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Three Killed In Michigan State University Shooting, Suspect Dead; New Information On Unknown Flying Objects; U.S. Nearly Finished With Chinese Balloon Recovery. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired February 14, 2023 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
CHRIS ROZMAN, INTERIM DEPUTY CHIEF, MSU DEPARTMENT OF POLICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY: -- the time it'll be right here. We'll continue to use this location. And we'll announce that time to gather back here in the morning to share additional information if there's any updates that we can provide. Before that, we will continue to provide updates. So, thank you.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: We'll be listening to the latest news from Michigan State University by the president of the university as well as the chief of police, campus police, and also the deputy chief of police are bringing us up to date. They're telling us now the gunman was a 43-year-old man. No connection to the university, not a former staff member, nor former student.
So that mystery continues as to why he chose the University to open fire, killing at least three people and wounding five others. Those five other people remain in a critical condition in hospital at this hour. So, I'm John Vause. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. The news continues with Rosemary Church after a very quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:05:01]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. We are following breaking news from the campus of Michigan State University where a mass shooting has left at least three people dead and five others in the hospital. Some of the wounded are said to have life-threatening injuries.
The suspect in the shooting is also dead. Police have yet to identify him or his motive, saying only that he was 43 years old and not affiliated with the university.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROZMAN: The suspect in this incident was located outside of the MSU campus and it does appear that that suspect has died from a self- inflicted gunshot wound. It is confirmed that he is deceased. This truly has been a nightmare that we are living tonight. But we have remained laser focused on the safety of our campus, our students and the surrounding community. We are relieved to no longer have an active threat on campus while we realize that there is so much healing that will need to take place after this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Police say the first 911 call came in shortly after 8:00 p.m. local time. Officers were on the scene within minutes and located several victims. Students say they got an e-mail message from the school wanting them to shelter in place soon after the shooting started. That lockdown has now been lifted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had friends texted me before the incident nacreous even happened and then we started barricading doors and I thought it was safe because the, you know, there's metal bar doors in there. I didn't think anybody would get through. We started barricading. I heard gogogo, everybody just trampled throw. It was -- everybody got out of there. They ran over here from way over there. It was horrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Michigan State's president spoke just a short time ago. Teresa Woodruff said she is devastated but vowed the university will overcome the tragedy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERESA WOODRUFF, INTERIM PRESIDENT OF MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: The night our Spartan hearts hang heavy. This is a day of shock and heartbreak here across our campus in our region. It's something that's quite unimaginable, but has been imagined in other places and other times, but we just can't imagine that it's here. We're devastated at the loss of life. And we want to wrap our warm arms around every family that is touched by this tragedy.
And give them the peace that passeth understanding in moments like this. Our campus grieves. We will all grieve and we will change over time. We cannot allow this to continue to happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And we are getting this statement from Chris Brown, president of Brady United Against Gun Violence. And I'm quoting here, "Just as we are recognizing the fifth anniversary of the deadliest high school shooting in history, we are experiencing yet another school shooting. This is the 145th school shooting since Parkland. And it remains wholly devastating to live in the only country in the industrial world where we regularly wake up to this horrific news.
Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe spoke earlier to CNN about the next steps in the investigation into the suspected gunman. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: The FBI and their colleagues will go through all the history they can pull together on this individual so they'll likely execute search warrants at his residence and on his vehicle and anyplace else they can associate with him. They'll identify all those electronic devices they can associate with him. Computers, laptops, telephones, all sorts of stuff.
They'll look at his social media, they'll look at his internet service providers, e-mail providers, things of that nature to try to understand what his motivation might have been in embarking upon this incredibly dreadful act that he -- that he engaged in this evening. So, there's a lot of work for investigators to do here. It's basically building a timeline of events and statements and writings and postings on social media.
[02:10:06]
Anything they can associate with him that might shed light on his intent. And I suspect that that investigation will go on for quite some time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And that was Andrew McCabe. Former Deputy Director of the FBI and CNN senior law enforcement analyst.
Earlier, the mayor of East Lansing, Michigan also spoke with CNN about the shooting, as well as the community's response to the crisis. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON BACON, EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN MAYOR (via telephone): A lot of support tonight, we had our Congress personnel Elissa Slotkin is here with us. Our state representative, Julie Brixie and chief and our staff here. We're actually the support team back up to Michigan State who has their own police force, Michigan State Police and the FBI, which were all present on the scenes.
And we were just here in our command center providing support. But as of tomorrow, we'll pick up and begin to, you know, piece things back together here as a community. It won't be easy, but we'll start there.
Our students are about half of our population. So, our -- we call it the town gown relationship with East Lansing and Michigan State. It's strong, it's vibrant. We all consider ourselves Spartans here in a big 10 city. So, kind of -- whatever impacts Michigan State impacts East Lansing and capital region. So, we're basically all in this together like Governor Whitmer has been in contact, other local officials and everyone else.
So, it's a regional approach to things. And that's kind of what happened tonight as far as law enforcement support and everything else. So, we're just -- we're kind of one big region here a lot with the Capital City of Lansing.
We host many things. So public safety and security and celebration, security and that kind of thing or constant conversation for us. And it just shows the difficulty to predict the unpredictable and in readiness for that, but we do spend a lot of our time on planning for and executing and drilling for public safety and even, you know, mass casualty type events. And I think the community responded accordingly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And that was East Lansing Mayor Ron Bacon speaking with us a little earlier. Well, much more to come on the shooting. Ahead here on CNN, including any new details we learn on the gunman and his possible motive.
And we're learning more about the three objects shot down over the U.S. and Canada on the weekend. Why officials don't think they're linked to the Chinese balloon when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:16:11]
CHURCH: More on the breaking news we're covering this hour. Police a gunman suspected of killing at least three people on the Michigan State University campus is dead. Apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot. At least five other victims have been hospitalized with life- threatening injuries. School officials say the incident has shaken the community.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROZMAN: Our hearts are with those who have been affected by this senseless act of violence. Giving up the like this is never easy. As a father, I can only imagine how parents are feeling right now. This will be the beginning of a long healing process for everyone who has been affected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Police released this image of the suspect they were looking for after Monday night's shooting. They later confirmed he was 43 years old and not affiliated with the university. They say there is no longer a threat to the campus and a shelter-in-place order has been lifted as they investigate the shooter and his motive.
Well, in the coming hours, the U.S. Senate will get a classified briefing about the three airborne objects shot down over U.S. and Canadian airspace over the weekend. But ahead of that meeting, officials have revealed new information about the objects. The item shot down over Alaska has been described as a metallic object that broke into several pieces. Both it and the objects shot down over Canada's Yukon Territory are said to have been carrying unknown payloads.
All three objects apparently look similar but have different shapes. None as large as the Chinese balloon shot down more than a week ago. The U.S. military says they have nearly completed recovering as much of the balloon as they can from the coast of South Carolina. Now their focus is finding any parts that may have drifted out to sea. And CNN's Oren Liebermann has more now from the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): More questions than answers after U.S. fighter jets roared into the skies above North America for the third time and as many days with a mission. Shoot down something we assessed.
JOHN KIRBY, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS: We assess whether they posed any kinetic threat to people on the ground. They did not. We assessed whether they were sending any communication signals. We detected none. We looked to see whether they were maneuvering or had any propulsion capabilities. We saw no signs of that.
LIEBERMANN: Here's what we know so far about the objects in the sky. According to U.S. officials, the object shut down 10 miles off the coast of Alaska on Friday was a metallic object that broke up into several pieces when it fell to the sea ice from 40,000 feet. The second object shot down over the Yukon Territory on Saturday appeared to be a balloon with a metal payload hanging underneath.
According to a pentagon memo sent to lawmakers Monday and obtained by CNN. It crossed near sensitive U.S. sites at 40,000 feet before it was downed. And the third object shot down Sunday afternoon over Lake Huron was described as an octagonal object. This one traveling at only 20,000 feet.
LLOYD AUSTIN, UNITED STATES SECRETAR OF DEFENSE: We're going to confirm what they are once we have collected the debris. But to answer your question, we have not recovered any debris from the three most recent shoot downs.
LIEBERMANN: The aerial objects were detected following the shoot down of a much larger Chinese surveillance balloon two weeks ago with a payload the size of three school buses. NORAD adjusted its radar systems to effectively make them more sensitive. And radars set to spot and intercepted Russian bombers are now picking up smaller slower objects.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA: Obviously, there is some sort of pattern in there the fact that we are seeing this in a significant degree over the past week is a cause for interest and close attention.
[02:20:07]
KIRBY: One of the reasons that we think we're seeing more is because we're looking for more.
LIEBERMANN: National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will lead an interagency team on how the U.S. handles unidentified objects that are a safety or security risk. One thing we do know.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There is no, again, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity.
LIEBERMANN: The Pentagon says the latest objects didn't pose any direct threat to people on the ground. But according to multiple sources, even allies of President Joe Biden worry about the silence from the commander-in-chief.
KIRBY: We have been -- I think, as transparent as we can be. I won't speak for the President's personal speaking schedule but -- I mean, he has been deeply engaged in every one of these decisions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIEBERMANN: As for the ongoing recovery efforts for the balloon off the coast of South Carolina, the Chinese surveillance balloon defense official says a "significant portion of that balloon has been recovered." A salvage vessel has been on the scene there since Friday. But divers haven't been able to work every day because of the conditions of the water there. Rough seas essentially, but they have been able to recover again a significant portion, and that includes the structure and some of the electronics that will be analyzed by the FBI.
Oren Liebermann, CNN in the Pentagon.
CHURCH: The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release a key gauge of inflation in the coming hours. January's Consumer Price Index. Wall Street is hoping for more evidence of falling prices. The Dow gained more than 375 points on Monday. The NASDAQ was up 1-1/2 percent, the S&P 500 gained more than one percent.
So, let's bring up the critical U.S. futures. And you can see they're pretty much pretty flat in negative territory, but only just. So, we'll keep a very close eye on all of that.
Well, high wind alerts have been issued by the National Weather Service for much of southern and eastern United States. And comes as we are monitoring to winter storm systems that are impacting parts of Western U.S. CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam has details.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey Rosie, you know, the meteorologists at the CNN Weather Center are monitoring two separate storm systems that will impact the country from west to east. Many locations feeling the impacts of these storms. I'll do my best to differentiate between the two because they are indeed two completely different storms. There's the first low pressure kind of trekking through the four corners, regions lots of snow throughout the area and that's going to move towards the upper Midwest through the next 24 hours bringing a rain snow mix depending on where you're located.
The other low pressure and associated cold front kind of entering the equation across the Pacific Northwest. This is the secondary storm that's a little bit more powerful and will bring us the chance of severe weather across the nation's midsection come the middle to second half of the workweek. In fact, you can kind of differentiate and separate the two storm systems with our winter weather alerts.
The first storm again moving through the four corners, it's got its eyes set on the Upper Midwest, that's where we have winter storm watches in place. The secondary storm system the more powerful storm moving across the Pacific Northwest bringing snowfall with winter weather alerts stretching from Billings to Portland. Lots of energy associated with these two separate systems.
We have over 70 million Americans with high wind alerts. This includes St. Louis, Dallas all the way to El Paso and Los Angeles. Lots of rain too. You can see on the warm side of the storm showers possible through the middle of the week from Chicago to St. Louis. There's a snow on the cold side of the first storm. And then the snow piles up once again across the Colorado Rockies and throughout the Pacific Northwest.
You can see the first kind of storm moving through and then our secondary more powerful storm system that's going to interact with warm humid air. We all know what happens when that takes place. We get that collision of air masses and the severe weather chances start to go up. We have a slight risk of isolated tornado activity damaging winds and large hail, Memphis to Shreveport and Little Rock this is for Wednesday.
But let me point you into the direction of Thursday more. Several tornadoes I should say according to the warning from the Storm Prediction Center, where you see this shading of yellow that includes the gulf coast all the way to the Ohio River Valley. As a cold arctic blast of air settles in it will be short lived but nonetheless you will feel it in places like Chicago, New York, as well as Detroit. Rosemary, back to you.
CHURCH: Thank you so very much. Well, still become. The very latest on the deadly shooting at Michigan State University, including what police are learning from their initial investigation.
Plus, northwestern Syria may soon get more access to earthquake relief. Details on a new agreement from President Bashar Al Assad.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:28:44]
CHURCH: We return now to our breaking news out of Michigan where at least three people are dead. Five others injured after a mass shooting on the campus of Michigan State University. Police say the suspect has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and provided this update on his identity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROZMAN: That suspect is we now know is a 43-year-old male. That 43- year-old male is not affiliated in any way with Michigan State University. He's not a student, faculty staff. And we have no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight. That is part of our ongoing investigation. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Police added that the victims were found in two separate locations including out the student union. And we've learned all five people injured in the shooting are now in critical condition.
More than a week after a powerful earthquake leveled neighborhoods and Turkey and Syria and left at least 36,000 people dead, the U.N. says rescue efforts are coming to a close. Now emergency crews are set to focus on getting more help to victims.
[02:30:04]
In Syria, the President has agreed to open two additional border crossings from Turkey, to deliver aid to the rebel-held Northwest. It comes after U.N. Aid Chief Martin Griffiths met with Bashar al-Assad to discuss relief efforts. Griffith says the U.N. will also help move aid to the northwest from government-controlled areas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (voiceover): Meantime, in Turkey, emergency crews have found survivors more than 180 hours after the earthquake struck. Among them a 13-year-old boy who had been trapped under the rubble. Some of the developers of these collapsed buildings are now under investigation in Turkey. State media reports some have already been arrested.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
And CNN's Nada Bashir joins us now from Istanbul, with more. So, Nada, eight days after the earthquake, more than 36,000 people have lost their lives. Rescue operations are now coming to a close, and survivors in Turkey and Syria are desperate for food, warmth, and shelter. What is the latest on efforts to get this aid to those quake survivors?
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, of course, we're getting that aid to those in need is certainly a key focus now, but that search and rescue effort eight days on is still continuing, despite that window for finding survivors closing very, very quickly as you heard there from the U.N., warning in fact, we heard from rescuers. Now, they say they are still hearing voices beneath the rubble more than a week on since Monday's earthquake. And of course, we have seen those miraculous rescues over the last few days. Actually, in the early hours of this morning, a 10-year-old girl was reportedly pulled from the rubble another survivor.
So, there is still some hope and there are many across Southeast Turkey holding out hope that their missing loved ones may still be alive beneath the rubble. But of course, this is shifting from a rescue effort to more of a recovery effort very, very quickly. And there is a huge emphasis, a major focus now on offering support to those survivors who have lost absolutely everything. And we were at an aid distribution center in Istanbul yesterday, one of two here in the city, which has been sending aid to the affected regions. More than 20,000 volunteers there working around the clock to sort through donations, including blankets, food, clothes, health care, as well as toiletries and electric heaters because, of course, it is so cold over there, and many have now been made homeless, thousands in fact.
But we spoke to one of the coordinators leading on this effort. She told us this isn't enough, they need more help, they need more aid to get down to those affected areas, and they need more support from the government, and from the international community. They're speaking at state media, we've already heard from officials denying reports of any shortages in that aid and blankets being sent over to the southeast. But that remains a key focus there. We know that also foreign international rescue teams have already been working in Turkey, but there are still more teams coming in. We've learned from the Australian government that they are sending in a specialist team for support in that rescue and recovery effort as well as specialist equipment. Thousands of foreign support staff have been sent into Turkey now to continue with that effort. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right, Nada Bashir, joining us live from Istanbul. Many thanks for that live report. David Lillie is the Executive Director of the Syrian American Medical Society, and he joins us now from southern Turkey. Appreciate you talking with us. And of course, you and your organization are in Turkey and Syria trying to help survivors in the aftermath of this deadly earthquake that stolen the lives of more than 36,000 people. Aid, as we've been talking, has been very slow to arrive, hasn't it? Particularly in Syria, where the humanitarian situation was already dire. So, what is happening on the ground right now in terms of people who need it getting access to this aid?
DAVID LILLIE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SYRIAN AMERICAN MEDICAL SOCIETY: You're absolutely right, northwest (INAUDIBLE), their situation going on did a terrible (INAUDIBLE) fighting off COVID, and now cholera, and this, and 12 years of war. So, this is the last thing that people needed. We have been treating over 2,000 injured from the earthquake in northwest Syria. And eight of our hospitals, two of the hospitals have been so badly damaged we had to evacuate. Two others are damaged but still functional.
So, we are running around the clock, the hallways had been full of patients. Unfortunately, we -- unfortunately, we confirmed at least 300 dead in Syria. We have medications and supplies now but the supplies are dwindling. We need to replenish them soon, we need more -- the borders open, and greater accessibility to supplies to get in. We're sending a large team of American doctors into Syria today, to support some of our workers who have been working around the clock.
[02:35:09]
CHURCH: And as you just mentioned, your organization has been calling on the international community to reopen all border crossings, including those into northwest Syria to help increase this flow of humanitarian aid, and support to the region. And now, of course, we hear Syria's leader Bashar al-Assad has apparently agreed to expand U.N. aid access from Turkey for just three months through two border crossings. I'd be interested to get your reaction to that.
LILLIE: We had to have the border crossings open prior, there are over 4 million people in northwest Syria that are in great need. Many of them over a million and a half have been displaced several times, and have had needed aid for years. And so, we welcome that more openings are there so that more humanitarian items can get across to population in great need. Behind me, I am in Turkey along this near the Syrian border in a very large town. You see, cranes operating, a building had gone down. Unfortunately, many perished. They are still digging, trying to rescue some who may still be living. But it is still terrible here in Turkey. The government has set up temporary shelters that we see in town squares and town after town. Some towns are hardly recognizable from what they used to be, communities are simply gone.
CHURCH: And survivors of the earthquake in Syria are now, of course, well everyone is dealing with these freezing conditions and very little aid. They say that they've been forgotten and that help came too little too late. All people in Turkey feel much the same, of course, but with the eyes of the world now watching this horrifying aftermath play out. How might things change for the survivors, some of them actually saying they would have rather perish beneath the rubble than been saved, if they had to confront these sorts of conditions?
LILLIE: We have to remember that the responders are also survivors of this earthquake, and many of them are traumatized. Our staff are working all day, but yet they have to care for the families to keep them going. They are -- they need relief, and they are mourning as well as the responders. So, it's extremely difficult, and yet, as the sunrises, they are doing everything they can to provide additional help. So, our first priority is our staff, both here in Turkey and Syria. We've had staff who've lost almost all of their family, and so we are mourning with them, and tried to support them in this very difficult time.
CHURCH: It is a tragic situation for all of those people involved. And of course, what you and your organization are doing is appreciated by all of us. David Lillie, thank you so much for talking with us. Appreciate it.
LILLIE: My pleasure. Thank you.
CHURCH: Well, still to come, as fighting rages in eastern Ukraine, NATO Defense Ministers are set to focus on, how to maintain support for the country during a meeting in Brussels. More in a live report just ahead.
[02:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Back to our Breaking News now. Police say the suspect in a mass shooting on the campus of Michigan State University is dead. At least three people were killed, and five others are hospitalized in critical condition.
(voiceover): This was the scene on Monday, while the suspected shooter was still on the loose. Police say there is no longer a threat to the campus and a shelter-in-place order has been lifted. Authorities say the suspected shooter apparently took his own life. They released this photo of him earlier. Police told reporters, he was a 43-year-old man who had no affiliation with the university. Still no word on a possible motive.
(on camera) Ukraine's Defense Minister is laying out his agenda ahead of a meeting of NATO Defense Ministers, set to begin in Brussels in the coming hours. He will be pushing key issues including protecting Ukrainian skies, building the tank coalition, and the stability of military support. That meeting taking place as intense fighting rages in eastern Ukraine, including in an around Bakhmut. Ukraine is disputing Russia's claim that its forces have captured a nearby village, that says Bakhmut, remains the focus of Russia's main attacks. In the Luhansk region, one Ukrainian official says Russia is continuing its high rate of attacks there in what he calls a prelude to massive attacks.
NATO Secretary General says allies will step up, and sustain support for Ukraine, as he warns that Russia is already launching its new offensive. CNN's Scott McLean is following developments for us. He joins us now live from London. Good morning to you, Scott. So, NATO's saying the start of a new Russian offensive is already underway. And that will be discussed, of course, in the organization's upcoming meeting with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. What's likely to come out of that meeting, and what is the latest on that new Russian offensive?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so, things are undoubtedly difficult on the front line. This town of Bakhmut, which has taken on this really outsized importance in this war. The Ukrainians have called it an unwinnable fortress but as of late, it is coming under increasing pressure. That's not new. The Russians have been trying to capture this town for months and months with no success, but what is new here is that they seem to actually be making some progress. According to military sources on the ground and our own team, the Russians have had some success in cutting off some key supply routes in and out of Bakhmut, making it harder for Ukrainians to actually get supplies in and out along some of those main roads.
[02:45:08]
And because Russians are actually inside of the town, Ukraine can't use artillery, they can't use tanks to try to push the Russians back. Right now, it is down to house-to-house fighting inside of the actual town. The Russian seemed to be making progress on the outskirts of town as well, and trying to surround it. They have claimed that they captured a village nearby Bakhmut, just a couple of miles to the north called Krasna Hora. But a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military said plainly that that is not true, that the fighting there continues, and that Ukraine continues to be in control of that town.
But what the Ukrainians are acknowledging, though, is that the Russians are able to fire on those main supply routes. Though, they say that they are trying to launch their own attacks to push the Russians back and prevent those attacks from actually taking place. All of this will surely color those -- that meeting -- those meetings taking place today in Brussels amongst Western Defense Ministers. This Ukraine Defense Contact Group, some 50 defense ministers, or more from around the world interested in supporting Ukraine. The NATO Secretary General says, that look these western allies ought to be sending weapons quicker because this so-called Spring Offensive have -- has already begun. And that the Russians are content to use their size advantage to try to wear down the Ukrainians.
He also says, that look they will need to sort out very quickly how to get more production of ammunition because he says that the Ukrainians are burning through it faster than the West can actually produce it. Case in point, he says that some large-caliber artillery, the wait for those is almost 2-1/2 years if they were to be ordered today. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Scott McLean for that live report from London. Still to come, officials have now publicly released body camera videos from the night Alex Murdaugh's wife and son were killed. We'll have a detailed report when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:50:00]
CHURCH: Returning to breaking news we're following this hour, at least three people have been killed at Michigan State University, after a mass shooting on campus. Five victims are wounded and have been hospitalized in critical condition. Authorities say the suspect was a 43-year-old man, who later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They say he was not affiliated with the university and have not yet determined a motive for the shooting. Over the next two days, classes will be canceled as police investigate.
Alex Murdaugh's trial will resume in the coming hours with more testimony from a pathologist. On Monday, the court released body camera videos from law enforcement officers, who arrived the night Murdaugh's wife and son were killed in June 2021. CNN's Randi Kaye has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANIEL GREEN, COLLETON COUNTY SHERIFF: Scene is secure. Had a whiskey clock, whisking like both gunshot wounds to the head.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): It's just before 10:30 p.m. on June 7th, 2021, the night Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were murdered. This is body cam footage from Colleton County Sheriff's Sergeant Daniel Green, who was first on the scene. Moments after arriving, he spots Alex Murdaugh.
ALEX MURDAUGH, ACCUSED MURDER: Sir, I want to let you know because of the scene, I do -- I did go get a gun and bring --
GREEN: OK.
MURDAUGH: -- it down here.
GREEN: It's in your vehicle?
MURDAUGH: I've just --
GREEN: You have any guns on you at all?
MURDAUGH: Just leaning -- no, sir. It's leaning up --
GREEN: OK.
MURDAUGH: -- against the side of my car.
GREEN: OK. You're fine, man, you're fine. Turn around for me.
MURDAUGH: I don't have anything.
GREEN: OK. Yes, sir. I see that.
KAYE (voiceover): Murdaugh appears to be upset, but first responders have testified in court. They never saw any tears. Moments after Sergeant Green arrives, Murdaugh offers up his own reasoning as to why someone would kill his family.
MUDAUGH: This is a long story. My son was in a boat wreck a few months back. He's been getting threats, most of it has been benign stuff we didn't take serious.
GREEN: OK.
MURDAUGH: You know, he's been getting like punched. I know that somebody -- and that's what it is.
KAYE (voiceover) A key moment in the body cam footage comes when Sergeant Green asks Murdaugh when he last saw his family. Listen closely to his answer.
GREEN: When was the last time you were here with them? Or talk to them or anything like that?
MURDAUGH: It was earlier tonight. I don't know the exact time but --
GREEN: OK
MURDAUGH: I left, I was probably going an hour and a half from my mom's, and I saw him about 45 minutes before that.
KAYE (voiceover): Alex told investigators he wasn't home at the time of the murders, and hadn't seen his family in hours. But remember, at trial, the state revealed evidence of a video recording extracted from Paul Murdaugh's phone. It was taken just minutes before he and his mom were killed, recorded at 8:44 p.m. Prosecutors and more than a handful of witnesses say that's Alex Murdaugh's voice on the recording, putting him at the murder scene around the time of the murders. On the body cam video, we also see for the first time, this bizarre exchange between Alex and Deputy Buford McDowell, who arrives on the scene. In the middle of talking to Sergeant Green about his wife, he pauses to greet the Deputy.
MURDAUGH: Maggie Murdaugh. Margaret Branstetter Murdaugh. How you doing?
BUFORD MCDOWELL, COLLETON COUNTY SHERRIF: I'm OK.
KAYE (voiceover) Alex also asks the deputies several times if his family is dead.
MURDAUGH: Did you check?
GREEN: Did I check what?
MURDAUGH: Did you check them?
GREEN: That -- there -- we got medical guys that are -- that's what they're going to do. OK?
[02:55:07]
MURDAUGH: You've been checking, and they are dead, right? They are dead, aren't they?
GREEN: Yes, sir. That's what it -- that's what it looks like.
MURDAUGH: Oh my God.
KAYE (voiceover) On some of the body cam video, Alex Murdaugh is seen pacing around the property. He's making phone calls, including one to one of his brothers.
MURDAUGH: Yes. The police are here now. The police are here now.
KAYE (voiceover): In another clip, he asks the deputies to get his surviving son, Buster, on the phone.
MURDAUGH: Can y'all get a police officer with my older son in Columbia? No, I haven't told him yet. It's got to be me that tells him.
KAYE (voiceover): Randi Kaye, CNN, Walterboro, South Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And we want to thank you for watching. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM, in just a moment.
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