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Florida Gunman Facing Two Federal Gun Charges. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired September 16, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

FRANK MONTOYA JR., FORMER FBI OFFICIAL: I also think that, according to their plan, it worked as it was supposed to work.

The other only option that you have is to close off the entire area. And I don't know if you can do that. I mean, it's a big public area. There's a lot of activity. There's businesses that are working. I mean, if he wants to play golf, he can play golf, but there is going to be that inherent risk.

Again, you put your resources out there in the manner that you do, and you're able to subvert the threat the way that they did. So I think that, like the sheriff said, I think, yesterday, it went according to plan. You don't want to have to deal with this kind of stuff, but if you have to, that's how you want to be able to do it, when the threat is so far out there that it's really not -- it can't have an impact on the principal.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And, normally, Secret Service agents go one hole ahead of where a former president or a sitting president may be playing golf to make sure that everything is clear.

Law enforcement, Frank, as you know, they're working to obtain search warrants right now for various social media accounts believed to be associated with the detainee. What do you think they're looking for?

MONTOYA: Anything that will indicate what the guy's mind-set was, what his motive is. This is a case where the individual is still alive, and so -- and he's facing charges. And so you have to be able to prove those charges against them.

And so looking into his social media, looking into his Internet activity, that's all going to go towards defining what his motive was. And that's going to be really important, because not only do you have to prove that he did it. You have to prove that he was even at the site, because, as you will recall, the weapon, the other items, they were recovered at the crime scene.

He was arrested miles away. And so they have to put that all together in order to make their case. And it will start with the review of his electronics. That's going to be a big part of this.

BLITZER: I assume his fingerprints will be on the weapon and the backpack and the other material that he left behind.

MONTOYA: You hope so. There's also possibly DNA.

And then the other part of that is that quick-thinking witness who took a picture of the vehicle. Was he also able to get pictures of the individual? Will he be able to identify him in a lineup? So it's all about being able to put together the pieces, whether they're forensic or they're witness -- witness perspective, together to put this individual at that scene to prove their case.

BLITZER: The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, has announced that the state is conducting its own investigation right now.

He posted this. He said: "The state of Florida will begin its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination at Trump International Golf Club. The people deserve the truth about the would- be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee."

Why do you think the governor is doing this, Frank?

MONTOYA: Politics.

The reality of the situation is that there's federal, state and local on the ground and they're all working together to solve this already, that once they get the pieces together and they're able to make their case, then the truth will come out.

And the key part here -- and this is what gets a little bit frustrating for investigators on the scene -- is that this guy is alive. So they have got to make a case against him. And you want to be able to protect the integrity of your investigation until you're able to make that case against him.

If something gets put out there that's prejudicial, if something gets put out there that reveals the prosecution strategy, you put the case at risk. And so this is why there is that determination to really protect the integrity of the investigation.

Yes, the public has a right to know things, but there is a time and a place for that and politics can't drive that decision-making.

BLITZER: And I'm told the Secret Service protection is intensifying, not just for Trump, but for the president and the vice president and other senior officials right now as well.

Frank Montoya, thank you very much for helping us.

Coming up: Sources now tell CNN Donald Trump will meet with the U.S. Secret Service later today after this second apparent attempt on his life. Will we see a change in his security?

Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:38:42]

BLITZER: This morning, sources are telling CNN the former President Donald Trump will meet with the acting Secret Service director later today. Trump is currently at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The acting Secret Service director is in Florida as well.

CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes is joining us right now.

You're getting more information, Kristen. What are you learning?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, we know this meeting is happening this afternoon. We know that Donald Trump is looking to have a conversation with the acting director about what happened, trying and get in some of those details.

What we have heard from the campaign is that the real concerns right now are how exactly, not only was this suspect able to get that close to Donald Trump, but also how he was able to track Donald Trump's whereabouts.

Now, of course, West Palm Beach, it's not that big. He could have seen the motorcade. Right now, after that first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, we know that they had increased the motorcade presence, meaning that it's not just a couple of black cars that travel to and from the golf course or around the city.

It is also a full almost presidential motorcade that includes vans. It includes a counterassault team at times. It also includes an ambulance, so not that hard to track there, but this idea that Donald Trump wasn't even supposed to be playing golf, It was a last-minute addition to his calendar. And that this person was able to not only track that he had gone to the golf club, but set up at the hole,that is obviously raising concerns.

[11:40:05]

And, Wolf, that goes on to what we believe will play at least part of this conversation, which is how to increase or how to change any security measures, if that will be changed.

Now, one thing to note is that I was told by a number of people that this increased presence on the golf course is something that happened after Butler, Pennsylvania. They were trying to increase the number of agents around Donald Trump.

And it's not just Secret Service. It's also local law enforcement. One of the things that we have seen really in that press conference yesterday and from the local law enforcement is that they were very heavily involved in the unfolding of this event.

Of course, it was Secret Service that fired at the suspect, but in the tracking down of the suspect, in the stopping of the car, in the following up on leads, which all happened very fast yesterday afternoon. So we do expect to try -- we do want or at least hope to get a readout, some kind of basics from this meeting with the acting director, but still unclear if that's going to happen, as obviously these security measures are often kept close to the chest.

BLITZER: Hold on for a moment, Kristen.

The Martin County sheriff is holding a little briefing right now. I want to listen in.

WILLIAM SNYDER, MARTIN COUNTY, FLORIDA, SHERIFF: I'm standing up here because I'm the sheriff. I was home having a cup of coffee after church.

And I did get out to the scene, but I wasn't right there. They deserved the credit. They took the chance. They saw the car. They approached it. They got stopped and there's no force on earth that could have stopped them from getting him.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) this situation, it's all about communication. Did you guys communicate with St. Lucie County and then maybe even Indian River County saying, hey, this person's headed north?

SNYDER: Oh. Oh, yes.

QUESTION: Are you ready? Be on standby?

SNYDER: Yes, the question is, were we all engaged? Yes, everybody on the Treasure Coast was engaged, but we don't let them get through Martin County.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

SNYDER: Yes, go ahead, Will.

QUESTION: How many -- you mentioned, or how many sheriff's deputies vehicles were kind of behind him or involved in the stop, I suppose?

SNYDER: Will's question, how many people, how many of our deputies were behind him? We had every available unit in the Martin County Sheriff's Office headed that way.

Obviously, we didn't pull him in from Indian Town. We would have had a South County unit down Tequesta. That wasn't there. But we had detectives. We had SWAT guys that came from home. I think, at the end of the day, we probably had 30 units either there or heading there before it was over.

QUESTION: And regarding the actual stop itself, you mentioned the big pickup trucks. This gentleman was not pulled over using stop sticks or the pit maneuver, right?

SNYDER: No.

QUESTION: Yes?

SNYDER: Right. Yes. Will's question is, was -- did we use a pit maneuver or did we use stop sticks? The answer is no.

We have got these big heavy-duty F-250s with the bumpers. And we just surround the vehicle and then force it to a stop, push the -- kind of maneuvered it off the interstate. Remember, we have two concerns.

Our primary concern, primary, no matter what happens, is the safety of the motoring public. We don't want to create a situation where we're on a high-speed chase or shoot-out and there's -- there's innocent people. That's always our first -- our concern.

And so, with that concern in mind, we followed our procedure. And that is get the car to stop, don't give it a chance to run. And the onus is on the driver. And if he had not stopped, it would have been a mess out there.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) I believe -- I may be correct. I believe you mentioned license plate readers and that's kind of how they determined this guy was going north on 95.

Did that play into your -- did you guys use this license plate reader technology as well to kind of get a leg up or...

SNYDER: Yes. Will's question is, did we use license plate technology?

You know, my practice is never to mention methodologies or sources, resources. But we didn't have to in this case, because Palm Beach County had already told us what to look for. And that's all we needed. They gave us the vehicle description. They gave us the tags, so we were on it.

And think about this. It's weekend traffic on 95. I mean, I just -- thank God we found that car and were able to give -- I think were able to give former President Trump peace of mind. He's already invited the men and women that were involved in the stop to go to -- go to Mar-a- Lago and be thanked what they did.

QUESTION: Oh, he -- Trump extended that invitation?

SNYDER: He did.

QUESTION: Do you know roughly where the deputies sort of spotted the vehicle? Was it like Bridge Road, south of Bridge Road, north of Bridge Road, or...

SNYDER: Yes, I -- we originally picked the vehicle up somewhere around the Palm City exit, so that would be 714.

And it took us about two miles to get all the resources in play, so we could surround that vehicle and force it to a stop.

[11:45:00]

QUESTION: How was he driving when your deputies saw him?

SNYDER: How was he driving when we saw him? He was smart. He was just driving with the flow of traffic. Yes, I

think that he may have thought he got away with it. Of course, he couldn't have known that there was a witness who really did the right thing and took a picture of him, took a picture of the tag.

He was just going to drive himself back to wherever he came from.

QUESTION: Did he have any -- to your knowledge, any ties to Martin County or the Treasure Coast?

SNYDER: Yes, to my knowledge, does he have any ties to Martin County? I think the answer -- to my knowledge, the answer is no. I have no knowledge.

I think what we're finding out is not from this area, which, of course, raises the bigger question is, how does a guy from not here get all the way to Trump International, realize that the president, former president of the United States is golfing and is able to get a rifle in that vicinity?

I think that's the question that the FBI, Secret Service are laser- focused on today. Is this guy part of a conspiracy? Is he a lone gunman? If he's a lone gunman, President Trump is that much safer because we have him. But if he's part of a conspiracy, then this whole thing really takes on a very ominous tone.

QUESTION: And, Sheriff, you mentioned the witness a few seconds ago. When it comes to that witness, you guys always, when it comes to cases, saying, please let us know if you see this. Please let us know if you see this.

Does that one witness made possible by what you guys did?

SNYDER: Yes, that's good your comment and question.

Did the one witness make it all possible? The answer is unequivocally yes. Just take a minute. Let's say he got down there, attempts assassination, nobody sees him and gets away. Actually, he would have gotten away, but a civilian saw him.

And they'd still be looking for him. Now, they'd first be doing fingerprints, all the things that we do, and then we would have had to find them. So, yes, that witness deserves a lot of credit.

QUESTION: Sheriff, what's going through your mind at this time? As you said, this is probably the most high-profile situation in Martin County, maybe its history, with this suspect.

As sheriff, what's going through your mind, saying, hey, this is actually happening in our county right now?

SNYDER: Well, what's going through my mind as sheriff as we made this stop is that this is the once-in-a-career, it's a once-in-a-lifetime event.

I mean, how many people get a shot off at the former president of the United States, I mean, the poor guy has already been shot once. And then for that suspect to come into this county, I already had somebody question, does it feel like the Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby situation, where you -- the Dallas police and they catch the assassin in that case of John F. Kennedy?

So, I feel like, yes, without being hyperbolic, it's just a touch of history and -- but the credit -- again, I just have to stress that the credit goes to those road patrol officers who made the stop and took the chance.

QUESTION: Do you know where exactly on 95 this is -- just a better sense of where the actual -- where things ended, I suppose?

SNYDER: Yes, where did things actually end? So we picked the car up at about the 110-mile marker, two miles later, northbound, by which time we shut down all northbound traffic.

We have got units flying down I-95 to slow everybody down. And within two miles of the 110, so right about the 112, we're able to make the stop and neutralize the subject.

QUESTION: You have video of it?

(CROSSTALK)

SNYDER: Yes, we have body camera.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) when he's pulling over?

SNYDER: You know, I'm not sure that we do.

I -- unless there was a traffic unit, we don't have dash mounts. Of course, we have body-worns. Only the traffic units have the dash cameras for the DUIs. I don't know that we actually have the video of the stop, other than the body cameras were all activated.

But you have seen it. Invariably, you get a picture of the steering wheel and of the cop. You have all seen it.

QUESTION: Right.

QUESTION: Did you guys have your helicopter got sort of involved in this?

SNYDER: Our helicopter never had to go airborne. PBSO helicopter was right overhead right away. Same thing -- I'd like to shout out to St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, sent a bomb disposal dog. We were able to sweep that car, make sure it was safe

Everybody played a hand. Yes, we caught him, but everybody -- this was a -- this was a team effort.

QUESTION: You said bomb disposal dog was sent by the St. Lucie ESO?

SNYDER: Yes.

QUESTION: Not like they're kind of big truck, the bomb disposal...

(CROSSTALK)

SNYDER: No, the dog, the bomb-sniffing canine dog.

QUESTION: OK.

SNYDER: You all, thank you very much.

I have been...

[11:50:01]

BLITZER: All right, there, you just heard the Martin County sheriff, William Snyder, updating us, providing very important additional new information about the ability of the Martin County Sheriff's Department to go ahead and actually stop the vehicle from this detainee, the vehicle moving up from Palm Beach County just north to Martin County.

Martin County is just north of Palm Beach County, moving up along Interstate 95. Interstate 95, as many of you know, goes all the way from South Florida all the way up towards Washington, D.C., and even further north up to New York.

And this vehicle that the detainee was in was moving up from Palm Beach County from that golf course up towards 95 north. And we heard the sheriff say maybe he was driving back to where he came from. We know he did have a connection with North Carolina. So maybe he was thinking about heading back up towards North Carolina in the course of those remarks.

And we also heard the sheriff correctly express his gratitude to that one eyewitness who spotted this individual at that area at the golf course, spotted this individual, took a picture of him, took a picture of the vehicle, his black Nissan and the license plate number, which was so critical in finding this guy as he was moving up I-95 from Palm Beach County to Martin County.

And he thanked this individual, did the right thing. You see something, you say something. And in this particular case, if you're an eyewitness, you do something. You take a picture on your phone. And that was so critically important. He also expressed a lot of credit and thanks to the sheriff's department for successfully along a major interstate like that stopping this vehicle and preventing any danger to any of the other cars going up and down I-95.

Of course, it's usually very, very busy, especially down in South Florida, as we all know.

We're going to continue to watch all of this. More information is coming in. More live events are coming in. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:56:28] BLITZER: Let's get back to our breaking news.

We just learned what the suspect in the apparent Trump assassination attempt was charged with, specifically charged with possession of a firearm while a convicted felon -- he was a convicted felon -- and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. That firearm had the serial number completely destroyed.

Let's discuss what's going on with the former Philadelphia Police Commissioner and the former D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey.

Chief Ramsey, what's your reaction specifically to these two charges?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I suspect there will be more charges to follow, but these are sufficient to hold him in custody.

They're very serious charges. I mean, they're felonies, but as time goes on, I believe additional charges will be filed.

BLITZER: And what did you think of what we just heard from the Martin County sheriff, William Snyder, at that briefing that he just had? Because he did provide some additional new information about how they were able, in Martin County, just north of Palm Beach County, on Interstate 95 to go ahead and stop this vehicle and get the detainee out, and for all practical purposes, charge him?

RAMSEY: Well, the key -- and he mentioned this -- was the witness that had the presence of mind to take a photograph of the car and the license tag.

What that allowed them to do then, at least in West Palm, would be to run the tag, put out a be on the lookout alert to all law enforcement in the area. So they had a description of the vehicle.

License plate readers hit on the car. It was traveling northbound. Those officers were on the highway. They spotted the car, and they were able to get enough assistance there. They didn't pull them over right away. They waited until they had sufficient resources there where they could actually pin him in and not get into a high-speed pursuit, which was very smart on their part.

So things went well. I mean, it worked about as well as it can work. That's where real-time crime centers really play a critical role, because they're able to go into databases, get more information, push it out to people in the field that need to have it, and so forth.

So things work like they should have worked.

BLITZER: And I thought it was interesting when we heard that Martin County sheriff, William Snyder, describe potentially how dangerous it is to stop a vehicle driving up I-95, Interstate 95. There are a lot of other cars in the area, and you have to really be careful if there's a suspect in that vehicle who potentially could have a weapon, that normal passengers who are just driving along I-95 might not be in danger. This is not necessarily an easy process. He says the number one goal

is to make sure that innocent civilians on I-95 are not endangered.

RAMSEY: Any traffic stop is dangerous, even more so on an interstate, especially since you're making what's called a felony car stop.

A person who is potentially armed, the last thing you want, shots to be fired on an interstate. Innocent people can be struck, obviously, whether it's gunfire from the suspect or the police. So things worked out well in this case. They coordinated their actions to minimize the opportunity for this individual, if he were armed, to be able to fire on the officers or possibly even injure innocent people.

BLITZER: And so much credit goes to that one eyewitness who was smart enough not only to see something, but to do something, take a picture of the vehicle, take a picture of the license plate. That certainly helped result in the capture of this detainee.

Chief Ramsey.

[12:00:00]

As usual, thanks very much for joining us on this very important story. And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining me this hour. I'm Wolf Blitzer. I'll be back later tonight, 6 pm Eastern in the Situation Room. Stay with us. Inside Politics with Dana Bash starts right now.