Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Big Brands Branching Out Into Second-Hand Sales; Memphis Deactivates Scorpion Unit Implicated In Nichols' Killing; Earlier, Attorney Ben Crump Discussed Video Showing Beating Of Tyre Nichols, Deactivation Of Scorpion Unit; J.B. Smiley, (D), Memphis City Council Member, Discusses Video of Police Beating Tyre Nichols, Deactivation of Scorpion Unit; Trump Makes Presidential Campaigns Stops In NH And SC; At Least 321 Western Tanks Pledged To Ukraine; Social Media's Cost To Mental Health; Baltimore Police: One Killed, Four Injured In Mass Shooting; Aired 8-9p ET

Aired January 28, 2023 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:00]

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Cleveland, Birmingham, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, they have all passed legislation to try to curb the number of Dollar Stores.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: And meanwhile, we are seeing some big-name brands starting to sell secondhand clothing and furniture. What is that all about?

MEYERSOHN: Secondhand clothing and furniture is hot right now, Pam. Some of the leading brands are jumping into it.

J. Crew, Nordstrom, IKEA, Lululemon are offering ways to help customers buy and sell secondhand goods. And it is being driven by millennials trying to be more eco-friendly.

BROWN: Hey, I think that's great. I'm a big fan of second-hard stores. I was just at a consignment store today.

Nathaniel Meyersohn, thanks so much.

Well, the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want peace. We want peaceful protests. That's what the family wants. That's what the community wants.

(SHOUTING)

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They have come out in a way that is in conjunction with what the family has asked for. They have been peaceful while they protest, but they are very, very disturbed.

(CHANTING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're out here today because we believe that no one else should go through what Tyre Nichols went through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are grateful that the video came out, so now the whole world knows what happened, that he was defenseless, that he was hopeless.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at how they dragged him out of the car. There was no human inside of those men.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe we do have faith and hope that the system is going to get it right this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin this hour in Memphis, Tennessee, where the very unit that has been blamed for the death of Tyre Nichols, the Scorpion Unit, is being shut down.

This, as the community tries to move on after the release of the video that showed his killing last night.

First the outrage. Memphis and several other cities saw peaceful protests today in support of Tyre Nichols.

His horrific beating at the hands of five Memphis police officers was captured on video and released last night. His death was a few weeks ago.

We want to warn you the images you are about to see are deeply troubling.

Nichols led officers on a foot chase after a traffic stop. A surveillance camera captures officers striking, punching and kicking him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Watch out. Watch out.

(SHOUTING)

TYRE NICHOLS, BEATEN BY POLICE OFFICERS: Mom! Mom!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Nichols screams for his mother, who was at home just blocks away.

Officers continued to hit Nichols and used pepper spray. Nichols eventually slumps over unconscious.

But for 21 minutes, no one on the scene appears to render the aid that could have saved his life. We'll never know.

Those now former police officers are charged with second-degree murder.

And today, we learned their special Scorpion Unit is now permanently deactivated.

I asked an attorney for Tyre Nichols family, who demanded that deactivation, if they now feel like they're being heard.

Here's what Benjamin Crump said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR TYRE NICHOLS' FAMILY: His parents, Ravaughn and Rodney Wells, my co-counsel, Antonio Romanucci, and I, we saw that that was part of the culture.

As responsible as those five officers were for killing Tyre Nichols in that reprehensible conduct we saw on that video, we think this was part of the culture of the Scorpion Unit.

And, so, we demanded that they disband it immediately before we see anything like this happen again.

Citizens, other citizens, have come to us and said that they also attacked us.

There was one young man four or five days before this happened to Tyre Nichols who said he was simply going to get pizza. He stopped at the stop sign and they pulled him out, used all kind of profane language, threw him on the ground and put a gun to his head.

And so he tried to report them to the Memphis Police Department twice. Never got a call back.

And we believe, had somebody been attentive, that Tyre Nichols may not have been killed in this way.

BROWN: Right. I mean, watching that video, it's horrifying to see the way they are brutally beating him up and then just standing around as he's suffering there by that car.

But the reality is the other officers on the Scorpion Unit, they are still part of the department. What do you think about that?

CRUMP: Well, I think we need to know if there's a pattern and practice of excessive use of force. I know the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is investigating this killing of Tyre Nichols.

[20:05:01]

But our hope is that will expand to pattern and practice because many citizens have questioned not just the Scorpion Unit but the Memphis Police Department and their policing, whether it's bias or not towards black people. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz joins us now from Memphis.

So this is a pretty significant development here that this unit is being deactivated now, Shimon.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Certainly significant. And you hear Ben Crump saying this is the family's wishes. They came out yesterday, the lawyers in a press conference, demanding that they be disbanded.

Today, the police chief, in a statement, granting them that wish.

It is also community members. We certainly heard from community members here that raised some issues with some of the tactics that this unit was created really to fight crime aggressively, to focus on homicide, to focus on assaults and robberies and theft in the community.

And the police chief releasing a statement today saying that she is doing this because she has heard from the family, Tyre Nichols family, she's heard from community members, she's spoke to the remaining officers who are with this Scorpion Unit.

And they all decided together that it was best to try and heal some of the pain and to try and get to the work that now needs to be done to restore the faith that people in this community need to have in the police, that it was just best to disband the unit.

But this is a department that's about to undergo some heavy criticism, several investigations no doubt. I think Ben Crump, they're telling me about that DOJ investigation. And he wants a patterns and practice investigation.

They may actually get that. You know, if enough community members are raising concerns, this is something that the DOJ is going to have to focus on.

Certainly, you still have a criminal investigation perhaps into other officers, administrative investigations into other officers. So there's still so much that needs to be uncovered here -- Pam?

BROWN: Yes. I would not be surprised at all if DOJ opens up a patterns and practices investigation. We'll have to see.

Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much.

And right now, we still don't know the specific cause of death for Tyre Nichols. Medical experts tell CNN he probably died from internal injuries from blunt-force trauma.

CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has more.

And again, these images are graphic and disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is just horrific to watch, even as a trauma neurosurgeon myself. I have never seen anything quite like that.

You often see patients who are brought into the hospital, but you don't see that sort of just horrific beating that he took over those several minutes.

When you look at this sort of thing, there's so many different injuries that he could have sustained at the time. I think one of the areas that people paid a lot of attention to was all these blows he took to his head and to his face.

He was restrained at one point, taking fists to the face. And he was being kicked in the face when he was on the ground.

What can happen sometimes is that the brain is the one organ in the body that when it's starting to swell, it really has no place to go because it is encased by the skull. Every other organ in the body can swell more easily.

Brain swelling can start to take place and one can start to lapse in and out of consciousness as seemed to be happening with Mr. Nichols.

I watched the videos alongside medical examiners from around the country. And that was the area they pointed to, was these blows to the head.

It is also worth noting that he's a skinny guy, from what we understand. And there were kicks to the body, to the torso, to the chest as well.

And any of those organs may have actually sustained damage and started bleeding as well. Could have been suffering from internal bleeding at the time that all this was happening.

And that brings us to the next point, which I think is critically important. When you look at sort of the timeline of what was happening there, it was around 8:33 or so, 8:34, when you see this last kick that he sustains and then he is handcuffed and is dragged over to the car.

And then it's eight minutes later before we see EMS even arrive. But it is not until around 9:02, so 20 minutes after that, 21 minutes after that, almost half an hour in total, before you see a gurney arrive.

So you have a critically ill man who is lying on the sidewalk, sustained all these injuries. Hard to say the extent of the injuries or even how serious they are at that point.

Obviously, they are serious. But what exactly is the most serious is difficult to ascertain.

It is a full half an hour before he's really assessed. You hear at various times it is going to take a while for the ambulance to get there.

And that's obviously very problematic. He needed to be in a hospital. Whether or not it would have made a difference, ultimately, that's hard to say.

[20:10:01]

And we'll get more information, you know, probably over the coming few days as to exactly what caused his death. We don't have a firm cause of death yet from the county medical examiner.

But watching that video, looking at that timeline, you can really get a sense of what happened to him and what happened to him in the days that followed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Our thanks to Sanjay Gupta.

Joining me now is J.B. Smiley, the vice chair of the Memphis city council.

Thanks for joining us, J.B.

First, I want to get your reaction to the Memphis Police Department permanently deactivating its Scorpion Unit.

J.B. SMILEY, (D), MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL VICE CHAIR: Well, I think it's essential for the family to give them a small bit of closure.

But I also believe for the Memphis community it's necessary. If you talk to the people in the city of Memphis, they all go through accounts of the Scorpion Unit coming into their communities and terrorizing them.

But to the grand scheme of things, I think it is just, on surface levels, because the city's administration as well as the Memphis Police Department has the ability and authority to create the authority to create another unit and give it another name and call it Spider.

I think what we need to be doing in the city of Memphis is whole, complete transformational change as it relates to how we handle policing in the city of Memphis.

BROWN: Yes. You know, Chief Davis was the one who launched the Scorpion Unit. You now have five former officers from that unite charged with murder.

Is there a bigger problem with the Memphis Police Department? And is Chief Davis the right person to fix it?

SMILEY: Well, I would speak to what the problem is. I think if you pay attention to the very first video, and toward the end of it after the officer tases Mr. Tyre Nichols while he was on the ground, Mr. Nichols gets away. But if you pay particular attention to what is said, the officer says

when they catch him, "I hope they stump him into the ground."

I think that is the culture. If we want to make systemic change with policing, we have to address the culture. I think we do that by making complete, comprehensive change as it relates to policing.

BROWN: What about the police chief, though? Do you think she should keep her job?

SMILEY: Well, I can't speak to that. One reason, she's been here for less than two years. She's come in and attempted to make change. But I think it is time for her to shake things up. She's on the clock.

BROWN: We were just interviewing a former NYPD detective who said, in some places, they've now put restrictions on police officers when it comes to like low-level, like traffic stops.

They're no longer involved to be in involved in them. And that is to prevent any escalation from happening.

I this case, we saw how a traffic stop that could have been unjustified led to the death of Tyre Nichols.

Do you think that should happen in the Memphis Police Department?

SMILEY: Absolutely. In the city of Memphis, we have a lower-level police call that have the ability to conduct all traffic stops. They do not have the authority as a normal police officer, but they can and they are capable of conducting traffic stops.

We should not have an organized crime unit with technical training that are taught to implement certain strategies during routine traffic stops. It simply should not be the case.

The Scorpion Unit had no business conducting a routine traffic stop. That was a failure on the Memphis Police Department.

BROWN: Many people were worried about the potential for violence after people had the chance to see that video of Tyre Nichols death.

What do you think about the release of the video, how all of this was handled? A lot of people are saying that the way it's been handled, how quickly it has been handled should be the norm moving forward.

What do you think?

SMILEY: Absolutely. I believe we, the city of Memphis, we have set the standard for how to deal with police misconduct going forward.

But in addition to that, it doesn't stop with the way the officers were charged, how swiftly they were. It doesn't stop with peaceful protests. It stops with comprehensive change throughout the city of Memphis.

And we, the Memphis city council, the ball is in our court. What will we do as it relates to police change and police reform going forward? That is the ultimate question, will we get the job done?

BROWN: All right. J.B. Smiley, thank you so much for sharing some time with us tonight.

SMILEY: Thank you.

BROWN: What's next for the five Memphis police officers now charged in the death of Tyre Nichols? That's next.

Plus, the U.S. and allies pledge hundreds of tanks to help Ukraine. But could this equipment be too little too late to stop Russia's invasion?

[20:14:33]

And does social media hurt our children's mental health? Straight talk from the U.S. surgeon general. You won't want to miss, especially if you have young kids or teenagers on social media.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Earlier this week, the five former Memphis police officers fired for their involvement in the arrest of Tyre Nichols were charged on multiple counts, including second-degree murder and kidnapping.

Second-degree murder in Tennessee is considered a Class A felony punishable up to 60 years in prison.

The criminal charges come about three weeks after Nichols was arrested and hospitalized. He later died from his injuries.

Joining us now is CNN legal analyst and criminal defense lawyer, Joey Jackson.

So, Joey, that video is so horrific to watch. How do you think the defense should approach this case?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think they have a significant challenge, Pam.

Good to be with you.

I think, in analyzing and assessing the case, you are going to look to a few things that would justify the only thing they can say is something like self-defense.

But how do you justify self-defense, Pam, when, number one, there's no immediacy of fear, at least it appears to me.

I'm not sure about anyone else, with respect to him, that is Mr. Nichols, engaging in conduct that you reasonably believe as an officer would be deadly or pose a physical threat to you in a serious way.

[20:20:02]

Number two, you look to the issue of proportionality of the force and what the officers used and you assess Mr. Nichols' conduct, was the conduct he engaged in, did it deserve the nature and level of sustained force that the officer engaged in? So the disproportionally is important.

Then you look at to the reasonability of the actual approach of the officers and the actual engagement, and that's a miss as well.

Then you look at the failure, right, to actually render any type of aid when you have a duty as a law enforcement officer to do that.

I think those issues, in and of themselves, are going to be examined. Not the least of which is the initial encounter, when you stop a person and then, finally, you know, you get to him and then you pull him out of the car.

What happened to license and registration, sir? I'm pulling you over because.

And I think it is an uphill battle from a defense perspective in assessing how they are going to approach the case.

BROWN: Yes. One of the lawyers for one of the defendants said, look, my client, you know, may have crossed the line here, but he didn't cross the line like some of the others. What do you make of that?

JACKSON: So the problem with that, Pamela -- and everyone deserves their day in court. So to be clear, there are five defendants here and certainly they deserve and our Constitution permits and demands due process.

Each of them are charged individually, right? But they're charged altogether acting in concert with the same thing.

The problem, however, with everyone, is we're looking at them there saying, well, my client only punched him and my client only hit him with an asp, and my client merely kicked him.

It was the collective conduct of all of you that led to his death. And you would have to know, as does the prosecution, that in the event you are attacking someone with everyone engaged in the attack, that you substantially contributed to his demise and ultimate death.

So I don't think the prosecution, no matter what the defense says, my client only did this, my client only pepper sprayed, I think the prosecution is going to say it was the collective weight of all of you in engaging with him in that way.

And you look at the differential with respect to, weight. He's 140 pounds, 6'3". All of these, it appeared to me -- I don't have the actual specifics -- they were pretty big people.

And so I think that the prosecution is going to say that the collective activities led all of them to know that he could die as a result of your misconduct.

And that's the problem with parsing out the particulars of what each of them did and saying, give me a pass, I only did this. I just don't think that is going to be an effective argument.

BROWN: Yes. And also the inaction. There was the action. There was the beating. And then the inaction after, when they were just standing around, right, not rendering care.

The Memphis Police Department has shut down that Scorpion Unit. That was a key demand of the family.

Does that suggest to you that authorities will work with the family to give them justice for Tyre's death?

JACKSON: I really think it does. And I think it suggests even broader than that, Pamela, that I really believe that police forces throughout the country will assess the dynamics of the particular units.

Will see whether they're doing the job appropriately in policing and doing what they need to do in a way that purports for justice in doing the interactions they need to engage in.

So this is certainly -- you know, this incident happened in Tennessee, but I think it is broad based with respect to the entirety of the country.

And it provides an effort and an opportunity to re-examine policing and to see how it could be better, more effective and certainly more humane.

So absolutely, I think disbanding that Scorpion Unit is the first of many steps that need to be taken in order to become more effective in policing.

BROWN: Joey Jackson, thank you.

This just into CNN. Police in Baltimore are on the scene of a shooting and what they say are multiple victims.

CNN's Polo Sandoval joins us now.

Polo, what are you learning?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, as we speak, we are currently waiting to hear from authorities there in Baltimore right now.

We understand that police there on the ground confirming a shooting that happened earlier this evening, potentially with multiple victims.

At least, I'm told, according to courses there on the ground, at least five people confirmed injured in this shooting that took place earlier this evening in Baltimore.

Baltimore P.D. confirming that Michael Harrison, the police commissioner, is there on the ground right now getting briefed by investigators. And we are told that, at this moment, he's actually offering an update. So we should be learning more. But these are pictures coming from our colleagues at WBFF. And you can

see what is a very active scene, as we can now confirm, according to authorities, that among those injuries, at least one person was injured fatally. One person dead.

[20:25:06]

And additionally, authorities there on the ground also confirming that a small child, 6 years of age, is currently in critical condition as a result of this shooting.

So, again, at least five people who were injured at this point. Authorities not confirming if that one individual confirmed dead is among that number. Initially, at least one 6-year-old that has been injured.

This is obviously extremely devastating when it's -- when you consider what happened here. But, again, this investigation still in its very early stages.

But what we know at this point, according to information that's just in from Baltimore police, a shooting taking place in Baltimore in the city's west side, leaving at least one person dead and a 6-year-old critically injured.

Pamela, we will continue to listen to authorities right now in their briefing and bring you some new information as soon as we get it.

BROWN: Just so awful. Yet another mass shooting in America.

Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.

Well, Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail. What it might mean for the future of the Republican Party, up next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:30:23]

BROWN (on camera): Donald Trump wrapping up his first day back on the campaign trail since announcing his third run for the White House. The former president worked today to rally support in two key early voting states, New Hampshire and South Carolina. CNN's Gabby Orr joins us from Columbia, South Carolina.

And, Gabby, Trump told supporters today he's all about the future, but he is clearly also still dwelling on the election he lost to Joe Biden two years ago. It seems like he has two messages.

GABBY ORR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes, that's right, Pam, sort of a split screen moment here talking on the one hand about how his campaign is going to, quote, be about the future. But then, on the other hand, continuing to bring up the 2020 election at one point claiming that he performed better in the 2020 election than in 2016.

But the former president also had another message for voters today. And Republican critics who have been concerned about the slow moving start of his presidential campaign. He launched his campaign in November, of course, it's now been two and a half months. And today was the first time that he was actually out on the campaign trail in New Hampshire and South Carolina. So he took a moment to respond to those criticisms. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They said he's not doing rallies, he's not campaigning, maybe he's lost that step, we didn't -- I'm more hungry now and I'm more committed now than I ever was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ORR: Former president is claiming -- former president Trump claiming that he has two years to go until the actual 2024 election is held and that it would be ridiculous for him to start in November with his campaign events.

But, of course, he's the only candidate running right now and a lot of Republicans have been wondering why he hasn't taken advantage of that opportunity and been out the -- been out on the campaign trail sooner. Pam. The former president also saying today that he has a number of supporters in New Hampshire and South Carolina, two of the earliest primary states.

BROWN: All right. Gabby Orr, thanks so much.

So let's discuss with former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, Charlie Dent. Hi, Congressman. What do you make of the slow tempo start for the former president's 2024 campaign? He says, hey, I've got two years.

CHARLIE DENT, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Well, yes, well, he announced his campaign in November, as was stated, and then he went dormant for a few months. So now he's back out at it in New Hampshire and South Carolina. And I think what he's trying to do is maybe send signals to some of his likely opponents that he wants to see which one wants to jump in the pool first, because I don't think anybody wants to be first in the pool with Donald Trump, because they know what that's going to be like.

And I suspect and whether it's Nikki Haley, or Mike Pence, or Pompeo or, or DeSantis, they're going to have to really draw hard contrast against Donald Trump. They're not going to beat him by saying, hey, you're a really good president, you know, people just don't like you, or we don't like the way you conduct yourself. I don't think that's a winning message at all.

So these people who are going to jump in the pool with Donald Trump, are going to have to come at him really hard, very aggressively, and explain why Trump should be fired before they're hired. So I think that's really the key to this thing, but I don't think anybody wants to be first. Trump is trying to get in the field. And these guys are waiting before they jump in. BROWN: You're so right, although Nikki Haley called him a reporting suggests -- he says called him and said that she has interest in potentially joining the race and he told reporters that he told her follow your heart. Come on, in, you know, if you want.

But then when it comes to Ron DeSantis, it's a different story, Trump took some swipes at his potential Republican challenger there. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So Ron would have not been governor if it wasn't for me, and that's OK. And he -- number one, he wouldn't have gotten the nomination. And number two, he wouldn't have beat the -- his Democratic opponent. So then when I hear he might run, you know, I consider that very disloyal, but it's not about loyalty, but to me, it is, it's always about loyalty, but for a lot of people, it's not about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: What do you make of Trump's comments in this potential primary matchup?

DENT: Well, Trump's right that Ron DeSantis would have never gotten the nomination but for Trump's endorsement back in 2018. But Trump also recognizes DeSantis as probably the most formidable of all the candidates who want to jump in.

And the reason why they're prepared to jump in is because they also smell vulnerability on the part of Trump. They realize that, you know, he is really a diminishing political figures, still a dangerous one, still has a lot of power within the party, but he's diminishing and he simply doesn't have -- that Trump doesn't have the capacity to win independent and moderate voters. And I think everybody kind of has figured that out.

[20:35:03]

And, you know, I hope -- except for many people to national and state level and the parties, you know, who are running the parties, they haven't quite figured it out yet. But I think these candidates have, and that's why they are -- they're really ready to jump in. They see -- they see some blood in the water, but Trump wants a whole big feel. He wants as many as possible. He knows his chances of winning the nomination are better with a crowded field than with a narrow one.

BROWN: Yes, exactly. That is -- that is the truth. Congressman Charlie Dent, thanks so much. Good to see you on the Saturday night.

So could Ukrainian pilots will be flying American jets into combat? That's next on CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The U.S. and its Western allies are pledging heavy tanks to Ukraine ahead of a potential Russian offensive in the spring. National Security Council's John Kirby laid out the timeline on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: The Leopard tanks will probably get there from the Germans and from there, our European allies and partners will get there in relatively short order probably in time to help them in the spring and summer. The American tanks, the Abrams, will take a little bit more time. It will take many months before they can get on the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:40:13]

BROWN: Joining us now is CNN military analyst, Colonel Cedric Leighton. So, Colonel Leighton, German Leopard tanks could be there relatively soon. As you weren't there, though, from John Kirby, the Abrams tanks, it could take a while, are they going to get there too late?

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it really depends, Pamela. And, you know, when you look at the difference, first of all, you -- they've talked about 321 tanks, according to the Ukrainian ambassador to France, being sent to Ukraine. So that's a large number. That is basically what the Ukrainians asked for, they asked for around 300 to 400 tanks, so they're getting what they need.

But let's take a look at the Leopard tanks. So this is the German Leopard tank, very capable tank. It has a 120-millimeter cannon that's associated with it, just like the Abrams does, good armor. Can be used in a lot of different environments, very maneuverable. And it has a lot of firepower along with it. But it has less required training time than the Abrams tank does.

And the Abrams tank that you see right there, that is one that is extremely powerful. It is basically the top of the line armor vehicle that the U.S. uses for these kinds of purposes. Highly maneuverable, but it does require a lot of maintenance and a huge logistics tail in this case.

BROWN: And an adviser to President Zelenskyy says Ukraine is negotiating with Western allies to access long-range missiles and aircrafts. How would that help change the war? And do you see this dynamic continue to play out where they get something and then they say, OK, well, here's what's next on our wish list.

LEIGHTON: Yes. So there are a lot of different things that they could potentially get. So a take a look at the ATACMS system, for example. This is a system that has about 190-mile range, and he can really affect a longer range areas. So it's considered a short-range system, but it's long-range enough that it would -- for example, go after Crimean targets. So if the Ukrainians want to go after Crimea, this is one thing that they would do there.

Now, in the fighter jet world, this is an F-16, courtesy of the Danish Air Force in this particular case, but what it can do is it can move around very maneuverably. It is a, you know, the top-of-the-line aircraft, although it's almost 50 years old, first flight was about 49 years ago. These aircrafts are really the mainstay or have been until recently the mainstay of the U.S. Air Force. And there's a real big part of the NATO inventory.

And that's something that they would require a lot of training on, anywhere -- depending on the experience of the pilot, anywhere from three months, that's a real bare minimum, highly unlikely, all the way to a year or more. So this training pipeline for all of these systems is going to be a very long one, a very tough one.

BROWN: Kim Jong-un's sister is weighing in on all of this, and she's denouncing the Western decision to send tanks to Ukraine. She says the people of North Korea will always stand with Russia, quote, always standing in the same trench as Russia. Where do you see the war going next?

LEIGHTON: So when it comes to the war, that's going to be a really interesting thing. So when you look at what you have here on the main map, you have the possibility of the Russians coming in, not only from the east, but also potentially from the south, going into these directions. That's what they want to do.

So if you go to a more detailed map of the Eastern Front, for example, the big fighting that you have around Solider, around Bakhmut, all those areas, here, become -- that becomes a symbol for what the Russians want to do.

Now, Bakhmut by itself is not very strategically significant. However, it is on our main highway that goes this way. And if they can use that highway, that could potentially be a gateway for the Russians to move forward into Ukrainian controlled territory.

But they're going to, in essence, try to work around a stalemate. The Ukrainians are trying to run the clock out. And they're trying to make it so that they can fight the Russians. And at the very least keep them here. But their real goal is to eliminate the Russians from this part right here, this so called land bridge. That is where the Ukrainians want to move in the opposite direction, and bring the Russians in this way and force them out of the country.

BROWN: All right. Really interesting. Thank you so much, Colonel Cedric Leighton, appreciate it.

LEIGHTON: You bet.

So, what can you do to protect your children's mental health while they're glued to social media? A Senator and the U.S. Surgeon General struggle with that too, and that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:45:57]

BROWN: One of the hardest aspects of parenting today is navigating social media with our kids. It can provide community, but also make us feel more isolated and alone. And I discussed this with Senator Chris Murphy and U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: You've talked about this as well in your mental health advisory. You have said some good things can come from technology, but also, it can be concerning for kids, right? Depending on how much time they spend online social media. Tell us about that. And what advice do you have for parents? When do you cross the line with it?

Because I think it's really hard for parents that their kid, you know, schools use technology, right? Kids are on social media. They don't want to be left out by being the only kid that is not on there, but we've also seen some harmful effects from it.

VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: Absolutely. And I think this is one of the most challenging things about parenting, you know, in this time, and all of us are parents and, you know, I know we all have small kids and we're trying to think about how to raise them. And this is not easy. This is the number one question I get from parents as I travel across the country is, is social media hurting my children?

[20:50:04]

And here are a few things, I think, they're important for us to keep in mind. At the end of the day, technology and social media, in particular, are tools. They can be used to help, they can also cause harm. It's how we use them that really makes a difference, how they're designed also makes a profound difference here.

They are great examples of people who have found community through their use of social media, and especially people who may not have had, people who've had similar experiences, their identity is them in their immediate proximal area.

But when I talk to kids around the country about social media, they tell me three things very consistently. Number one, it often makes them feel worse about themselves. Number two, it often makes them feel worse about their friendships, as they see people doing and having all kinds of experiences without them. And the third is that they can't get off of it, right? Because these are designed to help our kids and help all of us and to bring us in.

BROWN: There's actually like science behind this, right? Like what it does to the brain.

MURTHY: Yes. And you have some of the best designers and product developers in the world who have designed these products to make sure people are maximizing the amount of time they spend on these platforms.

And if we tell a child, use a force of your willpower to control how much time you're spending, you're pitting a child against the world's greatest product designers. And that's just not a fair fight. And so that's why I think our kids need help.

And what we need, which we don't have right now is we need transparency from social media companies as to the impact that their platforms are having on kids in which kids are being adversely affected. We also need safety standards, which we don't have.

In my house right now, the vast majority of products that, you know, that we buy that I use, have some -- had to meet some sort of safety standards in order to be sold. That is not true in general of social media. And that is something we have to fix.

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): I think it's not coincidental that Dr. Murthy and I are probably talking more about this issue of loneliness than others in public life, and we both have young kids, right?

BROWN: Yes, I do too.

MURPHY: Right? So I look at this through the prism of my 14-year-old and my 11-year-old. And this idea that we sort of send them out into social media, the Wild Wild West, less regulated than any other household product, it's a choice. That's a decision, right? We could make a different decision as a country. We could decide to, you know, limit the number of young kids that can be on some of these sites. We could, you know, prompt or incentivize these companies to make algorithms that are less addictive.

None of this is out of our control when we had dangerous vehicles on the road. We pass laws to make those vehicles less dangerous. We have a dangerous product not for everybody, but for some kids, social media, and we should make decisions to make it a healthier experience that would make kids feel better about themselves and less alone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And for some, social media is not a healthy experience, but it doesn't mean we can't fix it. As you just heard there, senator talking about that. We're going to have more of this conversation tomorrow night.

And we've talked a lot this week about Tyre Nichols' death, but his life, it should be remembered too. Up next, who he was, what he loved, and how his family is remembering him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:55:05]

BROWN: More now on that story we first told you about just a few minutes ago. Police in Baltimore are on the scene of a shooting where at least one person was killed. CNN's Polo Sandoval joins us now. Polo, what is the latest?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, the more we learn about this, just the more heartbreaking this is. Baltimore police updating us just a short while ago now confirming that the shooting of the city's west side. This tragedy that left two men shot, one fatally. A woman also shot currently in critical condition. A 2-year-old child shot in the face currently in critical, but stable condition. And then lastly, a 6-year-old child who was injured as part of a car accident when that vehicle that that child was riding in came under fire. All of this additionally happened earlier this evening at around 6:00 P.M. You can see what's still a very active scene there.

That call coming in about multiple shots being fired, police arriving and found that the car had been struck and a woman that was behind the wheel, that woman that we discussed a short while ago that was shot, then crashed into a pole. Those two people who are on the sidewalk again one of them shot and killed.

Investigators right now say they are speaking to one person on the ground, but they're still trying to get to the bottom of exactly what led up to this. The only thing we know right now from the police chief saying that this is the result of just a cowardly and criminal act of a conflict that should have been resolved elsewhere in a very different way.

And as you hear from Baltimore Mayor, Brandon Scott, you can clearly hear the frustration and the anger in his voice as he calls this a cowardly act and calls on the community for somebody to speak up about what happened tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON SCOTT, MAYOR OF BALTIMORE: We're talking about someone dead, a woman shot, a child shot, another child injured, another person shot. Over what? I see a lot of folks trying to be acting like they tough where they really weak, because the only weak people shoot somebody when you know children are right there.

And if you're harboring that person and that's your homeboy, if that's your -- if that's your man and that's your cousin, I don't care who it is, then you're weak too. And we need to step up and be better for ourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Police only saying right now, Pamela, they are searching for either gunman or gunmen. They're really relying on people to speak up right now as they tried to find out exactly what happened, but still an active search for those responsible that left four people shot, among them a 2-year-old who's fighting for their life at this hour.

BROWN: A 2-year-old shot in the face, just awful. Polo Sandoval, thank you.

Well, before we go, something we wanted to remember. Too often when we talk about stories like what happened in Memphis, the focus is on the crime and not the victim. But in recent days, we have learned a lot about Tyre Nichols including loving and heartbreaking words from his mother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROWVAUGHN WELLS, TYRE NICHOL'S MOTHER: Yes, this is hard. No, I don't have my baby. I'll never have my baby again, but I do know that he was a good person. And that all this -- all the good in Tyre will come out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Tyre Nichols' friend, Brian Wilson (PH), recalls making friends with him in Sacramento before the Nichols family moved to Memphis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that he could even all the way up on a curb or, you know, dropping on the ramps, those stuff I wasn't able to do. So immediately, it was just like, this guy is my idol. There's so many people that can, you know, speak on his behalf and really tell you what kind of a person he was. And, you know, we all loved him, you know so, so, so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Tyre Nichols also loved photography so much so that he put up a website featuring his landscape photos. And on the site he wrote in part, my name is Tyre D. Nichols. I am an aspiring photographer. Photography helps me look at the world in a more creative way. It expresses me in ways I cannot write down for people. I hope to one day let people see what I see and to hopefully admire my work based on the quality and ideals of my work. So on that note, enjoy my page and let me know what you think. Your friend, Tyre D. Nichols.

Tyre Nichols was 29 years old. And we are admiring your work, Tyre.

I'm Pamela Brown. We'll be back tomorrow night at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Good night.