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Fear Grips Maine Town as Suspect Remains on the Loose; U.S. Strikes 2 Facilities Linked to Iranian-Backed Militias in Syria; IDF Conducts 2nd Day of 'Targeted Raids' Inside Gaza. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired October 27, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

KEN ALTSHULER, FORMER MORNING RADIO TALK SHOW HOST IN MAINE: To our system. This is not the way Maine is.

[06:00:07]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Ken Altshuler, thank you very much for that perspective.

I actually hadn't thought about the Bean store. I've been there many times in my life, and that is a remarkable point that underscores just how devastating this has been for everyone. I really appreciate your time, sir.

ALTSHULER: Thank you.

HUNT: And thanks to all of you, as well, for joining us. I am Kasie Hunt. We're going to have much more on the man hunt coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, which starts right now.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow with Phil Mattingly in New York.

And this morning, that desperate manhunt continues for a mass shooter in Maine nearly 35 hours after the shooting rampage that left 18 people dead at a bowling alley and a bar and grill.

At least 80 FBI agents have joined the hunt for the suspect Robert Card, and the Coast Guard is also helping search by air and sea after Card's car was found at a boat launch.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Last night, we saw SWAT teams with armored trucks converge on Card's last known address. They spotlighted the house and got onto a megaphone to say, Come out with your hands up, but apparently nobody was inside.

Police tell CNN they'll be back in the neighborhood today.

As for motive, there's a key theory that is emerging. Law enforcement sources telling CNN Card recently broke up with his girlfriend, the bowling alley and Schemengees bar were two places they liked to frequent. His ex-girlfriend was apparently signed up to play in a tournament at the bar the same night as the shooting. HARLOW: We do have some of the names of the victims to share with you

this morning. These are six of the victims' names who have been identified by family members: Bryan MacFarlane, Joseph Walker, Tricia Asselin, Tommy Conrad, Peyton Brewer, and Arthur "Artie" Strout.

Joseph Walker was the manager at Schemengees Bar and Grill. His dad says walker apparently tried to stop the gunman with a knife.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEROY WALKER, SON JOSEPH KILLED IN SHOOTING: He picked up a butcher knife and went after the gunman to try to stop him from killing other people. And that's when he -- he shot my son to death, trying to save some more lives. And he ended up losing his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: His son clearly a hero. He will join us later in the program. Omar Jimenez starts our coverage in Lewiston this morning.

Omar, what can you tell us?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy and Phil, we're about as close to the bowling alley as police are allowing us to get. This is where seven people were found dead of the 18 total.

And this is where police say 40-year-old Robert Card first began shooting before, minutes later, making his way to the bar and grill.

That said, the sun is getting ready to rise on what is now a second day with the main suspect in both of these mass shootings still on the loose.

Lewiston mayor, along with emergency alerts we got on our phone, they're telling residents to shelter in place, to continue sheltering in place for a second day.

When it comes to the search itself, they are expected to pick it back up in the Bowdoin area East of here, searching through some of his known addresses.

It was outside of his last known address that many people, we were all paying attention to increased police activity there. They had a spotlight on the house. They were saying over the speakers to come up [SIC] with your hands up -- come out with your hands up.

Well, state police say that is -- was essentially just standard search warrant procedure when executing a warrant, and they did not find him there.

They did find a vehicle associated with the suspect elsewhere. And they found a gun inside, though unclear if that gun was the one used in these shootings.

And that vehicle was found at a boat launch. And it's part of why you mentioned the -- the variety of sources that are helping search here. It's part of why the Coast Guard is assisting with the search by air and by water, just to make sure they've got all of their bases covered.

And we're a long way from finalizing any motive, but the working theory, as sources have told our John Miller, is that the suspect recently broke up with his girlfriend, and that part of why these two places were targeted were places they used to frequent.

But it's all part of an investigation that is happening at the same time as a critical manhunt and as residents continue to ask the question, when will this person be caught?

MATTINGLY: Omar, some sense or, at least, theories related to the motive. We had some toplines very quickly yesterday about who the suspect actually is. What do we know about him at this point?

JIMENEZ: So we knew he was an Army reservist. Well, we -- we just learned, or we later learned, that in July, he was referred to, essentially, a local hospital because he had been acting erratically. And we know that from military officials.

That said, family members of his and former coworkers said that they don't know that he had any long-term history of mental health issues, at least that they knew of. But also, take a listen to one of his neighbors when asked about some of that history, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE LETARTE, NEIGHBOR OF MASS SHOOTING SUSPECT: He just didn't seem like that kind of individual. Like I said, people have problems, but you don't expect them to go off the deep end like that. Like I said when I saw it on the news last night, I was shocked. I was shocked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And it was -- and it was a shock to the community, as well. One that they're still continuing to live through as many continue to recover in the hospital, with loved ones hoping that their conditions improve -- Phil, Poppy.

MATTINGLY: All right. Omar Jimenez, live on the ground. Keep us posted, please. Thank you.

The tips from the public are crucial in a search like this one. The chief of police from neighboring Lisbon, Maine, spoke about that yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF RYAN MCGEE, LISBON, MAINE, POLICE: We had everything from people calling about noises in basement, noises in the woods, suspicious people, gunshots, all night long since the incident in Lewiston. We have our whole department working. I encourage everybody to call if they see something suspicious.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MATTINGLY: Joining us now Ed Davis. He was the Boston police commissioner during the marathon bombing in 2013.

Commissioner, we appreciate your time. To that point, I believe it was a tip from the public that helped track down Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at the end. He was in a boat, you believe. For all of the tools in the tool kit that law enforcement has right now, how critical is public help?

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Good morning, Phil.

It's very critical. Oftentimes in cases like this, it will be one single call that -- that leads to -- to discovering and apprehending the suspect. And that's really what we're hoping for here.

But you also have to remember that there will be hundreds, sometimes thousands of tips that will be coming in to the police department, to the command post. And those tips have to be managed. Because you don't know -- you don't know which one is -- is the right one.

So it's a very sophisticated process that needs to be put in place to manage those tips, and to make sure that each one of them is run to ground so that you don't miss something.

HARLOW: Commissioner Davis, I will never forget the feeling of Boston when you guys put it on lockdown in those final, you know, days and hours leading to him.

What was also very different being there covering that to this is that was a city. Right? And everyone was staying inside to help you guys try to -- try to locate him. This is a really rural area, very wooded. Can you just talk about how that's different than what your teams were going through?

DAVIS: It is a significant difference. The teams will be operating in the same fashion. They'll establish a grid. They'll put a perimeter on the outside and slowly collapse that perimeter as they're searching.

And at the same time that's happening, tips will be followed up in different places as they come in. So there will be teams going out to different locations.

But the fundamental difference here is that, if this guy gets into the woods, he has an advantage. He's there first. He knows where he's going to be, and it's -- it's a very difficult situation for the -- for the officers who are -- who are up there. The fish and game wardens, the natural resource officers, they're going to be crucial to this if this guy is actually in the woods.

MATTINGLY: You know, to that point, if -- and given what we've seen, you can see what we're showing right now on the ground, what it looks like the wooded areas, how hard that can be. What's the most critical component, if he's in the woods at this point?

DAVIS: Well, clearly, the use of technology is going to be vital. So using night vision equipment, if they're operating in the dark. But I think the most crucial thing, and we saw this play out in Pennsylvania. Is the use of -- of thermal imaging from aircraft and helicopters up above. The aircraft can get pretty high and still focus on an area.

The suspect might not know that they're there. And then, he won't be able to take measures to conceal himself. There are ways you can beat that technology. And he probably knows them, being in the military.

But if you get the plane up high enough, and he doesn't know it's there, they might be able to find them. That makes it so much easier for the officers. Because they have a point that they can advance on without just sort of tripping across somebody, which could happen if you don't have that technology.

HARLOW: That was crucial in them find finding Danelo Cavalcante just a couple of weeks ago.

Commissioner Davis, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

DAVIS: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: We'll continue our coverage, of course, for this ongoing manhunt for the suspect accused of murdering 18 people in Maine.

We are also, of course, following the breaking news in the Middle East. The Pentagon says the United States has carried out two airstrikes against facilities linked to Iranian-backed militias in Syria.

MATTINGLY: And in Israel, for a second night, the IDF says it conducted, quote, "targeted raids" inside Gaza. The humanitarian crisis, it's only growing worse inside. We're live from Israel, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:13:36]

HARLOW: Well, this breaking overnight. The U.S. unleashing new airstrikes on two facilities linked to Iranian-backed militias. This is in Eastern Syria, where F-16 fighter jets used precision-guided munitions to target a weapons and ammunitions storage facility.

It comes after a series of drone and rocket attacks against U.S. forces in the region.

Let's bring in our CNN anchor and chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto. He's live on the ground in the Golan Heights. And CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton joins us from Washington.

I mean, Jim, those drone attacks, injured -- minor injuries, but I believe 21 U.S. service members. So the U.S. was going to have to respond in some way. What do you make of what they chose to do in this moment? JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR/CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It's notable.

And I should note where I am now. I'm in the Golan Heights, and Syria is just behind me there. It's just a reminder that, when you get into the Northern parts of Israel, you have Lebanon with Hezbollah directly to the North. And when you look to the East in Israel, then of course, you have Iranian-backed militias based in Syria.

What was notable to me in Lloyd Austin's statement was that these attacks were targeting a facility that had not just Iran-backed militias there, but also is known to be a base for Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps.

So specifically, Iranian personnel. Not clear if they were there at the time, but this is a base that has been used by them. So you can look at this strike as a direct U.S. strike on Iranian forces in the region.

[06:15:06]

And that's significant, because of course, as Lloyd Austin said in explaining these strikes, they looked at those attacks on U.S. forces, not just in Syria, but also in Iraq, as Iran threatening U.S. personnel in the region.

And Austin was very specific, saying the U.S. will protect its forces, and it will respond accordingly when they see Iran and others target those forces directly.

It just gets to, Poppy, something we've been talking about frequently these last several weeks, the tinderbox that this region is. You have multiple players. It's not just Israel and Hamas. You have U.S. forces here. You have Iran-backed forces here.

And that provides the elements, at least, for potential escalation. And these strikes in that broader background are significant.

MATTINGLY: To that point, is there a red line? Is there a threshold here? Right? You talk about narrowly tailored. This is self-defense from the defense secretary's statement.

But going after facilities where IRDC troops actually are, do they know? Is there an understanding here of, well, this is reciprocal; it's not escalatory. How does this work?

SCIUTTO: You know, narrowly tailored is in the eyes of the beholder, you might say. Right? Because for instance, those Iranian strikes, while they didn't say, for instance, fire a missile at a U.S. warship in the Eastern Mediterranean, that that would be quite direct.

But these -- these are militias and forces known to be backed by Iran that threaten the lives of U.S. forces. Twenty-one injuries, minor injuries, but you know, if a rocket lands 10 feet closer in one direction, those minor injuries can become fatal.

And as I understand it, there's a U.S. contractor in one of those bases that died of cardiac arrest while sheltering from those attacks. So you know, those red lines are blurry. And that's what provides the danger of further escalation.

HARLOW: Colonel Leighton, I thought it was interesting that, in Lloyd Austin's remarks, he made clear, to separate this from the war between Israel and Hamas, talking about this as self-defense, a response to what these Iran-backed militias did. Why does that matter in this moment?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It really matters, Poppy, because what you're dealing with here is the need for the United States not to get involved in the situation between Hamas and Israel.

And this is a clear delineation that it's a force protection issue for the United States. And as Jim and you have outlined, it's very clear that what we're trying to do here is maintain a presence in the Middle East and, of course, go after ISIS and other terrorist groups, but not get involved in anything related to Gaza, at least not directly.

So that's really what we're dealing with is the -- an issue where the United States is trying to make it very clear to the Iranians that they should not be attacking U.S. forces in any way or in any -- any form. And that's the kind of things that the defense secretary was trying to say.

MATTINGLY: Colonel Leighton, deterrence has been so critical. Should we expect now Iranian proxies to fire back at U.S. forces and this just to continue? Or how will you know if this has grown bigger?

LEIGHTON: Well, I think that would be one indicator, Phil. If the Iranian forces went in and, you know, if they sent more drone attacks against U.S. installations or wherever there's a presence of U.S. forces, that would be a key indicator that the Iranians are trying to up the ante in this case.

But in the bigger picture, what we have to look at is how Iran is going to respond in other areas; not just in places like Syria and Iraq, but also in the Persian Gulf. And that really will matter in terms of, you know, force protection for the naval assets that we have there, for the air assets that are in that region.

And it will also matter in terms of international shipping and things like that. So it's going to be really important for us to keep a lid on this, and hopefully, this is a message that will do that.

MATTINGLY: All right. Jim Sciutto and Colonel Cedric Leighton, thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

Well, President Biden now has a Democrat primary challenger. How Congressman Dean Phillips could impact the 2024 race. That's ahead.

HARLOW: Also, a congressman and Marine Corps veteran who lives in Lewiston, Maine, changing his stance on assault weapons.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:19] HARLOW: New overnight, for a second day in a row, Israeli Defense Forces conducted targeted raids inside of Gaza. This video published by the IDF shows tanks and armored vehicles moving on a road near farmland, as well as strikes on buildings and open areas.

It also involved aircraft and artillery strikes targeting Hamas infrastructure, including anti-tank missile launch sites and military control -- military command and control centers.

This raid comes a day after Israeli forces went into Gaza. The IDF says the raids will continue as they prepare for the next stages of this war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESMAN: The IDF forces continued today raiding into the Gaza Strip. The raids are to eliminate terrorists to prepare their grounds to make sure the explosives are not waiting for us. The raids are going to continue tonight and the next days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: CNN anchor Erin Burnett is live in Tel Aviv. This is day two in a row of them going in on the ground, operating and then coming out.

Is this -- is this the beginning of what Netanyahu has been talking about, going in on the ground? Does it necessarily set up a one large incursion or not?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Well, of course, that's the big question. Also, Poppy, obviously, here we're in day 20, 21 of this war. Unrelenting airstrikes. There have been also attacks by the water. Israel says special forces have gone in.

But over the past two nights, two very significant ground incursions involving tanks and real troops have gone in. They have come back out, but these have been very significant raids.

And they do say they attacked more than 250 Hamas targets in these strikes overnight. They're saying that they've taken out three of the top commanders of the most significant Hamas brigade involved in this October 7th terror attack.

[06:25:07]

So they're being very clear about that.

I will say, though, the defense minister earlier this morning in public comments was still clear to say this is still setting the stage for an all-out invasion.

So they're still using that verbiage, Poppy and Phil, which is obviously significant.

But the reality of it is -- is what they have been doing already, day in and day out, has been unrelenting. Even just before you came to us, we continue to hear those thuds.

There really is no break in the constant air assault on Gaza. And of course, they're going in on the ground now, as well, overnight.

MATTINGLY: And there's been so much happening this week where you are, where we are, that it was easy to miss one of most striking moments, which is President Biden's press conference with -- yesterday and later, when he cautioned against -- he was actually outright dismissive when it came to trusting death toll figures released by the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have no notion that Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I'm sure innocents have been killed, and it's the price of waging a war. But I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: The Ministry of Health has now responded with a list of those they say are dead. Why is this so difficult to confirm?

BURNETT: All right. Well, look, they have come out with a list, 6,747 of names that they're putting out there, I.D. cards. Their names, their gender.

The reality of it is it's impossible to confirm. It's a Hamas- controlled health ministry, right, controlled by a terrorist organization. So by definition, you cannot trust the veracity of those numbers. I think that's very significant.

But the reality of it is, is there is death. And innocent people are dying, talking to people in Gaza. We do know people are writing their children's names on their bodies in case they are killed.

The reality of it is, is there is a horrific loss of innocent life. There was a horrific loss of innocent life on October 7th. Absolutely horrific. But that's the reality.

And I would emphasize, too, Poppy and Phil, that part of the issue here is we're not able to confirm those numbers. Also, when Israel goes in with these overnight raids.

The video that you see is put out by the IDF. It's not put out by us. We don't have eyes on that. And that is one of the biggest challenges in covering this war, is the limited ability to see certain crucial things.

But when it comes to a death toll, I think all that we can say is that people are dying. Some innocent people are dying. And it is a horrible and significant loss for every single family involved. And that is the one thing nobody can deny. That's the reality.

And we shouldn't get lost in whether the number is -- is X versus Y. In a sense, that misses the point of the horror of the war.

HARLOW: Yes. It does. Erin, thank you very much for that reporting in Tel Aviv. We'll get back to you very soon.

We are also going to Maine and the victims. We're learning more of them. We're learning their names. And coming up, we'll remember them and hear from those who love them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)