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Explosion Disables Bridge Linking Crimea to Russia and Used by Russian Military as Supply Line for War in Ukraine; Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock Holds Rally as More Stories Surface that Republican Opponent Herschel Walker Paid For or Urged Girlfriend's Abortions; Recovery Efforts Continue in Florida in Wake of Devastation Left by Hurricane Ian. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired October 08, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:08]

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AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Happening now in the Newsroom, a fuel tanker explodes on a bridge linking Russia to Crimea. What this means both strategically and symbolically in how Ukrainian and Russian officials are reacting.

Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker is set to address supporters as a new round of allegations rocks his campaign. We're going to take you there live.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been very stressful and overwhelming.

WALKER: Floridians displaced by hurricane Ian are standing in line for hours to get the help they need following the storm. Our Nadia Romero is there.

New York Mayor Eric Adams declares a state of emergency because of an influx of migrants.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: This is unsustainable.

WALKER: The strain the system is now under and how that declaration could help.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It's time that we right these wrongs.

WALKER: President Biden wipes out federal marijuana possession convictions, what that means for the effort to decriminalize marijuana nationwide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a series of serial murders occurring in cities.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people are scared to go out at night. WALKER: Police in California are on the hunt for a killer. The one

characteristic they are asking the community to zero in on as the search for the suspect continues.

Newsroom starts right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL (on camera): Good morning, everyone. It is Saturday, October 8th. I'm Amara Walker.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Amara. I'm Boris Sanchez. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. And we start this morning in eastern Europe. At least three people have been reported dead in a huge explosion that has crippled Europe's largest bridge and paralyzed a key supply route for Russia's war in Ukraine.

WALKER: That massive blast crippled the only bridge linking Russia to the annexed territory of Crimea. The Kerch Bridge is not only logistically important, it's also a huge symbol for the Kremlin and its attempt to reunify Crimea with the Russian mainland.

Let's get straight to CNN international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen. Fred, so Russia blamed the explosion on quote-unquote, Ukrainian vandals. What are you hearing about who is behind the explosion? What is Ukraine saying?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Amara. Well, the Ukrainians certainly are not confirming that at all. You see a lot of people within the Ukrainian political sphere sort of rejoicing in all of that, but no one has taken responsibility just yet, and it certainly doesn't seem as though anything like that is on the way as far as the Ukrainians are concerned.

What the Russians have said is that they already have their investigative committee on the scene there on that bridge. And as you said, there were Crimean officials who blamed those alleged Ukrainian vandals. There are some other Russian politicians that have already come out and blamed Ukraine as well. But so far, it's definitely unclear who exactly was behind all this.

The Russians are saying that there was a truck that blew up on the bridge and that that also caused an explosion on a train that was on that bridge as well. The bridge has both car lanes but also railroad tracks, and that train was apparently carrying either fuel or gas, and three of those railway cars blew up as well. You can see some of the Russian footage there of the Russian investigative committee on the bridge there. And then of course, that massive explosion that took place.

Now, essentially what happened, then they say that two lanes of the automobile part of that bridge collapsed. There was also extensive damage to the railway bridge as well. It's quite interest because the Russians are saying that in part vehicle traffic has started rolling again on that bridge, of course, not at full capacity by any means, and that they want to clear the railway part of the bridge quickly as well. And that, of course, is also in part due to what Amara was just saying before, that this is a very, very important strategic bridge for the Russians. It connects the Russian mainland with occupied Crimea. And the Russians, obviously, use it not just for regular civilian traffic but for military traffic as well. A lot of tanks and other military equipment were especially brought through that rail line, but also by car as well, and also fuel for Russia's war effort in Ukraine.

So it is a very, very important bridge strategically, but also, of course, big symbolic value as well as Vladimir Putin himself inaugurated this bridge in 2018, guys.

SANCHEZ: And Fred, notably, the Ukrainians have not taken credit for the explosion, but there is a psychological warfare component to this where they are celebrating online and linking it to Vladimir Putin's birthday.

PLEITGEN: Yes, you are absolutely right. That is one of the things. One of the other things that I thought was quite interesting also was that the Ukrainian postal service within hours of this happening came out with a new stamp commemorating the explosions of the bridge of Crimea, of the Kerch bridge. There were already people taking selfies in front of a giant stamp that's put out here in central Kyiv.

[10:05:03]

But at the same time, you do have Ukrainian politicians also mocking Russian President Vladimir Putin. In fact, the national security advisor here in Ukraine, because it was Putin's birthday, 70th birthday yesterday, juxtaposed the video of Marilyn Monroe singing, at the time, of course, for Jack Kennedy, "Happy Birthday, Mr. President," and juxtaposed that with the bridge on fire, obviously to mock the Russian president. And in general, it is something that is, obviously, quite humiliating for the Russians, this important logistical route, but definitely also one of those big projects that the Ukrainians have always considered a slap in the face of Ukraine and one that the Russians really was very important for them to try to develop Crimea on their part.

So definitely this is a huge, huge blow to the Russians, and definitely something where the Ukrainians, military, political sphere, but also many people here in Kyiv are quite happy about it.

WALKER: It will be interesting to see how the impact strategically of this all plays out for Russia. Fred Pleitgen, thank you very much.

SANCHEZ: A commemorative stamp, did not expect that. Thank you so much, Fred.

So back here in the United States, Senator Raphael Warnock is holding a rally this hour in Columbus, Georgia, as his opponent, Herschel Walker, he is trying to regroup following a difficult week.

WALKER: Warnock has had little to say about reports that Walker paid a woman to have an abortion and then asked her to end a second pregnancy two years later. Walker denies the allegations. SANCHEZ: Let's take you to Columbus, Georgia, right now, and CNN

reporter Michael Warren who is there for us live at the Warnock rally. Michael, what more are you hearing from the Warnock campaign about the situation with Herschel Walker?

MICHAEL WARREN, CNN REPORTER: We are going to hear from Raphael Warnock in just a few minutes, as you mentioned. This is the end of Warnock's rural bus tour. The last three days he has been going across the state in the southern and central parts of the state. But we should note first, Boris, that CNN has not independently confirmed those allegations yet. They have rocked this big Senate race here in Georgia. CNN reported yesterday that Walker has fired his political director with less than a month to go before the election.

Warnock, for his part, has not directly addressed these allegations, but he is using the news reports as an opportunity to talk about Walker's position on abortion, which he characterizes as extreme. Take a listen to what Walker had to say to reporters yesterday in Columbus -- in Macon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): My view on this hasn't changed. I believe in reproductive choice. My opponent does not. He wants to see a nationwide ban, no exceptions, which includes rape, incest, and the life of the mother. I think that's extreme. I think it's out of touch with the people of Georgia. And the people of Georgia have a real choice to make.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: And it is a big choice. Again, this is a marquee Senate race for both parties. The polls showing that it is a close race between these two candidates, the Democratic incumbent Warnock and the Republican challenger Herschel Walker. And there is a possibility as well that this race could go to a runoff. Republicans already suggesting that the news this week really suggests that neither candidate will win 50 percent of the vote in November. We'll be seeing another potential runoff election in December here in Georgia, and it could come down to which party controls the Senate. We'll keep watching. Boris, Amara?

WALKER: Michael Warren, appreciate you. Thanks for that.

Frustrations were evident at a FEMA disaster recovery center in Lee County, Florida, Friday, lines stretching out for hours as residents were trying to get emergency aid after hurricane Ian ravaged the state 10 days ago.

SANCHEZ: While he was in Daytona Beach, Governor Ron DeSantis acknowledged there is a long road ahead.

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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): So I would just say to folks who are in difficult circumstances now because of the storm, just hang in there. There is a lot of resources. There's a lot of help. We understand at the state level that this is something that is going to require a lot of support for a long time.

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SANCHEZ: Let's go to Fort Myers now, one of the areas hardest hit by hurricane Ian. That's where we find CNN's Nadia Romero. Nadia, you're at a relief center. You told us earlier this morning there were roughly 100 people there fairly early. What does it look like now?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: People are still rolling in and out. Some people feeling satisfied with the treatment they received here and the services. Other people leaving very disappointed. So this is where people had lined up, about 100 people, before they even opened. The earliest person to arrive was a man named Greg. He arrived at 4:00 this morning. He said he experienced the storm at Sanibel Island, and he was stuck there in his storm ravaged home for four days until someone was able to help rescue him and take him off the island.

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He came here because he says he has nothing but clothes on his back. Take a listen.

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GREG ANERINO, SANIBEL ISLAND RESIDENT: I need a place to live. We have nothing. Just everything's gone, everything I have. I do a lot of good for the community, and now it just breaks my heart. And now I need help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: So, you heard from Greg there. He told me that he is a Vietnam veteran and looking around his island where he used to live looks like a battleground. He is hoping that FEMA can help because he wasn't able to get flood insurance because of where his home was located. He is also trying to figure out how he is going to sustain himself. His business was wiped out as well.

Now, you can see this sign here, this warning sign that says unlicensed contracting is a felony during the existence of a state of emergency. That's coming from the state of Florida. These are the signs we are seeing around this area as well, warning people about scam artists, because this is a primetime for a scammer to try to take advantage of people who are just looking for assistance.

Amara, Boris, I spoke with a woman who came here, she says she lost her car, her business was wiped out, she doesn't have any income coming in, only to find out she has been the victim of identity theft. So now she has to figure that out before she can apply for assistance.

Such a difficult thing to deal with on top of everything else. Nadia Romero live from Fort Myers, thank you so much. We have an update for you from Uvalde, Texas, where changes are

coming. The school district there suspending its entire police force nearly five months after a school massacre. The latest on an ongoing investigation and how the families are now responding.

WALKER: New York Mayor Eric Adams declares a state of emergency amid an influx of migrants bussed in from Texas. Up next, his message for Texas state officials.

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WALKER: New developments this week coming more than four months after the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre at Robb Elementary School that left 19 children and two teachers dead. School District Superintendent Hal Harrell announced Friday his plans to begin the process of retiring with a closed-door school board meeting set for Monday to discuss the transition.

SANCHEZ: This comes the same day the district suspended its entire police force and placed the acting district police chief on administrative leave. And on Thursday the school district fired a newly hired officer after CNN -- excuse me -- after CNN reported that she was a former Texas state trooper under investigation for her actions on the day of the shooting.

CNN crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz has been leading on breaking news in the story. He has more on the ongoing investigation.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The Uvalde school district suspending all of its officers, pulling them out of the schools in Uvalde and putting them into administrative roles. All of this, of course, happening after our reporting that a newly hired officer who came from the DPS, she resigned from the Department of Public Safety and was hired by the school district despite the fact that he should was under investigation for her response while at the DPS to the Robb Elementary School. The school somehow, someway hired her even though they knew, they were told by the DPS that she was under investigation.

Also, a school administrator by the name of Ken Mueller was also suspended. He retired because of that suspension he decided he is just going to retire. And then also Lieutenant Miguel Hernandez, he is the lieutenant, he's the commanding officer of the school police force. He also was placed on administrative leave. And what our understanding is this lieutenant was the one who was behind vetting that officer, Officer Elizondo, the newly hired officer, by the school district.

And so really the school district here responding in decisive form, taking all of their officers out, removing this administrator, and then also suspending this lieutenant. Of course, this is all welcome news for the families who have been fighting for justice, who have been fighting for accountability, wanting the school to take this kind of action certainly after our report, but also since the shooting. They have not felt safe in that community with those officers, and they wanted accountability for the failures, but also the failures that they believe occurred by the school district.

We're also told on a one final note that the superintendent, Hal Harrell, he plans to retire. That announcement is expected sometime possibly on Monday. So certainly, a big shake-up there in Uvalde, something that the families didn't think they would get, but finally some accountability for them, offering them some relief. Boris, Amara?

WALKER: Shimon, thank you very much.

New York's mayor has declared a state of emergency over the influx of migrants into the city.

SANCHEZ: Mayor Eric Adams says more people are arriving than the city can accommodate. He says more than 1,700 asylum seekers have been bussed to New York City from the southern border since April.

WALKER: CNN correspondent Polo Sandoval joining us now with more. Yes, Polo, how stretched are the city's resources?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They continue to get stretched every day, Amara and Boris, when you are looking at anywhere from six to nine buses of migrants that are arriving here in New York City alone. We remind our viewers, many of these migrants now, over 17,000 asylum seekers that have arrived in New York City since the spring. Some are still taking up the offers from Republican governors for a free ride north, but a vast majority are coming on their own. And we know that many of them are also being sent up as part of a separate busing program from the city of El Paso.

[10:20:04]

What we heard yesterday from Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, was a very direct and very urgent message that goes all the way, that he wanted to be heard all the way at the White House, basically calling on the federal government to do more to assist New York City in absorbing the amount of people that continue to arrive here nor for months, calling for what he described as a decompression strategy to try to address this issue at the border, which really did have sort of echoes of what we heard from his Republican counterparts, that this is a federal government issue.

And what we also heard yesterday, which I want you to hear for yourself, is Eric Adams basically calling on El Paso city officials who have sent over 7,000 migrants to New York City, to pull back on this program that they are offering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, (D) NEW YORK CITY: El Paso, the city manager, the mayor, they should stop sending buses to New York. New York cannot accommodate the number of buses that we have coming here to our city. I think that it is crucial for us to get that accurate because we don't want to send a signal out there that New York is telling any municipality that we could accommodate the influx of asylum seekers. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: El Paso's deputy city manager responding to our colleague Rosa Flores in a statement, reading, "The migrants are selecting New York City. The city of El Paso is not selecting New York City. We provide assistance in the form of welcoming them, food, water, temporary shelter, first-aid, and of course, transportation." And that is the key issue here.

We need to be clear, also, Amara and Boris, that El Paso has been really, been very -- they have defended their program, saying that it's very different from what we have seen from Governor Abbott. They say that it's more humane. They are basically sending migrants not only to New York City, but also to Chicago. But what we heard just yesterday from this Democratic mayor in New York City is sending a very strong message to Democrats in El Paso and to the White House that this is getting more urgent every day, that this is an all-hands- on-deck situation that's only getting worse by the day.

SANCHEZ: Polo Sandoval reporting from New York, thank you so much.

CNN has learned that in recent weeks the Department of Justice, demanding Donald Trump return any outstanding documents he may still have that are marked as classified. The DOJ making clear that they do not believe he has returned all materials taken when he left the White House, and those they say they could not recover even after the search of Mar-a-Lago.

WALKER: CNN's Marshall Cohen joining us now. OK, so what more do we know?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, guys. There might be more. That is what the Justice Department apparently believes, and according to our reporting, that's what they communicated to the Trump side in recent weeks, that they think there might be more documents, classified documents, at Mar-a-Lago, and that Donald Trump is still obligated, legally obligated to turn over anything that he might have in his possession.

This was a message delivered by a senior counterintelligence official from the Justice Department, and it really is a very incredible development, a remarkable development considering the history, how we got here. There has been a two-year tug-of-war between Donald Trump and the U.S. government over these documents with classification markings that he brought from the White House to Mar-a-Lago.

Look back at the history. Earlier this year, in January, Trump handed over a ton of boxes to the national archives. In those boxes they found 184 classified documents. The Justice Department launched an investigation, and they came to believe that there was still more at Mar-a-Lago. So in June they got a subpoena. And as part of Trump's compliance with that subpoena, he handed back an additional 38 classified documents. That was in June. Again, the Justice Department developed information that there was still stuff to find at Mar-a- Lago. They got a search warrant from a judge. They searched Trump's home and properties at Mar-a-Lago in August, and that's when they found another 103 documents. After all that apparently the Justice Department still thinks there are classified materials to be found. Guys?

SANCHEZ: And Marshall, the Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutor investigating efforts by Trump and allies to overturn the 2020 election, they're aiming for possible indictments as early as December. What can you tell us about that?

COHEN: That's a completely separate investigation down in Georgia, a state-level investigation led by the district attorney in Atlanta Fani Willis. She has been looking very closely for the past two years at the efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the election in Georgia. We are getting close to the next election, the midterms, just a few weeks away.

[10:25:02]

She says she is going dark, not going to do any major investigative steps over the next few weeks, which is common for prosecutors. They don't want to create the appearance of politics or politicizing an investigation. But according to sources that spoke with CNN, she is looking to wrap up her grand jury after the midterms, getting into the final months of this year, and that could pave the way for possibility indictments.

But guys, there are still many steps to go before that might happen. So a little bit of a dark period now, and we'll see what happens after the midterms.

WALKER: Many steps to go and many investigations to keep track of when it comes to former president Trump. Appreciate you, Marshall. Good to see you.

COHEN: My pleasure.

WALKER: President Biden announces major steps towards decriminalizing marijuana, including pardons for people with federal, simple marijuana possession on their records. Up next, we're going to hear from a marijuana activist and how this pardon changes his present and future.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:31]

SANCHEZ: We are 30 minutes past the hour. Here are some of the top stories that we are following.

A judge in Ohio blocked the state's six-week abortion ban indefinitely on Friday, granting a preliminary injunction against the new law that bans abortions performed after early cardiac activity is detected. That's typically around six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant, except in medical emergencies.

WALKER: The ACLU says that as a result of the ruling, abortions up to 22 weeks of pregnancy will remain legal while litigation continues. Ohio's attorney general David Yost, a Republican, did not immediately say whether he intended to appeal the injunction.

The U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is urging U.S. citizens to leave the country. The travel advisory came after the Haitian government called on the international community to provide an immediate special armed force to help restore security and peace in the country. Anti-government protests now in their seventh week have paralyzed the country with schools, businesses, and public transportation across the island nation mostly shuttered. Haitians have been demonstrating against chronic gang violence, poverty, food insecurity, inflation, and fuel shortages.

Anna Sorokin, the fake heiress Netflix's "Inventing Anna" is based on is out of jail. An ICE spokesperson says she was released from detention last night but will remain under supervision. Sorokin will have to follow certain conditions, like staying off social media and a 24-hour-a-day house arrest while her deportation case proceeds. According to her attorney, Sorokin had been in ICE detention for 17 months. She was found guilty in 2019 of stealing more than $200,000 from banks and friends while scamming her way into New York's high society.

SANCHEZ: This week President Biden announced that he is going to pardon all prior federal offenses for simple marijuana possession. The president released this video explaining why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana. It's already legal in many states. And criminal records for marijuana possession have led to needless barriers to employment, to housing, to educational opportunities, and that's before you address the racial disparities around who suffers the consequences.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The president's executive actions will affect thousands of Americans, including our next guest. Chris Goldstein is a marijuana reform advocate and an adjunct professor at Temple University. Notably, he was arrested and convicted for simple marijuana possession in 2013. Chris, we're grateful that you are sharing part of your Saturday with us. You have been a long-time advocate for legalizing marijuana. What does this decision mean to you personally and to that movement more broadly?

CHRIS GOLDSTEIN, MARIJUANA ACTIVIST: Well, I got my record actually protesting for the very things the president talked about in this release this week. And it wasn't just -- pardoning people like me is a very important first step. But let's make it clear, most people who have federal marijuana possession records weren't out with a bullhorn protesting like I was. Most of the people with a record like mine were caught at a border crossing or in some other circumstance.

So this is an important first step. But another important first step was made, and a letter was sent to the secretary of Health and Health Services about scheduling. And that's what we need to talk about here in this country, too, which is de-scheduling cannabis, removing if from the Controlled Substances Act completely.

SANCHEZ: I wanted to dig in on that point, because marijuana is classified on the same level as substances like fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, it's a schedule one drug. You noted the president directing HHS to review that. How do you think it should be handled?

GOLDSTEIN: Well, again, it's not a new idea. Ten years ago, we were protesting for the concept of de-scheduling cannabis, removing it completely from the Controlled Substances Act. This would ensconce what states have already done and allow other states to move forward. But when we talk about advancing national policy, another point was taken this week, which is that pardons like mine at the federal level need to happen at the state level, because millions of people have records, mostly black and brown Americans, for state-level marijuana prohibition.

[10:35:02]

That's something that the president also touched on this week. We had some near misses this year. Delaware was just one single vote away in the legislature from legalizing cannabis just this year in 2022, and that was a very tough fight. Pennsylvania still has retail cannabis prohibition and arrests 13,000 people a year. So this is not a done deal in every single state, and the president making the moves that he made this week will help the process down the road, I think.

SANCHEZ: And, Chris, what's your response to folks who say that there is potential harm in decriminalizing marijuana long term? There is extensive research shows that marijuana use in adolescents can affect long-term brain development, it can even lower I.Q. What do you say to that?

GOLDSTEIN: Certainly, there are a number of substances that were never in the Controlled Substances Act ever that have a detrimental impact on teens today, and that's nicotine and alcohol. So those were never in the Controlled Substances Act to begin with. And I don't think marijuana belongs there either. And that's the question that we should be answering today.

As far as harms and benefits, we have 20-year experiment running in the states. Regulated cannabis for medical cannabis and for adult use cannabis has been going on many, many years. And that's part of the problem. The federal government can't look at all of the finances, all of the profits, all of the taxes that are coming in. It's all off the federal books. And when we can advance federal policy, when we can de- schedule cannabis, we can start to account for that part of the cannabis, too, in America.

SANCHEZ: Chris Goldstein, it is an interesting conversation. We hope you will come back and discuss it further when there are more developments.

GOLDSTEIN: Thanks so much. And I'm looking forward to traveling to Canada one day as well.

SANCHEZ: Good luck. Thanks, Chris.

GOLDSTEIN: Thanks.

WALKER: All right, still to come this morning, police in Stockton, California, releasing new video of a person of interest they believe could be connected to six recent homicides as a search for a killer or killers continues.

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[10:41:15]

SANCHEZ: Officials in California's Central Valley are on the hunt for a serial killer after seven people were shot in separate attacks that police say were connected. Six of those attacks wound up being fatal. Five of them happened in just the last three months.

WALKER: Officials have released this video showing what they are calling a person of interest in the shootings. And a $125,000 reward is being offered for any information regarding the homicide. CNN's Camila Bernal with more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Six killings in northern California, a number of connections in the cases, and at least one possible suspect.

CHIEF STANLEY MCFADDEN, STOCKTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: If you look at the video is, we want our communities to pay attention to how he walks. He has an inconsistent walk about him, as well he has a very tall posture also when he walks.

BERNAL: The man says the chief appears in some of the recent crime scenes.

MCFADDEN: To go by definition, absolutely we have a series of serial murders occurring in the city.

BERNAL: But authorities can't say whether one or multiple people are involved. They do know that there is ballistic and video evidence connecting the dots, and add to that that all the attacks happened during the evening or early morning hours when the victims were alone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people are scared to come out at night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not going out by myself anymore. I told family members when it gets dark, make sure that you are indoors.

BERNAL: And while the police chief tried to reassure the public of their work during a public safety community town hall, he is also warning people.

MCFADDEN: You have to be out, be with someone. Be in a lighted area.

BERNAL: The killings are believed to have begun in April of 2021 with the most recent reported late last month.

MCFADDEN: We believe that perhaps this individual or individuals may be looking for the area during daylight to anticipate where cameras may be and what would be the best approach for this person or persons to take.

BERNAL: In total, seven people have been shot. One survived. And now police offering a $125,000 reward.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe they will catch the person. They just have to figure out who the person is.

BERNAL: Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SANCHEZ: Thanks, Camila, for filing that report.

Still to come this morning, a new report finding systemic abuse and misconduct that is sending shockwaves through the world of women's professional soccer. What some of the sport's biggest stars are saying about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:48:22]

WALKER: U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe is speaking out for the first time after a scathing independent investigation found patterns of abusive behavior at all levels of women's professional soccer. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGAN RAPINOE, U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM: For the future of the league, for players going forward, for players playing right now, it's essential that we know we are being taken care of and supported in all of the right ways, and everybody that's working in and around the league has the same goal and the same understandings, understanding of what the level is and what the responsibilities are. So I think without accountability and without people specifically who did the wrong thing being gone, that just says to us that nobody is really hearing us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: The report comes about a year after the league was thrown into chaos following allegations of sexual coercion and misconduct over the span of a decade towards players by former coach Paul Riley. Here with me now to discuss this further is CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan. Christine, I know you have been talking about this on TV since this report came out on Monday. I was reading some of the report. The details are repulsive. Some players alleging that they were forced into sexual relationships, or one coach reportedly calling in a player to review a game, but then ended up showing her pornography. And that's just some of the allegations that I read about. How shocked are you by these findings?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, SPORTS COLUMNIST, "USA TODAY": Amara, it's terrible. It's absolutely terrible to think that in the name of sports, in the name of something that should be so good, we have something so terrible.

[10:50:03]

And it is pervasive. It was gymnastics a few years ago, obviously, the Larry Nassar horrors. Now this. Figure skating, swimming, on and on it goes, all these sports that we share at the Olympics, and then to find out or to know what's going on behind the scenes. Parents have to step up. The coaches, as Megan Rapinoe was just saying, the coaches, once you find out a coach has done something, he -- I would say he or she, but it's almost always men, must be then kicked out of the sport forever.

What's been happening, and the report clearly shows this, is that it's moving around the dirty laundry, like the Catholic Church did with priests. So a coach gets fired, no one says why, for sexual misconduct or abuse, and then gets hired by another team and keeps doing it. This is going on in the name of youth sports and women's sports, and it just has to stop.

WALKER: What is the motivation here? Is it financial? Because even hearing from these professional athletes saying that they suffered in silence, they were afraid to speak out because they didn't think anyone would believe them. How do you explain years of abuse, alleged abuse, and of course, there's the cover-up after that.

BRENNAN: Control and power. Actually, the same common denominator as the gymnastics works where athletes, if you speak up, and parents feel this way, too, you're a little five, six, seven-year-old playing soccer, you don't want to speak up and make an enemy of the coach because then your daughter gets benched. I would say it's OK if your daughter is benched to save your daughter's life and all the things that could happen in the future.

But this is American sports, and the parents want it as much as the kid, if not more than the kid. So we have a vicious circle here that is just too much. But I do think that also what happened that you saw, for example, that the athletes did speak out. Alex Morgan went to the authorities, and then people didn't listen. So you have several things at play here leading to the ultimate disaster for young athletes.

WALKER: Yes, unfortunately, the verbal and emotional abuse and the sexual misconduct is not happening in a silo, or just in U.S. Soccer. You mentioned U.S. gymnastics, which shocked the world, too, when we heard about those abuse allegations. How widespread, because you have Sally Yates, the lead investigator, saying that this was systematic, which means it was widespread, do you expect more victims to come forward?

BRENNAN: That usually is the case in these kinds of stories. I have been able to break a lot of the stories of sex abuse in figure skating, which are just as horrific. And what happens is someone speaks out, they have the courage to speak out or a parent tells a child's story, and then others do come forward. We saw that with Ashley Wagner in figure skating and a woman name Bridget Namiotka who I was just able to confirm yesterday, passed away, in part her parents said because of all of the abuse, the sexual abuse that she suffered and how she had trouble, of course, handling that. The poor thing is now dead at 32.

So what can happen, a positive in the midst of all of this sadness and horror and tragedy, is for people to speak out. If you have been sexually abused, verbally, emotionally abused, go to the U.S. Center for Safe Sport, come to a journalist like me. Tell your story. Those stories do matter, and there is safety in numbers.

WALKER: There are plenty of people out there who will believe you.

If you will, Christine, let's just take a quick pivot. I do want to talk about football for a moment, because now we know that the NFL Players Association released a statement saying that the players have agreed to a change of the concussion protocols with the NFL after that horrific video that we saw of the Miami Dolphins quarterback stumbling when he was getting up against the Bills. We don't know the details yet of what this protocol says. What would you like to see? What kind of changes?

BRENNAN: What the players want to see, Amara, and what a lot of us would, is once a player exhibits signs like we have seen on national TV, immediately that player cannot play again. You can't have a doctor going, oh, it's OK, or a coach going OK. No. You're out. You are immediately out of that game and maybe many games to come. The health and safety of the athletes, like the others we have been talking about, is paramount.

WALKER: Absolutely. Christine Brennan, always a pleasure, thank you very much.

BRENNAN: Thank you.

WALKER: And thank you all for watching. Much more ahead in the next hour of CNN Newsroom.

SANCHEZ: Amara, great to be with you. Hope we made you feel welcome on your first official day on NEW DAY and Newsroom.

WALKER: Very welcome, thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Before we let you go, here is a preview of the new season of "Stanley Tucci, Searching for Italy." It premiers tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stanley Tucci is back in Italy, and there are more surprises to be found.

STANLEY TUCCI: I have never seen anything quite like it. There you go, dad. It's your family home.

[10:55:00]

It's like a million different flavors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are they as good as mine?

TUCCI: I am not answering that question.

Man, incredible.

Amazing.

Wow, wow, wow.

The food is amazing.

Look at that.

Come on, that is -- amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Stanley Tucci, Searching for Italy," new season premiers tomorrow at 9:00 on CNN.

TUCCI: You can stop filming. We're just going to eat.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)