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Pennsylvania Triple Shooting Suspect Barricaded Inside New Jersey Home. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired March 16, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:16]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield and we continue to follow our breaking news.

A tense armed standoff with a suspect involved in a triple killing, it continues this hour in New Jersey. Police say several people who were held hostage by the suspect inside a residence there in Trenton, New Jersey, are now safe after being evacuated by SWAT officers. Now this all comes after three people were shot and killed earlier in the day across state lines in Pennsylvania, outside a Philadelphia suburb in what officials are calling a violent domestic related incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER SCHORN, BUCKS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Preliminary investigation determined that 26-year-old Andre Gordon driving a stolen vehicle, which was carjacked from Trenton, New Jersey, early in the morning, forcibly broke into the residence after which he shot and killed his 52-year-old stepmother, Karen Gordon, and his 13-year-old sister, Kera Gordon who lived at the residence.

There were three other individuals at the residence including a minor inside the home, who were able to hide and avoid being shot by Gordon as he went through the house searching for them. Following the shootings at approximately 9:01 a.m. Gordon drove to the unit block of Edgewood Lane, Levittown, where he forcibly broke into a residence after which he shot and killed 25-year-old Taylor Daniel, with whom he has two children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The suspect is identified as 26-year-old Andre Gordon. Police say he fled the Pennsylvania crime scenes and is now barricaded inside a residence in New Jersey, in Trenton. And police consider that person armed and dangerous.

We have team coverage of this unfolding situation. Let's begin with CNN's Polo Sandoval, who is not far from the focal point of this investigation there in Trenton, New Jersey.

Polo, what are you able to see? What are you learning? POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And as you and I are speaking right

now, Fred, you can hear off in the distance, may not be able to make it out, but actually police using a PA system, a loudspeaker to actually make contact -- apologies, I'm trying to listen here, Fred. But essentially what they're doing right now and they have been doing for the last 10 minutes, they have actually been asking 26-year-old Andre Gordon, who's barricaded himself inside the home.

Police believe he is by himself inside that home here in Trenton, New Jersey, and they are asking him, again, just now, to step out of the home with his hands up to essentially surrender. And again this is happening right now. This is as close as we can take you and as we monitor the situation and listen for any more developments, Fred, I can tell you that that house that he's actually believed to be inside is just down the street.

You may be able to make it, an ambulance just past a stop sign. If you take a left, that is where the home is. So I would say I'm about maybe 150 yards or so from the house. Some neighbors behind the yellow tape being asked to remain inside but on the other side of the yellow tape clearly certainly drawing some other people out to see. This is anything but a normal Saturday for the folks in this. It was usually described as a quiet Trenton neighborhood.

What we know, again, as we still listen for developments, is that Andre Gordon, according to investigators, this morning at 9:00 a.m. about a 15-minute drive south of here on the other side of the Pennsylvania-New Jersey state line believed to have shot and killed his stepmother, 52 years old, along with his 13-year-old sister Kera Gordon before he then made his way to another home, shooting and killing a third individual according to police.

And then investigators believed that he carjacked an individual in a parking lot and then made the drive here to Trenton, New Jersey, and it was about just past noon that investigators received the report that Gordon was inside that house in this neighborhood with several people inside. We've seen those pretty dramatic images of individuals escaping that house. Police only describing them as residents.

And you see them actually successfully escaping from the second-floor window. And that brings us to where we are right now where investigators are essentially in a standoff. SWAT team, both local, state, and federal here on scene with a standoff with this 26-year-old man pleading with him to peacefully surrender in order to avoid any further violence -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: So then, Polo, while that's happening obviously, I mean, this is a, you know, densely populated community.

[15:05:01]

Much of Trenton, New Jersey, is like that where you've got what appears to be apartment building behind you and a number of other duplexes that we were able to see in the shot of the one duplex where we believed the suspect is. So talk to me about residents, you know, it's a Saturday. You know, there are a lot of people home where we saw that, you know, the -- people who are considered hostages were released.

But has there been an evacuation of the entire, you know, radius like a few blocks' radius area? What can you tell us?

SANDOVAL: I think that's important to keep in mind is this, according to investigators, this all started as a form of family dispute. This was a family related violence but what takes this really expanded beyond the obvious tragedy there is how some of the neighborhoods in and around those shooting locations, so in those communities, were asked to shelter in place initially. This was an individual who, according to police, basically proved his intent carjacked a random individual.

Fortunately, it did not hurt them according been to police, but that is why many of these neighborhoods went essentially into lockdown. A St. Patrick's Day parade had to be canceled during the press conference that took place in the last hour or so. We heard from the Bucks County district attorney, as well as other law enforcement personnel to describe police officers going down that parade route, asking people to seek shelter.

This is when they had no idea where the suspect was. Of course, eventually once they were able to place him at this particular location, they were able to remove those shelter-in-place orders. But that just speaks to the impact for so many people who were, as you pointed out, trying to go about their Saturday. It's usually supposed to be a quiet Saturday but now for people in this Trenton neighborhood, now ending in this fairly tense standoff.

At this point police are really trying to bring this to a peaceful end. Still able to hear a police using that system to try to communicate with the suspect inside.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Yes. So you've been to tell us that they're using a megaphone asking him, I think you said earlier, asking him to step out with his hands up. Is it kind of like just a repetition of that message that you can tell?

SANDOVAL: It seems to be at this point. We started hearing that about 10 minutes ago and just about an hour before that took place, we did see police launch a police drone into the air to basically try to get a bird's eye view of the situation here. We don't actually see that in the area anymore. There they are again. So does seem to be this repeated message that they're trying to get to the suspect inside - Fred.

WHITFIELD: Right. OK. Ongoing situation. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

Meantime, I want to bring in now Ed Davis. He is a former Boston Police commissioner.

All right, Commissioner, you know, talk to me about that familiarity here. I mean, this is very similar to what a lot of big cities and how they would handle what seemed to be a barricaded suspect in this case since Polo was able to hear, they're using a megaphone. That means communication might be limited, right? Sometimes there's a cell phone involved or a landline involved but they're communicating with this suspect because they still want it to all end peacefully. They want to be able to take this suspect into custody.

Tell me what you understand to be usually the protocol in situations like this?

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Certainly. Thank you, Fredricka. One thing that stands out to me here is the fact that they're having to resort to a loudspeaker to try to talk to the suspect. That's an indication to me that he is not cooperating with them. They have special phones that they can throw inside a situation like this. They'd much rather be talking to this guy one-on-one so that they can try to reason with him and talk through some of the psychological things that are occurring in a situation like this.

They're especially trained to do that. And I'm sure the hostage negotiators are frustrated if they're having to use a loudspeaker. But, you know, this was eerily reminiscent of the attack on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, when I saw the SWAT officers climbing up on the rooftop here, and thinking back to that incident it is an indication of how dangerous what they were doing is.

If someone has got a high-powered rifle, he was talking about an AK- 47, there's no protection against that. So those officers are literally risking their life to get up there and get this guy to get them -- get the victims away from this guy. The good news is it seems like they've evacuated everyone. So you can turn things down a little bit. Time is your friend in a situation like this. And you can do your best with stablished contact, meaningful contact with the suspect so that you can make sure that he doesn't hurt anybody else or himself, which is another possibility here.

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WHITFIELD: Yes. Can you zero in some more on the risks? Because while we're looking at these images right here from earlier in the day, maybe about two hours ago when we saw that the law enforcement came, they put the ladder to reach the second floor, they were able to bust out a window. They were able to safely bring out some of the hostages. That in and of itself brought great risks as you were just underscoring.

But now there's continued risk, too, because, like you mentioned, there may not be the cooperation they were looking for from the suspect. They're still trying to negotiate or communicate with this person, but they also know that that person, the suspect has a vantage point that perhaps they don't know, given that he is inside presumably this unit.

Talk to me about the risks that still persist for law enforcement, that's there whether they have to move around continuously, they have to worry about what communication or information the suspect is getting about the activity around the home.

DAVIS: Right. So there's a bunch of issues they're dealing with right now. The biggest risk is the type of weapon that's been involved. These bullets can cut through wood and plaster and literally just basically blow through anything that that building is constructed on. So there really is no effective cover from an attack from someone who has a rifle like that. That's uppermost in their minds.

But one of the things that they're trying to do is determine exactly where the individual is in the house. And they may have eyes on him. There could very well be sniper posts that are watching him through the windows. And there are a number of different strategies that police use to try to isolate the person to make sure that they can safely evacuated people from the front of the building if, say, he has barricaded himself in a bathroom in the back of the building or something like that.

So we've got to hope that the officers have good intelligence and they're making these decisions that clearly are dangerous, but probably with a bit of sort of calculated risks involved.

WHITFIELD: All right. Commissioner, hold on. I want to bring back Tom Verni. He is a former NYPD detective.

And so I wonder, you know, Tom, while at great risk, law enforcement was able to get those hostages out as we were just kind of describing that situation. What -- how are they now an asset in the investigation? How are those hostages or residents who were safely evacuated, what kind of information can they now provide law enforcement as they tried to navigate the best way to get at, communicate with the suspect?

TOM VERNI, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Yes. So, Fred, they -- basically the investigators here are going to want to -- the hostage negotiation team is going to want to speak to these people, get any sort of a beat on what state of mind this guy may have been in when they -- just before they were taken out of the house, how well they know him, is there anything that they could possibly use to negotiate with him.

You know, and to be honest, you know, we also have to take into account that this barricaded person might be watching us right now on TV.

WHITFIELD: Right.

VERNI: So, and if they are, I would advocate that they just, you know, kind of maybe just call it a day and come out with their hands up. So no further, you know, harm come to anybody. Does the police just want this to end, but they want this to end without any further bloodshed. They don't want any innocent people in the neighborhood being harmed. They don't want to be harmed certainly.

Their safety is paramount because unless they're safe, then they can protect anybody else. So, you know, they want to try to appeal to, you know, whatever good nature that this person has and hope that, you know, at some point they will realize that the only way out of there is to surrender peacefully. You know, let the police take him into custody, and then let the chips fall where they may, you know, because at this point the damage has been done, right? So the person that has committed these acts knows that they've, you

know, turned Saturday in Pennsylvania and New Jersey into a running bit of chaos for a lot of people. So they -- you know, it's a tough situation to be in, you know. Time is on the side of the police because they're going to be there all day and potentially all night, and until tomorrow if they have to. So the suspect knows, and if they don't know, they should now know that the police aren't going anywhere.

And the police do want this to end peacefully and with that person preferably coming out unarmed with their hands in the other. They could see that there's no weapons available to them and just bring this to a conclusion.

[15:15:09]

WHITFIELD: So based on cooperation or lack thereof, the suspect is kind of dictating how long this is going to happen, though, right? But law enforcement would want this to end before nightfall. I know you just said, you know, they'll be there all day and all night. But is it the hope that something like this is going to end before nightfall, especially to keep the community, surrounding community, you know, allay their fears and help them feel safe?

VERNI: Correct. I mean, you know, look, the local police there, I'm sure being aided by state and potentially federal authorities at this point. So there has been a net that's been cast upon that neighborhood. So there's really going to be nowhere to go. So if the suspect is considering trying to escape there's really going to be nowhere to run at this point.

So, you know, they're being watched, you know, by a 360-degree net of officers on the ground, potentially in the air, or whether it's via drone or via aviation by the way of helicopters and so forth. At some point, you know, they -- I'm not sure exactly what sort of tools that they have there, but New York, for instance, they may send him like a robot, you know, with a camera, which will kind of go in there and take a look around.

If the suspect brought harm to himself and is unable to respond to the police. So that may come with -- you know, time is on their side because they're isolating and containing the suspect as they would with anyone who's emotionally disturbed, especially emotionally disturbed, with high-powered weapon as was previously mentioned by our other guests. You know, we can wait them out and we don't want to certainly put anyone else into harm's way, especially with facing a weapon like that, which can reach great distances as was already mentioned.

WHITFIELD: Tom Verni, thank you so much and thank you for sticking around if you can, as well as Commissioner Davis, and Andy McCabe also sticking with us.

We're going to take a short break for now as we continue to watch the developments there in Trenton, New Jersey.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:21:56]

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. More now on the standoff taking place in Trenton, New Jersey, where police have surrounded a duplex there. Inside, they believed to be a suspect who is being linked to a triple killing in Pennsylvania earlier today, before then allegedly carjacking someone then crossing state lines and then going to what police have said is familiar territory for the suspect who is named as 26-year-old Andre Gordon.

It's believed to be he's in this duplex right here where earlier, maybe about two hours ago, police descended on the area, putting a ladder there to the second floor. Then as you see in this tape, that was shot earlier, then breaking through a window and able to escort residents, which have also been described as hostages in the house there.

We've talked to a variety of experts who have said a lot of those hostages now are sources for information to describe the demeanor of the suspect so that they know who and what they're dealing with.

Our Polo Sandoval, who is on the ground there also heard police using a mega horn to communicate with the suspects, saying, you know, come out with your hands up.

Also joining me right now is Cully Stimson. He was an assistant U.S. attorney for violent crime in the Washington, D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office, and prosecuted homicides in D.C. and Maryland.

And so I wonder, too, you heard from, you know, one of our experts earlier who said that this is kind of a sign of desperation now when you've got a mega horn that's being used, that perhaps the suspect is not cooperating. They may have even tossed him some sort of phones to communicate that way. It would be their preference not to be, you know, blasting information communication out publicly.

This is a very densely populated residential area. How do you assess what might be, you know, the -- I guess assess what's an ongoing phase of this negotiation. Does it seem like that's desperate to you to have to communicate with this person via megaphone? Is it optimal or not?

CHARLES "CULLY" STIMSON, SENIOR FELLOW, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: I don't think it's desperate, but it's part of their protocol. And when they can't talk to him in any other way, they're going to do that. And again, they're going to do it in a calm, cool, collected tone to try to dial the temperature down. He may be expired already. We don't know. Maybe he turned his phone off, worried about them pinging his phone.

There may not be a home phone. A lot of people don't even use home phones anymore. They just use cell phones. And so, you know, what we don't know, at least that I have not seen in the reporting is whether he has communicated back at all. And so while that's happening, Fred, the crime scenes, the two cars, the homicide scenes, et cetera, they're being exploited for forensic evidence. And I'm sure this prosecutor who is a no-nonsense prosecutor, she

spent her entire career in the Bucks County DA's office is working with the police there to start to stitch together the evidence.

[15:25:01]

And the other key thing that people who've tried homicides think about early on, even while this thing is fluid, is what potential defenses could he put forward and how can we rebut that while we're building this case. So, for example, could it be self-defense? Could he claim that? He could. So then you'd look at the autopsies. You'd look at the crime scene and where the shots were fired, and the entry and exit wounds. And so there's a lot happening that has nothing to do with New Jersey. That is building this case in the off chance he turns myself in and then he gets prosecuted.

WHITFIELD: Right. Because there are multiple crime scenes as you put it. You're talking about the Bucks County District Attorney Jen Schorn who we heard a little bit earlier in a press conference try to give kind of the sequence of events. There were two residences involved where this suspect went. There was the use of a long arm to kill either the stepmother and-or a daughter at the age of 13, and then a bludgeoning of a woman with whom he shared two kids.

STIMSON: Yes.

WHITFIELD: And then the alleged carjacking that took place and then crossing state lines. But of course, there was an alleged carjacking that took place even before getting to the residences in Pennsylvania before then making its way to New Jersey.

So talk to me about these multiple locations. The accumulation of evidence who takes the lead in this kind of investigation while this continues to be ongoing and unclear how this portion of the investigation will end.

STIMSON: Yes. Well, first off, the situs of almost all the crimes that we know about is in Bucks County. And so they will take the lead. The DA's office will be the prosecuting agency. Yes, he crossed state lines with a car and so therefore it's theoretically a federal nexus but really this is a state homicide case along with carjackings, et cetera.

This has all the hallmarks, Fred, of a domestic beef gone really bad. I mean, interesting, think about this. He killed his loved ones and one of his offsprings. He killed his wife or the person he shared children with, and then he goes to a different place and he doesn't know this person and he takes their car and doesn't harm them. And then he goes across state lines. He goes to I guess his ancestral home, where his relatives are in Jersey and they get out.

Maybe he let them get out. So his real beef was something happened and so I'm sure the Bucks County DA's office will be seeing whether there were domestic violence restraining in orders, stay away orders, custody orders, whether there were 911 calls for domestic disputes before, maybe there's a child custody thing going on. This is starting to look and feel like one of those horrible cases that went wrong because of a family involved violence.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Cully Stimson, very fascinating information you bring to a very complex case. Thank you so much.

We're going to continue to watch the developments taking place from Pennsylvania to New Jersey right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:32:40]

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. We're following breaking news out of Trenton, New Jersey, where a 26-year-old suspect involved in a triple killing allegedly has barricaded himself inside a home in New Jersey. Police say the suspect is armed and dangerous.

Here's more of what authorities in Pennsylvania had to say about the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHORN: At the time of the shooting, there were four other individuals present inside that home, one of which was injured after being bludgeoned by Gordon with the assault rifle. She was transported to Jefferson towards Dell Campus for her injuries. At approximately 9:13 a.m. Gordon committed a carjacking at gunpoint of a 44-year-old man from Morrisville at the parking lot of the Dollar General on Bristol Pike in Morrisville. The operator of the vehicle did not suffer any injuries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Polo Sandoval is on the scene in Trenton, New Jersey, where it's believed the suspect who is being linked to those crimes in Pennsylvania, crossed state lines and now barricaded inside Trenton, New Jersey. What are you hearing and seeing?

SANDOVAL: And Fred, you may have actually better eyes on the situation through our affiliate pictures to take you behind that yellow tape through some of those aerial shots. So do interrupt me at any point of view if you do see some activity on your end. But in terms of what we've seen for the last hour here, police have been using a PA system, basically a loudspeaker to communicate with Andre Gordon as they believe that he has barricaded himself inside a Trenton, New Jersey, home.

The home itself, you may be able to see it about a hard yards away from where we're standing. It's that red brick face duplex structure. That is where police received a report about 12:22 p.m. so about three hours ago that he was inside likely armed with other individuals, other residents of that home.

Sorry, Fred, we're hearing some noises coming from the home, and so they have been in the last few hours able to successfully remove those residents from inside that home. Some of those pictures from a few hours ago showing those residents escaping from one of the second- floor windows. And since that investigators, a SWAT team, local, state, federal officers have been here on the ground sectioning off this area, not allowing anybody in, in order to keep that perimeter secure as they're essentially taking their time, making sure they're able to bring this to a peaceful end.

[15:35:09]

In the last few minutes, we have heard police using that PA system, pleading with Gordon to dial 911 if he would like to turn himself in. This after they began asking him to step out of the home with his hands up. We have not seen or heard any indication that police outside have received any response from their 26-year-old suspect. So the result now is essentially a standoff here between police outside and who they believe is Andre Gordon, a 26-year-old man believed to have shot and killed some of his own relatives about a 15-mile drive from where we are right now, just on the other side of the New Jersey- Pennsylvania state line.

So again, as we send things back to you, police still using that PA system, still encouraging Gordon to step out of the home as police keep a pretty locked down perimeter on this neighborhood with a police drone in the air.

WHITFIELD: And Polo, just to follow up on what you said, among those believed to have been killed or at least the district attorney for Bucks County and Pennsylvania said, among those killed Gordon's stepmother and his 13-year-old daughter, and a woman with whom he shared two kids, and then allegedly there was a carjacking. He then made it over across state lines from Pennsylvania to New Jersey.

Trenton, New Jersey, is a place that authority say is familiar to him, perhaps even family there who once lived. We haven't heard any elaboration of those details, but have you learned anything more about why this neighborhood?

SANDOVAL: We have not heard anything. We have heard from some of the residents here and we're still trying to confirm some reports that that may have been a residence that a home or a duplex that he was familiar with, possibly may have stayed there at some point, but police have not confirmed those reports. But that's certainly wouldn't be surprising. If we do hear that down the line from investigators after this hopefully comes to a peaceful end that he may have been familiar with that home possibly with the owner.

Fortunately, though, there was no further violence that took place inside that house after he arrived here just after noon. But important to sort of summarize the chain of events that took place earlier this morning at about 9:00 a.m. That's when police say Gordon arrived at the first location already in a stolen vehicle, shooting and killing two of his relatives. You mentioned his stepmother and a little girl before he then made his way to another residence nearby after he allegedly committed that third murder.

That's when police say he then carjacked the driver of a small SUV and then made his way over the state line here to New Jersey. And that's why there are so many law enforcement agencies involved, many of them still here on the ground, on the air and in surrounding homes to make sure that they can try to bring this to a peaceful end. But, again, at this point in time now, just over three hours since that initial report of a barricaded individual, the situation is still very much ongoing as some of the neighbors look on from behind the yellow tape.

WHITFIELD: Yes. I wonder if you could tell me more about the residents in that area. You know, obviously people who were not at their homes or in the neighborhood can't get back in there. But what about those residents who were already in the area? Have they been told to just stay put? You know, were they evacuated? What can you tell us?

SANDOVAL: I did have an opportunity to speak to one of the onlookers here who's told me that one of their relatives actually lives in the neighboring duplex and they were able to successfully remove their relative from inside the home without any incident. So that leads us to believe after being here for quite some time and really sort of evaluating the situation and hearing from law enforcement and other folks that police have been able to remove any people that could be dangerously close to the situation and that way authorities can really focus on their main goal here, which is to try to get their hands on the suspect, hopefully still alive inside and to be able to bring this to a peaceful end.

But there are really just dozens of people around the police tape that are looking on and in terms of folks who live behind the police tape, I have had an opportunity to see a few folks looking out from the window. But authorities are recommending that those folks shelter in place, stay inside while this is still ongoing. Again, well over three hours into this standoff with police and a man believed to have shot and killed some of his own relatives.

WHITFIELD: All right. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much in Trenton, New Jersey. We're going to get right back to you after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:44:31]

WHITFIELD: All right. A tense standoff are taking place in Trenton, New Jersey, in the middle of a neighborhood involving what's believed to be at 26-year-old suspect who is being linked to three killings in Pennsylvania before crossing state lines, making his way to Trenton, New Jersey, there. And our Polo Sandoval, who is there in that neighborhood hearing police using megaphones to ask that suspect to come out of the home with his hands up.

[15:45:02]

Back with me right now is former Boston Police commissioner, Ed Davis.

Great you could be back with us, Commissioner. So this has been going on for about three hours since the initial reports went out that the suspect was now in Trenton, New Jersey, in this neighborhood. They were able to -- police were able to successfully evacuate residents who were in the duplex, which is now the center of attention there with the suspects still believed inside. They're using megaphones to communicate with them. Unclear what other

means are being used to communicate with the suspect, but how do you see this happening right now?

DAVIS: Well, they're trying all sorts of means. They will not just rely on the loudspeakers that they've been utilizing. They will continually try to reach out to him either through his own cell phone or through other means, a phone inside the house or throw phone, they call it, that might be able to establish communications since with him.

You know, when you look at this issue, it is a horrible tragedy. It is an extreme -- case of extreme violence against women. But it is all too common in the United States, thousands of women are killed every year by domestic partners. And in this particular case, this man has killed every female that was close to him, his stepmother, what was described as either his daughter or his sister, the mother of his child, and then he bludgeoned the grandmother of his own children.

And interestingly, he left the male that kidnapped -- that he kidnapped in the car. He left him alive. So there's something going on with this guy that is extremely dangerous and makes it very difficult to have a rational conversation, and so the M.O. is going to be really important in the way that they address him as this proceeds.

WHITFIELD: So very volatile, and talk to me about the dynamics here. We're talking about, you know, Trenton, New Jersey, is pretty densely populated. And on this, just looking at the duplexes here, you know, is densely populated residential area. Here it is, a Saturday, people ordinarily would be at home or, you know, running errands, et cetera. So talk to me about how that dynamic further complicates matters for law enforcement there, who certainly don't want anyone injured as they try to coax the suspect out apprehend him.

DAVIS: Right. So they have this geographic area locked down and the cognizant of what they call fields of fire, how far that rifle can reach if in fact he starts to use it indiscriminately. So they go in to evacuate people, not just in that house, but all around that area. And what happens is you've got a lockdown in a neighborhood. You've got people inconvenienced. They're moved to other places. You have to find temporary locations for them to be housed.

Logistically, it's a nightmare for the city and for the police. But frankly the key thing here is to avoid any loss of life, including the life of the suspect. So they will suffer the inconvenience over a period of time if it's necessary to try to save even one life, and so that's what we're going to see here. This may progress into the evening hours. It does complicate things when nightfall occurs because you need to tighten up the perimeter even closer so no one can squeak through it.

But, again, this is all about saving as many lives as you can and keeping as many people out of danger as you can at this point.

WHITFIELD: All right. Former Boston commissioner Ed Davis, thank you so much. We're going to continue to keep tabs on all the developments there in Trenton, New Jersey. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:53:40]

WHITFIELD: On this week's episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," CNN anchor and chief legal analyst, Laura Coates, investigates two missing persons cases with one mysterious connection that was first reported on by our crime reporter, Thomas Lake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are several details that appears that what Calkin's account of the events are not accurate. He didn't check out with Mr. Williams on the radio as you're supposed to. He didn't notify dispatch that he was transporting someone from one location to another. The timeline of when he said it occurred versus the independent witnesses all of that appeared that he was not being truthful about the encounter between Terrence Williams and himself.

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: those inconsistencies surfaced during a months-long internal investigation. Corporal Calkins took three polygraph test during the probe. One of those tests indicated deception.

Marcia, there was a time when Calkins was interviewed. I want to play this for you in this meeting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I may have broken a couple rules. But I have broken no laws. I feel that this agency needs to stand a little bit taller here. I'm not going to be dragged through the mud no more because a couple of scumbags are missing. Is this being recorded?

COATES: Scumbags.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son wasn't a scumbag. Maybe Mr. Calkins is his own set of scumbag. Maybe he was a dirty cop.

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[15:55:03]

WHITFIELD: An all-new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," one whole hour one whole story, airs tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

All right. Stay with CNN for the very latest on that triple killing outside Philadelphia and the ongoing barricades situation in New Jersey.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. CNN NEWSROOM continues with Paula Reid after a quick break.

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