Hispanic poll. They love me. I love the Hispanic people, incredible energy. I love the people. I have thousands that work for me and thousands and thousands over the years that have worked for me. They're great people. I said that I am going to win. A lot of the Hispanics that are here legally do not want people coming in illegally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: It's a familiar line from Donald Trump that he loves the Hispanic people and that the Hispanic people love him. It's something that we will continue to hear in the coming months.

WHITFIELD: Jeremy, he also made some kind of correlation or comparison between undocumented immigrants and the treatment of American zest, to what extent?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, he's talked about this before. He says that illegal immigrants in this country are treated better than veterans. It's kind of the way that he segue ways from the top that he usually talks about, earlier on in his speech, which is the illegal immigration.

And then he goes into the veterans issue, so that's kind of his segue way. He says that undocumented immigrants get all these benefits. It's unclear exactly what benefits he is talking about.

But then he goes into talking about the veterans issue and how the VA scandals, how they have had to wait hours and hours for medical attention and sometimes days and weeks. That's the way that he kind of transitions between those two issues.

WHITFIELD: OK, and then last night before making his way to Nashville, he was in Massachusetts and he met with families of victims who were killed by undocumented immigrants, MJ. This group is called the remembrance project. You caught up with Donald Trump after the event. What was that conversation like?

LEE: That's right, the event last night was quite festive and rowdy, and people were having a lot of fun. But the one moment that was quite serious was before trump got back into his motorcade, he had a brief meeting with family members of victims who were killed by illegal immigrants, a very serious meeting and a sober meeting.

I did get to ask Trump after wards to get his reaction to the meeting. Take a listen at what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're in credible people who have been devastated by the crime wave of the illegal immigrants. These are incredible people and I'll tell you what, the lives that have been lost are going to serve a very, very important fact.

I mean, what's happened to these people is just a shame. These are great, great people. We're not going allow it to continue. There's a crime wave like nobody has seen before. We're not going to let it continue. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Now, we were able to speak to some of the family members after Trump left the event as well. They all told us that their vote is for Trump because of his strong stance on the immigration issues.

WHITFIELD: All right, MJ Lee and Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much to both of you. Appreciate that. Live pictures of what is taking place in Nashville. Looks like someone was excited about that moment and wants to take a selfie with Donald Trump.

All right, family and friends remembering now two Virginia journalists gunned down by a former colleague. We will have a live report from Roanoke, Virginia next.

Plus our legal guys weigh in on what businesses can and cannot do, find out more about problems and mental problems and employee's past.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Hello and thank you for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. A very difficult moment for the staff at WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia, last night, the station carried out its first live shot from the field since two co-workers were gunned down in the middle of an interview live on morning television.

CNN national correspondent, Polo Sandoval is in Roanoke. So Polo, explain to us why this was so difficult and so long the station did not have any of the reporters and photographers out in the field in large part because they were mourning and very fearful.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Fred. We're standing outside of the place that was considered a second home for Alison and Adam so it's only fitting that it is the site of a memorial that continues to grow even three days after that terrible shooting and really the last three days we've seen people come and go. So many of them strangers that didn't even know these two young journalists, show up the walk over this line of bushes, in fact these flowers just placed here only seconds ago and they're able to come here and show their support.

[12:30:13] And now what we're seeing here Fred, is a virtual sea of it which stands out are the miller balloons of flowers, letters that are specifically addressed to Adam and Alison.

One of the most recent additions though which I thought was something to show you here Fred, is this picture, it's a photograph of Alison and Adam you see them there in a sport's car, both of them thumb's up, obviously a sign of their personalities.

And I think that this tells a lot of the story here too, Fred in working in a news business we often spend more times with the people that we work with, I suppose to our families.

And so clearly these two young journalists that lead very short but very accomplished lives had a very strong professional bond and that's very evident here. I'll tell you what because, mostly all of these letters, the notes on the balloons are addressed not just to Alison, not just to Adam but to both of them because they worked as a team for a long time. And I think that that's what we're seeing. One of the reasons why this has hit so hard in this community too is because we often get our local news from out of towners this is a very transient business. People come and go from different television regions, different markets.

What's different here is that Alison and Adam are from here. They have deep roots here, they are from this community, they plan to marry here.

And this isn't the only the memorial. But you can see one off in the distance just beyond the police patrol unit that's been here and a constant reminder of that security concern and there's also one that is now set up and place about 45 minutes from here which is the site of that terrible shooting Fred.

So three days already have gone by and the pain does not seem to go away. Not just for the families of these journalist but also for the community as well.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And then Polo the only survivor of that shooting it remains hospitalized. What do we know about her condition?

SANDOVAL: That is a bit of positive news. It's perhaps offering some hope for healing Vickie Gardener the woman who was being interviewed at the time of the shooting. We are told that her condition continues to improve, we've heard from her husband that tells us that that their really trying to keep the entire community posted on her progress.

We told that she's undergone two surgeries and there is some promising hope there for her to really recover fully. But really it's those emotional scars that are going to take a long time to heal, Fred.

We need to remind ourselves. She witnessed the shooting of these two individuals at something that she cannot see.

WHITFIELD: All right, Polo Sandoval, thank you so much, appreciate that.

We're going talk further now about this. And, you know, there's a concern in so many workplaces that want to know how much should be known about any of its employees.

A red flags involving the gunman Vester Flanagan go back as far as the year 2000. And that's when he was fired from WTYC a T.V. station in Tallahassee Florida.

The station said he was let go for "Poor performance, misbehavior" with regards co-workers. And his "Use of profanity at work."

Well, 13 years later Flanagan is fired from WDBJ in Virginia.

The station says he had multiple run-ins with many co-workers and was a poor performer. Well let's bring in our legal guys Avery Friedman a Civil Rights Attorney and Law Professor in Cleveland and Richard Herman in New York, Criminal Defense Attorney and Law Professor joining us from Las Vegas.

Good to see both of you gentlemen. This is a little bit different because now we have you in front of Skype. But we're glad to have your nonetheless.

All right so gentlemen this week WDBJ's general manager told reporters when screening potential employees it's extremely difficult to get an honest answer. And in fact they said Flanagan had positive references.

So Avery what is a former employer allowed to disclose about an employee even if problematic to a perspective employer?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Yeah, we don't even know what Roanoke knew, whether they were giving truthful information from prior employers. The fact is when there is behavior that relates to violence, I know a lot of employers are reluctant to say well, we're just going to say when he started, when he left and what his job was. But I think there's a responsibility to let future employers know what the truth is, if for example someone is sending to an assistance program.

Well, employee thinks that's, well, you know, it's confidential. It isn't. And this information may very well be the failure to pass that information along to a future employer. That's what may have happened here.

Isn't the flip side of that Richard that that's a protection in place so that anyone who wants to work should be able to have an equal opportunity to find work at a new place because perhaps things just didn't workout at that former employer but that they do have the potential to be a good employee elsewhere.

[12:35:02] RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, Fred that's the fear of being sued -- an employer being sued for defamation or being sued for cautiously interfering with an employees, contractual rights in the future.

The fear of litigation is what helps back employers when they fill out these reports. And it's kind of stealth like, it's like when we pick a jury in the criminal case, he will hope you get a juror that's truthful and honest with you in the (inaudible) process. But there are plenty of stealth jurors that lie, and here when you're trying to research and understand what behind a potential employee, you don't always get the truth because former employers are afraid to tell you everything.

And yet look at the report they receive, how would you know from that report that this guy had the propensity to snap off, get a gun and shoot people, you just...

FRIEDMAN: Here's the answer. HERMAN: So it's impossible Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right go Avery.

FRIEDMAN: The answer is, if I am an employer, I am going to say to a former employer it was you hire -- excuse me -- would you hire this guy -- would you hire this guy.

And I think if the answer is, well I don't know that's the information you need. Don't make the hire especially where there's violence involved.

WHITFIELD: Well then I wonder in the case of, you know, someone is I guess categorized as being problematic and the employer says they think this person needs some kind of professional help.

We know that at least that one of the employers in the case of Mr. Flanagan that they did impress upon him that he needed to get some assistance to what extent Richard can an employer do that and say "We identify that there's a problem and we can't act as doctors. But we do think you need to seek help," you know, can that backfire on an employer who that feels that is now become a condition that the employee will say that's a condition of their employment?

HERMAN: Yeah, Fred each state regulates the rules differently. Virginia has a very liberal policy there. And as long as the employer can factually backup what they're saying, that's usually a safeguard.

But Fred, this case, this tragedy this was a hate crime and everybody is denying this or they're closing their eyes to this. This was a racially motivated shooting, this guy had some serious mental health issues that the employer either prior employers or current employer or previous, they would know it based on in his performance. This was a very, very sick individual, and these are the types of people Fred that commit these heinous crimes like the church killing a few months ago.

You just can't predict what they're going do. They're so seriously mentally ill.

WHITFIELD: All right Avery.

FRIEDMAN: If you make inquiries then that's what the missing piece is here.

HERMAN: Impossible.

WHITFIELD: All right. And at this point, I mean this is a tragedy. And this is impacted so many lives in your view Richard, do you see that employers might try to make some adjustments what, you know, based on information they have about this particular case.

HERMAN: You know, Fred, we would all hope so and in an a beautiful, perfect world, they would but the fear of litigation, the fear of defamation litigation against a big corporate entity with deep pockets they don't want to ruffle the feathers, they don't want litigation, I think employers will just do the minimal to get by on a performance evaluation on an disgruntled employee, if they terminate someone, they're not going give full disclosure to protect themselves.

And that's a tragedy. That's sad. But even if they had here how would you perceive, how could you had even contemplated that he will go out buy a glock and leave and shot at people.

WHITFIELD: OK.

FRIEDMAN: ... evident here. This guy was fired for violence and you...

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: All right, all those things under consideration, I'm sure employee, employers various employers across the country especially after what happened three days ago.

Thank you very much Avery Friedman and Richard Herman. Good to see you guys, thank you.

All right in North Carolina, police officer will not be retried for the shooting death of an unarmed college football player. We'll tell you why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:42:53] WHITFIELD: Prosecutors in North Carolina will not be seeking a retrial for North Carolina Police Officer Randall Kerrick.

Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter after he shot and killed unarmed former college football player Jonathan Ferrell back in 2013.

A judge declared a mistrial last week after the jury could not reach a verdict.

Nick Valencia, joining me now with the latest on this. So what are we learning about this case and what happens now?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, remember it was just about a week ago that jurors were deadlocked eight to four. Eight thought that Kerrick should've gotten off another four believe that he should've been charged. But because there was not a unanimous decision, the judge declared a mistrial.

Now the new, North Carolina Attorney General saying charges will be dropped against Officer Kerrick and they will not be seeking a retrial.

The family of Jonathan Ferrell says they just don't quite understand why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDALL KERRICK, DEFENDANT: I thought that i was going die.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?

KERRICK: Because nothing I would do would stop him.

VALENCIA: After three weeks of testimony and four days of deliberation with North Carolina jurors deadlock in the voluntary manslaughter trial of a Charlotte police officer, the judge declares a mistrial.

Protests erupt.

Now the state's attorney general says that all charges against the white police officer accused of firing 12 shots in an unarmed black man have been dropped.

ROY COOPER, NORTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Our prosecutors believe unanimously that a retrial will not yield a different result.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get on the ground. Get on the ground. Get on the ground.

VALENCIA: The dash cam video from the night of the shooting shows Jonathan Ferrell in the tragic seconds before his death.

It was just before 3:00 A.M. on September 14th 2013 in a subdivision of Charlotte, North Carolina. The 24-year-old, a former college football player crashes his car and looks for help, knocking on a neighbor's door in the overnight hours. He's mistaken for a robber.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's in the front yard yelling. Oh my god, please.

[12:45:01] VALENCIA: Officer Kerrick is one of three officers who respond to the breaking and entering 911 call.

Watch as the dash cam footage captures an unarmed Ferrell first walk towards the officers then apparently out of nowhere he begins to run at them.

Within seconds one officer uses a taser on Ferrell, Kerrick fires multiple shots. The ten of them hit the 24-year-old killing him.

During the three week trial, Kerrick takes the stand in his own defense.

KERRICK: It happened so fast. I just -- I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the reason that you continue to fire your weapon?

KERRICK: Because he wouldn't stop. He kept trying to get to my gun.

VALENCIA: Kerrick goes on to detail the injuries caused by Ferrell who he says was aggressive.

The family of Ferrell and even a juror say justice was not served.

MOSES WILSON, JUROR WHO VOTED GUILTY: What did Jonathan Ferrell do underlined to warrant death?

GEORGIA FERRELL, JONATHAN FERRELL'S MOTHER: Jonathan was an innocent bystander looking for help and killed. So we got to stop them from killing our children.

VALENCIA: In the conversation with CNN Jonathan Ferrell's mother said that she was disappointed with the outcome and that the North Carolina seated attorney general would not pursuit charges. She says she's going to continue being vocal about this. She believes Fredricka that her son did not have to die that night.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Valencia, thank you so much.

VALENCIA: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, still to come I'll talk to the man who was in charge of helping to get New Orleans back on it's feet in the days following Hurricane Katrina, you recognize him right there.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Power went out at the Superdome, where 30,000 people are hold up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who was at your house with you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And where is she now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't find her body. She's gone.

[12:50:00] GEORGE BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And Brownie you're doing a heck of a job.

RUSSELL HONORE, LIEUTENANT GENERAL U.S. ARMY (RET.): Weapons down, weapons down damn it. Put the weapons down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right those were scenes from Hurricane Katrina. And you also saw the face and you heard the voice of that recognizable person General Russell Honore who tried to impose calm there. All after Katrina had devastated New Orleans and the rest of the gulf shore that was 10 years ago.

Well this morning in New Orleans, a replaying ceremony was held to commemorate the 1,833 people who died as a result of the storm, and there are tributes through the weekend in the city including the annual Katrina march this afternoon.

And we understand that former President Bill Clinton will be in New Orleans later on this afternoon as well.

So with me now is Lieutenant General Russell Honore who was the commander of the joint task force and ran the military relief efforts at that time. You remember seeing him in that video. And of course he is with me now live in New Orleans.

General, good to see you.

So describe what it's like to be in that city on this day 10 years to the day of what Katrina did there?

HONORE: Well, it's a lot different with see the least Fredricka much of the business district and the French quarter is up and opened for business with more hotel rooms and more restaurants than we have before Katrina.

But at the other end of that we we're a city with 100,000 less people. But that what, has been rebuilt has been rebuilt and redone well. Now we're going to get to the rest of the work done which I think will take another 10 to 12 years to make sure that we reach the most vulnerable population and most of those people standing around the super dome and in front of the convention center they have not been recovered well.

And that was recognized this week by the president of the United States and President Bush who came to town. Both of them recognize the fact there's more work to be done in recovery.

WHITFIELD: Now you're from Louisiana. But every time that you come to New Orleans, what are the images what are the moments that keep replaying in your mind?

HONORE: Well, I -- may New Orleans at least twice a week Fredricka. And every time I pass the super dome or go into the airport traveling out, those scenes from Katrina play well in my mind and to remind me we've got to work harder to make sure we don't allow another Katrina to happen.

It was a big devastating storm and reminds us that Mother Nature can break anything built by man. And remind us it's time to evacuate, we need to evacuate. And speaking of that, I hope that the people in Florida are paying attention to their governor who's encouraging them to be prepared and evacuate as required based on the lessons learned from Katrina.

WHITFIELD: And now that tropical storm Erika has been downgraded. But nonetheless still, you know, potential dangers that come with potential flooding, so a great point on that general.

So, you know, you mentioned things that have been done and lessons learned ten years after Katrina, are we satisfied that enough has been done to better prepare and if not New Orleans then particularly this low line area of the gulf coast if another storm of the caliber of a Katrina were to come?

HONORE: Yes, I think the government here is the state, federal, local is a lot better prepared, but data shows from the Red Cross and from FEMA only about 20 percent of the people have done the requisite requirements to be actually prepared to be the only first responder.

So we still have an issue of making sure our general public is prepared and that we make sure our people will evacuate when they're told to evacuate as in the case of Florida right now people talking about it's not a hurricane. But remember when Sandy came in shore, it was not a hurricane.

So we've got to make sure our people stay aware and if you live in a flood zone, how do you know it, if you can see water from your house, you can flood.

WHITFIELD: What are some of the areas that when you do visit New Orleans at a regular basis you mentioned, you know, when you see the dome, you know, counters up particular images.

But what about, you know, the Ninth Ward? What are the areas that you, you know, have since visited and you wish more could be done or you're hoping that more improvements could be made?

HONORE: There's hope, in the Ninth Ward. But we need more than hope. We need Ninth Ward recovery to be fully funded, we need affordable housing. We need to finish build schools there and redo the roads. Most of the roads in the Ninth Ward look like the third world country, undeveloped roads that need to be rebuilt the sewer system and the rest of the city needs to be done.

All of these were attributed to the flooding that happened in the Ninth Ward. And then the thousands of people who want to come back that were not able to come back and the 55 percent unemployment rate in the Ninth Ward, we need to in vest in the Ninth Ward if we're going to make it better.

[12:55:06] WHITFIELD: All right, we're going to leave it there.

Lieutenant General Russell Honore, always great to see you, thank you so much.

HONORE: And thanks to all of the volunteers Fred and to our armed forces who showed up and did a great job here in New Orleans when they arrived.

WHITFIELD: Wonderful. Congrats to them indeed. Thank you so much.

Look tonight CNN's Anderson Cooper returns to the gulf coast for a CNN Special Report Katrina, The Storm That Never Stopped. You can see it here on CNN 7:00 P.M. Eastern Time.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, checking out top stories. Authorities in Southern Michigan are searching for a possible sniper. Police believes someone maybe targeting drivers near the Battle Creek area. Since July Police say six vehicles have been damaged along I-94 and I-64. Tests confirm that one car was hit by a bullet. No one has been injured.

And a New York TSA screener has been charged with sexually abusing a female passenger.

The LaGuardia Airport TSA officers accused of telling a college student she needed to go into the bathroom for a secondary screening. That's where he allegedly touched her inappropriately.

The screener has been fired and faces up to a year in jail.

All right, we got so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM, and it all starts right now.

[13:00:05] All right, happening right now in the NEWSROOM a Texas sheriff's deputy is shot and killed while gassing up his patrol car.