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Dallas Sniper Kills Five Police Officers, Wounds Seven. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 08, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00] ANNA GARNAAS, TEACHER, J.J. HILL MONTESSORI MAGNET SCHOOL: I weep for the opportunities these children would have had because of you in the future that are now lost.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Anna Garnaas, thank you so much for joining us, our deepest condolences to you and all of his other friends, certainly his family out there in Minnesota. Thank you so much.

We have much more on the police officers killed in Dallas coming up. The next hour of NEWSROOM starts right now.

Good morning. I'm Wolf Blitzer in for Carol Costello. We're following the breaking news. Thank you very much for joining.

We're keeping a very close eye up on Capitol Hill right now where the Congressional Black Caucus is getting ready to hold a news conference in minutes. It was initially scheduled to discuss the police-involved killings of two African-American men. Now it's sure to include that ambush in Dallas.

A sniper guns down 12 police officers, killing five of them. They were at a peaceful protest over this week's deadly shootings. The Dallas police chief says that was a major motivation for the gunman. He was killed by a police explosion. But only after he ended talks with police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DAVID BROWN, DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT: The suspect said he was upset about Black Lives Matter. He said he was upset about the recent police shootings. The suspect said he was upset at white people. The suspect stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The "Dallas Morning News" capturing the shock even before the death toll has been finalized. "Ambush," we see it there, the headlines screams. Here is the frantic radio traffic of police officers pinned down in the area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Assist officer, shots fired. Code 3, stop the radio, officer down. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got a guy with a long rile. We don't know

where the hell he's at.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Parking garage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Slow down, he's in the damn building right there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't know where he's at. He's in that building. We're hearing shots from that building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have got (INAUDIBLE) down here right now. Get them here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're on their way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe possibly in the El Centro College building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The suspect is inside the El Centro building. Inside the El Centro building.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Sara Sidner, Kyung Lah are on the ground for us in Dallas now.

Sara, let's get the latest on the investigation. First to you, give us the latest.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, we heard from Dallas chief, David Brown, who talked a lot about the suspect who is now deceased. He said he wouldn't say anything about the three other people who they have detained in connection potentially with these shootings. But he said the suspect did tell police that he was acting alone but that he also wanted to kill white people and particularly kill white police officers. But that he was not affiliated with any other organization. That he was doing this because he was angry about what was happening in this country when it comes to police versus black Americans. We also heard from the police chief exactly how the suspect ended up dying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: We cornered one suspect and we tried to negotiate for several hours. Negotiations broke down. We had an exchange of gunfire with the suspect. We saw no other option, but to use our bomb robot, and place a device on the -- its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was. Other options would have exposed the officers to grave danger. The suspect is deceased as a result of detonating the bomb.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So you're hearing these extraordinary measures that police went to, to try and save their officers and the public frankly and this is after five police officers had been killed, seven had been injured, and two civilians, you're hearing there that police here in Dallas used a robot and then detonated a bomb when that was -- that was taking that robot into a school that's here.

I also want to talk to you about what has happened since then because what was fear has turned into sorrow, has turned into worry again about how this country is going to recover from all of this.

[10:05:01] Not just the police shootings here in Dallas but the shootings of black American men at the hands of police that started some of the protests around the country, and we're listening now to Police Chief Brown talking about how we need to bridge that divide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: There are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred to our city. All I know is this, this must stop, this divisiveness between our police and our citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So you're hearing him say stop the divisiveness. We're also hearing that from some of those who took part in the protests here that broke up just before the shootings happened. One of the comments from one of the young ladies who said it was the first time she decided to come out and march in anti-police brutality protests, and she said, you know, we have to do something and we can't just do it as one group or another. This has to be a collective effort. Police, the community, black folks, white folks, Latino folks, everybody needs to come together.

And while that sounds like a Kumbaya moment, that she said is the key to making America, putting America in a better place.

BLITZER: Good point, Sara, thank you very much. We'll get back to you.

I want to go to Kyung Lah. She's over at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas with more on the victims. What's the latest you're hearing, Kyung?

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, if there was any good news out of that news conference with the police chief that you just heard Sara talking about, it was that he did say that of these seven police officers who were taken to area hospitals, and we believe that they were brought here to Baylor and to Parkland Hospital which is just on the other side of town, they're both level one trauma centers. We're very concerned about their status. The police chief says that they've gone through surgery and most of them will be either released or in the process of being released so there is some good news about their conditions.

Throughout the night here, though, it has been a gut-wrenching scene because it's not just the wounded who have been coming here but also the police officers who have been deceased. It has been very evident from what we've been seeing of the police officers who are coming, the ones who have been arriving in their various patrol cars and on their motorcycle units that for them this is like their family and that has become very, very clear. Five police officers lost in this horrific shooting. The deadliest

day for law enforcement since 9/11. And we don't know who they are yet. We don't know their identities except for one. His name is 43- year-old Brent Thompson. We know that he is a Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer. We've learned a few things about him. That he worked overseas as an independent police officer, contracted police officer training Iraqi and Afghani police to work as a team. That that was his goal. And when he came back here, he really sought law enforcement as his passion, as his profession.

Here's what the president of DART told us.

What he said was that this is a man who just got married two weeks ago. He was someone who was looking up in his life, that he was looking forward to expanding his life. That this felt like his life was complete. And in large part because, Wolf, the person he chose to marry was a fellow police officer -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What a heartbreaking story. Our deepest, deepest condolences to his family and his friends.

Kyung, thank you.

Let's discuss all of this. We're joined by our panel, CNN's senior law enforcement analyst, the former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes is with us. Retired New York City police detective Joseph Giacalone. Our legal analyst Midwin Charles and LaMont Cole, a friend of the Alton Sterling family, the man who was killed -- shot and killed during a confrontation with police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Let me start with you, Joseph. The robot with the bomb that killed the sniper in Dallas, that's a pretty startling development. What do you make of that tool that was used?

JOSEPH GIACALONE, RETIRED NYPD DETECTIVE: Yes, absolutely. Talk about the choice of last resort in that incident. You know, this guy was going to kill more cops. Even if you rushed in that place with long guns, the likelihood of another officer getting shot or several officers getting shot were pretty good. So unfortunately, the chief had to make a very tough decision. I'm sure he's going to be second- guessed on this but I don't think there was any other way. I mean, besides sending in canines, that might have been the only other issue that you might have been able to do it. That's one option that I might have also looked at prior to that.

[10:10:07] BLITZER: Tom Fuentes, pretty extraordinary move, you send a robot in. He apparently had been firing that assault rifle for about 45 minutes. They couldn't get him so they sent the robot with an explosive device, a bomb. It goes in there, blows it up and kills him. It's pretty extraordinary.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That's a great idea, you know. They negotiate, he didn't want to surrender. He could have surrendered, he'd be alive right now. He chose not to, he chose to shoot at the police. And, you know, as the earlier guest mentioned, that the police charge him, he's heavily armed. You're probably going to have another one or two or three dead officers. If you send a dog in, it takes a long time to train dogs to do a good job, you have dead dogs then. And I just think, you know, this was the safest way to do it and hopefully the robot can be repaired quickly.

BLITZER: Yes. What about the apparent skill of the sniper?

FUENTES: Well, when you have this many officers shot and that many killed in one series of shootings, that's pretty skillful shooter, so I think that, you know, the idea that he could be dangerous until he takes his last breath or surrenders, there's no question about that in my mind.

BLITZER: He must have had, Joseph, some pretty sophisticated training to do what he did, don't you believe?

GIACALONE: Sure, absolutely. And maybe even some military training. If you see the one video where he actually charges the officer, that's like a military-style training where you run towards your victim instead of retreat like officers are taught to. So that's something that's a concern. We don't know if he's part of a militia group or a part of military training but he did receive some training or he did it himself, some extensive range shooting.

BLITZER: LaMont, you heard the police chief in Dallas, David Brown, say that the shooter, while he was negotiating with the police, he said he wanted to kill white people, he wanted to kill especially white police officers. He was angered by Black Lives Matter.

When you heard all of this, what went through your mind?

LAMONT COLE, FORMER PRESIDENT, NAACP BATON ROUGE CHAPTER: I was outraged by that thought process. I don't think the Black Lives Matter movement is about attacking any individuals in our country or attacking any group. I think it's simply about seeking justice. And so for an individual to take this movement and use it to harm people, to even kill police, it's extremely frustrating and it angers not only myself but many of the people who are living here in the Baton Rouge community.

By no means is this an attack on police officers. They go out every day and work extremely hard to protect us and to save lives. And I think what we saw in Dallas from those officers there was an extreme amount of courage and so my condolences are with the families of the dead officers and my prayers are with -- of the members -- of the residents who live in Dallas, but for that individual to say he was angry and wanted to kill white people and wanted to kill white officers is completely -- it's just amazing to me. It makes me angry and I think that individual needed some serious, serious mental help for even having those thought process and even taking that type of action.

BLITZER: And LaMont, I know you're involved with the NAACP which is trying to do its best to obviously calm things down. What's it like in Baton Rouge right now a couple or three days after that horrific incident we all saw on video? COLE: Amazingly it is still peaceful here. There are still peaceful

protests being held all over the city, particularly in the area where the incident took place. Residents are remaining peaceful. The outpouring of love and support for the Alton Sterling family has been overwhelming. There was a tremendous prayer vigil last night with hundreds of members of the clergy and thousands of members of this community in the area where the incident took place.

Our members praying, people praying, people being peaceful. People trying to work together to bring some calm to the city. And people trying to work together to support the family. And so we're remaining calm here, we're remaining peaceful. We're still working. We don't want anyone in our city to get any stupid ideas about taking action against the police department for any reason like that.

Our focus is to remain peaceful but to also ask for justice and that's what we're trying to do and that is the feeling and the mood here in Baton Rouge.

BLITZER: Yes, well said.

Midwin, the mayor in Dallas said suspects are in custody who are not being cooperative right now. The police chief said the sniper seems to have acted alone. What happens now as part of this investigation?

MIDWIN CHARLES, MANAGING PRINCIPAL, MIDWIN CHARLES AND ASSOCIATES: Well, I think what happens now is first of all I'm sure that these suspects are going to get lawyers, they're going to get lawyered up, but this investigation is going to be incredibly broad. You're going to have to comb over the crime scene. And make sure that you recover all of the bullets and shell casings and try to understand exactly what happened. I think investigators are also going to delve deeply into this person's background and find out whether or not they're part of a large group, are there other people like this who are out there.

[10:15:01] I mean, when you consider the amount of damage and the amount of carnage that this particular person or others inflicted, it's mind-boggling. Remember there were civilians there as well. And it's my understanding that one or two civilians were also shot.

So this person is not someone who cares about anyone's lives. Forget about trying to target police officers. But this is not someone who cares about anyone's lives at all. And I am, you know, sort of disturbed that this particular person would seek to undermine the Black Lives Matter movement by trying to say that he is somehow doing this as a result of what happened with the two African-Americans who were killed by police officers.

BLITZER: Midwin Charles, thank you very much. Joseph Giacalone, thanks to you as well. LaMont Cole, thanks to you. Tom Fuentes, of course stand by.

We're waiting to hear from members of the Congressional Black Caucus here in Washington. They're about to hold a news conference live up on Capitol Hill. They're going to be discussing all of the breaking developments. Also coming up, I'll speak with the deputy mayor of Dallas about the

deadly ambush of the city's police officers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Paul Ryan, the House speaker, is speaking about the Dallas sniper attack.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: A few perpetrators of evil do not represent us. They do not control us. The plain lives of the people who committed these vicious acts and no one else. And as the president rightfully said justice will be done. We also had to let the healing begun as well.

This has been a long week for our country. It's been a long month for America.

[10:20:03] We've seen terrible, terrible senseless things. Every member of this body, every Republican and every Democrat, wants to see less gun violence. Every member of this body wants a world in which people feel safe regardless of the color of their skin. And that's not how people are feeling these days.

Sometimes we disagree on how to get there. Sometimes we disagree passionately on how to get there. But in having this debate, let's not lose sight of the values that unite us. Let's not lose sight in our common humanity. The values that brought those protesters to the streets in Dallas. The values that brought those protesters to the streets in Washington last night.

Respect. Decency. Compassion. Humanity. If we lose those fundamental things, what's left? We need to take a moment here for reflection, for thought, for prayer, for justice, for action. Right now let's let justice be done and let's also let some healing occur, too. I yield.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The gentleman yields.

For purposes, the gentle lady from California seeks recognition. Without objection, the gentle lady is recognized for one minute.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The ambush and murder of police officers during a peaceful protest is a tragedy that tears at the heart of every American. I agree with the speaker that this -- episodes like this must not harden our divisions but should unify us as a country.

We are all horrified by this despicable act of violence and we share in the shock and grief for the officers killed, their loved ones and the entire Dallas community. When these officers left their homes earlier in the day, there's always the chance that they would be in danger.

Right now we don't even know the names of all of them. The names have not been released. But I do want to acknowledge DART Officer Brent Thompson, and those whose names are yet to be released, as well as those who are wounded including one civilian.

Many questions --

BLITZER: Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, the minority leader, speaking out. Earlier you heard the House Speaker Paul Ryan. Obviously very, very moved by the horrendous situation that unfolded in Dallas overnight.

In moments -- moments from now members of the Congressional Black Caucus, they'll be holding a news conference up on Capitol Hill. They plan to address the deaths of two black men by police officers earlier in the week. They will address that, no doubt. But the shootings of 12 police officers in Dallas will also come up. We'll have coverage of that. Stand by.

We're joined now by Erik Wilson. He's the deputy mayor pro tem of Dallas.

Erik, thank you so much for joining us. How is your community dealing with this horrendous situation that unfolded overnight?

DEP. MAYOR PRO TEM ERIK WILSON, DALLAS: First of all, thank you for having me. We're in shock as we go through the process of trying to deal with the gravity of the situation.

BLITZER: Is this an isolated incident as far as you know, Mayor, one individual killing these police officers, injuring the others, or are there suspects arrested or still at large?

WILSON: According to our update this morning, there's only one suspect. That was the suspect that was deceased last night, so we're not looking at any other active shooter.

BLITZER: Can you tell us something about this sniper? His background? What have you learned about him?

WILSON: At this point, it's still under investigation. We're still gathering information. And as we have it, we'll release it.

BLITZER: You'll release his name at some point as well?

WILSON: Yes.

BLITZER: Because I assume you're trying to find out information, if he was involved with other groups or whatever, if he was on social media, if he was inspired by some hate groups or whatever to go out there and do this. Can you share any of that information with us at this point?

WILSON: What we're doing is we're going through every lead, social media, phone records, anything that we can find to try to trace this individual back to the source and to rule out any possible connections to any organization.

[10:25:04] We want to make sure that this is a lone gunman and make sure that we have everyone that we need. BLITZER: The whole community right now I'm sure is in shock right

now. How are you guys going to deal with the fallout from this, the concern? These police officers, they go out there on a day-to-day basis, they risk their lives, but no doubt not only in Dallas but in other communities across the country, there must be a heightened sense of fear and a heightened sense of alert.

WILSON: Well, in Dallas, we've been blessed, we have a wonderful police chief, Chief Brown, and his recognition of previous incidents such as Ferguson, the forethought to be able to come up with programs to help community relations. We were up until yesterday one of the model cities in terms of police and community relations. And we still are that. And we still committed to being that. So it's very shocking for this to happen here. Considering the fact that we have programs such as Let's Talk where we take young men from disadvantaged communities and we have one-on-one communication with law enforcement.

It's just the community and law enforcement and they talk about real issues. How they can relate to one another. So this is -- this is shocking for us. And we want to continue that model and moving forward and creating a positive influence in our community both from the community and from the police perspective.

BLITZER: Mayor, I'm anxious to hear what your thoughts were when you heard your police chief David Brown say that the suspect, the sniper who was eventually killed in this robot bomb explosion after firing all those shots at police officers, that he told them he really wanted to kill white people, especially white police officers. What went -- what went through your mind when you heard that?

WILSON: Disappointment. Just as the whole movement for the peaceful demonstration of Black Lives Matter, so does the women and men in blue, their lives matter as well. I kept saying all last night that even though we're in disagreement, no war or no conflict has ever been solved with violence. It's always been solved with conversation. And that is something we need to focus on and that we're committed to focus on and continuing in the community, engagement and conversation, so that we can understand that, yes, there may be subtle differences, such height and skin color, but we all want the same thing.

BLITZER: Well said. Erik Wilson is the deputy mayor pro tem of Dallas. Thank you very much. Once again our deepest condolences to you, to the entire community in Dallas.

I want to go to the Congressional Black Caucus under way. They've got a news conference making a statement here in Washington. Let's listen to that.

REP. G. K. BUTTERFIELD, CHAIRMAN, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS: Say to America that we are continuing our fight to remove guns from the hands of would be terrorists and criminals and require background checks for those seeking to purchase firearms.

We need legislative action now. We don't need to leave the Hill this week or any week without assuring the American people that we understand the problem of police misconduct in America. We understand the murders of innocent black Americans. We get it. We understand the problems faced by our law enforcement officers. And I don't want to diminish that in this conversation today.

We understand the problems faced by law enforcement officers, most of whom put on the uniform every day and serve and protect our communities.

Republicans, what on earth are -- why are you recoiling and not giving us a debate on gun violence? Why not give it a hearing? Give us a debate. Give us an up or down vote on our legislation on gun violence. Why?

Last night while on the floor, we were advised that several hundred protesters were en route to the capital. Demonstrating and protesting and exercising the First Amendment rights, their First Amendment rights by demanding that we as elected officials protect their sons and daughters and their grandsons and granddaughters, their brothers and their sisters.

At 10:00 p.m., the Congressional Black Caucus, along with other members from other caucuses, went outside of the capital at the west front and we met the demonstrators. We spoke to them. We embraced them. And we helped lead their march to the White House.

They told us with unambiguous clarity that Black Lives Matter, that the movement is serious. It is organized and they demand legislative action now. And that we don't leave this place until it's done. I applaud -- we applaud the demonstrators last night for telling us that the deaths of Baton Rouge -- that deaths in Baton Rouge, in Falcon Heights --