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Erin Burnett Outfront
Sheriff: Shooter Fired at "Successive Rate" for 9 Minutes; Sheriff: Gunman Used Cameras to Monitor Police Movements; Sheriff: Gunman's Girlfriend is Now a Person of Interest; Official: Las Vegas Gunman Wired $100,000 to the Philippines, Sheriff Says Gunman's Girlfriend is There. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired October 03, 2017 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: That's it for me. Thanks for watching. CNN's Breaking News coverage continues right now with "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" live from Las Vegas.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. This is a special edition of "OUTFRONT." We are live in Las Vegas tonight with the breaking news.
Nine minutes, that is the horrifying length of time that investigators say Stephen Paddock rained fire on thousands of people. As a country music concert was wrapping up here --
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: It appears we're having some technical difficulties with Erin Burnett out in Las Vegas. We'll try to fix that and get back to Erin very shortly.
But as Erin was saying, the sheriff talked about it, nine minutes. It was an eternity for those panicked concert goers who were running for their lives. Nine minutes to kill 59 people and injure more than 500.
As you can see here, we're seeing the first images inside the shooter's hotel room, including this stunning photo from the "Daily Mail" of two rifles and a body on the floor.
Now, we can't independently confirm that's actually be the shooter's body. But also inside that room, a barricade now where a SWAT team blew away the door, a gun on a tripod there. Police say Paddock put up cameras both inside and outside his room to monitor police movements. And one official says at least one of his rifles was modified to rapidly fire hundreds of rounds a minute.
Now, these right here that you're seeing, these are the first images of some of the weapons the shooter used. We know now there were even more guns in the shooter's hotel room. There were 23 guns in total. We're told that he carried them in his room at least 10 suitcases after checking in. That check-in was last Thursday.
Also tonight, we're learning that the woman the sheriff calls a person of interest in this case, Paddock's girlfriend, 62-year-old Marilou Danley, she's in the Philippines. Now, Danley is not considered a suspect, but police now are hoping she might hold clues to Paddock's motive.
We're going to look now at Paddock at a dinner in the Philippines about four years ago. Investigators say that he wired $100,000 to the Philippines recently, the recipient, though, unknown. The central question now in this horrific tragedy, it still remains why. Why a 64-year-old retired accountant elaborately planned and executed the slaughter of so many innocent people?
But tonight in the midst of all this horror, there are some stories of hope. Earlier today, Erin did speak with Rocky Palermo who was shot in the back just moments ago as he left the hospital, his amazing story of survival in just a few minutes. We do have Erin back now live in Las Vegas.
Erin?
BURNETT: And Jessica, thank you so much. That is an incredible story that we are going to share with you.
I want to start, though, with Martin Savidge who is also out front here with me in Las Vegas.
Martin, we have been learning so much information just in the past hour about how the shooter may have altered his weapons to carry out the carnage that he did.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. One of the things that's been talked about and now officially has been spoken of at least by the sheriff is something called a bump stock.
We're going to show you a photograph that came allegedly from the hotel room here. So you're looking at some of the weapons. If you look at the one that's on the left-hand side, that's an AR rifle, Armalite rifle, that's a design style.
And if you take a look at the back of the weapon, that's the stock or the butt end of the rifle, you may be able to see in this photograph, there is a modification that has been made. It looks like a contraption that sort of runs from the stock and comes all the way curling around by the trigger. It would come around like that on both sides. That is the bump stock.
And what that essentially does, it's a legal modification in most states, is that after the trigger is initially pulled one time, the recoil of the weapon itself will cause the next firing of the gun. So it's a modification that essentially takes it from a semiautomatic to an automatic. Now, that's a very basic description, but that is what a bump stock does. And that is seen in this photograph here, and it would allow the shooter to fire many, many more rounds.
And the thing to look at there, look in the background, you might see the stack of extended what are the, you know, the additional bullet rounds that are there. If you take a look at those clips, those are banana clips. It looks like they could hold maybe 50, 60 rounds. They're stacked up by cordwood. That photo there says a lot about the damage that could be done and was done. BURNETT: Those pictures of that hotel room are hard to see when you think about a hotel room, you see the decor of the hotel room, and then you see all of that in there.
[19:05:03] You also, Marty, I know, have some new information that we have just learned and this is actually about cameras, cameras that the shooter had set up inside and outside that hotel room. So what do we now know?
SAVIDGE: This again goes to the methodical nature, the planning. So cameras, and this again, has been verified by the authorities. There was at least one camera that was placed outside of the hotel room itself. It's believed that it was masqueraded or hidden in a room service tray or in a cart. And this would have allowed, according to the authorities, the shooter to know when police were moving in on him.
He knew that they would, eventually, of course, but it would give him a heads-up. He could actually see when they were coming. He had plenty of other weapons to try and stop them as they made the entry he knew would come. Then there are said to be cameras that were inside the room itself. Exactly what they were for, we don't know. However, the sheriff has said he was not transmitting, in other words, sending those images elsewhere. They do not believe that was the case, but there were cameras.
BURNETT: Hmm, there were cameras, there was planning and yet still, even with that, we just don't know why.
Martin, thank you very much.
I want to go to Kyung Lah who's here with my in Las Vegas.
Kyung, right now, when we look back there and when you go to the other side and you see those windows, it is just a moment where you just sort of catch your breath. Now, we know 49 guns in his hotel room and in his homes. How long was he accumulating them? Because the big question is still how could anyone have accumulated these sorts of weapons over any period of time and not raised a red flag?
KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we do know now in conversations with at least one gun shop owner that it was over many months. We know that this gunman was methodical, he was careful as he gathered his guns for this rampage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAH (voice-over): The first chilling images showing the inside of Stephen Paddock's 32nd floor hotel room. Photos obtained by the "Daily Mail" show high powered guns and spent shell casings scattered across the floor. In all, 23 guns found in the Mandalay Bay Hotel room.
As the first reports of the shooting rampage and the murder trickled out, Chris Michel, 120 miles away in St. George, Utah, realized his intimate connection. CHRIS MICHEL, DIXIE GUNWORX OWNER: That was horrific, that was hard because I immediately remembered him and I remember he frequented it in the shop.
LAH: His gun shop, Dixie Gunworx.
MICHEL: Every regulation, federal regulation that is in place, he passed. He passed right through them with no problems. He passed all of our background checks here in the store. He passed every red flag. We get sketchy people that walk into our business, no matter how you look at it, sketchy people come in.
Those are the ones that we have code words, you know, on our staff that we can throw up and let everybody know something is not right here. Something's going on. And that didn't happen with him. Again, it was literally you would never have thought that this could be something that this man could have done.
LAH: But the killer was accumulating weaponry across states in the southwest for months, buying a shotgun and rifle from at least one gun store in Las Vegas, a handgun and two rifles in Mesquite, Nevada, where the gunman lives. The sheriff says he also purchased weapons somewhere in Arizona.
Sources tell CNN guns were also bought in California, and then in January of this year, the gunman went to Dixie Gunworx in St. George, Utah, going three different times until he bought a shotgun about six weeks later.
At the gunman's Reno, Nevada home, more weapons. The sheriff saying investigators recovered five handguns and two shotguns. Neighbors had no idea. Only that he was reclusive, claimed to be a professional gambler, and lived with his girlfriend, Marilou Danley.
DEE MCKAY, PADDOCK'S NEIGHBOR: I started feeling sorry for her, she needs to talk to more people, but I never got a chance to talk to her anymore because I know it's very difficult to be around a gambler, they're in their own world. And even if they go gambling one day, it's like they're shut out from everything. All reality.
LAH: Investigators say the gunman's girlfriend is cooperating. Danley is currently in the Philippines where the couple in 2013 took this family picture. The FBI says the gunman wired $100,000 to someone in the Philippines. At the couple's Mesquite, Nevada home, police recovering 19 guns, explosives, and thousands of rounds of ammunition here. Forty-nine guns in all found so far in this investigation.
Chris Michel believes the shotgun he sold the killer likely wasn't used to kill innocent people in the Las Vegas rampage, but says he still needs to know why the 64-year-old retiree would do this.
MICHEL: I would like to have some sort of a real closure. You know, again, I do have that pit. I do have that guilt. I know I'm not at fault, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to have some sort of a closure going OK, there's the answer that I've been personally looking for.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[19:10:03] LAH: So far, investigators do believe that these weapons were obtained legally. As far as the girlfriend, we are hearing from the sheriff today that they are still considering the shooter's girlfriend a person of interest. They're certainly going to want to talk to her, Erin, when she returns.
BURNETT: They are, and obviously important words, that means they think that she may have information that could help them. Kyung Lah, thank you very much.
And I want to go now to Nevada's lieutenant governor, Mark Hutchinson, who was born and raised right here in Las Vegas.
You've spent your life here, Lieutenant Governor. I want to start with some of the breaking details here that we're learning, the cameras, that there were cameras the shooter had setup both inside and outside of that hotel suite here at the Mandalay Bay.
Do you know from your briefings any sense of how he was able to do this without anybody noticing in a hotel that obviously has a lot of surveillance?
LT. GOV. MARK HUTCHINSON, (R) NEVADA: And that's one of the things, Erin, that's we're continuing to investigate. We've got local and state and federal authorities and investigators who have come in the hotel and looking at all the surveillance video and tape. And that's one of the questions that we have and we're investigating that.
BURNETT: He had an arsenal in that room. And it was an arsenal of big guns and a lot of equipment and tripods and scopes.
HUTCHINSON: Yes.
BURNETT: And a lot of horrific things. The "Daily Mail" had gotten some of the photos we were sharing of some of the 23 guns that were recovered from that room, including some of those rifles. These are not easily concealed. They come in big boxes. They could have been up to 10 boxes over days that he was bringing in. Are you concerned that that could happen?
HUTCHINSON: Well, we want to understand how it happened and why it happened. You know, we're a hospitality location. We're a place where people come and have a great time. They bring in a lot of luggage. But we want to know the events that led to that and what's going to happen in the future to evaluate the entire situation. But the investigation continues to move forward and we're going to take every precaution and effort we can to make sure our visitors are safe.
BURNETT: So what do you think was being planned here, right? You had the guns up in the room?
HUTCHINSON: Sure. BURNETT: You had guns at his home nearby here in Mesquite. You had 49 weapons in all that we even know of. You had several pounds of ammonium nitrate which can be used in explosive in his car that was here. Do you think the concert shooting was all he was planning? Or are you now aware that there was something else?
HUTCHINSON: Well, I'm not aware of anything else, Erin. I do know that the investigators have recovered a lot of computer technology from the various locations and crime scenes, including at the hotel room, and once we have an opportunity to review those and evaluate those, I think we'll have a lot more information for you.
BURNETT: But you're saying in the hotel room but also in his home, there were multiple electronic devices?
HUTCHINSON: That's right. And there's a multiple electronic devices recovered from various crime scenes.
BURNETT: And are you worried at this point that that there's no sense of a motive, or do you think that because that is all now being looked at that we are closer to understanding.
HUTCHINSON: Either -- I mean this is just my own opinion. I think that once the investigators comb through those electronic devices we're going to find out really what was in his mind and what led him to these depraved and crazy acts.
BURNETT: How safe is Las Vegas right now? Something has happened no one ever thought could happen and now it's happened.
HUTCHINSON: Well, listen this is my hometown. This is where I was born and raised. Just like you said, Erin, I raised six children here, I've got my grandchildren here. This is where I live.
We're all very worried about the safety of our guests. We're all very compassionate and very concerned about to those who have been wounded and the victims. We're going to do everything we can to make sure that Las Vegas stays safe. We're going to find out what happened, get to the bottom of this, and make sure that we do everything we can to prevent this in the future.
BURNETT: Lieutenant Governor, I appreciate your time. Thank you tonight.
HUTCHINSON: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, breaking news. We're going to go inside that hotel suite that the shooter turned into his fortress as he banged up those windows to slaughter innocent people. What does it tell us about the premeditation with which he went about this and his motive?
Plus, two best friends went to the concert together. They were having the time of their lives. One of them is with us. The other died in his arms.
Plus, a story of survival, a hospital visit with a man who was shot, half an inch in either direction and he wouldn't be walking ever again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCKY PALERMO, LAS VEGAS SURVIVOR: This is where the bullet went in, just a small little hole.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:17:46] BURNETT: Breaking news, the county sheriff says the gunman here in Las Vegas fired at will for approximately nine minutes. And we're learning that he had cameras both inside and outside of his hotel suite, possibly an attempt to spot officers approaching his room.
But right now, without any direct motive, we simply do not know the reason. We are getting, though, our first look at the weapons that were everywhere, scattered across that suite. Many leaning against those windows as he was going from window to window, carrying out his carnage. Tom Foreman is out front.
And Tom, what is inside that hotel room?
TOM FOREMA, CNN CORRESPONDETN: Well, Erin, we know -- we knew up front that he had this sweeping view of the Las Vegas strip and the concert venue over here from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay. What we are now seeing though is that inside, he had assembled kind of a makeshift fortress in this suite that could not easily be attacked.
In fact, police say right here in this hallway that would approach the front door, that's where he had some of those cameras. You mentioned one hidden on a food cart outside there. He had other cameras inside, which they believe he was using to watch their movements when they approached.
But look at all this space in here. In there, he had a veritable arsenal. Look at some of these pictures from various sources including the "Daily Mail." He had 10 suitcases, according to police, in which he brought in 23 different weapons. Some of them had bipods on them, which are things which they can use like this to steady it to get a better shot. Some of them had very powerful scopes on them.
He had them all over the room. And in fact, you can see he had ammunition everywhere, too. Some of them were right up here by that post. You can see a stack of magazines over there. And this is where one of the windows was that he was shooting from.
He also had a hammer, which authorities say he used to smash out windows here, to shoot from.
One, if you came in the front door of the suite and you went right, right around that little section there, there you see it by that pillar, that's one he smashed out and then another one over here. Either one, either one would give you roughly this view of the concert venue below where he was raining shots down upon these people. Even as this room filled up with smoke and with spent cartridges and with noise, and he shot and shot as you noted a moment ago, now confirmed by police, for nine full minutes, Erin.
[19:20:07] BURNETT: So, Tom, he had all of that. We know that there were these piles of cartridges. He had more ammo. Is there any indication at nine minutes of why he stopped? Because clearly, he had the guns and he had the ammunition to go for much longer?
FOREMAN: We don't know why he stopped. Although that roughly, not perfectly, but roughly correlates to when police showed up here at the hotel. So maybe he was monitoring them in some other way.
We know that when the police showed up, it certainly seemed like he was ready. When the first group of officers approached the door here with the security guard, he shot through the door, according to police, and hit the security guard, and they had to back away from it. Then, they had to call in SWAT, and SWAT units took a little bit more time arrayed themselves around this sort of makeshift fortress of his.
They came in, blew the door off with an explosive charge and then they came in, they found him dead. We believe over by that window you can see right there. They don't know, though, if he killed himself after that first attack, Erin, or some time in between or when they came in the second time.
What we do know is this. That his shooting at people outside, at all these innocent people down here, seems to have roughly correlated to the time when police cornered him and confronted him up here and finally brought it to an end.
BURNETT: Tom, thank you very much.
And here with me now in Las Vegas, retired FBI Special Agent James Gagliano and the former FBI Special Agent, also former head of security for the Venetian Resort here in Las Vegas, David Shepherd. Thanks to both of you.
When you hear this report, James, of what's coming together here from what happened up in that suite and you see the guns arrayed and you see the scopes and you see even those two chairs pushed together with rifles sticking out of them, what does this say to you, now even know about cameras about his planning and premeditation?
JAMES GAGLIANO, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: There was plenty of premeditation here. And, Erin, we have to understand kind of the psyche of the gunman here. I believe the camera that was put outside, and it looks like in one of the food carts, was so he could track SWAT's movement. So obviously, he had some understanding some SWAT tactics and maybe that's what he wanted to kind of track that.
Most active shooter system situations are resolved in three to 10 minutes. Now, there's been some discrepancies saying nine minutes or 11 minutes, but the first heterogenous team, meaning a group of, you know, security guards and police officers and sheriffs, deputies arrived there between 9 and 11 minutes. That's pretty good because as you also know, I went back today and looked at all the erroneous reports that came in on social media. There were three gunmen here, two in this hotel. And if you also recall, after the Conor McGregor-Floyd May weather fight, there was a shots fired incident that happened there too and the confusion ensued in that, I give kudos to the police.
BURNETT: And you're also talking about a location that's across eight lanes of a highway, 32 floors up in a hotel that's more than 3,600 rooms --
GAGLIANO: Absolutely.
BURNETT: -- when you think about that.
David, you know, some of the pictures that we have from inside the room, let me just show again, it appears to be the body. We haven't independently confirmed this, but this is a picture from the "Daily Mail" of what appears to be the shooter lying on the ground after he killed himself, you can see the gloves.
DAVID SHEPERD, FORMER HEAD SECURITY, THE VENETIAN LAS VEGAS LUXURY HOTEL: Right.
BURNETT: And then you see the picture of the weapons on the chairs and those chairs that he had pushed together in on the floor. How could anyone have noticed this beforehand? I mean, here's the thing.
He was in the hotel since Thursday. That many guns you can't hide in a hotel room. I mean, you leave the privacy on for that many days, you have that many boxes going up. You have been the head of security at one of these hotels.
SHEPERD: I have suitcases going on, we have people bringing suitcases all the time. They have a sign that say don't enter the room. If they don't clean the room, they don't see what's going on. They try to have a way goes in some particular time, for health reasons, we do safety checks on certain people.
For him, there wasn't any need to at the time. I guess that's what they have right now. But if you're looking the way the weapons are positioned, he could grab them out of chairs. They look like every one and was loaded already. He had position on bipod so he can have a better line of fire. He had some with a scope, so he had gloves on.
The guns heat up. So if he grabs a barrel, he has gloves to help protect him. He had planned this from all in the beginning. This had been planned for a long time.
BURNETT: And James, I know you've been saying that. You know, when we look at the guns on the floor, you see the spent casings obviously scattered around. But, you also, as our Martin Savidge pointed out, see piles of neatly stacked magazines. You know, went in, lined everything up, had it all ready to go.
GAGLIANO: And what boggles the mind in strains (INAUDIBLE), how did a subject like this with no prior tactical background that we know of, was not prior law enforcement, was not a combat veteran, set up the perfect killing field? Set up the two windows and, as my colleague pointed out, he had bipods on his weapons. Those weapons are automatic weapons. He had to have known that was the maximum effective range for those types of rifles.
BURNETT: Right, because they're right up against the range.
GAGLIANO: Absolutely, 500, 550 yards. But remember this, those automatic weapons can actually fire up to 3,600 meters. Not effectively, but the bullets do travel that far.
BURNETT: So we're finding out about the room, we're also finding out more about there's a person of interest, they're now calling her -- the girlfriend.
[19:25:05] We know he sent 100,000 dollars to the Philippines, which is where his girlfriend traveled to. And follow the money. We always say follow the money. How significant could she be?
SHEPERD: You're looking at a girlfriend that could know a lot. It all depends on how the interview is going to turn out. If she turns around, she knows his motivation, she knows his religious beliefs, she knows what he's been doing, she knows his hobbies, she knows why he has the guns, she knows if he has been practicing.
BURNETT: No one else knows any other thing --
SHEPERD: Nobody else knows that right now. He doesn't show up in any other area. He didn't put anything on social media, 81 % of the shooters in schools, they put stuff out and we're stopping them now.
He doesn't have any area of which he complained to anybody. He doesn't have anything to show religion. There is nothing actually so far. They still have a lot of investigation to go, but there's something that go why did she spend -- he sent her 100,000 dollars.
BURNETT: Right now, all attention is on her. Thank you both so very much, as this investigation continues.
Next, my next guest was at the concert. He was there with his best friend. And he's going to come tell us about their last moments together.
Plus, his name is Rocky and he is a fighter. He saw, he heard the bullets flying, and then he felt one, hit him in the back. Tonight, his story of survival.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALERMO: From my waist down was completely covered in blood.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMECIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Welcome back to "OUTFRONT." We are live in Las Vegas tonight.
We are right now awaiting an update from police on the investigation into the shooting rampage which took place here about 48 hours ago. Tonight, hundreds are recovering. They are in hospitals here.
[19:30:02] Many still undergoing surgery after the worst mass shooting in the modern American history. For the hundreds who were able to escape the gunfire though unharmed, they too are beginning the difficult process of trying to move forward and understand how the world has changed.
And Brian MacKinnon is here with me. His dear friend Adrian Murfitt died in his arms at the country music festival here in Las Vegas, and Sean Alexander is also with me, also came to Las Vegas. They all came from Alaska with Brian and Adrian.
Thank you both so very much for talking to us. I am so sorry. It's impossible to understand what you all are going through right now.
Sean, how are you doing right now?
SEAN ALEXANDER, CLOSE FRIEND DIED DURING THE LAS VEGAS SHOOTING: I'm holding up all right. You know, it's a little rattled and shaken. Kind of feel a bit surreal, like a bad dream, more or less.
BURNETT: Brian, I know you shared some pictures of you and Adrian in the final moments when you are -- you both looked so overjoyed, frankly, in the last few minutes.
BRIAN MACKINNON, CLOSE FRIEND DIED IN HIS ARMS DURING THE LAS VEGAS SHOOTING: Yes, I have never seen him that happy.
BURNETT: Never seen him that happy. When did you realize that he had been hit?
MACKINNON: Well, the first burst hit, and then when we heard the first burst, then it kind of went right behind us, sounded like fireworks. We were kind of laughing about it at that. You know, and then right when we went to take that picture, he -- we heard it again.
He looked back, and it went through his neck. And it kind of just -- we didn't know what was going on yet. But he fell backwards. And yes, I just went down. The people he fell into thought he was just drunk. And I was like, no, a big gash out of his neck.
BURNETT: I know that at first you started to run like everyone. You thought he was running too.
MACKINNON: I didn't run until he was dead.
BURNETT: When you -- you took him in your arms.
MACKINNON: I put pressure on his neck. And there was a fireman who came right down next to me and then a doctor who came right down on the other side of me, and they did everything they could. Even the doctor got hit while we were laying there. You know, and they had to go, and I said I understand. Go. And then
he turned blue. And the other guy checked his pulse and said he was dead and kept going.
And then they started shooting again. And so I went, hopped a fence and hid for a second, then I just kind of, I don't know. I went back and sat next to him, put his hat on. Kind of waited.
BURNETT: Still hoping. That's his hat?
MACKINNON: Yes.
BURNETT: Did you get to say good-bye to him or could he talk to you at all in those last minutes, Brian?
MACKINNON: No. I was just yelling at him not to go. And he just kind of blankly stared at me.
BURNETT: You're going to keep the hat forever?
MACKINNON: His mom's getting his hat.
BURNETT: Mom's getting his hat.
You know, Sean, his mom shared a statement, I know, right before we all are standing here, we were talking and I said she used a word that it's not a word people usually use, and it just really stood out. She described him as a jolly young man.
She said, I'll read to you, you all know, but so others can hear about him. Every one of his friends was his best friend, talking about you all. He was always there for his friends and family. He will be missed by all who knew him and most of all by me. The outpouring of love for him has been amazing and we're humbled by the way everyone who knew him has offered assistance in helping to bring him home and celebrating his life.
What do you want people to know about him, Sean?
ALEXANDER: He was the most all around nice, amazing guy I met. We grew up since young kids, grew up on the same street. We went to high school together. We did everything together.
We went down to Seattle, went to college together. Everything we did, we did it as a team. Got him into fishing. He fished with me all summer. Most I have ever seen him just full of joy and so happy, just clean slate. Just on top of the world.
He had a lot going on.
[19:35:02] A lot. And he brought everyone this pure joy and intoxifying laughter. And just the type of guy who would take the shirt off your back.
MACKINNON: Oh, yes. ALEXANDER: You would see a car broke down, you would go rush to get
his tools and just go help them. He just loved to get his hands dirty and put a smile on someone's face. It's not something you see in every person.
BURNETT: He wanted this trip.
MACKINNON: Oh, yes.
BURNETT: And you all as a group.
MACKINNON: He looked forward to it. I mean, he bought me -- I even told him, no, I couldn't go. I went to the bathroom and came back and he showed me his phone, he said I bought you your tickets and everything. You're going.
BURNETT: He bought your tickets.
MACKINNON: Everything, yes. I was like, all right, I'm going, you know?
We were really excited about this trip. I mean, the second he got down here, everything started working so well. You know, and we met great people and stuff. I have never seen him that confident and happy and smiling. He was going to see Jason Aldean, which was like huge for him.
BURNETT: I am grateful, and I know everyone is for your sharing a little bit of him and who he was. The hat for his mom. I know that will mean so very much to his mother.
MACKINNON: Yes.
BURNETT: Thank you both.
MACKINNON: Thank you.
ALEXANDER: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, my conversation with someone who survived. He was shot in the back. Moments ago, we were at the hospital when he was able to walk out on four legs.
And a mother of three taken suddenly from her family, as they are trying to understand tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:40:23] BURNETT: Welcome back. We are live tonight in Las Vegas, as chilling details about the deadly mass shooting continue to come to light.
The sheriff confirming tonight that the FBI is reviewing the content of multiple cameras that were set up by the gunman in that hotel suite and outside it, possibly set up to alert him as to when cops were actually going to be closing in on that room. Also tonight, we're hearing more from the men, the women injured in
that attack. I went today to visit with one of them, Rocky Palermo at the hospital. I want to play for you now my conversation with Rocky.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Rocky, I know you're about, about today to be released.
ROCKY PALERMO, SHOT DURING THE LAS VEGAS COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL: Yes, ma'am.
BURNETT: And you are overjoyed about that.
PALERMO: Beyond.
BURNETT: How are you feeling?
PALERMO: Just want to get out of here, feeling a little sore. Move on with the next chapter.
BURNETT: You just took your first steps.
PALERMO: Yes.
BURNETT: So you came here. You were in your bed.
PALERMO: And didn't get up until the discharge papers came.
BURNETT: One of the things that is so stunning about your situation right now is that you're walking out of here with a massive wound and a band-aid.
PALERMO: Yes.
BURNETT: Can you just show everyone so they understand? You have to understand the power of what just happened. You're a hunter so you know, but --
PALERMO: This is where the bullet went in.
BURNETT: That little tiny.
PALERMO: Tiny little thing, half the size of your pinky nail. And there was no exit wound, but everything kind of moves around. And you kind of get left with a bruise, I guess. There's going to be a whole bunch of inflammation and swelling will subside in hopefully a couple days. And I can move on. But the bullet only went in, didn't come out. So --
BURNETT: So it's going to be there forever. It's never coming out.
PALERMO: Never coming out. We have a souvenir.
BURNETT: And it's basically shrapnel, right? In all sorts of pieces on the inside of your pelvis, essentially. PALERMO: Yes, exactly. Probably 20, 30 pieces. They said if it was
in one piece or one big piece and a couple small pieces, then we can go get it, but due to the fact it more or less disintegrated, they said you would do more harm trying to get it than just leaving it.
BURNETT: When you leave today, you're doing to be with your parents.
PALERMO: Yes.
BURNETT: And you're all going to try to drive all the way home today, California.
PALERMO: Going to try and get there.
BURNETT: So, how did it feel when it happened? Did you -- you're a hunter. I want to make sure people understand that. You understand gunshot wounds. You understand shots.
PALERMO: I have never been shot personally, but I would have always thought it would have hurt a lot more than it did. I'm assuming because of the adrenaline and everything going, it just felt like almost like someone flicked me with a hot fingernail or smacked me with a hot spoon. And I just knew right away what it was because it wasn't a firework.
And just kind of rubbed myself and it was all red. And we got to run. We got to run.
BURNETT: And you had -- you knew that this was happening. You realized. You were running.
PALERMO: Yes.
BURNETT: You had basically fallen with a whole group of people when you were shot.
PALERMO: Correct.
BURNETT: So, you were shot as you were lying from.
PALERMO: Just standing still. Just trying to cover up the friends.
BURNETT: And then you managed to get up. Your friends helped you.
PALERMO: Yes.
BURNETT: You're running as you're bleeding.
PALERMO: We're running, gushing down blood. And finally, tried to distance ourselves between us and where the gunfire was coming from. Found a barrier, and that's when I noticed I was just completely, from my waist down was just completely covered in blood.
BURNETT: Did you think you were going to die at that time?
PALERMO: I didn't think I was going to make it out of there with 22,000 people all running, everyone is looking for either a cop or an ambulance. I'm not running as fast as everyone else.
I sat at the car, made a phone call to my parents, told them I loved them. There was a terrorist attack, and I was shot. I'm going to try to make it to a hospital, but I just want to let you know this is what's going on.
Luckily for me, my parents were in Laughlin, which is about two hours from Las Vegas, maybe an hour and a half. And by the time I got checked in here, they were here within five minutes. Everything just worked out great in that sense.
BURNETT: Did you think that was your good-bye call to them?
PALERMO: I did think for a chance that was going to be the last time I talked to them, definitely.
BURNETT: And yet you were able to hold it together and get to a hospital.
[19:45:00] PALERMO: If it wasn't for my two friends, Scott and Allie (ph), that kind of just kept me going, when we tried to run from the car to keep going because we heard the gunfire coming towards us, if it wasn't for Scott and Allie, I definitely wouldn't have made it out of there. They were my support. They were my drive to keep going.
Allie was banging on cars, trying to get someone to let me in their car. Telling them we have someone wounded. Scott's just keeping me going, keeping me up.
BURNETT: You lost the ability to move at some point.
PALERMO: My right hip finally said we can't move anymore. And at least on that side, so I had to use all my leverage on them, and they kind of --
BURNETT: They dragged you.
PALERMO: They dragged me along.
BURNETT: When you found -- there were no ambulances. I mean, there were a lot of ambulances, but there weren't enough.
PALERMO: There weren't any stationary. They were all --
BURNETT: So someone stopped to help you.
PALERMO: Correct.
BURNETT: Tell me what happened. Someone literally got out of the car?
PALERMO: Someone stopped in the car. There were already four people in the vehicle. There wasn't enough room for me.
Somebody gave up their seat. They weren't injured. Someone gave up their seat for a complete stranger, to go in there and take that seat. If it wasn't for all that happening, I -- we wouldn't have been having this conversation at all.
BURNETT: Rocky, thank you so much.
PALERMO: Any time.
BURNETT: And I know that you just literally just took your first steps, and now, you're going to be walking out of here.
PALERMO: I sure hope so.
BURNETT: Four legs, but you're walking out of here.
PALERMO: Yes, ma'am. On my own power.
BURNETT: Well, thank you.
PALERMO: Thank you so much.
BURNETT: We're so happy for you that you are here and for your parents.
PALERMO: Yes.
BURNETT: They're going to be able to be with you and take you home tonight.
PALERMO: Yes, I couldn't be more excited.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: And he did walk with his crutches.
Rocky's doctor told him if the bullet was an inch away, he would never walk again, or if it shattered his hip, he would never walk again. But he told me he's going to work on Monday and he was planning to go to Jason Aldean's concert on Sunday in California. Jason Aldean has cancelled that concert.
Also, of course, Rocky wants to make sure, whoever that driver is, he doesn't know your name or your number, but he does want to thank you for saving his life.
And next, the will to go on. A family's world is changed forever as they struggle to understand why their loved one is gone tonight.
And President Trump confronting this American tragedy with a comment raising eyebrows tonight. What did he mean by this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What happened in Las Vegas, it's in many ways a miracle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:51:19] BURNETT: Welcome back to a special edition of OUTFRONT. We are live here in Las Vegas where tonight officials say they have identified all but three of the victims of Sunday night's massacre.
Among the 59 people murdered, Neysa Tonks, she was the mother of three boys. A woman whose brother said she he's always made people laugh.
Sara Sidner is OUTFRONT with Neysa's story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fourteen-year-old Greysen Tonks was sleeping at his dad's house when he heard commotion.
GREYSEN TONKS, 14-YEAR-OLD SON OF VICTIM: Well, I was in my bed when I heard my brother yelling and my dad was crying which didn't seem pretty normal.
SIDNER: He turned to his father for ans.
G. TONKS: He said, your mom was shot in the head and she's dead. I froze.
SIDNER: A simple straightforward answer that destroyed all hope. His happy, high-energy, fun loving, hard working single mother attended the country music concert which turned into a massacre.
The bullet struck scores of people including Neysa Tonks, who was with co-workers.
CHRIS DAVIS, FATHER OF VICTIM: I always call it the random call at midnight you never want to get.
SIDNER: Tonk's mother and father were sound asleep and then the phone range.
C. DAVIS: I had a horrible pit feeling something was wrong.
DEBBIE DAVIS, MOTHER OF VICTIM: I thought somebody was playing a terrible joke and it wasn't fun. And I think in my memory, I kept saying this is not funny, this is not a good joke and this is not real. And I kept waiting to wake up and I kept waiting for somebody to tell me it wasn't real and it actually didn't make sense that it was real until last night.
SIDNER (on camera): What was it about last night that triggered this was really true?
D. DAVIS: We found her.
SIDNER (voice-over): After hours of asking questions, and searching, Tonks' three children and her parents went to the coroner's office. They had to see her. They needed proof, and they got it, in a form of a picture.
C. DAVIS: We knew that she had passed. We know that there wasn't any hope. That was the worst, knowing that she had passed.
SIDNER: Her older sons didn't know how to process the pain. They literally hit a wall. Their fists bearing the scars.
BRAXTON TONKS, 17-YEAR-OLD SON OF VICTIM: My mind raced. There's so much I could say.
KADEN MANCZUK, 24-YEAR-OLD SON OF VICTIM: It was just moments where you're so sad and so angry it happened, and you're so happy for the life that she had.
G. TONKS: She lived lifelike it was her last each day. And she didn't care about what anyone else thinks.
D. DAVIS: She lived more in 10 years than most of us ever live in 30.
SIDNER: And she had one saying in particular that everyone at the table says they promise to live by, even when it comes to the man who caused so much pain to so many families.
D. DAVIS: If you ever said something like oh I just hate that, she said, don't be hater. She said that all the time. Don't be a hater.
Even if you said you hated broccoli, she's go, don't be a hater. Wonderful person with a huge light that we will not let be dimmed. We will not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: And when you talk to her children about how they're going to keep that light alive, they all three of them say, one 24 years, one 17 years old and one 14 years old, they all say they are going to work the hardest they can in their lives to prove to their mother that they're good people and productive citizens. Very, very difficult talking to this family today.
[19:55:01] And so many people knew her and loved her and you could tell that by going on her GoFundMe page. So many people donating at this hour -- Erin.
BURNETT: Sara, thank you.
President Trump now heading here to Las Vegas on his way to meet with survivors. We'll talk about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, President Trump getting ready to come here to Las Vegas after the worse shooting in modern American history.
Today, the president was speaking out on the man who killed 59 people here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: A sick man, a demented man, lot of problems I guess, and we're looking into him very, very seriously. But, we're dealing with a very, very sick individual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Jim Acosta is OUTFRONT.
Obviously, you're going to be with the president tomorrow. What's he going to do here?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we do expect him to meet with first responders, law enforcement, even some of the survivors here. He did say that earlier today, talking to reporters on Air Force One.
The question though, is whether he's going to strike the right tone. Note what happened earlier today in Puerto Rico. Some mixed reviews on what he had to say down there, especially when he seem to compare of what happened in Puerto Rico to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Every death is a horror, but if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here, what is your death count at this moment, 17?
GOV. RICARDO ROSSELLO (D), PUERTO RICO: Sixteen, certified.
TRUMP: Sixteen, certified. Sixteen people versus in the thousands. You could be very proud of all of your people, all of our people working together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now, we should point out since the president made those remarks, the death toll has gone up down in Puerto Rico. We just heard that from officials a short while ago.
One thing we done expect the president to talk about down in Las Vegas, Erin, and that is gun control. He said earlier today talking to reporters on Air Force One, that perhaps we will have that conversation not at this time.
Erin, I received information from a source today who was referring to White House talking points, that they were sending out to surrogates, earlier today saying we don't want to talk about curtailing the Second Amendment, according to the language in this talking point, until we have the facts come in here in Las Vegas.
Of course, Erin, as you know, we've been talking about how the president does this from time to time. He didn't always wait for the facts to come in before he weighs in on the crisis. But he's saying that's he wants to do when it comes to gun control here in Las Vegas, Erin. BURNETT: And we have facts, someone used a lot of guns to kill a lot of people. Those are all the facts you need to change the gun control in this country.
And now to Anderson.
