Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Sharks Spotted Swimming Near Crowded New York and Florida Beaches; Powdery Substance Found At White House Sent For Further Testing; Female Artists Recently Attacked By Men On Stage While Performing. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 05, 2023 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:32:10]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get out! Get out of the water!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL MATTINGLY: Now, that terrifying video you're watching out of northwest Florida -- that is a shark spotted swimming near the shore of a crowded beach near Pensacola. Luckily, no one was harmed.

Meanwhile, beachgoers in New York are on high alert after at least four suspected shark attacks were reported in just the past two days. Among them, a man who was swimming at the beach on Long Island yesterday. Police say he was chest-deep in water when he was bitten by a, quote, "large marine animal." We're told he suffered cuts to his knee but will be OK.

Now, Monday, a 15-year-old boy was attacked off the coast of Fire Island. Authorities say a shark bit his toes and heel but he was still able to swim to the shore. As a result, officials across Long Island say they are stepping up patrols at beaches, including using drones for an aerial view of the water.

And joining us now is Gavin Naylor. He's the director of the Florida program for shark research. Gavin, thanks so much for joining us.

I guess what I always try and figure out with stories like this is is this an increase. Is there an acceleration of sharks moving closer, or do we just like watching the videos and are kind of fascinated by the animals themselves?

GAVIN NAYLOR, PH.D., DIRECTOR, FLORIDA PROGRAM FOR SHARK RESEARCH (VIA Webex by Cisco): Good morning.

A little bit of all three, actually. So a lot more documentation occurs because everyone has got their cell phone so we see more of these things, so they come into our living rooms really quickly.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Is it safe? I mean, I was just with my kids at the beach in Long Island yesterday. Now I'm thinking should I let them go in this afternoon?

NAYLOR: Absolutely. People could always swim in groups, they shouldn't stray too far from the shore, and they should particularly avoid bait fish. Because usually what happens is the sharks that we see in the United States, at least on the East Coast, are primarily looking for food -- mullet, menhaden, bunker.

And, in fact, in the clip that you just showed, that was a great hammerhead -- very characteristically long. A very high dorsal fin. And that's actually quite reassuring, or it should be, because there were lots of people in the water but yet the shark was meandering around chasing its food -- bait fish. It wasn't chasing after people and darting to see if it could bite any people.

So they're just trying to make a living but if we get in the way of them and we are in the middle of the bait fish, then bad things can sometimes happen by accident.

So it is safe. We rely on drones a lot -- they're excellent. And when there are sharks in the water obviously, you don't want to go in because it will increase the probability that they'll make a mistake. But in general, absolutely, it's safe.

[07:35:00]

HARLOW: OK.

NAYLOR: I would trust beach safety.

MATTINGLY: Kind of just the injuries that we've seen, they seem to appear to be kind of accidental bites. To your point, you kind of got in the way. I'm not minimizing the risk of a shark attack in terms of what it would do to a person, but is that fair to say that the injuries that we're seeing right now are representative of kind of what you are describing to some degree?

NAYLOR: I haven't actually seen the injuries from the bites from the past few days but the descriptions -- the verbal descriptions of them sound as if they are just bite and release, which is consistent with accidental bites.

In Long Island, you have quite a lot of Sand Tiger sharks. Juveniles that are basically protected from predation and they hang behind the sand bars and sometimes come out to feed on the bunker. And if visibility is low and there's a lot of people in the water then it can happen.

That said, I haven't seen any identification that they are sand tigers responsible this year. I saw some videos of a lot of dark aggregate offshore and it's not immediately clear what species they are. And different species, as you can imagine, respond differently.

So we still don't have all the data to make a definitive assessment.

HARLOW: OK.

Gavin Naylor, thank you for helping us better understand it with some wise words.

NAYLOR: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, a white powder substance discovered at the White House prompting a temporary evacuation and a lot of finger-pointing

HARLOW: And later, what's behind a string of violent attacks against performers on stage, including Bebe Rexha and Kelsea Ballerini. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:40:40]

MATTINGLY: Well, new this morning, sources tell CNN that a powdery substance found at the White House Sunday night that prompted a temporary evacuation was field tested as possibly being cocaine. Now, the substance was found in a common area of the West Wing, not within an individual office, in areas accessible to certain tour groups. The Secret Service says it will now be sent for further testing.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us live from the north lawn of the White House. My assumption is the white -- the West Wing is not saying a ton about this right now, but what do we know about how White House officials are responding to this?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, they're not. But the Secret Service has said there is an ongoing investigation into how exactly this substance entered the White House.

So here is what we know. An official has described this as a powdery substance found in a Ziploc bag. Now, it was found in the West Wing in what is a common area, as you mentioned -- not an individual office, and an area that is accessible to certain tour groups.

Now, this did prompt a temporary evacuation on Sunday evening. And now sources tell CNN that this, in a field test, was determined to possibly be cocaine. Now, that is not conclusive -- the result of that test -- but the Secret Service has said that there is going to be ongoing tests and evaluation as to what exactly this is. So this is an ongoing investigation, again, into what exactly the substance is and also how it entered the White House.

But we should note, Phil, President Biden was not at the White House over the weekend when this was found and when there was an evacuation. He was at Camp David and he returned on Tuesday morning.

MATTINGLY: All right, Priscilla. Big building, lots of workers, lots of staffers, lots of tour groups. We'll have to see where this ends up. Thanks so much. HARLOW: Well, Adele is speaking out after a string of violent attacks on artists while they are performing on stage. Why is this happening and what's being done about it? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:46:37]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADELE, SINGER-SONGWRITER: They're just throwing (bleep) on stage. Have you seen that? I (bleep) dare you. I dare you to throw something at me. Stop throwing things at the artists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That is music superstar Adele sounding off after a series of violent incidents against artists on stage. And just last month, multiple female singers have been attacked by unruly concertgoers.

A New Jersey man was charged with assault after he threw a cell phone a Bebe Rexha, hitting her in the face during a New York concert just a few weeks ago. The singer suffered a black eye and needed stitches. According to a criminal complaint, the man said he did it because he thought, quote, "it would be funny."

Soon after, pop singer Ava Max was slapped by a man who rushed to the stage in Los Angeles before he was swept away by security. Max later posted that the man, quote, "...slapped me so hard that the scratched the inside of my eye."

And country star Kelsea Ballerini was struck in the face by an object thrown at her during a performance. This happened in Idaho. She paused before stepping off stage and later posted "I'm fine. Let's just do a better job of keeping each other safe at shows."

What is going on here? Brittany Spanos is a staff writer at Rolling Stone. She covers music, fandom, and pop culture. What is going on here?

BRITTANY SPANOS, SENIOR WRITER, ROLLING STONE: You know, it's -- there's probably many different reasons for this. I think that a lot of concert behavior has changed in sort of this, like, post-COVID world. A couple of years of people not being around crowds and now back in crowds.

I think we have a kind of viral culture that people want to have a moment with their favorite celebrity and that goes viral, whether it's a dangerous moment or something kind of ridiculous like Pink's fan sending up a wheel of brie or their mother's ashes on stage.

And parasocial relationships. I think people feel like they're owed that moment with their favorite artist.

MATTINGLY: Why? Why do they feel like they're -- I think that's why I don't -- HARLOW: Owed anything.

MATTINGLY: -- understand, right. Like --

SPANOS: Yes.

MATTINGLY: -- you're owed the performance.

SPANOS: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Why do you feel like you're owed more than that?

SPANOS: You know, I think because they see their favorite artist interacting with people. This is something that's happened at a lot of Harry Styles concerts, right? It's like people bring like increasingly ridiculous signs because he's going to point them out.

HARLOW: Didn't something happen to him, too?

SPANOS: He has been hit by a lot of objects.

HARLOW: Yes.

SPANOS: He has been hit by objects people are throwing on there for him to have, like the -- like the bracelet that Kelsea was hit with was a friendship bracelet that a fan probably just wanted her to have and felt like this is the only way I'm going to be able to get this to her.

And they just want to have that interaction -- that moment of like maybe they'll notice me. Maybe they'll comment on this. Maybe I'll have this like meet-and-greet because there are a lot less meet-and- greets now for -- that artists are doing, obviously out of precaution and health and safety risks.

And I think fans feel like they're owed that and that's not the case. Concerts are meant to be this already incredible experience that you're connecting with other fans and with the artists themselves. But at the price of them now, I think fans want to make even more of that experience.

HARLOW: Are there things that maybe could be done to make it safer for these artists? I mean, there are some events where you can't take big backpacks but you could certainly still take a bracelet or have your cell phone or something like --

SPANOS: Yes.

HARLOW: How can they be better protected?

SPANOS: You know, it's so -- it's weird because there are so many precautions with what people can bring into a venue, right? Like, you know, it's kind of wild like what sort of has been already let in. And, again, like the wheel of brie, which is probably the most ridiculous one I've seen. But I think there already are a lot of precautions in place to have

that and there are concert security and things like that. I think it's really just the artist kind of really making it clear that this is not OK and making it really clear that not only for them but for their peers -- like, this is not a situation that should be allowed because I feel like they're feeling a lot more unsafe and don't want to give as much to their fans as they have in the past.

[07:50:13]

MATTINGLY: And I think that's my biggest question, right, is like the pendulum is going to swing the other way if this type of thing continues.

Are you -- like, are artists talking about this right now? Are they talking amongst one another about kind of pulling back a little bit both literally and figuratively to some degree?

SPANOS: Yes. I mean, I don't think artists are thinking that yet. I mean, this has happened in the past, like David Bowie many years ago was hit in the eye with a lollipop on stage and, like, it was lodged in his eye. You know, there -- these incidents have happened over the years. I think this is obviously a very specific moment where we've seen a lot of them happen at once. Like, this is a very rare moment.

So I am curious kind of -- you know, a lot of other fans have disavowed this behavior. You know, this is -- the popular belief within fandoms is this is not OK. So I am kind of curious how this is going to play out over the next few months, especially every artist is on tour right now. This is a really big touring year all over the music industry. I'm kind of curious if this is going to continue being a bigger issue. But there might also be people really empowered by how viral and famous you can get from being a person who injures your favorite artist.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, FORMER FEDERAL AND NEW JERSEY STATE PROSECUTOR: It's such an interesting point, Brittany. You answered, really, my main question -- why would people do this? But I think you're probably right. It's this desire to have a moment to be -- to be seen.

But it's changing, right -- the way they're doing this. I mean, I understand throwing a t-shirt or a friendship bracelet --

SPANOS: Yes.

HONIG: -- on stage. But throwing a cell phone at somebody? We've had comedians attacked in a way that could have been lethal.

I do wonder if it's going to cause artists to scale back because you kind of want that concert experience, right? Taylor Swift, we saw yesterday.

SPANOS: Yes. HONIG: She walks right down that platform into the middle of the crowd. I wonder if security people are going to say no, you've got -- just stay on the traditional stage.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, POLITICAL ANCHOR, SPECTRUM NEWS, COLUMNIST, NEW YORK MAGAZINE, HOST, "YOU DECIDE" PODCAST: Yes. The days of crowd surfing and really sort of --

HONIG: Yes.

LOUIS: -- engaging in that way may be coming to an end.

I mean -- but if you go to a comedy show -- I've gone to a couple of big arena shows -- they take your cell phone. They put it in a sleeve. You get it back afterwards. It's not nearly as inconvenient as you might think. And I suppose we might start to see more of that if people are throwing those things.

SPANOS: Yes.

LOUIS: I mean, in sports arenas, already, they'll take the top off. They don't want you throwing your $6.00 bottle of water at anybody and so they unscrew the cap for you. And it's really inconvenient and it's really unfortunate but for the prices that people are paying to get access to these artists and these experiences -- maybe it has to be a little bit less viral. A little bit less social media driven.

HARLOW: Or maybe prosecuted more, Elie.

HONIG: Yes. I mean, law enforcement has a role. This is why, by the way, beer is only sold at baseball stadiums in those horrible plastic containers. No more -- no more actual bottles or cans of anything either. So I think you really highlight an interesting trend.

HARLOW: Yes.

SPANOS: And so many concerts are at sporting arenas and in stadiums so they have those similar roles too for a lot of it for the same reasons as well.

MATTINGLY: Can I ask you before we let you go the broader point here where there's been like how to attend concert --

SPANOS: Yes.

MATTINGLY: -- stories that have been written, which were a little bit jarring to me. But I think it underscores the fact that people coming out of the last two or three years have just totally forgotten how -- why do we --

SPANOS: Or they've never been to a concert.

MATTINGLY: Or they've never been to it. Why -- that's what's crazy.

SPANOS: Yes.

MATTINGLY: They need -- people need to be told how to act at a concert.

SPANOS: Yes. I think there's a lot of respect for the people that you're around and for the artists that you're seeing that needs to be reinforced, which is the idea that you're sharing this communal space with hundreds of thousands of people sometimes. You know, you're sharing this space with a lot of people and sometimes you're in sort of close contact in a pit or you're in seats, and things like that.

Just really respecting people's personal space and respecting other people's experience. Everyone is trying to have the best night of their lives when they're at a concert and just because you feel like you're the main character does not mean that you are allowed to take that experience away from other people.

HARLOW: Sorry, you're not.

SPANOS: Yes. Everyone is tonight, you know? Everyone wants to feel that way. So --

HARLOW: Brittany, thank you --

SPANOS: Yes.

HARLOW: -- very much.

Elie and Errol, stick around. We've got a lot -- a lot to get to.

New reporting from The Wall Street Journal that the U.S. could be escalating its tit-for-tat with Beijing by restricting access to the cloud. That's ahead.

MATTINGLY: Plus, prosecutors just confirmed the identity of the suspected mass shooter accused of going on a deadly rampage on the streets of Philadelphia. The city's district attorney will join us live, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:58:10]

HARLOW: I love that. Fourth of July fireworks from the nation's capital last night, all the way from New York to D.C., to Florida.

Good morning, everyone. We're glad you're with us. It's a big news day. Phil Mattingly by my side. Did you have a nice Fourth? I know you worked --

MATTINGLY: I was --

HARLOW: -- and I didn't.

MATTINGLY: Same thing. I was also sleeping during the fireworks, but I like the pictures.

HARLOW: Me, too.

MATTINGLY: The CNN concerts were great, by the way.

HARLOW: That's exactly right.

MATTINGLY: (INAUDIBLE). You were big on (INAUDIBLE), right?

HARLOW: What?

We're going to begin here though with very serious news. Prosecutors have this morning identified the suspected mass shooter accused of gunning down people randomly on the streets of Philadelphia while dressed in body armor and a ski mast. The district attorney will join us in just a few moments.

MATTINGLY: Plus, possible cocaine found in the West Wing and now the Secret Service is investigating. We'll tell you where the bag was discovered and other details we're learning from our sources.

HARLOW: And a group of American fashion influencers facing backlash after visiting a Chinese factory and posting glowing reviews. We're going to get into the fast fashion controversy straight ahead -- all of that in this hour on CNN THIS MORNING, which starts right now.

Well, this is where we begin new this morning. Prosecutors are, indeed, confirming the identity of the suspected mass shooter accused of going on a deadly rampage on the streets of Philadelphia. The district attorney's office tells CNN the suspect is a 40-year-old named Kimbrady Carriker. Carriker is set to be arraigned on murder charges today.

Police say the shooter was dressed in body armor and a ski mask as he moved through a southwest Philadelphia neighborhood just randomly firing those shots at cars, at people just walking on the street early on a Monday night.