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Officials Speak After Maine Shooting Suspect Found Dead; Israel Says Forces Still In Gaza Amid Expanded Ground Operation; White House: Still Working To Fre Hostages In Gaza; 18 Victims Of Mass Shooting In Maine Remembered; Israel Reissues Call For People To Evacuate Northern Gaza. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired October 28, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

[10:59:48]

CHIEF RYAN MCGEE, LISBON, MAINE POLICE: I can tell you that we flooded the area with resources. Someone brought up a question about canines. One thing with canines is we don't want to injure scents.

I know I can't give you all of the details of the investigation but I can assure you that there was a lot of teams that searched the area.

On top of -- I will add one thing -- on top of it being an industrial park, numerous different businesses, obviously there is one business that we're interested in, and our tactical teams did clear that building, I mean recycling. And as we pointed out, there was an open door that was found that one of my officers found on the overnights again, and we cleared the building again with several agencies.

But I'll just point out this. While this is all going on, and you have to also understand, everything we do is a methodical approach and be safe and make sure our officers are safe. And we were fielding hundreds of calls at our call center and there was also the tip line that I heard today, how many calls came in there.

As you can imagine, it was an astronomical amount of resources being used across our community, not everybody is in marked police cars, and not everybody is in full uniform, but there was a lot of resources from across New England that was here, including helicopters, moments after I arrived on the scene, that car was located.

So we used every resource that was available, and we, you know, I think it was this gentleman down here, asked me, you know how long are you going to search for, and you expect to find him. Every officer there wasn't going home until we found the individual.

(INAUDIBLE)

MCGEE: So Maine Recycling was cleared Thursday -- it was cleared on Thursday. And then we, my officers -- trying to think at three hours sleep over the course of a few days -- but it was about, it was in the middle of night, I would say 2:30, 3:00 in the morning, my officer found it and we activated everybody to go to that area and we got other resources. I was in constant contact with state police tactical team throughout

this. I was in constant contact with Lieutenant Keaten from the state police, he did an outstanding job. You know, Greg Roy from the Maine state police, outstanding job, communicating information back and forth.

My hats off to the state police because with direct communication to me, my cell phone was great. And it was a coordinated effort, everybody standing behind me, from the federal level, homeland security, FBI, ATF, there was boots on the ground throughout the whole thing assisting our agency.

We all had a common goal to find him. It took two days but we found him and everybody could sleep good last night.

(INAUDIBLE)

MCGEE: I can't remember -- it would have been -- I can narrow down the time line, I don't want to give you the wrong time line, but it was hours after, it was in the middle of the night when they found it so -- yes.

(CROSSTALKING)

MCGEE: The business owner actually called our agency. We ended up speaking to him. I followed up with him. I have spoken to him, yes, that is correct, I have spoken to him. He did reach out to us with that information, correct.

(INAUDIBLE)

MCGEE: Not a trailer. He has an overflow lot of 55 to 60 trailers of crushed up plastic and metal, this is not a lot that is just all empty trailers. So I'm not going to get into more details on that.

Realistically, right now, we should all be really thinking about the victims, you know. We also should be -- you know, the suspect's family as well, they were very forthcoming to law enforcement. You know, we have all of our national news and media partners here and this tragic event that happened here, hats off to the Chief (INAUDIBLE) and his agency, but right now, we want Maine to be remembered as the community that came together after this tragic event.

I was on my way in this morning, to this press conference, and I'm driving through Lisbon, and I see people walking the streets, people sitting on their porches, people waving, thumbs up. It's what community is all about.

So I would say, I'm not going to say too much more at this point. Going to put it back over to him, but moving forward, we should think about the victims. Thanks.

(INAUDIBLE)

MCGEE: One at a time. All right. So first, to answer your question about vigils, I do know one that is at 6:00 tonight at the (INAUDIBLE) site in Lisbon Falls. There's going to be a candlelight vigil being held there in Lisbon to remember the victims that were tragically killed in Lewiston.

[11:04:53]

MCGEE: As far as school, I'm still in communication with the superintendent of schools, I don't have any answer for you on that yet.

And what was your other question?

(INAUDIBLE)

MCGEE: Yes. We have multiple extra officers on, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With your department, with all your (INAUDIBLE) how are you all doing? And what resources are going to be made available, if any, for the people who were working on this case for days on end?

MCGEE: I can tell you that personally, I can speak only for myself, but (INAUDIBLE) in Maine, as well as every crisis counselor has reached out to me for my department. We are scheduling debriefs for my department.

Lisbon was heavily involved, as soon as it happened, they go up and assist Lewiston right at the scenes. So I want to get those officers some assistance, but as you can imagine, nobody on my department wanted to go home until we found that individual. And pretty much I had to force them to go home and take a nap.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) the moment that your officers opened that door of the trailer, how did he make the positive identification?

MCGEE: I won't be able to comment on that because we weren't involved down at the trailer. I will put it back over.

MIKE SAUSCHUCK, COMMISSIONER, MAINE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: Thank you. I appreciate that. So the Maine state police tactical team are the ones that located this individual. And again, because of the appearance, the facial hair, the clothing, the circumstances. they were communicating back to Major Crimes who was communicating with the attorney general's office, the medical examiner's office.

What are we all comfortable with in order to ID this individual positively. And say, so we can come and say that this individual has been found. And he's deceased and this is how he passed away.

So that part of that identification process is pretty standard and that's the process that we followed here. As soon as we knew that, the very first call that we made was to Chief St. Pierre to notify him that again that next level can occur.

I'm going to take one more question. And it is going to be --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- that there has been forcible (INAUDIBLE) -- that you know about voluntary self-inflicted (INAUDIBLE).

SAUSCHUCK: So the question is stating that there is no forcible commitment. Do we know of anything that is on the voluntary side? I know that we're seeking records and we're trying to determine if in fact that happened, what did it look like.

There are reports out there that it did involve the military, his military unit. We don't have ready access to that documentation. So we're following up on that like we would with everything else.

But I really, really do appreciate everybody's time, your patience, your professionalism. Thank you for taking care of our community. Thank you very much. Take care.

(END OF LIVE EVENT)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. "Everyone could sleep last night". That quote coming from the Lisbon, Maine police chief Ryan McGee, after the search for the missing suspected gunman in Maine is now over.

The body of the suspect, Robert Card, has been recovered, miles away from the two locations where he allegedly opened fire, killing 18 people at a bowling alley and at a nearby restaurant.

Officials there saying, you know, after an extreme search that covered a rural area in and around Lewiston, Maine they located the body of Card at a recycling center parking lot. It was found inside a box trailer at an overflow parking lot there.

Residents of Lewiston say they are now relieved, after now more than two days, just almost three days of uncertainty, having to stay inside their homes at the urging of authorities there, as they conducted this massive search.

But still so many questions left unanswered because officials say it appears as though he killed himself. They found the body with self- inflicted gunshot wounds.

Joining us right now, CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andy McCabe. Andy, you listened to that press conference. I mean you heard some detail. You heard a lot of relief coming from a variety of officials there after this two to three-day-long search. Last night, they made the discovery.

What are your thoughts on how they were able to conduct the search, which eventually led to this kind of final conclusion of finding the body of this suspected gunman?

[11:09:45]

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, Fred, a lot of hard-earned relief, and congratulations to them and to their talent for getting to this point.

I think first, it's important to note that like, they all committed in a massive effort to getting this done, and they ultimately found the shooter. And so this is a good news story.

But it is also important to ask questions about how the search was taking place, because not because there is someone at fault here, or trying to point the finger at somebody, that is not the case.

But it is really important, not just for the town of Lewiston, or Lisbon, or the state of Maine but for all police agencies to learn from each one of these situations, to try to do better the next time because it's going to happen again.

And so I think this -- the facts and the time line around the search are really interesting. If you go back to Wednesday night, we know where the vehicle was discovered and that is at the boat launch which is about one mile north/northwest of where the body was found.

At that site, there is access to the river, and there's access to the walking path. And so because that was the -- that's where the trail went cold, so to speak.

I think there are legitimate questions for law enforcement to ask, like did we focus enough resources on that site and everything branching out from it, the assumption that our person might be -- our subject might be somewhere in that area. It turns out he was.

In all likelihood he walked the mile south to an area that he knows well, the property of the recycling center, and then secreted himself inside the back of a box trailer.

So I think there are good questions to think about and for officials to answer about that. Now the area we found him was searched three times but the actual parking lot with all of these 50 or 60 trailers was not searched until the owner of the property brought that location to the attention of law enforcement, and then went back and then looked.

And to be clear, this is not easy. Every one of those trailers has -- you have to assume that there is a heavily armed murderer inside that trailer who may be waiting for the police response. But nevertheless, that is the kind of searching that you have to do in this situation.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And it is not easy, because further complicating matters is you have detail that is both trying to protect the community that feels very frightened, and is searching for a suspect.

MCCABEL: Yes. And it's chaotic, right? You are trying to do all of those things, and in the meantime, you're getting literally hundreds of phone calls from a very understandably anxious public, who are calling in and saying hey, I think he might be in my backyard, every time they hear another sound, or something that seems out of place. And thank God they were, that's what they were asked to do.

So you can't -- you can't overstate the intensity and the chaos of trying to run a situation like this. I remember this from the day we spent searching for the Boston bombers, after the bombing, the numbers of leads that we ran, the numbers of sightings of the bombers, which, of course, turned out not to be them. It is very hard to cover all of those things, which you have to do,

but to also focus on your search in a very methodical and tactical way.

(CROSSTALKING)

WHITFIELD: So Andy -- sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you but I need to go to Shimon Prokupecz because he is in a location where they may have to, you know, shift things and ask people to vacate the premises.

You were there in the press conference, Shimon. Talk to me about, you know, this discovery, details they're willing to share and other questions they still have yet to answer.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly this was, and we should say right off the top, this was the most thorough press conference we've had from officials since this happened, right. They were pretty forthcoming on information.

And I think what Andrew there was talking about, concerning the searching, and what took place, and there are legitimate questions to be asked about the search, and whether or not it was thorough enough.

And I asked this of the officials here and, you know, it is something that I think they're certainly going to look into and the reason why this is important, is because not only was there a potential killer on the loose, right. The other thing is this town, in Lisbon, you know, I've been there for two days. These people were stuck in their homes, they couldn't leave, they were afraid to walk outside, and supermarkets were closed.

There's one grocery store in that town. People were running out of food. Pharmacies were closed, so this really affected a lot of people in many ways that we can't really understand.

And the fact that we're now learning that the killer, the shooter here was in a trailer, that was never searched, police are in this area, they searched one part of it, but they didn't search the other part of it.

[11:14:51]

PROKUPECZ: And the only reason they went to search this other trailer was because the business owner of this recycling plant called them and said, what exact areas did you search on my property? And then he said to them, well, did you search this overflow area. And they didn't.

Though they were in this area, they never went to the overflow area. And I think there are legitimate questions about whether or not the law enforcement folks here flooded enough resources into that area. Because I can tell you, when we arrived in Lisbon, just the morning after the shooting, early in the morning, 5:00 -- 6:00 a.m., we were on the scene, we did not see a lot of law enforcement officials on scene there, searching.

And we were asking questions. We mostly saw the local police department, which is a 17-person police department, doing the searches. We were with them as they were doing some of these searches.

And then the next day, on Thursday, we actually saw law enforcement officials in the area of this recycling plant, conducting these searches, but they were on the perimeter, and they told us that the state police asked them to close up the area, because there was potentially something going on down the street that is connected to the suspect. But we did not see resources that you would normally see in such a widespread search.

It wasn't until yesterday that we started seeing more resources flood in to the area. We saw state police, we saw U.S. Marshals, ATF, other law enforcement officials, suited up, going through the woods, going through businesses.

And then again, now as we know, that is when this discovery was made, and it was only based on the call from the business owner. So there are legitimate questions. And we tried to ask about that. But I don't think at this point law enforcement officials are going to say yes, maybe we should have been more thorough, I think it is certainly something they are going to look at.

But the importance of this, and the reason why these questions should be raised, of course, is because of the effect that this had on this community. And then in the end, of course, we cannot forget the victims here, and sort of the effect all of this has had on the people living here in Lewiston, who have been dealing with this fear of this killer being on the loose, and have not been able to grieve.

But now that's the time for them to do that. There's going to be a vigil here tomorrow and more in the days to come so that these families and the people of this community can get together and grieve and mourn the folks that were lost.

WHITFIELD: Yes, understandably. Shimon Prokupecz, Andy McCabe -- thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

Great relief that that community is feeling it, at the same time now also still grappling with the losses of 18 very important people of their family and their communities lost to this gunman.

All right. Now to our other breaking story overseas.

The escalating situation in Israel's war with Hamas. The IDF now says it has soldiers inside of Gaza entering the enclave during the cover of night. The scope of current activities remains unclear, but it does not appear yet to be the expected major offensive deep into the Hamas- controlled territory.

And it comes after intense, sustained aerial attacks rocking Gaza overnight.

Let's go straight to CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Sderot. What are you seeing right there?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we have been hearing over and seeing over the last hour or so is continued aerial bombardment of Gaza, artillery fire outgoing from very close to our position. And we also just saw moments ago a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza towards cities in Israel, including Ashkelon where we've been based just to the north as well as the central Israel in Tel Aviv.

All of this happening nearly 24 hours after Israeli forces moved into northern Gaza, as the IDF announced that it was expanding its ground operation inside of northern Gaza.

Overnight, we are told by the IDF that they struck 150 underground targets in northern Gaza and that explains the loud, intense bombardment that we were hearing overnight. Really the loudest, most intense, most sustained bombardment that we have seen in the three weeks since this war began.

What we also saw today, Fred, as we were traveling along the border with Gaza, we visited some of these positions, staging grounds, where days ago we saw hundreds of tanks, armored personnel carriers, and bulldozers. And today, what we saw was a very different scene, many of those fields were really mostly emptied out. It appears that those tanks were among those that had moved into northern Gaza.

[11:19:50]

DIAMOND: What we also saw were logistics and armored personnel vehicles, moving in the direction of Gaza, and also some tanks moving from Gaza back towards those staging grounds. And what that tells us is that this remains a very dynamic situation.

Right here from our position, we have not only been hearing that artillery fire, that bombardment and seeing barrages of rocks coming from Gaza. We have also been hearing machine gunfire and small arms fire from our position, which indicates that there is still very much active fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants inside the Gaza Strip. And that is very different, of course, from what we have seen over these last several days, where the IDF did conduct some targeted raids, as they called them, inside of Gaza, but the next morning, they announced that those troops, those tanks, that had gone into Gaza, had since returned across the border back on to Israeli territory.

That has not happened in this case. And so even as we wait to find out whether or not this is indeed that official ground invasion, right now, the IDF simply saying it has expanded ground operations. Regardless, this is the most significant incursion into Gaza that we have seen since this conflict began three weeks ago today, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Expanded ground operations underway. Jeremy Diamond in Sderot, thank you so much.

We're going to continue to keep a close watch on all of this.

Our breaking coverage from Israel continues right after this.

[11:21:14]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Back to our breaking news.

The escalating situation in Israel's war with Hamas, the IDF now says it has soldiers inside of Gaza.

You heard our Jeremy Diamond say it is their expanded ground operation that is now under way. But it is not considered to be the larger promised ground incursion that is expected.

CNN's Sara Sidner is in Tel Aviv where there right now it is 6:00 p.m. hour, where it is 11:00 a.m. Eastern here in the United States.

What are you starting to experience there now at sundown?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Fred, all day it has been fairly quiet over Tel Aviv, which is a bit unusual since this war began after October 7th. And what we've just seen are a barrage of rockets that just came over. They were intercepted by the Iron Dome, which happens quite often, though every now and then, some of those rockets are missed by the Iron Dome, and end up hitting often civilian buildings.

We did have one in the morning where a building, an apartment building was hit yesterday, and several people were injured there.

There were also buildings that were hit in Ashkelon, where you just talked to Jeremy Diamond. We are also hearing those big booming sounds of airstrikes in Gaza. You can hear them from here in Tel Aviv because Gaza is not that far away. You hear what is a rumble or what sounds like thunder in the air.

The rockets though, you can see, the rockets coming from -- fired from Hamas from Gaza, I want to see if we can get you a picture of what we just experienced here. But that is become, sadly, a regular event, both the rockets coming over, and the air strikes in Gaza.

Israel says it is trying to knock, you know, out Hamas infrastructure there, and they have done that. But they have also ended up hitting civilians. As well as you know, Gaza, is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and so there is a lot of carnage that has happened since this war began three weeks ago.

You are seeing a picture there, I think that may be my cell phone video -- yes, you are seeing the moon there, but then you will start to see some rockets that come over, at first very light, and then you will see, as it sort of gets darker, more and more and more rockets coming over and the Iron Dome, although I think this is on the loop so I'm not seeing what we just experienced. Yes, this is on a loop, this is only two or three seconds of video so it's -- while the sirens are going off but not while the rocks coming over.

First you hear the sirens, by the way, and then you start seeing the rockets. And actually it's not the rockets, it is the Iron Dome responding to the rockets.

You never see the rockets, you have no idea that they're over your head and that's why the population here in Israel, you know, feels this sense of unease all the time because this happens every now and then, when Israel is not in a full-scale war with Gaza.

So you can't hear the rockets coming but you can certainly hear when the Iron Dome is about to respond because you hear the sirens first. And then you hear the sound of the Iron Dome hitting the rocket, and you start seeing the Iron Dome functioning over your head, and you hope that those rockets are taken out.

90 percent of the time, they are. But every now and then, one gets through and ends up injuring or killing someone here in Israel. So it has been a very tense time over these past three weeks.

And in Gaza, the intensity is hard to describe from our producer Ibrahim who is there. It has just been a fierce bombing overnight, and that knocked out communications there, as well, and we are hearing from the Hamas-controlled health ministry, that there are upwards of 4,000 people who have been killed. And Israel has said, look, we are in this different kind of phase. They're in a partial, if you will, grounds war but they haven't done a full-scale ground war as of yet.

Let's get more analysis on all of this and this morning's developments as well. We've got Retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges. He is the former commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe.

I'm curious from you, because we've seen this expanded ground operation from Israel, does it appear that the Israeli military is going to leave small groups of soldiers is going to leave small groups of soldiers and then keep adding to them? Or how does this work from your vantage point?

[11:30:00]

LT. GEN. BEN HODGES, FORMER COMMANDER OF U.S. ARMY FORCES IN EUROPE: Well, Sara -- by the way, I'm impressed with you standing there where you are, and bringing the report. Thanks for that.

It feels to me that the Israeli Defense Force is bringing in, expanding their presence on the ground, doing what we refer to as recon, or reconnaissance pull, where the reconnaissance elements move in, look

for open space, look for Hamas, and then bring in forces behind them, where they can dominate these spaces that are not occupied by Hamas, and from which then IDF can go out and attack Hamas strong points.

And it is sort of they're filling the space, so they can dominate. I think this is how it is going to progress over the next few days.

SIDNER: Do you see Israel eventually announcing a full-scale ground war? Or do you see this being an incremental sort of war, where you have, you know, a few hundred soldiers and then a few hundred more and a few hundred more and that's sort of the way it will go. And as you said, sort of clearing the area so that they can get a larger group in?

HODGES: At this point, I don't know if there is a benefit to them for officially declaring, ok, the offensive has started. I'm sure at some point, the government or the IDF leadership will say, we'll announce the name of the operation, that sort of thing.

But I don't imagine that we're going to see a pause and then a large -- something that looks like an invasion. I think they want to build up pressure, follow the reconnaissance, follow the intelligence, and not give Hamas a chance to prepare, to be ready.

SIDNER: We were just looking at video while you were talking earlier this morning of some the Israeli military apparatus going towards the border.

There is this issue of underground tunnels and Israel says that it has hit 150 underground targets, as they put it, in Gaza overnight. What kind of ordnance are they using to do that? And also, you know, this is going to make a lot of the families of the hostages very, very nervous, knowing that the hostages are likely in some of those underground tunnels.

HODGES: Well, this is one of the most challenging aspects of what the Israeli Defense Force units are having to address. Of course, the number of underground facilities there is partly based on intelligence, partly based on some analysis and assessment. They can't possibly know of course where everyone is, and how extensive they are, who is in them.

So I imagine, we're going to see a combination of weapons that are used, that can penetrate several feet down into the ground, as well as ground forces, perhaps sealing off the entrance to some of the tunnels.

But I don't know the particular tactic, and what will be used on the different locations, that's something that the Israelis of course will have thought through. They probably are as well-equipped and trained for this sort of fighting as anybody.

But it does, it does beg the question, Sara, how -- what is the mission for the Israeli Defense Force? You know, we've heard from the government, going in there to destroy Hamas, to make sure that Hamas can never operate from Gaza again. I don't think that this is a feasible end-state unless Israel is willing to commit the resources to isolate Hamas from any external support, to eliminate or eradicate the root cause for Hamas, why is there a Hamas, and also, to invest the resources necessary to occupy Gaza for as long as it is necessary to destroy Hamas.

So if I'm the commander or if I'm a colonel there, I'm very concerned about what is the end state that I have to accomplish. I don't think destroying Hamas is feasible on its face.

SIDNER: Yes, I think you've mentioned a lot of the things that has a lot of people concerned here in Israel, as to how long this might go, if Israel decides to reoccupy Gaza, and then take it under its control, something they have said they did not want to do. But there are so many different things happening here, meantime you have dozens of people who are hostages there, innocent people that were taken by Hamas on October 7th. And of course you have the bloodshed of those in Gaza who are just trying to live their lives, and dealing with all of this. There are just so many things that make this a very, very difficult scenario.

General Ben Hodges, thank you so much for your wonderful analysis. It is in a time of war we need to understand, for someone who has been through some of this. So we appreciate your time.

HODGES: Thanks for the privilege.

[11:34:56]

SIDENER: Now, as we mentioned, anxiety is growing among the families of hostages held by Hamas. This as Israeli military forces, as you have seen and well-heard, have expanded their ground operations. What those families are now asking of Israel's prime minister -- that is ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: All right, I just want to show you what happened moments ago here in Tel Aviv, as rockets came overhead.

You're listening to the sound of the sirens, there are at least a half dozen, if not more. What you are seeing there is the Iron Dome, intercepting rockets over Tel Aviv. That happened moments ago, we also heard those telltale sounds of bombardment over Gaza as well.

[11:39:59]

SIDNER: And so this is continuing as you might imagine, we are in a full-scale war. Israel declaring war after the October 7th Hamas attack on Israeli citizens and soldiers.

Those come over quite often here in Tel Aviv, which by the way is very unusual. Other parts of the country close to the border tend to get rocket attacks every now and then, but it is rare to see them in Tel Aviv, though we've been seeing them ever since the war began here.

Now, Israel is also stepping up its ground operations in Gaza. The families of the Israeli hostages that are being held by Hamas are demanding answers, and a face-to-face meeting with their leaders.

They want to know how the military campaign may impact the lives of their loved ones, who are likely in tunnels, underground, those tunnels built by Hamas and Gaza.

In a just-released statement, those family members say, we expect, quote, "the prime minister and the defense minister to meet with us today, look us in the eye, and give a clear answer to the question. Does the escalation of the military activity in Gaza endanger the well-being of the 229 hostages? We are tired of slogans, our loved ones' time is running out. CNN's Kevin Liptak is with President Biden in Delaware. Kevin, you know, that is quite a statement. People are exhausted by waiting. They are scared.

I know that you have some reporting that the White House says the U.S. has held active conversations with Israel about a humanitarian pause to allow for the potential release of hostages. Where do things stand at this point with those talks?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Certainly officials say that this is an hour-by-hour effort, and it is hard to say how this effort will be affected by this ground invasion beyond saying certainly that it will be complicated by it.

Because you will remember, Sara, the U.S. had encouraged Israel to delay a ground invasion, as these negotiations over the hostages' release were progressing. And yesterday it did seem like those talks were intensifying, brokered by the government of Qatar to potentially secure the release of a large number of these hostages.

But of course, we haven't seen that yet, and this increased bombardment, the incursion of Israeli troops into Gaza will certainly complicate that. And that is one of the reasons that you have heard President Biden over the last several days really start to intensify his calls for what he calls a humanitarian pause. Some sort of delay or a pause in the bombing to hopefully get these hostages out.

Now the other reason that the U.S. is calling for a pause is to get aid into Gaza. That is something that you've heard officials -- again talk more and more vocally about over the last several days. Things like water, food, medicine, fuel -- things that are in desperate need in Gaza for citizens who are becoming more desperate, as this escalation continues.

Now, the U.S. of course has been in close consultation with Israel over the last two weeks, as it plans its response to the terror attacks.

What you heard in public is President Biden certainly very staunchly support Israel in its right to defend itself. But behind the scenes, these conversations have been quite intensive. The U.S. asking what it calls tough questions of Israel, about its planning, about its intentions for Gaza, as this proceeds and potentially what happens after a ground invasion.

And in fact, there had been a three-star marine general on the ground there in Israel consulting with the Israelis as they plan this response, the U.S. encouraging sort of a more targeted effort, not something that would potentially weigh down the Israelis on the ground there, for the duration.

We now understand that that marine general has now left and in fact a marine said yesterday that what is, has, or will unfold in Gaza is purely an Israeli decision, Sara.

SIDNER: Kevin Liptak, thank you for all of that reporting there. And we'll continue updating you on developments here in Israel, and

around the region, in Gaza, as well.

But first, two days after the deadly mass shootings in Maine, the suspected gunman has been found dead. Now the families of the 18 victims who lost their lives in the massacre are grieving their loved ones and sharing their stories. What we're learning about those 18 victims, next.

[11:44:27]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The serene community of Lewiston, Maine is in mourning after 18 lives were lost in a mass shooting on Wednesday. They include a married couple, a father and son, and members of the deaf community.

The rampage was the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. this year and the deadliest since the Uvalde school massacre.

And then we learned, of course, overnight that the shooter has been found dead from self-inflicted wounds.

Joining us right now is Elizabeth Seal, along with her interpreter, Grace Cooney. Elizabeth's husband Joshua, lost his life on Wednesday, during that mass shooting.

Joshua was a beloved interpreter, who was taking part in a cornhole tournament for deaf athletes at the Schemengees Bar and Grill.

Elizabeth and Grace, glad you could be with us. I'm wondering, Elizabeth, if you can tell you, you know, how are you and your family doing?

ELIZABETH SEAL, WIFE OF SHOOTING VICTIM: I'm taking this one day at a time. Day by day. I'm of course, grieving. It comes in waves.

[11:49:47]

SEAL: However, I have a fantastic family, group of friends, the community support is gathered around us, and I know I will be ok.

I'm trying to stand strong for myself, for my children and for the community, to be able to support each other. And I know down the road, eventually, I'll heal.

WHITFIELD: And Elizabeth, I can't imagine how difficult it is to describe what you have been feeling, with number one, the loss of your husband Joshua, and that you and your children have had to live in fear, you know, wondering where this gunman was.

And then last night they would find his body. Tell me how the search ending and now the recovery of the body of this alleged shooter, how this changes things for you and your family, what you've been experiencing in just the last few hours. SEAL: I have mixed emotions about that, just because first and

foremost I wanted him to be found, apprehended. I wanted to ask questions that will not be answered. Why did you do this, what was the motive, why would you hurt so many families?

18 people lost their lived, people were injured. People who escaped and injured are traumatized forever. It's horrific. I would want answers from him.

But at the same time it's important that he was found and he's gone. And that's good, and you know, that we don't have to go through anymore suffering with the court process and, you know, this could be a multi-year process to go through that legal endeavor and really having to suffer through the court process is a whole other level.

I'm glad that that part of this is closed and we can start the healing for myself as well as for the other families.

WHITFIELD: And now, Elizabeth, tell me about Joshua. Tell me about your thoughts of him for people who don't know him. People who loved him and knew him in the community said he was such a tender person.

But tell us, those of us who have never had the pleasure of meeting him, describe him for me.

SEAL: Josh was a phenomenal father, always present for his kids. He was ambitious and involved in school events, you know, going to their sporting events. He was always involved chatting at home, taking them on outings, anything they needed. He was always supportive and always around.

He was a fantastic husband. We were together over 20 years. I've known him since preschool. And he was a fierce advocate of the deaf community, fostering opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing children, for access to interpreters and their educational environment as well as other services.

He actually established a camp for deaf and hard-of-hearing kids called Camp Dirigo Experience within the country camp (ph). And he was incredibly eager to get that up. He was so passionate about it.

And he loved his deaf friends, constantly getting together, you know, going on outings, ATV rides, snowmobiles, camping, always gathering, messing around, joking around, you know, sitting by the fire, playing cards, what have you.

And he cherished his family, not just me and his children, but his extended family -- brothers, sisters, grandparents.

And yes, he was just a phenomenal person. He was a skilled interpreter. Most of the state recognized him, you know. They saw him regularly on the interpreting for Dr. Shaw (ph) or the governor of Maine. And so folks who knew him were incredibly lucky.

WHITFIELD: A phenomenal person indeed. Our hearts go out to you, Elizabeth, and your children, your entire family for the loss of Joshua Seal. What an extraordinary individual who made such a huge impact on the community, on individuals, on your family and what an incredible legacy he leaves.

Thank you so much. Thank you for sharing your experience and his story.

Stay with CNN. We'll be right back. Thank you.

[11:54:47]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: In Gaza, there has been a total communications blackout after fierce aerial strikes by Israel overnight. Some aid groups are saying they have not been able to get in touch with their crews on the ground as well as families that we're hearing from. All of this adding to the dire humanitarian situation for civilians in Gaza.

Our Melissa Bell is in Cairo. She has been following this and in Cairo partly because that is where the aid when it does come in comes through the border there, the Rafah border, the Egyptian/Gaza border.

What more are you hearing about the need and what is happening with the communications there in Gaza?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the need is extremely important. It was even Sara, even before Friday night's stepped-up intensity of that fresh incursion that has left IDF troops inside the Gaza Strip.

On Friday, ahead of that latest incursion, we heard that an extra convoy of trucks have managed to get in, bringing the total number of aid trucks that have gotten into Gaza since the start of the conflict, Sara, to just under 100, merely 84 or 85.

To give you an idea, the United Nations estimates that it would take 100 trucks a day getting through the Rafah crossing in order to meet the needs of the Palestinian people who are inside.

And that gives you an idea of just how dire the situation was even before communications were partly cut off on Friday night.

Now, what we're hearing from a number of different aid agencies in increasingly anxious tone is the fact that as you said, they're not able to speak to their teams on the ground. They're extremely worried for instance about how communications in the enclave are going to affect that humanitarian situation.

For instance, the Palestinian Red Crescent saying yesterday even the number 101 the Palestinians can ring in the hope of getting an ambulance to where they are is not functioning. And of course, that darkness that surrounds what's happening inside the Gaza Strip an extra layer of concern not only for the fate of the Palestinians inside, those who might be wounded, those who might be trying to get help, but anyone on the outside hoping to hear from their families. At the Rafah crossing itself, what we're hearing for the time being is

that there's very little indication it's going to open. This is an indication that it's going to open. This is an extremely difficult crossing to get open at the best of times Sara, involving if it does Israeli acquiescence, Egyptian approval, Hamas approval. And for the time being, not only has it continued to be bombarded but the kind (ph) of civilians that have made their way there trying to get out are no closer to knowing whether it will be open.

[11:59:50]

BELL: The Egyptians fear (ph) simply that allowing the Palestinian refugees to make their way to the Sinai Desert as Israel hopes they will would be a non-starter. They do not want that to happen, not just for humanitarian reasons but political as well.