Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Live Coverage of Atlanta Press Conference on Yesterday's Shooting; Atlanta Police Investigation into Motive Continues; Suspect Intended to Commit Further Crimes in Florida. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired March 17, 2021 - 10:30   ET

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

End: 10:59>

[10:30:00

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the fight over overhauling the Senate filibuster, ramping up a bit on Capitol Hill. Now, President Biden, for the first time, is weighing in significantly. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think you have to eliminate the filibuster, you have to do it what it used to be, when I first got to the Senate. And that is that a filibuster, you had to stand up and command the floor. Once you stopped talking, you lost that and someone could move in and say, I move the question of. So you got to work for the filibuster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: This comes as Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is warning that if the Senate filibuster were to be eliminated, the chamber would come to a grinding halt -- in some ways it already has, frankly.

And he also warned that Republicans will quickly move the next time to take control -- that they take control of the Congress, to pass legislation that Democrats oppose. Things he mentioned include defunding Planned Parenthood and defunding sanctuary cities.

OK, I'm told that we're going to a press conference in Atlanta. The mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, speaking about these eight killings yesterday.

MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), ATLANTA, GEORGIA: -- who were killed and injured on yesterday.

I can't say enough about the seamless coordination of law enforcement, many of whom you will hear from this morning.

We have joining us, Chief Rodney Bryant from the Atlanta Police Department, Deputy Chief Charles Hampton from the Atlanta Police Department, Lieutenant Mark Riley from the Georgia State Patrol, Sheriff Frank Reynolds from the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, Captain Jay Baker from Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, FBI Special Agent in Charge Charles (ph) Hacker, Kurt Erskine, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

You won't hear from all of them, but you will hear form some of them this morning to provide additional details.

Yesterday was a tragic day across our state. As many of you all know, there were several victims who were tragically killed on yesterday, and our thoughts and prayers remain with those families. Whether it's senseless violence that we've seen play out in our streets, or more targeted violence like we saw on yesterday, a crim against any community is a crime against us all.

I've been in contact with the White House, I spoke with someone last night and again this morning. Of course President Biden offers his full support and concern to our great state, and the White House has offered to support us with any additional resources and support that we need as we continue not just this investigation, but as we continue to deal with the spike in crime that we have seen since this pandemic began.

Again, the coordination of law enforcement was spectacular on yesterday. This was a tragic day with many victims, but thankfully the suspect was quickly apprehended and, as I was talking with Special Agent in Charge Chief Hacker, as we were coming in, he was sharing that he's not had better coordination with the Atlanta Police Department than he has had as of late.

And certainly, we thank the State Patrol Cherokee County, and I believe it was Crisp County, where the suspect was apprehended, and all of our partners and stakeholders throughout the state who assisted with this apprehension of the suspect.

I will now turn it over to Chief Bryant to share additional information, and we will hear form our other law enforcement representatives to share more details on what happened on yesterday and where we stand today.

RODNEY BRYANT, CHIEF, ATLANTA POLICE: Thank you, Madam Mayor.

We will present in the order of -- in a chronological order so that we could better inform you on how things played out. So we'll start off with the sheriff from Cherokee County, Sheriff Reynolds from Cherokee County. And then it will go to me. We both have our investigator leads that could go into more details as a result of what happened and what transpired through the investigation.

I think that it's important that we first acknowledge the fact -- I know that many -- we've received a number of calls about, is this a hate crime? We are still early in this investigation, so we cannot make that determination at this moment. Again, we are very early in this investigation, even though we have made an arrest, there's still a lot more work to be done.

[10:35:08]

And so with that being said, I just wanted to make sure that I know that that's going to be a concern and that you were probably asking that of many of us. We are just not there as of yet, again.

So thank you all, and we'll start with Sheriff Reynolds, Cherokee County.

FRANK REYNOLDS, SHERIFF, CHEROKEE COUNTY, GEORGIA: Thank you, Chief; thank you, Mayor Bottoms.

So we got a call about 4:55 yesterday afternoon, shotting in the Bells Ferry, 92 area of southwest Cherokee County. Our deputies responded and found multiple gunshot victims. We were able to quickly identify a potential subject from video footage -- Captain Jay Baker is here with me, he's going to be able to answer some questions as well -- we were able to put that out on our social media.

Shortly thereafter, we were contacted by members of the family, indicating that that may be their son. And so we met with them, and I was there, speaking with the family, they're very distraught. And they were very helpful in this apprehension.

We were able to track his phone. Sheriff Billy Hancock from Crisp County -- he's a fellow sheriff and good friend of mine -- I reached out to him, anticipating the movement into his county. He was able to coordinate with the Georgia State Patrol and set up a position to intercept our suspect.

And that's precisely what they did, a coordinated effort to Sheriff (ph) Hancock coordinated with the Georgia State Patrol to quickly pit (ph) the vehicle in order to prevent a pursuit.

I'd like to echo the mayor and the chief in that it was a lot of collaboration between our police departments, sheriffs' office and the FBI. FBI has been fantastic -- they always are, anything that we needed, they were there throughout the night -- and our community.

We're mostly a bedroom community, and I think last year we had one murder. We don't have a lot of crime in that area, so this is a shock to all of us.

Captain, am I missing anything?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just (ph) maybe (ph) about some of the comments he made?

REYNOLDS: We did interview him last night, he is currently in our facility at the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center. We were able to interview him with the Atlanta Police Department and FBI. He made indicators that he has some issues, potentially sexual addiction, and may have frequented some of these places in the past. And -- but as the chief indicated, it's still early on, we still have a lot of things to process and so.

He should be at an arraignment tomorrow at sometime early morning to late morning, and we will keep you up to date. We have a press release that Captain Baker's put together, available to our media folks. If you don't have that, I think we have some printed copies that he'll be happy to give to you. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have at the moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, so are you saying -- you talked with the suspect, you said he has a sexual addiction, but I'm sure you asked him was this racially motivated. Was this racially motivated?

REYNOLDS: As the chief indicated, it's still early but the indicators right now are it may not be, it may be targets of opportunity. Again, we are -- we believe that he frequented these places in the past and may have been lashing out. And part of that is in your media packet as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the working theory is a sexual addiction issue --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want to hold all questions to the end, please?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- rather than a racial profile?

REYNOLDS: During our interviews, we asked that specific question and that did not appear to be the motive for --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want hold all questions to until the end, please, let them --

REYNOLDS: Yes, thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- get through the press conference, and then we'll answer any questions.

REYNOLDS: Thank you, ma'am, I appreciate that.

I'll turn it over to the next person.

BRYANT: So on yesterday, at 5:47, our units responded to 1916 Piedmont Road on a robbery call. Upon arrival, they discovered three females shot inside this location. While investigating that location, they received another call at 1907 Piedmont Road, where they found another female shot inside that location.

[10:40:00]

Both locations were massage parlors, and at that time, we recognized that we had had information previously put out by Cherokee County that they had a similar incident occurring in their jurisdiction. Immediately, the sheriff and I and the chief in that jurisdiction started having conversations, trying to bring things together.

The -- as we stated earlier, the collaboration between the different -- the local and state partners, we immediately started having conversations to coordinated our efforts to determine who our individual, the subject that we were looking for.

I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the quick response of the sheriff department, identifying -- getting their photo and putting that picture out so that we could get a quicker response in identifying the person that was the suspect in this type of incident.

Once we were able to get our information and gather information, coordinate with Cherokee County, we immediately put that out metro- wide, having conversations, again, as I stated, with our federal, state and local partners. All immediately asked what could they do. All resources immediately started getting involved so that we could get -- bring this to a quick closure.

From that, I'll turn it over to State Patrol, who concluded with the arrest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. Yesterday afternoon, after the two incidents occurred here in Fulton and Cherokee Counties, there was a lookout put out. There was also intel given, our GEMA liaison -- GEMA and Homeland Security liaison sent out e-mails, letting us know a potential area where the suspect's vehicle may be.

The sheriff of Cherokee County reached out to his partner down in Crisp County, who reached out to the Georgia State Patrol (INAUDIBLE), and we had a trooper monitoring traffic on I-75 South. The trooper observed the suspect's vehicle traveling south. He started following the vehicle, and waited for backup, which included two other Georgia State troopers as well as the sheriff of Crisp County and some of his deputies.

They initiated a traffic stop, and then immediately pitted the vehicle. After the vehicle was pitted, the suspect was taken into custody without further incident and transported to the Crisp County Jail.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll now open for questions.

BOTTOMS: I do want to add one thing that was not mentioned. I believe Captain Baker shared with us that they determined that the suspect was on his way to Florida, I believe? And perhaps to carry out additional shootings.

So, again, it really speaks to the coordination and the quick response from law enforcement. For as tragic as this was, on yesterday in metro Atlanta, this could have been significantly worse. And again, I can't express enough my gratitude for the coordination and the public as a whole should be grateful that the suspect was quickly apprehended because it is very likely that there would have been more victims on yesterday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you explain a little bit more about what the locations were that he targeted? The sheriff mentioned that a sexual (INAUDIBLE). Were they places where somebody could have sexual encounters or were they more traditional spa-like settings?

BOTTOMS: We are not about to get into victim-blaming, victim-shaming here. As far as we know in Atlanta, we have not had any calls, 911 calls from that location -- I believe one minor call on someone stealing some keys.

So we don't know additional information about what his motives were, but we certainly will not begin to blame victims. And as far as we know in Atlanta, these are legally operating businesses that have not been our radar, not on the radar of APD.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you tell us about the surviving victim? The surviving victim that was shot outside of the store? Can you talk to us about that (INAUDIBLE)?

BOTTOMS: That's a question for our Cherokee partners.

JAY BAKER, CAPTAIN, CHEROKEE COUNTY, GEORGIA SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Thank you. I'm Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office.

So that victim is stable, he's in stable condition at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was he caught in the crossfire, or do you think he was a --

BAKER: Don't know. And by the way, I agree with the mayor, we're not going to do any victim-shaming. We're not sure what his presence was there, and the other people that were killed at the location, we're not going to say whether they were employees or whether they were there just by happenstance. So just don't want to go into that at this time. I do have a press release with their names that we will give you all when this is over with, so.

[10:45:15]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that the only survivor?

BAKER: That is the only survivor. We had four killed and one survive.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) stated that the suspect was perhaps upset (ph) at these locations for allowing him to have an outlet for his addiction. Can you elaborate on that?

BAKER: Yes, let me go into a little bit of detail. So the suspect did take responsibility for the shootings. He said that early on, once we began the interviews with him.

He claims that these -- as the chief said, this is still early, but he does claim that it was not racially motivated. He apparently has an issue, what he considers a sex addiction, and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places and it's a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.

Like I said, it's still early on but those were comments that he made.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he discuss any kind of religious motivation for this or was he --

BAKER: Not that I'm aware of, not that I'm aware of. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or political?

BAKER: And political, I've heard nothing about politics.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any sense of his social media history, is that something you've been able to look at --

BAKER: That's something that investigators -- and they've been working on it, (INAUDIBLE) that's certainly one of the things they'll be doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, did you have the sense that he understood what he's -- the gravity of what he did?

BAKER: When I spoke with investigators, they interviewed him this morning and they got that impression that yes, he understood the gravity of it and he was pretty much fed up and kind of at the end of his rope, and yesterday was a really bad day for him and this is what he did. And he --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remorseful?

BAKER: I'm not going to go into -- I don't know if he was remorseful or not.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a pretty young guy, was he a student, does he live with his parents?

BAKER: Twenty-one years of age. It's my understanding he does not live with his parents, I don't know who he was living with at the time of this incident.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was he employed?

BAKER: I'm not aware of that either, that's some of the things --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just two questions. Just to be clear, the suspect has admitted to the shooting event?

BAKER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Second -- yes, he has?

BAKER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And secondly, there was an indication that the family notified you. What indication or what reason did the family notify you?

BAKER: We put out an image of a possible suspect very early on in this incident, and we were notified by his family, who were fully cooperative. And we are greatly appreciative of their assistance in this matter.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you get the image shared? Was the image from the surveillance camera?

BAKER: Surveillance cameras, there were several businesses there and we were able to get images from those.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then also ID'd his care also from the --

BAKER: The car, and then of course obviously we were able to get in touch with the parents, who identified it from social media, that that was their child, their son.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You mentioned Florida, were there any -- did he mention any particular businesses that he was going --

BAKER: Just -- my understanding, it was some type of porn industry in that state that he was wanting to go some similar act in that location. No additional details at this time.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To clarify, did you say earlier that in interviewing the suspect, he said it was not racially motivated?

BAKER: He did make that claim.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Despite there not being a racial motivation, there has been a very real set of anti-Asian hate attacks across the country. We heard from New York City Police that they're actually sending resources, out of an abundance of caution, to their Asian communities across the city.

Now, for any of the law enforcement partners here, is there anything similar as far as strategy in extra support for either the Asian- American communities in metro Atlanta or similar businesses like massage parlors?

BAKER: Want to speak to that?

BOTTOMS: (INAUDIBLE).

So obviously, whatever the motivation was for this guy, we know that many of the victims, the majority of the victims were Asian. We also know that this is an issue that's happening across the country. it is unacceptable, it is hateful, and it has to stop.

That being said, we are coordinating in real time to make sure that our communities have the resources that they need. We have not seen a significant uptick in formal complaints within the city of Atlanta, but obviously this is a large metropolitan region, and we know that we're hearing the stories, we're seeing them on television, we're seeing them on social media. So we certainly are aware, and we stand ready to provide any additional resources. But again, because of the quick coordination, when I was on my way

home from City Hall last night, when I received the alert that there was a business shooting on Piedmont Road, I immediately called Chief Bryant, who had already been in touch with Cherokee County, and they were already making the connection.

So we had a very rapid response, but certainly we will continue to be proactive and provide resources to the extent that we can to make sure that our communities are protected. And again, encouraging anyone.

[10:50:09]

We know many of our communities are sometimes hesitant to bring in law enforcement. If there are things and concerns that are happening in your communities, around your businesses, et cetera, there's nothing too big or too small that we -- we want to be aware of it all to make sure that we can provide resources and respond accordingly.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you clarify what sort of weapons were retrieved from his vehicle or did he use in the shooting? And were they all legally obtained weapons?

BAKER: I can tell you that a 9-milimeter firearm was located in his vehicle, when he was taken into custody. You know, whether it was legally obtained will be one of the things that our investigators will be looking into.

And just to be clear, our victims -- I know that obviously Atlanta, all their victims were Asian. Two of our victims were white, in case anyone was unaware of that. We had two Asians and two whites that were killed at our location.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were the victims employees or --

BAKER: That's one of the things that, at this time, we're not going to go into details about why they were there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 9-milimeter, that was the weapon he used?

BAKER: Well, obviously we'll have to do forensics on the firearm, but we're confident that it is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the only -- it was the only weapon that --

BAKER: Yes, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he have, like, a bunch of ammo (ph) in the car?

(CROSSTALK)

BAKER: No other weapons were located in the vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How much ammunition did he -- BAKER: Pardon me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a sense of how many times he shot, how much ammunition --

BAKER: I don't have that information.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there any reason to believe that other similar businesses should still be concerned today, is there still a threat?

BAKER: To my opinion, that he was acting alone, there's no indication that anyone was working with him, so we're confident that's not going to be a problem.

unidentified MALE: Can you clarify, you said he was on his way to Florida, where he believed that they -- you and (ph) the mayor said that he believed he would have engaged in additional acts of violence? Is that similar business?

BAKER: He made a comment to that effect, that he was headed to Florida and that he was going to do similar acts in that state.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the issue was that he wanted to destroy what had been tempting him?

BAKER: It sounds to me like these -- these locations, he sees them as an outlet for him, something that he shouldn't be doing. And that -- an issue with porn, and that he was attempting to take out that temptation.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two more questions, please, only two more questions.

BAKER: Pardon me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had visited both of those locations --

BAKER: I'm unaware if he had been to those specific locations.

One more? Anybody?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was the conversation like with his family? Is there anything you can share about that?

BAKER: You know, I don't want to go into details, other than to say that we are really appreciative of the family. Without them, this would not have happened as well -- as quickly as it happened. They were very supportive, and certainly this was difficult for them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he resist at all during the arrest?

BAKER: No, he did not resist.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Just heard an update there from Atlanta police, Cherokee County Sheriff's Office as well as the mayor of Atlanta, on the shootings in Atlanta last night.

Some major headlines there, at least from the police. They cautioned it is still too early to definitively determine motive, but they say in an interview with the suspect, he claims that this was an issue of taking out places of temptation -- that's how he described it there, saying at least at this point, indications now that it may not be racially motivated.

Also notable, they say that he was on his way to Florida, perhaps to carry out more killings. We have our Josh Campbell here with us now to help us digest this.

Also find it notable, Josh, that they say that the suspect's family was essential in helping police track them down. And that of course becomes more important because it appears he was on his way to commit more violence.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think it's worth noting, Jim, that just an incredible job by law enforcement, quickly coordinating with each other. Obviously a tragedy, but what we have to note just what took place.

I mean, you had a suspect moving across multiple jurisdictions, you had law enforcement coordinating with each other. As you mentioned, the family, that you know, after law enforcement put out that image, the family contacted the authorities. they were able to track the suspect's phone.

Folks may not know, but in an emergency situation, law enforcement can go to a provider and ask, you know, for real-time information in order to stop an existing threat. All of that takes incredible coordination.

As you mentioned, we heard from authorities that he may have continued on to the state of Florida to commit more violence, which was thankfully stopped there.

I think it's worth noting, we talked about the motivation there for a moment, that the suspect said that it was not racially motivated, that perhaps it had to do with some sexual addiction, and he was trying to take out what he thought was the cause of that.

It's worth noting that authorities aren't simply going to take his word for that, they're going to continue to dig into his past and I think it's worth noting that one thing that they -- one of the officers there said is that the FBI not only helped with trying to locate him, but is also part of the interviews, which tells me that there's a parallel investigation under way. And in this case, that would almost certainly focus on some sort of hate crime. [[10:55:05]

So although he's saying it's not a hate crime, I think authorities are still going to do their due diligence to try to ensure that there wasn't any kind of indication in his communication, his past targeting Asian-Americans.

HARLOW: But, Josh, even if it were not racially motivated as the suspect says, these are still women who were targeted.

CAMPBELL: Yes, no, absolutely. I mean, it gets into that level of depravity that someone -- you know, he may admit that he has issues, but that makes it no less obviously significant for authorities, not only to try to investigate that case, but they also -- as we, and every time we cover one of these shootings -- they want to learn as much as they can to try to stop the next one, and so they'll try to get into his mindset to try to figure out what was going on there, what was motivating him.

TEXT: Spa Shooting Suspect What We Know: Robert Aaron Long, 21 years old; from Woodstock, Georgia; Captured 150 miles south of Atlanta

CAMPBELL: And I think it's worth pointing out too, when you know, there -- this obviously becomes political very quickly, any time there's a shooting, but I think it shows just how numb we have become to gun violence in this country. Because, you know, the idea about what type of weapon was used is kind of an afterthought.

Here' the authorities said that they found a 9-milimeter pistol inside the vehicle, no indication of any other type of weapon that was found. But there are questions out there about how he got that weapon that authorities need to answer. Was it obtained legally, was it obtained illegally. Could some of these background checks that are being discussed right now nationally, could that have prevented him from obtaining this weapon?

Folks say it's too soon, I say that's nonsense. You know, we continue to cover these shootings --

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CAMPBELL: -- and folks just move on but that's obviously a key part of this.

SCIUTTO: You've been involved in investigations as FBI supervisory agent. That timeline particularly since it's their belief he intended to act again, go to Florida, kill more people, right? Seems to be his intention. That timeline is swift, is it not, to bring a suspect in?

CAMPBELL: Incredible. I mean just, again, that coordination by law enforcement, and obviously much of the credit goes to the family for seeing that social media post and quickly contacting authorities to provide the information. But just think about all the moving parts there from actually getting

that image out quickly -- which the police did -- to then blasting that out to neighboring jurisdictions, to the state police, the state troopers who were there on the freeway, the one who actually bravely saw the suspect and brought his vehicle to a halt.

And again, just you know, the prevention that was -- that they were able to prevent, the additional violence, I think we just can't, you know, overstate the idea that this suspect was then moving on to another place to try to commit more violence the authorities were then able to prevent is simply incredible.

And just think about had some of those -- one or more of those moving piece not happened the way that they did, the suspect could have moved, you know, outside of the state. It's unclear how far law enforcement will be looking in their orbit to try to identify him, whether they would look nationally. But I think that a lot of additional violence was probably prevented here by that swift action by law enforcement.

SCIUTTO: Yes, no question.

HARLOW: Well Josh Campbell, thank you for all of that important analysis, you make some really critical points. We're going to stay on this breaking news, again, after these eight people were killed overnight in Atlanta.

Thanks to all of you for being with us we'll see you back here tomorrow morning. I'm Poppy Harlow.

SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto. NEWSROOM with Kate Bolduan will start right after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]