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Shooting Interrupts Juneteenth Event In Chicago; Pennsylvania State Trooper Killed In Shootout; Secretary Blinken Holds High-Stakes Talks In Beijing; Supreme Court To Issue Several Major Rulings; Americans Prepare To Celebrate Juneteenth; New Developments On The Juneteenth Event Shooting In Illinois; The Rise Of Social Media In The 2010s. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired June 18, 2023 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:43]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening.

It's been yet another deadly weekend in America. Mass acts of gun violence playing out across the country from Washington state to Pennsylvania to St. Louis to Illinois to Georgia. And the long holiday weekend is far from over. In the Chicago suburb of Willow Brook, one person is dead and at least 22 others injured after gunfire erupted overnight during what witnesses described as a Juneteenth celebration.

CNN's Camila Bernal joins us now.

Camila, what are we learning about this incident?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jim. So we're learning there could possibly be more than one shooter in this incident. Authorities saying that an unknown number of suspects fired multiple rounds on multiple weapons. Officials also saying that officers were at this Juneteenth celebration. It started at 6:00 p.m., and they were there the entire time except that at 12:25 p.m., they received -- or a.m., excuse me, they received a 911 call, and this 911 call reported this alleged fight.

And so the officers that were there went to respond to the 911 call, and while they were doing that, they heard the gunfire. So they returned to this area as quickly as possible. It was chaotic. Unfortunately one person dead, 22 injured. But officials also saying that more people were hurt as they were trying to get away and escape the chaos.

Here is how one witness is describing this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARKESHIA AVERY, WITNESS: It was supposed to be like a Juneteenth celebration, and literally we were actually getting ready to go. As we were getting ready to go, we gathered everybody else that was with us. We just started hearing shooting come from behind us. So we dropped down. We dropped down until they stopped. They just kept going. After that, we literally scattered away and just started trying to check on everybody that we knew.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: Authorities said that 12 ambulances were on-scene. Some of the victims were transported by medical personnel. Others were there on foot, had to go to the hospital. But there's still a lot to investigate here. Authorities saying they're speaking to witnesses and trying to piece everything together -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Wow, 12 ambulances. That's just a very depressing metric from that story.

Camila Bernal, thank you very much. And we'll have a live report, we should note to our viewers, we'll have a live report from Chicago in just a little bit on all of this.

In the meantime, overnight in St. Louis, Missouri, police say 10 teenagers were shot downtown. The victims ranging in age from 15 to 19 years old. One 17-year-old died from his injuries and another teen was critically injured after being trampled as people rushed to get away. Police say they recovered several weapons, including an AR-15-style weapon. Right now they have a 17-year-old suspect in custody.

And last hour I spoke with the St. Louis mayor, herself the mother of a teenage boy, and I asked her to talk about whether or not we've all become desensitized to gun violence in this country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR TISHUARA JONES (D), ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: That's part of the problem. The NRA and the pockets of people we elect to send to Congress to represent us is part of the problem. And the gun industry cannot be held liable. As President Biden said last week when he spoke to a gun safety conference, the gun industry is the only industry that is not liable for the havoc that they're wreaking on our cities and on this country. We have to stand up at some point and say enough is enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And amid all of this chaos, another alarming act of violence to tell you about this weekend in Pennsylvania that left one state trooper dead and another hospitalized in critical condition. It began when a man showed up at a police station barracks and began firing rounds into patrol cars. When the man fled, troopers went into pursuit.

And CNN's Polo Sandoval joins us now and picks up the story from there.

Polo, just -- really just an incredible story here. What happened when officers tracked down the suspect?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, this was a nearly four-hour ordeal that played out yesterday that culminated in a violent shoot- out between a hunting, rifle-wielding suspect, and Pennsylvania state troopers in a scene that was described earlier today as as harrowing as it gets.

[18:05:03]

It all started with 11:00 a.m. yesterday when a suspect, a 38-year-old Pennsylvania man armed with a hunting rifle pulled into a parking lot at the barracks of a Pennsylvania state police in Lewiston which is about 57 miles west of the city of Harrisburg. He opened fire according to authorities, and shooting the patrol cars in the parking lot and then quickly drove away.

Nearly two hours later, the suspect then took aim at Lieutenant James Wagner, a married father, who's a 21-year-old veteran, shot him and critically wounded him. He's currently in the hospital right now. Witnesses even jumping in to use the lieutenant's radio to call for help. And then later at about 3:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon, that's when authorities tracked down the suspect near a restaurant, near some businesses.

The suspect shot and killed Pennsylvania State Trooper Jacques Rougeau, a 29-year-old member of that force, before authorities were then able to shoot that 38-year-old suspect.

I want you to hear how one of the supervisors describes what was just that violent clash that took place with potentially just dozens upon dozens of rounds being fired.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. GEORGE BIVENS, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: What I witnessed -- and I will tell you in my many years with the Pennsylvania state police and many serious situations -- was one of the most intense, unbelievable gunfights I have ever witnessed.

As he -- Stein drove through a field, approached Harshbarger Store and a small restaurant there, he drove to the parking lot. There were people in the lot that were patronizing that business. Our troopers put themselves between those people and by force, with their vehicles, and by engaging him, forced him away from the business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: That senior member of the force was actually involved in that manhunt yesterday, saying that it is just an absolute miracle that no bystanders, no civilians were injured in that shooting.

In terms of the motive, Jim, which is a big question here, they say that they're not quite ready to get to that yet, but it was essentially a game of cat and mouse as the suspect was calling into 911 centers, telling troopers that he was in a location, they'd get there and then he was gone. So now they continue moving forward with this investigation. One trooper fighting for his life, another dead. The suspect also killed in the shooting.

ACOSTA: All right. Polo Sandoval, thank you very much.

In the meantime, high-stakes and slim odds of a breakthrough. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing today for what both sides call candid and constructive talks. They met for more than five hours amid a historic spike in tensions between the two countries. China's foreign minister told Blinken that relations are at their lowest point since the two countries established former diplomatic relations in 1979.

And CNN's Ivan Watson is in Hong Kong for us.

Ivan, what more can you tell us about this meeting?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a rocky road to get to this meeting. It was supposed to take place in February. But then that Chinese surveillance balloon appeared over the U.S. Well, after some preliminary talks, this did finally take place.

It was actually more than seven hours where the officials were face to face. And judging by the statement coming out of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, it sounds like there seems to be a common interest at stabilizing relations, historically bad relations, between the world's two largest economies.

So the Chinese Foreign Ministry is saying, hey, we want to get back on track to that kind of spirit of cooperation that was established when President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met in Bali back in November. They were talking about a need to be able to handle unexpected and sporadic events in a calm, professional, and rational manner.

That is the kind of rhetoric we were hearing from the State Department going into this, saying the number one goal that Secretary Blinken had was to create lines of communication to avoid something going wrong like an incident involving U.S. and Chinese warplanes and warships in the South China Sea from spiraling out of control.

So the first glimmers of something at least positive, an improvement on what had really been not a deteriorating relationship up until now.

ACOSTA: All right. Ivan Watson, we'll see where the talks go from here. Thank you very much.

Let's dig into this more with Leon Panetta, former defense secretary, former CIA director.

Leon, great to see you as always. You know, the Chinese foreign minister apparently said relations between China and the U.S. are at an all-time low. I suppose they're trying to say that it's because of the United States if that's the case. But what's your response to that?

LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, there's no question this is an icy relationship, and it's probably an icy reception that Secretary Blinken is getting.

[18:10:06]

But it's also important to see if we can break some of this ice to try to create better communication and dialogue because not having the ability to communicate, particularly when there's a crisis of some kind, only creates a situation that could result in some kind of more serious conflict. So I'm glad that the secretary is doing this. I'm glad that they're making some progress. It's probably not going to end some of the disputes that we have with China. But if we can at least begin to talk with one another, that will be progress.

ACOSTA: And the Chinese foreign minister says he urged the U.S. to deliver on its commitment to not support Taiwan's independence movement. Over the past few months, political leaders from both sides of the aisle have made these trips to Taiwan, even met with the Taiwanese president.

What do you think, Mr. Secretary? Should those visits continue?

PANETTA: Well, I don't think there's going to be any limits with regards to those who want to go to Taiwan. They have that right to do it. We're a democracy. We can travel wherever we want, and I think those that want to do that should have that opportunity. I think the most important message to send to China is that we still believe in the one China approach and that, you know, we understand where Taiwan sits.

But at the same time, we've made clear that because of our relationship with Taiwan, that any attack on Taiwan will be met not just by the Taiwanese but by the United States as well. That's an important message to keep sending as we try to improve our dialogue with China.

ACOSTA: And I -- you know, I covered President Obama going to China to meet with the Chinese leader there. President Trump going to China to meet with Xi Jinping. It wasn't all that controversial for the U.S. president to do that sort of thing. Should President Biden meet with Xi Jinping in light of all of these tensions, or does the administration need to hold back on that until there's a change of behavior coming out of Beijing?

PANETTA: Obviously you want to see how the relationship continues to go following this very important meeting at a high level. But there is an opportunity in November, because of the APEC meeting in San Francisco, that it could very well be an opportunity for President Xi and President Biden to have a meeting. I think that would be a good thing, and I hope they're able to work out that kind of meeting in November.

ACOSTA: Let me ask you about the case involving former President Trump and his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Mark Esper, former Defense secretary, spoke with CNN earlier today about whether Trump should be trusted with national security secrets if these charges are proven true. Let's listen to that. We'll talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ESPER, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, based on his actions, again, if proven true, under the indictment by the special counsel, no. I mean it's just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation's security at risk. You cannot have these documents floating around. They need to be secured.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Should Donald Trump ever have access again to classified documents, top-secret documents of the United States?

PANETTA: Absolutely not. He's been incredibly reckless, irresponsible, careless in the way he's handled classified documents. You know, he's behaved like a 6-year-old trying to hide cookies from his mother. I mean it's just -- it's just unexplainable why he would do what he did.

Just reading the indictment makes clear that with 37 counts, that this president definitely put our national security at risk. And as a result of that, frankly he should not be trusted with classified documents now or in the future.

ACOSTA: But if he becomes president again, he would have access to all of those things, and there's not much you could do about it. What do you make of that prospect?

PANETTA: Well, I'm still trying to understand how somebody who's convicted of a crime and is in prison could still be president of the United States. So, you know, I just cannot see the American people electing somebody who is convicted of a serious offense against the country. After all, presidents are supposed to uphold the law, not violate the law.

[18:15:07]

ACOSTA: And we had a former CIA officer, a former Republican congressman, Will Hurd, on our program yesterday. And I know you were the CIA director at one time. And he said that Donald Trump absolutely put the lives of CIA officers at risk. Do you think that that's the case? Do you think this refusal to hand back documents perhaps jeopardized the safety, security of CIA officers in the field around the world?

PANETTA: I don't think there's any question. I mean, you know, he had these boxes located on a stage at Mar-a-Lago where there were events taking place. He had them in bedrooms. He had them in showers. He had them in bathrooms. He had them located all over that place. And there's a lot of people that would have access to those documents. 150 staff at Mar-a-Lago plus the various events that were held at Mar-a- Lago.

Look, make no mistake about it. If I was CIA director and I found out that Putin had a bunch of boxes with classified information lying around in Moscow, we would make every effort to try to see if we can get a hold of those kinds of classified documents. So it wouldn't surprise me if our adversaries made efforts to try to get a hold of these kinds of very sensitive documents.

ACOSTA: If you were leading an intelligence agency with a foreign adversary, what you're saying, Secretary Panetta, is that you would find the prospect of classified documents, top-secret documents lying around at Mar-a-Lago to be a tantalizing prospect?

PANETTA: It would be a hell of a target, too, to find out if an adversary was having classified documents in open boxes in areas that were subject to all kinds of people having access to. So, yes, it's definitely a target, and it's for that reason that our national security was put at risk because we don't know right now whether or not adversaries gained access to that kind of information. But it was handled in a reckless manner.

It was handled in a way that made that a possibility that an adversary might try to get access to that information. And if that happens, as Secretary Esper said, it would jeopardize lives. We put sources out there to try to get intelligence. They put their lives on the line. The last thing we should do is to jeopardize the information that they provide in a way that could lead to losing their lives. President Trump put lives at risk.

ACOSTA: All right. Leon Panetta, thanks very much for your time. As always we appreciate it.

PANETTA: Good to be with you, Jim. Happy Father's Day.

ACOSTA: And you as well. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Coming up, from student loans to affirmative action to state power in federal elections, the Supreme Court is set to issue decisions on a series of critical issues. We'll walk through some of the most consequential potential rulings next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:22:40]

ACOSTA: All eyes on the Supreme Court as the nine justices race to issue opinions on a number of outstanding cases before the court's self-imposed deadline next month. The 6-3 conservative majority is keeping many on the edge of their seats as major high-profile cases have yet to be decided and are likely to lead to fiery opinions and dissents.

CNN's Supreme Court reporter Ariane de Vogue is here in the studio to help us break it all down.

Thanks for coming in on Father's Day. We appreciate it. But it seems like there's a lot for the justices to get through before this July deadline. Do they have enough time?

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT CORRESPONDENT: Look, all eyes are on this conservative court just to see just how fast and how far the conservatives want to move this court to the right. You know, we have two more weeks. They usually leave the most divisive cases for the end, and that's coming up.

ACOSTA: And two cases getting the most attention involve higher education, could impact millions of people. What's at stake?

DE VOGUE: So two of the cases have to do with affirmative action, and they ask this question. Can colleges and universities continue to take race into consideration as a factor in college admissions, right? The schools say -- the two plans have to do with the University of North Carolina and Harvard, and the schools say, look, we have a compelling interest to take diversity into consideration. It leads to a better learning environment, and as Elena Kagan said during oral arguments, you know, the schools are a pipeline to society. We need diversity.

But on the other side, you have these challengers, and they basically say, look, this is a violation of equal protection. It amounts to discrimination based on race. They say it thwarts the idea of a color blind society, so they think that it should be struck, that schools can no longer take race into consideration. And the justices once again are considering precedent, right? And it comes a year after they overturned Roe v. Wade. So once again we're looking at that.

And another case has to do with President Biden's student loan forgiveness program. You remember he pushed that. That was a big deal, offering perhaps $20,000 for people who qualified for it. And basically Republican-led states came back and they went right to the lower courts. They asked it to be put on hold because they said that you can't -- that the Biden administration didn't have this kind of authority, that he couldn't just move and basically get rid of billions of dollars' worth of debt.

[18:25:08]

So that's before the court, and we saw at oral arguments, the conservative justices there, they were very skeptical of Biden's plan. And of course it comes just at the run-up to the next election. So that's a really interesting case to watch.

ACOSTA: Yes, you always have to watch those signals during those oral arguments. And a Web designer in Colorado is hoping the Supreme Court will side with her in a case that some say targets the LGBTQ community. Tell us about that one.

DE VOGUE: All right. So here you have this graphic designer. She wants to expand her business to celebrate weddings. But she does not want to work with same-sex marriages. She says that she has religious objections to that. So the LGBTQ community, they are very worried because they say if the court rules in her favor, basically giving businesses this license to discriminate, that she shouldn't be able to have an exception to public accommodation laws.

But the graphic designer comes back and she sees the whole dispute through the lens of free speech. She says, look, the government can't force me to create a custom product with a message that goes against my religious beliefs. All eyes are on this case, particularly the LGBTQ community is worried that this court might be stepping forward very slowly to maybe cut back on that major decision from a few years ago that allowed gay marriage nationwide. That's why this case is --

ACOSTA: They're worried about a slippery slope in that area. DE VOGUE: Absolutely.

ACOSTA: And a potential decision could touch on federal elections. I mean that is something that critics of the court have been keeping their eye on. The case of Moore versus Harper could have significant implications as we head into another presidential election year where this is a hot issue. What can you tell us about that?

DE VOGUE: This is an interesting dispute because it involves this long dormant legal theory, right? North Carolina Republicans say that under the federal constitution, state courts can't regulate election rules put forward by state legislatures in federal elections. So what does that mean? Critics say that if the court were to adopt this theory, then potentially it could lead to rogue legislatures.

So it's being carefully watched. There's a chance it might be dismissed because of stuff that's gone on behind the scenes on the ground. But the issue is sure to come back to the court, and it comes to the court at this -- you know, in the run-up to elections. So fast- moving turn. Lots to come.

ACOSTA: And what else are you watching? I have to assume that as all these decisions come down, all eyes are going to be on Clarence Thomas?

DE VOGUE: Clarence Thomas, now he has become sort of the center of the conservative movement. He is under fire by critics who point to recent reports that he accepted these lavish trips and didn't disclose them on his financial disclosure forms. He has really drawn a lot of attention this term. People will be looking at him particularly in that affirmative action case.

ACOSTA: Yes. Absolutely. All right, Ariane de Vogue, great stuff as always. We know you're going to be very busy.

DE VOGUE: Yes.

ACOSTA: Thanks very much. We appreciate it.

Coming up, a perspective on why we commemorate the holiday Juneteenth and a reality check on where America's reckoning with race stands today. That's coming up.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:32:48]

ACOSTA: Tomorrow, Americans will commemorate Juneteenth, the annual holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans in the United States. For many the holiday represents a profound moment of triumph but it also serves as a reminder for our nation's often painful history.

Joining us now to talk about this is journalist Victor Luckerson. He's the author of the new book "Built from the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa's Greenwood District, America's Black Wall Street."

Victor, great to see you. We'll talk about the book in a sec. But I want to start asking you about why this holiday has grown in importance and whether it's likely to take on greater significance in the future. You're seeing more Juneteenth celebrations happening around the country and people are finally understanding what it's all about. Let's talk about that.

VICTOR LUCKERSON, AUTHOR, "BUILT FROM THE FIRE": Yes. You know, Juneteenth really is an essential holiday for black America. It began during the civil war when slaves in Galveston, Texas, first learned that they were free. But it's important to understand when those slaves learned that, the war had actually been ended for months. You know, freedom came but it came with a catch. And that's surely been the story of black America for so long.

You know, even in Greenwood, the community that I've been writing about for so long, in Tulsa, they've been celebrating Juneteenth for more than 100 years. It's a holiday that really holds a lot of value for folks and it began in that heart of Texas but has really spread all over the country. You know, we saw the holiday itself expand so much in national awareness in 2020 when President Trump decided to come to Tulsa on Juneteenth holiday, you know, to much conflict in the community.

I was there on the streets of Tulsa actually when Trump was there. I saw how much that decision really hurt the community. But, you know, something that came out of that that was positive is the fact that so many more folks in our nation are now aware of Juneteenth, honoring it, celebrating it, And I think that's a great thing.

ACOSTA: Yes. And you moved to Tulsa, is that right, to help tell the story of what happened in Greenwood, one of the wealthiest black communities in the U.S., where hundreds of black people were murdered by a white mob more than 100 years ago. And occasionally you hear from people from time to time, white people who say, I didn't know about that. I hadn't heard about this.

What did you learn when you spoke to some of the community's current residents, and what do you make of how people are finally understanding what took place in one of the most notorious acts of mob violence against the black community in American history?

[18:35:09]

LUCKERSON: You know, Jim, I think every single person, when they learn about the Tulsa race massacre, the idea that this thriving community could have been laid to waste, 35 square blocks destroyed, up to 300 people killed, when people hear that, the first thing they say is, how did I not know about this?

ACOSTA: Yes.

LUCKERSON: And so it is so important for me as a young journalist to travel to this community, embed myself there, and really try to tell this story in an in-depth way. You know, it's really important for people to understand that, though the Tulsa race massacre was a horrific event, Greenwood cannot only be defined by its trauma and only be defined by those two days. So this story that I put together really captures that community over the course of more than 100 years.

You know, it was such a privilege for me to be able to meet, for example, the Goodwin family. They're the single family that's been in Greenwood, on black Wall Street, for more than a century. They came to Tulsa seeking what all families want, a better education for their children. And so they arrived in Tulsa in 1914. They established a business right there on Greenwood Avenue.

They, like so many others, had their homes and their livelihoods tragically destroyed during the race massacre, but the Goodwins stayed and rebuilt. They helped their neighbors to rebuild, and they're still right there on Greenwood Avenue. And I developed a friendship with Jim Goodwin. He's an 83-year-old attorney in Greenwood. He also owns a newspaper, the "Oklahoma Eagle" that the Goodwin family owns.

So it's really been a pleasure to talk to people like him, who are both so resilient, but also so adamant about the fact that justice has not been served for the people in that community. And we're still seeking reparations, still seeking justice, and still seeking so many things that black folks have been denied in this country really since the civil war and since Juneteenth began being celebrated as a holiday.

ACOSTA: Yes. And as you know, Victor, there's a lot of political pushback coming from the right in this country to teaching kids about this nation's troubled history when it comes to race. What are your thoughts on that? How do we overcome that? Is it possible to overcome that with so much being injected into it politically these days, that subject of teaching about race in America?

LUCKERSON: You know, really it's a tumultuous time, Jim. I spent a lot of time working on my book actually embedded in the state capital. Another member of the Goodwin family, Jim's family is actually a state legislator, Regina Goodwin. She's one of the few black people in the Oklahoma state legislature. And so I was sort of had a firsthand view of this conservative backlash you're talking about.

You know, I saw how in Oklahoma, House Bill 70 and 75 was passed in 2021 saying that if a student felt uncomfortable in the classroom, a teacher could be punished for that. You know, there's just so much ambiguity in the way that these laws are written, and we can sort of see the way that some conservatives are exploiting that ambiguity in order to make it hard for teachers to do their jobs.

You know, one thing that really worries me about this backlash is that in some ways it mirrors what was going on in Oklahoma before 1921. You know, we saw in Oklahoma, a place that was at one point egalitarian, almost utopian in some senses, but then decided to import Jim Crow policies from the Deep South. And it seems like we're kind of seeing something similar today where all these individual states and Republican legislatures are deciding to sort of embed discrimination in various forms into their laws. And so I think what we really need to do as America is to be vigilant

about standing (INAUDIBLE) rhetoric when we see it about opposing laws that are not in our interest and really about, you know, being allies to each other in these tumultuous times.

ACOSTA: Yes. Well, we just have to know about our history. Why not teach about our history? It's our history.

Victor Luckerson, great stuff, great conversation. Thanks so much for your time. We really appreciate it.

LUCKERSON: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Tomorrow night, let's lift up every voice for a special holiday. Tune in for a CNN concert event with some of the biggest names in music. Watch "JUNETEENTH: A GLOBAL CELEBRATION FOR FREEDOM." Live coverage starts tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:43:03]

ACOSTA: More now on the deadly mass shooting near Chicago. One person is dead and at least 22 others injured after gunfire disrupted a Juneteenth celebration.

Reporter Shardaa Gray of CNN affiliate WBBM in Chicago is live for us in Willow Brook.

Shardaa, what can you tell us about what's happening out there? What's the latest?

SHARDAA GRAY, WBBM REPORTER: Well, Jim, right now you can see behind me the scene has kind of calmed down. The police presence has decreased. There are a little bit of officers behind me, but you can see that they also have it blocked off because the scene is just widespread.

I went over towards the area, and you can see that there is just trash and debris spread all over the place. We did speak with a girl, an 18- year-old girl, who said that she didn't want to exactly be on camera, but she did tell us that she was there for the event. She said that this is an annual event. It's peaceful. It happens every year.

But this year, it got out of control. The crowd just became larger by the minute. She said that there were two girls that had gotten into an argument that started fighting, and that's when it escalated to gunshots. As soon as she heard those gunshots, she hit the ground, and she said the gunshots lasted for at least a minute, a minute long. And as soon as these gunshots stopped, she got up and saw at least two to three people laying on the ground, their bodies on the ground.

Instinctively she went over to go and try and help out and see if they were OK. And then she also checked to see if her friends were OK and then went back home after that. And the DuPage County Sheriff's Office, they tell us that there are 23 people that were injured. One person did die. And it's unclear what the motive was leading up to that fight. And it's also unclear if there is a suspect or suspects or if anybody is arrested.

But as you can see, that they are still looking into this. There were a lot of agencies out here that were investigating this, and that's the latest on the details of what we know so far.

[18:45:03]

ACOSTA: Yes. And Shardaa, I know you're still trying to get those details. But of those 22 injured, did they all suffer gunshot wounds, or were some of those folks injured just trying to flee the area? Because I can imagine if this shooting was going on for one minute, as you described, that is just frightening. That must have just been terrifying for those people there.

GRAY: Absolutely, Jim. Yes, terrifying to hear that gunshots for a minute. It's unclear how many people were shot. We do know some people had graze wounds that were injured. We are working to find out those details of those exact numbers on how many people were shot. We do know 23 were injured, but also talking with the community, we spoke with a father who also didn't want to be on camera.

But he did say that he decided to let his daughter go to this gathering, which is a Juneteenth celebration, and he said he wanted her to go out and have fun. But as soon as the crowd got larger and it got out of hand, he told his daughter to head back home. Speaking with other people in the neighborhood, they said that this is an annual event that's supposed to be fun, a Juneteenth celebrating African- American history but it turned into a deadly situation.

Back to you, Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes. Shardaa, I can't imagine what that dad is going through on this Father's Day weekend when you send a child off like that. You don't expect something like to take place.

Shardaa Gray, thank you very much for that report. We appreciate it.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:51:01]

ACOSTA: 2010s was among the most consequential decades in recent history. The rise of social media brought political, social and technological upheaval that redefined American culture. Tonight at 9:00 CNN examines how the last decade changed the way we look at ourselves and the world around us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today's closing bell marked the end of Facebook's first day of trading. Here is Mark Zuckerberg ringing the opening bell of course virtually in California. And no, you can't buy shares on Facebook's Web site.

FARHAD MANJOO, COLUMNIST, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Before Facebook went public, it really grew from essentially nothing to, you know, hundreds of millions of users very quickly because they added a lot of features, they invented a lot of things. It was one of the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley.

MARK ZUCKERBERG, FACEBOOK CEO: We've invested so much in building up infrastructure and tools, and also the culture that tells people to take risks and try things out.

MAX FISHER, AUTHOR, THE CHAOS MACHINE: The one idea that grew these platforms from B list companies of the internet revolution to some of the largest corporations in human history was the newsfeed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And you saw "New York Times" columnist Farhad Manjoo in that clip. He joins us now.

Farhad, great to see you. We now know how complicated and even problematic social media can be but back at the start of the 2010s there was a lot of optimism about social media. We didn't have all of these concerns or as many of the concerns that we have now.

MANJOO: Yes, I mean, it was a time of -- they were the people in Silicon Valley were making the future. I mean, we had just elected the first black president. Obama used social media, you know, to great effect during his campaign. Social media seemed to be, you know, at the start the instigator of the Arab Spring.

There was a sense that, you know, by connecting people around the world you could kind of bring democracy and freedom and information. It really seemed to other people like this could be mostly a positive net benefit for humanity.

ACOSTA: Yes. It hasn't turned out that way as much. And one big problem with social media that became apparent during the 2016 presidential election was the platform's ability to quickly spread fake news, false information, actual fake news. The 2010s series talks about how algorithms were designed specifically to spread those kinds of false posts. What can you tell us about that? Why did they do that?

MANJOO: The kind of the bedrock of the internet business and its social media is advertising that, you know, responds to kind of what users want. So for the social media companies like making money depended on outrage and polarization, virality, and you know, that really didn't have a lot of room for the truth. That wasn't part of the business model. So it was a very different kind of -- you know, it was introducing very different kinds of incentives into the media business.

ACOSTA: And another unintended consequence of social media use we've discovered since the 2010s is the negative impact on mental health, especially with young people. Right?

MANJOO: Yes. I mean, this is an ongoing problem for which we really have no good answer so far.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MANJOO: You know, we have these devices with us all the time. They've changed everything about how we talk to one another, and you know, if you are growing up in this environment where you are watched and are watching everyone else, it sort of stands to reason it's going to change, you know, an enormous amount about our psychology and how we relate to one another, and we just really don't know kind of the long- term effects or -- you know, anything about what to do about the effects currently.

ACOSTA: Yes. Yes, we haven't solved that problem at all. Not with our teenagers, that's for sure.

Farhad Manjoo, great to talk with you. Thanks so much. We really appreciate it.

MANJOO: Thanks a lot.

ACOSTA: All right. And don't miss the new episode of the 2010s. That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

We now know why there are cat burglars but not too many bear burglars.

[18:55:03]

Check out this bear spotted trying to figure out how to escape from an upper story window of a house in Colorado. In the video you can see the bear hanging by its claws from the window sill. Check that out right there. It actually tries to climb out multiple before rethinking the escape route. It finally did escape through another window but on the ground level. So he got a little clever along the way, which is good.

The next hour of NEWSROOM starts after a quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening.

Another holiday weekend in America marred by gun violence from coast to coast. Take a look at this map marking random and mass acts of gun violence that have taken at least five lives and left dozens more injured and traumatized in the long holiday weekend is far from over and the Chicago suburb of Willowbrook.