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Excerpts of 10-Year-Old Describing Massacre to Dispatcher; Families of Parkland Shooting Victims Confront Gunman; Investigators of the Crowd Surge Raid Local Seoul Police Offices; Western Officials Say Iran Plans to Send More Weapons to Russia. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired November 02, 2022 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, do let me bring you up to date with the latest top stories.
The U.S. Federal Reserve expected to hike interest rates in the coming hours to ease rising inflation. We'll bring you that when it happens, of course.
And the district attorney investigating the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband tell CNN, that the suspect, David DePape, had a list of other people he wanted to target. DePape pleaded not guilty to state charges on Tuesday. A federal investigation is still ongoing. More on both of these stories in "EARLY START."
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: A warning, our next report contains content that is disturbing. CNN has obtained new audio from the Uvalde elementary school shooting in May that killed 21 people, 19 of them children. What you're about to hear is the voice of a then 10-year-old girl who was trapped inside the school with the gunman speaking to a dispatcher. Little Khloe Torres is among the lucky ones who survived. And now for the first time since that dreadful day and with the permission of her parents, they're hearing recordings of her repeated pleas for help as well as law enforcement's response. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DISPATCHER: Just advising we do have a child on the line.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was the moment everything at the scene in Uvalde should have changed. At 12:10 p.m. on May 24th, fourth grader Khloe Torres, who survived the shooting was inside room 112 at Robb Elementary and spoke to 911.
Police just a few feet away in the hallway were just minutes later made aware of the worst-case scenario was unfolding. Khloe along with her classmates and teachers some dead or dying were alone trapped with an active shooter. It's the phone call that should have made the difference. Instead, it would be another 40 minutes until police finally enter the room and kill the gunman. CNN has obtained the call never made public until now. A warning to our viewers. It's painful to hear. We're choosing to play portions of the audio with the approval of Khloe's parents. And because it is crucial to understanding the full scope of the law enforcement failure that day.
KHLOE TORRES, UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING SURVIVOR: Hello?
DISPATCHER: I'm calling with the police department. Are you OK?
TORRES: No, there's a school shooting.
DISPATCHER: OK, yes ma'am. I have a multiple units there. Are you with officers or are you barricaded somewhere?
TORRES: I'm in classroom -- what's the classroom number? 112.
DISPATCHER: 112 (INAUDIBLE)?
[04:35:00]
TORRES: 112, 112, yes, ma'am.
DISPATCHER: What's your name, ma'am?
TORRES: Khloe Torres. Please hurry. There's a lot of dead bodies.
DISPATCHER: Stay on the line, OK? You said you're in room 112?
TORRES: Yes, ma'am. Please send help.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): You can hear injured people in the room crying out in pain. The dispatcher asks Khloe to tell her classmates to stay quiet. She does her best.
DISPATCHER: You need to tell them that they need to be quiet.
TORRES: I am. I am. I'm telling everybody to be quiet and now nobody is listening to me. I know how to handle these situations. My dad taught me when I was a little girl. Send help. Some of my teachers are still alive but they're shot.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Less than two minutes into the call at 12:12 p.m. the Uvalde dispatcher sends an urgent message to police on the scene.
OFFICER: 3-20. Go ahead with that child's information. Relay it.
DISPATCHER: (INAUDIBLE) child is advising he is in the room full of victims, full of victims at this moment.
OFFICER: 10-4, Uvalde. Can you confirm to see if that shooter is still standing? Or has he shot himself?
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): If active shooter protocol had been followed, this dispatch should have triggered police to spring into action and breach the classroom. Instead, 38 minutes were allowed to go by as more officers arrive on scene with more equipment until something is done. Nearly 400 officers responded in Uvalde. Khloe wanted to know where they were.
TORRES: How far are you all away?
DISPATCHER: They're inside of the building, OK? You need to stay quiet, OK?
TORRES: They're inside the building. We just need to stay quiet.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): On the other side of the door, the law enforcement response was disorganized and chaotic. Official reports detail the catastrophic mistake that was made. Police on scene thought the shooter was a barricaded subject and not an active shooter. Khloe's called makes it clear an active shooter situation is unfolding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They think there's kids in there. Supposedly one kid called in and he was in there with him.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Body camera footage from local and state police departments obtained by CNN shows the officers on scene knew about the phone call and that there were children inside the room hurt and in desperate need of medical attention.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, DPS JOSHUA BRODOVSKY, BODYCAM: We don't know if he has anyone in the room with him, do we?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he does.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight or nine children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought he said victims, room 12.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we hadn't hears that, no. We're in the 4s, right? This is building 4?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody hurt?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not here. No, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: EMS in there already?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we have an active shooter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's in here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's in here. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, I'll stand here and be ready.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last contact -- hold on. The last contact we had was one of our school PD officers, his wife is a teacher. She called him and she said she's dying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They just had a number of kids in room 12.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A kid in room 12. Most of the victims in room 12.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: F**k we're taking too long.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Uvalde, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Just astounding composure and bravery from the 10-year-old girl. Our thanks to Shimon for that report. Later on, CNN Don Lemon That, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlyn Collins will speak to Jamie Torres, the mother of Khloe Torres so stick around for that interview in just a couple of hours.
FOSTER: Survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people faced the gunman in court and got the last word. They testified about their lost loved ones and sense of security gunman Nikolas Cruz stole from them after the massacre in 2018. And they expressed their outrage over a jury's decision not to recommend the death penalty. Many of those who took the stand spoke directly to Cruz.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEGHAN PETTY, SISTER OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM: He gets daily meals, a roof over his head, and a bed to sleep in now. My sister's body is food for carrion, her roof is six feet of dirt, and her bed is a coffin.
REBECCA JARQUIN, SPOKE ON BEHALF OF VICTIM'S GRANDMOTHER: You are a revolting entity. I can't even call you human as you are not. The death penalty would have been a cake walk compared to the demons you'll face going forward. You've not earned any mercy. May every second of your rotten existence be faced with the images of each person you've slaughtered.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Now a jury recommended Cruz get life in prison without the possibility of parole after his defense attorneys argued he was a disturbed mentally ill person.
NOBILO: And we have new developments in the deadly crowd crush in South Korea over the weekend. Investigators have raided the Yongsan police station and seven other offices across the capital of Seoul. Officials say that they took documents about emergency calls and internal reports.
FOSTER: More than 150 people were killed in a massive crowd surge during a Halloween celebration on Saturday and records show police were warned hours before the tragedy about a potentially dangerous situation.
[04:40:00]
Music stars showing their condolences after the rapper Takeoff was shot to death in Texas at the age of 28. The Migos member was killed outside a private party early on Tuesday morning. Collaborators, Gucci Mane, (INAUDIBLE) and music industry peers, like Yung Miami and Chloe Bailey share their shock of the sudden death.
NOBILO: Rapper Ja Rule tweeted: The violence has to stop.
And hip-hop Outkast shared this picture of Takeoff sending their prayers to his friends, family and those touched by his craft.
Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM. Basketball star Kyrie Irving's recent tweet linking to an antisemitic film as critics calling for the NBA's response or lack of.
Plus, more deadly weapons from Iran could soon be shipped to Russia. What officials say will likely be included in that shipment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: Welcome back. We're following developments out of Ukraine where officials say the southern city of Nikopol and a nearby town along the Dnipro River was hit by multiple rocket launches overnight.
FOSTER: Now this is Ukraine reports that Russian forces are keeping up their barrage of artillery and rocket attacks on the front lines of the war with parts of the Donetsk region amongst the hardest hit.
NOBILO: Meantime, Russia can soon get a boost on the battlefield as we learned that Iran is preparing to send the country more weapons. Western officials tell CNN about 1,000 additional weapons are expected to be sent to Russia which will include attack drones. Let's go live now to our Nic Robertson in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. And Clare Sebastian is joining us here in London. Nic, starting with you. What more can you tell us about the barrage of rocket and artillery attacks in the last 24 hours?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Significantly in this region, in the east of the country, there has been a lot. The front lines along here are heavily contested. Ukraine obviously trying to retake ground.
[04:45:00]
We know that 100 miles or so north of here, northeast of here they had sweeping gains just a month or so ago. They're trying to repeat it. There's a key highway not far from here over to Crimea. If they could take that, that would be a huge gain for the Ukrainian government. However, everywhere, every area like that's contested along here has
seen very heavy barrages of fire, according to Ukrainian officials. But in particular as well they say they are seeing an influx of Russian recruits to the front lines. Indeed, Ukrainian officials are saying a third hot spot, if you will, has opened up on the front line not far from here. And the expectation is that because Russia has more troops available to deploy there.
NOBILO: Nic Robertson, thank you.
FOSTER: Clare, in terms of these weapons that are due to be coming from Iran to Russia according to Western intelligence, they're pretty threatening, aren't they? Because Ukraine is saying they don't have the right defenses for them.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, so this is two separate reports. One from Western officials who monitor Iran's weapons program closely, telling CNN that they expect hello about Iran is getting ready to deliver a thousand weapons to Ukraine. They could arrive by the end of the year. We don't know exactly when.
And the point about this is it's not just more of the same. This will be different weapons, bigger weapons. Things like surface ballistic missiles. Extremely concerning to Ukraine because they say that we have air defense. We don't have missile defense. They're actually saying that basically wouldn't really be able to shoot down these missiles. So, that's concerning.
And separately, Ukrainian military intelligence says they expect that Iran is going to deliver another 200 attack drones to Ukraine earlier this month. So, it could be around now -- sorry, to Russia, rather, to use in Ukraine. And that would include not only the Shaheen drones that they've seen already inflicting so much damage on energy infrastructure but also bigger drones, the Arash-2 model which is a much bigger, newer model of drones that Iran has built a bigger payload, so very concerning to Ukraine.
NOBILO: Nic, I think we've got you there. And I think you can probably hear Clare Sebastian talking to us about that. How has Ukraine responded to Iran providing more weapons and these reports of more weapons to come to Russia?
ROBERTSON: Yes, initially it responded by publicizing and asking allies to publicize what Iran is doing. It called on Israel to step up and pressure Russia and to do more to stop Iran making these shipments. Israel, for its part, took a slightly less, if you will, forward leading position on this.
But, you know, from Ukraine's perspective, the Arash-2 is a significant or a potential as you said, is a significant concern. The numbers we're talking about, 1,000 weapons coming, 200 of them may be drones, don't sound like a huge number in the ark of the war gear, but the way Russia has been using them to target specifically the energy infrastructure is a worry.
And the fact that Arash-2 can go further. It's more intelligent, more sophisticated. It can change its target while it's in the air. The current set of drones can't do that. You fire them and they go where they're told to go. And the fact that it's payload of explosives could be five times as big as the current drones being used.
All of these raise concerns, particularly in light of the way that Russia's using them, specific targeting to pressure the government, to bring down the power grid. That, of course, could be expanded into other areas and the Ukrainian government is very aware of that.
FOSTER: OK, Nic Robertson, Clare Sebastian as well, thank you both very much indeed.
In baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies crushed the Houston Astros on Tuesday with five home runs. More on the big game next.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving has decided -- Kyrie did not speak to reporters again on Tuesday after posting a link to an antisemitic film on social media. But rather addressing the Irving controversy directly, the NBA players union issued a statement saying antisemitism has no place in our society.
FOSTER: And many in the NBA are frustrated with a lack of action the organization has taken over the incident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERNIE JOHNSON, INSIDE THE NBA: I think the NBA dropped the ball.
CHARLES BARKLEY, FORMER NBA PLAYER: In what way?
JOHNSON: I think he should have been suspended. I mean, I just think we've lost our way.
I think in this country we've lost our way. I think people have forgotten what it's like to put the thought process into -- if I -- if I put this out there, who am I going to hurt?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, the fans aren't waiting for the NBA to take action. They're fighting back against hate. A group sat courtside at Monday's Brooklyn Nets home game against the Indiana Pacers wearing shirts that read "fight antisemitisms."
NOBILO: Elon Musk's Twitter takeover continues. And one of the biggest concerns that users have is the return of accounts that were suspended for misinformation and hate speech. Musk confirmed on Tuesday that those users wouldn't immediately return until a policy was in place for a safety net. And it comes after he announced plans to charge users $8 a month to keep their verified status used to represent a trustworthy account vetted by Twitter for celebrities, businesses or other important figures, or for Max and myself. Musk is banking on users wanting the social clout of the symbols stamped on their accounts.
FOSTER: Some talk that public figures will have a set put stamp as it were, because there's a bit of a revolt about whether they should pay for them.
NOBILO: A two tier ticks system.
FOSTER: Yes, we'll see.
Now a shortage of airline pilots is leading those at largest U.S. carriers to push a better pay and benefits. And the pilots from at least one airline are threatening to go on strike. Pete Muntean has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Max, Bianca, no impact just yet by Delta pilots voting to strike if necessary. But a pretty big symbolic move and one to definitely watch especially as so many people are watching the airlines going into the holiday season.
[04:55:00]
And as so many pilot unions are in contract talks with their airlines. Transportation workers really kind of having a labor moment right now. Pilots from Delta, United, Southwest and American are all in contract talks with their companies right now. In fact, United Airlines pilots just voted against a tentative contract agreement from their airline.
Delta though really making the most dramatic move here saying that in a vote of 96 percent of its pilots from its chapter of the Airline Pilots Association, 99 percent voted in favor of a strike if necessary. Delta pilots are really pushing for better pay and in some cases restructured pay, especially since they point at high revenues reported by the airline in the third quarter. The pandemic rebound has pretty much hit its peak now.
Delta Airlines says in a statement, quote, delta pilots are not on strike, so this authorization vote will not affect the operation for our customers. We are confident that the parties will reach an agreement that is fair and equitable as we always have in past negotiations.
This is mostly a rubber stamp move but a pretty big one. Still about a dozen more moves would need to take place for a strike to truly come to pass. These holiday travel season is safe for now -- Max, Bianca.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: In the World Series the Philadelphia Phillies have taken a two game to one lead over the Houston Astros. The Phillies had an incredible night on Tuesday.
FOSTER: Indeed, they did. They hit five home runs to help power their way to 7-0 win in game three. One of those home runs came from Alec Bohm in the second inning. It was the 1,000th home run in World Series history.
Thank you for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.
NOBILO: I'm Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" with Christine Romans is next right here on CNN.
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