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Traffic Jams Clog Crimea Bridge; New Zaporizhzhya Rocket Strike Kills at Least 17; U.S. and Taliban Officials Meet in Qatar; Women at Iranian University Denounce President Ebrahim Raisi; White Terror Survivors Recount Brutal Period in Taiwan; Police Believe String of Stockton Murders Are Related; Seattle Detective Plays Chess to Inspire Young People. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired October 09, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, trouble for Russia. A bridge in Crimea is severely damaged in an unexplained explosion.
Hurricane Ian carved a path of destruction across the state of Florida, bringing heightened attention to the global climate crisis. We will examine the relationship between our rapidly changing climate and intensifying extreme weather events.
And Green Island, a Pacific paradise off Taiwan's coast, harbors a dark history. We will take you to Oasis Villa, a painful reminder of the fragility of Taiwan's democracy.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We begin in Ukraine where, for the second time in days, the city of Zaporizhzhya is taking a deadly pounding from Russian rockets. Have a look here, these are scenes of chaos after multiple rockets slammed into residential areas Saturday, reportedly killing at least 17 people.
While further south, Moscow is scrambling to get the bridge linking Crimea with Russia back up and running. A part of the bridge collapsed after a huge explosion and fire Saturday.
Now Russia says repair work will be underway around the clock. Some train and road traffic has already resumed but divers will go into the water later today to see if the structure can still support trucks.
Ukraine isn't claiming responsibility for what happened but President Zelenskyy made it clear he's far from feeling sorry about it. Here he is.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today was a good and mostly sunny day in our country. Over most of the territory it was about 20 degrees Celsius and sunny.
Unfortunately, it was cloudy in Crimea, although it was still warm. But however the clouds are, Ukrainians know what to do and they know that our future is sunny. This is the future without invaders.
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BRUNHUBER: Scott McLean is keeping an eye on developments in Ukraine and he joins us from London.
Let's start with that deadly attack in Zaporizhzhya.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The numbers are changing all the time based on the information that local officials are telling us. But the latest numbers stand, at least 17 dead in this missile strike, at least 40 injured; as many as six of those injured may have been children.
When you look at this pictures from this attack it is amazing that anyone could have survived, considering that apartment building you see there. There is a hole that has been completely blown through it, it seems like. There were also several houses damaged as well.
There was so much rubble on the site that the acting mayor is calling for volunteers to help clear it out in hopes of finding survivors. The head of the local military administration says that there were 12 missiles fired at this city.
What's not clear is how many of them actually landed and what their intended target may actually have been. Now all of this, though, is being overshadowed by what happened in Crimea and the Kerch Bridge connecting Crimea to the rest of Russia.
I want to run through for you, Kim, some of the reaction we're getting, both from the Russian and Ukrainian side. The Russians are very much framing this as a terrorist attack.
Case in point, the spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry said that the reaction of the Kyiv regime to the destruction of civilian infrastructure testifies to its terrorist nature.
A Russian military blogger also wrote the terrorist attack by Ukraine and its Western masters was expected and it happened, the services responsible for guarding the bridge obviously failed to cope with their task.
Now in terms of the Ukrainian response to this, well, it's been sort of tongue in cheek and celebratory in many ways. In fact, the postal service in Ukraine is already planning to print a commemorative stamp to mark the occasion. But the Ukrainians are not directly claiming responsibility for any of this. The Ukrainian defense ministry wrote, the guided missile cruiser Moskva -- remember that was the ship that was destroyed earlier in the war -- the Kerch Bridge, two notorious symbols of Russian power in Ukrainian Crimea have gone down.
What's next in line, Russkies?
And then a presidential adviser to President Zelenskyy said, Crimea, the bridge, the beginning, everything illegal must be destroyed. Everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine. Everything occupied by Russia must be expelled.
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MCLEAN: So the Ukrainians are obviously happy that this happened. But again, not claiming responsibility directly.
That presidential adviser also said that because the Russian investigators have said thus far that the explosives were carried in a truck headed westbound along that bridge from Russia into Crimea, that if the Russians are looking for answers on this, they ought to look inside of their own country, not inside of Ukraine. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much, Scott McLean. Appreciate that.
I want to discuss this further with a senior editor of "The Kyiv Independent," Oleksiy Sorokin joins me here.
Thanks so much for being here with us. I want to get a sense from you about the reaction to the bridge explosion we were just talking about there. Certainly it's been greeted with no small measure of joy and humor in Ukraine.
OLEKSIY SOROKIN, POLITICAL EDITOR AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, "THE KYIV INDEPENDENT": Yes, as of now, as your colleague said, there is no official response from Ukrainian authorities.
But there is a lot of memes. Basically this is major news in Ukraine now. And as we know the Crimean bridge was a symbol of Russian occupation of the region. And now that it's damaged, a lot of people in Ukraine are actually very happy.
BRUNHUBER: So talk to me about why exactly that is. I mean, it surely has to do with the symbolic significance of this bridge to Russia and to Putin specifically.
SOROKIN: Well, basically since 2014, the Russian regime was built on two major pillars: one is the victory in Second World War; every year they have a major parade, every Russian opponent is called a Nazi.
And the second pillar is occupation of Crimea. And this bridge that connects Russia and occupied Crimea was a symbol that Crimea is now eternally part of Russia. And destroying this symbol for Ukraine means that Ukraine can even theoretically approach the deoccupation of the peninsula. BRUNHUBER: So again, as we keep stressing, we don't know who was
responsible for this. But in Russia there are now increasing calls to amplify attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure in response. That's been happening, of course, throughout the war.
But are you afraid of the blowback or Russia using this as justification for going after more civilian targets?
SOROKIN: Well, yes; everybody, despite their celebratory mood, they understood that Russia will respond. And unfortunately we are seeing it now, with 17 people dead in Zaporizhzhya. And I think now Russia will increase its attacks on civilian infrastructure, especially knowing that winter is coming and that, in Ukraine, heating is a major issue.
I think Russia will attack those utility services and heating plants. So, yes, Ukraine understands what's coming next. But for Ukraine, we are already at war and every target in Russia or in Russian occupied regions, every military target, is legitimate.
So I think Ukraine will carry on with -- if it's Ukraine -- will carry on with attacks like this.
BRUNHUBER: I mean, you mentioned the fact that winter is coming. On the battlefield, I mean, Ukraine continues to make progress, pushing Russia back.
But you know, with winter coming, what happens then?
Is that an advantage for Russia?
It sort of lets them regroup and incorporate those newly mobilized recruits?
SOROKIN: Yes, unsurprisingly winter is helpful for Russia and not other countries. The situation on the ground is that Ukraine will further advance but it has limited time. Obviously when it's going to be cold, minus temperature, it's going to be very hard to proceed with the counteroffensive.
So Ukraine is trying to gain as much land as possible before mid- November. I think the goal right now is to take Kherson and to push as much as possible in the eastern Luhansk oblast. And I think when this is done somewhere in mid-November, we will see a pause in fighting, until at least early March.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We will have to leave it there but really appreciate your insights. Oleksiy Sorokin of "The Kyiv Independent," thanks so much.
SOROKIN: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: CNN sources say top Biden administration officials met face-to-face Saturday with members of the Taliban in Doha, Qatar.
[04:10:00] BRUNHUBER: The White House has called the delicate relationship a work in progress. It was the first sit-down meeting for both sides since Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri was killed by a drone strike earlier this year.
The Biden administration said he had been sheltering in a safe house in Kabul and claimed the Taliban for violating an agreement by hosting the Al Qaeda leader. It's been more than a year since the U.S. withdrew the last of its troops from Afghanistan, resulting in the Taliban regaining control in the country.
North Korea has fired off so many ballistic missiles in such a short period of time that South Korea, Japan and the United States are scrambling to figure out why. South Korea said the North tested two more short range missiles on Sunday, calling it a serious provocation and prompting an emergency meeting of the National Security Council.
No fewer than seven missile tests have been detected in the past two weeks. Since the start of the year, there have been at least 25, including cruise missiles. Adding to the growing tensions, North Korea is widely expected to conduct another underground nuclear test in the near future. CNN's Blake Essig is standing by in Tokyo for us.
Blake, take us through the details of this and the reaction.
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kim, look, North Korea fired two more missiles early this morning that fell into the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula between 1:00 and 2:00 this morning local time.
Although an investigation is underway as to exactly what kind of missiles were launched by North Korea, each missile flew a distance of 350 kilometers at an altitude of 100 kilometers or 60 miles.
When you look at those figures, it means that those were possibly short-range ballistic missiles. Now as you mentioned, so far this year, North Korea has tested ballistic or cruise missiles 25 different times. That's the highest annual total since Kim Jong-un took power in 2011 and that includes seven tests just in the past two weeks.
Take a listen to Japan's minister of defense from earlier this morning, addressing these latest tests.
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TOSHIRO INO, JAPANESE STATE MINISTER OF DEFENSE (through translator): Since the end of September they have launched missiles seven times, escalating its direct provocative actions.
These actions by North Korea are a threat to the peace and security of our country, region and the international community and it absolutely cannot be tolerated.
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ESSIG: Now Japan's minister of defense condemned these most recent launches, saying that they are looking into the possibility that today's launch could have actually been from a submarine.
South Korea's National Security Council also has weighed in, condemning the latest tests and saying that North Korea's constant provocation would lead to more sanctions and international isolation.
Kim, when you think about the potential reasons for this, if you ask North Korea, North Korea, according to state media, says that Pyongyang -- these repeated tests by Pyongyang are just -- are a just reaction to the recent joint military drills carried out by the United States and South Korea and that they consider those drills extremely provocative and threatening. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much, Blake Essig in Tokyo.
Hurricane Ian made landfall as a category 4 storm, one of the most powerful storms to strike the U.S. in decades. How climate change helped fuel the monster straight ahead.
Also ahead, Will Ripley will take us to a rarely seen prison island that tells the tale of what's called white terror and what it has to do with Taiwan's thriving democracy today. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: And just in to CNN, hurricane Julia has just made landfall in Nicaragua as a category 1 storm. Heavy rain and flash floods are expected.
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BRUNHUBER: Some residents of Ft. Myers Beach, Florida, are being allowed to return to survey the damage left by hurricane Ian. CNN's Nadia Romero is in Lee County, where she spoke to people trying to head back home.
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NADIA ROMERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So many people impacted by this storm, right here in Lee County, right here in Ft. Myers. Take a look, you see the blue bus, it has been transporting people back and forth through different areas of Ft. Myers to the disaster recovery center.
Because so many people lost their vehicles during the storm, transportation has been a challenge. They want to come here to try to figure out how they can get assistance. FEMA is here and if you walk inside that library, that's where people have been able to go in and talk to folks from FEMA to see if they can get some help. This is largely for people who did not have insurance or they are
underinsured, to see if the federal government can step in and help them with the repairs of their home or lodging or other needs.
I want you to hear from one woman who came into this office. And she found out some terrible news. Take a listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no income and no car. And I went in to apply for FEMA and just found out that somebody has already applied a fraudulent claim, using all my information and my Social Security number.
So I have to call the fraud hotline now to see what's going on. And they told me that this is becoming a big problem, that people are filing, using somebody else's information.
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ROMERO: Despite learning that, she says she's going to call that 1- 800 number and try to get things straightened out. She's remaining optimistic because she survived the storm, her home wasn't damaged and she survived with her life.
So many other people fared worse than her. That optimism and spirit is what she says will keep her going over the next few days -- Nadia Romero, CNN, Ft. Myers, Florida.
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BRUNHUBER: And we will have more on the link between Ian and climate change coming up after the break. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Hurricane Ian was one of the most powerful storms to strike the U.S. in decades. And now new data gathered by NASA might show why. Warmer waters made worse by climate change fueled the storm, creating a monster category 4 hurricane.
Joining me now to discuss is Michael Byrne, reader in Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of St. Andrews in Edinburgh.
If you can tell us how climate change makes hurricanes like Ian intensify more quickly and move more slowly, which makes them hang around longer and cause even more flooding.
DR. MICHAEL BYRNE, UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS, EDINBURGH: So we know a few things about hurricanes and climate change. One thing we know for sure is when hurricanes occur now, the world is 1.2 degrees warmer than it was in preindustrial times.
And a warmer Earth has a warmer atmosphere which can hold more water vapor. So when hurricanes occur, they deliver a lot more rainfall. We saw that dramatically with hurricane Ian and also hurricane Harvey in 2017.
While it's also becoming clear that, as the oceans warm, as you mentioned, hurricanes extract their energy from the oceans. So warmer oceans have more energy in them, which can make hurricanes more intense.
Now when it comes to slower moving hurricanes and indeed the frequently with which we get hurricanes, the jury is very much still out on how climate change is affecting those aspects of hurricane activity.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. In the past -- you mentioned hurricane Harvey, I remember in the wake of something like that, I would ask climate experts about the links between, you know, that event and climate change.
And the answer usually was, well, it's hard to say, you know, we look at the big picture, not specific weather events, to attribute climate change to its effects. But that's changing now.
Climate experts are able to make estimates about how, say, in the case of Ian, for example, a new report suggests climate change added about 10 percent more rain to the storm.
So how is that being done?
How has climate modeling evolved?
BYRNE: Yes, absolutely. As a community, we've come pretty far pretty quickly when it comes to attributing given events to climate change. You mentioned hurricane Harvey, which now I think was made three times more likely and more intense because of climate change.
The way this is done is by comparing events that happen now to the historical record and, using statistics, we measure the likelihood that that event could have occurred without global warming. And that's how we get at these figures.
I think this is an important development and really helps, I think, to bring home the message that climate change is not some abstract concept --
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BYRNE: -- events around the world and this will maybe help to provoke the action that's necessary to deal with this issue. BRUNHUBER: I want to ask about that more specifically,
I mean, how do you think it makes a difference to the public, sort of knowing that connection between climate change and any specific events, that they can make that connection much more directly?
BYRNE: Personally I think it makes a big difference when people, you know, can be -- can be given reliable information that a particular event, which they see on their news streams, has had huge implications, that that can be linked to climate change.
I think that encourages people on an individual level to want to do something about climate change. And my hope is that that then influences how governments act when it comes to climate change.
Not only are we -- is this detection and attribution of individual events making climate change, you know, more real but also climate signs itself is improving understanding year by year of how these extreme events are being affected by climate change.
And this is just building further the consensus in the community that we really need to act quickly to deal with this global crisis.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. A great message to end on. Michael Byrne, I really thank you for your expertise. Appreciate it.
BYRNE: Thank you.
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BRUNHUBER: In Iran there was a show of defiance and anger against the nation's president.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): You are looking at a group of women telling Ebrahim Raisi, "Get lost." The uprising is in its fourth week. It began after Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the morality police.
Since then, it's grown into a large movement against authoritarianism and the denial of women's rights. Nada Bashir joins us with more.
It's hard to understate the bravery of the women in Iran right now in these dramatic protests.
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kim. We are continuing to see brave displays of defiance against the restricted measures placed on women by the Iranian regime.
As we've seen in those videos, many taking part in those protests, many taking a stand, removing their mandatory hijabs. We've seen videos of them throwing their scarves into bonfires, some cutting their hair in that symbolic show of defiance.
This has swelled and gained momentum. Other members of the country who are also protesting against other grievances, including economic issues, the marginalization of minority groups as well as the perpetration of other rights abuses by the Iranian regime.
We have continued to see protests up and down the country but, in response to that, we've also continued to see a violent and deadly crackdown by the Iranian security forces.
Over the weekend we saw in two Kurdish cities at least two people being killed after the security forces shot into a peaceful demonstration there. We have continued to see that heavy handed response by the security forces.
Human rights groups warning that these forces have been using excessive and lethal force against peaceful demonstrators. We are talking about beatings, tear gas, metal pellets and even live fire ammunition.
While the death toll varies at this stage from different sources, we've heard from one human rights organization based in Norway, which focuses on Iran. They've been tallying the death toll since the beginning of these protests. And they have pegged that figure to at least 154 killed.
Of course, over the weekend we have seen videos circulating of the security forces targeting and attacking houses, where protesters are believed to have been sheltering in the city. We've also seen in addition to these protests, interestingly last night, is what appears to have been the hacking of Iran's state broadcaster.
For a few moments we saw that broadcast being interrupted in a video that has now gone viral, I have to say, a video that showed the Iran supreme leader with a target superimposed on his head.
But what was most poignant, perhaps, about that hacking or alleged hacking was the use of four images, four photos of four girls; Mahsa Amini, of course, who died in the custody of Iran's morality police in September, whose death sparked this protest movement but also the images of three others, all three of whom died in this protest movement.
There was a message there, join us and rise up. That was the message from those hacking Iran state broadcasts. This is a movement which has swelled. And although women are certainly at the forefront and center of this protest movement, many have now joined with grievances far beyond that of the restrictions on women's rights.
There is a real sense of momentum picking up now, many calling for change, for this to be a turning point, with those anti-regime demonstrations continuing up and down the country. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: We will keep following this important story. Nada Bashir in London, thank you so much.
A small village in northwest Ireland has been plunged into mourning after an explosion at a fuel station killed at least 10 people, including two teenagers and a child. At least eight other people were injured when the blast ripped through the station on Friday. Police believe it was an accident. Ireland's prime minister calls it a terrible tragedy.
Taiwan is often held up a beacon of democracy against the one party Communist system of Mainland China. But the island has its own brutal history of government oppression known as the White Terror. CNN's Will Ripley spoke to survivors of a time marked by martial law, imprisonment and torture that lasted for decades.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are on the boat to Green Island, a tiny Pacific paradise off Taiwan's east coast. Remote, rugged, time seems to slow down here, torturously slow. Former political prisoners say they never got to see Green Island's natural beauty.
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RIPLEY (voice-over): Just a cage of concrete.
RIPLEY: Oasis Villa, that's what they actually call this place, it's carved on a rock outside. This is no oasis.
RIPLEY (voice-over): "More like a living hell," says Fred Chin, locked away, beaten, humiliated.
RIPLEY: It's almost like you were made to feel less than human.
FRED CHIN, FORMER OASIS VILLA PRISONER: Yes. We were treated as animals.
RIPLEY (voice-over): A college student in the early 1970s, wrongfully accused of plotting against the government, he served 12 years.
RIPLEY: What evidence did they have?
CHIN: No evidence at all. Nothing at all. No evidence at all.
RIPLEY (voice-over): A dark chapter in Taiwan's history; 75 years ago, a popular uprising triggered almost four decades of martial law under Taiwan's late leader, Chiang Kai-shek. For nearly half a century he ruled with an iron fist, purging political opponents, presiding over their trials, personally ordering thousands of executions.
His party, the KMT, slowly embraced democratic reforms. Taiwan held its first direct presidential election just 26 years ago in 1996. In 2000, the KMT's 55 years of continuous rule ended, defeated by former political prisoners like Taiwan's first female vice president Annette Lu, arrested in 1979 for an impromptu speech criticizing the government.
RIPLEY: How long was the speech?
ANNETTE LU, FORMER TAIWANESE V.P.: Twenty minutes.
RIPLEY (voice-over): That 20-minute speech led to almost six years in prison. She survived that, plus cancer and attempted assassination to become a two-term vice president.
LU: But more important is that people like me who are courageous, we knew we might be jailed but we still feel that it's our obligation to fight to the last end.
RIPLEY (voice-over): A fight many fear may not be over amid rising tensions with China. Taiwan's hard-won freedom came at a heavy price. For those who never left Green Island, these walls a silent reminder of the hardship so many endured, a silent warning of what could lie ahead if democracy dies -- Will Ripley, CNN, Green Island, Taiwan.
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BRUNHUBER: Still ahead, New York is calling on the federal government to help with an influx of asylum seekers, the vast majority of them sent from southern border states. That story and more next. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: New York City's mayor has declared a state of emergency to help respond to an influx of asylum seekers. Eric Adams says states like Texas have bused more than 17,000 asylum seekers to New York since April. And that's pushed shelters to the brink, nearly 100 percent of capacity. CNN's Polo Sandoval has more from New York.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: New York City mayor Eric Adams is calling on the federal government to assist the city in responding to the growing number of asylum seekers arriving in the Big Apple.
Mayor Eric Adams specifically calling on the federal government to assist in at least two ways: one, provide funding as the mayor fears that the city will have spent roughly $1 billion in handling this crisis and also in providing expedited work authorization for these asylum seekers that have arrived in New York City.
With over half a dozen buses arriving every day, the mayor says that they are coming in at a number that is simply not sustainable.
Mayor Adams saying, while the city's compassion is limitless when it comes to receiving asylum seekers, that the resources are not. Over 17,000 asylum seekers as of Friday have arrived in New York City.
The issue is many are yet to receive their work authorization from the federal government, due largely in part to a massive backlog of applications. That's why many of these migrants are now choosing to travel to the state of Florida to assist in post-hurricane Ian cleanup and recovery.
And that is certainly something that asylum advocates here in New York City are aware of, that that's a practice or that they are basically trying to educate these migrants, making sure they're aware, if they do take up these opportunities in Florida, then they know they at least have various rights that still apply, even if they're working off the books.
Back in New York, city officials saying that they will continue to take various steps to try to get a handle on the situation, including setting up humanitarian relief centers for these migrants, also expediting the process of getting homeless New Yorkers into permanent housing.
The goal would be to free up space in the city's shelter system for those numbers of migrants that continue to come into the city -- Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. Senator Rick Scott of Florida will travel to Georgia on Tuesday to support fellow Republican Herschel Walker in his bid for Senate. Scott's support highlights how critical the election is in Georgia, as Republicans fight to take control of the Senate from the Democratic Party.
Walker's campaign has been reeling following reports he asked a woman to terminate two pregnancies. CNN hasn't independently confirmed this reporting and hasn't heard back from Walker's campaign for comment.
The Senate nominee has been struggling to defuse allegations around the story for days. Democratic rival senator Raphael Warnock said Walker struggles with telling the truth. Here he is.
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SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): It's up to Georgia voters and it's not up to him, it's not up to me, it's up to them. My opponent has trouble with the truth and we will see how all of this plays out. But I am focused squarely on the health care needs of my constituents, including reproductive health care.
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BRUNHUBER: Back in May, Walker said he supports a full ban on abortions with no exceptions. Warnock has avoided directly commenting on the controversy surrounding his political opponent.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): You are looking at thousands of people marching in Washington, calling for reproductive rights. This is just one of many demonstrations that took place across the U.S. on Saturday in support of the issue.
The so-called Women's Wave Day of Action comes a little more than three months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending protected rights to an abortion. The rallies are intended to push support toward political candidates who support abortion rights in next month's midterm elections.
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BRUNHUBER: In Stockton, California, people say they are afraid to go out at night as the hunt for what could be a serial killer goes on. CNN's Camila Bernal is following the police investigation.
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CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Authorities say they are not sure whether it's one person or multiple people committing these crimes. But they do say that there are a lot of things in common.
They have video evidence that connects the dots; they have ballistic evidence and they say the crimes are happening around the same times, either early in the morning or late at night. And it happens when people are alone and it's why they're telling every one in Stockton to be extremely careful.
BERNAL (voice-over): Six killings in northern California, a number of connections in the cases and at least one possible suspect.
STANLEY MCFADDEN, CHIEF, 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 chief says the man 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: And the man on the video is not seen committing a crime but he is near those crime scenes, which is why authorities say to watch this video, look at the way he walks to see if you can identify him.
The reward continues to go up for anyone with information that could lead to solving this crime. But in the meantime, again, authorities saying don't go out alone, especially if it's early in the morning or late at night -- Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.
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BRUNHUBER: Still ahead, we will introduce you to Detective Cookie, who is changing young lives one chess move at a time. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Now to an incredible moment and unbelievable teamwork captured on camera. Have a look here.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): In Michigan, frantic parents waved down a public school bus driver after their car was stolen with their 2-year old inside. CNN affiliate WXMI reports the bus driver called 9-1-1 and radioed to other bus drivers to be on the lookout.
Another bus driver found the toddler near where the car was stolen. The driver put the child in the bus and kept the boy safe. Thanks to the quick action of the bus drivers, the child was safely returned to his parents. Glad it ended well.
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BRUNHUBER: It's a very special time of the year if you are a bear, that is. It is Fat Bear Week. That's right. Stay with me here.
Every year the Katmai National Park in Alaska pits 12 bears against each other to highlight and celebrate how bears prepare for winter hibernation.
The favorite contender is 480 Otis, who has already racked up four wins over the years. He once ate, get this, 42 salmon in one sitting just by waiting for the fish to swim by. But 435 Holly is proving stiff competition. The mama bear won the Fat Bear Week in 2019.
There are four other contestants still in the running. And if this interests you, you can vote for your favorite chunky bear at fatbearweek.org. And the winner will be announced on Tuesday, when one of these will be crowned the champion. And we will definitely report back on that.
A Seattle detective is using the game of kings to help the kids in her neighborhood make their next move their best move. CNN's Natasha Chen has the details.
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DETECTIVE DENISE BOULDIN, SEATTLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: How you guys doing?
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Denise Bouldin goes by Detective Cookie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't judge me but I don't know how to play chess.
BOULDIN: That's OK. I can teach you.
CHEN: Known for her weekly chess club.
BOULDIN: I want you to act, not react.
CHEN: And for bringing sunshine to the Seattle rain.
BOULDIN: I love to dance.
CHEN: The former model and "Soul Train" dancer grew up on the south side of Chicago and saw how police harassed her brothers.
BOULDIN: They would make them get on the ground, search them and then they just leave, no explanation.
CHEN: But she also remembers a kind officer at school.
BOULDIN: We could come to him and talk to him just about anything.
CHEN: She has now modeled his community spirit and trust, rising to the rank of detective, serving Seattle police's youth outreach program.
BOULDIN: You are --
CROWD: Welcome here.
CHEN: She mainly works the Rainier Beach neighborhood, designated in 2010 as the country's most diverse zip code, based on U.S. Census data. She plays with kids, helps them find jobs, pays for groceries, gives out her cellphone number.
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BOULDIN: Someone would text me and say this is the name of the person who did it.
CHEN: Yet her boldest move, starting a chess club in 2006. When neighborhood children first asked her, she couldn't really play.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, I beat you in a chess game.
BOULDIN: I put restrictions on myself. I said that I wasn't smart enough to play check.
CHEN: But she quickly learned.
BOULDIN: Life is like chess. If you're not careful what you're doing, it is going to catch up with you. There's going to be consequences.
CHEN: Chess wasn't an easy sell to all children.
BOULDIN: One kid raises his hand, he said I don't play chess because chess is for smart people. Another kid raised his hand, I don't play chess because chess is for white people.
CHEN: But she showed them how to think beyond stark Black and white terms.
BOULDIN: You can threaten me with this but then I'm going to take the threat away. There is a better move for you.
CHEN: Jabril Hassen joined her chess club when he was a teen.
JABRIL HASSEN, PROFESSOR, BELLEVUE COLLEGE: I had behavior problems, so my parents had to take me on it of school.
CHEN: But Detective Cookie set him on a path to college.
HASSEN: She really changed my life.
CHEN: He studied criminology because of her and is now a professor at Bellevue College in Seattle University.
If Detective Cookie were a chess piece, which one would she be?
HASSEN: Detective Cookie for me is the queen on the chessboard because she has a vested interest in the protection of community. She just happened to be a police officer. She's actually like a teacher. She's actual like a social worker.
CHEN: So revered, a chess park has now opened in her name.
BOULDIN: It's a dream come true.
Everybody plays chess every day. No matter what you're doing, you've got to make a move. You've got to make a decision. CHEN: Natasha Chen, CNN, Seattle.
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BRUNHUBER: An inspiring story there.
That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I will be back in just a moment with more news, please do stay with us.
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