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Officials Say, Blocking Admin From Ending Title 42 Won't Slow Migrant Surge; Second Flight of Baby Formula Departs Germany For U.S. Tomorrow; Hunt For Woman Accused of Killing Cyclist in Apparent Love Triangle. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired May 24, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: A very concerning, dangerous trend in the U.S., the FBI says the number of active shooter incidents increased more than 50 percent last year over the numbers from 2020.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And the numbers were already crazy then. According to a report, there were 61 active shooter incidents in 2021 resulting in 103 deaths, 140 injuries, that's excluding the shooters.

CNN's Evan Perez joins us now. So, Evan, they're talking about roving shooters. What does that mean?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, these are alleged shooters who don't stick to a particular place. We saw some of what we saw in Buffalo, for instance, right? This person was potentially trying to hunt down people to shoot. And these numbers are unreal of 61 incidents in 2021, more than a 50 percent increase, 103 deaths, 140 wounded, Jim. 60 of the 61 were male. 25 to 34 years old is the age range. You and I have seen this in all the classic profile of what we've seen.

One of the surprising things that the FBI said in this report is one remains at large from these incidents. We've seen repeatedly, according to the FBI, a trend where, obviously, these guys tend to study previous incidents and they don't stick in one location, necessarily.

And so that is making it harder for law enforcement. They have to train -- you know, you train for past incidents but you're trying to prevent the future incidents. And so that's one of the challenges for the FBI and for law enforcement around the country.

SCIUTTO: So hard to do and so alarming, those figures. Evan Perez, thanks very much. Erica?

HILL: New this morning, Biden officials say a court ruling to block the termination of Title 42 will not slow the surge of migrants at the southern border. SCIUTTO: Illegal crossings are at record levels once again with even more migrants waiting to apply for asylum in camps that are set up across the border inside Mexico.

CNN's Matt Rivers spoke with migrants in Ciudad Juarez about their concerns with crossing the border.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're nervous that the authorities won't allow you to enter the country?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, very much so. More than the nerve is the uncertainty of not knowing how long we will have to be here, especially for the baby. He's only a year and a half old. So, yes, it's difficult.

RIVERS: Well, thank you so much for your time.

So, his story there very similar to other stories that we have heard in this shelter. The shelter is called Buena Pastor, the Good Shepherd Shelter, and it is completely full at the moment.

The majority of migrants here right now are actually Haitian, but as you just heard from our interview there, he is Venezuelan, there are people from Honduras here, and this shelter, which can hold 80 people, is now completely full.

And we can show you some of that. I want to enter into one of the dormitories here. And just bear with us because it is a little dark as we transition from sunlight to darkness here. There is no lights in here but you can see how full this dormitory is. It is just bunk bed next to bunk bed next to bunk bed.

There are dozens of people that are living in this facility, most of whom are spread out through the facility. They've asked us to respect people's privacy here, so that's why you're seeing empty beds, but there are people sharing bunk beds here.

Now, remember, Ciudad Juarez is one of the most dangerous cities in Mexico.

[10:35:03]

And as a result, people that come into this shelter can't actually leave unless they have a good reason to do so. One of those legitimate reasons would have been to apply for asylum at the border. And many people were hoping here that with the expiration of Title 42 that they could have gone to the border to do that easier.

Of course, that didn't happen with the federal judge in Louisiana continuing to allow that policy to be in place, and that's been very disappointing to people, many of whom would have gone to the border to try and apply for asylum.

And we spoke to the director of this facility earlier today who told us that things can't continue like this. He's building another facility just across the street that he says can house more than double of what he can hold right now, and yet when that is finished in two months time, he says already knows that there won't be enough room to handle all of the people that he says are still going to be in this area.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: And Matt is with us now live. So, Matt, I know border agents are now saying that a growing number of the migrants are from outside of Mexico in the northern triangle countries. You mentioned a number of folks from Haiti. Are they starting to see even more of a shift in terms of who is there?

RIVERS: Yes, and I think that that's been the trend recently. I mean, if you look at the latest encounter numbers from the Customs and Border Protection folks in the month of April outside of Mexico, Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, they had some 100,000 people from other countries, or 100,000 encounters of with people from other countries at the border. That gives you some indication of what is happening here, and that's what we saw in that shelter.

The vast majority of people there were Haitian, and we have seen a growing number of Haitians over the last year make their way to the border. The gentleman I spoke with is from Venezuela. And that just shows you overall the situation in Latin America is driving people to the border. As soon as these pandemic restrictions during 2020, border crossings were was reopened, you saw people from all across the western hemisphere start to make their way to the United States, and that is changing from what we traditionally see which would be migrants from the northern triangle countries that I just listed.

And I asked the director of that shelter, does he think the extension of Title 42 is going to reduce the number of migrants that are coming here to the border? He said, absolutely not, he's preparing for more people to still come.

SCIUTTO: Those numbers, they keep rising. Matt Rivers, thanks so much.

HILL: Soon, another flight of Operation Fly Formula will head to the U.S. We're live at the ir base where that shipment is set to depart. Stay with us. That's next.

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[10:40:00]

SCIUTTO: This amazing reality continues, the U.S. flying in emergency flights of baby formula. A second flight of formula will leave Germany tomorrow morning for the U.S. as parents nationwide continue to struggle to find formula for their babies.

HILL: The first batch, of course, was flown in on Sunday, that was the equivalent of 1.5 million eight-ounce bottles, remember, was a specialized formula. CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has been tracking these shipments. She's there at Ramstein Airbase in Germany. So, what's going to be on this next flight, Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Erica, this next flight will also have hypoallergenic formula. The reason for that is that the parents who have had the toughest time are the parents of children with allergies or other kinds of medical problems.

The interesting question is the shipment that's going out tomorrow morning, will that go to supermarkets? The first shipment, the one that arrived on Sunday, it didn't go to supermarkets or to any retail stores. Instead, it went to hospitals, to doctors' offices, to pharmacies. It will be very interesting to see where this shipment goes.

Now, to be very clear-eyed about this, 1.5 million eight-ounce bottles will make a difference in the United States but we're a big country and it's not going to solve the problem by any means. There are other steps being taken. For example, the second largest manufacturer of formula in the U.S., Reckitt, they've ratcheted up their production by 35 percent. Also, the Biden administration has prioritized ingredients that could be used -- and other things they've prioritized it for formula.

So, the hope is that all of these things combined will start to make a difference, but it will take several weeks. It will take the reopening of that shuttered Abbott plant that was shuttered for safety reasons. It will likely take the reopening of that plant to really turn this thing around. Erica, Jim?

SCIUTTO: It's just remarkable to see aid flights going in this direction. Elizabeth Cohen there in Ramstein, thank you so much.

Another celebrity is expected on the stand this week in Johnny Depp's defamation trial against Amber Heard. Why Depp's team thinks one of his famous ex-girlfriends will help his case. We're going to discuss, next.

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HILL: Now to Texas and a hunt for a woman who is suspected in the death of a 25-year-old elite cyclist. 34-year-old Texas yoga instructor Kaitlin Marie Armstrong is suspected of killing Anna Moriah Wilson on May 11th.

SCIUTTO: It's just a disturbing story. Investigators believe Armstrong may have been jealous of Wilson the cyclist had previously been in a relationship with Armstrong's boyfriend, Colin Strickland, who is also a professional cyclist.

CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us now. Ed, she's still at large. I mean, what do officials say about the search for Armstrong? ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It was a little about a week ago that we learned that U.S. Marshals were involved in the search for Armstrong who was interviewed by police in Austin the day after the murder and presented with some of the evidence that police had already gathered in the initial 24 hours of this murder investigation, but they didn't have enough, apparently, to charge her or hold her.

[10:50:07]

And the way they had brought her in was because of an arrest warrant on an unrelated case, and she was allowed to leave.

Now, the search continues for her. A U.S. Marshal Service officer still believe that Armstrong is in the Austin area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON FILLA, DEPUTY U.S. MARSHAL: She was a realtor. She was a yoga teacher. So, she had personal relationships here in the Austin area. We hope eventually if she had some type of plan that maybe she would reach out to those associates and we would receive a tip based upon that.

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LAVANDERA: And what investigators are hoping to find right now is her car. This is the same car, a Jeep Cherokee, that was seen next to the home where Moriah Wilson was murdered on May 11th. Investigators are hoping that if someone could find that car, that that would be the initial clue that would lead them to where Armstrong is right now. Jim and Erica?

HILL: Ed, as I understand it, Armstrong's family is also speaking out about the allegations. What are they saying?

LAVANDERA: Well, her father spoke out publicly this morning on television saying that he believes his daughter is innocent of all this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL ARMSTRONG, FATHER OF SUSPECT KAITLIN MARIE ARMSTRONG: I know how she thinks and I know what she believes. And I know that she would not do something like this. I know her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And, remember, in the police affidavit that has been released so far, investigators say they have evidence of surveillance video of her car arriving next to the home of Moriah Wilson around the time that she was murdered, as well as comments from a source that has talked to investigators saying that when Armstrong found out that her boyfriend, Colin Strickland, at some point, had been involved with Moriah Wilson, that she was angry, had wanted to kill her. And also police say that a handgun recovered from Armstrong's, where Armstrong was living with her boyfriend, Colin Strickland, they believe is the likely match and the likely handgun that was used in this murder.

SCIUTTO: Goodness, just a shocking case. Ed Lavandera, thanks for coming.

Amber Heard's attorneys rested their case this morning without calling Johnny Depp as a witness. The multimillion dollar defamation trial between the former spouses is now in its sixth and final week.

HILL: Chloe Melas has been covering this all for us. So, Chloe, Depp's legal team now sits (INAUDIBLE), his ex-girlfriend, we're learning, Kate Moss, supermodel, is a rebuttal witness next week. What is she expected to say?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Well, she's expected to talk about this now sort of infamous staircase incident. It's something that has been rumored about. Johnny Depp and Kate Moss, they dated in the '90s. They were an it couple. They dated for several years, hounded by the paparazzi. They had this really big love affair where actually they've given interviews where they've said really positive things about the relationship.

But there was a rumor that perhaps they had an altercation, something about a staircase that Amber Heard brought up when she was giving her testimony, saying that when her husband at the time, Johnny Depp, was having a fight with her sister, that she actually found it reminiscent on the staircase of what happened to Kate Moss. Although we don't really know exactly what did or didn't happen. So, Kate would potentially be talking about that. This is Johnny Depp's team calling her to speak.

And when you saw Amber say this, you saw Johnny Depp's attorney sort of like be excited and turn around and shake his fist in happiness that Amber had brought this up, seeming as though perhaps Kate will sort of like dispel those rumors.

Now, also, though, so many interesting things have happened just in the short amount of time we've had this week. Many more witnesses to be called, but one of those is a doctor, an orthopedic surgeon, who is disputing what Johnny Depp says caused the tip of his finger that we've all been talking about happened. Johnny says Amber through a vodka bottle at him. But he's saying, not so fast, I don't that that's maybe what happened. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. RICHARD MOORE, ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON: It's not consistent with what we see in the described injury pattern or in the clinical photographs.

The description was the hand being flat on a bar and the bottle crushing the finger from the top. But looking at the images, there is really no significant injury to the dorsal (ph) of the finger, and to create the type of injury with that type of a crush injury, we would anticipate both injury to the fingernail and other parts of the finger.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MELAS: What makes this significant is that Johnny Depp is saying, hold on, I was not abusive to Amber Heard. I never struck her, laid a hand on her, she was abusive to me. She threw a vodka bottle at me causing me to lose the tip of my finger. But now you have this orthopedic surgeon saying, well, that couldn't have happened with this bottle.

[10:55:03]

So, Erica, Jim, I think it's just so much information over the last few weeks, and you have he said, she said, and it is going to be up to the jury to start deliberating on Friday as to who do they believe. And, remember, Amber is countersuing Johnny Depp for $100 million, so, potentially, could they just award both of them nothing?

SCIUTTO: Yes. It's such disturbing accusations going back and forth. Chloe Melas, thanks so much.

And thanks so much to all of you for joining us on this busy news day yet again. I'm Jim Sciutto.

HILL: And I'm Erica Hill.

Stay tuned. At This Hour with Kate Bolduan begins after this quick break.

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