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U.S. Announces More Ukraine Aid; New York City Subway Shooting Suspect Arrested. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired April 13, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

TOM VERNI, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: The area that we're talking about is kind of on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the East Village, is where St. Mark's Place is.

And that's a pretty populated area. There's a lot of people there on a regular basis. Very easy to get lost in the mix. And these officers clearly were sharp with their eye. They saw him. They clearly know -- all the officers at this point know what it looks like.

But to -- quite frankly, to pick somebody out of a bunch of people walking is really keen eyesight to have.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Right. It sure is

Tom Verni, thank you so much.

Our breaking news is going to continue right now with Alisyn and Victor.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Victor Blackwell. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

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

As you have just heard, we do have breaking news. New York City police have just arrested the suspect in the New York subway shooting, Frank James. Any moment now, we expect to get an update from New York City police of exactly how this went down.

But, in the meantime, CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has a lot of information. He is live outside of that Brooklyn subway station.

So, Shimon, it sounds like this was a police-public partnership, because people were out there looking for this guy, Frank James. And then police spotted him.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, they were.

But, obviously, every police officer here had a photo of him. And so that certainly assisted them in finding him. It's pretty remarkable when you think about this. It's just two officers on patrol. The guy is just walking the streets like as if nothing has happened. The world is looking for him. And he's just walking the streets.

And two officers riding in their car, perhaps, maybe on foot, we don't know, they see him, they stop him and they arrest them. And he's walking around like as if nothing has happened. I mean, that is so remarkable. And that's what happened here.

I can tell you guys that, this morning, I have been in touch with an individual who says that he believes he saw Frank James this morning around Canal Street or the Lower East Side area, which is perhaps exactly where police found him just moments ago. He took photos of him. And I have seen these photos. It looks exactly like Frank James.

And so the police are investigating that sighting. Also, overnight, this morning, the NYPD and other law enforcement officials, the U.S. Marshals have been working through the night into the morning going to different locations to try and locate him. Certainly, no one expected him to just walk the streets like as if nothing has happened.

And here you have these two officers who saw him, spotted him and have now taken him into custody. This happened around St. Mark's Place, I'm told, which is the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It was officers from the Ninth Precinct, which covers that area. So he's been taken to the Ninth Precinct.

I can tell you that we expect to have a press conference hear from the police shortly. They were just supposed to update us on the investigation, put out some new photos, some new video. That obviously now changes everything. They now have the guy that's in custody. And, hopefully, we will hear more about what transpired and how these officers took him into custody.

But it's just remarkable. It's daylight out. We're, what, 2:00 in the afternoon here, and this person not far from here, really -- I mean, we are pretty close to Manhattan from this location -- was just spotted by these two officers walking the street.

BLACKWELL: Yes, this manhunt was not what ended this. It was just two officers who were paying attention.

Shimon, you said that you spoke with someone who took pictures of who they thought was Frank James. Was that photograph taken anywhere near where he was actually arrested?

PROKUPECZ: Not far, Victor. It's sort of -- I think it's around the Canal Street area, is the way this person described it to me.

In that area is where he took these photos. He posted them on Twitter. He wasn't sure that this was the individual. He posted the photos on Twitter. Remarkably, also, the police never contacted him. It wasn't until I contacted the police a short time ago and said, hey, have you guys talked to him? He received a text from the police, he says.

And so I don't know if he's talked to them yet. But that's how that transpired. But it's not far. When you think about where these photos were taken to where the police ultimately apprehended this guy, it's not very far, Victor.

CAMEROTA: I mean, it's all Lower East Side.

And, Shimon, the reason that I think that it's connected is because the police responded, I think, on Twitter, saying, please get in touch with us. It sounds like, to me, that, once they realized, huh, this might be somebody on the Lower East Side, they then sent their patrols and were looking around for him.

And there he was. In those pictures that you're talking about, he was just, as you say, sitting idly, didn't seem to be hiding. But the point here is, Shimon, this is somebody who was considered armed and dangerous because of all the weapons and the arsenal that he had brought onto that subway.

[14:05:01]

And so he -- there was that U-Haul that -- there was that warning that, if you approach the U-Haul, be very, very careful. But, at the end of the day, you say he was arrested without incident.

PROKUPECZ: It seems as though. At least, that's the latest information that I have from someone that says that he was in custody.

And it seems that there was no incident. They took him into custody, and that he's at the Ninth Precinct, and that it was around St. Mark's and First Street is where he was taken into custody. I just -- it's remarkable to me that this guy was not hiding. You think that these kinds of individuals, when they're wanted by the police in such a way, I mean, think about the manhunt, the manhunt that was under way here.

And this guy is just walking the streets, and then these two officers see him and then they took him into custody. I think that's remarkable. I think we will learn more hopefully here shortly about the circumstances of that. Were they responding to a 911 call?

That could be. Someone may have spotted him and called 9/11. Or did these officers who were just driving around or on foot patrol, did they see him and then take him into custody?

It's day light. The question, of course, is, where did he spend the night? Was just walking the streets? I think there have been other sightings of him that the police have been chasing. But it seems that this area, this Lower East Side to the Chinatown area, is where he has been for the last several hours.

BLACKWELL: Shimon Prokupecz, stand by. I'm sure we will have more questions for you as we get more information in.

I want to bring in CNN law enforcement analyst Anthony Barksdale, former acting Baltimore police commissioner.

Commissioner, let me start with your reaction to the arrest and how this ended.

ANTHONY BARKSDALE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Oh, I am so excited about what we just saw happen done by NYPD patrol officers, just awesome work.

There was a management model that helped turn New York City around, CompStat, short for computer statistics. Rule one is accurate, timely intelligence clearly disseminated to all. If you have got two patrol officers sharp enough, armed with the right intelligence to find this guy, kudos. Kudos. Great police work.

CAMEROTA: Commissioner, I can't help but see your elation at this. I mean, there is a sense -- there is a sense of relief, but I know for you pride, because it worked.

Great police work pays off even in a city of eight million people, which you would think would be a needle in a haystack. But they got him.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

BARKSDALE: Yes, absolutely.

And that's the thing. It is -- fortunately, we -- he's under -- he's in custody and he's alive. Now the police have a lot more work to do. The detectives have a lot more work to do, because you have to have a prosecutable case. You want a conviction here, or, based on some of the things that I have seen, that we have all seen, maybe he needs to be held and get mental health treatment.

So I'm sorry for the victims. But the NYPD continued on. And they ended this, for now. And that's a good thing.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

We're going to talk about the path forward now to this prosecution that we expect will start with now that he's arrested and the charging.

We got on the right side of the screen, of course, we're waiting for this news conference that was scheduled to start at 2:00 with an update on the investigation. Understandably, that has been delayed now because they have an arrest.

Commissioner, you talked about wanting a prosecution here. When we heard from police last, he was a person of interest at 7:00 p. at the news conference yesterday, elevated to a suspect today. But they had the YouTube video. They had the photos. They had the evidence.

What elevates that person to a suspect, if they had much of the evidence they had when they were still considering him a person of interest?

BARKSDALE: Evidence. Facts.

It's -- in the early stages, saying person of interest is a safe thing to do by a police department. That's playing it smart, because if that's the wrong person, then a sharp defense attorney is going to get that person off. They're going to beat the case. So going from person of interest to suspect was a huge step. And it

wasn't just done impulsively. So, what did they get? Did they find more evidence in this van? We know that evidence was left at the crime scene. So they had enough. And they are talking for prosecutors to be sure that, when they present this, that it's solid.

[14:10:03]

So, between the police and the prosecutors, somewhere internally, they said he goes from person of interest to the suspect. Let's get him.

CAMEROTA: Let's -- Commissioner, stay with us, if you would.

Let's go back to Shimon Prokupecz. He's live on the street, on the scene, the crime scene of where this happened. We now know the suspect is in custody. The NYPD just arrested him.

Speaking of evidence, Shimon, one of the bits of evidence were these YouTube videos. And I think our producers can pull one of these up, because I want to play for everybody who we are dealing with, what this man had posted recently about his violent thoughts, about what he was planning. So let me just play this YouTube video for everyone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK JAMES, SUSPECT: We need to see more mass shootings. Yes. INAUDIBLE) does not know. We need to see more -- have to see more mass shootings to make people (EXPLETIVE DELETED) listen, you're going to die.

It's not -- no, it's not about the shooter. Nope. It's not about the shooter. It's about the environment in which he is -- he has to exist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Basically, he was saying there, if it was hard here, we need to see more mass shootings is what he was saying on YouTube.

And so, Shimon, do we know, do we have any indication yet of where he got his gun? This stuff was public. Anybody could have done a YouTube search. Do we know who gave him or how he acquired that gun?

PROKUPECZ: So, according to law enforcement officials, it's believed that he purchased the weapon on his own.

The question is -- there's some confusion about exactly where it was purchased. But it appears that he purchased it on his own. There was nothing preventing him from purchasing this weapon. Obviously, more work needs to be done.

The concern here, though, is that he had these high-capacity magazines. That, we don't know where he purchased. These YouTube videos are certainly very disturbing. And the NYPD's intelligence bureau and folks from the FBI have been poring over them to determine a motive here. Perhaps those videos could lend to some kind of motive. And that would change the way they would go about prosecuting and investigating this case. But, so far, that has not been figured out. But they have so much evidence, from what I'm told, bringing Frank James to this location. They have that U-Haul key, as we have heard from.

But there's other information. We're told of from officials that, basically, they are able to link that the gas mask -- he was wearing -- the gas mask that he was wearing, they were able to link it to an eBay account, an eBay account that he was using. And there's other information there.

A cell phone, his cell phone was left behind. There's a credit card that was left behind. So they have a lot of evidence linking him. They have all that surveillance video they were able to get of him going into the subway, then leaving the subway here, and then they have video and images from people and their cell phone cameras that they're using as well.

So they have a lot of information. The question now is, he's in custody. Can they get more information from him? Will he be willing to cooperate with them and give a statement? And then that will change things and perhaps they can get some more information about why he allegedly did this.

BLACKWELL: Commissioner, let's bring you back in.

We heard initially from the police commissioner here in New York that this was not being investigated as an act of terror. But now that we have seen some of these YouTube videos, these are commentaries on race relations and politics and societal challenges.

It wasn't ruled out as a potential element here. But do you think that was premature, and this investigation could now shift with the growth of information?

BARKSDALE: It could shift. Investigations shift. It happens.

It's really going to -- we're really going to have to see if something comes from his interrogation. Why did you do it? If he even talks. If he won't yourself, then, hey, you can't go anywhere as far as the interrogation goes.

So we don't know. I can't say that the commissioner was wrong. But I would say that you stay open-minded to the legal possibilities of an incident. And we have to get more progress here to see where this goes.

CAMEROTA: Commissioner, I have a follow-up question for you about the one that I just asked Shimon. And I feel like you and I have talked about this before with other mass shootings.

He was regularly posting these disturbing, violent -- violent rhetoric, at least, videos on YouTube. Whoever sold him that gun, why isn't that person culpable for doing a simple check? Because this would have come to the fore, to know over there's clearly -- he was mentally unhinged in these videos.

[14:15:03]

In these videos, he seems mentally unstable and violent. What -- could the person who sold him the gun, if it was an actual transaction, be held responsible for anything?

BARKSDALE: Can I go really quickly?

I have here -- this is a Glock. So, on this Glock, there's a serial number here. It's stamped into the slide of the gun. And if you can see here, there's a metal plate that is stamped into the handgun. And inside of this handgun also are numerous other matching identifying serial numbers.

So, the ATF can trace. If those numbers are there on that gun, they can trace it back to the point of purchase, where it goes from wholesale to retail. It can be done. So, ATF is involved in this. I'm sure those NYPD first-graders are involved. And they can all head in that direction and figure out if, when he came into possession of this handgun, was he in violation?

Was it a violation on the gun shop that sold it to him? Or maybe, Alisyn, maybe the gun was on the underground. Maybe it was a stolen weapon, and this guy somehow got ahold of it. And that's what I'm talking about. There's so much legwork that has to be done in this investigation to make it solid.

So we're going to have to find out. Maybe the NYPD may discuss this at some point in time. But, again, this is relying on the ATF to help with the tracing.

BLACKWELL: After you see these YouTube videos, it all makes sense now, after what happened yesterday.

I want to play another clip here and ask what could have been done potentially to prevent this and maybe prevent what could be a shooting in the future. Let's watch another clip of Frank James, the suspect who has been arrested. This is what he posted on YouTube.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES: I have been through a lot of (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

What I can say, I wanted to kill people. I wanted to watch people die right in front of my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) face immediately. But I thought about the fact that, hey, man, I don't want to go to no (EXPLETIVE DELETED) prison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: We tell people, police tell people, if you see something, say something. And, potentially, this could have prevented this attack.

But is that enough? I wanted to kill people. There need to be mass shootings. That's not a direct threat. If someone had come to police with that, could that have been enough to take a weapon, take him into custody, in for questioning?

BARKSDALE: There -- throughout the United States, different courts, various states have various laws.

A route that may have been available was a psychological evaluation, petition the court for psych eval on this individual. But if we're dealing -- if he's posting on social media, he's self-documenting things that can be used in his prosecution.

So it's a blessing and a curse. But whoever -- if anyone in law enforcement did see this, I think they may have a hard time seizing -- just seizing his weapons based off of this video -- or these videos on YouTube.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we're seeing more. Those are just two clips. And we know, of course, police have far more as they begin this, the beginning of what will be a prosecution.

Commissioner Barksdale, thank you so much. Of course, we have got Shimon Prokupecz standing by.

We're waiting for this update from the NYPD after the arrest of the suspect in the subway shooting in Brooklyn, Frank James, 62 years old, arrested a short time ago without incident. Two patrol officers recognized him and then took him into custody.

CAMEROTA: And that's a blessing, obviously, on every level.

There's other news that we will also bring to you. There's new reporting that Russia is preparing to conquer the Donbass region in the next few days.

Plus, the U.S. is expected to announce 800 million more dollars in military assistance to Ukraine. So, we will tell you which weapons are now on the list and if they're the ones that Ukraine is begging for.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:23:47]

CAMEROTA: Moments ago, the White House released new details about $800 million in additional military aid to Ukraine. President Biden unveiled this to Ukraine's President Zelenskyy in a call today.

The new package against the Russians includes military helicopters, artillery systems and armored Humvees.

BLACKWELL: Now, as for what the Russians are using, video appears to show Vladimir Putin's forces launching a weapon banned under international law.

An apparent cluster munition is seen going off in Kharkiv, the largest city in Eastern Ukraine. One explosion is immediately followed by -- look at this -- a series of blasts. And this releases a series of smaller explosions in order to inflict more damage.

Now, the video seems to capture one detonated bomblet on the ground before it erupts into flames.

CAMEROTA: Our CNN team has observed stepped-up shelling in the residential part of Kharkiv.

And France is the latest Western nation to say intelligence is showing that Russian troops are preparing for a major offensive to -- quote -- "conquer" the Donbass region in the east in the next few days.

President Biden has now joined other international leaders in calling Russia's atrocities in Ukraine a -- quote -- "genocide."

BLACKWELL: Ukraine's President Zelenskyy thanked the president by saying: "Calling things by their name is essential to stand up to evil."

[14:25:06]

Today, a Kremlin spokesman downplayed the capture of a Putin ally in Ukraine. The Kremlin says the Viktor Medvedchuk never had any behind- the-scenes relations with Russia. But Zelenskyy is hoping to use Medvedchuk for a prison swap.

CNN's Phil Black is in Kyiv.

Phil, let's start with Mariupol. The mayor there is talking about a chemical attack, also revealing the number of people still trapped there is much higher than initially thought. What have you learned?

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, standing -- standing by allegations of a chemical attack, Victor.

This was a weapon that was alleged -- claimed to be dropped on Ukrainian soldiers, near Ukrainian soldiers a day or so ago. The point is that there is no way of proving this. None of them suffered severely as a result of this weapon being deployed, but they believe it was some sort of chemical that did impact the way some people felt and breathed, caused eye irritation and so forth.

They have no way of proving this. They can't get to the site of the blast, they say, because -- because of Russian fire. It's just too dangerous. And this is a surrounded, cut-off, besieged city. And it's one where the fight to defend it continues despite that.

Ukrainian forces have been there throughout for well over a month now. And what we're hearing is, although they had essentially been split up and divided into two smaller pieces of territory that they were defending, through what one government official calls a risky maneuver, they were able to join up and consolidate their forces.

And they say that their defensive capability, their fighting ability has now been enhanced because of that. They are now, however, still limited to a very small patch of ground. And there is this growing sense that the fight there is approaching something like a last stand. But these are incredibly committed fighters.

And they have said they are prepared to fight to the end. On the humanitarian side, we're hearing there are still 120,000 people or so still in that city, still, as they have been throughout the bombardment and the siege, with no food, water, electricity and so forth, and in desperate need of evacuation.

But it seems that that is not going to happen until the fight there concludes one way or the other -- Victor.

CAMEROTA: A hundred and twenty thousand, Phil, that's just -- that's -- I think that's a higher number than we had heard.

And we're also learning more gruesome details on what the Russian troops have left in their wake. And, this time, it's in the Sumy area. So what do we know about that?

BLACK: Yes, the Sumy region to the northeast of Ukraine, this is another area that Russian forces withdrew from recently.

And the reports from there, well, they sound distressingly familiar. They're finding large numbers of civilians killed, more than 100 or so, they say, more every day, and some of them, again, matching a description that we have -- we have come -- that we have heard before, arms bound, signs of torture, shot in the head.

We haven't been given precise numbers precisely, but they say many people have been found that fit that description. So, it is yet more allegations of, well, brutality against the civilian population by the invading, occupying and retreating Russian force.

CAMEROTA: Phil Black, stay safe. Thank you very much for your reporting.

So as, we just mentioned, the U.S. announced new details of the hundreds of millions of dollars in more aid to Ukraine.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann is here with more.

So, Oren, what are these weapons? What will this look like?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, a few points about this latest security assistance package, $800 million announced from the Biden administration following President Joe Biden's call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It has new capabilities, as you pointed out, additional helicopters. The U.S. has already given Ukraine Soviet era Mi-17, helicopters, about five of them. So this could very well be more of that, although the specific type of helicopter is not given there.

Those first batch of helicopters like this, again, Soviet era attack helicopters, were intended for Afghanistan and the Afghan air force, but were then, after the fall of the country, diverted towards Ukraine. So we could see more of that. This new package also includes artillery for perhaps the first time, not only the systems, but also the rounds. And then, in an announcement from the White House, it also includes the same sort of systems they have had before. There isn't much specificity here. But it is worth noting that one of the most important things that doesn't get that much attention that the U.S. has sent in is small arms ammunition, ammo for rifles, guns, that kind of thing that are used constantly and all the time.

That has been one of the keys here to keeping Ukraine in the fight. We will find out more about this. We have a Pentagon press briefing coming up in a short time, so we will certainly keep you posted.

BLACKWELL: Oren Liebermann for us at the Pentagon.

Oren, thank you.

Let's move forward with the breaking news now. Just under 30 hours after the shooting injured 29 people at a Brooklyn subway station, the suspect is now in custody.

Let's go back now to Shimon Prokupecz at the scene.

Shimon, we're told this news conference is going to begin pretty soon.

PROKUPECZ: Yes, this conference should begin pretty soon.