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Dayton Officials Reveal New Information On Mass Shooting; Chaos Erupts As Protests Rage At Hong Kong Airport. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 13, 2019 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he said, you know, who you're going to talk about that. You can't talk to your wife. You can't talk to your kids about that. You know, you have to internalize all of that. And they think that's a big problem along with a stigma with coming forward.

So there's a lot of issues that they're tackling right now at NYPD but this certainly did not help. I don't think he expected this. I think he expected the changes they were making were going to prevent a suicide, but here we are again.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Eight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eight.

BALDWIN: And you feel for their families, you feel for the families --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BALDWIN: -- in blue. Britain (ph), thank you so much for just calling that to our attention and talking to the commissioner. Thank you.

Here we go. Hour two. You are watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Any minute now, we will hear from investigators with an update on that mass shooting in downtown Dayton, Ohio that killed nine and wounded more than two dozen others. So as soon as the news conference begins, we will bring that to you live.

As we wait, let's talk to CNN Law Enforcement Analyst, James Gagliano. He's a retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent. And CNN'S Gary Tuchman is there in Dayton. So Gary, I want to start with you. You know, it's been a little over a week since that shooter murdered those nine people. Do we have any idea what to expect? What may be coming out of this news conference today?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, here's what we know. The mayor's office here in Dayton and the city's police department say they have additional information about the killings nine days ago that they want to share with us. So they will be holding a news conference in this room in the Dayton City Hall any second now. We don't know precisely what it's about. It's important to point out that the shooter is dead.

But yesterday, there was some big news. A friend of the shooter, his name is Ethan Kollie, who is 24 years old was arrested on federal firearms charges. He's accused of providing a hundred-round magazine to the killer. He's accused of providing body armor to the killer. He's also accused of assembling the AR-15-style rifle that the killer used.

Now, this man is in jail right now. He has a detention hearing tomorrow. He could face up to 15 years in prison on these firearms charges. But it's really important to point out that his attorney says that he knew nothing about the plan to kill people.

And indeed, prosecutors here also say there is no evidence whatsoever that he knew about plans to kill people. So will there be an update on that? That's what we expect, the friend, an update on that friend situation when this news conference happens at any second.

BALDWIN: OK. As we're waiting for it to begin, James, just over to you. We know, just reminding everyone, you know, the official motive in this mass killing isn't clear. Is that, at this point, seven, eight days out, is that unusual?

JAMES GAGLIANO, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, Brooke, going back to the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock, we still don't know what the motivation was there, where 58 people were killed at a country concert. Certainly, law enforcement wants to get the causality. But it's not always crystal clear, especially when the perpetrator either kills himself as happened in Las Vegas or is killed by police as happened in Dayton.

I think what's most critical here is we almost -- what we don't hear in the complaint filed by the Southern District Ohio is just as glaring as what is filed because they're charging him with unlawfully using a controlled substance and then falsifying information on a Federal Form 4473 which basically requires you to say, I do not use drugs while I'm purchasing this weapon. So he falsified that. But they're not charging him with making a straw purchase.

Remember, a straw purchase is where somebody buys a weapon legally and then provides it to somebody who's unable to own or possess that weapon legally. So in this instance, he has not been charged with that. He's just charged essentially with falsifying the 4473.

BALDWIN: Got it. We're going to wait for the news, James and Gary, stand by. And as soon as we see the Dayton law enforcement officials there, we'll take it in any moment now.

But I do want to get to the breaking news out of Hong Kong, where violent clashes have erupted between riot police and pro-democracy protesters at the airport there, one of the world's busiest.

I mean just look at this. This was the scene earlier at Hong Kong International Airport as police in riot gear fought with all of these protesters. After this police officer was beaten by his own baton, he pulled his gun and the demonstrators ran away. Earlier, protesters moved seats and those luggage push carts as they

tried to barricade the building. President Trump has tweeted that the Chinese government is moving troops to the border and just begging everyone to be safe. Hong Kong's Chief Executive is warning protesters not to push the city into the quote abyss.

CNN'S Paula Hancocks has been in the thick of it at the Hong Kong International Airport, where it is now past 3:00 in the morning there. Paula, what's the scene like now?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, we saw some very remarkable and chaotic scenes just a number of hours ago here at Hong Kong International Airport.

[15:05:05] Riot police came to the entrance of the 8th busiest airport in the world. This is a major international transport hub and yet you had riot police clashing with protesters just outside. We understand that pepper spray was used by the police at one point. We also understand that a policeman had to draw his firearm on some of the protesters because they were trying to overpower him.

And also, we are seeing the second day in a row where this airport has grown to a standstill. Protesters managing to barricade part of the half departures area off, meaning that the Hong Kong transport authorities and the airport authorities decided that they were going to close the check-in. So it's interesting to see what is going to happen over the next day or so, whether or not protesters decide they do want to come back. Thousands of protesters were here today talking about what they see as excessive force used by police over recent days. Brooke?

BALDWIN: All right, Paula, thank you so much there in Hong Kong. Again, as we wait for this news conference to begin in the mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, we are also watching the markets, the Dow up nearly 400 points today. As President Trump's blinks in this China trade war, more on that.

And CNN speaks to the mother of that young girl seeing crying after her father was arrested in an ICE raid last week. She says they still don't know where he is.

And later billionaire, Tom Steyer gets one step closer to making the next debate stage. Now, one of his fellow 2020 Democrat says, he's buying his way in.

You're watching CNN, I'm Brooke Baldwin. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:10:06] MAYOR NAN WHALEY, DAYTON OHIO: -- exactly what happened that evening. So I will turn it over to Shelley.

SHELLEY DICKSTEIN, DAYTON CITY MANAGER: Thank you, Mayor. So I know there's been a lot of attention given to the officers who actually engaged in the shooting or taking -- neutralizing the shooter. I did want to be able to provide a summary of all of the work this organization did. It is -- there was a lot of heroic service provided across the organization and across the region.

So just to sum up a few things to help you understand or to highlight the total response we had, helping the police department, there were 14 responding agencies, from federal, state, county, and other local jurisdictions. The actions -- a lot of the actions included, of course, engaging the shooter, but applying first aid, performing CPR, applying tourniquets, comforting victims, securing the crime scene, collecting physical and digital evidence, some of which the chief will walk through today, ongoing investigational activities, managing the message regarding the event and the investigation to the media and general public and supporting their teammates through this very difficult time.

The Fire Department was the first department to create the command post to integrate police and fire into a unified command. They responded -- our Dayton Fire Department responded with eight medic units, six engines, three ladders and a lot of other specialized units to support the response to the event.

Dayton Fire Department had seven jurisdictions that sent 12 additional medics. Five jurisdictions provided fire station fill-in and responded to a working structure fire on McClain Street. They also spent time supporting and continue to spend time supporting their teammates through this event and beyond.

Recreation use services, provided facility support at the Dayton Convention Center for the emergency operations center and communications center. They also provided space and coordinated with the Red Cross to create the family assistance center and they coordinated the press room, where we did multiple, multiple press events. The Department of Public Works provided a variety of street maintenance activities and helped set up the stage for the Sunday night vigil.

The office of public affairs, city manager's office, mayor and commission office, and the law department established and promoted clear channels for residents and media to get accurate and timely info, including live streaming, press events, and pushing out info on city social media channels and website. They also coordinated an enormous amount of media calls and ensured local and national media had access to city leaders. And finally, managed a great deal of donations and outpouring of public support and pushed out information to start the community in the healing process.

So, aside from the police officers who engaged in the shooting, there were literally hundreds of people within our organization and throughout the region who provided heroic service to address this tragic event. And now I'll turn it over --

WHALEY: Thank you, Shelley.

DICKSTEIN: -- we're going to turn it over for you.

WHALEY: No, no, no, I just did, thank you. Appreciate it.

CHIEF RICHARD BIEHI, DAYTON, OHIO POLICE: Well, good afternoon. We'll provide an update on a couple of things here today. First, to give a little bit of an update, is you might to understand, that after an event of this magnitude that preliminary information on casualties is preliminary and so we actually had people who were walk ons -- are walking into the hospitals asking for services subsequent to that day. So, the total here is listed before you. I won't read that out in terms of fatalities, as well as, also non-fatal. These are gunshots wounds. So, this is everyone killed or injured through a gunshot wound.

In total, 26 victims, 15 female and 11 male. And you can see the racial demographic breakdown of all of those victims. We thought it was important to give you an update as complete as we can at this time, although I don't anticipate any additional victims necessarily coming forth, we need to be still open to that possibility. I will say that.

[15:15:11] There has been incredible interest by probably all media agencies on something called timeline. And I was asked a number of questions and really in the middle of last week about, can I confirm this video coverage of the individual within inside of Blind Bob's, and I, you know, the fact that these folks were together, all three, the assailant, his sister and his companion.

And I made it very clear at that time, that's relevant in terms of a point in time, but that's not really our biggest concern. Our concern was once they separated, then what happened and what was that time frame? We now can fill that in.

So, you see right now, the -- we are able to confirm the arrival of those three individuals in a vehicle that was parked behind into the Tie 9 (ph) parking lots. You know where that set, I assume most of you. And that was 11:04 because there was a parking ticket that had that time stamped on it. So, we able to confirmed the time of arrival.

We know immediately upon arrival, all three headed to Blind Bob's and remained there until 12:13 p.m. when the assailant, in fact, left, went across the street to Ned Peppers where he remained until 12:42 a.m. He then goes back to the parking lot and then spends, this back the Tie 9 (ph) where the vehicles at. And he spends in the next eight minutes gathering content out of the trunk of that vehicle, in which he has also now changed attire. He has a very heavy backpack that he is carrying.

He then goes to the rear behind Newcom's and the Heart Mercantile location and he is there for about nine minutes. It is at that point there's physical evidence -- not only there are video evidence, but there's physical evidence to confirm that he was at that location and we'll give you that detail in this presentation. And then at the 1:04 a.m., he emerges behind the alley and that's when the shooting begins.

So, this slide here is obviously an overhead view of the Oregon District where this incident occurred, covering all the way from the -- if you look in the bottom left corner of this T.V. screen, that's the Tie 9 (ph) parking lot. So, that's where the vehicle is parked. And now, we will show you the path that all three took from that vehicle to Blind Bob's. It says, this green line that shows their path of travel.

All of this will be validated subsequently through video. And I'm going to ask to Lieutenant Paul Saunders who was the commander of strategic planning bureau who had a team of six people working on reviewing 250 gigabytes of video to try to determine path of travel, if we could identify the suspect and then the assailant, his path of travel and time frames.

The next blue line is when the assailant leaves Blind Bob's, goes across the street to Ned Peppers, where he's there for roughly half an hour, and then goes east on 5th Street down Jackson Street and then west back through the alley where he had originally come the first time but then turned to go up towards Blind Bob's when he was at that particular walkway.

The next is his path of travel once he has obtained the weaponry, the backpack, his vest, this hoodie he put on. So these shows his path of travel from the parking lot back to the walkway right adjacent to Blind Bob's where the shooting first begins and where three individuals were fatally wounded. Then across the street, there's additional victims along the north side of Fifth Street, adjacent to a nearby Ned Peppers and there's another victim on the south side of the street in front of Tumbleweed, correct? Tumbleweed.

[15:20:04] This now shows -- this is the video that was obtained from multiple businesses. I won't try to name them all, but these are the video -- recorded video that was obtained and documented this time frame, these paths of travel, and the activity most particularly when the assailant left the company of his sister and his companion.

So I will now have Lieutenant Paul Saunders come up to the podium and he will walk you through the video, some of which we may have to show more than once. I will warn you in advance, some of the video is rather grainy. Some has really good clarity. So the way we're able to say this is that -- this is the assailant is based on timeline of other video and other data points.

So we're absolutely confident, even though the image seems to be indistinguishable of who that is, that we are confident that this is in fact the assailant who is being tracked by video throughout this gap in time from the time he left his sister and his companion and then began shooting.

Afterwards, when you have a chance to see this and if you need to kind of rewind and see the video again, again, if it's hard for you -- it's hard for me, I watched it a lot of times, sometimes it's hard for me to actually see the movement and individual on the videos, so if we need to do a rewind, we'll do it. We will make this publicly available so you will have it. So with no further ado, Lieutenant Saunders, I'll bring you up.

LT. PAUL SAUNDERS, DAYTON, OHIO POLICE: So, a couple -- before we get going, kind of housekeeping, when you see the video, and it's on the small T.V. because of the quality. We have different sources of video from the surveillance cameras. To get the best quality possible, we decided to go on a smaller screen for you, because it gets real grainy if we get on to a big screen. The time stamps on the individual videos are -- everybody had their own time stamp on their security videos. So with the resources we had available, we tried to sync them as best as we could.

So the times at the top of the slides are what we're going by. We've highlighted in yellow the different -- go back one more, Matt (ph), sorry -- the different viewpoints that we have. The lower left right here is a residence that highlights the timeline of parking lot. This is the record store video that highlights the Tie 9 (ph) parking lot.

This is to the rear of Newcom's. That's a very clear video. You're going see that. That's one of our reference points. And you will understand what I'm talking about when you see some of the videos that's very grainy.

To the front is Blind Bob's. There's on the patio and then there's on the front. We have the Ned Pepper's video. We have video to the rear from the Heart Mercantile and then far right (INAUDIBLE).

Go ahead, go one more for me. So this first video is the Tie 9 parking lot. This is a private residence. The highlighted yellow is a tree branch, but it's actually behind that tree branches of (INAUDIBLE) where the vehicle is. And you'll see the three people, that's going to be the shooter, sister and friend. They're walking. So they're walking east -- I'm sorry, eastbound right now. Hold on a second, Matt (ph).

On the right-hand side which is the side (ph) of the thumbnail that shows the video that you're looking, the camera viewpoint and it will show the path. So keeping in perspective and context.

The next slide is going to be behind the Newcom's parking -- or Newcom's and the alley. This is from their video. The video is very clear, you can see that in a minute. This is the three of them together.

Please note the individual on the left is the shooter. He was wearing a shirt for most of the evening that has that very distinctive detail on the back that made it possible for us to identify him in several different video sources.

Next. This is going to be a short clip of a video of inside Blind Bob's. You're going to see the shooter enter from the patio. The sister and friend are still on the patio. He's going to speak with the doorman for a minute. He's going to exit. The time that we have on this is about 13 minutes after midnight. He leaves here in just a moment.

You can go ahead and click next. And now he at 12:14, so a minute later, this is the shooter entering Ned Peppers. He goes into Ned Peppers. He's there for about 30 minutes. Ned Peppers is very crowded, shoulder to shoulder, and then he leaves at 12:42. That's a key time also. Remember the 12:42 time, because we're getting closer to the point of when these shootings began.

[15:25:01] So the shooter exits and we catch him on video going eastbound on Fifth Street. You can see him highlighted in yellow right up here. You can see that shirt that helped us find him. He travels eastbound. You can see the path on the right-hand side on the (INAUDIBLE) thumbnail. And then moves on -- I'm sorry, back up one. I apologize.

Another point to note. So he has just come out of Ned Peppers. This is a video from actually hole in the wall which is right adjacent to Ned Peppers. The front of this is the police cruiser. This is where the police are. They're very visible at this point.

So the shooter actually comes out of Ned Peppers and walks right in front of that police cruiser. He's aware of where they were. Or you'd think he haven't seen them.

Next slide. So this doesn't look like much. But it is his shorts you can see here. This is him in the alley. This is video that was caught from the rear of -- this would be Tumbleweed. We know it's him because of the timing. And you'll see in the next couple of slides where it's very clearly him.

This is video from next door. This is from Heart Mercantile still in the alley. The shooter is now walking in the alley. You can barely see (INAUDIBLE). He's walking eastbound. He's walking back towards the car at this point.

And this is behind Newcom's. Very clear video. When he comes across, he's still walking eastbound. You'll know he's still wearing a t- shirt, he's still on shorts. There's no backpack. It's 12:45 right now.

We know at this point he's heading back to the car. We catch him in the alley. This is from the record store on Fifth Street. You're going to see him coming from the left to the right.

So then we're going to switch over to the private residence camera. That's the one you saw in the very beginning. He's behind the car. If you were on a high resolution screen, you can see through this branch that there's movement. It appears that he's walking around the car. It appears that the truck lid is coming open and shut.

He's there for about eight minutes. OK. And you're going to see him when he exits. It's been taken a second here, but on the video, we sped it up so you don't have to wait eight minutes.

But when he walks out, you're going to notice, the key thing here is he's no longer wearing a short-sleeved shirt and he's now wearing a dark hoodie and he has a backpack. He would (INAUDIBLE) the backpack in a minute. I don't know if you can see the movement on here, but there is movement right around the car right there.

And here he comes exiting. So now he's wearing the backpack, he's wearing a long sleeve shirt. The path on the right-hand side shows of how he went. He's going to cut back over to the (INAUDIBLE).

This is from the record store, so we can catch him cutting that same path right here. And part of this was just to verify at this point that he had no interactions with anybody else.

Here he comes, he's coming out into the dumpster of the building and he's going -- the thumbnail shows the path that he's going.

Can we go to the next slide?

So this is the video that's right behind Newcom's. He's going to come from screen right because he's traveling eastbound and you'll see that he has the backpack and his in long sleeves. And the backpack is weighted down, it's not empty. So this is a key point here, because -- pause for a second, Matt (ph). Thank you.

On the thumbnail, you'll see that this camera view goes to the corner, which is this corner of this building. At this point, we lost him for about nine minutes. We couldn't find him anywhere on the following video there on the next street.

So this is a viewpoint from Heart Mercantile. We shift tick up, you'll notice right here the opposite corner of that building and we -- and you saw when he walked, we saw the image of him walking across the first line. You never could see him coming this way. The guys finally picked it up.

Watch where we highlight the screen here, we'll probably have to play this portion twice. But when you play it, you're going to see him turn around the corner. And there it is. Pause it and go back. Play one more time. We'll play it one more time so you guys can see it. But he shoots around that corner pretty quickly. He was behind the building, behind Newcom's for about nine minutes. And there he goes again.

So click next for me, next slide. This is the viewpoint -- so this is where -- the corner he just went around. We have a pretty good idea of what he was doing there, because as he shoots up this alley, probably not the right turn, but he eventually shoot up the alley.

But he comes up this alley and we know that he was probably charging his weapon, loading the weapon up. Because the next day, as we process the scene, approximately where the highlight store is or where this placard is, there's an unspent round, it's damaged like it had to be ejected because it didn't charge properly. So that's recovered. It was a .223 I imagine what the shooter had.

So we're pretty sure that as he was turning this corner, he was probably charging his weapon. He had to probably recharge it.

[15:30:02] And the next video is going to show the reason why we think that as he was traveling up this alley is when he began shooting.