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Harris, Trump Face Off Tuesday In Their First Presidential Debate; Active Shooter Situation Near Kentucky Highway; Police Active Shooter Situation, "Numerous" People Shot Near Kentucky Interstate. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired September 07, 2024 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:22]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

And in just about three days, Vice President Kamala Harris will meet face to face with former president Donald Trump for their first presidential debate. The two campaigns in a tight race right now among key battleground states as they hope to win over undecided voters in the final two months before this election.

And you can see on the map, Wisconsin, one of those states key to deciding this year's winner as it often is. And today, while Harris was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, preparing the debate, Trump held a rally in Wisconsin. He spoke for more than two hours. At one point, bringing up his New York hush money criminal case where a judge this week decided to delay his sentencing date until after the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know why they don't do something. They ought to drop it. They shouldn't delay it. They should drop it, drop all of it, drop all of it. I've been indicted more than Alphonse Capone. I say it all the time. He's sort of the ultimate. You know, he's ultimate criminal.

I got indicted more than him. My parents are up there, they're great people, they're looking down on me right now, I can't believe this has happened to my son. He's been indicted more than Al Capone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: In terms of debate preparation, Harris has been taking a more traditional route.

CNN's Eva McKend is in Pittsburgh with more details about how the vice president plans to prepare for the high-stakes debate.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jess, the vice president's strategy largely seems to be to hunker down here at the Omni with a small group of trusted advisers as she strenuously prepares for the debate. No doubt she is going through anticipated questions from the moderators, as well as combing through former president Donald Trump's past statements.

Also, key to the campaign strategy is to anchor herself here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a pivotal battleground state so that in her down moments, which she doesn't have very much of, but in that downtime, she can get out into the community and have this important facetime with battleground voters. She spoke today at a spice shop about that recent endorsement from Liz and Dick Cheney. Take a listen to how she's thinking about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People are exhausted about the division and the attempts to kind of divide us as Americans. And them stepping up to make this public statement I think is courageous but also for people like the folks that I was just talking with, it really reinforces for them that we love our country and we have more in common than what separates us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And, Jess, Pennsylvania is so important. President Biden only won this state in 2020 by about 80,000 so no doubt that is why the campaign decided to keep themselves here over the coming days as she prepares for this crucial debate -- Jess.

DEAN: All right. Eva McKend for us in Pittsburgh. Thanks so much.

And CNN's Alayna Treene was at Trump's rally in Wisconsin. She has more -- Alayna.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, Donald Trump spoke for nearly two hours here in Mosinee, and he actually didn't talk about the debate that much. He only brought it up once and that was to ask people in the crowd if they were going to be watching. But what he did do is actually he made some news today. He said for the first time, I haven't heard this before from him, that he would look into modifying the 25th Amendment.

I want you to take a listen to what he said and then I'll break it down for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And finally I will support modifying the 25th Amendment to make clear that if a vice president lies or engages in a conspiracy to cover up the incapacity of the president of the United States, if you do that with a coverup of the president of the United States, it's grounds for impeachment immediately and removal from office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: OK. So as you heard him say there, it'd be grounds for impeachment or immediate removal from office. Of course, this is part of Donald Trump's effort to paint Kamala Harris as being responsible for what they are arguing is Biden's inability to serve as president.

But to move away from that, I want to give you more insight into why he was in Wisconsin today. First of all, we know how important of a battleground state this is, not just for Trump's campaign, but also for Kamala Harris'. It's even more important, though, now that Harris is the one at the top of the ticket.

Prior to Joe Biden ending his campaign over the summer, Trump's campaign was very confident about his chances of securing the state, even though he had lost it to Biden in 2020. They really see this as being key to his pathway to securing 270 electoral votes come November.

[19:05:02]

But now recent polling including our own recent poll released last week shows that Harris is actually doing better than Donald Trump. It's very close of course but she has made up a lot of ground here so you're going to see a lot more of Donald Trump in the weeks to come.

And one other notable thing from today, Jessica, is that Donald Trump spent a lot of time talking about the economy. We know that not only does Donald Trump believe that it is the most important issue to voters, but that he's also polling better than Harris on the issue. We actually saw him on Thursday walked through for the first time the specifics of what his economic policy would look like if elected.

He talked about gutting regulations, about lowering the corporate tax rate further to 15 percent, about imposing sweeping tariffs on imports, although I will note that during that speech he did not necessarily address some of the implications of those policies, including how many economists argue that such tariffs would create inflation. But, again, the economy is such an important issue for Donald Trump.

He talked about that a lot today here in Wisconsin, and you're also going to hear a lot of those same messaging points on Tuesday on the debate stage -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Alayna Treene, thanks so much, and don't forget to follow CNN for complete coverage and exclusive analysis before and after Tuesday night's big debate.

The ABC News presidential debate simulcast starts Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.

And still ahead, Winder, Georgia, is still grieving, trying to pick up the pieces after Wednesday's mass shooting at Apalachee High School. We are live at the school where dozens of people have gathered to pay their respects and remember those four victims. Plus new information about an alleged foiled terror plot in New York City targeting Jewish people on the anniversary of the October 7th attacks.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:11:31]

DEAN: We have breaking news now. We're following reports of an active shooter situation near Interstate-75 in southern Kentucky. Deputy saying several people have been shot.

I want to go now to CNN's Gloria Pazmino.

Gloria, I know details are scant at this moment, but what do you know?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, we're just getting a very preliminary information, but we do have confirmation from officials that several people have been shot. This appears to have taken place near the highway, Interstate-75 in Laurel County, Kentucky. This is right near London. That's according to the Laurel County Sheriff's Office.

They wrote that the I-75 for now is closed at Mile Marker Exit 49, nine miles north of London due to an active shooter situation. This is what the sheriff's office said in a post on Facebook, just to a little while ago, they also wrote that numerous persons have been shot near I-75 we also just a little while ago. They also wrote that numerous persons have been shot near I-75.

We also just have a post on X from Governor Andy Beshear. He wrote, Kentucky, we are aware of a shooting on I-75 in Laurel County. Law enforcement have shut the interstate down in both directions at Exit 49. Please avoid the area. We will provide more details once they are available.

We are trying to gather as much information as we can now, Jessica, but for now it does seem like the situation is still active. The scene still ongoing, and unfortunately it does appear like several people have been shot. It's not clear to us just yet what condition they may be in, if anybody is in custody by law enforcement. But this does appear to be a fluid and still moving situation -- Jessica.

DEAN: And again, just to underscore our breaking news that we're following right now that several people have been shot near or around I-75 near London, Kentucky. That's in southern Kentucky. We know that that section of the interstate has been closed and as Gloria was just reporting Governor Andy Beshear has also confirmed that the interstate is closed, that they are trying to get law enforcement there and get to the bottom of this.

Do we still have gloria with us?

PAZMINO: Yes, I'm here, Jessica. This is -- go ahead.

DEAN: Go ahead. Go ahead, Gloria.

PAZMINO: I was just going to say that this small city, a small town, it's about two and a half hours southeast of Louisville, Kentucky. Just to give you a sense of where it is. Population about 8,000 people. So not a very big place and it appears to be happening along the highway. We have no indication just yet of what we're talking about. We don't know where this shooter is or where people were shot at from. But for now, the only thing we can confirm is that there are people who appear to have been injured.

DEAN: And Gloria, in these sorts of situations, of course, you are talking to law enforcement, or our teams are talking to law enforcement trying to get more information. Law enforcement itself probably trying to wrap its arms around exactly what's going on because we don't know at this moment if this is still an active situation, 100 percent for sure or not.

In these immediate moments unfortunately we're well-versed in mass shootings in this country. And these immediate moments you have to wait for the facts. And we don't have a ton of them yet.

[19:15:01]

But I am curious, Gloria, it sounds like we know the governor was on X posting about it. How is law enforcement communicating? How is the government communicating at this point? Are you able to at least glean some information from them?

PAZMINO: Yes. I think what you're saying, Jessica, is really important because it is so shortly after this event that the information is likely to change as it comes in. We're trying to learn as much as we can. The fact that this is happening along a federal highway, a big stretch of the interstate, suggests that you are probably going to see a state police presence, local police presence, and depending on what kind of incident this is, we may see federal officials arriving there as well.

We are waiting to hear more from the governor just to see how large this response is but the fact that it sounds like there are several at least a few miles between the exits where this incident appears to have taken place tells me that this may still be sort of a fluid situation. Not at all contained. They are asking people to stay away from the area. This is a highway, so we assume that there are a lot of people who were trying to travel along it on one side and on the other side going on opposite directions, as well as the surrounding areas, right?

People who may be trying to get around going home. It's a Saturday afternoon wherever they might be. So you can imagine that there'll be traffic to take care of the state authorities, the local authorities. And as I said, depending on what kind of incident we're talking about, very likely that we will see federal officials as well coming in to try and help with both investigation and the initial response of this kind of scene, whether that's getting people to medical attention as needed or helping to get it under control.

If there is a shooter that remains at large, that is certainly an issue especially if we're talking a big -- about a big open area like a road, a highway running along an open space. So that would certainly be challenging to law enforcement that's currently responding there.

DEAN: Absolutely, Gloria. All right. You stay with us. Again if you're just tuning in, we are following breaking news that I-

75 being closed in southern Kentucky, this is from the sheriff's office there in that area. They say numerous persons have been shot near I-75. The governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, confirming that they are aware of a shooting on I-75 in Laurel County that law enforcement has shut the interstate down in both directions. They said they're going to provide more details once they're available.

We still don't know a lot of details, but I do want to bring in senior law enforcement analyst, Charles Ramsey, to talk more about this.

It's another Saturday night and another what potentially could be a mass shooting in America. This is just a few days, Commissioner Ramsey, since of course the school shooting in Georgia that killed four people in their school. This one appears to have happened either on or nearby an interstate which I'm told there's lanes both ways.

First of all, how difficult is that trying to secure that sort of perimeter around an interstate? Obviously, they've closed it now.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, it's very difficult because, you know, you've got to get enough units responding to be able to shut down the highway both ways. Entrances, exits, and so forth. But at the same time, you're trying to get emergency crews in their ambulances and so forth to deal with people that have been injured so it's going to be a lot of activity that'll be there right now.

We don't know if this was actually on the interstate, but I would assume it would be if they've shut everything down in both directions. That sounds like it was probably on the interstate. Now, the person responsible obviously probably would have been mobile unless they were shooting from an overpass or something like that. So whether or not that person responsible is anywhere near that scene at this point in time, I mean, who knows.

We got to wait until we get more information from the sheriff's office and others that have responded before we can really know what's going on.

DEAN: And in these moments when there is a report of a shooting like this for law enforcement trying to get their hands on the facts to kind of ascertain what exactly is happening, that takes a minute, that takes a beat for them to figure out exactly what's going on if there's still an active threat even.

RAMSEY: Well, it does take a while to find out exactly what's going on, but your first responsibility is taking care of any wounded and so you want to get ambulances to the scene. You want to medevac people if that's necessary. You want to try to help as many people as possible and get them to a hospital as quickly as possible to get care. In the meantime, they shut down everything, start interviewing people that may be witnesses and things of that nature. But priority number one is taking care of the wounded.

[19:20:08] DEAN: Yes, certainly. And what about the people? Obviously, if they're on the interstate and it's now closed, they're probably stuck on the interstate for a while, and hopefully --

RAMSEY: Well -- yes.

DEAN: Yes. Go ahead.

RAMSEY: No, I was going to say they'll be stuck for a while because depending on where they shut it down and we all know interstates, you'd go for miles before you find an exit. And so, you know, people will be stuck for a period of time because they would -- wherever the scene is, they would block it off with quite a bit of distance in both directions and so they'd be taking people off the highway at the earliest opportunity. But they're going to be there for a while.

DEAN: And you have to think, again we're underscoring that there are a lot of things we don't know right now, except that there has been a shooting around this stretch of interstate that they've shut this down and that we're being told numerous people have been shot. But obviously they're driving cars on an interstate and if, you know, that's very, very dangerous to be shooting at someone that's driving a car because then that can cause an additional accident there. You know, you have to think that there's the potential that also has happened.

RAMSEY: Yes. But, you know, the reality is the people that do this sort of thing, they don't care whether they're mobile in a car, whether stationary, whether they're in school, they just don't care. And it's just very unfortunate that we have people like that. So priority number two is going to be find the person responsible. Again, number one is taking care of the wounded and the injured. Number two is finding the individual responsible as quickly as possible.

You'll have a lot of people responding, they'll have to protect the scene. You might have a crime scene. It actually stretches over a considerable amount of territory depending on when it started. And so this is going to be one it's going to take some time in order to be able to secure and then process.

DEAN: And again, if you're just tuning in, we are following breaking news that there has been a shooting, that there is police say an active shooter situation with numerous people shot near an interstate in southern Kentucky there near London, which you see highlighted in red there on the map. The details are still pretty scant.

Commissioner, I want to ask you to stick with us. We're going to squeeze in a quick break and we're going to get some more information and we're going to have more for you on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:26:57]

DEAN: Welcome back. We are following breaking news out of Kentucky, in southern Kentucky where the interstate has been closed in both directions with reports of an active shooter and numerous people shot near Interstate 75.

I want to go first to CNN's Gloria Pazmino, who is following all the information as it's coming in.

Gloria, set the stage for everyone. Tell everyone what we do know at this moment.

PAZMINO: Well, Jessica, the details are coming in slowly and we want to be careful because this is all very preliminary information that is likely to change in the next several hours. But for now we can confirm that several people have been shot. This is happening near London. Kentucky, near Interstate I-75. This is near Laurel County, Kentucky, and that's according to the sheriff's office.

Now, we have reports that there is a stretch of highway on I-75 near Exit 49 that has been closed. This is north of London. That's a small city in Kentucky. And according to the sheriff, this is due to an active shooter situation.

Now, we do not know yet how many people have been injured, what kind of injuries were talking about, and we don't know yet just how contained, if at all, this scene is. We do know that this is a three- lane highway going in both directions. This is a big interstate. So we're talking about a big area which is going to be difficult to get under control. That's a picture we're seeing now from the sheriff's office just seeing -- showing you some of the response to the area.

We did also hear from Governor Andy Beshear. He posted on X just a short while ago, writing that they are -- his office is aware of shooting on I-75 in Laurel County. He wrote that law enforcement has shut the interstate down in both directions at Exit 49, please avoid the area. He said that they will provide more details once they are available.

So, again, a developing situation here. Unfortunately the only thing we can confirm so far is that this does appear to be an active shooter situation. Several people have been shot. We're still waiting to learn more about what kind of injuries have happened. And just about what the law enforcement response has been so far.

But for now, we do know it's happening across a stretch of I-75 in London, Kentucky. That's about two and a half hours southeast from Louisville. And we are hoping to get more information in the next several minutes -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Gloria, stand by. We will come back to you with new information.

And again, just highlighting this picture that we are looking at is blurry, but it is a new photo into us from the Laurel County Sheriff's Department as gloria noted showing their response to what we are being told is a shooting with multiple people shot there in Kentucky.

[19:30:08]

I want to bring in senior law enforcement analyst, Charles Ramsey, who's here with us. We're looking at this very blurry picture, but it indicates just what a heavy presence that they have there -

RAMSEY: Exactly.

DEAN: -- again, you know, and I want to just get your thoughts on what you're seeing being from this picture and what law enforcement will be doing right now?

RAMSEY: Well from what we're hearing right now, it sounds like it took place actually on the highway, although, we still don't know for sure.

Some of the victims may very well have gotten off at that exit. So, you may have victims that are actually not physically on the highway any longer, even though maybe, that's where the injuries took place, when the shooting took place.

Nothing on a suspect, whether or not that person is contained in that area, whether or not they have a vehicle that they're looking for. I'm sure there's someone right now -- taking a look at traffic cameras, trying to interview witnesses, trying to get some indication as to a vehicle, if the person was in a vehicle, were they standing on the side of the road.

I mean, there's a lot of things we just don't know at this point in time. But again, they're containing the area and priority number one, is to evacuate the wounded to the nearest hospital.

So you've got a lot of things going on at the same time and of course then you have to locate the shooter, contain that individual, and neutralize them or at least make them no longer a threat.

So, you've got a lot of things going on right now and I -- we'll be finding out a little pieces of information probably as they're able to pass it along to us. But right now, their main concern isn't really speaking with the media. Their main concern is going to be to contain that area, evacuate the wounded, and find the shooter.

DEAN: And protect people from getting harmed further. And, you know, I'm looking -- you're looking at that at that map and I think we can pull it up again where this happened.

There is a big interstate that runs through this area but in terms of big medical centers that could accept a large number of gunshot victims, you're probably looking at Lexington, Kentucky there or Knoxville below you.

So, it may take some time to your point. They may need to get people to these centers that are kind of far away and that takes time and it takes resources.

RAMSEY: It takes time, it takes resources, they may have to helicopter. I mean, we don't know the extent of the injuries. Are the injuries due to gunshot wounds, were there accidents that occurred as a result of someone being shot? We just don't know the answer to any of that yet.

And so, as we begin to get more information, we'll know, but this looks like it's an area where they would have to medevac some people if their injuries are serious enough to get to a level one trauma center.

They would have to make allowances to be able to get them there as quickly as they can which would probably be by helicopter.

DEAN: All right, stay with us, Commissioner. I'm going to go now to CNN, senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem, who's joining us as well.

And Juliette, as I said to the Commissioner, it's another Saturday night, a mass shooting just happened at a school earlier this week, killing four people. And now here we are on this Saturday night talking about multiple people shot on an interstate in Kentucky.

What are your just initial thoughts knowing that we have very few details at this moment?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So, the most important is this is a result of some road rage incident in which there are some trigger that we would -- that then you could deduce or at least begin to focus who the search is because there'll be eyewitnesses.

Kentucky is a relatively permissive gun ownership law, it wouldn't be unusual for someone to have a gun. And that this was an incident -- this was the consequences of some sort of road rage, that's what you're always going to be thinking about of anything that happens on the highway or is there an alternative worry, which is of course some sort of sniper.

And we always worry about this in terms of the highway shooting, they're harder to find. People can't react because they're just driving into the line of fire.

And so, the authorities are probably going to very quickly deduce which one it is. The good news here is, there are generally eyewitnesses. There are back roads and dirt roads, but there's so many. We have drones, we have helicopters. It's near an interstate.

If the person's on an interstate, they might be identified and begin to narrow down the pool of what you're looking for at this stage.

As Chief Ramsey said, we don't know the extent of these injuries right now and then of course what the triggering event was on -- honestly, on a Saturday night in Kentucky.

DEAN: Yes. And then of course, as you mentioned, that's going to be very important to discern what the triggering event is. Because if it's a road rage incident that's one thing. If it's a sniper that feels very different.

That feels like it's really terror -- neither, both very bad.

KAYYEM: It is a kind of terror, yes.

[19:35:09]

DEAN: But there is a terror element to any sort of sniper situation

KAYYEM: Yes. That's exactly right. It was a different kind of terror, both are horrible. But if you can begin to narrow down the explanation for the trigger, then you are going to be able to narrow down the pool of people that it is.

Maybe he's known to the victims, but if the sniper is -- it is not unknown in this country to have highway snipers. Obviously Chief Ramsey lived it to a certain extent in DC with a sniper many, many years ago but they are harder to catch and harder to know what their motivation is.

So, we'll wait on this one. I did note that Governor Beshear has this statement out already. He's not new to these kinds of things. In Lexington, they had that horrible active shooter or mass shooter in the bank that he already has a statement out, vague on the details, but obviously state officials are very aware of this as well.

DEAN: Again, Juliette, in these moments, it is and we were talking about this earlier too, before you joined us. It is, you have to wait on the details to come out because it can take a minute to really get an idea of what you're actually dealing with.

And so, it is important to tell everyone that's watching too, that were trying to just stay with what we know and I know its limited and we all want more information, but this is what we've got right now.

And Juliette, I have to think obviously, as the commissioner was just laying out too, it's to make sure that the people who are injured are getting the help they need and then go and try to find whoever this shooter might be.

KAYYEM: That is exactly right and that's why we sort of push for as Chief Ramsey said, absolutely, you're focused on victims and the extent of their injuries and getting them to the kind of protections that they -- kind of assistance that they need.

What I want to also note is one of the reasons why people like me and Chief Ramsey and others on the outside really feel it's important for law enforcement to come out as quickly as possible.

It's not only to educate people to tell the press what we know. It is also to make sure that there's no false narratives about what this is. You don't want people thinking it's worse than it is, or you don't want them thinking that it's better than it is.

We've got to come out quickly with the facts for people who are on that highway and the kinds of highway stops that they have now, they're obviously impacted. But you do -- one does worry about people taking things into their own hands, thinking that they know what's going on. We've seen this be before.

And so, I'm as you know, I'm a big proponent of get out there as quickly as they as they can truthfully and accurately about what they know in this case to begin to put context and texture behind something that is impacting a non-insignificant number of people in Kentucky.

DEAN: Absolutely. All right, Juliette, stay with us. We're going to take a quick break and well be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:43:09]

DEAN: We are following breaking news that is brand new video into CNN. You the police car there. That's when they were shutting down the Interstate in Kentucky. We are told that there is -- has been an active shooter situation on a stretch of I-75 there in Kentucky that numerous people have been shot.

I want to go to Gloria Pazmino, who is keeping track of the incoming new information. And, Gloria, we still are just getting little bits of information, But, tell us what's happened here.

PAZMINO: Yes, that video that we just got, Jessica, is from someone who is stuck in the traffic jam that has resulted from this because police and law enforcement has shut down a portion of the highway while they respond to the scene.

And they told us that he saw police travelling at fast speed as you saw in that video there, as they were rushing to respond.

Now, we know so far that several people have been shot. We do not know what people's conditions are or how many people there are. But the sheriff's office has confirmed that this is an active shooter situation. This is happening in London, which is south of Lexington, Kentucky and we know that there is a stretch of I-75 that has been shut down as a result of this. That's where the shooting has taken place.

We know that it is, as I said, not far from London, Kentucky and that there is a stretch of the highway that police are responding to that has been shut down.

We also have heard from Governor Andy Beshear, just in the last hour or so. He posted on social media saying that he was aware of an active shooter situation, and that law enforcement has shut down the interstate down in both directions.

He also tweeted another update, just a short while ago saying that he was in communication with the Department of Homeland Security and that he is being briefed. We are hoping to hear more as soon as that information becomes available.

[19:45:19]

So far, the governor said that he is in touch with Kentucky State Police, as well as the Office of Homeland Security, as I just said, he is monitoring the situation and he said, please pray for everyone involved.

So again, Jessica, we do not know yet how many people have been hurt, how many people have been shot. But we do know that several people have been shot. And again, this is happening across a stretch of I-75, not far from London, Kentucky which is south of Lexington, Kentucky and it appears to be taking place across a stretch of highway which makes this a very complicated scene to try and manage.

That's the part we're waiting to learn more about because we do not know if the shooter is in custody, if the shooter remains at large, if police have been able to get control of the scene, and that's going to be critical in the next few minutes to determine how fast people can get medical attention, how fast they can get in there, and whether or not law enforcement can respond to make sure that this shooting is contained and over with.

DEAN: All right. Gloria, stay with us. Thank you so much for the latest reporting there.

I want to bring in senior law enforcement analyst, Charles Ramsey, who the standing by with us.

We've got some new eyewitness reporting that I wanted to ask you about from a gentleman that's been stuck on I-75 for more than an hour. He told CNN he was traveling on I-75 north when a police car begins swerving in all lanes to stop the traffic, and then we've got that new video that we were just sharing with everyone, showing the car kind of racing down the side of a highway that was open.

He estimates at least 30 police cars have driven by him. He's been stopped on the highway now for a while. This sounds pretty standard for shutting down an interstate, right, and trying to get kind of a space where they can operate in this situation.

RAMSEY: Well, it is, I mean it's not the easiest thing in the world to stop traffic in both directions on an interstate when they're moving. So, it does take a lot of resources to be able to do it, but that's pretty standard.

You would be swerving from lane to lane and try to get people really slow down and then come to a stop and you have to keep a lane open or at least a shoulder open because you need emergency vehicles to be able to travel through.

If I can just very quickly build on something that Juliette said --

DEAN: Yes, please.

RAMSEY: -- earlier about the media, either the sheriff or maybe the State Police since it happened on an interstate, their public information officer or some ranking official will eventually, once they get enough information to be able to make a statement, will do so.

And, that is important because you want to be the official voice for information going out. It may not be a lot of information. In fact, it probably won't be a lot of information. But at least it's something because right now, you've got hundreds, if not, thousands, of people that are stuck on interstate. And I guarantee you, they're on their social media and all kinds of rumors are floating around and everything else. So, you want to get real information out as quickly as you can to try to shut down some of the misinformation that no doubt is going to be out there.

If there is a vehicle that is wanted on an individual, as soon as they're able to identify it, they will push that out, so that people can be on the lookout.

Again, we don't know, is the shooter contained? Is the shooter alive? Have they fled the scene? I mean, we don't have the answer to any of that.

But if they're able to push information out of that nature to be able to locate this individual as soon as possible, if they haven't already, they definitely will pushed that out.

DEAN: All right. Stay with us. We're going to take a quick break.

Again, we are following this breaking news. We'll have more information for you about this shooting in Kentucky on the other side.

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[19:53:54]

DEAN: And we are back following breaking news of a shooting out of Kentucky that his required the closure of Interstate 75 in both directions.

We have a panel here with us. We also have CNN's Gloria Pazmino.

Gloria, let's start first with you, so you can set the scene.

PAZMINO: Yes. Jessica, we are getting some preliminary information, but the one thing we can confirm so far is that several people have been shot. That's according to the sheriff, which have posted on Facebook just a short while ago.

This is happening in London, which is located in Laurel County, and that's South of Lexington, Kentucky.

So far, numerous people have been shot. We do not know yet what people's condition are or whether or not the shooter is in custody or if they remain at large.

Right now, we know this is happening on Interstate I-75 at Exit 49. That's where the stretch of highway is closed. And what you're seeing on screen there is a video that we have been able to obtain from people who are currently on the highway stuck in traffic as police, as you can see, they respond to where this incident is unfolding.

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They said that they watched as police drove at a very high-speed of the shoulder of the highway there. For now, we can confirm that several people have been shot. We don't know yet their conditions. We don't know what the nature of this incident is, but we do know that it's happening across a stretch of highway, an extremely difficult area to contain.

The governor has taken to social media to say that he is aware of the incident. He is speaking with law enforcement as well as the Office of Homeland Security, and he will be providing an update as soon as he can do so -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right,,, Gloria, thank you. I have Juliette Kayyem and Charles Ramsey with me.

Juliette, in some of those photos you see the sun setting. It is certainly night here on the East Coast. What does that mean in terms of their law enforcement's efforts on the scene there?

KAYYEM: That's a great point. I was curious, just based on my unfortunate experience, just like Chief Ramsey on commenting on all of these -- of a sniper, if it is a sniper working in day daytime, it's not unheard of.

And so, the two theories of what could be happening now, sort of road rage incident that got out of hand and is now impacting both sides of the interstate or a purposeful sniper who is -- look -- targeting random victims.

The day time assault of it is unique, but it also means though, fortunately, that there were eyewitnesses, people would have been able to see if this person was in a car, were they on the sides, did they run, did they jump into another car?

So, that's the good news. But now of course, as nighttime comes, it's going to be harder to find someone if they're on foot. They could certainly hide in these areas, especially off of the interstate and that will impede some of the progress.

I suspect by this stage, though they know what they are looking for, is it a car? Is it a person? Was the triggering road rage or something more random and they can begin to narrow based on that.

DEAN: Yes. Chief Ramsey, we don't have much time left, just about 30 seconds or so, but just your thoughts on the timing of all of this and what comes next?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, I hate to speculate, but it sounds at this point in time that they do not have the shooter. If they did, they would put that out just to kind of calm people down a bit under the circumstances, I would think.

But if they did have information or if they do have information like Juliette said, as far as a makeup -- the color of the car, description of the shooter, or whatever, they will push that out as quickly as possible so that people are on alert.

Again, nighttime is going to make this far more difficult. You can light up the roadway with temporary lighting, but the rest of the surrounding area, it's going to be very difficult.

DEAN: It is tricky.

All right, our thanks to both of you for your analysis, for staying with us through this.

I also want to thank you so much for watching tonight. We're of course going to be monitoring this breaking news out of Kentucky very closely. Be sure to stay with CNN and cnn.com.

An encore presentation of HBO's "Real Time" with Bill Maher is up next after a quick break.

Have a great night. Stay safe.

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