Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Sen. Lindsey Graham Dies At 71 After "Brief And Sudden Illness"; Iran War Heats Up As U.S. Weapons Stockpile Remains Depleted; Attorney Ben Crump Shares Insight On Nolan Wells' Death; Senator Lindsey, Trump Ally & Defense Hawk, Dies After "Sudden Illness"; 2 Killed In Mass Shooting At Toronto Latin Street Festival. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired July 12, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:53]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The world is reacting to the sudden death of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. We'll take a look at his long career in the Senate, his evolving relationship with President Trump, and what's next for Republicans.

Plus, Senator Graham's influence far beyond Washington -- from his latest trip to Ukraine to the reaction from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We'll look at the global relationships that helped define his career.

And Iran and the U.S. carrying out new strikes as CNN is learning U.S. military stockpiles continue to dwindle. An analysis of the risk the country could be facing.

Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we start with sad news out of Washington today. Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has died. Paramedics rushed to the senators D.C. home last night after a report of a person suffering cardiac arrest. Graham's office says the 71-year-old died after a quote, "brief and sudden illness", end quote.

Graham recently returned from Ukraine, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday to announce a new round of sanctions against Russia.

President Trump, a former political foe-turned-friend, told CNN today he was speaking to Graham just before his death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's devastating. I thought he was fine. He called me last night. He just got back from Ukraine.

He was tired. He said, I'm tired because it's a long trip. But other than that, he was -- he was fine.

And he called me, I guess, just moments before because he called me like at 6:30 or something. And the medical people got there a little bit later, right after that. What a -- what a terrible loss it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And right now, flags have been lowered to half-staff at the U.S. capitol, where Graham worked for decades.

Republican Senator Tim Scott, also of South Carolina, who served with Graham, representing their state, says it's a devastating loss for his state and the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): America has lost a true statesman. We don't have many left, but he was a true statesman. But I've lost a friend.

When I was a new senator, he welcomed me in. He knew that my path was different. He understood the power of change in South Carolina and how much our state had changed.

But he was one of the first folks in the Senate to welcome me in with open arms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: I want to bring in now CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox. Lauren, I mean, what was Senator Graham's impact, not just in Congress, but in U.S. politics? What has the reaction been like?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, obviously, an outpouring of support for his family and friends who are experiencing this loss, both from Republicans and Democrats.

You know, we saw last night in the early hours of the morning, a statement from the Majority Leader John Thune, saying that, you know, Lindsey Graham was a confidant not just for him but for others in the United States Senate.

He was someone who was elected to the House of Representatives in the mid-1990s, and then became a senator in 2002.

And over the decades, really came to represent the evolution and the embodiment of the shift in the Republican Party itself.

Now, he never walked away from his commitment to the U.S., playing a global role across the world. In fact, while many Republicans started to turn away from U.S. involvement abroad, Lindsey Graham continued to fight and really make it clear that that was America's role.

I mean, obviously, you saw that with his trip to Ukraine just a few days before his death. He was trying to advocate for the U.S. role there to make sure that that country has all the defense weapons that it needed in order to continue fighting the Russians. He's also been a stalwart supporter of President Donald Trump from the

intervention in Iran to his domestic policies. And obviously, that's a far cry from where he started in 2015, when he was facing off against the president in the Republican primary.

[14:04:51]

FOX: Take a look at the evolution of their relationship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Mr. Trump is threatening to leave the party if he's not treated fairly. Guess who determines whether or not he gets treated fairly? Here's my retort. Quit threatening us.

You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go To hell.

Tell me I did nothing illegal except be Trump's friend, apparently.

And when it comes to President Trump, Mr. President, I will be your strongest ally in the United States Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And of course, Lindsey Graham had a few moments over the course of President Trump's time in office, where he did speak out against Donald Trump. Most notably, of course, after January 6th.

But it is extremely important to just emphasize what a close colleague and confidant Senator Graham was to the president. I mean, I think that the president spoke about that earlier today, both on our air and in his own statement.

But it's really important to also emphasize that Senator Lindsey Graham was seen within the conference as someone who knew what the president was thinking, who could advocate for what the president was thinking, but also could make it clear where the Republican conference was.

And that is another important bridge between Republican leadership and the administration at this time.

He also was the Senate Budget Committee chairman. That is the committee that is going to be having to move forward with another budget bill that could ultimately have an impact on what Trump wants to pass in the next several months. Most notably, that voting bill that he wants to get passed before the election.

So his absence is going to be noted. Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are also going to have to consider a major supplemental bill to ensure that there's enough money after the U.S. intervention in Iran.

So that is another area where I think Senator Graham's absence is really going to be noticed, Fredricka. WHITFIELD: And then, Lauren, more on the relationship between Graham and Trump. Because after January 6th, it was Senator Graham who made it very clear I'm out. I mean, he was so outdone by, you know, how the president handled all of that.

But then there was this evolution. There was a change somehow in -- I don't know if we've ever really heard a great explanation from Lindsey Graham.

I mean, was it just more politically advantageous for him to be in the White House, be in the ear of the president, even though he was in large disagreement with how the president handled, and what role he may have played in January 6th?

FOX: Well, I think that a lot of Republicans believed that it was important to stay close to the president, to stay close to Donald Trump, in part because they did have other priorities.

And I think for Senator Graham, while he had never explicitly explained that evolution, the reality is that it was really important for him to ensure that the United States continued to play a role across the globe.

And I think in order to continue advocating that position with the administration, with the Republican party, it was important to stay close to the president.

Obviously, it wasn't just that they occasionally traded phone calls. I mean, these were two men who golfed together regularly, who met regularly.

And he was someone who, again, Republican leadership really relied on as a bridge between the Republican conference and the administration. And obviously, that was a key priority for Lindsey Graham.

I mean, we cannot ignore the fact that he really had close relationships with two very different and important men in the Republican Party -- Senator John McCain, who was a huge mentor to him, and then, of course, President Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right. And Lauren Fox, thank you so much for that in Washington.

We'll talk more about the legacy of Senator Lindsey Graham.

And abroad, tributes are coming in from outside the U.S. as the world reacts to Lindsey Graham's unexpected death.

And as we mentioned earlier, the South Carolina senator had just returned from a trip to Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week. Zelensky saying today that he was deeply saddened by the news.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke out this morning on NBC's "Meet the Press".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Frankly, I'm in -- I'm in a state of shock because, as President Trump said, Lindsey was so vibrant. He was so full of life. He was so full of energy and dedication that it's hard to accept the fact that he is no more.

He -- I think America has lost a great patriot. Israel has lost one of the great champions of the American-Israeli alliance.

[14:09:47]

NETANYAU: And frankly, I've lost a beloved friend who I've had for many decades. There's just no one like him.

And he believed that Israel's security and America's security are intertwined. It wasn't just a spin or anything like that. It was something that he held deeply for many decades.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson, joining me now from London. Nic, I mean, how will Senator Graham be remembered on the world stage?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, he'll be remembered as an interventionist where President Trump, the U.S. President, that international leaders, the European partners most struggled to deal with. His base is an isolationist base.

So they really saw Lindsey Graham as somebody that they could connect through, an old-fashioned Republican in terms of foreign policy. No, they might not have agreed with some of his sort of more forward- leaning, interventionist policies and beliefs. But they absolutely came to value his help during the Ukraine war.

As you were just mentioning, Lindsey Graham was in Kyiv just on Friday. He visited their Sky Fall latest technology drone factory, where they have these game changing, war dynamic-changing, long-range bomber drones. They have the short sort of frontline drones, the interceptor drones that they're now selling to Middle Eastern countries to help defend them against Iran's drones in the war -- in the war in the Middle East now.

So this was somebody who was valued by President Zelenskyy, who he showed his sort of most interesting and best assets to.

And President Zelenskyy, really, you know, showered, I would say, unusual praise and very personal praise. Not just sort of calling him a, you know, an advocate essentially for world peace, but saying that you spoke up about your admiration for the courage of our people. You came to see us when we needed it the most. I'll miss our conversations.

Ten visits, President Zelenskyy said, that the senator had had to Ukraine since the war began with Russia. And just an added insight on that. If you remember that awful moment

where President Zelenskyy met with President Trump at the beginning of 2025, the end of -- end of February, there was a huge bust up in the Oval Office.

And actually, the senator had been really clear until that point. He was supporting Zelenskyy. And then he said, well, this was just a terrible scene. And he wasn't sure that he could support Zelenskyy.

But then the Europeans formed this sort of coalition of the willing and the -- one of the most senior American figures on that coalition of the willing was Lindsey Graham.

And why? Because the Europeans valued him as a voice through to the White House. And I think we get a sense of that in his words here when he was in Kyiv just before the weekend, speaking about trying to bring an end to the war. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: We've reached agreement with the White House on a version of the Russian sanctions bill that they will support. It means it's going to become law.

So when I get back to Washington, I'm going to go with Senator Blumenthal to the Republican and Democratic leader to see if we can find time to move this Russian sanctions package that would give tools to President Trump to help end this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: And ending the war is just exactly the sort of thing the European leaders have asked, have been asking President Trump to do through more sanctions on President Putin in Russia.

And this is why you're hearing from people like Mark Rutte today, the Secretary General of NATO, saying that he was -- the senator was an absolute strong believer in the NATO alliance.

He is -- he is finding praise -- he may not have found common ground with every European leader, but what he was doing, his voice and the way that he was heard in the White House was of value, extreme value to President Zelenskyy. But so too for other European leaders.

WHITFIELD: Yes. His now silence also very impactful.

All right. Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

All right. Still ahead, the intensifying strikes the U.S., and Iran launching a new round of attacks as tensions rise over the Strait of Hormuz.

Plus, growing questions about the mysterious death of Mississippi college student Nolan Wells. What the family's attorney is now saying about an alleged argument he had with friends and where his phone was recovered. And a deadly mass shooting. A manhunt underway after gunman opened

fire at a popular festival in Toronto.

[14:14:46]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. The U.S. is once again ramping up military strikes on Iran. Overnight, the U.S. Central Command shared new video of attacks it says were carried out on 140 Iranian targets. CentCom says the U.S. has hit more than 300 military targets in Iran during three days of strikes in recent days.

[14:19:52]

WHITFIELD: The latest round of strikes are in retaliation for an Iranian attack on a merchant ship in the Strait of Hormuz. CentCom says the strait is now open to all vessels, despite Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard announcing it closed the waterway.

Iran says it responded to the U.S. attacks by firing drones and missiles at U.S. military targets in Kuwait, Jordan, Oman and Qatar.

This latest escalation of military attacks coming as key U.S. weapons stockpiles remain significantly depleted. Experts tell CNN the situation with armaments could impact the American military's ability to fight a potential future war with China, or even North Korea.

CNN national security reporter Davis Winkie is joining us right now. Davis, I mean what more are you learning about the growing concerns over U.S. Weapons stockpiles?

DAVIS WINKIE, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Fredricka, this is an issue that has been simmering for a while, but has really come to the fore again now that hostilities are intensifying again between the U.S. military and Iran.

During the first weeks of the war, the portion dubbed Operation: Epic Fury, experts estimate through an analysis that about half of the U.S. missiles that are used for intercepting incoming air threats, such as Patriots and THAAD missiles, were used to defend U.S. Troops and other areas during that first phase.

They also estimate that around 30 percent of our Tomahawk land attack missiles were used during that first phase of the conflict.

That is an issue because these things take a very long time to replace. In fact, this year, the THAAD ballistic missile interceptors, there's zero scheduled to be delivered to the U.S. military by the manufacturers.

And the upshot of this is that while there is the ceasefire that began in April and was only recently declared over, while that might have seemed like a good time for the U.S. to rest and resupply, there just wasn't enough time for these stockpiles to be meaningfully replenished. So the experts are saying that this could create a window of risk if

China were to make a move for Taiwan, because these are missiles that would be really necessary in that scenario.

And some experts are even saying that our war plans with North Korea could be impacted if the fighting continues at its current pace.

WHITFIELD: Is there a response coming from the Pentagon or the White House, the administration as a whole on this?

WINKIE: They're doing what they can on this. President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act in June, which cuts regulatory red tape. And the Pentagon recently inked new deals with the manufacturers of some of these key missiles.

They're doing what they can. But the problem is that production lines can take a long time to expand or get going. And you've got this issue as well with the supplemental bill to replace some of the funding used on this conflict. It faces a tough road through Congress and may face even tougher road now with Senator Graham's passing.

Ultimately, what that means is that they don't have all their tools to be able to get these things replenished in case we see broader conflicts across the globe.

WHITFIELD: All right. And as this conflict with Iran and U.S. continues to intensify --

WINKIE: Yes.

WHITFIELD: -- all considerable concerns.

All right. Davis Winkie, let us know when you learn more. Thanks so much.

WINKIE: Thanks, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me now to talk more about all this is Retired Marine Colonel Mark Cancian. He is a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Colonel, just based on what you just heard, how concerning is that to you about the current conflict with Iran and potentially other conflicts that the U.S. might be challenged with?

COL. MARK CANCIAN, MARINE (RET.), SENIOR ADVISOR, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Well, I certainly agree that much of that data came from CSIS analyses and it is true that although we could continue the current conflict with Iran for considerably more time because we have half to two-thirds of the inventories, the risk is with future conflicts as the inventories decline.

And because it takes a long time to rebuild those inventories, a conflict in the Western Pacific against China would start off with much lower inventories than the U.S. war planners want. And if those inventories continue to decline, then there might even be

other war plans, North Korea conceivably, even northern Europe, the Baltic area where the U.S. would be below the desired levels of munitions.

[14:24:48]

WHITFIELD: So how long would it take to replenish some of these key weapons supplies?

CANCIAN: We made an estimate before the recent re-ignition of hostilities. It was 1 to 5 years, depending on the munition.

And then several years after that to get not just to where the munition inventories were at the beginning of the war, but to get where war planners wanted them for a possible conflict in the Western Pacific. We've hit another 300 targets. That puts us behind maybe another year.

WHITFIELD: One might think that there would be a stockpile or surplus as your, you know, Plan B, Plan C. I mean, is there such a thing?

CANCIAN: Well, no. There's just one stockpile, and we've been using that. The problem is that for a long time, the United States did not build a large inventory of munitions for two reasons.

One is we expected to fight regional conflicts against countries like North Korea or Iran, not a major power like China or Russia.

The other thing is that munitions tend to compete poorly in the Pentagon's budget processes. If the services buy a tank, an airplane, a ship, they can use those for 30 years and they contribute to deterrence. People can see them.

If they buy munitions, they go into a storage area. And if they're not used, then they're disposed of after 30 years. So they always competed poorly.

WHITFIELD: As it pertains to this conflict right now with the U.S. and Iran and this current escalation on both sides, the U.S., you know, unleashing quite a few attacks within the past 24 to 48 hours. And the president saying, you know, more potentially could be coming.

Do you see this as encouraging, forcing Iran to come back to the table to make some sort of new deal, essentially, you know, pounding, you know, the country into submission? Or do you believe this makes it much more difficult for any kind of diplomatic measures to take place?

CANCIAN: It's very hard to say because that requires making judgments about the Iranian leadership, which is extremely opaque.

We can say a couple of things. One is that although the U.S. has launched sort of 80 strikes in the three days it has retaliated, that's way below the level of the major conflict, which was running about 330 strikes a day. So although these are significant, they are not nearly at the level of

intensity that we saw before. And that level of intensity did not compel the Iranians to agree to a favorable settlement for the United States.

(AUDIO GAP) negotiations do continue, they are not in person. They're going through third parties like Pakistan and like, Qatar. That might bear some fruit.

Oman has put a proposal on the table for the strait, which conceivably might be the basis for an agreement.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll leave it there for now. Colonel Mark Cancian, great to see you. We'll have you back. Thank you so much.

CANCIAN: Thanks for having me on the program.

WHITFIELD: Still ahead, growing outrage in Texas after the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by ICE agents. Why one lawmaker is speaking out after meeting with detained men who witnessed the deadly incident.

[14:28:38]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:32:55]

WHITFIELD: All right. We're getting new details in the mysterious death of Nolan Wells, who went missing during a July 4th boat trip with friends in Mississippi and was later found two days later. Wells family attorney Ben Crump shared new information on some questions surrounding the 18-year-old's cell phone.

Speaking during a service at an Atlanta area church today, Ben Crump, the family attorney, says friends of Wells remember him arguing to get his phone back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CRUMP, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY REPRESENTING WELLS' FAMILY: There's an obvious argument going on where his friends have reported to our office and our investigators that Nolan was saying, "Give me my freaking phone. What are you freaking doing?" suggesting that they were doing had this phone. And then that becomes very relevant.

His body is rushed down the coast. It ends up on the coastline dead, and he doesn't have his cell phone. His mother tracks his cell phone with her sister on Life360 because people want to know where their children are at, and it is at the one of the boys' house who own the boat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Meanwhile, protesters marched in the streets of Wells' hometown, calling for more transparency in the case. The local sheriff says there were no immediate or obvious signs of foul play. His comments sparked an independent investigation launched by the family into Wells' death.

And days after a Mexican national was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Texas, hundreds gathered outside Houston City Hall to call for an independent investigation into Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELSA FLORES, SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION: Do I believe the federal government is just going to decide that all of a sudden, they want to wake up and do the right thing? No, but that does not mean we should not demand it. We should be demanding transparency. We should be demanding information. We should be saying this needs to stop.

[14:35:01]

What happened to Mr. Araujo should be the only time it happens here. We do not want any more incidents of fathers not making it home, of sons not making it home. You know, of our community continuing to suffer. This should be the end. They need to be out, and we need to make sure that it doesn't happen again and that somebody is held accountable for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Immigration officials say Salgado Araujo rammed a law enforcement vehicle with his van and then refused to follow verbal commands during a targeted operation. But three men who were in that van and witnessed the shooting dispute, that claim. They have since been detained because immigration officials said they were undocumented.

Our Carolina Peguero spoke to Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia after she visited those detained men. We'll have a live report later on in the show.

All right. More ahead on our breaking news. Longtime South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, dead at the age of 71. We'll take a look at his more than two decades in Congress and the legacy he leaves behind.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:51]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news

WHITFIELD: All right. We're continuing to follow the outpouring of remembrances from both Democrats and Republicans after the death of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

Joining us now, CNN chief political analyst David Axelrod.

David, thanks so much for being with us.

You interviewed the senator nearly a decade ago for your podcast. How do you think he will be best remembered

DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Interesting, because I interviewed him after he wrote a memoir, and it was at a juncture in which he was going to run for president. His legacy is divided in two parts. I mean, his -- the beginning of his legislative career, and this was at the end of that period. He was known as a maverick in the Congress. He was closely aligned with Senator John McCain. Step out and work with Democrats on a variety of issues, some of which were controversial among particularly conservative Republicans on climate change issues, on immigration issues.

And then he was deeply, deeply opposed to Donald Trump and very critical of him, called him, you know, a bigot, all kinds of other names, including a jackass. And then after Trump won, he kind of jumped on his -- became one of his closest allies and defenders in the Congress.

And so, he made it kind of in the view of his previous allies, he became he made a Faustian bargain. And that will be a part of the legacy as well. But, Fred, he was viewed as a very valuable and energetic legislator who was willing to work across party lines, even on issues where he could. He also will be remembered as a consistent interventionist on national security issues, and probably very influential with President Trump on decisions like the decision to go to war in Iran, to support Israel, so on, in Gaza.

So that is part of the legacy as well -- complicated legacy and a really (AUDIO GAP) person.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, complicated is a good word and complicated is that relationship between he and Trump. And I'm wondering, you know, why you think he did that about face or if he ever revealed that to you, perhaps in one of your interviews about why he felt it was ultimately advantageous, potentially, you know, to befriend the president, even though for a very long time he was an adversary.

AXELROD: Yeah, I think that it was a very pragmatic decision. I actually was shortly after he made sort of switch, and it became obvious that he was making that switch, I was at a conference at which former allies were in attendance, and there was a great deal of consternation about what he was up to, and he was very blunt about he intended to outlive Donald Trump and politics, but he needed to survive. In South Carolina politics, he had a primary in 2020. And he knew he couldn't win that primary as this ardent Trump critic. And so, he made that switch.

But I think he also became close to the president. And, you know, Lindsey Graham had no -- he had a sister who, after his parents died when they were young, but he had no immediate family. And I think the McCain family became his family. I think the Trump some degree became his family.

I think he became emotionally committed to the president. So once again, a complicated, complicated story.

WHITFIELD: You served as a senior adviser to former President Obama. What was the relationship like between Obama and the White House and Senator Lindsey Graham?

[14:45:01]

AXELROD: Well, I think that, you know, we -- on some of the issues that were really important to Obama, including on immigration and, and on climate discussions between the White House and Graham that were important and valuable. He voted for two of Obama's Supreme Court nominations, which was one of the things that (AUDIO GAP) his position in the Republican Party. He voted for Elena Kagan and for Sonia Sotomayor when he was on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

So, you know, there was a working relationship -- obviously, relationship in later years after he made this switch. But you know, Graham had his friends among Democrats, and you speaking. Today, I saw Cory Booker's statement, which was pretty you know, if when they work together.

Al Franken, Fred, told a great story about walking up to Lindsey on the floor years and years ago, saying, you know, Lindsey, if I voted in South Carolina, I'd vote for you. And Graham didn't skip a beat. He (AUDIO GAP). And that's my problem, Al. So, you know, he had that great sense of humor.

And I think he was liked among his colleagues. He, you know, he worked with Elizabeth Warren on some issues. He -

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

AXELROD: He had relationships -- this bombastic Trump supplicant that you saw on television sometimes, he had a lot of relations (AUDIO GAP) party lines.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. Remarkable.

All right. David Axelrod, thank you so much for remembering, recalling, and paying such tribute. Appreciate it.

All right. Coming up, a manhunt underway after a deadly mass shooting at Canada's biggest Latin street festival. What officials are saying about the suspect still at large.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:51:49]

WHITFIELD: All right. Two people killed and several others injured after at least two shooters opened gunfire amid crowds at a Latin street festival in Toronto. New video shows the crowds running from the gunfire. Officials say several suspects are believed to be at large, but there's no ongoing threat to the public.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is following this story for us.

Gloria, what have you learned?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Fred, you can see those images of people running away from this festival when shots -- shots rang out yesterday. This happened at a very large gathering. This is one of the largest Latin festivals in Canada. And it was supposed to be a fun summertime activity.

But police say that two people opened fire, killing two people and injuring several others after they exchanged gunfire. There were crowds as big as 13,000 people at this Latin street festival in Toronto. Now, as you said, police are still investigating. They believe there are several suspects still at large. A total of six people were shot and several suspects, as I said, are believed to be missing.

Police still investigating this incident. Let's take a listen to a local law enforcement. Shortly after this incident yesterday

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEPUTY CHIEF FRANK BARREDO, TORONTO POLICE: There were people that were injured. There were people that were down, and there was a lot of activity and a lot of frontline responders that quickly went into action. Two males since that incident began have been pronounced dead. Another four individuals have been transported to local hospitals with serious injuries. Two firearms were recovered at the scene. This was a very active and chaotic scene at times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Both the mayor of Toronto and Canada's prime minister have spoken out against this incident, saying that the investigation will continue. I should also mention that police were able to cordon off a total of three crime scenes. They have recovered at least two firearms and sadly, because of this shooting, the festivals will not be happening. On Sunday, was continue -- it was expected to continue into a second day today, but festival organizers have canceled the event -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: |Gloria Pazmino, thanks so much. Keep us posted.

All right. Coming up next hour, an inside look on board the U.S. Navy destroyer closest to Iran as ships try to make their way through the Strait of Hormuz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IRAN RADIO DISPATCH: I'm ready to open fire on them without any warning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And tonight, watch the new CNN film about a quiet English town thrust into the global spotlight when a mysterious poisoning reveals a deadly international conspiracy. "THE SALISBURY POISONINGS: A SPY NEXT DOOR" premieres tonight at 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN and streaming tomorrow on the CNN app.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:59:37]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

PAZMINO: Hello. Thank you again for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. We begin this hour with a fresh escalation in the U.S. war with Iran. Iranian media is now reporting new attacks taking place today on multiple sites in southern Iran. The reports did not identify who launched the strikes, referring only to an enemy attack.

The reported strikes come as U.S. Central Command shared new video of attacks it says were carried out on 140 Iranian.