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Now: Speaker Kevin McCarthy Meets Taiwan's President; Israel, Gaza Exchange Fire After Al Aqsa Mosque Stormed; Park Police Release Video Showing Fatal Shooting Of 17-Year-Old; CDC: Gun Violence In The U.S. Becoming More Deadly. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired April 05, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: So, Will, there have been meetings like this on U.S. soil before, but now it's different. How is the Chinese government responding to all of this?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a huge political moment for Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-Wen to be meeting with the second U.S. House speaker in less than a year. It was Nancy Pelosi in August. And now Kevin McCarthy in California in this, what's being described as an informal visit.

But if you look at these pictures, obviously, President Tsai is getting face-to-face meetings with the decision makers in Washington, who further add to her argument that the Taiwan democratically elected government, elected by the 24 million people living on this island democracy, is legitimate.

Despite the claims by China's Communist rulers for more than 70 years that actually the government is not legitimate and that the CCP, the Communist Party, should be controlling Taiwan.

And China says will inevitably do so, one way or another, whether it's through political means or military force.

And so there is so much at stake for Taiwan. Especially because they only have 13 formal diplomatic allies left because China has essentially iced them out on a global stage.

But this relationship with the United States, and, of course, coming at a time that both Democrats and Republicans can really unite on the issue of Taiwan because they also unite on the issue of, you know, being just kind of repulsed by a lot of things that China is doing.

From, you know, befriending Vladimir Putin, potentially, you know, concern providing lethal weapons to his war, to regular military intimidation of Taiwan, not to mention human rights abuses.

And so Taiwan and the United States grow closer. China grows angrier. But there is a lot to lose for China if they actually do the same thing they did last year when Nancy Pelosi visited with these huge military drills and firing missiles over Taiwan.

They could further alienate the West, which is something that Xi Jinping really can't afford to do right now.

Especially considering the fact that he has the president of France and the president of the E.U. Commission in Beijing, preparing for meetings. They would be overshadowed, of course, by any Chinese military activity.

So we need to watch very closely. We can never really predict, Abby, what China's next move will be.

PHILLIP: Yes, especially not at this moment of incredibly heightened tensions. But this is a fascinating and important story. We'll continue to watch.

Thank you, Will Ripley.

And today, the U.S. is calling for restraint after a new flare up of tensions in the Middle East.

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(GUNFIRE)

(SHOUTING)

(GUNFIRE)

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PHILLIP: Now, this is video of Israeli police storming one of Islam's holiest sites and arresting hundreds of Palestinians. Militants in Gaza retaliated by firing rockets towards Israel.

CNN's Hadas Gold is joining us now with the latest.

So, Hadas, what led to this moment where Israeli police were actually charging into that mosque?

HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Abby, it's been an intense period for some time. And there has been expectation that these tensions would flare up, especially right now that Ramadan is overlapping with the first night of Passover, which begins tonight.

What happened overnight is that these Israeli police say hundreds of young people barricaded, they say, themselves into the mosque. It's not unusual for Muslims to stay in the mosque overnight, especially during Ramadan.

But the belief is that many of them wanted to stay in the mosque overnight because there were calls by Jewish extremists to go up to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, holy to both religions, and there was fears of sort of confrontations there.

But what police said is after they tried to go in and get the people to leave the mosque, they decided to enter the mosque itself. And as we can see from this video, they entered with quite a bang.

They entered with the riot shields up. They were met with fireworks fired at them. They fired back with stun grenades and rubber bullets. They say that stones were also thrown at them.

But we know from the Palestinian Red Crescent there was something like two dozen people were injured. At least three of them were taken to hospital. Israeli police say two of their officers were injured. And stunningly, more than 350 Palestinians were arrested.

Now rockets were fired from Gaza in response to this unrest. Since then, it's been relatively calm. But there's definitely a lot of tension in the air -- Abby?

PHILLIP: All right, Hadas Gold, thank you very much for all of that.

[13:34:20]

And still ahead for us, a report of a stolen car, a teenager sleeping inside of it and a fatal police shooting caught on camera. We will tell you why federal investigators are now demanding answers.

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PHILLIP: The FBI and the Justice Department have opened a civil rights investigation into the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old.

The deadly encounter in Washington, D.C., began with police finding the teen asleep in a car that was allegedly stolen. The newly released body camera video does capture the disturbing final moments.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is joining us now.

Sunlen, there's a lot to what happened in this case. Can you walk us through it and this new video, which, as is often the case, is probably disturbing to watch.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is, Abby. And this was just put out by the U.S. Park Police and the D.C. Metropolitan Police. And it reveals a lot more details about the shooting that happened here in D.C. on the morning of March 18th.

[13:40:04]

Now this is body cam footage from officers from both of those agencies who responded to this incident.

Again, this video is very disturbing.

Police say the vehicle that you see right there, that white vehicle, they believe that was stolen. And inside was 17-year-old Dalaneo Martin. Now police say he was asleep in the parked car when they found it.

And the video here, what you're watching, is police discussing ways to get into the car to arrest him while he's sleeping at that point. Now, at one point, an officer goes on to open the back door to get in

while another officer opens the front driver door. And the footage shows the car suddenly driving off with one of the Park Police officers still in the backseat of the car. And he yells for him to stop.

Now here is that moment.

And again, this is very disturbing moment.

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UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Police. Don't move. Don't move.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Don't move. Don't move.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Stop.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Stop, man. Just let me out. Stop!

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Oh, shoot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, that is a point when the video then goes on to show that the officer fired numerous shots from the back of the car and the car, seconds later, crashes into the nearby home.

As you can see here, the video shows police pulling Martin out to try to revive him with CPR. They were unsuccessful. And police say he died at the scene.

Now Martin's family just spoke out in the last hour at a press conference here in D.C. And his mother essentially says that she wants the officers identified, prosecuted and ultimately fired.

And she spoke very emotionally about her son in the pain that this has, of course, caused her.

None of the officers involved have been identified by either police agency. And the Park Police also would not confirm, Abby, the status of the officer who shot this man. And the NPD is conducting an investigation.

And as you said, today, the FBI and Justice Department today opened a civil rights investigation. So lots more to learn here -- Abby?

PHILLIP: Yes, absolutely. And we'll be following it.

Sunlen Serfaty, thank you very much.

And coming up next, the numbers prove that shootings are becoming more common, but new research finds that they are also becoming more deadly. We'll tell you why, next.

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[13:47:04]

PHILLIP: More than a million lives have been lost to gun violence in the United States since 1990. And 11,000 of those deaths happened just this year alone, and it's only April.

But new research now suggests that shootings aren't just becoming more common, but they are also becoming more deadly.

CNN's chief correspondent -- chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins us now.

Sanjay, thank you for joining us on this.

What did these researchers uncover in this new study?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, let me give you some context for those numbers as well.

You know, we talk a lot about drug overdoses and opioid overdoses over the last couple of decades. You know, there's been about a million deaths due to drug overdoses as well, something that, you know, we hear about a lot.

Similar numbers, as you as you just mentioned, since 1990 with these firearm deaths.

What these researchers are trying to figure out was a pretty basic question. Are these -- are these types of injuries becoming more lethal?

And the backdrop is, Abby, that medical care has improved significantly, response has improved significantly. But, in fact, when you compare the likelihood of someone tragically dying on scene, at the scene of where they -- where they were actually shot, the numbers have actually gone up.

In 1999, it was around 52 percent. And now 57 percent. Now, you know, it's about a 9 percent increase. It may not seem like a lot but, again, the backdrop is well so much medical care has improved, the likelihood of someone not even making it to the hospital has also increased during that time.

There are other factors, Abby, to be clear. You know, more of these shootings happening in rural settings where it may take longer for EMS to arrive there, get someone to a hospital.

But as you can see from that number and other numbers, these trends are going in the wrong direction. PHILLIP: Yes, it is really disturbing.

But what about the type of gun? Does that matter when it comes to lethality?

GUPTA: It absolutely matters. And I just have to tell you, on a personal note -- I mean, I'm a trauma neurosurgeon. For a portion of my career, there weren't these types of rifles, these assault rifles that were really allowed in the United States. I saw them only while covering conflicts overseas.

But now, as we see them more and more in the United States, you can see that it makes a difference.

Now, let me be clear the vast majority of homicides -- and that's what the study looked at, just homicides, as opposed to self-inflicted wounds -- they are still caused by handguns, you know, a significant, significant percentage of them.

But what has changed is twofold. One is, over the last several years, the number of people who have died by handguns has stayed relatively the same, relatively stable. Whereas the number of people who have died from these assault rifles has doubled, for example, since 2015.

So it's a smaller percentage, but it's a growing percentage. And part of the reason, I think, will be obvious to most people. These are just much more powerful weapons.

[13:49:59]

In fact, we measure something known as foot-pound force when -- when looking at these munitions. And what you see is, with an A.R.-15, for example, on the bottom line there, it just has so much more energy as compared to a .9 millimeter handgun.

And that makes a huge difference, obviously, Abby, when caring for somebody or getting them to the hospital as quickly as possible.

PHILLIP: Yes, absolutely. And I think we all kind of saw that firsthand in Nashville with the six deaths caused by six shots from that A.R.-15 weapons.

Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much.

GUPTA: You got it.

PHILLIP: And we'll be right back.

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[13:55:17]

PHILLIP: Investigators in Florida now say they are closing in on an arrest following the shooting deaths of three teenage friends. Their bodies all found just miles apart. Marion County deputies found 16-year-old Layla Silvernail shot late Thursday. She was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, but she later died from her injuries.

And hours later, after finding Silvernail, they found the body of her friend, a 17-year-old boy. He had also been shot.

And days later, police found a vehicle partially submerged in a pond. And inside, they found the body of a third friend, who had also been shot.

Police had previously said that they believed the deaths could be tied to what they called "hybrid gangs." But they say that they might have a suspect being arrested soon.

But that does it for me. Don't go anywhere. We'll have much more news straight ahead.

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