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Mass Shooter's Profile Now Investigated by Police; President Trump Found a Reason to Blame Hate Crimes; U.S.-China Trade Disputes Rattled Stock Markets; North Korea Fired Twin Missiles; Danger is Palpable in Indian-Controlled Kashmir; An Unsafe Vacation for a Family. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired August 06, 2019 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Calls for gun reform are growing louder in the United States after two mass shootings within 13 hours of each other leave Americans stunned.
North Korea sends a warning to Washington by launching twin missile tests. The message, if provoke, it's ready to seek a new road forward.
And a family's vacation to London takes a tragic turn, now police are charging a teenager for attempted murder.
Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, and this is CNN Newsroom.
A weekend of bloodshed has once again forced the topics of gun violence and gun control to the forefront of American politics. At least 31 people are now confirmed dead after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.
Memorials and vigils have started in Texas where 22 people were killed, the alleged shooter is a white supremacist and the case is being treated as domestic terrorism.
Across the country in Dayton the killer was shot dead by authorities, the motive at this point remains murky but there are signs that he may have backed far-left ideology in what appears to be his Twitter account, the user re-tweeted extreme anti- police post and support for the violent protest group antifa.
U.S. President Donald Trump is set to travel to El Paso and Dayton in the coming days. Given Mr. Trump's comments about Mexico and migrants, there are growing calls for him to stay away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR DEE MARGO (R-TX): Not a political visit as he had before. The president is coming down, I will meet with the president and I guess for people who have a lot of times in their hands, I'll be with their e-mails and phone calls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Police in El Paso say the suspect has shown no remorse and has been called to authorities.
CNN's Brian Todd has the details. A warning though, parts of his report are graphic.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: El Paso police tells CNN the man who allegedly carried out the slaughter at the Walmart has been unapologetic.
Officials say Patrick Crusius, the suspected shooter has shown no regrets, no remorse for killing nearly two dozen innocent people and has been cold emotionally while talking to investigators, that's consistent with how police are telling us he carried out the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN LOPEZ, COMMANDER, EL PASO POLICE DEPARTMENT: The reports that we received is that it was a calculated attack and it was well-planned out and the reports that are coming out is that he showed no emotion, and it appeared according to the videos and the eyewitness testimonies that he had some type of training on how he approached his victims.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Training you said, can you be more specific?
LOPEZ: No, not specific on the training part but it looks like he had it pre-planned, he knew exactly what he was doing, so, whether it was weeks or months in planning, he had a mission.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Another police official tells CNN he came face-to-face with the shooter when he was arrested. Quote, "He has a stone-cold look. It was nothing short of evil."
Police are giving a general description of the weapon they believed he used to gun down his victims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was reported that it was a model that looked like an AK-47.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: The 21-year-old alleged shooter who was a white supremacist is being charged with capital murder and the shooting is even being called an act of terrorism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BASH, U.S. ATTORNEY: We are treating it as a domestic terrorism case, and we're going to do what we do with terrorists in this country which is deliver swift and certain justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Authorities are also investigating are racist anti- immigrant document they believe was posted online by the suspect. That document states it took less than a month to plan the shooting. The four-page document posted on the online message board 8chan about 20 minutes before the shooting, the author says he opposes race mixing and encourages immigrants to return to their home countries, speaking of a Hispanic invasion.
Authorities say the shooting began in the parking lot of the Walmart and the shooter then entered the store. Panicked shoppers slid under tables, others ran for their lives and a heart wrenching story of two young parents who were killed saving their infant child.
Twenty-four-year-old Jordan Anchondo was carrying her two-month-old son Paul inside the Walmart. Their aunt and uncle tell us Jordan and her husband Andre had an instant to react.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSE JAMROWSKI, UNCLE OF EL PASO SHOOTING VICTIM: From what we understood, the shooter came in and pointed a gun at my niece Jordan and Andre was quick to jump in front of Andre -- or in front of Jordan and Paul, the baby.
[03:05:05] And from what we understood the bullet went through Andre and Jordan.
TODD: They both basically shielded the child, is that correct? And then the child fell as they fell?
LIZ TERRY, AUNT OF EL PASO SHOOTING VICTIM: Yes, under Jordan. That's I think where the broken fingers occurred and the bruising occurred from what we understand when they pulled Baby Paul out, he was covered in their blood.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Police say the shooter was arrested without incident after getting out of his vehicle and approaching police unarmed as they arrived at the Walmart. He is currently being held at the El Paso County detention facility and the new El Paso District Attorney says they will seek the death penalty.
Police officials are telling CNN they are investigating the shooter's route from the Dallas area to El Paso and they hope to be able to tell us soon exactly when he arrived in El Paso. Right now, they are telling us they do not believe he had accomplices.
Brian Todd, El Paso, Texas.
CHURCH: Eight Mexican nationals were among those killed in Saturday's deadly rampage in El Paso.
On Monday, the country's foreign affairs secretary traveled to the U.S. to meet with survivors and families.
CNN's Patrick Oppmann has more now from Mexico City.
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mexican officials say a mass shooting that left at least eight Mexican citizens dead was quote. "a terrorist attack, a hate crime that appear to target people because of their heritage and ethnicity."
Mexican officials are also complaining the United States government has not done enough to crack down on these crimes that seem to target people because they are Hispanic. That it's too easy, Mexican official say, to buy guns in the U.S. that they are considering legal action against the alleged shooter, that he should be extradited to Mexico to face trial for these killings, and that perhaps others who may have helped him obtain the weapons or sold him the weapons used in the attack could also face some sort of legal proceeding.
It's not sure how much of that will take place. Nerves here are very raw people feel that President Trump's rhetoric over the last several years blaming Mexicans for America's problem, saying that there is an invasion of Mexicans to the United States that this has kind of led to these attacks, to increase attacks on people of Mexican heritage.
Mexico's foreign minister was in El Paso throughout much of the day on Monday visiting survivors, visiting the wounded, also helping people who lost loved ones. In Texas, begin the process of returning their bodies back home for burial.
And again, he's calling on the United States to do more to make sure more attacks like this in the future do not happen.
Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Mexico City.
CHURCH: And in Dayton, Ohio, we are getting new surveillance video from the other mass shooting. What you see at the top of your screen is the gunman wearing body armor, emerging just as he was about to open fire.
And in this next video we have to warn you is disturbing, it shows the gunman just before he is shot by police who responded within 20 seconds of the first shot.
We have more now from CNN's Drew Griffin.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: His mother's social media shows a smiling family, a brother and a sister, but Connor Betts killed that sister and was gunned down by police as he fired on a crowd in Dayton.
This surveillance video shows police shooting and killing Betts who was wearing a mask and bulletproof vest just 30 seconds after the first shot was fired, but then that 30 seconds was still enough time to kill nine people and injured dozens.
Sources tell CNN a search of the gunman's showed writings revealing an interest in killing people, and it's not the first time. The shooter had a history of violent thinking, he was removed from Bellbrook High School after administrators found a notebook with two columns, according to students, a kill list of boys, a rape list of girls.
Spencer Brickler says he was told that he and his sister were on that list.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPENCER BRICKLER, FORMER HIGH SCHOOL CLASSMATE OF OHIO SHOOTER: I saw him get pulled off the bus after school one day, and apparently, he had made a kill list and I happen to be on it, I don't know why. I looked up and there's two police officers standing at the bus asking him to get off the bus and go with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: David Partridge was another former classmate of the gunman, he says when a friend told him about the kill list and disturbing text messages about hurting people, they both went to the police.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID PARTRIDGE, FORMER HIGH SCHOOL CLASSMATE OF OHIO SHOOTER: This guy could go to school, he could kill people, he could hurt my family, he could hurt you.
GRIFFIN: So, you were concerned he was a school shooter back then?
[03:09:58] PARTRIDGE: Absolutely. She contacted the police along with her parents. I got up the phone with her, I contacted the police along with my father. They took her cell phone, they photographed it for text messages. They actually never returned her cell phone to her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: But how that turned into the terrible events of Saturday night is still being investigated.
(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was shots fired. There were people hurt. There's somebody hurt.
(END VOICE CLIP)
GRIFFIN: The gunman drove to the area with his sister and a friend who was also shot and is now hospitalized. Dayton Police are still unclear on what the sister and friend knew in advance, if anything.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD BIEHL, CHIEF, DAYTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: We have no information at this time to suggest that they were aware of the weapons or when they were introduced into this environment.
(END VIDEO CLIP) GRIFFIN: So far, the shooter's family has not talked. Police are outside their home. Officially, police said they have no motive. The writings found do not appear political or have any bias. What police do say is Connor Betts was armed for mass murder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIEHL: If all the magazines that were being recovered from the suspect were completely full, he would've had a maximum of 250 rounds in his possession at the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: A planned massacre that ended in his death, 30 seconds after it began.
As an adult, we could only find minor traffic infractions, one DUI when he was 21. As for those records from high school and the event with this kill list, the Sugar Creek Police Department told us told us those records has been expunged, under seal, meaning we won't get them. The school district told us our request to see those records are under legal review.
Drew Griffin, CNN, Dayton.
CHURCH: Well, Donald Trump on Monday condemned racism, bigotry, and white supremacy but made no acknowledgment of his own rhetoric which even former White House staffers and Republicans in Congress have called racist or racially divisive.
But after a tweet suggesting background checks may be a solution, the president stayed away from any mention of gun laws in his spoken remarks, instead, he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We must recognize that the internet has provided a dangerous avenue to radicalize disturbed minds and perform demented acts.
We must stop the glorification of violence in our society, this includes the gruesome and grisly videogames that are now commonplace. We must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturb individuals who may commit acts of violence. Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And we are learning more about those who were killed in these two mass shootings. Sixty-three-year-old David Johnson died shielding is wife Kathy and their nine-year-old granddaughter Kaitlyn.
The couple was grocery shopping when the shooting began. Johnson's family says he doted on his granddaughter.
And in Dayton, one of the nine people killed was 25-year-old Nicholas Cumer, he was one week away from finishing an internship at a nonprofit for cancer patients and was about to graduate with his master's degree. A professor describes Nicholas as special, humble and sincere with a great sense of humor.
And for more information on how you can help victims of the mass shootings you can visit cnn.com/impact.
Well, the U.S. is escalating sanctions against Venezuela. U.S. President Donald Trump says he is now imposing a total economic embargo against the country. Mr. Trump says it's necessary to block Venezuela and its leader Nicolas Maduro over his power grab and for human rights abuses.
The embargo freezes Venezuela's government assets and prohibit economic transactions with it except those related to humanitarian aid.
Well, the deepening trade war between the U.S. and China has investors on edge. Asia's markets extended the sell-off in Tuesday's trading. It followed Wall Street's worst day all year.
Monday, China announced it would stop buying U.S. agricultural goods and allow its currency to weaken against the dollar. The Trump administration responded by designating China as a currency manipulator.
Sherisse Pham joins us now from Hong Kong with more on this. So, Sherisse, China allowed the yuan to weaken against the U.S. dollar Monday and the Trump administration label it said a currency manipulator. What's going on here?
SHERISSE PHAM, CNN TECH AND BUSINESS REPORTER: Well, what's going on is ratcheting up of tensions between the United States and China. The first move from China happened on Monday, people could argue that it actually even happened on Friday because this has been the third straight day of China letting its yuan weaken.
China sets a very narrow bond every single day within which the Chinese yuan can move up or down about 2 percent.
[03:15:03] And on Monday, they let the yuan fall below or through, this very important psychological barrier which is seven. Seven Chinese renminbi to one U.S. dollar. And the reason why this is such an important number because the last time the Chinese renminbi, the yuan was this low, was this weak was back in 2008, the financial crisis. Right.
Nobody wants to go back to those dark times.
So, what are we seeing in markets today? We are seeing investors incredibly rattled. They are not happy with this ratcheting up, this continuing of tensions between the United States and China, and we are seeing the global sell-off continued. It started over there in the United States.
We are seeing the Nikkei down about a seventh of a percent, Hang Seng is down an eight of a percent, and the hardest hit the Shanghai Composite is down more than one and a half percent.
And if we dig into some of those stocks a little more we are seeing some of the companies that supply parts to Huawei, really getting hammered today, because of course, these tensions mean that the deal, the likelihood of a trade deal is much further off which means a reprieve for the Chinese tech company Huawei is likely not going to happen anytime soon, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Sherisse Pham, we appreciate you bringing us the latest on all of this. Thank you so much.
We'll take a short break here. Still to come, a U.S. official says North Korea has fired more missiles into the waters of its east coast. What's pushing Pyongyang to ramp up its weapons program this time. We'll have a live report for you next.
And India controlled Kashmir was already one of the world's most dangerous places, now rising tension is making it worse. We will look at the reasons why. We're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Well, North Korea is apparently North Korea is apparently protesting military drills between the United States and South Korea with more missile tests.
A U.S. official says Pyongyang fired two unidentified projectiles off its east coast Tuesday. It's the fourth launch in less than two weeks. North Korea has repeatedly warned the military drills would cause a backlash.
Pyongyang also says the exercises violates diplomatic agreements and would block progress in denuclearization talks.
Well, Ivan Watson joins us now from Hong Kong with more. So, Ivan, North Korea launched another two missiles, angry about those joint U.S.-South Korea military drills, but President Trump is downplaying the significance. So, what does all of this signal?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, it's -- I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that when North Korea, when the regime there is unhappy it starts firing missiles or conducting tests.
And in this case, they had had a self-imposed moratorium dating back to when talks began, historic talks between Kim Jong-un and President Trump some time ago, but that ended in early May when North Korea conducted its first, in more than a year, a short-range ballistic missile test.
[03:20:06] And those tests have ramped up dramatically over the course of the last two weeks with missiles fired on July 25th, more short- range ballistic missiles fired on July 31st, then again on August 2nd, two more missiles fired, and then again, early this morning two more short-range ballistic missiles fired from the west side of North Korea's coast. And that was timed with a statement released on North Korean state media, quoting a foreign ministry official saying, "that the country, the government was very angry with the plans for the U.S. and South Korea to conduct joint military exercises" -- something they do several times a year, every year, and also, U.S. decisions to send more high tech military equipment to the Korean peninsula. And this is how North Korea shows its displeasure.
The South Koreans have been alarmed by this. They have convened emergency sessions of their national security council. They've issued expressions of concerns, saying this is not good for efforts to bring peace to the Korean peninsula.
The Trump administration and President Trump himself, have downplayed the short-range ballistic missile launches. President Trump on the record saying they don't bother him. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Ivan Watson with that live report from Hong Kong, many thanks, as always. I appreciate it.
Well, India has sent tens of thousands new troops to Indian-controlled Kashmir as the government announced plans to change the disputed territory's autonomy status.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government says it will remove much of the territory's local authority and give more control to Delhi, scrapping a constitutional provision dating back 70 years. Here is more.
ON SCREEN CAPTIONS: Indian-controlled Kashmir has been in lockdown after New Delhi announced changes to how the territory is ruled.
Thousands of new troops have been deployed the already heavily militarized region. Several prominent politicians have been placed under house arrest.
A broad communications blackout also left many people without internet access or phone services.
The changes would modify Jammu and Kashmir's status from a state to a union territory. This would give Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government greater say over the area.
Opposition Congress Party politicians strongly criticized the move. The BJP, India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has murdered the constitution and democracy today.
Kashmir has been one of the world's most dangerous disputed territories for over 70 years. It is claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan.
CHURCH: A Sunday trip to a popular British museum turns tragic. Just ahead, we will explain why one child is in the hospital and a teenager is in jail.
[03:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: Smoke filling up the cabin of a British Airways flight forced the evacuation of passengers and crew. It happened on a flight from England's Heathrow to Valencia, Spain.
One passenger caught the scene on camera and said everyone just embark by the emergency shoots, no word on the cause of that smoke. Three passengers were taken to the hospital and have since been released.
Well, police in London have charged a 17-year-old suspect with attempted murder after her allege -- she allegedly threw a young boy from the 10th floor of the Tate Modern gallery. The boy survived but is in critical condition.
Nina dos Santos has more.
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sunday afternoon, at one of the U.K.'s most popular attractions turns to tragedy when a six-year-old boy was thrown from the 10th floor balcony of London's Tate Modern gallery. Witnesses say they heard a loud bang and then saw his mother frantically searching for him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OLGA MALCHEVSKA, GALLERY VISITOR: My first instinct was like, my God, something is going on and I just felt like I must take my child and try to move out. And we have -- we have rushed to the exit and then on my way to rift, I met a woman who was running and she was shouting, "my son, my son."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOS SANTOS: The child's fall was broken by this balcony five floors, below roughly the same level is that large flat roof. He was treated by medics at the scene before being airlifted to hospital where he remains in critical but stable condition.
A 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and taking into police custody after being detained by members of the public. Scotland Yard said in a statement that it had no evidence to suggest that he knew the victim who was visiting the U.K. from France with his family.
The Tate Modern was the most visited tourist attraction in the United Kingdom last year, welcoming 5.9 million people. The gallery issued a statement saying that it was working closely with the police to help with their investigations. "All our thoughts, it said, are with the child and his family."
On Monday, its 10th floor viewing platform was closed to the public.
Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.
CHURCH: So very disturbing there. And thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Inside Africa is coming up next. But first, I'll be back with the check of the headlines. You're watching CNN. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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