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FDNY: 10 People Shot At NYC Subway Station, Suspect Fled; Mass Transit Systems In U.S. Increase Patrols After NYC Subway Attack. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired April 12, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:41]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Hello and thank you for staying with us. I'm Victor Blackwell live from the scene of a subway shooting in Brooklyn, New York.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: And I'm Alisyn Camerota.

There have been a lot of new developments since this morning in that shooting on a subway car. That happened shortly before 8:30 this morning. People were going to work. Kids were going to school.

And a manhunt is still underway for the single suspect who first deployed a smoke canister device from his backpack, then opened fire inside the train car and then ran on the platform.

This was the scene just after 8:24 a.m. inside a subway car that was approaching the 36th Street Station on the N Line in Brooklyn. The FDNY says 16 people were injured, at least 10 of them shot. Five are in critical but stable condition.

Investigators say they have recovered a gun and multiple high capacity magazines from that scene.

BLACKWELL: A law enforcement source tells CNN, they believe the gun may have jammed as the suspect attempted to fire more rounds. Now, the NYPD says this is not being investigated as an act of terrorism for now. The police chief said that she wasn't ruling anything out when it comes to the motive -- the commissioner, I should say.

Last hour, I spoke with one of the witnesses who captured some of the horrific video. He was on the train car. Listen to what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YAV MONTANA, ON BOARD TRAIN CAR DURING SHOOTING: Got up and I hid behind the little wooden side plank that's on the seats, between the seats and the door of the train. I stayed there while people who were at the farthest end of the car ran toward the front and jumped on top of each other, walked over each other, trying to get as far away from the drama as possible. During all this time, I'm thinking, it's firecrackers. It's not until

I raise my head up and see there's blood on the floor that I realize firecrackers can't do this much damage. It has to be somebody with a gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: That video from Yav Montano, a crucial part of this investigation.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is with me now live here at the scene. What more you have learned?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, I think we learned the last hour or so about the other magazines, the high capacity magazines. Obviously, this individual was armed. He was armed heavily, ready to shoot many more people. As you said, it's because the gun jammed that more people weren't shot. At least that's what investigators believe.

One of the magazines they believe he emptied, he completely emptied that magazine and fired perhaps all the rounds inside the magazine. Then went to reload and that's when the gun jammed. They recovered the gun. They believe they have the gun. They recovered the smoke canister that he used.

That is all helping investigators gather more clues. Perhaps they can get fingerprints off some of this. They can learn where the canister perhaps was purchased. There are all kinds of things they can do.

And also surveillance video, this is playing a key part of this. Subway systems, all have cameras in them. I understand that in this subway system, one may have been malfunctioning. They may know where this individual got on. They may have video from there.

And also key in all of this is video from bystanders. People were filming. They had cameras out. They filmed him. That's going to be key. That's playing a key role for investigators.

I can tell you in the last hour or so in talking to sources on the ground and on the phone, they are optimistic about this and whether or not how close they are. But they are very optimistic on this investigation and perhaps we could see some activity here soon in terms of the suspect.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, the cameras are important. Even though maybe this camera was malfunctioning, one of the cameras here, the approach and where he got on and coming from other stations, that could give them a better idea who they are looking for.

PROKUPECZ: Right. And if he used a metro card to get into the subway, that could help them.

[15:05:01]

The thing that's worrying to investigators is the planning that they think went into some of this. He had the gas mask. He had all those bullets. And he had more canisters and other items inside the bag. There is some premeditation. I think they are going go back and say, did we miss something?

But the idea that they have some clues that are playing a key part and has given them optimism here, that -- those are good signs. And obviously, the victims, I mean, thankfully, many of them -- all of them are expected to survive.

I sort of just kind of paint a little picture for you briefly here.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

PROKUPECZ: What happened is as this train was pulling in to the station here at 36th Street, it stopped. When you are on the subway and you go between cars and the train stopped.

BLACKWELL: Maybe a car ahead or you can't get there yet.

PROKUPECZ: So, that's when he started shooting. So, these people were trapped. They had nowhere to go. It wasn't until they got to 36th Street and the doors opened and they started running out.

And that's kind of the person we are dealing with here. That's why officials -- this has them worried. There had to be some premeditation. He chose the worst moment do this, when all the people were trapped.

BLACKWELL: A moment where they had nowhere to go. If not for that gun jamming at that moment, this could have been much worse. Ten people shot, five in critical but stable condition. That's the latest that we have from law enforcement, from the FDNY.

Shimon Prokupecz, I will let you get back to reporting. Thank you so much for the update there.

Alisyn, back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Victor, stand by because I want to bring in now, CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe. He's the former deputy director of the FBI. Chris Swecker is also former FBI, the former assistant director of the criminal investigative division. And Darrin Porcher is a retired NYPD lieutenant here in studio with me.

So, Darrin, let me start with you.

You worked in transit, you worked at NYPD. And you say that you think this shooting for you has some similarities with the Colin Ferguson shooting, which was in 1993. And so, what are you seeing police doing now if they learned something from that shooting?

DARRIN PORCHER, RETIRED NYPD LIEUTENANT: Well, one thing, this is very uncommon for us to have a shooting in the transit system. So, when we go back to the shooting that happened with Colin Ferguson on the LIRR back in 1993, people weren't really concerned about shootings. Here, we had a gunman in the same situation, the magazine jammed. The magazine jammed in this incident as well.

But the one thing I give the transit bureau credit for is they train officers outside of the academy specific to the instances in transit so they can effectively interdict situations that happen in the transit system. Unfortunately, we didn't have an officer on the subway platform or in that actual car to detect and eradicate the threat.

BLACKWELL: Andrew, we are six hours or so since this shooting happened. Still no arrests. How broad is this active search? We know there are federal investigators involved, but far beyond the New York Metro Area by now?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, it depends on the information that the investigators are working with. There's limitless resources for an operation like this. An investigation that's going to naturally draw on federal law enforcement, NYPD, all the other partners on the task force.

If in the course of the investigation they develop leads that indicate -- like let's say they have an identity for a suspect and they develop a lead that that suspect left the jurisdiction, then, yes, the investigation will span into wherever they think that person is going to go. That's one of the reasons why it's helpful to have the FBI involved in these kind of investigations, because we have that sort of reach across the country and across the world.

There's no indication yet that that's what we are looking at here. I agree with Shimon's comments, the fact we haven't heard much more about where specifically they are looking leads me to believe that they probably have some good leads that they are running out right now. If they were up against a brick wall, they would be really appealing to the public in a more active way.

CAMEROTA: Yeah, Chris, you have to believe they have good leads. Look at this -- look at that subway car. So many people saw this suspect. I mean, so many people -- obviously, once he set off the smoke grenade, it was harder, but, you know, he was interacting with people all throughout this.

Here is what the New York governor said about how this has to stop now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D), NEW YORK: I'm committing the full resources of our state to fight this surge of crime, this insanity that's seizing our city because we want to get back to normal. It has been a long, hard two years. That's what we crave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: I mean, it's just -- you can't be everywhere. I mean, as we just heard from Darrin, you can't have police in every single subway car. And so, this is just a very tough mission for them.

[15:10:05] CHRIS SWECKER, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION: Yeah. I think the phrase, if you see something, say something was first phrased in New York City when they were doing proactive policing up there and engaging the public and getting them involved, knowing you don't have an officer on every street corner, you don't have an officer at every subway car. So, you know, that's how you leverage the general public.

I think Andy makes a good point here. The fact that they haven't done that yet, they haven't reached out to the public, tells me they have some pretty good leads. They are not stumped or I say, would put out photos or put up more information so the public could get engaged and help out here.

They are doing a lot of things in one time here, doing a manhunt, sifting through leads, interviewing witnesses, processing the crime scene, and that sort of thing. So, there's a lot going on behind the scenes that we don't see.

BLACKWELL: Darrin, to that point, I spoke with Yav Montana who was on the train. We have aired his video several times. He's been on CNN, spoken with other reporters. He says he has not been contacted by investigators.

To the point we heard from Chris, just suggests that this piece of video, as crucial for people to understand what happened on the train, maybe not the most important to find this shooter.

PORCHER: It's a significant piece. But you have to take into consideration, the average person is photographed or videotaped 100 to 200 times a day in a place like New York. So, we are destined to capture video.

And I'm confident law enforcement does have the necessary tools to extract the video, to get it out to the necessary entities to take this violent person into custody.

CAMEROTA: Hey, Andy, I'm just getting word a law enforcement official told CNN that police have cellphone video from an eyewitness of the suspect. And so, what happens? When you get something that's as gold as that, what do law enforcement do right then?

MCCABE: Well, Alisyn, that sets a lot of balls in motion, right? The -- this reminds me of our efforts to identify the parties responsible for the Boston bombing. Obviously, we made the decision to take those photographs and make them public to kind of crowd source the identification of those subjects.

You might see that here, but as we have been saying, the fact you haven't seen that photograph in a clear appeal to the public leads us to believe that law enforcement probably has good leads to work on. They can take that photograph and they use technology, can compare it to all sorts of other photographs that they have in their databases in their data sets. They can try to use things like facial recognition software and that sort of technology to put possible identifiers to that person. I'm sure every effort in that regard is probably underway right now. I

would expect that we will see some progress or some developments on this in the next few hours.

BLACKWELL: Chris, without a terror nexus and, of course, the commissioner not investigating this as an act of terror, is this still led by NYPD? We have seen a myriad of law enforcement agencies here on scene. Is this a New York City police department investigation primarily?

SWECKER: I think it is at this point. The FBI is always going to be on the scene of a mass casualty event like this, particularly involving a subway, which has always been a favorite terrorist target in the event that there is a -- it transitions to a terrorist event, you make a smooth transition over to the FBI's lead.

Right now, they are participating what we call unified command. There's a command post set up. Everybody is there. NYPD is in charge right now. That could change later, but that's the way it stands right now.

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

We are standing by for more information and more developments. It seems like a lot is happening on the ground.

Chris Swecker, Andrew McCabe, Darrin Porcher, thank you all for your expertise in this.

BLACKWELL: Our breaking news coverage continues just ahead as the manhunt continues here. Several cities are beefing up security for mass transit systems in response to the shooting. More on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:19:00]

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell here on the scene of the mass shooting at a subway station in New York this morning.

Sixteen people injured, ten of them shot. We know others suffered smoke inhalation. Some people hit by shrapnel. Police are searching for the suspect.

Sources tell CNN investigators are using cellphone video from eyewitnesses that shows the suspect. Law enforcement officials say that a gun, multiple high capacity magazines, fireworks, gun powder were recovered at the scene as well.

Also, we're just getting this in, the Brooklyn Nets, they are scheduled to host a game tonight. Their training facility is not far from here. The Nets' Kevin Durant says the news of the shooting is devastating, his words. The head coach Steve Nash said it was a very tragic morning.

Now, in response to this shooting, mass transit systems in cities across the country, they have increased patrols.

[15:20:02]

Pete Muntean is with us now.

Pete, what's been the response so far?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, we've heard from the biggest public transit systems in the United States and they all say that they are monitoring the New York subway attack. That includes the Washington, D.C. metro system, MBTA, which operates the T in Boston, BART in San Francisco, SEPTA in Philadelphia, and MARTA in Atlanta.

We also now know that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was briefed on the attack and the Department of Transportation is now offering its support to the MTA. The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration also say they are monitoring this.

Here is what is changing right now. Mass transit systems say they are stepping up canine sweeps and police patrols, although they underscore, they are facing no credible threats at the moment. But, remember, service transportation is really hard to secure. Securing sprawling transit systems, not like beefing up airport security. Remember, people take about 10 billion mass transit trips each year.

It's backed up in a 2020 report by the Government Accountability Office. It told the TSA it wants to step up ways that could conduct inspections. Even the TSA says in an analysis of mass transit security, quote, these systems are difficult to protect due to open infrastructure, high concentration of travelers and multiple access areas, with limited inspection and control points.

All of this begs the question, Victor, what will change after this attack? It's a really tough balance because cities rely on public transit and don't want to make getting on a train or bus more difficult, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, we know that Mayor Eric Adams said there will be a beefed up security presence at stations as well.

Pete Muntean reporting for us -- Pete, thank you.

Listen, we are just getting this from investigators in New York City. They are looking for a U-Haul that is allegedly connected to this shooting, just getting this email in. They have not said how it is connected to this but a U-Haul van. They have an Arizona license plate Alpha Lambda 31408, AL31408, that they say is connected to the subway shooting.

Emails were sent to NYPD officers and detectives. They say that it is occupied and they should take extreme precaution in attempting to stop it. Again, they say if the van is unoccupied to notify commanders. Again, if it's occupied, officers should take extreme care. If it is unoccupied, go to another officer and call it in.

Andrew McCabe is still with us. Your reaction to now this update, this information about a U-Haul that they are looking for?

MCCABE: Yeah, Victor. I mean, obviously, that's a great lead. That's exactly the kind of thing that you want to hear our investigators are working with. It's one of the oddest vehicles I have heard to flee a crime. It's not going to keep you low profile.

Knowledge of the license plate is particularly key, because as you know, Victor, New York City and the NYPD has an incredibly impressive array of video surveillance across the city in different neighborhoods. A lot of that includes license plate reader technology. So, they have the ability to kind of scan for a particular plate in the hopes of picking that up wherever it may be parked or moving.

And then, of course, you have all of the toll facilities, the use of things like EZ Pass, all of the entrances and exits to the city would be catch points where that license plate if it encountered could provide notification to the police. That's a great lead. It's one that I'm sure they are closely following.

BLACKWELL: Again, they are looking for this U-Haul van, AL31408.

Let's bring in Shimon Prokupecz who's back with us now.

This shows the progress from that last news conference to where they are now.

PROKUPECZ: I think there's a lot of progress in this investigation because I would say we would be hearing more from authorities. Think about this. There was a gunman with, I don't know, smoke canisters, who knows what else, is on the loose here in New York City.

They have images of this individual, right? There's a cell phone camera from a bystander that I was told. That has been very key and very helpful to investigators in identifying and knowing who they are looking for. So, that piece of video and that photo, I would think, would be out by now, because what happens in investigations, if police know who they are looking for, they don't come out with that information.

[15:25:00]

BLACKWELL: They keep moving --

PROKUPECZ: They keep moving but sometimes they don't want to indicate to the individual, hey, we know who you are. That could be what's going on here, we really don't know. But they have made substantial progress in this investigation.

As to this U-Haul van, whether -- look, there's some concern, obviously, that it's related. They don't know 100 percent that it's related. Obviously, they're not taking any chances. They are throwing everything at this. There has been significant progress in this investigation.

As you can see, they are looking for things, looking for people. So, for authorities, these are all good steps and good things they are seeing and witnesses and people who they have been asking to help have been helping them.

There were a lot of people in the subway. There's a lot of video and a lot of cameras from bystanders, people on the subway, that they are using from cellphones that's proving very helpful to authorities.

BLACKWELL: They believe this could be related to the shooting. They did not say in the email exactly how it could be related. Again, they are looking for this u-haul with Arizona tags.

Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much.

Alisyn, back to you.

CAMEROTA: Yeah. And the idea that it could be occupied and the occupant could be dangerous also really relevant.

So, thank you for that breaking news. We'll get back to you momentarily.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.S. still cannot confirm if chemical weapons were used in Mariupol but says they do have intel that Russia could mix it with riot agents. How the White House is responding to that, next.

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