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Suspect in California Church Shooting in Custody; Arrest in Hair Salon Shooting in Texas; War of espionage in Ukraine; Congress Holds UFO Hearings. Aired 9:30-10a

Aired May 17, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:34:04]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: New details this morning about the gunman accused of a deadly mass shooting, not in Buffalo. This one at a church in California on Sunday. Investigators say the suspect, 68- year-old David Chou, there he is, of Las Vegas was likely upset about political tensions between China and Taiwan. Listen as one witness describes the terrifying moment the parishioners jumped into action. They had to subdue the attacker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as shooting stopped, I saw Pastor Cheng coming from that side, so I just run out to put him down together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you use to tie him up and how did you tie him up?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, the other member tie him up with belt. And then Mrs. Cheng bring the cable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mrs. Cheng, as in the pastor's wife?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Average people had to stop a shooter.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is live on the scene in Orange County.

[09:35:02]

So, Stephanie, this alleged gunman scheduled to make his first court appearance today. What more do we know? And I think, you know, alarmingly here, what steps did he take prior to this?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there was definitely planning involved in this, Jim. Besides the fact that we believe he was still living in Las Vegas. And then showing up here to the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church. And looking to see how he could pull this off. We know that he had Molotov cocktails that he had placed around the church. He super glued some of the locks, chained some of the doors, nailed down one of the doors as well, according to officials. So, he was planning on this shooting being much worse. And there was really a lot of talk about how his gun, if it had not jammed, could have been such a more awful situation that played out inside the church.

But we're also learning more about his motivation, this 68-year-old man's motivation. The Orange County district attorney was on CNN "NEW DAY" and he explained more about what they learned from some of the writings that were in his possession.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD SPITZER, ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: His family was from mainland China. He grew up in Taiwan. There was a lot of anti-mainland China sentiment in those years when he grew up and he was not treated well. And, apparently, he's carried that resentment his entire both childhood and adult life. And he took this church opportunity to come after those congregants, basically to come back and say, I'm going to get even with the way I was treated when I was raised in Taiwan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And it's really worth noting, Jim, just how remarkable it is that this congregation, they say there's about 50, probably less than that, people there inside this church for this luncheon. They're saying that the heroes of this story are those people who reacted, including Dr. John Cheng, the 52-year-old who rushed and attacked and tackled the shooter, bringing him down. And that was enough of a distraction that also the pastor was able to hit him with the chair, and then they all were able to jump in and hog tie him.

Keep in mind that these are mostly senior citizens who saw this happening and worked together to save their lives. It's really just remarkable what they did.

SCIUTTO: Well, and what they were asked to do, right, I mean to save their lives. They had to risk their lives to subdue a gunman.

Stephanie Elam, thanks so much.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: In Texas, an arrest has been made in connection with a shooting at a Korean-owned hair salon last week where, according to Dallas police, three people were shot.

CNN's Alexandra Field has been following this story for us.

And as I understand it, police are also saying the incident may be connected to some other recent shootings in the area (INAUDIBLE)?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're looking at that, yes, because they saw a vehicle that may have appeared on the scene at each of these shootings. They're also saying it appears that the shooting at the hair salon may have been motivated by hate. So that is what they have been investigating. They say they have taken a suspect into custody. They have not named that suspect. And we're waiting to learn the details of how an arrest was made.

What we do know is that a suspect walked into a Korean-owned hair salon just about a week ago, started shouting, started firing shots, left three women injured before fleeing and then apparently getting into a red minivan. Investigators now say that a red or maroon van was also spotted on the scene of two other shootings during which Asian- run businesses were targeted. One of those shootings also happened a week ago. The other happening about a month ago. So the van does appear to be the connecting link here.

Investigators have been asking the public for help in finding a suspect. They seem to have now tracked down a suspect, of course. They have also been stepping up patrols and security in majority Asian communities as a result of these shootings. They have contacted the FBI. They've also been working with other Texas agencies to see if they can unearth other similar incidents. The mayor of Dallas saying that if these instances are motivated by hate, they're, of course, chilling and deeply disturbing, Erica.

HILL: Yes, they certainly are. Appreciate the update. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: So many targets of hate.

Well, just ahead, CNN captures the moment that undercover police haul in a suspected Russian spy in Ukraine. How it went down. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:43:57]

HILL: Of the many tense battles happening in Ukraine right now, we're going to focus now on one that you don't see, the war of espionage and those who may be working to gather intelligence for the enemy, and those trying to catch them.

SCIUTTO: So, CNN's Sam Kiley and team followed Ukraine's secret police as they apprehended a suspected spy who they believe gave Russian forces details about Ukrainian military movements. He has more in this exclusive report.

Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the former headquarters of the SBU. That's the secret police effectively of Ukraine. Now, it was hit right at the beginning of the war with an air strike. Clearly from the Russian perspective, this is an immediate necessity to knock out the SBU's capacity here in Kramatorsk because it is from this location that the counterintelligence operation would have been run.

KILEY (voice over): We've been working on him for about four days. We have a complete picture of his actions, says Sherhi (ph). This is Ukraine's most secretive force, the equivalent of the FBI, and

then some.

[09:45:04]

Sherhi says, we have identified a person who, according to our intelligence, is committing a crime. Simply put, this is a person who transmits to the Russian side, the Russian military, information about the locations of our units. They're snatch teams with orders to grab an alleged Russian spy.

The SBU says that spies feed a stream of information on troop movements and details of targets to Russia's aircraft and artillery. In this region, the SBU says it catches one or two agents run by Russia every day. And today's suspect is being watched.

He's ours. There he goes. Having a smoke. All units, green pants, black sweatshirt, 1,000.

Special forces sweep in. Resistance. Two Ukrainians are asked to witness the interrogation. With our camera present, protocols are followed to the letter. He's told why he's arrested for high treason during martial law and confesses on the spot to spying. He says that he was allegedly recruited online, gets orders via a messaging app from someone called Nicolae (ph).

The suspect says that he got about $10 for his alleged spying, which included the locations of Ukrainian military units in the town. According to an alleged exchange between him and his handler, the suspect was arrested mid-mission.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'll need your help for the same thing tomorrow. Stay in touch. We'll need information on military housing. More details in the morning. Got it. Got it. Good day. You did a good job yesterday. The same information is needed today. Photos, video, geo-data of the military on the CNIL. How long does it take to get the information?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And here I was walking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right there you went to get that information, didn't you?

Got it. Got it. I will text you back. One and a half to two hours.

That was today, wasn't it? At 11:29?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Approximately, I didn't watch the time.

KILEY: There's no death penalty for traitors here. But as he's driven through the gates, he'll know that if tried and convicted, he could spend a lifetime behind bars.

Sherhi's hometown is under constant Russian bombardment. So, for him, this is no small victory. Russia's hitting us with missiles, rockets and air raids. These

missiles hit the coordinates which are transmitted by these criminals. People die in these attacks. Soldiers and civilians. But he adds, the more atrocities the Russians commit, the harder it's getting for the Kremlin to recruit local spies.

Sam Kiley, CNN, in Slovyansk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: That's quite a report there.

Well, meantime, here in the U.S., the truth is out there. And your congressional leaders are searching for it right now. A hearing underway on unidentified aerial phenomena, what we call UFOs, happening on Capitol Hill. And we're going to bring you the details.

Stay with us. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:52:55]

SCIUTTO: Right now on Capitol Hill, a House panel is holding a public hearing on what? UFOs. It follows an intel report, an official one last year, that examined more than 100 reports of what are known as unidentified aerial phenomenon.

HILL: CNN's Kristen Fisher is following the testimony for us.

So while some people may laugh, they may brush this off at sci-fi paranoia, there are some real concerns that UFOs could pose a threat to national security. What are the lawmakers expecting to learn today?

KRISTEN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, they're likely going to learn a lot more about these specific, potential threats to national security during the closed session a little bit later today. But already, just moments ago, there was this really remarkable moment when Scott Bray, who is the deputy director of naval intelligence, declassified two videos and one image of UAPs, or unidentified aerial phenomenon, that were spotted by Navy pilots. And there was this really remarkable moment where the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, said, hey, can we just stop for a minute and put a freeze-frame on what exactly this object is because it flies by so quickly it's hard to spot. And that's when Scott Bray said, you know, I just don't have an explanation for what that specific object is.

And we now know that this is one of many reported incidents where the Pentagon just does not know what exactly it is. And so this is really remarkable in the sense that this is the first time that Pentagon officials have had to answer these types of questions in more than half a century. And so this public hearing is really all about this push to declassify, this push for more transparency.

And, Erica and Jim, this is really important because so many of these sightings have been around military bases and specifically Navy boats and ships, right? And so these Navy pilots have been -- there's been a lot of stigma placed against them and so they're hoping that by holding a hearing like this in public that it will destigmatize this topic and allow more Navy pilots to feel comfortable coming forward and sharing their experiences.

[09:55:07]

Jim and Erica.

SCIUTTO: And we should note that one possible explanation that they present is the idea that this is an unknown technology, an earth-borne technology, as opposed to necessarily visitors from outer space, but something, listen, that they haven't quite figured out.

Kristen Fisher, thanks so much.

FISHER: Yes.

You bet.

HILL: Queen Elizabeth making a surprise stop at London's Paddington Station today. The 96-year-old monarch on hand to open a new train line named in her honor. The queen was given a pre-paid Metro card but apparently didn't try out the new Elizabeth line. She's been suffering from mobility issues and has canceled several appearances recently, including, as you may recall, the opening of parliament just last week.

SCIUTTO: Nice to see her out and about. She looks pretty good.

In just moments, President Biden will meet with the families of those killed in the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. How many presidents have we seen do something like this? We will have live team coverage coming up.

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