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Police Give Update After Armed Bystander Kills Gunman At Indiana Mall; As Cases Increase, Ex-FDA Chief Says U.S. "Failed To Contain" Monkeypox Virus Early On; Parts Of U.S., Europe Griped By Intense Heatwave; Shark Sightings In Cape Cod, Long Island Prompt Beach Closures; Sea Lions Chased San Diego Beachgoers Last Week; Biden Returns From Mideast To Face Long List Of Challenges Ahead Of Midterms. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired July 18, 2022 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And he's going through a lot, the police chief said. He has allowed his name to be released. But this is someone who went to the mall just expecting to be shopping and not expecting to do what he did.
But they also walked us through the timeline of the shooter, a 20- year-old, Jonathan Sapirman, who Elisjsha Dickens was able to neutralize in that event.
This shooter came into the mall about an hour earlier than closing. So about an hour before the shooting took place, just before 5:00, he came into the mall, went straight to the restroom near the food court. So this shows some kind of planning.
He waited there for almost until 6:00 and then came out and began firing straight into the food court. He hit several victims whose names we also now know.
Pedro Pineda and Rosa Pineda, a married couple, both of whom were shot and killed by this gunman. The third victim, Victor Gomez, age 30, of Indianapolis.
So this is really quite the sort of scene -- it's the sort of thing you hear pro-gun rights advocates talk about, a good guy with a gun being able to stop a bad guy with a gun.
This young man was lawfully armed. As we understand it, he didn't have to have a permit to have a gun there in Indianapolis. This is what resulted.
But the fact of the matter is this does not often end in this way where a civilian, untrained, is this lucky in being able to neutralize someone.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: But of course --
JONES: Three people still died.
BLACKWELL: -- it's the rare exception, actually.
JONES: It's the rare exception. And we heard from the police chief, James Ison, talking about this Good Samaritan. Listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES ISON, CHIEF, GREENWOOD, INDIANA, POLICE DEPARTMENT: At 5:57 p.m., the shooter was confronted by our Good Samaritan, who I will identify in just a moment. The Good Samaritan was armed with pistol and engaged the shooter as he stood outside the restroom area firing into the food court.
The shooter fired several rounds, striking the suspect. The suspect attempted to retreat back into the restroom and fell to the ground after being shot.
He engaged the gunman from quite a distance with a handgun, was very proficient in that, very tactically sound. And as he moved to close in on the suspect, he was also motioning for people to exit behind him.
He has -- to our knowledge, he has no police training and no military background.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: So pretty remarkable outcome.
And we should also note that the shooter, the one who was ultimately killed by this Good Samaritan, had, according to his family members, been practicing at a shooting range.
He had been going to a shooting range for the past couple of years practicing firing and buying ammunition there.
Still a lot more to be learned about this incident. But pretty incredible situation there.
BLACKWELL: Athena Jones, thank you.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: More than 40 million Americans under heat alerts today. And it's even worse in Europe where hundreds are already dying. We'll show you the most dangerous spots.
BLACKWELL: And monkeypox spreading rapidly across the U.S. A former FDA commissioner is warning that U.S. health officials missed the chance to control the outbreak. So now what?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:38:05]
BLACKWELL: There are close to 2,000 cases of monkeypox across the U.S. And a former FDA commissioner said the window to control the virus has probably closed. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: I think the window for getting control of this and containing it probably has closed, and if it hasn't closed, it's certainly starting to close.
We could have gotten control of this if we had been aggressive up front. We made a lot of the same mistakes we made with COVID, not having testing early enough, not deploying vaccines in an aggressive fashion to ring vaccinate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: So Dr. Fauci just said that Americans need to take this more seriously.
CNN health reporter, Jacqueline Howard, joins us now.
What does that look like? How are we supposed to take this more seriously?
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: What that's like, Alisyn, so far, here in the United States, we've expanded test to go five commercial labs. We have rolled out a vaccine, even though there has been criticism that vaccine supply and access could improve. And we do have therapeutics.
But could we have done better early on in this outbreak? Well, Dr. Anthony Fauci answered that question with our colleague, Kate Bolduan, just this morning. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Could we have done better? Always. You never say we did perfectly.
But I think, looking forward, with more vaccines being available, with therapy being available -- and there's a lot of red tape associated with that.
Response hasn't been perfect, but it's getting better and better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD: So we heard that there's some optimism that response is getting better.
And as for the current situation right now, Victor and Alisyn, there are 1,814 cases of probable or confirmed monkeypox here in the United States. That's across 45 states and jurisdictions.
And that's up from last week. A week ago, there were 866 cases. Now we're at nearly 2,000.
So this is an outbreak that's continuing to increase. And we're continuing to watch the situation -- Alisyn and Victor?
BLACKWELL: We certainly are.
Jacqueline Howard, thank you.
[14:40:01]
CAMEROTA: OK, now to this. Popular beaches are shutting down after multiple shark sightings. What do the sharks think they're doing? That's my first question. And why are they coming so close to the shore? All of that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: Blistering temperatures on both sides of the Atlantic. In the U.S. more than 40 million people under heat advisories or excessive heat warnings, mainly out west.
BLACKWELL: In Europe, an unprecedented and deadly heatwave is scorching several countries. The U.K. could hit a record 104 degrees this week.
Flights were halted at a London airport today after parts of the runway literally melted, according to reports.
Extreme heat and wildfires are also -- look at this -- burning parts of Spain.
CNN Meteorologist Tom Sater is watching the advisories here and overseas.
When I said the U.K. hitting 104, I was like, Fahrenheit. They do the Celsius thing, so.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: It was like, what, 104.
TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: National emergency. They're expecting a rush of patients to hospitals. You know, 3 percent of Britain has air-conditioning. But records not only in England, but in Wales and into southern Scotland as well.
Typically, when you look at the heat around the globe, the entire northern hemisphere is just sweltering right now. You might have a red flag here or there.
Notice North America, Dallas could tie a record at 110, Austin 103. We know the megadrought out west.
Then you have Africa. It's winter in South Africa and they're warm. But now it gets into Europe.
[14:45:05]
Half of China -- it doesn't look that bad, just yellow right now. It's 2:30 in the morning in Beijing. In half of China, a billion people have had a heatwave for over 30 days.
Records are breaking and shattering everywhere. Not much in the way of cloud cover. We've got a big ridge of high pressure in central Europe so that air is compressing and it's heating up.
The heat started in Portugal where there's over 75 fires right now. Look at the drought. Just like out megadrought. It's not as bad but it is widespread.
When you have two previous months to summer, when winter is dry and spring is dry, and there's limited moisture in the ground, it's like taking a hair dryer to the temperatures.
Again, the fire threat, 73 large fires in Portugal alone. Look at this, Europe is on fire. Remember last year, Greece, Turkey, terrible scenes of fires there. We've got them in the U.S., too. Interior Alaska is on fire.
These are records. And here's your Celsius. This is basically 95 to 102 for England.
And I want to point out the records. With the exception of 1990, most of them are since 2000. So the heat, 102, that was a record today in France. Dublin hit 92, an all-time. They haven't hit 92 for all of the 20th and 21st century.
The heat is going to be blistering as it moves to the north and slides to the east in the next couple of days. But it's not just Europe. Like I said, it's Asia.
We've had 140 all-time temperature records since the beginning of the year, only one all-time low. It's amazing.
CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh.
Tom Sater, thank you very much. Everybody needs to be very careful out there.
So New York State will step up its shark spotting efforts after several sightings over the weekend had to shut down two beaches. State officials will increase beach patrols and use helicopters and drones to track shark activity.
So far this month, at least four people were injured in suspected attacks. Shark sightings were also up over the weekend on Cape Cod where sharks are getting closer to the shore.
Joining us now is Jeff Corwin. He's a biologist and wildlife conservational and the host of "Wildlife Nation."
Jeff, so great to see you.
What's happening? Why are there more sharks and why are they coming closer to shore?
JEFF CORWIN, BIOLOGIST & WILDLIFE CONSERVATIONIST & HOST, "WILDLIFE NATION": Great question, Alisyn. The reason why we're getting more sharks is because the conditions, which sharks like to survive in environmentally, are getting better.
There's basically three factors here on why we're seeing an increase in sharks along New England and places like New Jersey and New York.
Number one, the environment is much healthier. For example, 30 years ago, Boston Harbor was considered one of the dirtiest waterways in the world. Now it's one of the cleanest. Because we have a healthier environment.
Number two, we have an increase in the prey species. We have booming populations of harbor seals and gray seals. And for great white sharks, that's their target prey species that they like to eat.
Number three, climate change. Warming waters mean that species that tend to live and inhabit tropical or warmer places on the planet, for example, Florida, those species are migrating north to waters that are now more inviting for them.
CAMEROTA: Jeff, what are beachgoers supposed to do this summer? Are there certain days you shouldn't go in the water? What are the warning signs that you should look for to avoid sharks?
CORWIN: Well, it's interesting. So I think the species that people worry about the most, which would be the great white shark, for me, anecdotally, I think that presents the least harm or threat.
Because this is a species that's really looking for large marine mammals like the gray seals that I mentioned earlier.
But the two recent attacks that happened, I think the species that likely was the culprit was a dusky or a sand tiger shark. These were smaller sharks.
So both of these injuries, they weren't life-threatening. Thankfully, they were minimal injuries. They weren't catastrophic.
If you are bitten by a large predatory shark, you're going to know it and there's going to be serious damage.
So I think the conditions that these folks were in when they were bitten by the sharks was poor light conditions and a lot of turbidity in the water, a lot of murkiness in the water, poor visibility.
Most attacks happen close to sunset or sunrise, where there's not a lot of light in the water. Oftentimes, because of weather conditions like rain.
And, of course, poor visibility in that water increases the possibility of a test bite or a false response when a shark bites onto something that it soon discovers doesn't make a good source of food.
CAMEROTA: OK, I'll never go swimming at sunset again. Thank you for that. Meanwhile, Jeff, I want to ask you about something from last week.
Victor and I reported on these sea lions in San Diego who were chasing people on the beach.
Here's the video of it.
[14:50:00]
And one report was that they were mad about people taking their picture. What do you think was happening here?
CORWIN: Well, I tried to watch this video myself, Alisyn, but I was really distracted by Victor and his hysterical response --
(LAUGHTER)
CORWIN: -- to this moment.
CAMEROTA: That was the most distracting part --
(CROSSTALK)
CORWIN: I think he needed a glass of water. And drank it backwards.
(LAUGHTER)
BLACKWELL: Oh, man.
CORWIN: But, no, seriously, people were violating the space of these sea lions. It's actually illegal to get close to these animals. They're protected under the Marine Mammal Act.
When a sea lion or a seal or an elephant seal, when it hauls itself on to the beach, it's doing that because it needs to rest. It's not doing that because it's lazy. It's literally trying to conserve all of its energy.
So when human beings distract these animals or basically harm them by getting in their space, they're actually putting these creatures in jeopardy because they're losing the energy reserves and they're stressing these animals out.
It's illegal. I think it's kind of selfish. It's very negligent. And it shows this behavior we see more commonly today around wild animals.
People being gored by bison in national parks because they get too close. People harassing these mammals that are protected legally but get super close because they want that ultimate social media moment.
But it's a big problem. And frankly, if I was those sea lions, I would have been a little ticked off myself.
CAMEROTA: Jeff Corwin, thank you very much. You and I didn't have to get close to enjoy them and have a viral moment.
BLACKWELL: Lesson learned on sea lions. You all will not forget that.
(LAUGHTER)
BLACKWELL: Thank you, Jeff.
CAMEROTA: Jeff, thank you.
BLACKWELL: All right, President Biden returned to D.C. with a growing list of challenges. Poll numbers are down, inflation is up, and his legislate agenda seems to be going nowhere. What it means for the midterms, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:55:08]
CAMEROTA: President Biden returned from his four-day trip to the Middle East to challenges back home.
BLACKWELL: His approval rating hit a new low. Inflation hit a new 40-year high. And the list of things he can possibly get done before the November midterms, it's getting shorter.
CNN chief national affairs correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, joins us now.
So how's the White House tackling all of this?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Alisyn, right now, President Biden has been huddling with his advisers throughout the day. He has nothing on his public schedule, which gives you a sense they know they need to reboot for a moment and figure out the next steps.
There are 113 days until the midterm elections. That sounds like a lot of time but, of course, it's not. Those midterm elections will determine if Democrats will maintain their majorities in the House and Senate.
Climate change is first and foremost here. Some actions are going to be coming from that.
Of course, after Senator Joe Manchin last week essentially torpedoed the climate change plan, the president is expected to do some type of executive action on climate change. We may get more of a sense of that later this afternoon.
Look, the reality here is his approval rating is something that worries every Democrat throughout the party, that "New York Times" shows his approval rating is 33 percent.
We did get a bit of a window into the president's frustration from someone who's obviously very close to him, the person who's closest to him of all, first lady, Jill Biden.
She was speaking at a Democratic fundraiser over the weekend as president was traveling and she gave a sense into his mindset and frustrations.
These comments are actually pretty constructive. Let's take a look at them.
She said this, "The president had so many hopes and plans he wanted to do, but every time he turned around, he had to address the problem of the moment. He just had so many things thrown his way."
"Who would have ever thought about what happened with Roe v. Wade? Well, maybe we saw it coming but we still didn't believe it. The gun violence in this country is absolutely appalling. We didn't see the war in Ukraine coming."
So clearly there is frustration there. But also a sense of many of these things were able to be seen coming.
This hangs over the entire question, is the president up to the task of facing these challenges here? As he says, he's the only president the U.S. has right now.
So look for him to try and reboot this week, potentially traveling later in the week as well.
But the challenges are immense. You can feel it in every conversation we have here -- Victor and Alisyn?
CAMEROTA: OK, Jeff Zeleny, thank you for reporting from the White House.
BLACKWELL: We're just getting this into CNN. The Texas Department of Public Safety is launching an internal review of its response to the Robb Elementary School mass shooter. We are live in Uvalde, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
