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Services to Begin for Some of the 21 Victims in Uvalde; Justice Department to Review Police Response in Uvalde; Biden, First Lady Comfort, Grieve with Families in Uvalde; Ukraine's Eastern City of Severodonetsk Under Heavy Fire; EU Meets Today to Discuss Russian Oil Embargo. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired May 30, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome to you our viewers joining us in the United States and right around the world. I'm Isa Soares in London and just ahead right here on the show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Officials in Texas have been under considerable scrutiny for how law enforcement responded to the shotting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Families were destroyed and so many more families are just damaged forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are people who deserve answers the most, and those are the families whose lives have been destroyed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody failed here. We failed these children. We even failed them in the Texas legislature.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Texan 18-year-old can't buy beer and cigarettes, but they can walk into a gun store and buy an AR-15.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Isa Soares.

SOARES: Welcome to the show everyone. It is Monday, May 30th. Memorial Day in the U.S., when Americans remember and honor the men as well as women who died serving the nation.

But today in the city of Uvalde in Texas, families will be gathering to remember innocent lives lost in last week's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. Now some services are set to begin in the coming hours with funeral homes committing to covering the costs of the families of the 21 victims, 19 students and two teachers.

A choir paying their respects through song as the community of Uvalde reels from the tragic shooting. U.S. President Joe Biden and the first lady traveled to Texas to meet with grieving families, and also attended a mass as well met with first responders. There has also been an outpouring of support from the community as crowds brought flowers to a growing memorial for the victims. Our Lucy Kafanov has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Over here we have crosses with the names of the students and the two teachers. You see it says Irma Garcia, Eva Mireles. The two teachers of the fourth grade classroom who died protecting their students. It is going to take weeks, years, possibly a lifetime for the people here to process what happened, to process this tragedy, to come to grips with the reality of 19 ten-year-olds, 9, 10 and 11-year-olds losing their lives.

A lot of people who have come to pay their respects are no older than some of those students. We've seen a lot of tears, a lot of stuffed animals, candles left. There are also crosses surrounding this fountain. We're in front of a church here. So, you might hear church music behind me. And the crosses have photos of each of the victims. People, again, paying their respects, writing signs. One of the signs that we saw says choose hope over fear.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Lucy Kafanov there. There is growing outrage in Texas as more details of the police response to the shooting emerge. We've learned children who were trapped called 911 several times for help. But law enforcement officers waited inside the school for nearly an hour before confronting the shooter. One state Senator says the delay may have cost lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROLAND GUTIERREZ (D) TEXAS STATE SENATOR: So many things went wrong here. I'm asking a lot of questions. I am told that I'm going to be getting a ballistics report next week, along with many other issues that need to be addressed.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Did that delay cost lives, cost children's lives?

GUTIERREZ: I sat down with a family yesterday. Mom told me that her child had been shot by one bullet through the back, through the kidney area. The first responder that they eventually talked to said that their child likely bled out. In that span 30, 40 minutes extra, that little girl might have lived. That little girl might have lived. So absolutely, these mistakes may have led to the passing away of these children as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, the U.S. Justice Department announced Sunday will review the police response to the shooting. CNN's Paula Reid has details now from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: This review by the Justice Department is a significant development because as we've seen, officials in Texas have been under considerable scrutiny for how law enforcement responded to the shooting and these conflicting time lines that they have put out in the wake of this incident.

[04:05:00]

Now this review was actually requested by the city's mayor, and at this point the Justice Department is just about the only entity that can come in and credibly and objectively analyze what happened here.

Now, in a statement, the Justice Department said: The goal of this review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses that day and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events.

Sadly, of course, we know there will likely be more active shooter incidents like this. Now, this review is being conducted by the Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing. It is conducted similar reviews into how law enforcement responded to the terrorist attack in San Bernardino as well as how law enforcement responded to the Pulse Night Club shooting.

Now I've read both those reviews. And it appears the way this will work is these investigators will go to the scene. They will try to talk to witnesses. They will try to talk to victims, first responders, members of the community, gather any audio or visual evidence that exists, and then analyze what exactly happened here? What went right? But more likely in this case what went wrong.

This is not a criminal investigation. This is just a review. This is not like the civil rights investigations of the Justice Department has conducted into police departments in Ferguson, in Chicago. Right now, they are just looking to analyze this event and help support law enforcement by distilling some lessons learned and best practices. But look, any time you have investigators who start turning over rocks, if they find any evidence of criminality, they can certainly pass that along. But at this point, again, this is not a criminal investigation. This is just an after-action review.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Well, a Texas defense attorney tells CNN prosecutors have a tough job ahead in looking at whether the police response rises to the level of criminality.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN WICE, TEXAS CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER: Even though there's a natural reluctance on the part of most prosecutors to second guess cops. Particularly in a situation like this where it wasn't conduct but an omission. Make no mistake, in Texas you can be prosecuted for omission if you have a legal duty to act. These officers had a legal duty to prevent the commission of that crime by using whatever reasonable force was necessary. This is not a situation where an officer shoots a suspect thinking it

was a taser. This is a situation where, for those agonizing minutes, nothing of substance happened.

I was on the phone today with a senior ranger who actually made the scene and was there for 14 hours who said, look, in the 22 years since Columbine, law enforcement knows in dealing with an active shooter there is one play to make, and that is to attract, fire, even if it makes you take a slug and take the shooter out ASAP. That didn't happen in this case. And again, it is going to be up to the Uvalde County District Attorney to determine whether or not that seeming gross Incompetence while those babies were bleeding out crosses that line into criminality.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Well, we are learning more about the terrifying moments surrounding the shooting from survivors and their families. CNN's Dana Bash had a heart wrenching conversation with a mother and her 9-year- old son who survived the massacre. Daniel Reese recounted horrifying images that may haunt him the rest of his life including witnesses, a classmate being hit by a bullet. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL, SURVIVOR OF ROBB ELEMENTARY SHOOTING: DANIEL: We were just, like shot, like, four bullets into our class, but like, her nose broke and then our teacher got shot in her leg and her torso, but she's all right.

BASH: And was never in your classroom because your teacher, right, your teacher locked the door and broke the key.

DANIEL: Mm-hmm.

BASH: Did you see his face?

DANIEL: Yeah.

BASH: Through the window?

DANIEL: Mm-hmm.

BASH: And then describe what happened when you finally saw Daniel.

BRIANA RUIZ, MOTHER OF ROBB ELEMENTARY SHOOTING SURVIVOR: When he came out, it was over an hour later. He was actually one of the last ones from the back of his class coming out.

There was a student that was struck in his classroom, and when I saw her, I mean, she was just covered in blood because he had broken her nose with a stray bullet. When I saw that and I recognized the girl was in his class, it sent a more terrifying chill through my body because I saw all his friends running out and I still hadn't seen him.

Then finally towards the end, when him and another friend came running out together, it gave me back, like, I couldn't catch my breath, you know. But I ran straight to him and I just held him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:10:00]

SOARES: Absolutely terrifying for both of them. Well, for the second time in less than two weeks, U.S. President Joe Biden traveled to the site of a mass shooting to meet with the grieving families. CNN's Arlette Saenz is in Uvalde with all the details for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden spent about seven hours on the ground here in Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday. Trying to offer some sense of solace and comfort to the families grieving the loss of those 19 young children and two teachers, gunned down here at Robb Elementary School just last Tuesday. The president and first lady spent about three hours meeting with survivors of that shooting as well as the families of the victims.

And CNN spoke with one of the family members who was in that meeting, Vincent Salazar, who lost his young daughter Lela Salazar, and talked to us about his conversation with the president.

VINCENT SALAZAR, FATHER OF UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING VICTIM: It was really just all about my daughter. You know what I mean? That's all we talked about. And you know, like I said, they were very gracious, they showed compassion. And that's all we were here for, you know what I'm saying? He listened to everything and we listened to him. He shed some tears, we shed some tears.

SAENZ: The president also spent some time here in Uvalde meeting with first responders and law enforcement officers who responded that day of the horrific shooting. But even as the president had those moments grieving with the community, he also faced some calls to action. When he visited the memorial site here at Robb Elementary, he had the opportunity to take in each of the life-size photos, read the names of each of these children who were gunned down in that massacre.

But there were also some demonstrators both here and at the Catholic church, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, who were urging the president to do more, to make -- take some type of action to try to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again. The president mouthed back to them saying, we will.

Of course, there are so many questions about what exactly that action could look like in Washington and in state legislators. The president himself has said that he does not think there is much he could do on the executive level. In the White House is pushing for Congress to act. There are those early discussion among a bipartisan group of Senators to see if they can reach some type of compromise when it comes to gun safety measures. But there are so many questions about whether that will actually come to fruition.

But it is clear here in the community that there is frustration and that they do want to see more from this president, more from their elected officials when it comes to trying to keep their children safe in schools. But here in Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday, the president's main focus was really trying to extend that comfort to these grieving families dealing with these gut wrenching losses.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, traveling with the president in Uvalde, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Well, outrage and heartache after Uvalde doesn't mean America's mass shootings have stopped. In Tennessee authorities say a shooting in Chattanooga on Saturday was the result of an altercation between two groups of people. They believe there wasn't an intended target, nor was it gang-related. Two of the six wounded were in critical condition, and mostly of those shots were teenagers. During a press conference, the mayor asked parents to be responsible and keep guns away from children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM KELLY, CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE MAYOR: Here's the bottom line. Teenagers acting out, pushing the boundaries and getting into trouble is not new. Kids have always gotten into scuffles with each other. It's a tale as old as time. What is new is they now have access to handguns and firearms that leave behind bodies instead of bruises and bruised egos.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: And the suspect in a mass shooting in a Memorial Day festival in Oklahoma is now in police custody. Authorities say the 26-year-old turned himself in on Sunday afternoon. Officials say one person was killed and at least seven others were injured. Charges against the suspect have not been announced as of yet.

And still to come right here on the show, after a month of talks, EU leaders still cannot agree on whether to pass a ban on Russian oil imports. Will today be any different? We'll discuss the deadlock.

Plus, hurricane Agatha intensifies in the Pacific. Tyler Mauldin will join us with the very latest.

TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, hurricane Agatha is very close to becoming a major hurricane. We're going to track that for you and let you know where it's going to go and if it can potentially redevelop into our first named storm in the Atlantic. That's coming up in just a few minutes.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: Now, we are following Russia's relentless offensive to control Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. In the city of Severodonetsk, two people were killed and five others were wounded in Russian attacks on Sunday according to Ukrainian officials. 50 homes were also destroyed. The city has been a focus of fierce fighting for weeks. Any Ukrainian military official says Russian forces are advancing into the middle of the city.

Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov told French media Sunday, quote, the liberation of Donbass is, quote, an absolute priority for his country.

Meantime, the Ukrainian military says it has launched a counter offensive in the southern region of Kherson. It published this video looking at strikes and claims Russian forces were pushed back nearly ten kilometers, it's about 6 miles or so. CNN has not been able to verify this report.

Back in eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited troops on the front line Sunday in the Kharkiv region. The area has faced intense bombardment during the war. Mr. Zelenskyy was there to assess the damage and honor, of course, Ukraine's defenders with medals of valor.

Now to Syria where CNN has obtained this new satellite imagery that allegedly shows a Russian fighter full of grain stolen from Ukraine. That's arriving at the Syrian port of Latakia. This image was captured on Friday and provided by Maxar Technologies. This is one of at least three ships spotted loading grain in the Crimean port of Sevastopol since Russia invaded Ukraine. It was last seen in Sevastopol on May 19th.

Now, talks continue in the coming hours among EU leaders trying to reach an agreement on a proposed embargo on Russia oil imports. The move could potentially be part of the sixth sanctions package against Russia.

[04:20:00]

The only problem is some European countries are reliant on Russian oil making it more difficult really to cut the cord. CNN Nada Bashir joins me now with more. And Nada, you know, this is the biggest challenge. And it's been a challenge, may I add since May when they proposed this. What are the chance of this actually coming to fruition here?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well look, we've had EU ambassadors meeting last night. Those talks are carrying on this morning ahead of the EU leader summit really trying to iron out those technical issues around a total ban of oil imports into Europe from Russia. There are real concerns that energy security concerns from the likes of Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, even the Czech Republic to some extent over what guarantees the European Union can offer to these countries. Because of course, they are so highly dependent on those Russian oil imports in a way other European countries won't be so much.

SOARES: When you talk about security guarantees, what exactly are they wanting to hear from the EU, what kind of guarantees are they looking for here?

BASHIR: Look, we heard from the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling for a total ban. But that was a gradual phased out total ban. And what these countries are potentially looking for is some leniency in the time frame, in that timeline, perhaps another way to ease the pressure on them as they phase out from that dependency.

So, while other countries like Germany and France and other parts of Europe might be able to go ahead with that total ban and pretty soon, countries like Croatia, Bulgaria and Hungary want a bit more time. They want other options and they want to know that they've the support and backing of their European allies.

SOARES: And if we look at this graphic on our screen, you know, it shows the complexity of the pipelines coming through Europe. But this is something that's important because if they don't agree on this, then this sixth package of sanctions, the SWIFT measures they put in place, that just basically is a waiting game.

BASHIR: Absolutely and this has been a key sticking point for some time now. And the European Union has said they want to advance these sanctions. We heard the European Foreign Affairs Chief speaking to the Ukrainian foreign minister just yesterday saying he wants to advance these sanctions. He understands the urgency of advancing that sixth packet of sanctions. But until they can guarantee on these terms on the energy security for those countries, until they can reach an agreement on these finer terms, those sanctions can't fully come into force.

But we have heard yesterday from an EU diplomat what we might see potentially from this two-day summit is perhaps a broad agreement on the total ban on oil imports, and then an opportunity to then fine tune those terms, those technical difficulties at a later date.

SOARES: President Zelenskyy, in the meantime, clearly wanting, putting pressure on Europe to try and, you know, put the pressure in place, these measures in place against Russia. What has he been saying?

BASHIR: Absolutely. He wants tougher sanctions. And he is warning that we could see a real escalation. But he wants the European Union to act as a united front and he wants that support for Ukraine in terms of those tougher sanctions. And he said this in his nightly address over the weekend. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Terror on earth in Ukraine, terror on energy market of Europe, not just our country. Terror in the food market and on a global scale. And what terror will be next? Only together, only all Europeans will we be able to stop such a policy of such a state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: And in this nightly address he also addressed the issue of food security, the warnings around that window that there is a real risk there for the international community. That has been a huge concern. That will certainly be a key focus as well in this European Council Summit.

SOARES: Yes, it'll be interesting to see what Europe does in regard to the grain shipments as we saw that have been stolen. This is something that Europe has promised to help out with. Nada Bashir, thank you very much.

Now, as the Memorial Day holiday begins in the U.S., we are tracking severe storms in parts of the country. And we're watching a hurricane that's gaining speed in the Pacific Ocean near Mexico. CNN's Tyler Mauldin joins me now with the latest. And Tyler, paint us a picture of what you are seeing this morning?

MAULDIN: Yes, so what we're seeing with hurricane Agatha, Isa, is a rapidly intensifying hurricane. It's overcome some dry air. It's overcome some sheer. And it's consolidated into the little engine that could. Because it's going to continue to intensify actually, despite everything that I just told you. It's going to intensify into a category 3 hurricane before making landfall.

Late in the day on Monday, when it makes landfall, it quickly weakens and it rains itself out. Flooding is going to be an issue here. But then once it reemerges in the Bay of Campeche or Gulf of Mexico, it has a chance to redevelop. If this happens, it will become the first named storm potentially of the Atlantic hurricane season. If that were to occur, it would receive the name Alex. We have several days to watch this. Thing things can and will change. So, just stay up to date on it especially if you live in the Caribbean or maybe the state of Florida.

[04:25:00]

Now here stateside, we do have Memorial Day, or the unofficial start to the summer season. For the most part, the nation's weather looks fine on the whole, but there are a couple of trouble spots. Trouble spot number one is right here across the Northern Plains, the upper Midwest. This is where we have a tornado watch and severe thunderstorm watch in effect. We have ongoing severe weather here.

We currently have a tornado warning and a severe thunderstorm warning here. This line right here is packing winds in excess of 60 to 70 miles per hour, putting a track on it. That puts it into Redwood Falls within the next hour or so. So, get ready there. We're going to see more as we get later on into Memorial Day. Later this evening, level 4 out of 5 risk for portions of Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota as well. This is where we could see hurricane force wind gusts, extremely large hail, and strong tornadoes. We're talking tornadoes of EF-2 strength or higher than that. And also, we'll see those bad boys on the ground for a very long time as well.

Then going into Tuesday, we see the severe weather threat pushed down a little farther to the south and east as the storm system slowly pushes to the east. Switching gears and going to the southwest, complete opposite story here. It's bone dry. It's hot. We've got gusty winds and a red flag warning up. That means we could continue to see the risk for fires. Unfortunately, Isa, that does include New Mexico.

SOARES: Tyler do keep us posted. There's a lot going on this morning. Thanks very much. Tyler Mauldin at the CNN Weather Center.

More than 50 people are dead after heavy rainfall in northeastern Brazil, and that death toll is expected to go up. The rain triggered landslides and floods wiping out neighborhoods. Thousands of people have been forced out of their homes. And the search continues with dozens of people who are still missing. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has promised help for those impacted. Meantime schools have been set up as temporary shelters for those displaced.

Still to come right here on the show, growing calls for action on gun reform in the wake of two recent shootings. We'll take a look -- a closer look.

Plus, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were taking DNA swabs from all the parents. And I instantly knew she was gone. Why else would they need DNA swabs to find a missing child?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: The uncle of one of the victims of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, speaks with CNN and talks about the moment he learned his niece did not survive. That story just ahead.

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