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CNN This Morning

Police Say, Gunman Dead After Killing Three at Michigan State University; Pentagon Releases New Photos of Downed Chinese Spy Balloon; Ukrainian Soldiers Now Training on Leopard 2 Tanks in Poland. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 14, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

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[07:00:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Room 114, there's maybe a victim in room 114. They do have the door barricaded. There's someone in room 135 shot as well. Room 114 and room 135 we have lots of medics in route.

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DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It's always the 911 calls that we get to hear and --

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's chilling.

LEMON: It is chilling every single time, every single time, and here we go again. Good morning, everyone. I hate to start off with such terrible news. Poppy is on assignment right now. America waking up to yet another mass shooting. Michigan State University is now the scene of the nation's latest massacre, at least three people killed. We're going to take you live to the scene with new details and what we're learning about the shooter.

COLLINS: Also, the White House and the National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, making it clear we are not under invasion by aliens. He is going to join us live in a few moments as there are real questions about what we are seeing.

Plus, we have new reporting this morning, what we now know about one of the mysterious flying objects that was shot down by U.S. fighter jets.

Plus, we're going to take you to the gun range where Ukrainian forces are learning to use advanced German tanks. Could they help turn the tide of war? Our Nic Robertson live in Warsaw for you.

COLLINS: But we're going to start this morning with the mass shooting that happened overnight at Michigan State University, yet another American community, this time a college campus that has been shattered. Police say that the gunman opened fire at two different buildings on campus, killing three people, critically wounding five others who are now in the hospital.

The person attacked the school's arts and sciences building before then moving on to where students gather at the student union. Investigators say the 43-year-old gunman you can see here on security camera left the campus after his rampage and ultimately killed himself.

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CHRIS ROZMAN, INTERIM DEPUTY CHIEF, MSU DEPARTMENT OF POLICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY: He's not a student, faculty, staff. And we have no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight. That is part of our ongoing investigation.

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COLLINS: As questions remain about the motive, this is cell phone video that one person took of terrified students running for their lives, holding their hands up in the air as heavily armed officers rushed on to the scene. You can see a Michigan state trooper with a high-powered rifle that led a group of students to safety. One of the witnesses there on the ground spoke to ABC News and described the shooter as storming his classroom before opening fire.

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DOMINIK MOLOTKY, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: The shooter came in our room and shot three to four times and I'm pretty sure he hit two students in our classroom.

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COLLINS: Adrienne Broaddus is covering this story. She is live for us at the scene in East Lansing. We're waiting for a news conference, Adrienne, I know, to hear more developments. But you actually went to MSU. You know this campus very well. How far apart are these two buildings where the shooter went and how far apart where they took place?

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ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kaitlan, Berkey Hall is to the right of me, the Union is to the left of me. They are essentially right next to each other. You can easily walk from Berkey Hall to the union. And investigators telling us at least two of the deceased were found at Berkey Hall. The other was at the MSU Union. The motive still unclear this morning.

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ROZMAN: This truly has been a nightmare that we are living tonight.

BROADDUS (voice over): Chaos and carnage at Michigan State University after police say a 43-year-old shooter opened fire at two separate locations on campus. Investigators say there was a confrontation and then the 43-year-old ended his own life. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were there locked in the rooms, and the guys were telling us to run out the backdoor as quick as we can and run for our lives. And I sprinted out there as fast as I can into the woods.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all thought we were safe on the second floor in the cafeteria, but obviously we weren't. We were told to evacuate. We all ran out. It was terrifying. It was pretty scary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God.

BROADDUS: Students captured on this cell phone video running for their lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want me to get something in front of the door?

BROADDUS: Some students say they sheltered in place in the cafeteria listening to police reports. Once they realized the shots were getting closer, they started barricading themselves in the room.

GABE TREUTLE, STUDENT WITNESS: The SWAT and the cops came in and they all told us to get out of the cafeteria, so we all stormed down the stairs.

BROADDUS: About a mile-and-a-half from the university, East Lansing High School's district board meeting was interrupted and the building also on lockdown.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been advised by ELPD to remain here and go into lockdown right now.

BROADDUS: Police were on scene within minutes.

ROZMAN: Officers in the building, following their active shooter protocol and going towards the threat.

[07:05:03]

While officers were in Berkey Hall, the suspect moved over to the Union. And when the incident took place there, officers quickly redeployed to the Union.

BROADDUS: Students and faculty were left sheltering for hours. Many students were evacuated but say they left confused and shaken.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was looking for my friends. When everyone was running down the stairs, like everyone got lost all over the place. And just like people were crying and scared. It's just really bad experience. You don't take it seriously until it's happening to you.

BROADDUS: This shooting is the 67th mass shooting in the U.S. so far this year.

TERESA K. WOODRUFF, PRESIDENT, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: Our campus grieves. We will all grieve. And we will change over time. We cannot allow this to continue to happen again.

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BROADDUS (on camera): Parents watching this all unfold at home were also terrified. One thing, as a freshman, every freshman who goes through orientation learns how you greet members of your Spartan family. If you see someone wearing a Spartan hat, shirt or even a bracelet, when you see them, you say, go green. Their response is, go white. As Spartans grieve each other on this Valentine's Day, a day set aside for love, their hearts are hurting. Kaitlan and Don?

COLLINS: Yes. One thing they don't tell you is how to deal with a mass shooting like this. Adrienne Broaddus, thank you.

LEMON: And new this morning, we're also hearing dispatched audio from the shooting at Michigan State. I want you to take a listen to the emergency response, this at Berkey Hall.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first floor in the cafeteria for the accused.

Copy, first floor in the cafeteria.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to need multiple, multiple ambulances.

Medic 91 and medic 93 on scene making their way up to Berkey front door.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Copy first floor of the Union is clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got people coming up the stair 4 out of the bottom, G floor of the Union. They're saying there are still people down there trying to get out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm coming down stairwell 13 with seven people to the first floor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The basement has been cleared. The first floor has been cleared. We got one person out that was okay, another victim out of the kitchen. They're with medics. First floor is clear.

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LEMON: A couple of personal connections here at CNN, including CNN National Security Analyst Shawn Turner, he's also a professor at Michigan State University. He was actually on campus when the police alert went out last night.

Sean, thank you so much. Adrienne graduated from there and is an alum. You are a professor there and I know you were on campus when this happened, as I just said. So, what happened? What did you hear and see?

SHAWN TURNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, Don. Last night, it was about 8:15 and I went back to campus just down the road from where we are. I crossed over the road behind us, heading to my building. I was going back to work to get some paperwork when the alert went out at 8:18. I immediately thought, you know what, I don't want to be locked down here on campus. I want to go back and find out what's going on here. So, I started to leave campus.

And I can tell you that before I was off campus, there was an overwhelming response of law enforcement from all over this area, converging on campus to address this issue. So, I knew at that point that we had something very serious happening on campus here at Michigan State University.

COLLINS: And what's the campus like? Is it pretty walkable? Like -- because we were looking at the graphic of just how far apart these two actual locations were.

TURNER: Yes. Well, Kaitlan, this is a massive campus here in East Lansing, Michigan. But the area where most of the students are, it's fairly walkable. As we just said, you know, the Student Union is just here to my left. Berkey Hall is just to my right. And most of the classrooms and residential areas are in a central location here on campus.

This campus is also -- this is not just a university that's in a community. East Lansing and Michigan State University really are one in the same in many ways. And that's part of the reason I think that this campus, this university is going to come together to really help these students, help everyone get through this.

But, you know, this is just absolutely devastating. I've seen students this morning. I've talked to faculty members who are reaching out to their students to make sure they're all okay. Now just begins a process of trying to heal and trying to understand why this happened here on campus.

LEMON: Shawn Turner, be safe. Thank you to you and to Adrienne Broaddus. We appreciate it. We'll see you soon.

At the top of the hour, I need to tell you, next hour, we're going to be joined by the mayor of East Lansing, Michigan, Mayor Ron Bacon. That's coming up.

COLLINS: We also have breaking news this morning. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is now officially running for president. She is the first Republican to challenge Trump for that nomination.

[07:10:02]

She obviously served as his ambassador to the United Nations. She announced as much just in a video a few moments ago.

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FMR. GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R-SC): You should know this about me, I don't put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you're wearing heels. I'm Nikki Haley and I'm running for president. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Haley posting that video as she is expected to deliver remarks tomorrow at a church in Charleston for the campaign launch event. This is notable given she obviously was Trump's United Nations ambassador. She actually once said she would not run for president if he was running, but she recently deviated from that line. Not only did she lead the United Nations or serve as the ambassador to the United Nations. She was also the first woman governor to South Carolina before that.

So, you can see her trying to distinguish herself in that way in the campaign video, but it is pitting her against her former boss now that she is the first one to enter the fray. We expect more but she is the first one.

LEMON: That is expected at this point to be her biggest hurdle. As you said, she does have the credentials. She is U.N. ambassador, also she was a governor of South Carolina, as you mentioned. I remember interviewing her when she took the flags down. She got lots of praise from both Republicans and Democrats. There were some conservatives especially within the state who did not like it but she fought against it of Indian decent, her parents as well. So, she's the first Indian- American member of the presidential cabinet. So, she does have that distinction. She's has a very good resume, but I think her biggest hurdle will be how does she sort of square the circle between Trump and MAGA and whether he -- what he comes out and says against her or for her.

COLLINS: Yes. And that's going to be something that faces other Republicans who are expected to run, Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo. We'll see.

She is also not the only person from South Carolina running. We expect Senator Tim Scott to announce as much as well, going to very busy and very crowded.

Also this morning, we are still tracking what is happening out of Washington. The images of the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina, you can see here, this is what the Pentagon released, these photos. This is the Navy actually moving the wreckage they recovered from the destroyed balloon that was in the ocean.

The Biden administration says that military intelligence will try to examine it to learn more about their spy balloon program. What was China trying to learn with this? That comes as the White House is also trying to tamp down speculation about the mysterious flying objects that U.S. fighter jets seem to be taking down almost every day now.

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KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I know there have been questions and concerns about this, but there is no, again, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns. JOHN KIRBY, COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: I don't think the American people need to worry about aliens with respect to these craft, period. I don't think there's any more that needs to be said there.

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COLLINS: We have learned more about the object that was shot down over Canada on Saturday, that it was, quote, a small metallic balloon floated near sensitive sites belonging to the U.S. That is according to a Pentagon memo that was obtained by CNN.

Our senior White House Correspondent M.J. Lee is at the White House tracking this. M.J. that kind of got a few laughs in the briefing room yesterday, but there are still real questions about what we don't know about these objects.

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Definitely, Kaitlan. It is very clear right now, the administration does not have many answers. What did these objects look like? Where did they come from? Who owns them? Do they definitely not have surveillance capabilities? All answers -- all questions without answers. And one thing that we just saw the White House being very clear about is that the U.S. military did not shoot down UFOs.

We are told by officials that they have been pretty sensitive to the fact that this is sort of a mysterious situation and ripe for conspiracy theories and that a decision was made that even without a lot of concrete information about these recently downed objects, that the White House felt that it was important to at least rule out the fact that there was no extraterrestrial activity, that these were not UFOs that the president ordered shot down. As one official told us, everyone wants answers that no one has at the moment, but, again, the White House felt that it was important to at least rule out that these were not UFOs.

I will also tell you even though we've not heard directly from the president yet addressing this issue, we are just seeing a flurry of activity with senior administration officials trying to brief lawmakers on Capitol Hill. There's going to be a classified briefing for senators today and then an unclassified briefing call for House members. The question, though, right now is how much information and new information can they potentially share because, again, they've been pretty clear that they just don't know much right now. Kaitlan?

COLLINS: All right. M.J. lee, we'll stay tuned to see what questions they do answer today. Thank you.

LEMON: There's a lot left to learn about all the mystery objects that we have been discussing. CNN's Tom Foreman at the magic wall to help us visualize what we do know. Tom, good morning to you.

So, start us off, if you will, on the smaller side. Let's talk about the objects shot down on Sunday.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This one was on the smaller side.

[07:15:01]

Get a scale here, Statue of Liberty, Empire State building, this was much higher than any of that in that it was about 20,000 feet. It was described as being an octagonal shape here. And that it was -- it had some kind of strings hanging down the edges. That's one of them shot, apparently descended slowly into Lake Huron. So, a little scale there, about 20,000 feet, Don.

LEMON: So, let's move to higher ground or I should say higher in the air. What about the ones on Friday and Saturday?

FOREMAN: Different ball game there. In this case, we're going to move much higher than this, past Mount Everest up into the area where you would typically find commercial planes flying. And that's when you are getting to 35,000 feet, something like, in that general area, 30,000 to 40,000. And that's where we found these two items.

These were shot down, they say, because, specifically, they posed a threat to the idea of commercial airlines coming through the area. What do we know about these? A little bit more. We know that this one over Alaskan waters is about the size of a car, according to officials. This one was a metallic sort of balloon with some kind of payload below it. This was shot down over the Yukon. So, we get a little more scale, a little more sense that they're a little higher, 35,000 feet.

LEMON: So, the Pentagon has said that they don't know who is behind the last three items, but the last item they're definitely blaming on China. So, tell us how it's different.

FOREMN: Completely different ball game when you talk about that first one that was shot down. You're going to go much higher than these items that we were talking about, up to where this F-22 came in and shot this down. When they went after this, it was hovering around 60,000 feet up there off the South Carolina coast, totally different ball game here.

In this case, when we get all the way up to that item, we're talking about one that was believed to be at about 60,000 feet when it was shot down. This part down here was the payload, believed to be about 2,000 pounds. They're trying to collect all of those. It's going to be a workout collecting it all simply because these pieces down here, they're way out there and very cold territory. But every piece they get is a little more information to figure out where they all came from and what they were doing.

LEMON: Tom Foreman helping us out this morning. Thank you, Tom, I appreciate that.

Straight ahead here on CNN This Morning, we're going to be joined by the Republican senator, Mike Rounds, who is set to receive a classified briefing today. In the White House, John Kirby is going to be here as well. I want to talk to him on the developing story. COLLINS: We're also going to take you to a fascinating place, the gun range in Poland, where Ukrainian forces are actually testing out one of the newest weapons that they have. These are those German Leopard tanks. There are questions about could they help Ukraine turn the tide as the threat of a massive Russian offensive looms.

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[07:20:00]

COLLINS: Germany has now confirmed that Ukrainian troops are currently training on those advanced Leopard 2 tanks at a Polish military base. This just weeks after Berlin and western allies agreed to provide those tanks to Ukraine and others. Delivery of them could come as early as next month.

CNN's Nic Robertson went to Warsaw to report on what the training looks like.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): After just a week of training, Ukrainian tank crews show off their new skills on a Polish gun range, the first time their Leopard 2 training has been put on display. The crews pulled direct from Ukraine's eastern battlefront.

Too soon to say what's best about the Leopard 2, Ukraine's tank trainer says, but the machine is good quality. And what is most important, my soldiers like it a lot.

Their training fast-tracked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, compared to the Polish standard, eight hours a day, five days a week. Polish instructors say the Ukrainians will be ready in a month. Most of them have some tank skills already. The Polish brigadier in charge says. They're so keen to learn, we have to hold them back.

In peacetime, it's rare, if ever, the tank crews race through their training like this. It's a sign of how much they're needed at the frontlines. They're being accelerated through their Leopard 2 apprenticeship.

Poland's president, who has been at the vanguard of pushing NATO allies to give Ukraine modern battle tanks and is sending 14 of Poland's, came to meet the Ukrainian crews and see their progress. His visit providing big publicity for Poland's commitment to Ukraine and flavor of what U.S. President Joe Biden will hear when he visits next week, a pitch for a joint tank brigade.

ANDRZEJ DUDA, POLISH PRESIDENT: I hope that soon the brigades will be ready for Ukraine and also includes American Abrams tanks so that Ukraine can counter the Russian offensive.

ROBERTSON: the tanks and the training only part of readying this new force for war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest challenge now is spare parts for these tanks. We are setting this task to the German defense industry.

ROBERTSON: For the Ukrainian tank crews patiently parked up and waiting through most of the Polish president's visit, priority is getting back to the war, even if that means the training is sped up.

I think that the training time will be enough for us to get to grips with the technology, he says. We are lacking a lot of heavy armor like this. If we get it, it will be much better.

On this training ground, perhaps more profound than tank skills honed, history in the making, the foundations of a fully-modernized NATO- compatible Ukrainian army being laid.

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[07:25:02]

ROBERTSON (on camera): But it's not going to be quick. Even though it's being sped up, just the tank component alone, or that new NATO- compatible modern army, the Ukrainians say they want about 300 to 400 tanks. There are 21 tank crews getting their training that we saw here in Poland. Germany started its training on the same tank just yesterday. So, you can see 400 tanks, 21 crews are going to take a month here. It's going to be a big build perhaps to the end of the year before they can have the right number of tank crews ready. And then fighting and formation, that's a whole another skill to learn as well.

COLLINS: Yes. It takes time and, of course, raises questions about the timeline of the countries now agreeing to give them. Nic Robertson, I'm so glad you're there. Thank you.

Ahead, we're going to break down a new memo that is coming out of the Pentagon about the object that was shot down over Canada. The White House's John Kirby and Senator Mike Rounds, who is on the intelligence committee, are both going to join us next.

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[07:30:00]

LEMON: So, we're learning some new details about the objects that were shut down by U.S. fighter jets over the weekend, this according to a Pentagon memo obtained by CNN.