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Gunman Kills Multiple People at Bank in Louisville, Kentucky, from which He was Reportedly being Fired; New Survey Shows Prevalence of Gun Violence in America; Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) Interviewed on Possible Efforts to Pass More Gun Control Legislation. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired April 11, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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MAYOR CRAIG GREENBERG, (D) LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY: Our city is heartbroken, heartbroken for the loss of friends and loved ones.

We must work together to end this plague of gun violence on our country. Enough.

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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: That is the mayor of Louisville. Good morning, everyone. The nation once again reeling from another mass shooting this morning. Coming up, we are learning about the suspected gunman who killed five coworkers at a bank in Louisville.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to get to that. Plus, there is a new report that a key U.S. ally was secretly planning to supply Russia with rockets. That's according to a top-secret document that leaked from the Pentagon.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And a federal appeals court has a big decision to make on a widely used abortion pill.

COLLINS: Also this morning, we're learning new details about that gunman that we noted there who went into a bank yesterday and killed five of his former coworkers. We just spoke to the interim police chief who revealed that the shooter had recently purchased the gun that he used in yesterday's massacre. Law enforcement sources also telling CNN the gunman had recently been notified he was going to be fired from that bank. And then he left a note for his parents and a friend indicating he was going to open fire, what he was going to do.

Then a heavily armed SWAT team served a search warrant at the shooter's home. Here is the video of the moment that they entered the house with their guns drawn. The interim police chief told us that she hopes that the items they recovered inside will help them learn more about the motive behind this shooting. CNN's Adrienne Broaddus is live in Louisville. Adrienne, obviously

still a lot of questions about this suspected -- about this shooter here, about the access to this gun that we are told by the interim police chief this morning was recently purchased. What more are you learning there on the ground?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the chief, as you know, Kaitlan, didn't say whether or not any other search warrants were executed, and that will, if there were, possibly give a clearer picture. She did tell us about that officer who was sworn in less than two weeks ago. She says he's still critical but in stable condition. And we're talking about Nickolas Wilt. One thing we know, that shooter killed five of his colleagues here at this bank in downtown Louisville. Among the five deceased, the youngest was a 40-year-old father of two and the oldest was a 64-year-old.

A source close to this investigation tells us the gunmen left a note for his parents and a friend indicating that he planned to carry out a shooting at the workplace. Now, it's unclear when or where that note was discovered.

We do know the shooter, who was 25, started as an intern before becoming a full-time employee. As you mentioned, this shooter got information that he was going to be terminated. That could possibly help paint a clearer picture. But one thing that is clear, members of law enforcement responded within three minutes of that first 911 call. And when the interim chief addressed the officers, she thanked them for showing up. And she also said to them, and I'm paraphrasing here, if we don't do it, who will?

And that's something that a lot of folks have been talking about here in town, the bravery of those officers, especially knowing Officer Wilt, who is still fighting for his life.

COLLINS: Yes, and the idea that he just graduated from the police academy, I guess now it's 12 days ago, he was sworn in actually by the interim police chief, what are they saying about his condition as he is in the hospital?

BROADDUS: The interim chief told us his condition is still critical but stable. We heard from doctors yesterday who said the next 24 hours would be critical not only for Officer Wilt, but the other victims who were injured and the victims who were in critical condition. When it comes to determining their outcome, what we do know, his road to recovery will be long. Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Yes, it certainly will be. And also, we're thinking of those who lost their lives yesterday. Tommy Elliot, Josh Barrick, Jim Tutt Jr., Juliana Farmer, and Deana Eckert. Adrienne Broaddus, thank you so much for being there on the ground.

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BLACKWELL: I want to bring to you now this just released new data on the prevalence of gun violence in America. According to a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation, about one in five adults say they have witnessed someone gets shot, had a family member who was killed with a gun, or have personally been threatened at gunpoint. CNN security correspondent Josh Campbell joins us now with more. Josh, this this eye-opening, eye-popping, really. These are shocking numbers. What else does this survey show us?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Don, as if we needed further proof that gun violence poses a public health crisis in this country, this new survey data really paints a bleak picture. It's important to note that this didn't ask respondents, what do you think of gun control? It asked, how are guns impacting your lives now?

Let's take a look at some of the data here and some of the overwhelming findings. You can see that over half of those who were surveyed said that they have been impacted by a gun related incident, either themselves personally or a family member. One in five, 20 percent of Americans surveyed, had a family member who was killed by a gun either by homicide, suicide, or accidentally. And that is as we get into the mindset of people in this country, 84 percent have actually taken at least one precaution to protect themselves or their families from gun violence.

And as we look at communities of color and its impact, it's even more unsettling as you look at this survey data -- 31 percent of black adults and 22 percent of Hispanic adults have actually witnessed someone being shot, 34 percent of black adults have had family members killed by a gun. That number, Don, is twice of that of the white Americans who were surveyed.

And again, getting into the psyche, the mindset of the public, one in five of black and Hispanic adults in America say that they live in fear of gun violence as a, quote, constant threat, just truly, truly unsettling figures in this new study, Don.

LEMON: Josh, I'm interested to hear about this. You had a chance to sit down with the medical expert who laid out the impact guns have on children. Tell me about that.

CAMPBELL: Yes, that's right. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that, to the extent it's allowed by law, the physicians talk to their patients, talk to parents of their patients about gun safety, how guns are stored. And you can see from this new Kaiser Family study why that's so important. Take a look at this figure. A whopping 75 percent of gun owners who were surveyed said that they don't store their guns safely, that their storage practices actually run counter to common gun safety practices, such as keeping your firearm locked, keeping it unloaded.

And I talked to one physician who said that every pediatrician that he knows has treated a firearm related injury, which is why it's so important that parents take gun safety very seriously. Have a listen.

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DR. SCOTT HADLAND, CHIEF OF ADOLESCENT MEDICINE, MASS GENERAL FOR CHILDREN: Guns are the leading cause of death in children and adolescents in the United States. About a third of children in the U.S. live in a household that has a gun, so it's really important that pediatricians talk to families and make sure that they're storing their guns safely, having it kept safely locked away with the ammunition stored separately because in an instant a child can get ahold of a gun and have a life-threatening injury or lose their life altogether.

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CAMPBELL: Now some hospitals, such as Boston's, Mass General for Children, have actually instituted novel training programs to get their residents used to routinely asking parents and patients about gun safety practices. But of course, Don, doctors alone can't solve this problem. If you have a gun, you should be storing it safely, and at least according to the staggering new data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, that is simply not happening on a wide scale.

LEMON: All right, Josh Campbell, thank you so much.

HARLOW: President Biden condemning the latest mass shooting, calling on Republicans in Congress to do something, take action on gun violence. It is a message he's repeated a lot, mass shooting after mass shooting.

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JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As a nation, we owe these families more than our prayers. We owe them action. So I again call on Congress to pass the assault weapons ban.

Enough. Do something. We remember and mourn today, but I'm here with you today to act.

It's a family's worst nightmare that's happening far too often in this country. We have to do something to stop gun violence ripping apart our communities.

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HARLOW: Let's bring in Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut. He was a key negotiator in the previous bipartisan gun talks, keeps reintroducing legislation for universal background checks. Senator, thank you very much for being with us this morning. The fact that gun to the leading cause of death in American children now, more than car accidents, the fact that the number of gun deaths for kids is at 50 percent from 2019 to 2021, but a lot of your Republican colleagues have said in recent weeks we've done what we're going to do on guns. So is that what we should tell our kids?

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): We can't, because our kids are growing up with a devastating, crippling fear that we have delivered to them by choice, right?

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No other kids in any other high-income nation worry about whether they're going to survive their day at school or survive their walk to school. We, frankly, can't quantify the threat to our kids just by the number of kids who die. I live in a neighborhood in Hartford, Connecticut, that has a high rate of gun violence. I have a group of young seventh and eighth graders that I meet with every now and again just to hear from them what they want me to be working on. Their number one concern is their walk to and from school.

School for them is actually the safe place. For them, they worry for their lives when they're outside their home in their neighborhood. That kind of trauma, it, frankly, biologically changes the brains of these kids because they're living through trauma that's similar to what a soldier goes through when they deploy overseas, and it's no coincidence that in these violent neighborhoods you have these underperforming schools because the exposure to trauma and violence is literally ruining these kids ability to learn and adapt.

So this epidemic, the scope of it is so much bigger than just the numbers, 100 plus people dying per day. We are literally losing a generation of kids in some neighborhoods. And of course, the answer is not to stand pat and do nothing. Of course, we should be continuing to try to find common ground, try to find the ways that we can work together, Republicans and Democrats, to make our laws reflect what the American public want, which is criminals and people with mental illness not having access to these very dangerous weapons.

LEMON: Senator, listen, with all due respect, I'm not contradicting anything that you're saying, but I think you'll agree, every time there's a shooting, right, you say what you say, many others say the same thing, we have to do something, we have to do something. And then virtually nothing gets done. There's a little bit of movement with the Biden administration, with some of the moves of that were some of the things that they got passed, but not enough, nearly enough, as we see what's happening.

I was interested -- listen, the real question is, so then what happens? Is there room for what happens? You tweeted this just yesterday. You said "If guns made us safer, America would be the safest place in the world. But the opposite is true. Nowhere else do students, concertgoers, and bank patrons get slaughtered on a daily basis, because, as it turns out, it's all the guns that make us so unsafe."

So, having said that, then, what gives? What is it going to take to get your Republican colleagues to go along for some bipartisanship and something to be done?

MURPHY: So listen, I think we have to acknowledge that last year we passed the first bipartisan gun safety legislation in 30 years. For 30 years from 1994 until 2022, the gun industry owned Washington, and last summer, we passed legislation that makes five major changes to American gun laws. One of the things it does is put a waiting period on every under 21 buyer in this country, so that you can't have a situation like we had Uvalde, where a young person in crisis goes to a gun store, buys a gun, and uses it days later. That makes this country safer.

But it also suggests that we have seen a paradigm shift in this country, that now Republicans see the anti-gun violence movement as being more powerful than the gun lobby. And so I know my Republican colleagues fresh off of that bipartisan bill say they're not ready for more bipartisan compromise. But I think the pressure is on. I think parents and kids all across this country are not going to allow for an action --

LEMON: You really think there's been a paradigm shift?

MURPHY: -- for the rest of this year, bipartisan area of compromise.

I do, I absolutely do. I think today the gun safety movement is at least as powerful as the gun lobby, if not more powerful. We would not have passed that legislation last summer if that were not the case. And I get it. We're only nine months since the passage of the biggest bipartisan gun safety legislation in 30 years, Republicans are not exactly jumping at the opportunity to take on the NRA again. But I think it's just a matter of time before we find that common ground again.

COLLINS: Senator, you're also on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and you look at the newspapers today. That is the other major headline, which is this massive leak of documents from the Pentagon that reveal the us, how it's spying on its allies. It's blunt assessments of what's happening in Ukraine that don't necessarily match up with what we've heard publicly from officials. How concerned are you about the idea that what we're hearing from the White House and Pentagon right now is they don't really even know if this leak is contained as of today?

MURPHY: Yes, listen, I'm very concerned about this leak. Obviously, we have adversaries who are constantly probing at classified information and have experience in releasing that information as a way to embarrass the United States. I haven't received any independent briefing on the extent of the leak nor on the substance of some of these leaks, and so I'm trying to avoid the trap of getting in the business of criticizing the administration about unverified information that has been leaked potentially by an adversary or somebody who's seeking to hurt the United States.

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But clearly, this is a growing problem, the ability of our adversaries to be able to get confidential or classified information and leak it as a means of embarrassing. United States government leaders or candidates it's something I think we're going to have to grapple with in a very serious way going forward.

COLLINS: Do you know when you'll get that briefing? Do you want a briefing?

MURPHY: No, absolutely, I mean, I want a briefing on the logistics right on how this information got out there. But we also need to get briefings on the substance. Obviously, you referenced information that suggests one of our chief allies Egypt, was considering or was planning to ship weapons to Russia. If that's the case, then it also begs the question, why wasn't Congress? Why weren't the leaders of the Foreign Relations Committee? Given that information, I have not received that briefing yet from the administration. We, as you know, have been away from Washington for the last two weeks.

COLLINS: Yes, especially given all the money the U.S. sends to Egypt. Well, let us know when you do get that briefing, Senator. We appreciate your time this morning.

MURPHY: Thanks.

LEMON: Thank you, Senator.

COLLINS: All right, in just a few hours, President Biden is going to leave the White House for his other home his ancestral home. First to Northern Ireland and then to Ireland later this week, where he is going to help commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. The peace deal that was brokered by the U.S. helped to bring an end to decades of sectarian violence. But ahead of the President's visit, masked men are sitting here throwing Molotov cocktails at police during a pro-Irish march on Monday. CNN's Phil Mattingly is live from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Phil, it's obviously a homecoming for President Biden. But what are -- what are the goals of this trip? What's it actually going to look like once he's there on the ground?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's deeply personal, there's no question about that. Let's start with the front of mind issue, which is I forgot my raincoat in my room. And our good friend Allie Malloy is very disappointed. And how I've dropped the ball to start this trip. It certainly something that President is going to try and avoid on several levels. And I think, to be more serious about things, while certainly, the Irish portion of this trip going to Ireland, going to County Louth, going to County Mayo. The deep familial connections, which the White House has produced a document that's about eight or nine pages long, that lays out just how many ways the President and his family is connected to Ireland.

His first stop here in Northern Ireland is critical. It comes to the day after the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that unquestionably underscored the importance of us engagement, and diplomacy and peace talks. Unquestionably has led to a level of stability and peace that did not exist in the decades prior. And yet, still underscores, as you noted at the top and with those pictures you were seeing to what was happening in Derry, that there is still so much work to be done. And when the President arrives later this evening, he will be greeted by the U.K. Prime Minister. Tomorrow, he will give a speech at Ulster University, notably to students, to young people, not to the political leaders of a power-sharing government that has only sporadically been functioning over the course of the last several years.

And at the core of those remarks will be the idea of economic development. His special envoy to Northern Ireland for economic development. Joseph Kennedy will be here as well, talking about the fact that for all they believe they've achieved and accomplished and gained over the course of the last 25 years. Because of that agreement, there's so much work to be done work that the U.S. can certainly help on the economic front. And then of course, Kaitlan, as you know, having listened to every number of President Biden speeches, that he quotes Irish poets, it will be a very deeply personal visit to Ireland over the course of those days ahead.

COLLINS: Yes, it well. And well, Phil, first rule of every foreign trip is you bring a raincoat.

MATTINGLY: Yes, no, I failed -- I failed, it's -- Allie's judging me, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: She is in a good way though, of course. All right, Phil Mattingly, will check back in with you in a raincoat a little bit.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

LEMON: It is a -- it's a waterproof suit, though, I'm tall. I'm being tall.

COLLINS: From the source.

LEMON: From a source. All right, so, NASCAR and definitely suspending one of its star drivers after he was charged with assault by strangulation. The details ahead.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Also, live looking at Tulsa, Oklahoma, where reparation talks begin today. Focusing on the generational trauma from the 1921 massacre in the Greenwood neighborhood also known as Black Wall Street and Tulsa is not alone.

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We have had enough talk. Now is the time for us to act.

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HARLOW: Welcome back. For news this morning, the mother of a six-year- old boy in Virginia who shot his first-grade teacher in January, that mother is now charged with felony child neglect. Police say her son took a loaded gun to his Newport News school and shot teacher Abby Zwerner. Sending her the hospital's wounds to her chest and her hand. She has recently filed a lawsuit against the school board and administrators. Brian Todd has been following this since the beginning and joins us now. What can you tell us about the mother? What happened and led to these charges?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, this is a very significant turn in this case not only with the new charges filed, but this is the first time we're learning the identity of this boy's mother. Deja Taylor is her name. She's just been indicted charged with felony child neglect and with recklessly leaving a loaded firearm so as to endanger a child that is a misdemeanor. Court attorney James Ellison corresponded with me last night over email. He did not comment specifically on the charges. But he did say that Deja Taylor will be turning herself in later this week.

Now, last month, the Commonwealth's attorney told us that Taylor's six-year-old son who shot teacher Abby Zwerner in that first-grade classroom on January 6, that he will not be charged in this case. Deja Taylor's lawyer previously had told CNN that the boy's parents claimed they kept their gun at their home secured and that the gun was secured with a safety and kept on the top shelf of the mother's bedroom closet. A lawsuit filed last week by the teacher Abby Zwerner claims that the six-year-old had been violent at home, that he had choked a teacher during the previous school year when he was in kindergarten. That also in kindergarten, he had touched a female class classmate inappropriately on the school playground, and that school administrators were aware of all of this, Poppy?

HARLOW: Do you know or is there any indication if they're going to file charges against anyone else here?

TODD: Well, it's certainly a possibility that school administrators could face criminal charges, Poppy but the Commonwealth's --

HARLOW: Really?

TODD: -- attorney Howard Gwynn has not commented on that so far. Diane Toscano, the attorney for the teacher, issued a statement to CNN last night on the news of the charging in the mother. Here's the part of that statement quote, "There were failures in accountability at multiple levels that led to Abby being shot and almost killed. Today's announcement addresses but one of those failures. It has been three months of investigation and still, so many unanswered questions remain." Poppy, the lawyers for that teacher are claiming that these administrators broke Virginia State law when they ignored all the warnings --

HARLOW: Yes.

TODD: -- about this child.

HARLOW: Wow, Brian Todd, thank you for following this.

TODD: Sure.

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COLLINS: Also, this morning we're tracking this, NASCAR suspending Cup Series driver, Cody Ware indefinitely, after he was arrested in North Carolina and charged. What we were told is assault by strangulation, inflicting serious injury and a misdemeanor charge of assault on a female, where it was released on a $3,000 bond after his arrest. He's been driving since 2017 for Rick Ware Racing, which is the team that is owned by his father. He currently sits 31st in the championship standings, and the team says that he missed Sunday's cup race to quote, focus on a personal matter.

LEMON: Happening today. A community group in Oklahoma is set to begin talks on possible reparations for the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. The group says it will hand over recommendations to the city council after a series of discussions, but nothing is binding. The talks come as city officials across the country are wrestling with how to make amends for slavery. Evanston, Illinois is the first city in America to offer some of its black resident's money $25,000 And the reparations Task Force in San Francisco is proposing a lot more $5.00 million each. CNN's. Nick Watt joins us now with more. Nick, good morning to you explain, please.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Don. Listen, the vast majority of us can agree that terrible wrongs have been done to black Americans. But when you get into the detail of whether and how we should try to make amends, it gets more complicated and contentious. Now, this taskforce in San Francisco has spent nearly two years coming up with what is still a draft report. So, we don't yet know exactly how many people would qualify or exactly how much it would cost. But it's clear it would cost a lot.

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REV. AMOS BROWN, SAN FRANCISCO AFRICAN AMERICAN REPARATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE: We have had enough talk, now is the time for us to act.

WATT (voiceover): Perhaps, giving black people $5.00 million lump sums and a guaranteed minimum income for at least the next 250 years. Those are numbers one and two, and the most headline grabbing of 111 draft recommendations made to San Francisco's leaders, who sound enthusiastic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm proud to be an ally in this and you can count on me on this point.

WATT (voiceover): California was never a slave state but says the committee that made this list, slavery stain exists here that black San Franciscans have been brutalized by the police. And barred from the best health care jobs education and neighborhoods.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Willie Mays, giants -- major star was unable to buy a home in St. Francis because of neighborhood covenants. And it was a highly publicized event. He's just one of many people.

WATT (voiceover): Thriving black neighborhoods were largely destroyed in the 1960s under the guise of urban development.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There were 10,000 plus people that were displaced. 90 percent of them were black.

SHAMAN WALTON, SUPERVISOR, SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: And these families, unfortunately, were not able to pass the wealth of their home ownership over to their children, to their grandchildren.

WATT (voiceover): Yes, many people of all colors have been priced out of this picturesque tech capital but black people more than most. How far does this take us towards righting a wrong?

GLORIA BERRY, SAN FRANCISCO AFRICAN AMERICAN REPARATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE: It will give people equal opportunity, like you had. WATT (voiceover): These draft recommendations cover health, housing, the law, education, job creation, business development, all overshadowed by that five million.

JOHN DENNIS, CHAIRMAN, SAN FRANCISCO REPUBLICAN PARTY: There is no analysis, there's no formula they came up with, OK. What are the damages? How do we compensate for that? They just picked a number out of a hat. I have black and white friends who look at that $5.00 million and say that is insanity.

BERRY: I think, if I did not live in San Francisco, I probably would look at $5.00 million, like, that's an insane amount of money. The reality of owning property here, $5.00 million, is not that farfetched.

WATT (voiceover): That's how much Redfin (PH) estimates this house is now worth. Once it was owned by Aleya Don Salla Odean's (PH) grandmother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were forced to leave San Francisco because we didn't have the resources or the funds to keep the property that had been in our family for decades.

WATTS (voiceover): How do you possibly fund something like that?

WALTON: We'll look at the recommendations, work together as leadership of the city and see what's feasible and come up with some ways to garner resources.

WATT (voiceover): How could you possibly come up with that much money?

WALTON: I don't want to sit here and be like, asked and answered but like, I answered your question, and that's my final answer.

WATT (voiceover): To qualify under the draft, you got to be 18 plus, identify as black African American and meet at least two other criteria. Among them displaced by urban renewal between 54 and 73.

SHERYL DAVIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SAN FRANCISCO HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISION: There won't be thousands of people getting $5.00 million, you know, in a year's time, but I imagined that there will be some money going out the door. Some places where we could see that is the list of people who were displaced from housing.

WATT (voiceover): Some say no one should qualify.

DENNIS: Are you responsible for the sins of your --

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