Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Video of Twin Peaks Biker Shootout in Waco; Obama Sending U.S. Special Operations Forces to Syria; New Video of George Huguely Convicted in Murder of Ex-Girlfriend. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 30, 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: It happened this past May. The video obtained by CNN shows the chaos inside this place. Dozens of bikers drawing their guns, running for cover. Frightened customers and waitresses running in different directions. Nine people died that day. CNN learned police say gunfire started after one biker's foot was allegedly run over by a rival.

Ed Lavandera walks us through the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The showdown was like the gun fight at the O.K. Corral. That's how a witness describes the massacre to investigators.

You don't have to hear the eruption of gunfire to feel the chaos the moment biker clubs unleash the melee. These videos take you inside the Twin Peaks Restaurant in Waco, Texas, where nine bikers were killed and the parking lot was turned into a raging war zone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god. This is crazy.

LAVANDERA: CNN has obtained more than 2,000 pages of documents, crime scene photos, many too graphic to show, and surveillance video, giving us the most detailed accounts of what unfolded last May, some of the very evidence a Texas grand jury is using to possibly indict the 177 bikers arrested and charged with organized criminal activity.

Restaurant surveillance cameras show the patio area filled with members of the Cossacks club, waiting for an early afternoon biker meeting to start. They had already been there for more than an hour. The Bandido crew rolls in as police and SWAT teams, anticipating violence, are watching from a distance.

John Wilson is president of the Cossacks biker club in Waco. He was sitting on the patio when the Bandidos arrive.

JOHN WILSON, PRESIDENT, COSSACKS MOTORCYCLE CLUB: The lead guy on that -- you know, I looked out, I was watching. He deliberately steered into one of our prospects and hit him. You know, I mean, he wasn't going real fast but he deliberately ran into him with a motorcycle, enough to knock him down.

LAVANDERA: The man Wilson is talking about is Clifford Pierce. He refused our interview request and has not been charged. In a police report, an investigator wrote, "Pierce said he did not get his foot run over but may not have gotten out of the way fast enough. It didn't matter." The Cossacks believed the Bandido ran into one of their guys and the fight was on.

(on camera): Who fired first isn't clear. One witness told police a Bandido fired first into the ground. Another witness says a Cossack fired first. And, in dozens of police interviews, the rival biker clubs point the finger at each other, or claim they didn't see anything.

(voice-over): Clifford Pierce says he hit the dirt and was shot. A bullet hits his spine, leaving Pierce paralyzed from the waist down.

WILSON: At that time it was -- it was pretty horrific. There were guys getting hit and falling and I realized that I need to get away from where I was. I looked to the guy to my right -- my left, a good friend of mine, and I told him, I said, we have to get off the sidewalk or we're going to die here, you know.

LAVANDERA: Mayhem ensues. A biker running across the patio fires a gunshot, caught on camera, toward the fight scene in the parking lot. He then stashes the gun. A number of Cossacks bikers take cover. Some slide handguns across the ground to each other.

Restaurant patrons and Twin Peak waitresses are stunned and trapped. The scene plays out in gory detail. You can see a group of bikers pummeling one man outside the patio area. Crime scene photos show a biker's body left dead in that exact spot.

This biker runs toward the camera with a bloody face. Another group pulls a wounded man into the patio and they appear to try to be reviving him. He's then carried away.

Several defense attorneys tell CNN the videos show most of the bikers there that day were innocent bystanders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Y'all going to put us in jail?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, everybody's going to jail.

STEPHEN STUBBS, FORMER BANDIDO ATTORNEY: The way they handled it with the mass incarceration of people, with million dollar bonds, flies in the face of justice and flies in the face of fairness. It's ridiculous.

LAVANDERA: And when it was over, the scene was chaos. Dozens of bikers had run inside of the restaurant to hide in the bathroom and the Twin Peaks kitchen, and the police SWAT teams rounded up the crowd, and they are escorted with their hands up. Weapons litter the crime scene, knives, brass knuckles, and more than 150 firearms everywhere, some hidden in toilets.

(on camera): It has been more than five months since the Twin Peaks' brawl and all of the bikers are out of jail, out on bond. They were all charged with engaging in organized activity, but not one of them has been indicted by a grand jury yet, and no one has been charged with murder. In fact, it is not clear who killed whom.

(voice-over): One police report says that three officers fired into the crowd, and one officer wrote that he heard "suppressed fire from what I believe to be SWAT officers with suppressed rifles."

But the attorneys say that some bikers were hit by police bullets. But as far as we know, ballistics reports have not been completed to determine that conclusively.

Police and prosecutors have refused to answer questions about the investigation, citing a gag order, but Waco police have defended their actions since the beginning.

[14:35:22] SGT. PATRICK SWANTON, WACO POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is a criminal element that came in here yesterday to kill people. They are not here not to drink beer and eat barbeque. They came with violence in mind and were ready for it.

LAVANDERA: These images of the Twin Peaks brawl tell the story of unbridled pandemonium.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All these bikers started to the shoot, and they put us in a freezer.

LAVANDERA: It was a Wild West shootout in broad daylight.

Ed Lavandera, in Waco, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Ed Lavandera, thank you so much.

Coming up next, breaking news involving the war on ISIS. For the first time, the U.S. will send Special Forces to Syria. We'll speak live with a former Navy SEAL about what's going through the minds of these troops. What they could come face to face with.

Plus, for the first time, we are seeing the interrogation of the former lacrosse player just after he killed his ex-girlfriend. We'll show you and hear how he acts when investigators first tell him that she's dead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:40] BALDWIN: More on our breaking news. U.S. Special Forces may soon be on the ground in Syria. This is a major escalation in the U.S.-led fight against ISIS. President Obama has long resisted this step. The president has insisted for years and years that he will not put American boots on the ground in Syria. But here is what we now know. Close to 50 Special Ops will be sent to Kurdish territory to help moderate rebels battling ISIS. U.S. troops sent to Syria are not expected to serve on the front lines. They are entering a very hot combat zone and can engage the enemy if they come under fire.

Joining me now former Navy SEAL Chad Williams. He's been involved with Iraqi security forces. He's also the author of "SEAL of God."

Chad, here we are, one week later. We were chatting a week ago today talking about the possibility of this happening, a possible shift in strategy. It's official today. Your response.

CHAD WILLIAMS, FORMER NAVY SEAL & AUTHOR: I think that it's a great call. The head of our enemy, the snake of the head is in Syria. We need to go over there and put a foot to that head. I guarantee you none of our guys in the Special Operations community are walking around with their tail between their legs. They are hungry to get over there. I'm sure they are saying, thank you, sir, may I have another. They are hoping chains will be cut and they can be sent over there to advise-and-assist and put a heel to the head of that snake in Syria.

BALDWIN: Our Special Forces their mighty men are ready to roll. Let me ask you about the language. There was a back and forth between our correspondent and a spokesperson. The notion of advise-and-assist versus combat, to you is there a difference?

WILLIAMS: It is a combat role, but it's not going to be American forces on the very front in the spotlight. We're going to be working a little more in the shadows we're there in case these guys get into a situation where we need a little bit of backup. We're there to assist them. That's the assistance part of these advise-and-assist operations. Primarily it's going to be led by resistance fighters and we're there to advise them and teach them how to take the fight to the enemy against a fierce enemy. ISIS is evil. The beheadings and burning of the pilot and so many others baring these children, so they are going over there for a righteous cause.

BALDWIN: How mighty are the Kurds who we will be partnering with to defeat ISIS? I have heard them described different ways.

WILLIAMS: I have worked with them before. These are the kinds of guys that will not back down. I'm glad we have them. They are not the types that will abandon their post. So I'm happy. They are there to give their master a good run as well.

BALDWIN: I was talking to a Green Beret earlier in the week who said we need to go and leave a light footprint. The last thing the United States needs to do is get entangled over committed into what he called already a quagmire. How do we pull that off?

WILLIAMS: That's what the Special Operations community is all about. It's about being strategic and crippling the enemy. Going after individuals and taking out strongholds. That's definitely our area of expertise. This isn't going to be a large ground force. We're going to take them out in particular ways.

BALDWIN: How? Without divulging what you know.

WILLIAMS: Without getting into security, taking some of these guys that are high value individuals and you want to go for the head of the snake. So that's there in Syria. So if we could cut the snake's head, you have -- it will be crippling the enemy, going after these individuals and taking out some of their strongholds.

[14:49:48] BALDWIN: Chad Williams, thank you so much. And thank you for your service.

Up next, we have chilling new video showing the interrogation of the former UVA lacrosse player after he had just killed his ex- girlfriend. We will show you how he reacted when they told him she died, and his version of the murder.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: For the first time, we're now hearing from convicted murder George Huguely. He was the lacrosse player found guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend in 2010. CNN affiliate, WVIR, just obtained his interrogation tape. It was recorded shortly after she was found unresponsive in her apartment. Police detained him on what he thought were assault allegations and then we see the moment he learns she's dead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:50:06] UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: What happened next?

GEORGE HUGUELY, ACCUSED OF MURDERING EX-GIRLFRIEND: We had an accident. She was hitting her head against the wall. I grabbed her and shook her and I said, stop. I looked at her and said, we need to talk about this. I was holding her arms. She stopped screaming. She should have been probably.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: You killed her.

HUGUELY: She's dead? She's dead?

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: I think you knew that already.

HUGUELY: Oh, no, no, no, I didn't know. I didn't know.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Why didn't you know?

HUGUELY: She's not dead. She's not dead. She's not dead. No way she's dead. She's not dead. There's no way she's dead. There's no way --

(CROSSTALK)

HUGUELY: There's no way. There's no way.

BALDWIN: A 22-year-old.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Jean Casarez covered the whole trial in the courtroom.

You were in the courtroom. With these tapes, the reaction, this was from several years ago. Why is this being released now? JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the first time I'm

watching it right now. The judge sealed that videotape along with the other evidence. Even the gallery couldn't see it and sealed it until the last appeal and that just ended because they appealed to the Supreme Court. This is a different George than the public has been led to believe we ever knew existed. He voluntarily went to the police department on that morning. This was shortly after he was last with her. A source close to the family says he was extremely intoxicated because --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: During this interrogation?

CASAREZ: Yes, both of them were just about to graduate. They were on again, off again. That morning he started drinking with his father on the golf course and kept drinking throughout the day. When they got to the apartment, she was very intoxicated, too. You saw on that tape right there he says that Yeardley began to bang her head on the wall also, but he admits putting his hands around her neck. She was found face down in her pillow. The big question was, did George leave her there or did she put herself face down in the pillow. But she was a beautiful girl. They have a foundation for domestic violence. George says, and you heard, he never meant to kill her. But he was convicted of second-degree murder, 23-year sentence, and he is in a Virginia prison.

BALDWIN: Awful for both families.

Jean Casarez, thank you so much.

Just ahead, more on our breaking news. In the world of politics, Republicans suspending their debate with NBC over their gotcha questions from this week's debate. Hear what staffers did on the flight home after Wednesday's debate.

Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:57:33] BALDWIN: When you think of artificial intelligence, maybe you think of the terminator. Even tech giants like entrepreneur, Elon Musk, have been warned about the dangers of A.I.

Rachel Crane here at CNN looks at the most powerful super computer and whether it's actually something to fear.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA & SPACEX: A.I. is more advanced than people realize and the pace of progress is greater than people realize. It's fairly obvious if you saw a robot walking around and talking and behaving like a person, what's that? That would be really obvious. What's not obvious is a huge data bank with intelligence that's vastly greater than what a human mind can do. RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Computers were

invented out of necessity. They do things faster than we can. In America, nothing is stronger or faster than a super computer named Titan.

(on camera): Why do we need a super computer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The super computers that we have today are addressing some of the most important problems that we have in the world. They just can't be done on smaller computers. In fact, we need more powerful computers to address fully all of the science that we want to be able to accomplish.

CRANE: What's the difference between super computers and artificial intelligence?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Super computers are about the hardware we use to calculate the numbers and processing the data. Artificial intelligence is more about what is the algorithms and software we need to process the data. With Titan, the advantage we have is we can run multiple designs in parallel to try to find the right design that works best.

CRANE: Is this the kind of computer we should be scared of?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love science fiction movies and seen the ones with computers taking over the world. We are a long ways from anything like that happening.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[14:49:33] BALDWIN: Let's get to it. This is CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We start hour two with more breaking news, a bigger role for the United States against the most brutal terrorists on earth. This is a major reversal in policy. We'll now see U.S. boots on the ground inside of Syria for the first time, to be precise U.S. Special Operations forces. Those are the ones who will be heading to Kurdish- controlled territory in northern Syria to help the rebels as they battle ISIS. But the specific mission of these U.S. troops is, at this stage, murky at best. We just heard a fiery exchange between White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest and our own White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, about whether this constitutes a combat --