Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Police Confronted by Parents; Families Arrange Funerals for Loved Ones; NRA's Conference Face Criticism; Russian Troops Focusing in Eastern Ukraine; U.S. Considering Sending More High-Powered Weapons to Ukraine; Loss of One Family is Detriment for Everyone; Kids Needs Extra Care; Actor Ray Liotta Dies at 67; Depp and Heard Saga Coming to an End; Kevin Spacey Faces Sexual Allegations Case. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired May 27, 2022 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Paula Newton.
Texas police are facing intense scrutiny over their response to the Uvalde school massacre as we learned the gunman entered the school without any resistance and it took more than an hour for officers to shoot and kill him.
Authorities say during that incredibly painful 60 minutes, police were calling for backup, evacuating students and teachers from other parts of the school. Even negotiating with the suspect but they didn't have enough information on his exact location, they say, for an immediate takedown.
Video from the school, from outside the school meantime, shows parents screaming at police to storm the school. The Wall Street journal talk to one parent who says she was put in handcuffs. Police tackled another parent and threw them to the ground. And a third was pepper sprayed. But police insist that their actions inside the school did save lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS OLIVAREZ, SPOKESPERSON, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: The American people need to understand is that, officers are making entry into this building they do not know where the gunman is. They are hearing gunshots. They are receiving gunshots. At that point, if they -- if they proceeded any further without knowing where the suspect was at, they could've been shot, they could've been killed. And at that point, that gunman would have an opportunity to kill other people inside that school.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Video posted on Facebook meantime shows the gunman, 18-year- old, Salvador Ramos, entering the school on Tuesday. The source tells CNN the teacher confirms the school was not on lockdown before Ramos got inside. That's significant, even though he fired shots at two people outside, a full 12 minutes earlier. And still no lockdown.
More now on the investigation from CNN's Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two days after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary, the story of what happened when the gunman arrived on campus has fundamentally changed.
VICTOR ESCALON, SOUTH TEXAS REGIONAL DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: There's a lot of possibilities. I don't have enough information to answer that question just yet.
LAVANDERA: The new details revealed in a bewildering press conference with the Texas Department of Safety.
ESCALON: He walked in undistracted, initially. He was not confronted by anybody too clear the record on that.
LAVANDERA: Police revised earlier reports that the government engaged with the school resource officer. According to investigators, 12 minutes past when the suspect crashed his grandmother's truck on Tuesday morning, and when he entered the school, through an unlocked backdoor.
ESCALON: He went in at 11.40. He walked, and I'm going to approximate, 20 feet, 30 feet, he makes a right, he walks into the hallway, he makes the right, walks another 20 feet, turns left into a school room, into a classroom that has doors open in the middle. Officers are there, the initial officers that receive gunfire. They don't make entry initially because of the gunfire they are receiving.
LAVANDERA: Police say most of the gunfire was in the initial minutes. There was a standoff for almost an hour before police force their way into a classroom and killed him. The question remains, why they couldn't get to the gunman sooner.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Can you explain to us how is barricaded?
ESCALON: I hear you.
PROKUPECZ: Because we've been given a lot of bad information, so why don't you clear all of this up?
UNKNOWN: Like shooting, shooting. It was like hitting the dirt on the floor.
UNKNOWN: The bullets were hitting close bullets from where?
UNKNOWN: I guess he was coming from the school, this way.
LAVANDERA: Parents were frustrated that police wouldn't help them save their children, despite safety procedures that keep people away from an active crime scene. Jessie Rodriguez lost his daughter in the shooting. He's angered by what he saw officers doing outside the school.
JESSIE RODRIGUEZ, FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM ANNABELL GUADALUPE RODRIGUEZ: They should've moved in. You know, I don't think they had the right to sit there on their ass waiting. They should've moved in faster.
LAVANDEERA: In all, more than 100 federal officers responded to the shooting, in addition to local police. For one young third grader hiding from the gunman, it seemed like even more.
CHANCE AGUIRRE, ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 3RD GRADER: What we saw were thousands of police and border patrol coming into the cafeteria. And we were all hiding behind the stage in the cafeteria when that happened.
LAVANDERA: The Uvalde school district did have a safety plan with a system in place to provide a safe and secure environment. Measure measures including a locked door policy.
[03:05:01]
OLIVAREZ: We're still trying to establish if there was any type of locking mechanism on the doorway, from the inside of the classroom, because the gunman was able to barricade himself. The
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: The changing details over what happened when the gunman went inside the elementary is frustrating and angering many parents here. And what is still not clear is what the responding officers inside the school were doing during the hour that the gunman was barricaded inside the classroom.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Uvalde, Texas.
NEWTON: Yes. So many questions still. Now the families of those who were shot and killed at Robb Elementary have already endured, you could imagine, days of pain and incredible grief. And now, it gets even harder, as they prepare funeral arrangements for their lost loved ones. It comes as another victim has now been identified.
The family of Leyla Salazar confirms to CNN that the 11-year-old died in Tuesday's horrific shooting. Now her parents say she was an active child who loved to run, film TikTok videos and dance. Leyla's grandfather says our hearts are shattered.
CNN's Lucy Kafanov has more now on the victims whose lives were cut far too short.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look at their faces. Fourth grader Jackie Cazares just had her first baptism and first communion. JACINTO CAZARES, FATHER OF JACKLYN JAYLEN CAZARES: She was full of
love, full of life. And she would do anything for anybody.
KAFANOV: Nine-year-old Elie Garcia was just a week from her tenth birthday.
UNKNOWN: The sweetest girl you've ever had, ever had.
KAFANOV: Ten-year-old Nevaeh Bravo, her first name spelled backwards, is heaven. Angels now to their families, 19 children and two teachers, this is the pain of their loss.
ANGEL GARZA, FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM AMERIE JO GARZA: How do you look at this girl and shoot her? My baby, how do you shoot my baby?
KAFANOV: Angel Garza who raised Amerie Jo Garza, wanted people to know that she tried to call 911 to save her classmates and teachers.
GARZA: She was the sweetest little girl who did nothing wrong. She listened to her mom and dad. She always brushed her teeth. She was creative. She made things for us. She never got in trouble at school.
KAFANOV: Lexi Rubio loved sports, and at just ten years old, she dreamed of traveling the world.
FELIX RUBIO, LEXI RUBIO'S FATHER: She wanted to go to Australia.
KIMBERLY RUBIO, LEXI RUBIO's MOTHER: She wanted to go to law school.
UNKNOWN: Law school?
K. RUBIO: Yes, at St. Mary's, because that is where I go.
KAFANOV: Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, also 10, loved to dance and was in the same class as her cousin, Jackie Cazares. Jackie's father just called her a firecracker. Posting his range of emotion, first at the cowardly way his daughter was killed. It hurts us to our souls. Then a note to his daughter, be in peace with the rest of the angels, sweetheart. Baby girl, we all love you with all our hearts.
At a community vigil in Uvalde, the dead are mourned. They include teacher, Irma Garcia, who is in her fifth year of teaching alongside Eva Mireles. Both died, their families say, shielding students from gunfire.
Not lost here, the children still being treated in the hospital. A pediatric trauma doctor described them as critical but stable, wishing there were more lives she could save.
LILIAN LIAO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY HEALTH PEDIATRIC TRAUMA: I think that's what hit us the most, none of the patients that we did receive, and we are honored to treat them, but the patients that we did not receive, that is the most challenging aspects of our job right now.
KAFANOV: The Flores family was among those who rushed to hospitals in search of their children. It was there that Jose Flores Sr. lived the moment that would befall 21 families in this close-knit community.
JOE FLORES, SR., JOE FLORES, JR.'S FATHER: So, I didn't get to hold them no more. I didn't get to see him no more.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAFANOV: And a tragic footnote to the piece that you just watched. You saw those images of Irma Garcia, the elementary school teacher gunned down in Tuesday's massacre. CNN has sadly learned that her husband Joe Garcia collapsed and died on Thursday morning. He was preparing for her funeral. He suffered a heart attack, but his family says they believe he died of a broken heart after losing the love of his life for more than 25 years.
Lucy Kafanov, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.
NEWTON: She was killed on Tuesday alongside all those young ones.
Now, the wider community is of course feeling an enormous sense of loss and this is the type of town you can feature it, right, everybody knows someone impacted by this tragedy.
Lorena Auguste is a teacher at a nearby high school whose niece survived Tuesday's shooting. She talked to CNN about her niece and described the fear her own students felt when their school went into lockdown.
[03:10:07]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORENA AUGUSTE, NIECE SURVIVED UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING: She's sad about losing her friends. She's safe now but she's sad. She learned on the news that her friends that were missing are gone. They are in heaven. That's the way she understands it. They have in heaven now. She's going to miss them.
I had to reassure them that we were going to get through this together. I promised them, literally that I would take the bullet for them before anything happened. I told them just to stay quiet. It's a new hiding. We prayed together. We hugged each other. We stayed on the floor. We stayed on the floor for almost -- it felt like, I think, five or six hours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Incredible what they went through. Now despite the shooting in the tragic loss of life, the National Rifle Association says it plans to move ahead with its scheduled convention this weekend. Now the powerful gun lobby meets Friday in the same state, of course, as the Uvalde school shooting. They're having it in Houston, Texas. That's according to the lobbying research group Open Secrets. The group spent $29 million in the 2020 election cycle alone.
Former President Donald Trump is among those scheduled to speak. Texas Governor Greg Abbott will send a prerecorded video, but he canceled his in-person appearance so he could attend a news conference in Uvalde. Not all Texas officials think the timing of this event is a good idea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. SYLVIA GARCIA (D-TX): I think it's shameful. And I think it's even more shameful for some of these elected officials to side with the NRA, and their interest, rather than the interest of the grieving families and the children that have died in Uvalde. Our hearts are aching, and our minds are questioning why they are still having an NRA convention here so --at a time when Texas is going through such a difficult time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, at least four musicians have canceled their performances at the convention following Tuesday's deadly shooting. Earlier, I spoke with Republican strategist, Doug Heye about how both sides of the political aisle can meet in the middle and actually passed productive gun reform. He is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: We're not going to get, probably, you know, grand bargain size bills. I think what we're going to see is Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans, you know, the working group that there is together so far, try and figure out a few specific things that they can do, where each side will be able to claim some victory and reassure their base.
It's not something that necessarily will make every shot happy, it might make some sides difficult. That's also what we -- or upset. That's also when we see when we negotiate legislation in the Senate, and in the House. That's what negotiation is supposed to be.
It looks like -- looking at red lines would be a good way to start in an area of agreement. And you know, in Washington, look, we haven't seen a whole lot of bipartisan agreement for a long time. Where we can get agreements is usually on specific things that members and senators, and discussions together, can give each other incentives to say yes, instead of reasons to say no. If they're able to do that, then if not, being overly optimistic, at least there's some hope of getting something done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Meanwhile, the U.S. President is hoping something will get done, as he gets ready to meet with victims families. Joe Biden is heading to Uvalde this weekend as CNN's Phil Mattingly tells us.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As the country continues to try and grapple with the horrors that cost the lives of 21 people down in Uvalde, Texas, 19 children, President Biden will soon be down there himself with the first lady to meet with the families, to grieve with the families, to let them know the entire country is thinking about them in this moment. This was how the White House press secretary framed that visit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: While he's there, the president will meet with the community leaders, religious leaders and the families of the victims. The president and first lady believe it is important to show their support to the community during this devastating time, and to be there for the families of the victims.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Now the visit is set the president will arrive there on Sunday. But what happens next from a policy perspective in a country where the shootings, these mass shootings, the shootings at schools or grocery stores, places of worship - that remains very much an open question. It's been an open question for years, decades even, as efforts on Capitol Hill have started and failed repeatedly.
Once again, an effort has started, whether or not it's actually going to get anything across the finish line to the president's desk, also still a very open question. There's a group of nine Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate that had their first meeting on Thursday, trying to figure out some type of bipartisan compromise.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a longtime gun rights advocate has given the greenlight to his members in the Republican caucus to try and find some bipartisan compromise.
[03:15:03]
However, when you talk to White House officials here behind the scenes, they make clear, they are very skeptical that this time will be different, despite the fact President Biden has repeatedly said in the wake of the shooting, that this time has to be different.
The White House itself not deeply engaged at this point in time, in those in negotiations. Waiting to see what happens in these talks over the course of the next several days, making clear the president will continue to urge lawmakers to do something. One official saying earlier today the president can't do this himself, Congress has to do its job. That process has started.
Whether anything changes when it comes to legislation, whether anything actually gets to the president's desk, that process, failing so many times up to this point, certainly, has a long road ahead.
Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.
NEWTON: The U.S. is considering supplying Ukraine with one of its most formidable weapons as Russian forces slowly advance in parts of eastern Ukraine. The latest on the war when we return.
[03:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NEWTON: Ukraine's military says it continues to slow a Russian
advance into Donbas from the north. Still, Russian forces have made some modest gains in recent days, the Donbas region that has been under constant and intense Russian assault for weeks now. On Thursday, Ukrainian officials reported at least nine people including an infant, were killed by what they described as dense shelling of residential areas of Kharkiv.
Multiple sources now say the Biden administration is considering Ukraine's request for advanced rockets. Now those have a much greater range than the recently deployed Howitzers.
And new video from Mariupol shows one of Russian's so-called filtration centers set up at a supermarket, it's believed hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine, in eastern Ukraine, now have been processed through such streaming facilities and forcibly sent into Russia.
President Zelenskyy has accused Moscow of genocide since the early days of this war, right throughout the war, and again on Thursday. Now those claims are backed up by more than 30 international experts who have compiled a damning new report.
Now they conclude that Russian forces in Ukraine posed a serious risk of genocide, triggering all states obligation to act in order to prevent under article one of the genocide conventions.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joins us now live from Lviv, Ukraine. Good to see you this Friday morning. Now the details of the report, Suzanne, are quite chilling obviously. And yet, have we heard from Ukrainians? We keep saying it all the time. We hear the stories, literally from the first days of the war.
But in terms of what is happening, and our they to know what Russia's objective is? And the fact that this is still going on. It goes on according to President Zelenskyy, to this hour.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is still going on, Paula, and you bring up a very good point about the Ukrainian people themselves, the kinds of stories that they are revealing, and really, why it is that we have met so many people who are desperately have fled their homes, their hometowns and their villages that are now set up here in Lviv to try to create a new life, if you will.
President Zelenskyy from the very beginning saying that this is a campaign of genocide. That they have targeted and killed so many Ukrainian civilians, that they are deporting them. And that they are going through this dehumanizing process of this filtration, if you will, beating them down, mentally, and emotionally, as well as physically.
And now human rights watch and other groups weighing in here saying yes, these are signs of genocide. A spokesperson saying this morning Ukrainians do not necessarily have to be thrown on a back of a truck, but many are put in a situation where they don't have a choice. You get on the bus, you go to filtration, and then to Russia or you
die and the shelling. These are forced transfers forbidden under the laws of war, Paula. So, you can see here that they are backing up with so many people on the ground have been saying, and the president himself.
That there are hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians who were, if they are not being killed, they are being moved, they are being deported, they are filtrated. And they essentially are the victims of these crimes of war.
NEWTON: Yes, unbelievable scenes from Ukrainians who, as you said, desperate to get out of the way of shelling and are forced to go into Russia to God knows what's next.
Suzanne Malveaux for us live from Lviv, I appreciate it.
Now the emotional toll on children in the aftermath of a horrific shooting in Texas. Still ahead, we get advice from a child psychologist about how to talk to kids about violence in schools.
[03:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: And welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Paula Newton. And you are watching CNN Newsroom.
Texas authorities are facing unsettling questions now after giving conflicting accounts about how the Uvalde school shooting unfolded. Now why did it take an hour for the gunman to be killed? And why was he able to barge into the school through an unlocked door?
Now the drawn-out response time, the lack of information, triggered of course as you can imagine, tremendous confusion outside the school. Panicked parents desperate to know if their kids were alive shouted for officers to stop the shooter, or at least let the parents go in themselves.
Meantime, the mother of the 18-year-old gunman is asking for forgiveness for her son. And says she hopes the children who died forgive her.
[03:29:57]
We now want to go beyond numbers and the horrific tragedy and show you the face of one of the victims. Layla Salazar was only 11 years old when her life was cut short. She was a passion school athlete who also loved animals, dance, and TikTok videos. Her family now tells Gary Tuchman they still cannot imagine a life without her.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNKNOWN: Let's go, Layla! GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The girl wearing the shirt
is 11-year-old fourth grader Layla Salazar, about to win this race at last month's Robb Elementary School field day. Her family was there. But today, they mourn. Her parents, two brothers and grandparents have lost their little girl.
VINCENT SALAZAR III, LAYLA SALAZAR'S FATHER: She loved to run. Her favorite thing was, you know, TikTok. Doing little TikTok dances.
UNKNOWN: She loved everything.
UNKNOWN: She loved to draw. She like to dance.
MELINDA ALEJANDRO, LAYLA SALAZAR'S MOTHER: She was a tomboy/girl. Anything -- she knew how to climb a tree, she would probably climb a tree and jump off of it.
UNKNOWN: She loved the river.
(CROSSTALK)
ALEJANDRO: She was an active person.
UNKNOWN: She loves to swim.
TUCHMAN: Your husband was telling me, you are telling me, that she loved the Guns n' Roses song --
(CROSSTALK)
UNKNOWN: Yes, "Sweet Child O'Mine."
TUCHMAN: -- which I love too. But you play that for her.
SALAZAR: Yes, we play that every time in the morning --
(CROSSTALK)
ALEJANDRO: Every time in the morning we took her to school.
SALAZAR: -- when we took her to school, we sang it together.
TUCHMAN: And what an appropriate song.
SALAZAR: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Because she was a sweet child.
SALAZAR: It just hurts now.
TUCHMAN: Earlier this month, on Mother's Day, Layla took to TikTok.
LAYLA SALAZAR, UVALDE SHOOTING VICTIM: Hey, guys! Today is Mother's Day, OK? If you haven't said happy Mother's Day to your mom, what are you doing, go say it right now. And I just want to wish all the moms out there, happy Mother's Day, even though you're not my mom and I also wanted to say, I hope -- I hope all the moms out there have an awesome and blessed day.
ALEJANDRO: This is my only princess, she's my everything. We went everywhere together. She was like stuck on me like glue. She had her own bedroom, she always laid with me. She always -- we did everything together. Everything. We had so much plans for her.
SALAZAR: I took her to the park. She like to feed the ducks.
ALEJANDRO: We go used to go for the ducks a lot.
SALAZAR: She was so excited about her last few days of school.
TUCHMAN: Everyone in this family doted on Layla, particularly her grandparents.
VINCENT SALAZAR, JR., LAYLA SALAZAR'S GRANDFATHER: She was our world.
UNKNOWN: She was our world.
SALAZAR, JR.: Even though we can't speak up, our hearts are shattered.
TUCHMAN: There is a sense of disbelief amongst these family members that this happened. How could Layla no longer be here? How can they cope with never seeing her again?
SALAZAR: The most thing that's the hardest is that I'm her father and I wasn't there. I wasn't there to protect her.
TUCHMAN: For now, this family leans on each other for support. And I hope you know that so many of us, not just us who are here with you right now in your yard, but around this country, and around the world are thinking of you. Does that give you strength?
SALAZAR: It helps.
UNKNOWN:
SALAZAR: It helps to know that so many people care.
TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Uvalde, Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Joining me now from Miami, Florida is Marina Villani Capo, she is a clinical psychologist, specializing in children and adolescents. And it's good to have your expertise to lean on, on what has been an incredible few days for families.
I want to ask you first, how do you approach these topics with children? Do you have to approach it and what are they hearing and taking in from social media that might be distressing to them?
MARINA VILLANI CAPO, CLINICAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, so first of all, thank you so much for having me. I think the most important factor is to provide children a space that they feel comfortable in expressing themselves. I think as adults, we tend to overprotect our children and we might think that not talking about a certain subject will protect them, but in reality, children nowadays have access to so much media and news, whether it's from social media or TV.
So not because you're not talking about it, doesn't necessarily mean that they don't know what's going on. So, as adults, we need to be that beacon of hope where children can come to us and express how they feel, so they can be acknowledged, validated and work through the problem.
NEWTON: You know, we've had two shooters described as troubled 18- year-old man. I think there are so many families right around the world telling themselves, how does this happen? How do you have -- these were two people not living independently. They were living with families. So, what are red flags? What do you know that if you're dealing with something serious, and something that should have a clinical diagnosis attached to it?
[03:34:57]
CAPO: So, each child and each individual is very different, of course. We have different backgrounds, and things like that. But I think as caregivers we need to be vigilant with changes in behavior such a social withdrawal, interest in things like death and guns or morbid things. Or also, like listening to the village. Right?
Listening to those teachers, listening to those around them that can give us information around if there's any changes or any significant things that we need to know, to whether or not this child is in distress. Sometimes parents or caregivers think that everything is OK because they don't listen, or don't hear anything negative feedback.
But it's our job as caregivers to provide them with the space where they can talk about things and monitor their mood, their behavior. We check in with teachers, even if teachers don't have anything to say, it's always good to just check in. Also check in with friends and family members to know that that child is OK. Just because a child doesn't necessarily come out and say it, I'm now OK, doesn't mean that something is not wrong.
NEWTON: And when you have troubled adolescents, teenagers in that category, how dangerous is it then that they have access to weapons of any kind?
CAPO: So, it's very dangerous because, as you may know, children and adolescents, even if you're 18 years old, your frontal lobe is not fully developed yet. That frontal lobe is what dictates our executive functioning skill, which essentially what it means our logic, our understanding of long or short-term consequences of our behaviors, our planning, et cetera.
So, it that is not fully developed, imagine if you have an impulsivity problem or you have emotional distress that you don't know how to cope with or don't know how to handle, it's just setting your child up to fail if they have access to things that can be very dangerous. NEWTON: You know, this has been a very tough few years for children,
adolescents and their families. They are clearly struggling, many are, in terms of their mental health. How best to help them move forward?
CAPO: I think the best thing that we can do as adults is, number one, check in with ourselves before having these conversations. We also are going through a lot. So, if we don't check up on ourselves and how we are feeling about a situation, we're not better equipped to help our children.
So, number one, check in on yourself. Number two, acknowledge when they come to you with the negative feelings or thoughts about a situation. I know sometimes caregivers and going into fixing mode. It's very important to acknowledge how they feel, that's a normal reaction to a very abnormal situation.
And then help them problem solve, make them part of a solution. We think young children from very young age who have that need to, OK, this really bad thing happened, I don't feel safe, I talk to my caregiver, I worked it out, what can we do about it?
And I think it's very powerful to give children the opportunity to express their creativity in regards to, you know, problem solving in their schools, in their communities. They can help advocate for themselves, they can help advocate to increase, for example, things that mindfulness training at schools. That is so important to help them regulate their emotions and their impulsivity. Little things like that can make a world of a difference.
NEWTON: Yes. And definitely empowering them, I guess helps them to get through it. Dr. Marina Villani Capo, thank you so much. Really good information there for all of us.
CAPO: Thank you.
NEWTON: Now if you like to provide financial support or blood donations to victims in communities of mass shootings, including the Texas school shooting, please go to cnn.com slash impact. There you'll find several ways you can help. We'll be right back.
[03:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Closing arguments in Johnny Depp's $50 million defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard are set to happen later today. The jury will begin deliberating Friday afternoon after hearing more than 100 hours of painful testimony over six weeks, Heard, herself was the final witness. She told the jury about the personal impact of accusations that her claims of abuse are fake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMBER HEARD, ACTRESS: I am harassed, humiliated, threatened every single day. Even just walking into this courtroom, sitting here in front of the world, having the worst parts of my life, things that I have lived through used to humiliate me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Depp is suing Heard over a 2018 opinion piece on the Washington Post. In it, Heard presented herself as a survivor of domestic abuse. Depp says she defamed him and caused him to lose work. Heard has countersued for $100 million.
British prosecutors have authorized criminal charges against actor Kevin Spacey, the double Oscar winner faces four counts of sexual assault that allegedly took place between 2005 and 2013. He also faces a possible fifth accusation.
[03:45:01]
But the American performer cannot be formally charged until he enters England or Wales.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins us now with more from London's Old Vic Theatre. And many people remember, Salma, that that is where Spacey was the artistic director, a very celebrated artistic director from 20 -- from 2003 to 2015. Now the charges relate to eight incidents that happen in England. OK. So, what happens now? We all know that Spacey is no longer living there.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely, Paula. Now, this is a very lengthy and complicated legal proceeding. One that's been ongoing for years. Let's just start with the -- with the authorized criminal charges here. You have four counts of sexual assault against three men, and then a very serious allegation here of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. That's the fifth potential count.
But the important thing, as you said, is that the crown prosecutions services, British prosecutors have authorized these charges but they have yet to formally charged the actor, Kevin Spacey, because as you said he is not here in England, he is not here in London.
Now what can happen in general in these cases, is the accused has the right to come back to London, come back to England and face those charges. But if Spacey does not do that, the prosecutions overseas here can pursue extradition proceedings with the United States. Now, again, in Spacey's specific case, the authorities here refuse to answer that question.
They refused to answer whether or not they would try to extradite or pursue these extradition proceedings when it comes to the actor, when it comes to Kevin Spacey. They said instead that there will be a later update from the metropolitan police, when they will fix a date to formally charge the actor.
But again, this is a very complicated case, Paula Newton, Spacey was first accused of these -- of sexual assaults during the Me Too movement in 2017. The allegations resurfaced in the United States. But as you said here at the Old Vic where he was the artistic director for nearly 11 years from 2004 to 2015. So, the same window of time in which these allegations, these alleged
incidences took place at the Old Vic after the Me Too movement. After these allegations carried out their own investigation. They say they found at least 20 allegations, metropolitan police, the London police have been pursuing this for years now.
Again, this is complicated because you are looking at two different countries, the United States and here of course where Kevin Spacey is being accused. Now CNN has reached out to Space's representatives for comment. He has yet to respond to that. But you can expect that this is an update in what will be a very long process for these victims. Paula?
NEWTON: Serious extradition that will also require due process of course. Salma Abdelaziz in London, thanks for going through that for us. I appreciate it.
Now he made a name for himself in classic movies like "Good Fellas" and "Field of Dreams." Actor Ray Liotta passed away Thursday in the Dominican Republic. A report from Santo Domingo, ahead.
[03:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration predicts it may be July before the nationwide baby formula shortage is resolved. Now during a heated Senate hearing Thursday, the FDA commissioner said the agency didn't reveal problem sooner because of concerns about panic buying.
Now panic buying in recent weeks, in fact, has contributed to empty shelves that you see there right across the country. The commissioner also said the FDA needs more money and authority to conduct inspections and that the U.S. may need to stockpile baby formula to prevent shortages in the future.
Actor Ray Liotta who played the role of Henry Hill in the iconic crime film "Good Fellas" died on Thursday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: What do you do?
RAY LIOTTA, ACTOR: I'm in construction.
If we wanted something, we just took it, and you don't even think about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: According to his publicist, the 67-year-old died in his sleep at a hotel in the Dominican Republic where he was filming a movie.
Jessica Hasbun is there and has this report for us.
JESSICA HASBUN, CNN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We're standing right outside the morgue of where the remains of American actor Ray Liotta were transported after his death this Thursday. According to police, the 67-year-old actor was found unresponsive in a hotel in the colonial city of Santo Domingo this morning.
Authorities said the call for help was received at 5.59 a.m., local time from a woman who spoke English and had a foreign number. A source at the Dominican Republic 911 emergency system indicated the woman kept saying, my God, he is not breathing. Thirteen minutes later the ambulance arrived at 6.12 a.m., local time, to La Casa Del Arbol hotel where the actor was staying during the days of filming in the Dominican Republic of the movie "Dangerous Waters."
That same source added that paramedics reported that Liotta had no vital signs when they arrived. However, four cycles of cardiopulmonary resuscitation were performed on the actor, but he did not respond.
[03:54:56]
Liotta is known for his roles in "Fields of Dreams" and "Good Fellas." According to his publicist who confirmed to CNN that he died in his sleep. The actor is survived by his daughter Karsen and his fiance, Jacy Nittolo.
I'm Jessica Hasbun in Santo Domingo for CNN.
NEWTON: And our condolences to his friends and family. I want to thank you for joining us. I'm Paula Newton. CNN Newsroom continues next with my friend and colleague, Isa Soares.
