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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Violence in the Streets: Michael Brown Shooting Protests; U.S. Airstrikes Helps Kurds Re-Take Part of Mosul Dam; Israel, Hamas Cease- Fire Nears End; Ukraine, Russia Peace Talks

Aired August 18, 2014 - 04:30   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news overnight: chaos in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. Police launching tear gas and firing rubber bullets after peaceful protests take a turn. The National Guard now being deployed to the area, dramatic new video overnight.

Plus, information on the deadly police shooting of Michael Brown. What a new coroners report is saying. We're live with the latest on this breaking story.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It's 30 minutes past the hour. We welcome all out of viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.

And we are following breaking news this morning. New violent confrontations between police and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, just ahead of a second night of a curfew. Police in riot gear firing tear gas, smoke canisters and rubber bullets.

Authorities overnight saying police were responding to civilians being shot. Vandalism and protesters throwing Molotov cocktails. We are also now learning the results of a private autopsy that was requested by the Brown family. It found Michael Brown was shot six times, twice in the head, four times in the right arm.

Ed Lavandera and CNN producer Steve Kastenbaum joining me now live from Ferguson.

And, Ed, explain to me how this happened here. Police are saying there were shots from the crowd toward police. They are saying there were Molotov cocktails toward police, that a command center was basically charged by the crowd and people in the crowd very upset because the police firing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. There's a lot of misunderstanding on both sides.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it was very chaotic and it all happened very quickly. According to the time line state police put out just a few hours ago, they say about 8:30, they started hearing reports of civilians and gunfire within the crowd. A couple people were wounded in all of that.

And as that was going, about -- almost 45 minutes later, during that window, the crowd started moving toward where we are here. This is the command post for the security efforts here in Ferguson. The main area where these protests have been over the last week is straight out this way, over my left shoulder.

And that line of protesters and demonstrators started moving toward the command post. And they were ordered repeatedly to stop advancing, stop your movements. And that's when the canisters of tear gas started getting deployed and that's when things quickly deteriorated.

But we heard from Captain Ron Johnson and he said at this point, given what was happening, the vandalism, the Molotov cocktails that were thrown and the shots that were directed at police officers, it's not clear how many times I was told, a number of times the police were fired toward, that they had no choice but to escalate their response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPTAIN RO JOHNSON, MISSOURI STATE HWY PATROL: There were multiple reports of Molotov cocktails being thrown. Police were shot at. Makeshift barricades were set up to block police, bottles and rockets were thrown at police. Based on these conditions, I had no alternative but to elevate the level of our response.

For those who claimed that the curfew is what led to tonight's violence, I will remind you it was -- this incident began before 8:30, three and a half hours before the curfew was to have started last night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were marching peacefully. We were right in front of the command center simply wanting to bend own to our knees with our hands up and say to the police, "our hands are up, don't shoot" and all of a sudden, they turned around and started shooting tear gas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And my colleague CNN producer Steve Kastenbaum was in the middle of all that last night.

Let's talk about a couple things, specifically the Molotov cocktails because according to what police are saying, that is what really escalated things last night.

Did you see that?

STEVE KASTENBAUM, CNN PRODUCER: We did not see the Molotov cocktails. We know they have been used periodically during the last week. In fact, just a few days ago, several Molotov cocktails were thrown on the roof of Domino's Pizza on the avenue in Ferguson, the main commercial drag.

When they got here, the protesters we saw on some footage shot by cameramen that we are hoping to get momentarily, we do not see that video Molotov cocktails, but not to say that it didn't happen somewhere else in the crowd. But we saw this group protesters, hundreds of them, as they began the march out of the main section of Ferguson.

And it was filled with lots of people who were demonstrating peacefully. They were angry, they were upset. But they were peacefully demonstrating as they started their march and headed this way. And there were families there as well. We can see several people pushing strollers with children.

LAVANDERA: It's a horrible situation about that last night. And also, you heard, you specifically saw some of the first gunshots and it was heard repeatedly throughout the night.

KASTENBAUM: Yes, we have been hearing it from time to time while we were here in Ferguson as the demonstrations went on into the late night hours, sporadically, you hear gunshots here and there. What happened was we were setting up at a location with another crew. And that crew had just heard the gunshots and saw the muzzle flashes in a parking lot just a few dozen feet away from them.

Everybody in the area heard the gunshots and then, later on, we heard the press conference right here, Captain Johnson talking about the shooting. So, we know that there was a civilian that was shot at that location, literally just a few feet from where we were all standing.

LAVANDERA: And really explain to people just how quickly it deteriorated.

KASTENBAUM: I was going to say that that happened, it's important to make a distinction, that that happened before any of the other confrontations, before the riot police deployed with their armored vehicles and before the smoke and tear gas canisters and the use of flash grenades as well.

It deteriorated very quickly. It went from a loud but mostly peaceful demonstration to a very chaotic situation very quickly. Suddenly, we looked over our shoulders and this line of police in riot gear and the armored vehicle were heading our way. And the demonstrators who have been marching were retreating back in our direction.

And within, it felt like seconds, the tear gas canisters were flying in every direction, landing in our feet. We had some here we showed earlier. One of them bounced off our vehicle, another hit one of our cameramen. A smoke canister him as he was filming.

We did see one gentleman who decided that he was going to stand his ground and started walking towards this line of riot police with his hands up. And they repeatedly warned him over the loud speakers to back up, to move back, to get away from them, that he was too close, he was risking the rest.

He would not move, he was standing his ground. I wouldn't say he was being aggressive, but he was not obeying orders. And ultimately, they fired on him with either what looked like rubber bullets and possibly bean bags, but he went down, was clearly in pain. And we have all of this on video, and they subsequently surrounded him and arrested him.

LAVANDERA: All right. Good job last night, Steve. KASTENBAUM: Thank you.

LAVANDERA: And, Christine, it will be interesting as we have heard so many people complain about the way police have handled and the militarization, if you will, of the response here. It will be interesting to see, given how clearly the security situation isn't improving. Now that the governor called for the National Guard to come in, it will be interesting to see as people wake up to that news today here in Ferguson, Missouri, what the reaction to that will be and what it means for Monday night here in the town of Ferguson -- Christine.

ROMANS: And whether the tactics of the National Guard will be any different than the tactics you are seeing right now. I mean, you have, from the law enforcement perspective when have people with guns in the crowd firing on police, we have people throwing incendiary devices towards police. Or, as Steve was saying, on the roof of dominos and buildings where they are trying to preserve, you know, people's property, I mean, that becomes very difficult.

Will the National Guard do anything different?

You know, it's interesting, Ed, because school is supposed to be starting. But school will not start for that local school district simply because the streets are not secure. The town is not secure. You can't open the school year.

That really tells you how dangerous the security situation is there.

LAVANDERA: You know, we should point out, too, I think that kind of speaks volumes. considering because the areas where you are seeing this violence is really in a contained area along, I would say probably within a mile stretch of this road that is just a few blocks away from where Michael Brown was killed last weekend. So, this one stretch of road that has been so difficult to maintain the security at is really kind of affected what is going on throughout the city here in Ferguson.

ROMANS: All right. Ed Lavandera, we'll check in with you again -- thanks for the excellent reporting. Thanks to Steve for me, too.

Missouri's governor now deploying the National Guard, as we said, to Ferguson. Jay Nixon releasing a statement overnight, saying these violent acts are a disservice to the family of Michael Brown and his memory, and the people of the community who yearn for justice to be served and to feel safe in their own homes.

The latest clashes in Ferguson, a blow to the charge -- to those in charge to the police response, Captain Ron Johnson. CNN's Don Lemon looking at that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Overnight here in Ferguson, Missouri, this is what you see -- a very heavy police presence. This is called a hot zone here. And it's from West Florissant all the way down to the command center, the command center where Chief Ron Johnson, the head of this response, held a press conference, sounding tired, frustrated. He's exhausted and, no doubt, embarrassing.

Embarrassing to him because he is the man they put in charge because they believed that he related to the community, he comes from this community. He's used to dealing with police profiling and discrimination. And now, a few bad actors have made it worse for him.

At first, he took the large tactical units off of the street. He didn't want people pointing guns in people's faces. Now he is having to go back to that. It's not only embarrassing for him, you can hear it in his voice, but embarrassing for the family of Michael Brown as well.

A few bad actors taking the focus of what it should be a police unit, a police force that doesn't necessarily relate to the people it is serving and protecting and off of a young man who was gunned down in the middle of the street.

Don Lemon, CNN, Ferguson, Missouri.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Thanks, Don.

We are going to follow this throughout the morning hours.

I want to turn now to Iraq and success for Kurdish fighters on the ground in the battle for a strategic dam that supplies power to the country. The U.S. launching airstrikes against ISIS militants, airstrikes that included bomber jets for the first time, helping Kurdish fighters retake part of the Mosul dam. Meantime, President Obama in a letter to Congress explaining the strikes, saying that dam is critical to the security of the U.S. embassy.

The five-day truce between Israel and Hamas set to expire in 13 hours. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are in Cairo, talking indirectly about prolonging the peace. But the demands of the two sides won't be easy to reconcile. Israel insists Hamas must disarm. The Palestinian delegation demands and end to the economic blockade of Gaza.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen live in Gaza.

And these are well warned demands and the clock is ticking.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's absolutely ticking, Christine. It's going to be difficult. The latest that we are hearing from the Palestinian delegation is that they say they are less optimistic than they have been over a couple days, because the sense that you are getting here in Gaza and certainly among the Israeli delegation as well is that they wanted to work out some sort of truce. It was difficult. They were sticking points. There were some concerns on both sides, but they wanted a truce to happen.

Now, what you're hearing is you're a different rhetoric altogether from both sides. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Israeli side, saying there can never be a deal that does not fully factor in the security concerns that the Israelis have, whereas the Palestinians are saying they want the blockade of Gaza to end completely.

One of the things that seems to be on the table in these negotiations in Cairo is the partial easing of the blockade, that more goods would be allowed into Gaza, that more people would be allowed to travel in and out of Gaza. We're waiting to see whether or not that's something that the Palestinian side and the Israeli side would be willing to agree to.

But I can tell you, from here on the ground, Christine, that certainly the people that you speak to say they not only want the blockades to end, but they certainly don't want the hostilities to start again.

We were out with Gaza's fisherman recently. They say they are catching almost nothing right now because they can only fish right off the shores. They are pulling in more trash than they are pulling in fish. There's many people who had their houses destroyed, who lost loved ones, who can't rebuild because they don't have the building materials, but also they don't know if the hostilities are going to start again.

So, there's certainly is a lot pressure on both sides to come to some sort of agreement. Nevertheless, there are several scenarios that are in the cards. One of them would be a longer term agreement. There could be another extension of the cease-fire, but we could also very well see these two sides return back to hostilities and that would certainly be devastating, not only for the folks obviously here in Gaza, but also for us on the other side, on the Israeli side as well, if that rocket fire continues again, Christine.

ROMANS: Yes, these cease-fires are so fragile, Fred. It's a very good point.

Fred Pleitgen for us this morning in Gaza -- thanks.

We're going to continue to follow breaking news overnight. Protests in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. Peaceful protests turned violent. They say protesters firing guns at them. The National Guard now is being deployed to the area. Dramatic new video, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Good morning. Welcome back.

We are following breaking news. New violence in Ferguson, Missouri, more than a week after the police shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. Missouri's governor signed an executive order deploying the National Guard to Ferguson. Hours before a curfew took effect, police in riot gear used tear gas, smoke canisters and rubber bullets to disperse a crowd of protesters they say had encroached on their command post.

A photojournalist on the scene says he was struck.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TIM SCHINSKY, PHOTOJOURNALIST: I was actually shot in the thigh with this rubber bullet. Just to show you the scale of these things, before I even realized what happened to me, I told myself, I was shot out of nowhere. It fell to the ground. I don't know it was. Someone else picked it up. I didn't know if it was going to explode. They picked it up and handed it to me. And I realize that it was just a rubber, giant projectile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Meantime, a private autopsy found Brown was shot six times, twice in the head, four times in the right arm. The autopsy was conducted by a pathologist Michael Baden, at the request of the family of Michael Brown.

We are continuing to follow breaking news out of Missouri. But, first, crisis in Ukraine. Peace talks happening between Ukraine and Russia. Can anything be done to stop troops from moving in? We're live with the very latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Talks aimed at ending the fighting in Eastern Ukraine taking place in Berlin. Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers are meeting, along with their counter parts from Germany and France. It follows a weekend of heavy fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists. But Ukraine's military reportedly making gains in the rebel held city of Luhansk.

CNN's Will Ripley is following developments for us live in Kiev.

And we're told that up for the first time in months, Ukrainians were able to raise their flag over a police station in Luhansk, to show sort of the gains they're making there.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Christine.

That's according to the Ukraine military. They have made significant progress in Donetsk and Luhansk. But there are still very intense fighting with word coming in just within the last couple hours that a civilian convoy, people who were trying to escape the Luhansk region, they came under fire, very heavy fire. We know there are many casualties, but still unconfirmed the number of innocent people who were killed in this latest attack.

What we have seen almost daily reports of groups of civilians who have died. We talked about those talks, the foreign ministers meeting happening in Berlin. This is the first time that Ukraine and Russia sat at the diplomatic table joined by France and Germany. And the sole focus of this meeting is the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

The foreign ministers saying that some progress has been made. They're really -- they're focusing on several key elements, one, diffusing the crisis, diffusing the violence. There are serious concerns throughout Europe that any greater military action between Russia and Ukraine would really be catastrophic and can lead to some very serious implications for the region and for the world.

And they are also talking about the humanitarian aid, the importance of getting help to the hundreds of thousands of people who've been caught in the middle of the battle zone. And they desperately need supplies which have been slow to trickle in, because of the worsening conditions. So, on the table, talks of trying to figure out how to establish some sort of a cease-fire, how to guarantee the safety of Red Cross convoys that are trying to get help into that region.

One convoy that sits idle close to the border between Russia and Ukraine is that humanitarian convoy, those 260 trucks that we have been talking about for several days now. The Ukrainian government over the weekend has confirmed that this is recognized now as humanitarian aid.

But there's details that need to be worked out between the Red Cross, the Russians and Ukrainians about how to guarantee the safety of that convoy before it's escorted across the border through rebel-held territory and to the Red Cross base that has been set up in Luhansk region, where aid, including medical supplies and food and water is slowly being distributed.

It's unclear exactly when that convoy could start rolling, but we're told a deal could be relatively soon. Although they have been saying that for several days now, and those trucks and those supplies continue to sit on the Russian side of the border as the fighting continues to intensify -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Will Ripley for us in Kiev -- thanks, Will.

We're going to continue to follow that as well as breaking news out of Missouri. A night of violence between protesters and police. Angry crowds demonstrating against the controversial police shooting of unarmed teenager, Michael Brown. The National Guard now are being deployed to the area. The very latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)