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Sheriff Calls Attack a "Racially Motivated Hate Crime"; Finland Says It will Apply for NATO Membership. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired May 15, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:27]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And I'm also joined by my colleague Victor Blackwell in Buffalo, New York.

We begin today in New York where a Buffalo community is in shock, mourning and in deep pain after authorities say an 18-year-old mass shooting suspect by the name of Payton Gendron, who is white, targeted that predominantly black neighborhood traveling 200 miles, heavily armed.

Plus, CNN has learned from two federal law enforcement sources, investigators are reviewing a white supremacy manifesto in connection with the alleged gunman. Ten people were killed and three injured following that attack Saturday.

And moments ago, local authorities did not mince words as they described this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH GRAMAGLIA, BUFFALO POLICE COMMISSIONER: This is an absolute racist hate crime. It will be prosecuted as a hate crime. This is someone who has hate in their heart, soul, and mind and there is no mistake that that's the direction that this is going in.

This will be completely geared toward securing a conviction for this individual. Our detectives, agents, deputies, everybody standing before you, will work this tirelessly for as long as it needs to go.

And it's done by a person, again, who does not live in our community, who brought this kind of hate to our very close-knit Buffalo community. We will not tolerate this. We stand tall against it. We will rebound against it. We will show how strong we are. And all the members of our police department, the sheriff's department, the FBI, the state police will continue to fight hate on a daily basis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Police say not only was the suspected gunman heavily armed but wore tactical gear as he livestreamed the shooting before eventually surrendering. One witness explained what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRADY LEWIS, WITNESS TO SHOOTING: It took the police about two minutes, a minute and thirty-seconds, actually. That was pretty much it. It took them about two minutes. They got here and he stood and watched thing. I thought they was going to shoot him, but they didn't shoot him.

But yes, like I said, he got on the ground and surrendered himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: President Joe Biden also addressing the tragedy at a separate event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We must all work together to address the hate that remains a stain on the soul of America. Our hearts are heavy once again, but our resolve must never ever waiver.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: This is the deadliest mass shooting of 2022 and the latest that authorities say was motivated by hate. There a picture of the suspect.

Two people remain hospitalized in stable condition. A third victim was discharged.

Let me now turn to my colleague Victor Blackwell there in Buffalo, Victor.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Yes. Fred, you know, I'm standing right across the street from the Tops Supermarket. I'm sure you can hear in the background, there's music playing. That's gospel music that's been blasting out of the speakers here for as long as I've been here. On one corner you've got that.

On the other, there was a prayer circle just a few moments ago. This is a Sunday in this community that frankly on any day of the week, if this were to happen, they would lean on religion and faith to try to understand what happened here.

I walked up here about an hour ago or so, and I saw three elderly women who were walking up. I introduced myself and said I have no camera. I have no recording device. Just tell me what you're feeling.

And a woman named Masuzie (ph) said she feels shocked. She's numb. She shops at this grocery store. This is the only grocery store that this community has. Before it, it was a food desert.

She said as she described them, her grand babies were here on Thursday. It could have been anyone, but we know now from investigators, they say this shooter targeted this community specifically because of the high percentage of the black population here.

Let me turn now to my colleague, Shimon Prokupecz who is the crime and justice correspondent on the scene. Officials just gave an update. What did you learn?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

So we just learned from the police commissioner here that last year, June 2021, while the alleged shooter was at the high school there in his hometown, that the school there called the state police after he made a generalized threat.

[14:04:53]

PROKUPECZ: It wasn't a very specific threat, but the state police actually responded to the school and they took the alleged shooter to the hospital for a mental evaluation.

So he has had some contact with the mental health system, with the police certainly, but there was nothing there that they say that would give any indication that this was going to happen, obviously.

It's not clear if there was any follow-up. They say there was no other information that they ever had any contact with him after that. But obvious a significant piece of information for these investigators because it could lend them some help in knowing that this individual, perhaps, had some history.

But again, they're trying to sort through all of that. And essentially, you know, they're working through this investigation. They know what weapons were used. They have a timeline they believe of when the weapons were purchased, how they were purchased. So they have all of that information.

They also know significantly another piece of information that the alleged shooter was actually here the day before. They believe he was here on Friday as kind of a surveillance of some kind to check out the location. And so, they're working through social media and other information to try and pinpoint exactly when he was here and what he was doing here.

So that's a lot of significant information that they have been able to gather. And also, quickly, that they are talking to his parents. His parents are cooperating in the investigation. So they've been providing information.

But as you said, Victor, for everyone here in this community, this is a close-knit community, a deeply religious community. Churches were filled this morning as people gathered. And the mayor talked about that.

And the attorney general here, Letitia James, was here this morning, attending one of those services. She talked about her interaction with some of the victims and some of the family members. Take a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: I heard about the senior citizen who planted trees on her block. I heard about the woman who just went to visit her husband in a nursing home and then stopped by a Tops to get something to eat. I heard about the young gentleman who worked in the office of Senator Kennedy who survived who was shot through the neck and God basically spares his life.

I heard about countless number of victims this morning. I've held in my arms a young lady who worked at Tops who was so afraid that she was about to die, who witnessed the bloodshed, who shaked and quivered in my arms this morning, who was afraid for her community, afraid also for herself.

This event will not define Buffalo. This event will bring Buffalo residents together. This event was committed by a sick, demented individual who's fueled a daily diet of hate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: And Victor, you know, I was watching one of the press services this morning here on the local television and the mayor talked about another person who was a former fire commissioner here, and he knew his mother was shopping here yesterday. His 86-year-old mother. She came to buy some groceries for her husband who was in the nursing home.

She went in to buy some groceries and then she was shot dead. And he knew that his mother was here. They were calling her. She wouldn't answer the phone. hen they came to here and they looked in the parking lot, her car was still here.

So those are the kind of stories we're hearing from so many members here of this community who really -- you know, you talk about a food desert. This is now a food desert again.

And the governor talked about that because this grocery store is where everyone buys their food. So she's using the shared ride services to try and help get people around, get them from their homes so that they can get food because right now there's nowhere to buy food in this he community.

This is really affecting everyone here. You can feel it. You walk the streets, you go everywhere. The local officials here all certainly affected by this, and it's just going to be -- take some time here for them to heal.

This is a really -- just a real gut punch to so many here in the community.

BLACKWELL: Yes. As I've spoken to people who were standing on the outside, and we'll do a better job of getting you a broader look of what's here. People standing outside the caution tape. The police tape. They're telling the stories of the last time they were in this grocery store, because so many people shop here and now this, of course, will be closed for some time because it is still a crime scene.

Shimon Prokupecz, thank you very much.

Let's bring in now our senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem. Juliette, still a lot of questions, obviously. Some answers we received from officials but I'm going to start with the big one here.

We learned from officials, Governor Hochul, that this suspected shooter actually was under some medical surveillance. Made a threat against his high school less than a year ago.

[14:09:53]

BLACKWELL: How does someone who has set up those red flags get an AR- 15, and police say, come and commit something like this?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. So part of it is that our gun laws are not closely aligned with our mental health laws or mental health notifications. There are some states that have very strong laws that make it almost impossible for someone with mental -- I would say mental -- severe mental breakdown, let's say, to get access to a gun. But that's very rare.

This sounds like it was sort of a one and done notification to the state police. Nothing that would let them know that this was likely to happen, so they're getting hits like this in the sense that they're getting phone calls like this all the time.

But you just raised the right point that the combination of, of course, some sort of hatred or violence or whatever it is that led the school district to call the state police easy access to guns, and then of course, the radicalization that's occurring in his, you know, in different capacities for him led him on nothing less than a hunt. This is what it was.

I mean he drives couple hundred miles. He is in essentially hunting gear, is targeting an African American community because it's an African American community, and a market that he knows is servicing the black community there.

BLACKWELL: You got a powerful piece for "The Atlantic" in which where you talk more about that hunt. We know according to the governor that this was a targeted zip code, 14208 because it has the highest percentage of African Americans, 78 percent according to the latest numbers, within driving distance of where he lives in Conklin. I mean this is a place that if you're an outdoorsman and you're looking for deer, you go to a place where there are deer, but here he is hunting black people, specifically.

KAYYEM: That's exactly -- it's the right word, Victor. I mean it is -- there's no other way to explain what is happening. So what I wanted to do in that piece was just to say sort of how words are failing us now in terms of the challenges we have in describing the kind of racism and kind of terrorism that we have in this country now. And kind of hate crimes and violence. Basically, this is a situation in which he's not a lone wolf. We talk in the legal context about things being an individual going after someone, like a lone wolf and that he had no co-conspirators. That's just not true in this case, and it's not true in most cases.

They have a herd. And that herd, they're finding online. That herd is amplified by politicians and others and journalists and others who are -- or hosts, I should say -- and others, who are amplifying the hatred and talking about the displacement and replacement of white Americans in a zero sum game.

So what I want to make clear to viewers is this isn't just a bad theory. Right? It isn't just a group of people who are racist who we wouldn't want to have over for dinner. The theory of replacement and ground replacement which the perpetrator adhered to is about violence.

There's no other explanation for it, because they basically believe that the pie is limited. That Americans -- that white Americans are getting displaced by black Americans, and, therefore, the kill is justified. The hunt, as we say, is justified. Because otherwise you'll lose your place at the table or your piece of the pie. And unless we understand it as pure violence, not speech, not racism, not some political theory, but just violence, we're going to sort of dance around what is going on.

And so I just wanted to make clear that while he was acting alone, this idea of the lone wolf that we compare him to say, an ISIS terror attack, he's got the herd, and the herd we know.

I mean the herd is from Fox News to politicians who wink and nod and say all the right things, but they're people like this assailant, right, know exactly what they mean.

BLACKWELL: Juliette Kayyem, we've got a lot more to talk about. Listen, you and I have had this conversation literally after dozens of these mass shootings across this country. We've got a lot more to figure out as we try to understand more here.

Thank you so much.

And Fred, as I toss it back to you, the music continues. More people coming in, because they believe they have to be here.

[14:14:45]

BLACKWELL: I met a woman named Jennifer who came in. She was standing in the street holding yellow flowers, didn't know where to place them. She said after she saw it on television yesterday, she wanted to do something, and when she woke up this morning, she found out that the aunt of one of her close friends at work was a victim in the shooting. So she came here to try to be close to this community. People who live here and who do not are trying to understand and soothe one another.

Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: Yes. That gospel music being elevated there. And I think too symbolic of how people are trying really hard to come together just as you just mentioned -- friends, family members, we're finding out just how deeply this has impacted everyone.

All right Victor, we're going to check back in with you momentarily.

Meantime, still ahead, Finland officially announces it wants to join NATO. Why that could prove to be a major shift in Europe and why it also matters to the U.S.

Plus all eyes are on Pennsylvania. The battleground state's primary election is in just two days. We'll talk to one of the Democratic candidates straight ahead.

[14:15:56]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: As the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine ripple across Europe, Finland says it is ready to join NATO. The country has officially announced it will apply for membership, and Sweden says it is likely to do the same.

The Finnish president telling CNN this morning why it's moving away from the traditional stance of neutrality.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAULI NIINISTO, PRESIDENT OF FINLAND: Russia tried to deny any enlargement of NATO, and that changed in a way very much our position here. Undoubtedly what we see now, Europe developed is more divided. There's not very much room for non-aligned in between. So that was also what we are thinking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's senior international correspondent Sam Kiley is in eastern Ukraine. Sam, this is a pretty major shift, isn't it?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a huge shift. And if you think of what neighboring Sweden is considering, tearing up 200 years of military neutrality over a decision by the ruling Social Democratic Party there to also suggest that Sweden should go forward with a NATO application is quite remarkable.

It is having an equal and opposite effect to the one desired by Vladimir Putin if that was his original intent to invade Ukraine. Of course, he stated that his intent was to try to prevent Ukraine from becoming a NATO partner from effectively parking its tanks in Ukrainian territory and threatening the Kremlin in his view, or denazification.

But ultimately really, Putin's agenda was really to prevent democracy taking hold here in Ukraine, and that is, of course, a much bigger threat to his own autocratic system.

But on the geostrategic level, things are backfiring on him very aggressively, and -- his people, his foreign minister and others have said that particularly with regard to Finland, a country that Russia has invaded within living memory during the Second World War, they take a very, very dim view. This will be extremely problematic for their bilateral relations signaling there that there could be some kind of consequence to this.

You've seen the paranoia of the Baltic States, former areas of Russian/Soviet influence in the past, very firmly and desperately holding onto the embrace of NATO with extra troops being sent in there, not likely to make any difference in a major assault by Russia, but to signal to Russia that NATO is full square against the Russian threat to Europe which now increasingly appears to be how they're getting involved here in Ukraine, too.

WHITFIELD: Sam Kiley, thanks so much.

Still ahead, we're continuing to follow the investigation into the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. Ten people lost their lives after a white teen opened fire at a supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood. We're live in Buffalo next.

[14:23:05]

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BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell, live in Buffalo, New York across from Tops Supermarket where ten people were killed here 24 hours ago when police say a shooting rampage started.

We know from the Buffalo police chief that they're now working to obtain warrants to go through cell phones, computers, laptops, social media accounts to learn more about this alleged shooter.

We know that part of the investigation is this 180-page manifesto that according to the manifesto was written by a Payton Gendron matching the name of the suspect here and talks about white supremacy. The author claims to be a fascist, an anti-Semite and a white supremacist.

To learn more about this, let's bring in now Cynthia Miller Idriss with the Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab at American University. She's also the author of "Hate in the Homeland: a New Global Far Right".

Thank you so much being with us. I want to start here with what you say is the suspect being a formulae textbook example when recognized who is susceptible to hate misinformation. Explain that.

CYNTHIA MILLER IDRISS, POLARIZATION AND EXTREMISM RESEARCH INNOVATION LAB, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Thanks for having me. I'm sorry to be here under these circumstances. And my thoughts are with all the families and the survivors and the victims here.

But in this case, what I meant by that is that this is -- it's exactly a kind of formulae textbook case of radicalization according to what we know so far. A young person who was -- self-reports to have been exposed online to extreme ideas, says that he was during the pandemic bored, spending copious amounts of time online where he was, you know, brought ever deeper into the rabbit hole, and then plotted for quite some time a violent attack, including with plenty of warning signs about the risk of that violence.

So there were a lot of opportunities that were missed here to intervene.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about that. Because we know from investigators that they are now talking to this suspect's parents and those parents are cooperating, but 180 pages for an 18-year-old. I mean, we think back to high school, maybe the first year of college, 180 pages is not something typical that someone that age writes.

[14:29:57]

BLACKWELL: There had to be someone who saw this, knew this was happening, wondering what was happening there. What are those people, clearly before it gets to this point, supposed to do at that point?

IDRISS: Yes. Well, there are a couple things about the manifesto, too, and its length to point out. More than half of the content of that manifesto reportedly is plagiarized from another manifesto from a white supremacist terrorist in Christchurch, New Zealand.

This wasn't original ideas. It wasn't even original writing. It was copy and pasted into his manifesto. So, he's really emulating and imitating someone online.

But he was clearly -- had expressed threats, had been reported by his school for violent crimes, had described animal cruelty, and had plenty of opportunities sort of for teachers, parents, principals to recognize that and report him. Part of the problem is even when they started as they did, we really don't have mechanisms to help or to intervene or know what to do. And that's something that we're far behind on in this country.

BLACKWELL: Specifically on this great replacement theory, this political theory that minorities are either being brought in or coming in to replace white Americans, there was a politician on CNN earlier who said people who espouse this should be forced back in their holes. But some of them are in Congress. Some are on television. Some in prime time.

As this grows, how can people refute this? Push this back?

MILLER-IDRISS: This is a conspiracy theory that has been celebrated and espoused by violent white supremacists that has mobilized terrorist attacks in several countries from across this country in El Paso and California and Pittsburgh and now, Buffalo. It's also a conspiracy theory that is echoed and reinforced on mainstream cable network shows and pundits and politicians who argue that Democrats are deliberately orchestrating a replacement of white Americans in order to cease power or bring in voter who is will support them.

So, that kind of language is extremely dangerous when you start to hear mainstream politicians who are supposed to be the source of trusted information for the public, start to echo that same kind of conspiracy theory that is mobilizing violent supremacist and terrorist attacks, it's really dangerous. But we have to call that out, we have to point out that and there has to be consequences, and some calling out of that across the political spectrum.

BLACKWELL: Yeah. Well, Cynthia Miller-Idriss, thank you so much for your expertise in this area.

It's now been 24 hours since police say that shooter pulled into the top supermarket parking lot and then went on that shooting rampage. It's been a day, but the pain as we can hear and see here is still very raw.

Special live coverage continues. We'll be right back.

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[14:37:44]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: On Tuesday, voters in Pennsylvania will head to the polls to pick a Democratic and Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. The front runner to win the Democratic nomination is an unconventional candidate who supports legalizing marijuana and lowering prison sentences.

Those liberal views have John Fetterman under growing scrutiny. When he spoke with CNN's Kasie Hunt, he defended his views.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You've worked really hard to help free people from prison. Are you concerned at all that your record on that is going to come back to bite you in a general election?

LT. GOV. JOHN FETTERMAN (D), PENNSYLVANIA SENATE CANDIDATE: No. And you know what? If it is, they can bring it on.

HUNT: Do you think our southern border is adequately secured right now?

FETTERMAN: I've been always been an advocate for a secure border, but a compassionate and common sense immigration reform.

HUNT: Let's talk about abortion for a second. Do you support any restrictions on abortion?

FETTERMAN: I don't. I've always believed --

HUNT: Even in the third trimester?

FETTERMAN: I believe that choice is between a woman, her doctor, and a god if she prays to one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me right now is a candidate running against John Fetterman for the Democratic Senate seat in Pennsylvania. Malcolm Kenyatta is currently a Pennsylvania state representative.

Representative Kenyatta, good to see you.

STATE REP. MALCOLM KENYATTA (D), PENNSYLVANIA SENATE CANDIDATE: Good to see you. How are you?

WHITFIELD: I'm doing great.

Hey, before we talk about the race, I do want to ask you about your reaction to the mass shooting taking place in Buffalo, killing 10 people. Authorities say the gunman, a white teen, was fuelled by hate and targeted that grocery store because it was predominantly African American. So in your view, what is the remedy for growing hate crimes like this?

KENYATTA: You know what? This is a direct result of a message of white nationalism and of hatred that is given voice and amplification by far too many officials in the Republican Party.

And frankly, they have an entire lineup of hosts on a certain news channel, Fox News, that is pushing out this idea of replacement theory and all this other nonsense that we know led this gunman to act in a despicable, gut-wrenching attack.

For myself and my family, I have an aunt who has lived in Buffalo for most of my life.

[14:40:02]

And so as you might imagine, last night myself and other family members were calling first and foremost to make sure she was okay, and then, of course, praying and very in pain for all of these people who lost their lives because of this senseless violence.

We need to do something about common sense gun reform and treat white nationalism like the threat that it is.

WHITFIELD: So if elected to the U.S. Senate, what kind of change do you see is needed on a federal level to perhaps address what seems to be this growing poison of white supremacy and hate?

KENYATTA: So you know, the FBI has repeatedly highlighted growing instances like this of domestic homegrown white nationalist terrorism as one of their greatest threats. And so, first and foremost, we need to make sure that the FBI has all the resources they need to actively and aggressively go after the cells and use every tool at their disposal to disrupt these networks.

But also what we have to do is you have to have some elected officials who just like me have raised their hands and pledged to uphold the Constitution to stop pushing this nonsense, to stop continuing to encourage and promote this behavior. And that includes the former president and all of his acolytes out there.

But we also need to pass common sense gun safety legislation. I have been introducing so many pieces of bills and so many pieces of legislation and have co-sponsored numerous bills at the state level that we need to pass at the federal level, including closing gun show loopholes, having more intensive background checks, assault weapons ban. And also looking at how we can hold gun manufacturers accountable for proliferating these weapons in the first place.

WHITFIELD: And in this race, for U.S. Senate, we just played a portion of John Fetterman's sentiments. Tell us why you think voters in Pennsylvania should be voting for you.

KENYATTA: Because voters in Pennsylvania understand that we need to change the Senate. And if we're going to change the Senate, it turns out we have to change the senators. We need somebody who understands in their bones what's broken and what's not working for working families right now.

And in me what people get is somebody who's been a legislator who is on the frontlines of stopping in Arizona style audit of the election as it was happening. I was the guy in the room working to make sure Republicans weren't successful with that.

But I'm also somebody who is not just asking for people's votes. I understand their lives. I grew up in a working poor family in north Philadelphia. My dad was a social worker and my mom was a home health aide.

I buried both by of my parents by the time they were -- by the time I was 27 because they didn't have the type of health care every family deserves. I live in a community where we're struggling with issues of gun violence every single day. I have folks in my family and my community who were working two and three jobs in every single day.

We don't have that type of leadership in the U.S. Senate right now. Somebody who is confronting the challenges that voters are facing, and I want to be very clear. This election is not over at all.

Here in the United States, we don't have coronations. We don't have auctions. We have elections. And people have a chance on Tuesday to actually elect a progressive in this race who is going to stand up for working families.

His name is Malcolm Kenyatta. You can go to my website and you can show up on Tuesday and vote for real change.

I would not only be the first African American ever elected from the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but I would be a working class fighter for every single one of our families in a place that is in desperate need of a different type of leadership.

WHITFIELD: All right. State -- Pennsylvania State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta, all the best to you in your upcoming race for U.S. Senate.

KENYATTA: Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much for joining us today.

And in the next hour, we'll talk live with Congressman Conor Lamb, another Democrat running for the Pennsylvania Senate seat.

We also invited Lt. Governor John Fetterman to join us. CNN's Dan Merica reports that for a third day in a row, Fetterman's campaign has cancelled all campaign events citing illness.

All right. Still ahead, on a day when the risk of fire wasn't particularly high, a fast-moving blaze engulfed nearly two dozen homes in southern California. Is this the new normal? We'll talk with the California fire chief, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:49:06]

WHITFIELD: In southern California, fire crews are finally making some progress on the coastal fire. The blaze that erupted this week and quickly scorched more than 200 acres.

Orange county fire officials say they have the fire 60 percent contained. Fast moving flames destroyed 20 homes and damaged a dozen more this week.

Joining us right now is Cal Fire Battalion Chief Isaac Sanchez.

Chief Sanchez, good to see you. We all watched the unbelievable images out of Laguna Niguel this week, and this fire's name alludes, it's a community on the coast, and there wasn't a high risk for that day.

So how surprised were you about the speed and the veracity of this fire?

ISAAC SANCHEZ, BATTALION CHIEF OF COMMUNICATIONS, CAL FIRE: Well, you know, I wish I could say that I was surprised as the general public, but, again, just for the last five to ten years of fire in the state of California, there isn't much that's surprising anymore.

WHITFIELD: So, what is going on here? What's the best explanation there might be?

SANCHEZ: Well, it's a multifaceted problem in California. Obviously we have the effects of climate change. We have the effects of the ongoing drought. But there's also issues that have to be addressed when it comes to preparing communities, of course, educating communities on how to best prevent wildfires.

WHITFIELD: So, you told CNN the coastal fire is a graphic example that you don't need thousands of acres burned to impact you. What do you mean?

SANCHEZ: Well, we kind of are using this as a great example of how just a couple hundred acres can certainly adversely impact not only an entire region or community, but specifically the homes and the folks that live in that area. So, you know, largely destructive fires are always a possibility in the state of California, but it doesn't necessarily take a large fire.

If the fire is burning next to your home, it is a threat and a concern. And I think this is a great example of that.

WHITFIELD: And is there a correlation here? Because temperatures out west are about 10 to 15 degrees above average right now. It's very hot. You know, we're still over a month away from the official start of summer.

So is it your feeling or are you bracing for more sparks like this to turn into big blazes?

SANCHEZ: Well, that certainly is the expectation that we operate under. And it's not just Cal Fire in California and our cooperators. Fire departments in general have to prepare for the worst to occur at any given moment. That's what we're doing. It's continuing to show or at least manifest by increased funding and resources available to Cal Fire.

WHITFIELD: So, in other words, fire season is all year round now?

SANCHEZ: Yeah, there is no fire season. That is one of the things we've been trying to get across to the public for a couple years now. We're getting away from using the terminology. The implication being that if we're in fire season, there's a time of year we're not in fire season. And that simply is not the case.

As an example, we've already responded to a little over 1,700 fires in the state of California between ourselves and our federal cooperators since January 1st through this week. So there is a potential out there, and that potential does not go away simply because the temperatures cool down.

WHITFIELD: So, what if anything can Californians do? What's your recommendation of how they either need to brace themselves or protect themselves or even help in the prevention of fires like this?

SANCHEZ: It's all about preparation. It's all about preparation. The fire departments are preparing, have been prepared for quite some time now for what's coming our way. We expect to happen this year, and the public needs to see it from our eyes also.

Preparation is absolutely the best thing that the public can do, because it's exactly what we're doing.

WHITFIELD: Chief Isaac Sanchez, thank you so much, and all the best to you and your crews some very hard and heroic work. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Sure. Thank you for having us.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, we're learning new details about the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. The 18-year-old suspect allegedly wrote a white supremacist manifesto before traveling hours to the predominantly Black neighborhood and then opening fire. We're live with the latest, straight ahead.

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[14:58:30] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STANLEY TUCCI, CNN HOST: Can I try something?

Last night I thought I was all porked out, but my mouth is watering already.

Oh, oh, oh. Okay, okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated): The salsiccia is made with the pork leg itself that keeps it tender. It has such a unique taste.

TUCCI: Literally some of the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's the donkey's testicle. The donkey's testicle.

TUCCI: So you can see why they'd be called donkey's balls. Use your imagination for the rest of the package.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: I'll pass on the latter. You can catch the new episode of "STANLEY TUCCI: SEARCHING FOR ITALY" tonight at 9:00 p.m., only on CNN.

(MUSIC)

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And I'm joined by my colleague Victor Blackwell in Buffalo, New York.

We'll get to you in a moment, Victor.

We begin this hour in Buffalo, New York, at the scene of the deadliest mass shooting of 2022 which authorities say was motivated by hate.