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At Least 13 Killed, Dozens Injured In Severe Storms; Eight Hospitalized After Qatar Airways Flight Hit By Turbulence; Hamas Claims Responsibility For Rocket Attack On Tel Aviv; Trump Faces Boos And Rowdy Libertarian Party Convention; This Weekend Marks Four Years Since George Floyd's Murder; This Week Closing Arguments: Jury Deliberates Donald Trump's Fate; Palestine Red Crescent Society: "Large Number" Of Casualties Following Israelis Strike On Displaced Persons' Tents; Massachusetts Stabbing Suspect Arrested After Police Chase; Remembering American Heroes This Memorial Day. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired May 26, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:05]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you to Richard Sherman for all of these great childhood memories. He was 95.

ANNOUNCER: CNN Breaking News.

WHITFIELD: Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield and we're following breaking news on this Memorial Day weekend.

Right now, more than 100 million people are at risk of severe weather as deadly and destructive storms sweep across the central U.S. These new threats come just hours after powerful storms killed at least 13 people across the south overnight. At least four of those killed were children. Homes were obliterated, 18-wheelers flipped over and power lines knocked out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming back to location right now for the first time, knowing that I was just here and it's all destroyed is mind- blowing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm still trying to process it. It's shock, just everything you had worked so hard for all these years is gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Valley View, Texas, and meteorologist Elisa Raffa is tracking the storms from the Weather Center.

So, Ed, let's begin with you. I mean bad, I mean terrible damage behind you. How are people doing?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, trying to capture the magnitude of the devastation that we're finding here in Valley View, Texas, which is just north of the Dallas, Fort Worth, area. And this is the rural area where the tornado really touched down here. Just moments before it came into this rural community you can see here on the landscape, just the amount of devastation, one, two, three, four, five homes back over in this area.

Here a little bit closer you can see the intensity, you know, massive trees ripped apart, homes shattered, as well as power lines downed all over the place through here. And, you know, the residents that we've talked to said, you know, they could feel the pressure dropping and that was how they knew in the darkness that the storm was getting closer and closer. This family over here, the Garcia family, had a homemade storm shelter that they built in a backyard. A large shed area where five people huddled together as the storm blew through here. They all survived.

But the sheriff here in Cook County, Texas, tells us that in this area, this subdivision, on this rural part just south of the town of Valley View, seven people were killed. And of those seven victims here in the Valley View area, four of them were children under the age of 18. We have confirmed the ages of two of the victims, which was 2 years old and 5 years old. So simply devastating news that these families and these residents here near the town of Valley View are putting -- you know, picking the pieces up of their lives and having to deal with this on this Memorial Day weekend.

There was also a gasoline station just a few miles from where we're at where the walls collapsed. People had to be rescued and pulled out of that rubble. We understand that nobody was killed there, but just simply devastating. And intense scenes that we're seeing all through this community as this storm, Fredricka, rip through here just before 11:00 Central Time last night. And you can imagine the horror and the fear that comes with these large tornadoes, intense tornadoes striking in the darkness.

You don't really -- you can hear it, but you don't know exactly where it's coming from. And that's what so many of these people that we've talked to find so terrifying.

WHITFIELD: I mean, it is absolutely incredible. I mean, you're certainly seeing more debris than structures there in Valley View, Texas.

Ed Lavandera, thank you so much.

Elisa Raffa, I mean, these storms are coming with more frequency. They seem to be more powerful. And then what's around the corner?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it continues as we go through the day today. The Midwest Ohio Valleys continuing with these storms. Here is right where Ed was, some of those tornado tracks that you see just north of Dallas, some of those hard-hit areas, then another one that stretches from Oklahoma straight through Northern Arkansas. We also know a lot of damage in Rodgers and Bentonville, Arkansas. At least 25 tornado reports. A lot of damage to sift through today for the National Weather Service. Here's a look at what's happening right now. We have a couple of

severe thunderstorm watches in the yellow that go through the afternoon and evening until about 8:00 or 9:00 Eastern Time. We have a tornado watch that goes until 3:00. It includes Nashville, parts of Kentucky.

Now I was just reading an update from the Storm Prediction Center. This area right here, Southeast Missouri, that boot heel, there's not much going on there yet, but the skies are clear, the atmosphere is cooking, they are going to issue a tornado watch for this area and they're saying that the possibility of tornadoes there, they could be strong. So something that we'll have to watch out for.

But again, this is the watch that we have right now. The line of storms when it is that bendy almost, when you see that bend in there, that's where you find damaging wind gusts, 60 to 70 miles per hour. Also see that pink box, that's a tornado warning because along this line you can still get the spin ups of tornadoes just imbedded in the line of damaging winds that's pushing with force.

[16:05:09]

We have had severe thunderstorm warnings in effect for Nashville. They're now going just south and east of the city. Also with that update from the Storm Prediction Center, they said because of their fear of some strong tornadoes in the boot heel area of Missouri, they're going to upgrade that to a moderate risk level, four out of five. So waiting for that update as well, but the risk again just stretches all the way up to the Great Lakes for continued damaging winds, a couple of tornadoes and large hail to the size of ping pong balls.

By tomorrow all of this goes to the East Coast. We've got places like D.C., Richmond, Charlotte, Atlanta, all included as the storms continue to fire up. All this could also come with some heavy rain. So flood watches are in effect through Monday morning as well.

So here's a look. The line continues to organize and fire up, see some of the kind of discreet cells in the boot heel that's where you can find some of those stronger tornadoes. The line continues to dive its way south and east through Tennessee. You'll have some storms knocking on your door in Atlanta in the morning, and then they can continue to fire up as we go into the afternoon and cook that atmosphere.

WHITFIELD: My goodness.

RAFFA: Just wildly acting more than 900 tornadoes reported so far this year -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And seemingly non-stop.

RAFFA: Non-stop.

WHITFIELD: All right. Elisa Raffa, thanks so much.

That tornado that hit Claremore, Oklahoma, overnight was at least an EF2 according to the initial findings of the National Weather Service.

I want to bring in now storm chaser Brian Emfinger, He was in Claremore overnight. Now you're back in Arkansas. So tell us about what you witnessed and experienced.

BRIAN EMFINGER, STORM CHASER: Yes. You know, it's Memorial Day weekend and the tornado passed through Claremore, on the east side of Claremore, there's a casino and next to the casino there's a KOA campground, and it was just a horrific scene pulling in there. The tornado went right through the campground. You know, these are not structures that are meant to, you know, survive really a tornado at all.

Luckily there is some sort of shelter there I've been told, but some people, you know, it's like 11:00 when the tornado came through that part of the -- of Oklahoma. And so, you know, there were people entrapped. There was -- the police and the fire were just, you know, frantically calling for help because they could not get some of these people out. They seem to be just trapped.

I don't know, you know, the amount of injuries. I know there are quite a few. There I think almost 20 and several life-threatening injuries. And I believe there was a couple of fatalities in that area, but it was just a horrible scene with a packed campground for Memorial Day weekend.

WHITFIELD: And after you left Claremore, you then traveled to Arkansas. What did you see along the way?

EMFINGER: Yes. Arkansas is home and first, I went through Decatur and they actually had two tornadoes, one on the west side of town and one on the south side of town. The west side of town, there were homes that literally were just ripped in two. On the south side of town there was businesses that were just demolished and then the tornado, this is the same storm that produced the tornado in Claremore and then through Decatur.

And then it went right through, you know, one of the more populated towns in Arkansas, Rogers, Arkansas, and right through, you know, almost down to their downtown area. Numerous businesses, you know, there was a Walmart supercenter and other major businesses in that area, lots of homes lost their roofs. I saw so much roof damage in that area. You know, again, this was like at 1:00 in the morning.

So I believe one person was fatally injured there and other injuries. Just a horrible scene in the middle of the night.

WHITFIELD: You mentioned the one set of people who, you know, had kind of a storm shelter like structure. Is it your feeling that most people are prepared in that manner to have something like that?

EMFINGER: You know, you're as prepared as you can be in the middle of the night. You know, there was obviously a lot of talk about the severity of -- the potential of the severity of these storms coming in, but, again, it's in the middle of the night. You know, if it wasn't for that storm shelter, I know that there would have been more fatalities, but in Oklahoma, I'm not surprised, you know, that they're going to have a safe place to go to.

For such a large campground, I mean, there must have been like 50, you know, RVs and campers in that area. And I probably thought 10 or 15 at the very least that were basically just, you know, blown over or destroyed where you couldn't even tell, you know, what that used to be. So I believe, you know, we always say this, but it could have been a lot worse in that part of Oklahoma, you know, even though there were a lot of travelers I believe that a lot of people were aware of what was coming.

WHITFIELD: All right. Brian Emfinger, glad you're OK. And I know people are very appreciative of you capturing the images so they could see. In many cases they didn't see it, but they could hear it and they could feel it. Appreciate it.

All right. And this breaking news, another turbulence incident. The second one this week.

[16:10:01]

Twelve people were injured on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin after the plane was rocked by turbulence over Turkey. The flight landed safely in Dublin and eight people were taken to the hospital.

Joining me right now is former FAA safety inspector and CNN safety analyst, David Soucie.

David, good to see you. Boy, it seems like this too is happening with some frequency and not just turbulence that is uncomfortable to people, but injurious.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Yes, Fred. These are qualified as severe turbulence and those are the ones we're hearing about mostly right now. Looking for and I haven't found any empirical data that would tell me that there's been an increase due to global warming or anything else at this point. However, there was a study in 2021 that said that we are going to see more and more due to global warming.

We're going to see more and more of the severe turbulence and it certainly appears that that's what we're witnessing now.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. Qatar Airways says they're conducting an internal investigation. What will they be zeroing in on?

SOUCIE: Well, there's a couple of things. One is if the pilots flew into weather, and I don't think weather is involved in this one. It was involved in the Singapore Airlines a few days ago. However, in this one, it looks like its clear air turbulence. So those are the kinds of things they're looking for. Is it something that could have been avoided? Another thing they'll look at is if they did know it was going ahead, in other words, if a flight had gone through the same area before, did the pilots reach out and say, have you had any trouble with this or did previous pilots report any turbulence ahead of time? So they'll first be looking to see if there's anything the pilot could

have done. If there isn't, then what they'll be doing is making recommendations for some new technology that's coming out that will really tell us what's going on in this clear-air turbulence.

WHITFIELD: Because is it the case that on most flights, most airplanes, there are instruments that will indicate certain levels of turbulence? Because I think a lot of people can recall being on a plane and hearing, you know, the pilots say that we're about to encounter some turbulence or rough air so keep your seatbelts on. But there are conditions in which there is no notice that they could, you know, prepare passengers for?

SOUCIE: Yes, there certainly are none at this point that tell them exactly what's going on with clear-air turbulence. Now when you get that notice in the cockpit or from the cockpit that tells you, hey, we're going to be experiencing some turbulence, that's usually found out or discovered by the pilot in two ways. One is, as I mentioned, the pilots that flew through that area before said, hey, we've got some turbulence in this area, be cautious. You can throttle back or you can avoid the area altogether, go a little higher, a little lower to avoid it.

So that's that information. The other thing they can look at it sometimes it's just impossible to avoid going through some kind of weather front that's coming through. And so there'll be aware of that by their instruments. And they'll be able to see those weather fronts. The challenges when they can't see it at all. And that's the new technology that I'm just referring to a minute ago is these ultrasonic or infrasonic microphones that can sense the movement of the air and actually tell whether or not there's going to be clear air turbulence or not.

WHITFIELD: Wow, extraordinary. All right. David Soucie --

SOUCIE: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

SOUCIE: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, straight ahead, airstrikes targeting a city in northern Gaza. We'll go live to the Middle East for the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:18:15]

WHITFIELD: All right. Hamas is claiming responsibility for an early morning rocket attack on Tel Aviv and Central Israel. These are the first rockets fired from Gaza at Tel Aviv since January. Israel Defense Forces say eight rock hits were fired from Rafah in Southern Gaza, and that a number of projectiles were intercepted.

Rafah has been the focus of Israeli military operations in recent weeks and Israel has threatened an all-out assault if hostages being held in Gaza are not returned. And then just a short time ago, a journalist working for CNN learned from medics at the scene that at least four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Jabalya in Northern Gaza.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is following the developments for us.

Paula, there's a lot there. What do you know?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are seeing some significant airstrikes in Gaza at this point, as you mentioned, there in Jabalya. At least for killed according to medics. This was when a residential building was struck there.

We also know that we have just heard from the Israeli military chief of staff Daniel Hagari. He was speaking about Rafah, pointing out that Hamas has been using Rafah to launch these rockets against Israeli territory. There were eight. Earlier on we know that there were no casualties, no injuries reported.

It does, of course, raised the question once again about more than seven months into this war, how far along Israel has even got in its stated goal of trying to destroy Hamas.

[16:20:03]

And we also do have reports of airstrikes in Rafah as well. We are trying to get information on that for you at this point, but it shows that this really is Israel's focus at this point. This area along the border with Egypt, where we have seen many displaced Palestinians. At one point, there were more than a million that was sheltering in that area, about 800,000 of them at this point have moved after having forced evacuations from the Israeli military.

Very dire conditions we are hearing from humanitarian aid groups in that particular region. But at this point, we are having reports of airstrikes in that area as well, and we will give you more information as soon as we get it -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK. And then, Paula, you know, as for those rockets launched at Tel Aviv, do we know if any of them hit their targets?

HANCOCKS: Well, we understand that a number were intercepted, this is what we're hearing from the Israeli military and we did see images as well of sirens and people running for shelters and also some shrapnel in the aftermath, in Herzliya in Central Israel. But it does beg the question how Hamas is still able to fire these rockets. Now certainly we're not seeing anything like the number of missiles being fired into Israel that we did at the beginning of this war.

But there is going to be a concern as to why this is still possible. There have been increased criticism from the Biden administration, from others as well, when it comes to the military strategy that Israel is employing at this point, saying that there does need to be a political plan for the day after as well so that they are not constantly fighting against Hamas. For example, some of the areas including Jabalya, which we just mentioned, the Israeli military had claimed had been cleared of Hamas, but now they are back in that area.

And we are seeing significant airstrikes there and fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas, as Hamas, according to the military, has managed to regroup and reassemble itself in that area. So this is really the criticism that we are hearing at this point. And the Israeli government is certainly hearing that with just a military strategy and no political plan in place it will be very difficult to see how they will be able to have their stated goal of completely destroying Hamas -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Paula Hancocks, thank you so much.

All right, back in this country, Donald Trump tried to win over libertarians this weekend, and so did RFK Jr. It turns out it didn't work. We'll explain, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:27:23]

WHITFIELD: All right. Just moments ago independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was eliminated from contention for the libertarian nomination during a vote. And it comes after a surprise move earlier today when Kennedy was put up for consideration as a nominee to represent the party in 2024. He received support from 19 delegates or just 2 percent of the delegates.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump, who also received a handful of votes as a write-in candidate, got a hostile reception in the nation's capital last night as he spoke at the Libertarian National Convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will be a true friend to libertarians in the White House.

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP: We want libertarian votes because you stand for what we stand for, and don't waste the vote. Now, I think you should nominate me or at least vote for me, and we should win together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Some of the attendees even used rubber chickens to heckle Trump. It was one of his shortest speeches of the campaign season lasting just over 30 minutes.

I'm joined now by Ron Brownstein. He is a CNN senior political analysts and a senior editor for "The Atlantic."

Ron, great to see you.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, Fred. WHITFIELD: OK, so ouch for both Trump and RFK Jr. at the libertarian

convention, ha, and I guess, you know, Trump, you know, perhaps, you know, Trump likely knew that he wasn't going to be hugely, you know, well-received at the convention and may have thought that perhaps it was a long shot, too, for the Bronx support, you know, when he showed up last week.

So what is this all about really? I mean, is this a photo op to use later to say, look, you know, the appearances of me, I'm reaching out to people, or, you know, is he, Trump, genuinely trying to grow support?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, let's talk about the libertarians first. I mean, obviously we are a very closely divided country and I think what you see from Trump, at least from him, is like, you know, every piece that he can bring into the fold on kind of broadly speaking, the right would help him. For RFK Jr. obviously a libertarian nomination would have meant tremendously expanded ballot access. I mean, I think CNN reported they're on the ballot in over three dozen states. He's only in about six or seven.

[16:30:04]

But what we saw at this, you know, convention and in this first round of voting is that it's really hard for anyone coming from outside of the libertarian circle, to really be acceptable to the voters in that -- you know, inside of that kind of universe.

I mean, libertarians are a pretty particular bunch. Trump alienates them with his support for government restrictions on personal behavior, you would think Kennedy would be a pretty good fit given his vaccine conspiracy theories and opposition to vaccine mandates, but his environmentalism and activism on that front puts them off.

Their impact in 2016 was real, they got a much smaller share of the vote in 2020. They're probably on track for that again in 2024.

WHITFIELD: So, how might they lean? I mean, are there any indicators by who they are eliminating?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I mean, I think they're going to take a pure libertarian, you know, which is what they did in 2020. In 2016, of course, they had the former governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson, he got a bigger vote. He was kind of an escape valve for young people and hurt Hillary Clinton in that way.

I think the general sense among the research that was done was that when their vote declined from '16 to '20, most of those voters have moved away from the libertarians, move toward Biden, hard to imagine that really happening again, given Biden's support for activist government in a lot of ways, particularly on environmental issues, and kind of, you know, directing investment through industrial policy.

But Trump isn't a great fit either, you know, with his abortion views and his tariff views. I suspect that previously libertarian voters are probably going to scatter mostly among third party options, including RFK Jr., even though he didn't get much of a, you know, reception there this weekend.

WHITFIELD: Right. OK. All right. So, there was that this weekend.

But it also is a very, you know, sad weekend, you know, marking the moments including Uvalde school massacre two years ago, George Floyd's killing by the hands of police four years ago.

BROWNSTEIN: Four years ago.

WHITFIELD: And you write in the Atlantic about the latter, under a Trump leadership, the reversal of police related reforms that very much impact Latino and Black audiences that, you know, the same audiences that you know, Trump is trying to appeal to, and as recently as last week, you know, trying to court there in the Bronx.

You write, the magnitude of Trump's plans on policing and crime has drawn little attention. You're arguing that it should be front and center?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. I mean, you know, this is true on many fronts. I mean, you know, we really haven't been -- we haven't seen much of a debate, certainly not in the Republican primaries. And it really hasn't fully developed in the general election about what Trump is thinking about for a second term.

And on policing, he is thinking -- he is proposing if you look at the campaign videos that he puts up on his website, a pretty radical shift in federal policy on policing. He wants to require local police departments to implement stop and frisk and other hard line policies as a condition of receiving federal law enforcement grants.

As president, he virtually shut off all federal civil rights investigations into bias -- alleged bias in policing in local communities.

And this time, he is saying he wants to have the federal government investigate the reform oriented district attorneys who are pressing for changes in policing practices at the local level.

He isn't -- says he will consider sending in the National Guard into high crime cities over the objections of local officials.

And in fact, that said, one of his biggest regrets of his first terms is that he deferred to local officials who asked him not to do that.

Now, there's an audience in part for some of these, you know, proposals. Obviously, there's enormous concern about crime, even though it is down from its peak in the pandemic in most of the key measures.

But I don't think that voters have a full handle on this. And it really is indicative of that broader point you made, which is that if you compare where Trump is now to where he was in 2020, he is stronger, more because he is improving among non-white voters than among white voters. That's where his gains or Biden's erosion from 2020 has been concentrated. But if you look at areas like his proposals on policing, which all

experts I talked to agreed, would mean more arrests of younger black and Latino men or his proposals on mass deportation or ending birthright citizenship.

It's not clear whether he can sustain those gains all the way to the finish line once if and when voters in those communities learn more about what he has in mind in a second term.

WHITFIELD: You've done a lot of homework. A lot of research on this and the article is enlightening in the Atlantic. Ron Brownstein, thank you so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

[16:35:00]

WHITFIELD: All right, and this could indeed be a consequential week for Donald Trump. Closing arguments in his criminal hush money trial are expected to begin Tuesday, and the case could be in the hands of the jury this week.

After six weeks of testimony, we could soon find out if Trump becomes the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. He faces 34 felony counts in this historic trial.

I'm joined now by Michael Zeldin. He is a former federal prosecutor. Michael, great to see you.

MICHAEL ZELDIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK, so you shared with us before as a trial attorney, you might write your closing arguments -- closing statements first before you even question or grill witnesses and then go back and kind of reshape the closing.

So, if you were prosecuting this case, how might you structure this closing?

ZELDIN: I think my theme and I like closing arguments that have recurring themes, is does it make sense that Donald Trump wouldn't -- as my sort of chorus, doesn't make sense that Donald Trump wouldn't have known that Michael Cohen was receiving hush money repayments from Michael -- from Weisselberg when he was writing $35,000 checks once a month.

Wouldn't make sense that Donald Trump wouldn't have wanted to suppress the story in the aftermath of Access Hollywood, when all his polling told him that was the possible death knell of his campaign? Wouldn't make sense and on and on taking the evidence out of the case, putting into that theme, and asking the jury to use their common sense in relationship to what we learned about Donald Trump.

You've got to deal with Michael Cohen a little bit. But the reality is that Michael Cohen's testimony in large measure was corroborated. And when it wasn't corroborated, it was really superfluous to the main part of what the prosecution needs to argue to obtain a conviction.

WHITFIELD: So, you're saying whether it be defense or prosecutor, you know, attorneys really need to challenge the jurors to kind of connect the dots.

I mean, these jurors were real note takers, you know. Do you think most of them have already made up their minds? Or might they be greatly influenced by those closing statements?

ZELDIN: My experiences are twofold. One, as a trial lawyer, I always felt that my closing arguments were important to help the jury put the whole thing together.

Remember, they've been in trial for a long time, 20 plus days, now they've been off for five days. I think the closing argument in this case will be particularly important to bring it all back home so that they can understand the narrative that you're producing.

Also, I found that as a juror, I was on two juries in my life. And I found that the foreperson of the jury played an important role in organizing the collective thoughts of the jury. It'll be interesting to see how that works out in this case, especially when you have two lawyers on that jury.

WHITFIELD: Right, might one of them be the foreperson.

All right, Michael Zeldin, thank you so much for your insight. Appreciate it. It's going to be an incredibly busy week.

ZELDIN: For sure. See you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And we're also following up on this breaking news as the Palestine Red Crescent Society says there are a, "Large number of casualties following a new Israeli strike on displaced persons' tents."

CNN's Paula Hancocks is back with us for the very latest and we're talking about in the Rafah area.

HANCOCKS: Yes, Fred, this is the northwestern area of Rafah. So, it is not one of the areas where the Israeli military has issued those evacuation orders. It's likely an area where people have evacuated to.

So, this is a tent city and this is where displaced people are sheltering at this point, the Tel al-Sultan camp now we've heard from civil defense in Gaza, they believe 50 are dead or injured. We do not have a clear breakdown of how many have been killed at this point, a very fluid situation.

But the Palestinian Emergency Committee in Rafah saying that they believe dozens have been killed at this point.

Now, as I say, this is an area where there are many makeshift shelters, there are tents. We have seen images on social media of people desperately trying to put out flames as a large fire has broken out. Now, we know that many of the casualties and the injured are being

taken to hospitals in the area. It is unfortunately that the death toll is expected to rise at this point. And we understand this area is near the United Nations headquarters in Rafah itself.

And as I say, it is not an area that has been told to be evacuated. It is an area that many would have believed to have been safer than east of Rafah where the Israeli military is operating significantly.

Now, we have reached out to the IDF asking the Israeli military for details of what exactly happened in this air strike. We are waiting for a response, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, let us know when you know. Thank you so much, Paula Hancocks. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:44:50]

WHITFIELD: All right, this breaking news out of Massachusetts where a suspect is in custody after a stabbing spree near Boston, four girls between the ages of nine and 17 were attacked at a movie theater, in Braintree. All the girls are expected to be OK.

[16:45:05]

I'd like to bring in now CNN's Polo Sandoval. Polo, tell us more about this.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Fred, police have been quite limited in terms of the information that they have released, but at least they have shared enough for us to help build somewhat of a timeline. Albeit a disturbing one, about three incidents yesterday, two of which we can confirm were connected.

The first in Braintree Massachusetts at that movie theater that you mentioned. Investigators say that at about 6:00 p.m., an individual who is eventually detained, walked into that AMC Theater without a ticket and then stabbed four young females there. Their ages ranging from nine to 17.

Fortunately, their injuries not life threatening but certainly, just the emotional trauma of it all there. At this point, police calling this an unprovoked attack.

Shortly after that, as you can see in the map here. Police believed that that same suspect had made his way to Plymouth where he stabbed two individuals, a man and a woman in their 20s at a McDonald's.

Also, those two people sustained non-life threatening injuries and are expected to recover.

He then -- police then tracked him down. There was a police chase, and that is when that individual crashed his vehicle. He was detained. And it expect -- expected to face charges, Fred.

And then, finally, police in deep dive -- Deep River, Connecticut, investigating the disturbance found an individual dead at that location. They said that their suspect was arrested in Massachusetts but stopped short of actually linking that from with those two other incidents as well, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Polo Sandoval, thanks so much.

SANDOVAL: You bet.

WHITFIELD: All right, we're also following more breaking news here at CNN. One person is confirmed dead as the latest round of severe weather rips through Kentucky. More at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:29]

WHITFIELD: All right, tomorrow is Memorial Day. And as Americans enjoy this extended weekend, it's most important to acknowledge the purpose of this holiday weekend.

Memorial Day originally honored military personnel who died in the Civil War, and now honors those who died in any war while serving for the United States.

For more perspective, I'm joined now by Lisa Jenkins, president of the Georgia Chapter of American Gold Star Mothers.

Lisa, good to see you. Explain to us what this holiday means for you and what it means to be a Gold Star family.

LISA JENKINS, PRESIDENT, DEPARTMENT OF GEORGIA AMERICAN GOLD STAR MOTHERS: Thank you so much for having me, Fredricka.

This holiday is a holiday that is reserved for those who never made it out of the uniform. It is a solemn day for honor. And honoring those who never made it out of the uniform as well as the families that have been left behind.

What it means to be a Gold Star. Family, mother is it -- it is very difficult. It's a -- it's a difficult journey for any mother who has to bury her child. It is a -- it is quite a journey. But I have made it my part of my legacy to embrace the Gold Star community and bring education and put eyes on the Gold Star community.

WHITFIELD: Not only do you lead this organization, but you also lead an entire family of service members.

I mean, you have six children. What -- you talked about this being a journey. You know, I mean, three of whom are currently serving in the army. Your identical sons are both veterans, your middle child specialist Frederick Jenkins III, tragically passed away in 2015 while on active duty. I mean, your journey is unique and extraordinary. What do you want

people to know about how they can continue to honor Americans, honor service members, and particularly for those who perhaps cannot identify with what it is to be in a military family? What do you convey to them?

JENKINS: Well, I think the way that you honor active duty veterans and Gold Star service members is to acknowledge that they are here, they are serving, some of them -- the transition from the military is very difficult, very challenging.

We have service members that are serving, they have challenges, and they are -- there are organizations and groups out there that do bring attention to some of the issues that our service members encounter.

My support is -- has always been the military because my husband and I, we've been married for 35 years, and he's also a veteran.

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So, that's been a large part of -- my family's been a large part of our lives.

So, I'm very passionate about the military community as a whole. My passion runs deep for the Gold Star community because we're not seen.

A lot of times on Memorial Day, you'll get something in your e-mail, or you'll see something about supporting veterans or -- but you don't see very much about the families of the fallen.

So, I'm very passionate about putting eyes on our community and making Americans aware that we're here. It's a journey. It's Memorial Day every day for us, every day.

WHITFIELD: Well, Lisa Jenkins, we feel your passion. We honor you, your family.

JENKINS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And all members of the armed services. And of course, we salute America's entire family of men and women who serve. Thank you so much.

JENKINS: Thank you. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And thank you for joining me today and this Memorial Day weekend. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, the "NEWSROOM" with Jessica Dean starts right after this.

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