Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

At Least Six Killed in Virginia Walmart Shooting, Gunman Dead; Today, First Court Appearance for Club Q Shooting Suspect; Police Unable to Verify or Identify Victim's Alleged Stalker. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired November 23, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Jim Sciutto.

We are following several major stories this morning, including a familiar event in this country, a mass shooting in America. Overnight, an employee opened fire in a Walmart break room, killing at least six people just days before Thanksgiving. Police believe the gunman then took his own life. Four people were wounded. They're now being treated in the hospital. We're going to speak with a doctor about their injuries in just a moment.

Plus, the suspect in the Colorado nightclub shooting set to appear in a courtroom today for the first time, Anderson Lee Aldrich is facing possible murder and hate crime charges. Details on the suspect's tumultuous upbringing, just ahead.

And in Kyiv, Ukraine, officials say at least three people are dead following a series of new attacks by Russian forces targeting water supply there. Power, infrastructure, water supply has now been suspended, this as the entire country is now experiencing power outages. We're going to take you to the region.

Let's begin though this hour with the mass shooting in Chesapeake, Virginia. CNN Correspondent Brian Todd is there. Brian, what more do we know this morning?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, a couple of different gaps of information were filled in by the police chief, Mark Solesky, this morning regarding this shooting. What he told us was -- he gave us a timeline of when the shooting occurred, when police got there, and when they secured the building.

According to Chief Solesky, the first 911 calls came in at 10:12 P.M. Eastern Time last night, that the officers arrived at 10:14 P.M., that officers entered the building at 10:16 P.M. So, between the first 911 calls and the time that the officers entered the building, a total of four minutes elapsed.

They rendered the building safe at 11:20 P.M. We can tell you that they were combing through the building for hours, in the overnight hours, looking for people who might have been wounded, people who might be hiding. This is a very big Walmart store with row upon row of merchandise, like every other Walmart store, a lot of counters all over the, a lot of places people could have been hiding. They were combing through looking for people, but they secured it at 11:20 P.M.

They are not giving the shooter's identity because the next of kin have not been notified, but they did tell us that the shooter was an employee.

Now, CNN has learned from a law enforcement source that this employee walked into a break room where people were gathering and opened fire, then later took his own life. It's not clear what the motive was. We pressed the police chief on that several times and we also pressed on the weapons used. The chief said that it was a pistol that was used. He was not aware of any other weapons.

And, again, they do not know exactly how long the shooter was active in the store, as far as how long he was shooting at people. And they do not have the information on whether there were a lot of customers in the store, but, again, we were told that this was just before closing time. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Long enough to kill six people. Brian Todd, thanks so much.

Well, this just in, a statement from the White House on the shooting in Virginia, President Biden saying he's now directed federal officials to provide any assistance needed. He also said in part, quote, because of yet another horrific and senseless act of violence, there are now even more tables across the country that will have empty seats this Thanksgiving. There are now more families who know the worst kind of loss and pain imaginable.

Jill and I grieve for those families, for the Chesapeake community and for the commonwealth of Virginia, which just suffered a terrible shooting at the University of Virginia this month. We also mourn for all those across America who have lost loved ones to these tragic shootings, but that we must come together as a nation to stand against.

Well, joining me now is Dr. Michael Hooper. He is vice president and chief medical officer at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. This is where some of the Walmart shooting victims are now being treated. Doctor, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

DR. MICHAEL HOOPER, VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, SENTARA NORFOLK GENERAL HOSPITAL: Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: So, at least four people have been hospitalized. I wonder if you can give us update on their condition. Do we expect them to survive these wounds?

HOOPER: So, we have released a statement. We had a total of five patients that were transported to our facility. Two of those patients have unfortunately passed away, we have two patients that are in critical condition and one patient that's in good condition at this time.

SCIUTTO: To your knowledge, those two who passed away, that's still with the current death toll from the shooting six, seven including the shooter, you're not adding, to your knowledge, to that overall death toll, are you?

HOOPER: To be completely honest, I'm not 100 percent of the total at this point. I just know about the patients that came to our facility. I haven't been able to come up with a total.

SCIUTTO: Do you -- when you look at events like this, this is difficult thing, I imagine, for an emergency room and a hospital like yours to handle, imagine gunshot wound victims, I imagine several of them with multiple gunshot wounds, each of them. Do you have the resources, do you have the experience, the expertise, your doctors there to handle something like this?

[10:05:03]

HOOPER: Yes. I mean, as you know, unfortunately, there is an enormous amount of accidents and violence in all of our communities across the country. Sentara Norfolk General is a longstanding level 1 trauma center. We have a very experienced trauma surgery team led by Eastern Virginia Medical School that pair up with our employees and take care of these kinds of events. We have a very experienced E.R. that is used to accepting these patients and mobilizing the right resources to make sure they're taken care of. So, yes, we were able to handle this and we had a lot of people put in enormous amounts of extra effort to make sure that this went smoothly or at least as smoothly as possible.

SCIUTTO: Now, the remaining patients you have there who are still being treated, do you expect them to make it through, to survive?

HOOPER: Yes. So, I'm not their treating physician, so I can't really comment on their prognosis exactly. I have spoken with their clinical teams. Obviously, I'm checking in to see if they need any other resources to take care of those patients. But I can say the two of them remain in the intensive care unit, in critical condition, so those would certainly be day-to-day (INAUDIBLE).

SCIUTTO: Goodness. Difficult, I'm sure, for your team to deal with. Dr. Michael Hooper -- I called you Hopper. Dr. Michael Hooper, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

HOOPER: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: We have learned new details overnight about the suspect in the Colorado Springs mass shooting. That is, of course, the one that immediately preceded the one in Virginia. Officials say Anderson Lee Aldrich had a tumultuous upbringing. His mother arrested multiple times, suffered from mental health issues, while his father, he appeared in adult films. Aldrich is scheduled to make their first court appearance. He uses the pronounce they and their after being released from the hospital today.

CNN Correspondent Rosa Flores is in Colorado Springs. Rosa, tell us what more we're learning about the suspect's past.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's a lot to unpack, Jim. So, bear with me because I'm going to have to get into the weeds a little bit. Our CNN investigative team has been digging into the suspect's past. And so what they have uncovered is really just a chaotic upbringing.

So, let me start chronologically because that's probably the easiest. The mom and dad, as you mentioned, the mother has multiple arrests, issues with mental health. Some of those arrests were for falsely reporting a crime, DUI. When it comes to the father, the father, as you mentioned, appeared in porn films and was an MMA fighter and there's also convictions for drug crimes, and he was never around. So, that left the grandmother to do the raising of this child.

And then, you know, our producers started digging even more. When he was a teenager at about age 15, there's online records of vicious online bullying. There was a lot of that. Before the suspect turned 16, the suspect's name changed. And this is in a Texas court. This is according to court documents from San Antonio, Texas. The name change was from Nicholas F. Brink to Anderson Lee Aldrich.

And then, Jim, you and I have talked about this before, the 2021 event that involved police, this was the mother of the suspect calling police on her son, and this is according to the press release at the time, and this was about a homemade bomb, about ammunition, about weapons. Those charges were dropped.

And then late last night from court documents, what we learned is that the specifically identifies as non-binary. Now, is that part of a legal defense strategy? I couldn't tell you that. I have no idea. And I've tried to talk to the prosecutor's office, and they will not comment. So, we'll have to see, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Rosa, Colorado, of course, has a red flag law. And some of the other things we've learned about this is that the suspect had made a threat against his mother about using an explosive device. Do we know the circumstances of why the red flag law did not apply in this case or why it wasn't invoked in this case?

FLORES: That's a great question, and there was a lot of confession that we asked of officials in Colorado Springs about that specifically. But what's fascinating is because that 2021 case involving the bombs and the ammunition and the weapons, was never adjudicated. The file was sealed. Those documents -- we don't even have access to them. So, we can't even figure out those details.

And because those files were sealed, it would not come up on a background check. So, there would be no way for anyone, if indeed the weapons that he purchased to commit this crime, if indeed he purchased them, because we know that there's loopholes to this.

[10:10:00]

If he indeed, purchased them, it would not have come up in a background check, which means the person that sold him the weapons wouldn't have even known that that was the case.

SCIUTTO: Yes. You see some of the weaknesses in these laws. Rosa Flores in Colorado Springs, thanks so much.

Still to come, more than a week has gone by. There're still no suspects in the killing of four college students at the University of Idaho. Family members of one of the victims, they're going to join us next to share a father's frustration with the police investigation so far.

Plus, the impact of inflation on holiday shopping so critical for retail businesses, why experts actually expect this year to break records.

And later, a maternal ward in Ukraine among the sites struck in the latest wave of Russian attacks. Ukraine says that a newborn baby was among those killed. We're going to have the latest, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:00]

SCIUTTO: Overnight, investigators have been knocking down some of them rumors surrounding the killings of four University of Idaho students, including a suggestion that the victim, Kaylee Goncalves, pictured there, had a stalker. Officials say they have not been able to verify or identify that.

It's been more than a week-and-a-half since those students were killed in an off-campus house. Today, police still have no suspect in mind, it seems, or in custody.

Joining me now to discuss, Kaylee's father, Steve, brother, Steven, and sister, Alivea. Guys, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

First, I just want to ask how you're doing. I have got three sisters. I'm very close to them. I have a daughter. I can only imagine the pain you're going through right now. How are you guys doing?

STEVE GONCALVES, FATHER OF VICTIM KAYLEE GONCALVES: Me, it's not real yet. I'm a bit in denial. I'm hoping for justice. That's why I'm trying to switch myself into that mode, to try to find some justice. That's where I'm at.

SCIUTTO: I get it. Steve, Alivea?

STEVEN GONCALVES, BROTHER OF VICTIM KAYLEE GONCALVES: Yes. I just know my sister, she's a hard worker, and I'm just sitting in my bed and crying myself to sleep isn't going to do her any justice, and that's not what she'd want me to do. She would want me to stay active in doing what I can despite her message and hope that we can find this suspect or suspects. And that's how I feel.

SCIUTTO: I get it. I get it. She's had a great smile. We'll keep showing that picture. I know your family has been frustrated with the investigation so far, understandably so. Here we are a week-and-a-half out and, really, not much information about this, does not appear to be a suspect.

Tell me, Alivea, what specifically you've been frustrated with, because you did your own work, for instance. You found video of the food truck, for example, where two of the victims were seen the same night as this killing.

ALIVEA GONCALVES, SISTER OF VICTIM KAYLEE GONCALVES: Yes. I would say -- I think that, obviously this is extremely personal for us and we treated it that way from the very get-go. I know how valuable those first 48, 72 hours. And I can only hope the police know how valuable that is, and that they have a lot of information there that just isn't public right now.

I will say the one lingering frustration is the timeline. I know it's semantics but my sister got home at 1:56. It wasn't 1:45. I know it might not seem significant, but when we're looking for camera, when we're looking for dash footage, when we're looking for any of those things, I do feel that it is valuable and they did get home at 1:56. It was not 1:45.

SCIUTTO: Right. Well, there's one detail there.

Kaylee's mother has said she believes that the suspect, the killer was someone Kaylee knew very well and that the killer might even be at the vigil, remarkable. I wonder, Steve, do you share that view?

STEVE GONCALVES: It's speculation. My daughter is very popular. It seemed like everyone that I talked to said she knew everyone. They had parties. They were college kids. They're about to graduate. So, somebody could have partied in the house and got an idea or got the confidence to pull that off.

SCIUTTO: Steve, this question of a stalker, and I'm very conscious with this story of how many rumors have been circulating, and a lot of those rumors turn out to not be true. But, Steven, this discussion of the possibility she may have had a stalked, have police been able to stand up or they seem to be knocking that down?

A. GONCALVES: Yes, it seems to be knocked down. Obviously, any of that information would be new to us. Kaylee FaceTime, we should even call her to actually FaceTime me for literally hours, almost every single day. And she was extremely cautious. She was very vigilant. I think that she really would have noticed something, and she would have said it to us. She wasn't scared to get us involved in her life in any capacity like that.

SCIUTTO: I know you're frustrated with how much and how information, developments in the investigation are being shared with the public. Are they sharing anything with you that they're not sharing publicly in light of the fact that this was your sister, this was your daughter?

STEVE GONCALVES: I'm not getting anything. They're not sharing much with me. I know that there's a separation in duties there. They do have the FBI account. So, I don't how much the individuals that I'm talking with, which are the local, are actually exercising their different jurisdictions. I think they might not know a lot because, you know, they have briefings. And if they haven't had a briefing, they probably don't know exactly what's going on.

[10:20:01]

SCIUTTO: Are they contacting you at all? Are they keeping you updated more than they are, say, on the website or with these press briefings?

STEVE GONCALVES: To be honest, they're not. I mean, yesterday, I asked about the stalker question and they couldn't confirm anything. And then today, I hear that they're reaching out to the community saying that there's a stalker involved. So, I don't know what to make of that.

SCIUTTO: There's -- sorry, go ahead, Steven.

STEVEN GONCALVES: There's a lot of (INAUDIBLE). They're just so vague with everything that they say, and then they like slowly peel it back layer until you like find the real story. It all started with a sharp- edged weapon. What was the use in telling the community that a sharp- edged weapon was used instead of just coming out and telling us that it was a knife from the beginning and understanding the purposeness of being so vague? You're not holding the integrity of the case together by not telling anybody anything.

SCIUTTO: I understand you have frustrations for how police and investigators have handled the crime scene. What are those frustrations specifically?

STEVE GONCALVES: Well, they expanded it, there were volunteers that walked around. And many disclosed that they were looking and found different things. So, they did share with me that they had more to do with keeping cameras out than it actually does evidence-gathering. So, I hope that that is indeed the case because it would be disheartening a week later to know that we didn't have the right crime scene.

SCIUTTO: The mother of one of the surviving roommates, reminding our viewers, there were two roommates who were upstairs and survived this, told a reporter that those roommates heard something, heard something that night. Have you been told? Have you heard from sharing with other relatives of the other victims what that was, exactly?

A. GONCALVES: No. I would say, for us, that we did hear those rumors, but right now, we can only leave it at that. None of that has ever been confirmed to us.

STEVEN GONCALVES: And we have not spoken to the roommates, the surviving roommates. And they were downstairs, just to clarify that for you, sir.

SCIUTTO: Okay, downstairs, right, but on a different floor from where it appears where the murders took place. One consistent thing, and granted there has been some changes, as you note, in how the police have described this, one consistent descriptor has been that the attack was targeted. Do, you know if police believe one person in the house was the target of this attack or all four?

STEVE GONCALVES: I've been told it's one, but then, again, there's the vagueness, like it's like purposely vague, I'm hoping, but it confuses everyone because nobody knows what that really means, other than maybe somebody had a different kind of attack footprint. So, that's -- I feel like we just some more -- we all want to play a part in helping and we can't play a part if we don't have any real, substantial information to work from.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I get it, you want to help. I mean, Alivea, you found video that has been helpful in this investigation. I'm sure you do want to help.

Has anyone indicated to you that if it was indeed one person targeted -- it was one person targeted, was Kaylee the target? Has anybody shared that with you.

A. GONCALVES: They won't confirm any of that to us.

STEVEN GONCALVES: And we've the rumors that that's the case, but it's just a rumor at this point. There are tons and tons of rumors but nothing from the police.

A. GONCALVES: And I'll say, I think a lot of those rumors do stem from all of the vagueness and it's human nature to want answers. It's human nature to kind of put forth a theory, so that you can even comprehend it in your brain. And so I think that's how we're getting all of some of these really, really off-the-wall theories and some of these theories like Kaylee had a stalker, that even we're sitting here scratching our head saying, no. It couldn't be. If it was, it would be news to us.

SCIUTTO: I am sure it is frustrating.

Your family has been very outspoken in support of Jack. He's Kaylee's ex-boyfriend. And on the Moscow police site, though, he is not listed notably as someone who has been cleared in the investigation. To your knowledge, is that significant?

A. GONCALVES: No, I don't personally think so. Because I think that there's the entire rest of the world that's also not on that list of people who have been cleared, including Maddie's boyfriend, including any associates of Xana or Ethan might not be involved. I don't (INAUDIBLE) at all.

SCIUTTO: And there were a number of phone calls to him that night, and you say that would have been typical behavior for Kaylee that she often would call friends, folks for a whole bunch of things.

A. GONCALVES: At any time, yes, multiple times.

[10:25:03] Until I would pick up at 3:00 A.M., it would be like, Kaylee, what?

SCIUTTO: Yes.

STEVE GONCALVES: And some of the last footage of her at that food truck, she's on her phone 24/7, phone on the whole thing. So, she lived on that phone.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It sounds like you're saying that the delays here in sharing information, the delays in, well, frankly, making more progress on the investigation mean the police have lost their best opportunity, right? I think, Alivea, you were saying that those early hours and days are key. That's when you can make real progress. Do you believe that they may have missed their best chance here or may have?

STEVEN GONCALVES: Not only is that -- that's just not a matter of opinion. That's a matter of fact. If you look statistically at homicide cases, those first ten days are so incredibly important in finding a suspect. They determine almost nine out of ten times, I believe, it was, if you find a suspect. So, yes, that's not very encouraging to hear that they want to cast this wide net of suspects now and people we know have (INAUDIBLE). It was a bit (INAUDIBLE).

SCIUTTO: We've been showing Kaylee's picture a lot, that her personality just seems to come across, right, that big smile. I wonder what you'd like folks who are watching right now to know about her.

A. GONCALVES: I think she was a goofball. She was a really, really pretty girl. She's super smart, but she really was goofy. She loved to prank people. We loved to play kind of family pranks. I'd played him on Kaylee. Kaylee had played them on me. She was really fun. She really loves to laugh. She kind of didn't dwell on any of the negatives, anything like that.

And she was -- I keep saying this, but I think it's so important for people to understand about Kaylee. She was a college student. She would shamelessly call her boyfriend four, five, six times in a row. That was not uncommon. She would block me on Instagram if I borrow without asking. That was not uncommon. And she really was, I want to say, everyone's sister. That's how personal it is, because those intricacies and those complexities of what makes a human a person, yes, and I mean, that's --

STEVEN GONCALVES: It will never be the same. You can't recover from something like this.

SCIUTTO: I'm sure. Everybody's sister, that's a really powerful description.

Well, Steve, Steven, Alivea, my heart does go out to you. I really do wish you the very best and I hope you do get justice here, and I hope you get it soon.

A. GONCALVES: We will.

STEVE GONCALVES: Thank you for helping us with that. STEVEN GONCALVES: Thank you, sir.

SCIUTTO: Take care of yourselves. And we'll be right back.

A. GONCALVES: And you as well. Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:00]