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Erin Burnett Outfront

Parade Shooting Suspect Charged With Seven Counts Of First Degree Murder, State's Attorney: "There Will Be More Charges"; Shooting Suspect Charged With 7 Counts Of First Degree Murder; VP Harris Calls For Assault Weapons Ban After Parade Shooting; Death Toll Rises To 7 In Illinois Parade Mass Shooting; VP Harris To Make Unannounced Visit To Scene Of Parade Shooting; Giuliani, Graham Subpoenaed In Georgia Election Probe As Grand Jury Moves Closer To Trump's Inner Circle; Body Cam Footage Leads To New Questions In Ohio Police Shooting; Deadly Strikes Reported As Russia Begins New Push In The East. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 05, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:35]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, the breaking news, the suspect in the July 4th parade shooting spree charged with seven accounts of first degree murder. More charges are coming. This as we learn more about the victims who so senselessly and needlessly lost their lives.

Plus, a grand jury in Georgia subpoenas Trump insiders Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani and lawyer John Eastman. So, how much legal trouble are they in? Will this investigation lead directly to Trump?

And Akron, Ohio, bracing for protests over the killing of Jayland Walker, who sustained at least 60 gunshot wounds at the hands of Akron police. The police admit that he was not armed at the time that he was shot. The Walker family attorney is my guest.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight, we begin with the breaking news. The July 4th Highland Park suspect shooting has been charged formerly with seven counts of first degree murder. We just heard a loud press conference where officials say that dozens of more charges are likely coming against the suspect.

So, this is just the beginning, the seven accounts of first degree murder. He will have a life sentence without the possibility of parole, if convicted. And officials, again, just to be clear, there are going to be dozens more charges. But that's where we start.

Officials say that he planned his attacks for weeks and then killed seven people and injured 38 more. The victims, as we now know ranging from age eight to age 88. Police have released a photo of the 21-year- old gunman dressed in women's clothing during the attack. They believe that he did this in order to conceal his facial tattoos and his identity. Then, officials say that he fired more than 70 rounds from a high

powered rifle similar to an AR-15 into the crowd. A photo obtained by CNN shows the suspect underground moments after he was taken into custody by police. While he is in custody tonight, he is live, right? This one ended with a suspect alive put into question, officials still do not have a motive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEPUTY CHIEF CHRISTOPHER COVELLI, LAKE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: The shooting appears to have been completely random. We have no information to suggest at this point that it was racially motivated, motivated by religion or any other protected status.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Completely random and yet, meticulously, it seems preplanned, two things you don't always think of us going together. There are so many questions here.

Even today, as these questions are out there, the parade route remains frozen in time, still lined with personal items left behind by people at the parade. There was, you know, a folding chair, a child's toy, officials expect in these looking for any evidence they possibly can.

One doctor who is at the parade described to CNN what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DAVID BAUM, HELPED TREAT SHOOTING VICTIMS AT HIGHLAND PARK PARADE: The people who were gone, were blown up by that gunfire.

REPORTER: Blown up?

BAUM: Blown up, blown up. The horrific scene of some of the bodies is unspeakable for the average person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: That's the damage inflicted by AR-15 style weapons.

Josh Campbell is OUTFRONT in Highland Park tonight.

And, Josh, what more are you learning tonight from your sources about these charges against the suspect, which we appear to be at the beginning of the charges.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erin. Seven accounts of first degree murder, one for each of the victims, who are no longer with us after the murders assault at the July 4th parade. Now, prosecutors say that this is the first wave and what they are expecting to be many additional charges to come. This all happened as we learn new details about the suspected shooter and his efforts to evade police.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CAMPBELL (voice-over): New investigative details tonight about the suspect Robert Crimo III and interactions he had with what enforcement several years ago.

COVELLI: In September of 2019, a family member reported that Crimo said he would kill everyone and Crimo had a collection of knives. The Highland Park Police Department however did immediately notify the Illinois state police of the incident.

CAMPBELL: How are these things supposed to be handled? How do you stop a shooter, if someone is complete and saying, hey, we have a problem?

COVELLI: The police responded there. Police can't make an arrest unless there is probable cause to make an arrest or someone is willing to sign complaints regarding the arrest.

CAMPBELL: Police say there was no probable cause for arrests at the time but adding earlier that year, they were contacted after the suspect reportedly attempted suicide.

COVELLI: This was a delayed report. So, Highland Park still responded to the residents a week later, spoke with Crimo, spoke with Crimo's parents and the matter was being handled by mental health professionals at that time.

(GUNFIRE)

[19:05:10]

CAMPBELL: Also, according to law enforcement, the July 4th parade attack was planned several weeks in advance.

COVELLI: He brought a high powered rifle to this parade. He accessed the roof of a building by a fire escape letter and began opening fire on the innocent Independence Day celebration goers.

CAMPBELL: Officials believe more than 70 rounds were fired from the roof top in Highland Park, as parade goers fled for their lives.

Police say the gunman was dressed as a woman during the attack, and they believe that he acted alone. Seven people died and at least 30 others were injured according to officials. After the shooting, police say that the 21-year-old suspect fled the scene and headed to his mother's home.

COVELLI: Crimo exited through the roof. He dropped his rifle and he blended in with the crowd and he escaped.

CAMPBELL: According to law enforcement, he then took his mother's car. The 911 caller noticed it and alerted police.

After about an eight-hour manhunt, he was taken into custody during a traffic stop Monday night. When he was arrested, another rifle was found inside the vehicle. Police are now investigating the alleged shooter's social media and

streaming posts under a pseudonym that shows violet cartoon images depicting a young man aiming a rifle and engaging in a shootout with police.

The FBI is not combing the parade route for shooting evidence. And police say they are now looking online for a possible motive, including the suspect's posts featuring ominous lyrics, like when he narrates saying: I need to just do it, it is my destiny.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMPBELL (on camera): Now, Erin, you're looking at a live picture here of the crime scene. You can see police are still here. There are still remnants of parade goers who are out on the street.

The FBI was out here on the street processing it. As you look at the scene, Erin, this is any town USA. You look at, you know, there is a bank over here, there are shops over there. This could have happened in any town in the United States.

This community here is very close knit. My husband's parents did not live far from here. I've been talking with citizens, residents out walking their dog, going for a walk.

And to a person, they are all left in shock, saying that they don't expect it to happen in their community. One person told me, however, that this is perhaps an indictment on this wave of gun violence that we have seen across the country. They said looking at all the mass shootings, time at the time, they wonder when their time will come -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Josh, please stay with me for this conversation.

Jim Clemente joins us as well, retired FBI profiler, along with Paul Callan, our legal analyst.

Paul, I just want to start with the very latest that we are getting from the press conferences that they just help. Seven counts of first degree murder, and they say dozens more are going to be in the offing, but that's where we're starting. And those charges each come with mandatory life sentence without parole if convicted. So, that's where this starts at this time.

What does that tell you about where they are as we are barely more than 24 hours after the massacre?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Quite sensibly, Erin, they are focusing on the most serious charges, of all the homicide charges, murder charges, and that he is facing life without parole on those charges. Illinois has not imposed a death penalty since 1999. You are looking at the maximum sentence that he would face in Illinois.

I think what you will see the prosecutor do next is to start getting ready for an insanity defense because looking at this pattern, that is the only kind of defense he could try to race. I don't think they have much of a chance, because this was a meticulously planned and intentional murder. And that case, it is hard to prove insanity.

BURNETT: And as they say, five weapons planned for weeks, right down to the skies, right, dressing as a woman.

So, Jim, on this, I want to ask you, we are just learning from a Highland Park synagogue official that the suspect is present at a Passover service in April at the Central Avenue synagogue in Highland Park. Now, the congregation official went on to say that the suspect did not act suspicious. He left on his own.

But what do you make of that? Again, looking at the prior planning we are seeing here and looking at up to this point, about officials are saying they can't, despite the meticulous planning, put a motive on the table here.

JIM CLEMENTE, RETIRED FBI PROFILER: Well, Erin, I think that this behavior could have been pretext surveillance, that he could have been conducting on that synagogue. My understanding, if there are armed guards at the synagogue and he made been turned away by that.

The fact this, if you are looking for a motive, I think it is very clear, it is history, postings, we have a number of behaviors that scream out that he was suicidal and homicidal. Those kinds of ideations typically are found together.

And when you feel disenfranchised -- he's been described as odd by his classmates -- and he's told people and he's posted on social media about killing people and dying him self, that's all the motive we really need.

[19:10:17]

It could have been focused on a particular group but the fact that he was suicidal and attempted it before tells me that this was a very dangerous person who had access to any kind of weapon.

BURNETT: So, Josh, let me just ask you about that, because there was in 2019 an incident of an attempted suicide and homicidal threats against members of his own family. These were known to authorities, right? This was all known. The state police knew about this.

And yet, the state attorney would not say whether red flag laws should have prevented the suspect from being able to obtain a gun. And it appears that police are saying they weren't aware of the suspects very detailed online postings. Even though they knew about homicidal impulses, suicidal impulses and they had seized knives from him, right, even though they knew about this guy.

So, Josh, how much of this was a miss by law enforcement and how much of this is just that there is a lot of individuals who may sit this sort of a profile and how do you know which one is going to do something horrific?

CAMPBELL: Well, after each one of these incidents, the first question we ask is, was this person known to law enforcement? Was there anything that could have been done to stop what happened?

As you mentioned, there were these two encounters with police. One in which the suspect was suicidal. A family member called police. Authorities ultimately determined that that was not a policing issue. That was a mental health issue. He was under the care of a mental health professional.

The second issue was, he was threatening, allegedly, to kill members of his family. The police arrived. They seized knives that he had there.

But again, this gets to these red flags that we're talking about. It shows just how there is no national standard. It's pretty much a jurisdiction by jurisdiction. That's what we've heard for those who were calling for a national standard for red flag laws to be able to look into some of these past incidents.

If you have someone, where there's a documented case of either talking about trying to harm themselves or trying to harm someone else, at the very least, maybe that should be looked out before they decide they want to go by a high powered assault weapon.

When we look on polling on this, Erin -- obviously we reported on this. Around 90 percent of Americans are in favor of these red flag laws. Yet we don't see that kind of action. With a state prosecutor with thing was that every situation is case by case. But it shows how without some national standard, each jurisdiction is sort of left to their own to try to determine, how do we stop people from obtaining weapons that may be dangerous?

BURNETT: And, Jim, I am also curious. What do you make of the fact that he obviously had -- you know, dressed up as a woman, he tried to disguise himself. He attempted to flee. He meticulously planned this.

And yet he left behind one of the rifles. This is a rifle that, it's essentially leaving behind his ID. He purchased legally, from what we understand.

By leaving it, they would've known exactly who it was. That seems odd.

CLEMENTE: Even though he spent a great deal of time planning this, he is not very criminally sophisticated. You never know whether or not he planned to actually get out of there. The disguise could have helped him get there as well, because he stands out because of his tattoos. He's been thrown out of other places.

He probably wanted to make sure he would get there unmolested by law enforcement. But the fact is, when you fantasize about these kinds of things and then the reality hits you, when you're in the moment doing it. He might have just become fearful or his will to live might have kicked in.

Either way, he did plan enough so that he could get away, mingle in, and that I think, as Paul said, completely undermines any argument that he didn't know the rightfulness or wrongfulness of his actions. He couldn't have been criminally insane because he actually knew what he was doing and he knew it was wrong, so he made those plans for escape.

CALLAN: Could I add one other thing on motive?

BURNETT: And you and Paul are very clear on that. No criminal defense on that.

Go ahead, Paul.

CALLAN: Yes. I think on this question of motive, we get hyper focused sometimes on looking for a racial motivation or religious motivation for the kinds of hate crimes. But there are criminals, who hate fellow human beings. And he obviously falls into this category. His hate was just aimed at everybody in that parade.

I think the second thing that we have to focus on is the mix of guns and social media. That's what I see developing in so many of these cases. How much was he motivated by trying to make himself famous on social media in a way that is very easy to do now and never was in the past?

[19:15:03]

I think that combination of gunpowder and social media is really the explosive thing that leads to these kinds of killings.

BURNETT: Thank you all very much for your time and for your thoughts.

Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, quickly, Jim.

JIM CLEMENTE, RETIRED FBI PROFILER: I just say, this should be an indication to police officers, who are doing investigations, following threats of homicide or threats of suicide, to actually look into somebody's social media because that can be just filled with indicators that will tip it into probable cause when they don't find it elsewhere.

BURNETT: It's a crucial point. And I thank you.

Well, Vice President Harris is making a full-throated call tonight for an assault weapons ban, as the death toll from the Highland Park Fourth of July shooting is now at seven. So, what we know about each of those seven victims, next.

Plus, a Georgia grand jury subpoenaing some of Trump's closest confidence in an investigation into Trump's attempt to overturn the election in that state -- Senator Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, and attorney John Eastman, to name just a few.

And the White House tonight saying the president has read basketball star Brittney Griner's handwritten a letter to him. What is her message?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Just in, Vice President Kamala Harris making a passionate case for assault weapons ban while addressing the Highland Park Fourth of July parade shooting massacre.

[19:20:02]

Here is what she said just moments ago nearby in Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yesterday should have been the day to come together with family and friends to celebrate our nation's independence and, instead, the community suffered a violent tragedy -- children, parents, grandparents.

We need to end this horror. We need to stop this violence.

I have said it before, enough is enough!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Vice President Harris's comments are coming as we are learning more about the seven innocent lives lost, people who went to the parade, as millions of Americans did yesterday, these seven people never returned home.

Ed Lavandera is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIROR NATIONAL Nicolas Toledo's family says they are broken and numb. The 78-year-old grandfather attended the Highland Park Fourth of July parade with his family. It was supposed to be a day of fun. Instead, it ended as a horrific nightmare.

Investigators say that the gunman fired more than 70 rounds from a rooftop into the crowd lining the parade route.

Jacki Sundheim was struck and killed by the gunfire. North Shore Congregation Israel says Sundheim had worked as a preschool teacher and events coordinator at the synagogue.

In all, the gunman killed seven people with a high powered rifle. One authority say it was similar to an AR-15 but declining to provide other details about it.

Lake County officials identified four other victims as 64-year-old Katherine Goldstein, 88-year-old Stephen Straus. Irina and Kevin McCarthy were also killed in the shooting. Their two-year-old son Aidan was found alive in the aftermath. He's not being cared for by the couple's family.

Thirty-nine other people at the parade suffered gunshot injuries.

DR. DAVID BAUM, TREATED SHOOTING VICTIMS AT JULY 4TH PARADE: The people who are gone were blown up by that gunfire.

LAVANDERA: Dr. David Baum helped threat some of those victims in the aftermath of the shooting as police say the gunman was blending into the crowd and skipping the mayhem.

BAUM: The horrific scene of some of the bodies is unspeakable for the average person. The bodies -- some of the bodies were -- there was evisceration injury from the power of this gun and the bullets.

LAVANDERA: Dr. Wendy Binstock Rush was a parade spectator. She saw a man with injuries and tried to save him.

DR. WENDY BINSTOCK RUSH, TREATED SHOOTING VICTIMS AT JULY 4TH PARADE: People were holding pressure on and a domino wound that he was purposely bleeding from. The paramedics had a bag that is a mask attached to a bag which I can then breathe through the patient. Unfortunately, he lost way too much blood and his injuries were too severe. He did perish at the hospital.

LAVANDERA: During the barrage of gunfire, Barbara Medina was marching in the parade. She ran away from the scene with her seven-year-old daughter in the stampede of people running, she tripped and fell. She knew instantly her arm was broken.

BARBARA MEDINA, INJURED IN JULY 4TH PARADE: I thought it was gunshots, but I did not want to believe it. Then I was trying to convince myself that it was a drum roll from the ban ahead of us. It was a -- kind of noise.

And then, all of a sudden, everyone started running from such a streak, coming from around the corner to where we were. That is when I realized, we had to run and get out of there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: Ed is with me now.

And, Ed, what do you know about the parade victims who are still being treated at the hospital? There were so many people that were injured and had to go to the hospital.

LAVANDERA: Well, Erin, the good news is that the vast majority of them have been released. We are told that the 39 others roughly injured, nine of them are still in at least two different hospitals in Highland Park area.

One man in particular, 69 years old, is in critical condition. And the age range of the other victims goes from eight to someone in their 70s. It really gives you a sense of the wide array of people and families, different generations of families, who were along this parade route when the shooting started -- Erin.

BURNETT: Ed, thank you very much. Just imagine -- an 8-year-old fighting for their life right now. Thank you, Ed.

And I want to go now to Gabriela Martinez-Vicencio. She was at the Highland Park parade. She witnessed the shooting and saw the gunman. Someone right next to her in the crowd unfortunately was killed.

Gabriela, thank you so much for talking to me. We are all grateful that you are here.

We have just found in the last few minutes that the shooter has been charged with seven counts of first degree murder. More charges are going to be made. What's your reaction to that?

GABRIELA MARTINEZ-VICENCIO, HIGHLAND PARK SHOOTING WITNESS, SAW THE GUNMAN: I mean, obviously, I am glad that he's being charged. I am glad that he is in custody. But -- I mean, that's not really going to bring back the people that we lost and the people that are wounded.

[19:25:01]

So, I mean, there is no justice, I guess, since families are mourning the losses today. My people that were around us will always think of the day -- that day as a tragedy now, instead of an actual happy event, a Fourth of July parade with dogs and fireworks.

BURNETT: Gabriela, I know for you, everything changed forever. Can you tell me what you saw the moment the shooting began?

MARTINEZ-VICENCIO: I just saw the bullet hitting the floor, the noise of the bullets, obviously, the shooting, hearing people crying, screaming, running, fearing for their lives. We tried to get my daughter to safety. We called my other family members that I was with.

It just -- I mean, once when I was in the store, once I got out of there and everything cleared, I did not want to pay attention to what happened and the aftermath about it. I just wanted to get home. Stay away from this place for a bit.

BURNETT: You are saying that you are there as a started, then people who are next to you, one of those people died. I know that will forever be with you, and he knew the family. The victim's 78-year-old Nicolas Toledo. We showed this picture just a few moments ago as our Ed Lavandera was reporting. But you are sitting right by his family when that event.

Have you been able to speak with him since?

MARTINEZ-VICENCIO: That afternoon, one of the daughters reached out to me via messenger just to ask me if my daughter and I had made it out okay. At that moment, I did not know that they had lost a family member. I did ask them the same questions that I hope that they made it out as well. How are you guys doing? How is everybody?

And she had told me that she had lost her grandfather, but everyone else was okay. At that moment, I burst into tears, and I was in shock, knowing that that could have been me and my daughter, my niece. Sadly, it happened to him. But --

BURNETT: Gabriela, how are you feeling now? How are you going to process this?

MARTINEZ-VICENCIO: Yeah, it's very hard. I mean, yesterday, everything was so fresh, I was numb all day, basically. I did not understand what had happened until last night. My daughter for her bedtime, she started to cry and started holding her dad. It's just sad.

BURNETT: Well, Gabriela, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me and to talk about it I can only imagine how hard that is to do, thank you.

MARTINEZ-VICENCIO: You're welcome.

BURNETT: Well, there are new subpoenas targeting Trump's innermost circle tonight, upping the ante and the possibility of criminal charges. We'll talk about whether this is actually a turning point and investigation. This is the Georgia district eternity.

So this is a direct possibly to the president. And the Akron police union says officers were justified in the use of force. This is force against a black man who suffered 60 gunshot wounds while fleeing a traffic stop. The city bracing for protests again tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:32:33]

BURNETT: Breaking news, CNN just learning, Vice President Kamala Harris is getting ready to make an unannounced stop in Highland Park, Illinois. She's going to visit the scene of the deadly parade massacre in which seven people were killed. Dozens of others, injured. There are people in hospitals still tonight, ages eight to their late 70s. And we're going to take you live to Highland Park and the vice president as she began speaking.

As we await that, we are also monitoring new developments out of Georgia, where there are new subpoenas for Donald Trump's inner circle tonight. In a major escalation, court filings show that Rudy Giuliani, Senator Lindsey Graham, as well as Trump legal advisers, including John Eastman, have all been hit with subpoenas, subpoenas specifically to appear before the Fulton County, Georgia grand jury investigation.

Now, that investigation is specifically focused on Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election results in the state of Georgia, which includes, if you recall, that call that Trump made to Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, where Trump demanded that Raffensperger find the exact number of votes Trump needed to win the state plus one.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BURNETT: Sara Murray is OUTFRONT.

And, Sara, these are individuals who played significant roles in Trump's attempt to subvert the Georgia election specifically. Just to highlight everyone, this is an investigation with a grand jury in Georgia, right? This is separate from the January 6th Committee. So, why could this be a turning point in the Fulton County criminal

investigation into Trump?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right, Erin. This is an active criminal investigation. It's playing out in the Atlanta area. I think this short of shows this escalation because you are getting into the inner circle of Donald Trump's allies and people who were directly involved in trying to help him carry out efforts to ensure he won a state he lost.

So, when you look at someone like Senator Lindsey Graham, who didn't respond to our request for comment today, he was someone that went into these court filings, was reaching out to people in the secretary of states office, to re-examine absentee ballots. And according to court filings, she get them to look at them in the way that would benefit Donald Trump.

If you look at someone like Ken Chesebro, that's another Trump campaign attorney. He was someone who was allegedly working with Georgia Republican officials. They are also talking to the Trump campaign about trying to put together this fake slate of electors in the state. So, it's looking beyond Donald Trump but also had his allies and trying to determine whether anyone of them should face criminal charges.

[19:35:07]

BURNETT: So, Rudy Giuliani was also subpoenaed and has obviously, to the point you are listing, these individuals, he's been a focus of the Fulton County, D.A. because he actually appeared before Georgia lawmakers back in 2020, to push election conspiracy.

So, what do you know about Giuliani here?

MURRAY: That's right. The court filings around the Giuliani subpoena made clear that investigators want to talk to him about this presentation he made before state lawmakers. He shared a bunch of conspiracies about voter fraud. All of that was debunked, but Julianna continued to spread these false claims. He continued to go -- spread the falsehoods.

We know from other witnesses that these investigators who've been scrutinizing Giuliani's activity, it's come out over and over again, this activity before the grand jury. Giuliani's attorney today declined to comment -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Sara.

And for more on Sara's reporting, I want to bring in Shan Wu, former federal prosecutor and former counsel to the attorney general in the Clinton administration.

So, Shan, you hear Sara going through the details here. How significant is this move by the Fulton County D.A. to subpoena multiple members of Trump's inner circle? SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's very significant. Obviously, those

are people who would be privy to the inside thinking of Trump, very critical of his intent. But what I find really interesting about this is that typically in a grand jury investigation, you won't subpoena a so-called target of the investigation.

So, all those these people were intimately involved and they could have criminal exposure, it suggests to me that possibly the D.A. is moving towards a charging decision and that charging position is very much zeroed in on Trump versus the other folks who may have been helping or advising him. That's a very interesting reading of it the tea leaves.

BURNETT: Wow. That is fascinating, when you're saying, if you're going to be subpoenaing all of them, that they are there to give you something on somebody. We all know who that somebody would be. Obviously, that would be hugely significant. I mean, if that's an understatement.

But, I will point out, Shan, the investigation in Georgia is entirely separate from the January 6th investigation, right? Which is obviously about the election overall, not specifically into one state. It is also separate from the investigation underway, at the Justice Department. Whatever that may or may not be.

But I know that you think that by subpoenaing, doing this for the Fulton County D.A., it makes an impact here more broadly.

WU: Yes. And of course, it is really dangerous because it is so tightly focused on that phrase, asking for that specific number of votes. In that sense, it's a very clean case to bring. You don't have to be worrying about separation of powers, executive privilege. Is he really talking about something he really believes in?

It's very straightforward type of factual case here. So, the charges that the D.A. is contemplating, such as solicitation of election fraud, those are serious charges. I think it's 1 to 3 years. And, of course, the most serious charge that she has mentioned is the Georgia form of racketeering to interfere with election administration.

So, it's dangerous because it's narrow, it's very factual, and it has some penalties.

BURNETT: Yeah, well, narrow and factual, that is the greatest strength you can have, I'm sure from their perspective.

Shan, thank you so much.

WU: Right. You're welcome.

BURNETT: And also tonight, the city of Akron, Ohio, is bracing for what would be a fourth night of protest. There's now a state of emergency declared. There's a curfew about to take effect there after police released nearly 20 minutes of bodycam videos of the fatal police involved shooting of Jayland Walker, the 25 year old black man who was wounded 60 times within seven seconds after police opened fire when he tried to flee a traffic stop.

Now, he was unarmed when police began shooting, and the body cam videos are creating more questions about what did and did not happen.

Polo Sandoval is OUTFRONT, and I will warn you that some of the video that you will see in this piece is graphic and disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities in the city of Akron released about 18 minutes of body camera videos. Each minute, offering a different perspective, showing eight responding officers before they opened fire, shooting and killing 25 year old Jayland Walker. After the release of the footage, Akron's police chief said those officers will have to account for each one of the shots they fired.

POLICE CHIEF: They need to be able to articulate what specific threats they were facing. And that goes for every round that goes down the barrel of their gun. They need to be held to account.

SANDOVAL: Akron's police chief says that officers were attempted to pull walker -- they claim a single gunshot was shot from inside his car.

[19:40:01]

They say this muzzle flash image captured by street camera is evidence that investigators later recovered a shell casing at that scene. It was shortly after the car chase turned into a foot chase that you can see in this video, those eight officers opened fire with a barrage of bullets. Officers described Walker wearing a ski mask. He's reaching for his waist band, right before they shot him according to the police chief.

A gun was found in his car. But Walker was unarmed at the time of the shooting.

The Akron Police Union released a statement saying, the decision to deploy lethal force as well as the number of shots fired, it is consistent with use of force protocols and the officers training. The medical examiners preliminary report viewed by CNN, shows walker's body covered with bullet wounds.

Akron's police chief thinks there could've been more than 60 after the release of body cam footage released a week after the shooting, tensions flared sparking protests. Demonstrators peacefully marched to the Akron mayor's doorstep on Monday. They were echoing the Walker family's call for accountability.

ROBERT DEJOURNETT, WALKER FAMILY COUSIN: What I did see is, you know, him getting out of the car and start running and people are firing on him. Does it take that much?

SANDOVAL: Pastor Robert DeJournett, a cousin of the Walker family, says they want to get justice for Jayland in a peaceful and a dignified way.

DEJOURNETT: We don't want any rioting or anything like that. We want to -- we want answers. We are angry. We have the human side of us. We feel the pain.

And, you know, personally, I want to scream out and be mad. But what will that do? We want to take that anger. We want to use it for the benefit of systemic change.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (on camera): And ultimately, it will be the Ohio city attorney general who will take all of the evidence that is gathered by state investigators and then present that to a grand jury here. That could happen in the coming months.

They would then decide if there will be criminal charges when it comes to those officers. They will consider a mountain of very disturbing evidence, not just the video that you just saw, but also autopsy results. In fact, in response to a request for information, the local medical examiner today gave me access to that preliminary on top of the report. And it does contain some of those images, some of those photographs showing Walker's body covered in those bullet wounds.

But you can also see his hands at the medical examiner's officer restrained with handcuffs behind his back. For the last several days, I have reached out to Akron city officials and police headquarters and they have not responded to our questions yet. We'll certainly keep trying -- Erin.

BURNETT: Polo, thank you very much for your reporting there on the ground.

And I want to go now to Bobby DiCello, attorney for the family of Jayland Walker.

And, Bobby, Polo Sandoval just showed us some of the police bodycam video so that we can all see them. Obviously, you looked at them. When you see this footage, 20 minutes of it, what do you take away from it?

BOBBY DICELLO, JAYLAND WALKER FAMILY ATTORNEY: Well, I'm sickened. You know, I love my clients. I love these people. If you spend just ten minutes with Jayor (ph) or Pam, you find people with real heart. They are salt of the earth folks from Akron, Ohio, that were raised and are proud of their city.

It's devastating to see a young life taken in this rabid, crazy way.

BURNETT: So, I want to ask you about, you know, what we'll aware of here, which is the points the police department are trying to highlight tonight. They say that the pursuit started because officers tried to stop Jayland for traffic and equipment violations. And then they say, about 40 seconds into the pursuit, this happened. I will play it for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) POLICE OFFICER: The reason for stop is traffic violation.

POLICE OFFICER: Shots fired.

POLICE OFFICER: Twenty-one shots fired, that vehicle just had a shot come out of its door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So, you hear the officers on the tape there say that there was a shot coming out of the car. That is what they believe that the time. They believe that that happened and that that changes what happened here, as awful as it is.

They do admit -- they do admit but he was unarmed when they shot him. They do admit that. But they're saying at the time, they thought a shot came out and they didn't think that.

Does that change anything for you when you hear that on the tape or not?

DICELLO: No, it doesn't change anything. Notice what that video doesn't show, and this is the most important thing, you see no weapon pointed at any officer.

And let's just be reminded that over the last week, we have had officers killed in Kentucky by a man with a rifle, who is holed up in his house, and he was taken peacefully.

We had no such threats to these officers.

[19:45:03]

Not one time. You can't find one frame of film where my client's gun is pointed at any officer ever.

And having a weapon in a presence of police officers, even if, and that's a big if, but even if that's what it was, is not a crime. And, by the way, the conversation really needs to stay where it belongs. When he leaves his car, he is unarmed and the chief admitted it in this press conference on Sunday. He was unarmed.

And I'm going to echo exactly what the chief said. Each one of those bullets, and there are over 90 of them, have to be accounted for and have to be shown to be meaningfully shot because each one of them was dealing with a threat.

I need to say this because folks didn't see what I saw. I don't like saying it. But you know what? His body moved as it laid on the ground as they continue to shoot him. So, I promise you I will get to the bottom of this and I promise you, we are not going to rest with their excuses.

BURNETT: And I think it's really important what you're saying. I want to give you a chance to explain. You're saying that even if there was a hand gun and loaded magazine in the car, which they're saying there was, and they're saying there was a shell casing consistent with that gun retrieved near where that shot that they thought was fired happened. They're saying that's what they found as well.

But you're saying none of that would be relevant to how -- to the outcome here and to the use of force that they then applied on him, correct?

DICELLO: That's absolutely right. Look, there are countless instances in training and in history and in videos, you can find them online, where people have weapons with them and they are not shot 90 times.

And, by the way, my client didn't have any weapon on him. So, let's just remember, having a weapon in the presence of police officers does not equal a death sentence in America.

And let me just say also that my comments are not meant to divide us. My comments are meant to ask, can we join together please, can we, for the first time, can this be the case, can we join together as Americans and say, Black lives do matter and that Black lives should not be taken in this way? Please, can we do that?

I hope this case stands for that.

BURNETT: Bobby, thank you very much for your time.

DICELLO: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, CNN is on the frontlines in eastern Donbas, where stranded residents are so used to gunfire -- well, you will see what happens.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

BURNETT: And President Biden has read WNBA star Brittney Griner's handwritten plea for help from Russian prison. So, will anything change in what the Biden administration is doing?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:51:30]

BURNETT: Tonight, the Russian military is throwing, quote, all the reserves they now have into battles raging in the Luhansk region of Eastern Ukraine, that's according to a Ukrainian military official there. It comes as Russian troops are making significant gains in the east as they are now trying to capture all of the neighboring Donetsk region.

Phil Black is OUTFRONT on this new frontline.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's no easy, safe way to the most eastern frontlines to the Donbas. Russia has kept the highways, so soldiers, weapons, locals and aid deliveries must all take the back roads. This Red Cross operation is to Siversk, the small town closest to the

region's most intense fighting. The team unloads and very quickly families arrive to load up.

The noise of war, close and loud. No one reacts.

Natalia is collecting food for her husband and two children. She says they can't leave the town because they fear losing their house and the vegetable garden they rely on to survive. Only a fool isn't scared, she says. But there is no way out. We cannot leave our place.

Lyubov arrives with her young children. She says they stayed as the Russians approach because she doesn't want to risk being separated from her eldest daughter, who lives in a nearby village.

She says, "I called her once. She told me, they are not leaving. Then we lost connection. I don't even know if she's okay."

Lyubov agrees to show us the home where she hopes they can safely wait out the war.

It's a walk to the other side of town. But we soon realize that won't be possible.

Their neighborhood is under fire. Incoming artillery from somewhere close -- so close you hear the artillery piece fire and the projectiles flash before impact.

The shells fall within the same tight area. Again. And again.

We saw all this while only a little further to the east, the Russian forces were claiming an important win, taking the city of Lysychansk.

Yeah, come to us! Did you go?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

BLACK: The battle for Lysychansk is only a relatively short distance from here. This is likely to be the frontline very soon. But, already, Russia's heavy weapons are falling among these peoples' homes in this town.

It's not safe to stay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was close. Come on.

[19:55:01]

BLACK: But all of these people remain, scared, confused, hoping beyond reason the violence to come will pass them by.

Phil Black, CNN, Siversk, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: And next, a WNBA coach lashing out at the White House as Brittney Griner remains in Russian prison tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES WADE, CHICAGO SKY HEAD COACH AND GENERAL MANAGER: Let's pretend like it's Tom Brady. Will we have to sign petitions then?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: The White House tonight says President Biden has read the letter the WNBA star Brittney Griner hand-wrote to him from prison in Russia. In it, Brittney Griner conveys desperation. She currently stands trial on drug related charges in Moscow.

"I'm terrified I might be here forever," she writes. Then, she expresses frustration, begging President Biden not to forget about her and other detainees. The WNBA coach James Wade took it a step forward, ripping the U.S. government, questioning why 300,000 people had to sign a petition asking for help from the White House and State Department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WADE: They know who BG is. She's been there for four months. They know that. Why do we have to sign a petition? Why?

Let's pretend like it's Tom Brady. Would we have to have signed a petition that?

You have a woman that represents everything that we are supposed to stand for. This is how we are treating her and it's disgusting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: The White House defended its actions, saying officials are in contact with Griner and her family and that bringing her home is a top priority.

Thanks so much for joining us.

"AC360" with Anderson starts now.