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Hurricane Dorian Makes Landfall in Bahamas as CAT 5; 7 Victims Dead, Gunman Also Killed in Texas Shooting Rampage; Mandatory Evacuation Orders Issued for Parts of Florida Coast; Rescuing Donkeys From Abuse. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired September 01, 2019 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:03] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right, hello, again, everyone. Thanks for being with me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We're on top of two breaking stories at this hour.

First in Texas, officials giving an update on the situation after a gunman went on a rampage Saturday afternoon. Law enforcement officials just telling CNN the now dead gunman has been identified as 36-year-old Seth Ator. Seven people were killed, including Mary Granados. She's a postal worker who was on the job delivering mail when she was shot as the gunman hijacked her vehicle. Another 22 people were hurt, including three police officers and a 17-month-old girl who will undergo surgery tomorrow to remove shrapnel.

And there are new warnings about a growing hurricane threat in the Atlantic. Hurricane Dorian is becoming more dangerous by the minute growing to a category 5 storm, the largest on the planet so far this year. It made landfall earlier today in the Bahamas, on the Abaco Island, and now its next target, the southeastern U.S. coast. Evacuation orders are in effect for several south Florida communities, including Palm Beach.

We also have new video in to CNN of Dorian hitting the Bahamas. A resident capturing the veracity of the winds and the rain as the storm comes ashore.

I want to bring in Jennifer Gray, meteorologist, who is tracking this catastrophic storm from the CNN Weather Center.

Jennifer, what are you seeing?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Fred, there were no changes to the 4:00 p.m. update. Winds are still 185 miles per hour. So unfortunately, they're not going down.

This is the strongest storm to ever make landfall in the Bahamas and tied for the strongest storm to ever make landfall in the Atlantic basin. So, this is a powerful storm, no doubt. It's crawling to the west at a snail's pace. This is going to sit over the Bahamas for several days as it continues its westward journey at only seven miles per hour. And it's going to slow down even more if you can believe that. 220-mile-per-hour gusts. It's incredibly painful to watch this because these areas are going to get hit with 185-mile-per-hour winds for days. We're not just talking about a fleeting moment. We're talking about days of conditions like this.

Now the storm is going to continue its westward journey. It will eventually turn to the north. When that happens, that will mean everything and the difference between Florida getting hit with these extreme winds or not. Now we are going to see impacts to the state of Florida. How big those impacts are going to be, we don't know yet because we haven't seen that turn to the north. So if this storm tracks a little farther to the west and the forecast models have been shifting farther to the west over the last 24 hours, that could mean stronger winds for Florida. It could mean incredible amounts of storm surge, and so the wind probability, the forecast intensity over the next couple of days right now, it looks like we could get skirted with a hurricane gusts as far as, say, Vera Beach, Melbourne, all the way up the coast.

But if those tracks shift a little bit farther to the west, Fred, there could be big changes in this. So already seeing those watches and warnings in place. At 5:00, we get the new track. And so all eyes will be on, if it's shifted farther to the west or not, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Just 57 minutes away from that. All right. Thank you so much, Jennifer Gray. Appreciate it.

So already reports of major damage on the Abaco Islands. Have a look at this video of people fleeing their apartment which has been badly damaged in the storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone, pray for us, please. Please pray for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And everyone is. How frightening. You can see the damage. I mean, it looked like roofs just like peeled off there and those families just crowding in what space of safety they can find there.

Let's go now to Patrick Oppmann who is west of the Abacos there.

So you're in Freeport and the conditions have gotten worse by the hour as we've been talking to you. What are you experiencing?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and they will continue to worsen throughout the rest of the afternoon into tonight and tomorrow morning where we expect to have this very dangerous category 5 hurricane over us. But I have been in touch with people in Marsh Harbor where you showed those horrible videos and the reports we're hearing are just heartbreaking.

[16:05:09] Houses under water. Cars that have been flipped over and whole neighborhoods that have been washed away. You hope everyone is OK, and yet there is increasingly the realization that this is going to take so much from so many people.

Here we are waiting Dorian's arrival. People over 3,000 have gone to local shelters. Many of them at churches here on the island, on higher ground. But higher ground, Fredricka, is relative because even the highest point of land here is only about 30 feet high. We're talking about a storm surge that can come in here topping 20 feet high. So, just like in Marsh Harbor, houses will be washed away. People will lose everything and lives will be at risk -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. All right. Patrick Oppmann, be safe. Thank you so much.

All right. The other big story we're following. So that Hurricane Dorian, it's a whopper. And then also out of west Texas where a gunman went on a shooting spree that left seven people dead, another 22 injured. The chaotic scene playing out in two towns. Midland, Texas, Odessa, Texas.

It all started with a traffic stop, according to police, when the gunman opened fire on the officers. And then the gunman then driving off and openly firing seemingly at anyone he came into contact with. Police updated the situation a short time ago saying he acted alone and he was later killed in a gun battle with police at a movie theater.

CNN's Brooke Baldwin is anchoring our live coverage from Odessa.

So, Brooke, we heard from officials earlier, but still a lot of unanswered questions. But clearly, this is an emotional time for so many people who live there right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Of course it is. And I mean, Fred, here we go again. You know, we were just a couple of weeks ago and just a couple hundred miles away in El Paso where 22 people were murdered and here in Odessa and Midland, Texas, the flatlands of west Texas, we can now report that seven people have been killed, plus the gunman, 22 injured. That includes several members of law enforcement and a 17- month-old toddler.

We're going to come back to her in just a second. What's different about this one is the way in which it was carried out. As opposed to this shooter targeting one particular location, a church, a movie theater. This seemed to be indiscriminate shooting along many miles starting from essentially in the midway point between these two twin cities, these sister cities, Midland and Odessa, and then heading towards us here in Odessa where it ultimately ended in a shootout with police with the suspect killed.

In total, 15 crime scenes. FBI at the news conference just a bit ago reporting this is not connected to domestic terrorism. You know this is going to revitalize the gun debate. Let me remind everyone, Congress is still on vacation.

With me here in Odessa is Ryan Young. He's our CNN correspondent just working the investigation. And, obviously, we're focusing on the lives lost and those who are injured, including as I mentioned the 17- month-old. But what do you know about the why?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, that's the part they are definitely still working on. But one of the things that struck me is when I reached the gas station, I saw two women hugging each other and sort of having a conversation. And they actually had a conversation there talking about how scared they were about the shooting.

BALDWIN: Yes.

YOUNG: It wasn't one location. It was several different locations and that had people terrified. Even after the fact they said there was no second shooter. But for people, they just couldn't figure out exactly what this motive may be.

As we talk about the investigation, we know authorities are doing that look inside his house at this point. They're doing -- they're executing their search warrant. People want to learn why? What was the motivation here? You think about law enforcement going to do a traffic stop and then all of a sudden from that traffic stop, shots being fired outside of the car. And you think about the response from officers. You had to sort of corral him at some point and take him on with that high-powered rifle.

BALDWIN: After he hijacks --

YOUNG: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: -- the postal truck.

YOUNG: Yes.

BALDWIN: Killing the woman inside.

YOUNG: Right. And that just scattered everyone. You see the video from people running outside of that movie theater. And you think about the fear that people had. One woman, and she said this. She feels like she's being terrorized over and over because she didn't really believe that there wasn't a second shooter. You have to understand that with so many calls yesterday about what was going on. But we know all the people who were injured. You talk about more than 20 people injured as he was going around randomly shooting.

And then you talk about the police investigation here. Listen to the police chief talking a little earlier today about what they're involved in right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MICHAEL GERKE, ODESSA POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is an ongoing investigation. It is active. There are still multiple crime scenes that are being worked. There are no definitive answers as to motive or reasons at this point, but we are fairly certain that the subject did act alone. [16:10:05] You'll notice that I'm not naming the subject. And there's

a reason for that. I refuse to. I'm not going to give him any notoriety for what he did. We'll provide that information to you, but not in this public space. There has been a tremendous outpouring. And just to the local audience, please, with your show of support, you're going to the crime scenes and you're dropping off food and water, and that is much appreciated, but it is also hindering the investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: There will be a conversation here about the range of emotions just in that news conference. I mean, they didn't identify the weapon until someone asked. That was it an AR-15? The governor said he's been to too many of these but then when he was asked about what would happen next, he sort of talked about that blue-ribbon panel. So I think some people were a little frustrated about those answers but if you think about it this way, in terms of what's happening, the FBI officer who was there was talking about the idea, we'll be ready for the next one.

And that's something that stood out I think to all of us. The idea that we're in this cycle of about every two weeks.

BALDWIN: Yes.

YOUNG: And you have to pause there if we just keep covering these and act like they're not affecting people. There's real impact. And I think that's the part of the conversation that probably (INAUDIBLE).

BALDWIN: They are absolutely affecting people, but change needs to happen in some form or fashion in Washington. We're going to go to the White House. And I know the president addressed this, this morning. Thank you very much, my friend.

And, Fred, as I send it back to you, let me just give everyone an update on the 17-month-old. Her name is Anderson Davis. She was in her mom's car as the bullets were flying. Here's the update. She will be undergoing surgery tomorrow. She's OK. Her vitals are OK. According to mom, she has shrapnel in her chest. Her front teeth have been knocked out presumably by bullets and she has a hole through her bottom lip and tongue. So 17 months of age.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

BALDWIN: Enough said.

WHITFIELD: Yes. It's hard to believe. But you know, we heard from the governor and he read that text, you know, coming from the mom saying, this little girl seems oblivious to even her injuries. She's going to be having surgery tomorrow but like a typical toddler, she's -- you know, she's running around today oblivious to what has happened.

We'll check back with you, Brooke. Thank you so much. We've got so much more straight ahead, including Brooke will be

talking to a Texas television anchor who was forced to evacuate live on the air during yesterday's deadly shooting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:16:20] BALDWIN: We are back here live for a special CNN coverage on this Sunday afternoon. Tragic story again. And here we are in Odessa and Midland, Texas, where seven people have been killed, plus the gunman in a wide-range shooting that began yesterday afternoon, and led to a shooter essentially shooting indiscriminately through miles as he was being chased by police, killing seven, wounding 22, including as I mentioned a moment ago that 17-month-old girl which is still, by the way, an active crime scene not even half a mile away.

But imagine this. In the midst of everything, this is your hometown. This is also the place you dreamt of being a journalist. And so you are -- how old?

MATTHEW ALVAREZ, NEWS ANCHOR FOR KOSA: Twenty-one.

BALDWIN: Twenty-one. You're about to meet him. 21 years of age. It's his first TV job. And he is live on the air. Matthew Alvarez here, KOSA-TV. He's live on the air. I want to show the clip of you saying get out. When all of this is happening. By the way, the context. Their studios are inside the mall where everyone was being evacuated. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: We're running through the mall right now.

JAY HENDRICKS, ANCHOR, KOSA-TV: There's something going on over here. We're not sure what's going on.

ALVAREZ: There's people running through the mall. Jay, we probably need to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Matthew.

HENDRICKS: We can see this --

ALVAREZ: Jay, we probably need to get off the air. Let's go. What's wrong?

HENDRICKS: You want them off the air?

ALVAREZ: OK. Yes.

HENDRICKS: We're going to -- there's people running through the mall. We're not sure why. Let's see what this is.

ALVAREZ: Let's keep going. Come on, everybody.

HENDRICKS: Are we going to go back to programming?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Leave the set.

HENDRICKS: OK. We're going to leave the set. We're going to slip away just for a minute. We don't know what's going on. People running through the mall so we need to see what this is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So that was Jay Hendricks, who's an anchor at KOSA-TV. It's the local CBS affiliate. And Matthew there whose voice you hear saying, we've got to go. We've got to go.

So you're 3 1/2 years into this job. Take me back to yesterday afternoon and what exactly happened.

ALVAREZ: Sure thing. Well, first of all, I was off that day. I normally have the off day but we started getting all these messages of a developing situation. So of course, back to work it is. So as soon as I get back to work, I gather the information for what we know. We get a little tidbit saying there is some sort of active shooter situation going on. A roving active shooter which is quite unusual.

BALDWIN: Right.

ALVAREZ: In situations like this. And of course, we got on the desk as quickly as possible. I initially started out the breaking news cut-in by myself. And about a half an hour in, it was around 5:00, 5:30, Jay Hendricks and I joined the desk. We were doing breaking news coverage, getting the latest updates of course in as possible. When all of a sudden, we hear a little bit commotion in the newsroom, which is our studio is located right off of the newsroom. You can clearly hear everything going on.

BALDWIN: Yes.

ALVAREZ: And we started hearing people shouting, saying, what's going on? And then I look over. It's a clear view. We have a large window in our studio. So you can clearly see out in the mall. And people are running frantically.

BALDWIN: People are running as you are live on television.

ALVAREZ: And frantically.

BALDWIN: How quickly do you realize you have to get out?

ALVAREZ: Less than five to 10 seconds, someone came in and said -- they motioned this way and then to get out. I looked at Jay and I saw people running, leaving shoes behind, might I add. They were leaving shoes in the hallway, running so frantically with their children. A busy Labor Day weekend, of course, at the Music City Mall here in Odessa. And that is when I said, Jay, we need to go. We've got to go, we don't know what's going on. We have little information here. And your correspondent not too long ago said it feels like you're being terrorized over and over again.

BALDWIN: Does it feel like that? ALVAREZ: It really does. It really does. Even going home last

night, knowing the threat was eliminated, according to Odessa police, it's still an uneasy feeling. You really do feel like we're being terrorized.

BALDWIN: This is your hometown. I mean, there are -- listen, when I worked -- I've worked up, you know, the ladder in TV and my first job was in Charlottesville, Virginia. And I didn't have any family there. You are surrounded by family. This is where you're from. This is personal for you. Your own family members were locked down elsewhere.

ALVAREZ: They were. They were locked down at the local Home Depot here. They were out just shopping. It was a Labor Day weekend of course. A lot of my family, all of my family lives here in the Odessa-Midland area.

[16:20:01] They ended up getting locked down because the shooting was so sporadic.

BALDWIN: Are you texting your mom?

ALVAREZ: Absolutely. My mom actually was in the newsroom with me when this all happened. I had brought her to work with me.

BALDWIN: You are kidding.

ALVAREZ: We had -- we were together. We came to the newsroom, and we were both running out. Of course, we went to the newsroom and made our way out to see what's going on. And I spoke to a witness outside of the mall as this was unfolding. They had, quote-unquote, "heard gunshots" which could have been anything. And Odessa police later verified that that was not true. It was an unfounded claim but nevertheless they appeared very swiftly and quickly. But yes.

BALDWIN: What did your mom say to you?

ALVAREZ: She was terrified. She was -- really can't even remember, it was such a blur but was really terrified. She really wanted to just get to somewhere safe, of course, because we had no idea what was going on. And we're a bit in a vulnerable spot being in a public place like that. Of course we have very well-done security at our studio as any TV station normally would.

BALDWIN: What do you -- last question. I've never been at this part of Texas. You fly in, you see the oil.

ALVAREZ: Yes.

BALDWIN: It's, you know, oil and energy country out here.

ALVAREZ: Of course, yes.

BALDWIN: But tell me about the heart of this community.

ALVAREZ: Well, Midland-Odessa is synonymous with the oil and gas industry. That is when you think of this town -- these towns, they're sister cities. This whole area, really, the Permian basin, you think of oil and gas activity. You think of hospitality. Good people.

BALDWIN: Yes.

ALVAREZ: Nothing like this would ever come to mind when you think of Odessa-Midland. It's really surreal for me to even be here talking to you about this.

BALDWIN: Yes.

ALVAREZ: This is quite surreal to be talking about this. Just seeing the coverage it is getting. It's unfortunate coverage. The governor is here, of course, he spoke about that saying, quote, "that there's too many Texans mourning right now." There's too many Texans mourning. And -- action needs to be done.

BALDWIN: It's true, 22 a couple weeks ago and now seven here.

Matthew Alvarez, thank you very much.

ALVAREZ: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much for being with me. And good luck to you in journalism. Hang in there.

ALVAREZ: Thank you. Thank you.

BALDWIN: And Fred, just sending it back to you, you know, you heard from Matthew. We've covered so many of these unfortunately. And you hear from folks in these wonderful towns saying, I never thought it would happen here, but it has.

WHITFIELD: Here it is. Yes. Here it is. Well, he was very poised. It was very personal. I mean, his account just puts you --

BALDWIN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: -- right there with he and his mom.

BALDWIN: With his mom.

WHITFIELD: And his colleagues there at that station.

Thank you so much, Brooke. We're going to check back with you.

We got another big story that we continue to follow today. Hurricane Dorian and its track. It is moving across the Bahamas right now. Evacuation orders are in place for parts of Florida already. We'll take you there live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:26:06] WHITFIELD: Florida's governor is urging residents to pay attention to all hurricane warnings as Dorian now a category 5 storm makes its way toward the state. Mandatory evacuation orders are already in place, in fact.

CNN's Rosa Flores is in Daytona Beach, Florida.

So tell us what's happening there.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, officials here say that they expect to issue mandatory evacuations starting tomorrow. But I want to set the scene for you because we are live at the Daytona International Speedway which doubles as a processing center for the 18,000 men and women from 34 states and Canada that will eventually be restoring power to Floridians once this storm hits this area.

Now here is how it works. These individuals come in. They check in and after that, they get deployed to 20 strategic areas across the state. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE MCDERMITT, FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT SPOKESPERSON: This is one of the processing centers where they come in. They get their assignment. They go through a safety training, and then we preposition them in as many as 20 staging sites that we've established throughout the east coast of Florida. What that does, it puts them in a position so that they are able to hit the ground running and restore service to our customers as soon as these storm passes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now in order for these crews to be out in the field after a storm hits, wind speeds have to die down to about 30 miles an hour. That's when they can go out and restore power. Now I'm in Volusia County. This county is the size of Rhode Island. And officials say that mandatory evacuations will be issued tomorrow starting at 10:00 a.m. for anyone living in the barrier islands. RV parks, mobile home parks and low-lying areas.

But, Fred, officials here tell us that any individual, anyone can evacuate now. They don't need to wait for those mandatory evacuations to be issued -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, very good point. Very good point. Get ahead of the crowds.

Rosa Flores, thank you so much.

Much more on our breaking coverage of Hurricane Dorian straight ahead.

Plus, we are live in Odessa, Texas, the scene of yet another deadly mass shooting. New details on the gunman.

[16:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

This is CNN Breaking News.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right. Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for being with me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We continue to cover two major breaking stories. Right now, all eyes are on Hurricane Dorian as this monster storm continues to intensify. It is now a powerful category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 185 miles per hour. Dorian is currently bearing down on the Bahamas and gaining strength as it continues its slow march toward the southeast U.S. Coast.

I want to play a video just in to CNN of people escaping from a collapsing apartment building.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible). Hey, look at this big Ficus just broke off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Our meteorologist, Jennifer Gray, is tracking this storm. So, we're likely to see more images just like that, the kind of damaged being done to the structures there from this monster storm, Jennifer.

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's unbelievable. We've seen some video of people in their apartment buildings are just -- are completely gone. The roof has come off and just horrifying. And to think that this is moving so slowly, you could be in hurricane force conditions for eight or nine hours. This is only moving at 7 miles per hour and hurricane force winds extend 30 miles from the center on either side of that eye wall.

So, this is a long-duration storm for the Bahamas. And unfortunately, any area that this rolls over and miles from the center is going to look like tornado damage across this area. It is -- it is devastating.

And this is continuing its march to the west. It's going to slow down even more. You can see all that lightning right outside the eye. And then the track, as it continues its westward motion, it's going to eventually take that turn to the north. And when that happens, that's going to determine so much about the impacts that we're going to expect in Florida.

Florida is still in the cone. And so the center of this storm could actually still cross into Florida. But most of the models are keeping it just offshore. But depending how far offshore is going to mean everything in terms -- in terms of impact when you're talking about how strong the winds are going to be, the storm surge, things of that nature, even the rainfall.

So, hurricane-force winds extend 30 miles from the center. So, if the storm is even only 30 miles offshore, you're still get hurricane-force winds all up and down the coast.

And as this just rides north up the state, it could mean devastation in numerous towns and communities up the state in Florida and even points north. We're talking about Georgia, the Carolinas all need to be on the lookout as far as this storm is concerned. All the watches and warnings that are currently up right there as this dangerous category 5, 18 to 23 feet of storm surge in the Bahamas. That's unreal. And this is going to last, again, for several days.

Right now, 2 to 4 feet south of Jupiter and then 4 to 7 feet across central coast of Florida. And that could definitely change and go up depending on how close this storm gets to the coast.

So, this is now tied for the second strongest Atlantic hurricane. This is number one, the strongest storm to ever make landfall in the Bahamas. And so, they've never experienced anything quite this strong, Fred. This is a beast. This is unprecedented to have a storm this big over one area for so long. It's going to be scary to see the devastation and what comes out of the Bahamas in the days to come.

[16:36:08] WHITFIELD: And to just sit there, like you said, that is very frightening. All right, we are praying for the people there in the Bahamas and everyone else in the path of Dorian. Thank you, Jennifer Gray. Appreciate it.

All right. And also, this breaking information now about that mass shooting in West Texas. A gunman killing seven people and injuring more than 20 others before being killed in an intense shootout with police. We're learning more about the victims, including a 17-month- old girl who was hit by shrapnel but survived.

My colleague, Brooke Baldwin is in Odessa, Texas, right now with an update. Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, why don't we start with that 17- month-old, Fred? A 17-month-old, Anderson Davis, a toddler was in her mom's car when this mass shooting broke out.

Keep in mind, this was a shooting that happened right around this time yesterday and had police chasing what was initially a gold car before this individual hijacked a mail truck, shot the driver, and kept going until this whole thing collided with his eventual death.

The 17-month-old Anderson, the daughter, is alive. This is from the mom. Thank goodness. Her vitals are okay. The mother put out a post saying a prayer was answered bigger than I've ever had to pray.

She had shrapnel in her chest. She's missing her teeth presumably because a bullet shattered them. And she a hole through her bottom lip and tongue. And the update we have also was that she is undergoing surgery tomorrow, 17 months old.

That's 1 of 22 victims who have been injured and then 7 were killed. Ryan Young is here with me in Odessa, Texas, in West Texas. And just to read about how it all started. It was a routine traffic stop. This guy didn't put his left blinker on. That's what started this.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, when you think about how painful this is, it started at 3:17 yesterday. So, right around the same time we are now. And people are talking about the holiday weekend. And they were out enjoying themselves. And then the idea -- it went from that traffic stop. And you hear officers say this all the time. They don't know what to assume when they're approaching a car.

BALDWIN: Yes.

YOUNG: And then, the man started shooting with that high-powered rifle through that window. And of course, the officers tried to respond. But two officers were hit in all of this.

When you think about their response yesterday and how they were able to bring this shooting to a close. But the sheer terror that lasted for several minutes. People not knowing if there was more than one shooter. The fact a mail truck was used. And that woman was shot.

BALDWIN: Yes.

YOUNG: This was so terrifying for people. Of course, the governor talked about having this pain sort of happen over and over especially here in Texas. Listen to what the governor had to say a little earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: I'm heartbroken by the crying of the people in the state of Texas. I'm tired of the dying for the people of the state of Texas. Too many Texans are in mourning. Too many Texans have lost their lives. The status quo in Texas is unacceptable. And action is needed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: So, there was some strange things in this news conference though. They didn't say what kind of gun it was until they were asked. They decided not to say the name of the shooter in the news conference itself. They wanted to say that later.

There's a lot of conversation about what the governor will do next because he talked about putting a blue ribbon commission together to talk about laws here in the state.

But then there's a lot of people who still have that fear. And of course, they announced today they believe it was only one person who was doing the shooting. That was a big deal because there's so many who in this area who really believed there was another shooter.

And I talked about earlier, there were people who are hugging and sort of just wondering what's next. And then to figure out this young man may have been from this area. The motivation is something that most people want to know why.

But again, the other question is, are we getting too used to doing these over and over again.

BALDWIN: Right. It's the why and then it's the what are we going to do about it? Just reminding everyone, Congress is still in recess, still on vacation for another week.

The president addressed this, this morning. He says something should be done but we don't have specifics. Ryan, thank you very much.

Let's have a conversation. I've got Shimon Prokupecz. He's our justice correspondent and also James Gagliano, our former FBI, can talk law enforcement on what certainly they're looking into.

But Shimon, I just want to start with you because the obvious question is the why, you know, started with a failing to, you know, put a blinker on, going left leads to seven people being killed and all these injuries. Was this planned or was this entirely random?

[16:40:35] SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes and that's not entirely clear, Brooke, if you listen to the FBI, this special agent in charge there, Chris Combs, when he was talking the local authorities.

But, you know, going by what the FBI, the special agent in charge, I was really struck by that. He said it almost -- the way he was talking about this almost indicating that there could have been a much worse situation here had police not encountered him, had police not stopped him.

There was concern it seems that he was going to go -- the shooter was going to go into this movie theater, this Cinergy, this complex where probably hundreds of people were inside, the FBI they're mentioning that, also the police they're mentioning that.

So, look, I do think there are some people on the law enforcement side that do think maybe this was planned the way this unfolded. The way that the shooter used this rifle, pointed it through the back window of his car as the officers were approaching his car after that car stop. His car is still rolling. But he had that rifle there, right, next to him, high powered, able to fire it at the officers, striking one of those officers.

And then, obviously, as we know, he continued on this rampage. The question is -- did he lure police into this? Did he do this traffic violation on purpose so that he could get pulled over by police and wanted to start this chain of events?

And I think that's a thing we don't yet for sure. But certainly, that is something that is on the minds of law enforcement as investigators -- and investigators as they work through this, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And by the way, just in some reviewing some of the Texas law, I believe it's perfectly legal to have this assault-style rifle to own it, to have it in a car, which is, obviously, what had been used to kill these seven people and injured many including law enforcement officials.

James Gagliano, all right, we don't know the why. Perhaps there was an inference that there could have been more bloodshed. We don't know that for sure. What we do know is that it's another mass shooting in America. But what makes it different is that it wasn't one target. It wasn't a church. It wasn't a movie theater. It wasn't a sporting event. It was a roving shooting last for miles.

JAMES GAGLIANO, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Yes. We call that a mobile crisis site in the business, Brooke. And that's what is just so exponentially more difficult for law enforcement. Why is that? Because you can't contain the shooter. You can't get all of the civilians out of the area, block it off, and then either attempt to negotiate with the shooter or interdict them.

And in this instance, you know, I go back to your point earlier with Ryan. What was the point here? And whether or not there was a second shooter. That has to be paramount for law enforcement. I listened to the entire press conference. I walked away with a lot of questions. But then again, I don't have all the answers that law enforcement does.

They're going to conduct ballistics tests. And when they do that, they're going to test internal ballistics, external ballistics, terminal ballistics. What makes that hard, Brooke, to your point, when you have a running gun battle or somebody shooting across 20 miles between Odessa and midland, it makes it difficult to collect the projectiles. That's going to make it really hard, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And just reminding everyone, you know, they were chasing this gold car as he was shooting and driving and then ultimately hijacked this postal truck. And the woman has been killed whose truck it was. And so, that then led police on a wild goose chase because they didn't even know where he was. Fifteen different crime scenes.

Shimon, we know that the FBI today also mentioned search warrants. Where -- I mean, presumably going to his home, digging through his electronic records, right, that kind of thing?

PROKUPECZ: Yes. Exactly. So, they're going to get search warrants for his home. If there's a computer, they're going to need to get search warrants for that. They going to get -- need to get search warrants for any phones that he owned because, obviously, that is going to be what they're going to need to look at to see if this was planned and also family members. What was going on in this person's life in the days leading up to this, in the months, and the weeks? They're going to back. And they're going to put this all together.

I was listening to all this unfold yesterday on the scanner traffic, Brooke. And it was chaotic. And I think that is partially what's going on here. You have so many different agencies involved, different jurisdictions from the police department -- different police departments, sheriff's offices. They were all trying to work together.

And I think some of that confusion and some of that some of the information just isn't flowing as we would expect in these kinds of situations right now.

Publicly, the press officials are there from the police department. You know, in Dayton, we saw a very different response from the police department there in releasing information.

This is a very different situation. There still are a lot of questions that need to be answered. And hopefully, police will get there and be able put this out there sooner rather -- sooner than later. Because, so far, they started doing a good job of this in the beginning, but now it seems they're not as forthcoming. And there could be reasons for this. So, we'll see. We have to wait and see.

[16:45:33] BALDWIN: Sure. Sure, absolutely. As James pointed out, so many questions. We absolutely don't have all the answers. Hopefully, they have -- they have some. James and Shimon, thank you, gentlemen, very much on the investigation side of all of this.

And, just, Fred, as we speaking of law enforcement, you know, as we're reporting on the seven deaths plus the gunman, plus 22 injured, that includes several members of law enforcements. So keep in mind when this whole thing began, when he failed to flick his blinker on, that's when he grabbed the rifle and started shooting out of the rear of his vehicle, shooting at law enforcement injuring several of them.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Frightening sequence of events from the very beginning. All right, Brooke, we're going to check back with you. Thank you so much.

Mean time, we're also just minutes away from a new update on Hurricane Dorian, the massive storm now slamming the Bahamas. Mandatory evacuations are already under way along the Florida coast.

We're keeping a close watch on it all.

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[16:50:41] WHITFIELD: It's growing to a category 5 storm. Storm -- Hurricane Dorian, rather, made landfall are ready earlier today in the Bahamas. And now, Floridians are keeping a close eye on the storm.

Mandatory evacuations are already taking place for several South Florida communities including Palm Beach. CNN meteorologist, Derek Van Dam, is in Hutchinson Island, Florida. So what's happening there?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. I'm in one of those mandatory evacuation zone A and zone B Hutchinson Island. This is a barrier island for our viewers not familiar with what barrier island is. Think of it as the first line of defense between an approaching hurricane and the southeast coastline of the Florida peninsula.

This is a narrow strip of land that is very susceptible to flooding and storm surge just as those residents that built the house 20 years ago that used to have 100 feet of beach line in front of it. The storms over the year have battered those homes. We've been basically a shell and the basement is susceptible to flooding and again the storm surge.

Now, what I've seen are residents try to soak in their last bit of the Labor Day weekend. But they've also made it perfectly clear. The Martin County Sheriff that come around with armored vehicles with speakers on top saying this is an evacuation zone, you need to leave because they're about to close the bridges that connect mainland to this barrier island by this time tomorrow. Fredricka? WHITFIELD: Wow. All right, Derek Van Dam, that gives us an incredible perspective. Thank you so much.

And we're going to continue to keep close watch on Hurricane Dorian in its path, its threat, all of that right after this.

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[16:55:53] WHITFIELD: Donkeys. They played a critical role in American history helping to build our railroads and structures and, quite frankly, a lot of cities. They assisted in that. But today, they're often abandoned and abused. This week's "CNN Hero" is trying to change that. He has saved more than 13,000 donkeys, giving them a second chance at life and finding them forever homes.

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WHITFIELD: All right. And to see more of Mark's work, go to cnnheroes.com right now. And we will be right back.

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