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Manhunt for Ex-UVA Football Players Suspected of Killing Three People; Criminal Investigation Launched in the Bahamas Over FTX Implosion; Study Shows Increase in Kids Going to Emergency Rooms with Suicidal Thoughts. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired November 14, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, all of the University of Virginia is on lockdown, classes canceled for the day after three people were shot and killed on campus. There is a manhunt still underway right now for the alleged gunman. Police say it was a student, an honor student, former UVA football player who opened fire, killed three victims, wounded two others Sunday night allegedly.

CNN's Joe Johns, he is on the scene in Charlottesville. Joe, tell us what the latest is on the manhunt and do we know a possible motive here?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Don't know a motive yet, we do know authorities continue to search the area to try to locate this suspect, his name is Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. And you said, authorities are looking at him as the person who was the shooter in this situation last night. He's also identified as a former football player for the University of Virginia, was listed on the team in 2018, although we're told he did not play a game with UVA.

He's also said to be driving a black SUV. So, those are the parameters that the police are dealing with. They do have a tag number. But so far, we have not been told that they have been able to locate Christopher Darnell Jones.

This all started around 10:30 last night right down the street here behind me on the University of Virginia campus. And three people killed, two people were injured, according to the university president. And we didn't -- we haven't been told the conditions of the individuals who were injured.

That is about it from here. But if we get any more information, we will let you know. Of course, there are many people who would like to know when the lockdown is over and when they can start moving back around this campus, Jim.

SCIUTTO: No question, when the threat is removed. Joe Johns there in Charlottesville, thanks so much. Another campus tragedy, the University of Idaho dealing with one this morning after four students were found dead yesterday at a house just off campus there. Police say this is a homicide investigation. Classes there canceled today as well.

CNN's Martin Savidge joins us now live with details. Martin, police are not saying a whole lot about this. What do we actually know right now?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. University officials and police, both are being very careful about the information that is being released here. In fact, they have even referred to it as suspected homicides here. So, there is a sense of the ambiguity we're dealing with here.

What we know that police in Moscow, Idaho, were called to a home off campus, about a block away from the University of Idaho, where they found four people. The initial call was that there was a person unconscious when they got there. They found four people who were, in fact, dead.

The university has admitted that these are university students, but beyond, that they have not said a great deal other than to say that they don't believe there is a risk at large to the university. Authorities say they are looking for a suspect but they have not given any identification whatsoever as to who that suspect might be.

[10:35:04]

They are asking for witnesses who may have seen or heard anything to come forward at this time. So, clearly, we're dealing with a real dearth of information. We are told that the families of the students have been notified.

Here is the statement that came from the University of Idaho. The Moscow Police Department is investigating and the families of these students have been notified. We continue to actively aid law enforcement's efforts. MPD does not believe there is an active threat. We're grateful for support of the community and the ongoing efforts of the police department. The university is committed to supporting students and families during this difficult time.

Clearly, it is a tragedy for family members and those who know these students right now out of respect. The campus is open but classes both online and in-person have been canceled for the day, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Martin Savidge on the story, thanks so much.

Still ahead, the aftermath of the collapse of one of the biggest, most powerful companies, exchanges in cryptocurrency. How the implosion of FTX is causing shockwaves around the world. There is a lot to this story.

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[10:40:00] SCIUTTO: Now to a CNN exclusive with one of the world's richest people. Chloe Melas spoke with Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos and his partner, Lauren Sanchez, about his plan to donate a majority of his wealth valued at some $124 billion to charity. He says he will use it to fight climate change and support people who can unify humanity, one of them Dolly Parton. She got a $100 million check from him for her charitable work.

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CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Talk to me about choosing Dolly Parton.

JEFF BEZOS, EXECUTIVE CHAIR, AMAZON: Well, look at what she's done and how she's led her life. And the way she's done it, these bold things, always with civility and kindness. She's a unifier. We have big problems in the world, and the way you've got big problems done is you have to work together. We have too many examples in the world of conflict and people using ad hominem attacks on social media and so on, and so on, you won't find Dolly Parton doing that.

LAUREN SANCHEZ, VICE CHAIR, BEZOS EARTH FUND: And when you think of Dolly, look, everyone smiles, right? And all she wants to do is bring light into other people's world. That is all. And so we couldn't have thought of someone better than to give this award to Dolly.

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SCIUTTO: CNN's Chloe Melas is with us here now live. Chloe, wide- ranging interview with Bezos. You also discussed his ongoing ventures in space.

MELAS: Good morning, Jim. Yes, it was their first ever sit-down interview. I went to Washington, D.C. They welcomed me into their home. And outside of philanthropy, we talked about this pathway to space. Of course, I had to ask, am I myself going to be one day buying a ticket to space? Are we all? Take a listen.

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MELAS: Do you believe in our lifetime that space travel is going to be attainable for everyone?

BEZOS: I do. Let me give you an example. It was only a little more than a hundred years ago the Wright brothers flew this tiny little plane just a couple of hundred feet. And if you told the Wright brothers, a hundred years from now, there is going to be a like 787 that carries 400 people --

SANCHEZ: You'd laugh.

MELAS: You've yet to go. There have been a lot of firsts.

BEZOS: She's a future astronaut. She's ready. She wants to go.

SANCHEZ: I'm ready. MELAS: Are we talking in 2022 or are we talking soon?

SANCHEZ: Well, that is pretty quick. Not by the end of 2022 but 2023.

BEZOS: Soon.

MELAS: Together?

SANCHEZ: No, he's already been.

BEZOS: We'll see. I think she has some ideas about who she wants to go with. We'll see.

SANCHEZ: I think it will be a great group of females.

MELAS: Talk about what lauren has brought to your life.

BEZOS: Lauren is the --

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MELAS: So, also, also though I do want to say, I asked them about why they make such a great team and they said that they have a lot of fun together. And it was clear that she brings a lot of joy to Jeff's life and they both are on the same page when it comes to their philanthropic endeavors. And she has a lot to do with the Dolly Parton for this year's Courage and Civility Award. And I asked, are you going to be bringing Dolly Parton to space? So, she wouldn't go so far as to say that.

But they also opened up to me about what does a typical Saturday night look like for the two of them. And they said that actually they're boring and that they're fighting over what movie to watch. So, in some ways, they're just like us but with a lot more money, right?

SCIUTTO: Yes, they fight over those movies with tens of million dollars of art hanging on the walls around their house. Chloe Melas, thanks so much for joining.

MELAS: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: A new criminal investigation is now under way in the Bahamas after this the stunning collapse and subsequent bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. It comes as the company says it is examining a possible hack that stole nearly $500 million in cryptocurrency assets. FTX's CEO, 30-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried, known as SBF, has now resigned. He lost his $16 billion fortune, all of it, in less than a week.

CNN Media Analyst and Media Reporter for Axios Sara Fischer joins us now. Sara, this is remarkable, stunning to watch here. How did so many powerful, wealthy, successful people get fooled, in effect, it seems, again, I mean these are people in finance and on Capitol Hill?

[10:45:01] SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Yes. Well, I think due diligence is a problem here. Moving forward, I think investors are going to proceed very cautiously with crypto. But, Jim, you'll remember during the height of the pandemic, crypto was hottest thing. Everyone thought if you could put money in, you will be able to get so much out. And I think their desire to be at cutting-edge of block chain and crypto and Bitcoin and all of that sort of obfuscated the efforts that they should have been doing to do due diligence both on SPF, the leader of FTX, but also the company, its financials and its structure.

SCIUTTO: Okay. I mean, that is the point here, right? This was supposed to be so cutting-edge but a billion dollars of FTX customer funds vanished. I mean, this looks like an old-fashioned fraud, does it not, I mean, stealing from investors to shore up his own investment fund?

FISCHER: Well, the way that Gary Gensler, the head of the SEC, has called this it is more like a Jenga puzzle. When you pull out some of the big structural things at the bottom, everything on top sort of collapses. And I think there's a lot of people who are wondering whether or not this is a fraud.

And that is why, Jim, you have state and local authorities who are doing now investigations into FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried. The DOJ said that they are going to be looking into something, local authorities in the Bahamas where the company is headquartered, are looking into it, and then, of course, the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SCIUTTO: Okay. So, investigations underway now, folks have been talking about more regulation for this industry. Is it more likely now, is it necessary now?

FISCHER: Oh, it is always been necessary. And that is one of the ironic things here, is Sam Bankman-Fried developed a relationship in Washington with all the lawmakers here and the regulators here. People thought that this company was very secure because he was coming out and for regulatory support, not so dissimilar to how Meta is approaching some of its woes.

But I think moving forward, you're going to see a lot less capital pumped into the crypto industry, which could actually slow some of the regulatory movement because there is not as much pressure to get ahead of building momentum.

I think you're going to see the entire industry hit a stasis while we investigate what happened with FTX. Eventually, long-term, yes, there will be regulations. But I think for now, we're in the investigatory period.

SCIUTTO: I mean, SBF seemed to have fooled a lot of very powerful people. Is this a 2008 scale crisis for crypto?

FISCHER: Yes. A lot of people are comparing this to the Lehman Brothers scandal back in the day. I mean, I think this is a massive scandal for crypto. It is really hard to see both how institutional investors will continue to want to pump money into these types of companies but also how retailers, how everyday consumers are going to want to do retail crypto when these type of things are happening.

You mentioned at the top, there was a hack over the weekend with FTX, $400 million in funds were being stolen. When things like this happen, Jim, the most important thing to remember is that everyday retail investors are the ones that are usually the last to get their money back. And so if that is the case, I think that this industry is going to have a very hard time building momentum for the foreseeable future.

SCIUTTO: Yes, small guy always seems to lose the most. Sara Fischer, thanks so much.

FISCHER: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, a disturbing increase in the number of children going to emergency rooms reporting suicidal thoughts. We're going to have more from a new and troubling study just ahead.

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SCIUTTO: New evidence this morning of a troubling mental health crisis in this country. A new study has found that even before COVID- 19, there was a steady rise in children as young as five years old seen in emergency rooms for reporting suicidal thoughts. That number then spiked even more so during the pandemic. The research published in the Journal of Pediatrics is based on E.R. visits in the state of Illinois.

CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard has the details for us. And you did hear anecdotally of particularly young people reporting issues during the pandemic. And I wonder what this data shows right now.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Yes, Jim. I think this data really adds to our understanding of the impact that the pandemic did have on the mental health of our young people, kids, teens and previous studies separate from the new research did find that among high schoolers, for instance, nearly three quarters of them reported adverse childhood experiences during the pandemic, like abuse in the home or like not having enough food to eat. And these type of experiences could increase your risk for having suicidal ideation.

So, now, with this new study, this new research did look at the frequency of E.R. visits, where a patient was diagnosed with suicidal ideation. Here is what it found. So, before the pandemic, in the years 2016 and 2017, as you see on this chart, there was this steady rise in E.R. visits among kids ages 5 to 18. And then when the pandemic occurred in 2019, you see at end of this chart there were these spikes in E.R. visits related to suicide ideation.

Now, where this trend takes us from here, where it goes post-pandemic, it is still too early to tell you. You do see at end of the chart, the graph ends in the month of May 2021.

[10:55:02]

There is a small dip in the frequency of E.R. visits, as you see there. But, again, it is still too early to tell where this takes us.

But I think the takeaway here, Jim, this data is based on more than 200 hospitals in the state of Illinois, but it does reflect a national trend. It does reflect a need for more child psychologists, for more services to really be available for these children who are experiencing these mental health crises. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Services and attention to it, it seems as well, right? Keep those lines of communication open. Jacqueline Howard, thanks so much.

So, this is key as well. If you or someone you know is struggling particularly with suicidal thoughts or other mental health matters, it's easy, please call the new suicide and crisis lifeline. It's simple. It's just 988 or visit hotline's website 988lifeline.org. There's the number right there, just three digits. Please call it if you need help.

And thanks so much to all of you for joining us today. I'm Jim Sciutto.

At This Hour with Kate Bolduan starts right after a quick break.

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