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Louisville, Kentucky Police: 4 Killed, 9 Wounded, 3 Critically, In Bank Shooting; Police: Suspect Was Livestreaming During Bank Shooting; Rival Rulings On Access To Medication Abortion Pill In U.S. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 10, 2023 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

DR. JASON SMITH, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE HEALTH: Because as again, we are all Louisvillians. I want to thank everyone again for what they do for us every day. We are a wonderful and integral part of this city. And I am proud to be part of Louisville Health. And I am proud to be part of Louisville Hospital. So, with that, thank you, and I'll turn it over for questions.

MAYOR CRAIG GREENBERG (D) LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY: Thank you very much Dr. Smith, we're prepared to take a few questions from the media.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obviously, great surgery. Do we know about officer away?

SMITH: I believe everyone who had had surgery today are still sedated. No one is currently awake. It's still very early in this process from any of that information. Really the next 24 hours for all involved in this who required an operation are going to be the critical time period for us to understand really how well they're going to recover from this acute part of their overall care. They've got long roads ahead of them. But if we can get through 24 hours, then we will take another 24 hours. And we will keep doing that until they get out of the hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You mentioned nonlife threatening for those other things downs. For the average person, does that mean gun shopping's cannot be considered nonlife threatening in this case?

SMITH: Yes, you can have gunshot wounds that are nonlife threatening. Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And for these three?

SMITH: We had -- we treated a total of five gunshot wounds today from this scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One place you what is that moment like? Here and not so was shot in the head and then ultimately to hear that for now he is stable, but you got it appears he may make it through this. What are your thoughts there?

JACQUELYN GWINN-VILLAROEL, INTERIM CHIEF, LOUISVILLE METRO POLICE: That is one of the worst moments within any police chief's tenure being in this position. So, hear that any of your officers have been injured in any kind of way but critically injured. But it's also too, it rubs me and it just rocks my world to have anybody being injured and losing their life. And so, I am just truly -- I have so much respect for the families because they were still present. And we're very appreciative of what was done and how LMPD responded today. And they were actually embracing me as I was embracing them.

But let me say this. The evil that took place today, we shouldn't hear the tears that were coming out from these families. And that right there sticks because they are weeping because someone decided that they wanted to take life today. And so -- but with that, I'm very grateful and hopeful, and I'm thankful to the doctor for stabilizing so many that could have possibly lost their life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

GWINN-VILLAROEL: I don't know whether the shooter got the weapon from but I just can say that it was a rifle used as I mentioned earlier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you talk more about what happened inside the bank prior to this you make this morning.

GWINN-VILLAROEL: Repeat that again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you talk more about what happened inside the bank. So, he fired at the police?

GWINN-VILLAROEL: Again, this is an ongoing investigation and again as like, the government -- governor has stated we want to focus in on the families. We want to focus in right now on what happened and as this investigation continues to unfold, then we'll be able to reveal a little bit more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) on Instagram that they sensed that (INAUDIBLE) was he communicating on Instagram before?

GWINN-VILLAROEL: I will say this that the suspect was livestreaming. And unfortunately, that's tragic. To know that that incident was out there and captured. And so, we're hopeful that we can have that incident removed -- that footage room.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the time of shooter in this case been searched, haven't discovered anything, a manifesto (INAUDIBLE).

GWINN-VILLAROEL: Again, it's still ongoing within this investigation, still unfolding, and so I don't want to get into any additional particulars at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) another thing like this live, and you realized who he was. Did he have any encounters with the police departments in his past?

GWINN-VILLAROEL: From my understanding right now, preliminarily wise -- that may change -- but my understanding we have not had any prior engagement with this individual. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Technically or assistant approval?

GWINN-VILLAROEL: He worked at Old National Bank. And so, I am assuming right now that he was a citizen of Louisville.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there probably is a search warrant conducted on his home as of today.

GWINN-VILLAROEL: I don't want to get into particulars on that investigation portion of it, but again, it's ongoing. So, I respect your questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) police office say and they were saying, I'm not going do this more closely to the bank?

[15:35:00]

GWINN-VILLAROEL: Yes.

GREENBERG: And the officers.

GWINN-VILLAROEL: And the officers, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was the suspect shot and killed by police.

GWINN-VILLAROEL: Yes, sir.

Yes sir.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chief, where there guards inside? (INAUDIBLE) how is this person?

GWINN-VILLAROEL: I'm not familiar with any other additional security with that inside the location. But again, let's focus back on this initial incident right here that we were responded to in a timely, quick fashion, and we stopped the threat so that no additional loss of life could be taken.

GREENBERG: We will continue -- we will continue to provide updates as we have more information. This has been a very active day where we are, as the governor in chief said. We are using every resource available. From local, state and federal agencies to provide all of these answers to the entire community, to the loved ones who lost victims today. And so, we are going to get back to work. We'll continue to keep you all up to date as we have more information. Thank you all very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

GREENBERG: We will let you know when the next update is going to be shortly. Thank you all.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Are you -- you've been watching this live press conference coming out of Louisville, Kentucky. It's been a very emotional journey for everyone involved there from the governor who lost one of his friends in this shooting that has claimed five lives, including the gunman, who was just 23 years old and was an employee of the Old National Bank before using what the interim police chief said, Was a rifle going in and firing upon people there. Four people killed. And you heard the mayor there who also was very emotional about all that transpired there.

And among those who are injured and in critical condition, a 26-year- old police officer who just graduated from the academy and the interim police chief there, talking about how she had just recently sworn him in on March 31st. A very emotional day. So many lives that have been impacted from the shooting that took place earlier today.

Our Omar Jimenez is there in Louisville. Also, back with us is our CNN, senior crime and justice correspondent, Shimon Prokupecz. So, we begin with you, Omar. And of course, we've got a host of people. Andrew McCabe and Chief Charles Ramsey as well. Omar, to you first there in Louisville.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When he said that this was an evil act of targeted violence. As you mentioned this was an emotional press conference where we heard from a number of public officials here. But also, we learned the names of the victims, the four that were killed here again outside of the shooter. And those names Josh Barrick, Tommy Elliott, Juliana Farmer, James Tutt.

Now Tommy Elliott in particular, we had heard there may have been a connection between the Governor Andy Beshear here in Kentucky, and at least one of the victims here. While the governor laid bare exactly what that connection was calling Tommy, one of his closest friends. That Tommy helped Governor Andy Beshear build his law career early on that that obviously he is the governor of the state and has public capacity to govern and to help law enforcement agencies and others run the state and respond here. But clearly, he was feeling it at a personal level as well.

And it was summed up when he said: While I will grieve when I'm able, I'm also incredibly grateful to the law enforcement that rushed in.

And you mentioned the other critical aspect of this, there are people that were injured, one of them at least critically. So, we know one of the law enforcement officers that responded, his name's Nickolas Wilt. He was 26 years old, just graduated from the police academy, as we learned from the interim police chief, that was shot in the head here, and as we understand he is out of brain surgery but is still in critical and stable condition.

The head of the University of Louisville Health Center said that at this point, every single person they've received, none of them have expired or have died, progressed to that level at this point. Though he does not know what the days ahead will hold. And that last part is what will keep people in this community here on edge. Trying to see will my loved one returned from the hospital? How will we move forward? Of course, with those that were killed, remembering those that were killed but also for those that survived trying to process what happened in just a matter of minutes this morning before the bank opened, Fredricka. WHITFIELD: All right, Omar. And Shimon, we heard in that press

conference, it took only three minutes before officers were there to respond to the shooting that took place. We still haven't learned much about the shooter, except that it was a current employee of that bank. We didn't hear anything about the access that he had to this Old National Bank or even what they believe the motivation was.

[15:40:05]

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: So, I think what we're seeing here from the police department and the mayor and the city officials is a focus on the victims. The fact that you have a governor who knew one of the victims. You have the mayor who knew one of the victims. And this city you can really tell it's affected so many different officials.

So, I think one of the things that they're doing here is they're -- they really want to get everything together and focus more on the victims at this point. And what we've learned is 23 years old, some significant information in the sense that he is a current employee. So that's significant, right? So, easily should have access to the building.

The other thing that we've learned that I think is significant. We've been hearing rumblings of this earlier that the shooter was livestreaming this. So, law enforcement appears to have this. They appear to be reviewing it. So that is going to provide a lot of clues.

But I also think what's so important in all of this is this officer Nickolas Wilt, 26 years old, just 10 days on the job. And just to understand what's going on in Louisville is, you know, this police department in Louisville is reeling. I mean, they've had a lot of problems. They've been investigated by the federal government for civil rights violations. So, for them to see their officers react this way in such a forceful manner in such a speedy manner. An officer who put his life on the line got shot in the head. And the police chief they are saying that those officers' actions saved lives.

And time and time again, this is what we're seeing in a lot of these mass shootings. The officers have to be on the front line and really the only hope to preventing more murder, more violence.

And the fact, you know, that I was certainly struck by the fact that when the police chief took to the podium there and that she was thanking her officers for showing up. She said, thank you for showing up. If we don't do it, who will? And then, she said this should not continue to happen. And so, so many police departments across the country now having to deal with this, having to face such horrific violence on a daily basis. And the fact that a police chief is thanking her officers for showing up. I thought it was kind of pretty significant. Especially there because they are definitely, definitely suffering.

And obviously there's still so much that we need to learn about the motive here and what was going on inside that bank that brought this horrific event. But it really -- I thought it was really interesting that what she said there and with the mayor said, and the governor is just a focus on the victims here today and what happened to these families.

WHITFIELD: It is powerful. And Chief Ramsey, while the focus publicly -- we're hearing from all of these representatives. The focus is on the victims and again, those who died ranging in ages between 53 and 64, aside from the 23-year-old employee of the Old National Bank, who was also killed. Still unclear whether the gunman shot himself or whether police shot him.

But while publicly that is the sentiment. Focus on the victims. Give us an idea of what is taking place behind the scenes right now, with the investigation to learn access to the gunman had to the bank. The motivation, any kind of footprint or any kind of red flags that led up to this.

Charles Ramsey, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, that's all part of the investigation, but this occurred in the bank and banks have cameras everywhere. And so, I'm sure they're reviewing the video footage. It was mentioned that this individual was livestreaming so they're looking at that as well.

So, there are a lot of things going on right now, behind the scenes in terms of trying to really paint a picture. Get a timeline together of what took place and so forth.

I also want to commend the chief for taking time and recognizing the difficulty that it is that this taking place for police not just in Louisville, but around the country, and I too want to thank them all for showing up. Because without him who knows what would take place, and this is an example that despite all the different controversy and criticisms and so forth, when the call goes out, they respond and they responded in a very heroic manner. And you've got a young police officer less than two weeks on the job shot in the head and my prayers are with him and his family that he's able to recover.

But again, that's just extraordinary courage shown by the men and women of Louisville.

WHITFIELD: that name again That's right. All of our prayers going out on those on the front lines, particularly this young man, Nickolas Wilt -- I believe I heard that properly -- Wilt, 26-year-old officer is recovering from that head injury.

[15:45:00]

You know, too often after all of this -- I mean, no one can ever explain, Andrew McCabe, why things like this happen, and that question continues to be asked to us following this. Because through our own, you know, team of investigators here at CNN, we've learned that this 23-year-old, you know, had worked for more than a year at the bank. And apparently, he wrote on his LinkedIn profile that he interned at Old National Bank in Louisville for three consecutive summers between 2018 and 2020. So, there's a real relationship between this gunman and this bank and the people working there. And no one, not even a former high school classmate, who has known him

for a long time, including family members, said there were -- none of them said there were any sort of red flags or signals that this could ever happen. So now how might investigators try to get to the bottom when already people who know him are coming out to say we didn't see any red flags? What will they be looking for? What are the stones that will be turned to determine what may have provoked this? What preceded this?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Sure, so it's -- that is the question that's top of mind for investigators not only in the Louisville Metro PD but also in the in the FBI and ATF and everybody who's helping here. So, I think the one thing that really, maybe points towards the significance of this person's potential social media accounts and postings is the fact that he livestreamed this attack.

Now we don't know all the details about exactly what was put up on the livestream just yet, but clearly like just to engage in that that is an act of expressing to the world what you're doing and why you're doing it. And if he was that committed to making a public display of his violence, then it's also likely that he's left a trail of writings or statements or communications to other people. Be they on social media or in journals or in private emails and text messages and things like that. So those are some of the things that investigators are trying to get access to.

Right now, they'll be serving legal process on internet service providers and email providers and phone companies. If this person likely had a smartphone or a mobile device, they will be trying to access any electronic devices that are found at his residence or in his vehicle. Computers, telephones, iPads, things like that. And really looking for statements that would shed some light over why this target? Why are these people? Why today?

And I should also say, Fred, the livestreaming is -- once again we're seeing a mass shooting that is showing clear connections or echoes to prior mass shootings infamously the Christchurch, New Zealand, mass shooter, livestreamed his attack on two separate mosques in Christchurch.

Then we had the Tops supermarket shooter in Buffalo, New York, who also livestreamed his attack and in his own manifesto copied some of the language from the Christchurch shooter's manifesto. So, you may see those same sorts of themes echoing with this individual. It's possible the livestreaming with some sort of a connection to an awareness of others who have gone before him down this spiral path.

WHITFIELD: Yes, the trails and the blueprints of a premeditation. All right, thanks to all of you, Andy McCabe, Chief Charles Ramsey, Shimon Prokupecz, and Omar Jimenez. Appreciate it, thank you so much.

And a stunning suggestion in the wake of a controversial court decision on the abortion pill. Could the FDA simply ignore a judge's decision and let the medication stay on the market? I'll speak to a spokesperson from the National Right to Life, next. [15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A pair of contradictory court decisions is creating confusion and outrage in the fight for abortion access in this country. In Texas, a federal judge is halting the FDA's approval of the drug mifepristone by the end of this week. It's one of the main medications used to provide abortions for the past 20 years. The Department of Justice is arguing for an emergency stay.

Where attorneys write, quote: If allowed to take effect, the court's order with thwart FDA's scientific judgment and severely harm women, particularly those for whom mifepristone is a medical or practical necessity. This harm would be felt throughout the country, given that mifepristone has lawful uses in every state.

But there is a conflicting new court ruling out of Washington state. The federal judge, there protecting access to the drug in 17 Democratic led states and the District of Columbia, which sued to protect medication abortion.

I'm joined now by Laura Echevarria. She is a spokeswoman for the National Right to Life. Good to see you. So, there's a presumption with this question. Why are you comfortable with a court deciding the availability of any drug that has already won FDA approval?

LAURA ECHEVARRIA, SPOKESWOMAN, NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE: Well as the court noted, and even the judge in the Washington case noted, there are inconsistencies. In fact, Judge Rice specifically said in his decision -- and this is the one coming out of Washington state -- that there are inconsistencies in this safety history or the safety priorities or the safety profile of the drug. And so, even the judge in Washington state noticed that there were inconsistencies in the FDA's record.

We do know that the drug has the ability to harm women. It certainly takes the life of an unborn child. But it has the potential to harm a woman. And we're talking about a drug that is given to a woman who is healthy and has a healthy pregnancy. And it's not a drug designed to cure an illness. It's not just a drug designed to cure a disease. It's not designed to save a life. The purpose of the development of the drug is to take human life. And at this time, this drug only has one other use. It's used in Cushing's disease. And other than that, the priority behind approval for the drug and the development of the drug was as an abortive patient. So, its role is to take life and not preserve it.

WHITFIELD: Well, the judge is not a doctor. And there might be some women who argue that it actually might preserve life because they maybe have a fetus that is not viable. It may not survive its entire term. And it may be that that drug is going to help save the woman's life.

ECHEVARRIA: No, the drug is used -- the conditions that frequently are cited, in fact, personally, all three of my pregnancies. I had a life- threatening medical condition with all three of mine and each one of those instances the doctor determines to get you to a certain point in pregnancy and then what people do is a cesarean or do induced, in order to be able to do what doctors referred to as a separation event.

So, this drug, however, is used early enough in pregnancy that generally these conditions don't show up until later. One of which is pre-eclampsia or pregnancy induced hypertension, eclampsia.

[15:55:00]

Those usually show up later in the pregnancy, so the conditions that you're referring to would not necessarily present this early in the pregnancy. This drug is designed to take human lives. The problem is that as this judge noted, and the judge in Washington state noted, both judges noted that the drug has safety issues. And that is something that is a great concern. Because as I've mentioned, these are healthy women with healthy pregnancies who are taking this drug.

WHITFIELD: OK, so it has. It has been used for two decades and our CNN medical team even was able to develop some research that shows that there are fewer risks that come with mifepristone, then with penicillin or even Viagra and we even heard recently -- there's a graphic -- we even heard recently this morning from a member of Congress, Nancy Mace, who has gotten two endorsements from your organization committee, and she thinks otherwise now about the availability. Listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): This is an FDA approved drug. I support the usage of FDA approved drugs even if we might disagree. It's not up to us to decide as legislators or even, you know, as the court system that whether or not this is the right drugs use or not, number one. So, I agree with ignoring it at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, so what's your response? She says, ignore that ruling and women should continue to use this drug. Doctor should continue to dispense it.

ECHEVARRIA: I think first of all, the -- I know the administration, Secretary Becerra said something along those lines as well. I think it is -- it is foolhardy to move forward with a drug that does have these the safety profile issues. It is something that, like I said, both judges noted, based on the evidence presented to them, that this is an issue. Again, we are talking about a drug that has a safety profile that puts women in harm's way. Even the studies that have been done by abortion -- the abortion industry you're looking at 5 to 10 percent -- there's a Canadian study that used -- that found 10 percent of women have severe side effects that can put them in the hospital.

So, you take that and you extrapolate those numbers. We're talking 54 percent of all abortions and the last numbers we have, the abortion number in the United States is over 900,000 abortions per year. You take that number you could look at somewhere between 45,000 and 90,000 women ending up in the emergency room. That is unacceptable for a drug that is not designed to cure disease. Not designed to cure an illness. Not designed to save a life. And instead, is designed to take human lives. It is unacceptable to bring women --

WHITFIELD: It is also being used in fibroid cases and also in some cases of treating brain injuries.

ECHEVARRIA: There is a there is a drug called Korlym that is used in the Cushing's disease, and it is mifepristone, but the dosages higher.

WHITFIELD: All right, we're going to leave it there for now, Laura Echevarria, thank you so much.

All right, "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right after this.