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Six Killed, Dozens Injured, Suspect At Large After Highland Park, Illinois Shooting. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 04, 2022 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR NANCY ROTERING, HIGHLAND PARK, ILLINOIS: Our community was terrorized by an act of violence that has shaken us to our core. On a day that we came together to celebrate community and freedom, we're instead mourning the loss, the tragic loss of life and struggling with the terror that was brought upon us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: That's Nancy Rotering, the mayor of Highland Park, Illinois, there. Six are dead, two dozen or more injured after the shooting at the Fourth of July parade there.

You heard the mayor say twice there, reference terror, or terrorism. Yes, this is terrorizing, however, what we've heard from police is that this is completely random. They have not pinpointed in the indication of a terror nexus.

Of course, the investigation continues, but at this point, what they're saying is that this shooting from the roof of a nearby building was completely random.

I want to bring in now Jeff Leon. He was at the parade. Says he's 25 yards from the alleged shooter. Jeff, thank you for being with me. I understand that you are now sheltering at a friend's house. First, tell me where you were and the first indication you saw or heard that something was wrong.

JEFF LEON, PARADE SHOOTING WITNESS (via phone): Sure, Victor. So, we were seated right on the southwest corner of Central and 2nd street. Right in front of a store called Blue Mercury.

And we've heard different things, whether it was the roof of Ross or Uncle Dan's store that the shooter was at, but regardless, we were either directly across the street or kitty-corner from that.

And we heard -- it sounded like a string of fire crackers going off inside of a big metal trash can. And at first that's what I thought that's what it was, 20, 30 maybe. And then I looked to my right, and I saw the police starting to act, and I saw people falling, and my wife and I took off. And directly behind the store we were sitting in front of, there's a

parking lot, and so we started sort of, you know, going from car to car, running. We were at the parade because our 14-year-old twin boys are marching with the high school football team.

And we knew they hadn't yet made their way up the parade route, and so we were going to try to get them, and after about ten minutes of this sort of duck and hide, duck and hide, people were seemingly calmly walking away from the scene.

And we passed a man who was leaning against an apartment building who had an obvious fairly deep bullet graze wound along the right side of his head, above his temple. And that was the point when we knew for sure it wasn't fire crackers.

It was a shooting. Which is just inconceivable in a community like Highland Park, Illinois. You know, a wealthy community on Lake Michigan in the suburbs of Chicago on a beautiful summer day that this happened.

And the shooter's continuing to terrorize us because he's not been caught. So, we're all till, you know, we can't go to our house. We have to shelter in place. Luckily, we have friends who have taken us in who live nearby, downtown Highland Park, but here we are still.

BLACKWELL: Jeff, you said that you were trying to reach your children. I understand you were there to see your twins. Do you have the twins with you now?

LEON: Yes, we retrieved them. Basically, the train station a bit south of Central is kind of the holding area where they send the various floats and groups one by one as it's time, and they were toward the end of the parade.

So, they hadn't gone yet, and the football coaches had wisely hustled the kids even further south and gotten them behind a commercial building. We found them, and then they called their friend whose house we're at, and they said please do come over, and that's where they are.

[15:35:09]

Now we have another one, a 13-year-old who didn't really want to watch his brothers march in the parade. We left him home alone. He was very freaked out. We had to have friends come and get him.

BLACKWELL: Understandably.

LEON: But you would never think this would happen in your community, and it is shocking.

BLACKWELL: But Jeff, the sad truth is that no one believes it'll happen in their community, and it happens time after time, several times a month now.

The people in Uvalde didn't expect it, Buffalo didn't expect it, and now unfortunately it has come to Highland Park. I am glad that you are safe, that your children are safe, although shaken up, we know that six families at least are mourning lost loved ones today, and still dozens of people who were injured in this shooting.

Jeff Leon, thank you for adding your piece of the puzzle as we cover this breaking news.

We've got the images here out of Highland Park, Illinois. We saw snipers on the rooftops there. You see here as they're looking for this shooting considered armed and dangerous.

We heard from a spokesman who says that they don't know if this man has more planned. They're of course are trying to find him. Details about the firearms recovery, next.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: So, several towns in Illinois near Highland Park, they've now cancelled their fourth celebrations in light, of course, of the mass shooting at parade there.

I'm going back to CNN's Adrienne Broaddus for the latest. There's new information about the firearm that was found at the scene. What can you tell us about that?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I want to read you this statement, Victor, we've received moments ago from lawmakers.

We heard a short time ago that firearm was described as a high powered rifle, and investigators are saying the firearm that was recovered here in Highland Park after that shooting is being urgently traced to figure out who purchased the weapon and where it came from, and that is according to the Bureau Of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, their spokesperson.

Investigators who are on scene now are still trying to determine the life of the weapon and how it got into the hands of the shooter.

The shooter has been described as a white male between the ages of 18 to 20 with dark hair, there were no tattoos or no other descriptive information given about this person other than he was wearing what investigators believed to be a blue or a white shirt.

Investigators have said they don't know if he's still in the city or somewhere else. That's a big piece of their investigation. And if they do know, Victor, and to those of you watching and listening, they're certainly not telling us, at least not right now.

But let's show you what we see here along the parade route. If you look up, it's easy to notice the sniper's on top of this downtown building in Highland Park.

Investigators have said that that suspect fired from the top of a building. We don't know which building. But investigators have told us that person was discreet.

We've been speaking with folks all morning, many who said initially they thought that gunfire they heard were fireworks going off, but quickly, they realized that was not part of the parade that was happening here. This parade route, Victor, now a crime scene.

BLACKWELL: Yes, Adrienne, we've spoken with people by phone who are sheltering at friends' homes. We know that there are people who are at a gas station. You spoke with Zoe, who was at a sporting goods store. I mean, what is the feeling there? What are they telling you about how this feels?

BROADDUS: People are scared. I spoke with a couple moments after they were reunited with the wife's father. They were racing home when she saw us. She said, please pray for Highland Park.

For nearly two hours, she waited to be reunited with her parents, not knowing whether or not they were among the injured after what they saw, after what they witnessed. I asked if she would be willing to share what she was sharing with me on the phone on camera, and she said, no, she does not want to leave her house.

She's staying inside. Zoe said her and her father had big plans for today. They're not doing anything else. They're going home and they're going to stay there.

And they're really frightened from what they've told me, because investigators still have not captured the person that is responsible for ending the life of six people and injuring others.

Zoe saw one woman as she described who was shot in the leg. She says another man shot in front of her who had damage to his ear, but yet that man was thankful because he walked away with his life. And these are traumatic injuries we're speaking about -- Victor.

[15:45:02]

BLACKWELL: Yes, we know that the vast majority according to authorities that people are in hospitals now, those are gunshot wounds. Adrienne Broaddus for us there. Thank you.

Back with me now we have with us retired LAPD Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey, and CNN national security analyst, former DHS Assistant Secretary, Juliette Kayyem. Sergeant, let me start with you.

The breadth of this investigation, we heard that of course with all the people who were there, some of the evidence likely kicked around in the melee, the intelligence portion of this trying to find this person, give us the scope of what is likely happening right now?

SGT. CHERYL DORSEY, RETIRED LAPD, AUTHOR, "BLACK AND BLUE": Well, certainly there's a lot going on, and while there may be some evidence that may have been, you know, moved about or maybe even not found right away.

I'm sure that there's enough that officers and investigators have at their disposal and are looking at very seriously and rightfully. So, a lot of what is going on behind the scenes, we won't know, and we shouldn't know.

This person is still out there and, you know, I don't know if the person might even still be watching and admiring their handy work. And so, there's a lot that's probably going on that we don't know and like I said, rightfully so.

BLACKWELL: Juliette, it's been a while. It's not unprecedented but it's been a while in one of these mass shootings where there's been a man hunt for, what, now four hours that's gone on in Uvalde.

That man was eventually killed and Buffalo arrested. What does it tell you that at this point, they still don't have much information on what's online. At least they're telling they don't know where he is.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: And you're exactly right, Victor, so this is starting to sound a little bit like the Boston Marathon in which you have a traumatic event, so to speak, you know, a terrorist incident or a mass shooting, and then the community goes into shelter in place.

That cannot sustain itself for too long, as we discovered also in Boston. Mostly because if you don't end up finding the person relatively quickly, you just simply can't shut down a city, and you know, you're close enough -- it's not adjacent to Chicago, but you're close enough to Chicago that all he needed to do was to get into a city and hide for a little bit.

So, this is just a man hunt. The hope is that people who -- I mean, I would say the best piece of evidence that they're going to find is that if someone who knows him and may have suspected will let authorities know who they're looking for.

This is normally how these man hunts unfold, and then at least they'll have an identification of someone who they're looking for and then they can try to figure it out. They do have a very specific description in particular, that 18 to 20-year-old number, that may be from eyewitness accounts.

We don't know, or it may be there is some suspicious of who it is or a family member has comes forward. We do wait because we don't want to disclose too much, but we'll find out.

BLACKWELL: All right, Juliette Kayyem, Sergeant Dorsey, thank you for standing by. We of course are going to move forward with covering the breaking news, this gunman on the loose after this fatal shooting at a Fourth of July parade, more witnesses are telling us what they saw. Stay with us.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Local, state and federal law enforcement right now are searching for the shooter who just fired shots into a crowd at a 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, at least six people are dead, dozens are injured.

Investigators are now combing through social media for any threats posted online. But an official now says that they've not found anything yet. Joining me now is Jeffrey Brunner.

He was in the parade when the shots were fired. Jeffrey, I'm glad you are OK. I think you for your time. I understand you were in the back of a pickup truck run by the American Legion. What did you hear, what did you see?

JEFFREY BRUNNER, AT THE SCENE OF HIGHLAND PARK SHOOTING (via phone): Well, we were heading west on Central Avenue and we were maybe I would guess maybe a quarter of a mile, you know, away, you know, from where the shooting happened.

So we were, you know, we were moving out of the downtown area and, you know, we were waving to people and we through during the parade and we heard several, you know, gunshots in rapid succession and a pause where I imagine the, you know, the perpetrator was, you know, reloading his weapon and then another series of shots.

And I looked back and I saw the crowd was in a panic and they were all running west towards Central Avenue.

BLACKWELL: Jeffrey, let me ask you this. You said there was a series of shots and then another series of shots. I've heard others describe this. How long was that pause? Was that a couple of seconds? Was it 20 seconds?

BRUNNER: Oh, you know what, probably, you know, a couple of seconds. You know, I mean, it wasn't very long at all.

BLACKWELL: OK. And you saw people just running. I imagine you're already in a truck.

[15:55:00]

You all drove off and didn't get out and run by foot, correct.

BRUNNER: No, I was in a truck. Now the post commander was in front of me, sitting in front of me or standing in front of me rather. And you know, told me that he saw two people fall. He didn't know whether they tripped or if they were hit.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and we have heard from other witnesses who simply saw people fall. We know that dozens of people at hospitals. Jeffrey Brunner, I'm short on time. I thank you for your part of the story. Listen, you see the flag.

We Are All Celebrating the Fourth and again in this country it will have to be lowered to half-staff as we mourn collectively. "THE LEAD" picks up our special coverage after a quick break.

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