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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Shootings on Parliament Hill; Stock Futures Higher; Canada Attack Prompts Global Fears

Aired October 23, 2014 - 05:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news overnight: Canada's prime minister vowing that Canada will never be intimidated by what he calls evil after the shootings in that nation's capital. He reinforced Canada will stand with allies to defeat terror around the globe.

The United States, tightening security at its Ottawa embassy and other U.S. consulate in Canada but why the enhanced security at locations in the United States?

The jihadist chatter that has this country on high alert.

And then a new White House fence jumper. Caught. This time the intruder immediately met with dogs, the K-9 force. We have that dramatic video.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman. Christine Romans is on assignment today. Thirty minutes past the hour.

There is breaking news overnight in the shootings by a man that Canada's prime minister is calling a terrorist. A gunman killed a soldier at the National War Memorial wounding others that he ran inside the main building on Parliament Hill where there were legislators hard at work. The prime minister in the building as well. The gunman was shot and killed by security.

We now know more about the suspect. The man who apparently had converted to Islam. A man who had his passport frozen recently because of concerns over dubious travel. A man who we know came to the United States as recently as 2013.

We also know more about the victim. A man described by many as a wonderful person. The father of a 6-year-old boy who just entered kindergarten. The man who recently rescued stray animals.

Wednesday night, Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed the nation calling for unity among Canadians and with that country's allies in the fight against terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN HARPER, PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA: Attacks on our security personnel and on our institutions of governments are, by their very nature, attacks on our country, on our values, on our society, on us Canadians, as a free and democratic people who embrace dignity for all.

But let there be no misunderstanding. We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: "Canada will never been intimidated." Major new developments in this investigation overnight.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick joins now live from Ottawa with the latest.

Good morning, Deb.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. I just want to situate where we are. Just behind me here is the National War memorial. That's where the gunman's rampage began here about 9:52 in the morning.

And you have to think, John, this could have been so much worse. But the quick thinking of the sergeant-at-arms in Parliament. He was able to shoot the gunman, taking him out immediately. That was a building that was filled with people. You hear the dramatic bullets ricocheting off those halls. That was actually police who were responding to the chaos, to the mayhem.

Here's what we know right now. U.S. law enforcement going through databases as are Canadian officials as well. They're sharing intelligence on what they know about this man. They want to determine whether in fact he acted alone. Whether he was a lone wolf, sort of -- one of these losers, these crazies, who act independently or whether in fact he was part of the network.

They have to figure out whether he's a part of the puzzle. If it's in the center or on the edge. And that's what they're trying to determine now.

What we can tell you is that he went by three names. He was born Michael Joseph Hall. He later took his father's family name, Zehaf- Bibeau. That is actually a Libyan name. His father of Libyan descent. He later adopted the name Abdullah. And all of those names, those three names are being run through data bases right now.

Now his birthday was last week. He turned 32 years old. Does not appear that he held a job. He had a couple of offenses. One drug possession, another for robbery and uttering a threat. He served a little bit of time in each of those cases.

His mom, actually, is a federal government employee. She works for the immigration department here. And we had an affiliate who spoke to a neighbor who described this young man and his upbringing.

And what she says is effectively that in fact he appeared to come from a good family. He appeared to come from good parents. And it's unclear when he went on this sort of path of radicalization. Whether he was influenced by somebody he met or influenced by something that he read online. Again, all of that under investigation because that is a key piece of all of this.

Now his passport was confiscated, John. The reason, as you mentioned, because he did an intention to go overseas to fight jihad. He was flagged by authorities, authorities seized or froze that passport because he was considered a high risk traveler.

Interestingly another incident on Monday, the same thing happened. A man also self-radicalized online. A Muslim convert. His passport was also frozen. He was prevented from traveling. He used his car as a weapon, running down soldiers. Yesterday, obviously, the targeted appears of this man's rampage also a soldier. Killing a man at the Tomb of the Unknown -- go ahead, John.

BERMAN: And of course now, the key will be to find out if there are any links between these two incidents in Canada just this week. Any links between heightened concerns over the last several weeks in Canada over possible radicalization of homegrown terrorist there.

Our Deborah Feyerick in Ottawa on the investigation. We'll check again with you a little bit, Deb.

Friends this morning remembering the victim in Wednesday's shooting as a proud Army Reservist and a great guy with an even bigger heart. Sounds like a wonderful man.

Corporal Nathan Cirillo, he was shot dead while standing guard in his ceremonial uniform at the National War Memorial. This was a posting that was an honor. He was not supposed to at risk. His social media pages say that he leaves behind a son, just 6-year-old who started kindergarten this fall.

Nathan Cirillo loved animals. You can see him there with a dog. He apparently just rescued a dog earlier this year. Supposed to be a fun, caring, funny person who friends say put his life on the run for his country. Such a loss.

Even before the Parliament Hill attack, and there was a similar one in Quebec earlier this week, you heard Deborah Feyerick mentioned it, jihadist chatter had heightened official concerns in Canada and in the United States. Administration and law enforcement officials say that the U.S. had tightened security at its Ottawa embassy and at another U.S. consulate in Canada.

Again, that was before Wednesday's attack. After Wednesday's attack, the U.S. embassy in Ottawa was put on lockdown.

In the United States, security was tightened at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery as well as at the Canadian consulate in New York.

President Obama, of course, spoke to the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Later telling reporters, quote, "obviously we are all shaken by the shooting." (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We don't yet have all of the information about whether this was part of a broader network or plan or whether this was an individual or series of individuals who decide to take these actions. But it emphasizes the degree to which we have to remain vigilant when it comes to dealing with these kinds of acts of senseless violence or terrorism.

And I pledge, as always, to make sure that our national security teams are coordinating very closely given not only is Canada one of our closest allies in the world, but they're our neighbors and our friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We're going to be following the investigation and the aftermath of those shootings in Ottawa all morning. There are new developments every hour.

Our Chris Cuomo is on the ground in Ottawa. We'll check in with him shortly.

Meanwhile, other news, Israeli authorities are calling a hit-and-run attack in Jerusalem that killed a 3-month-old baby a terrorist attack. A Palestinian driver slammed into a group of pedestrians at a tram stop on Wednesday. Police shot the 20-year-old driver as he tried to flee the scene. The infant victim is believed to be American. At least seven other people were injured in that attack.

A new fence jumper at the White House. But this time the Secret Service was ready.

This is news video of the jumper as he was taken down on the White House lawn by two dogs from the Secret Service K-9 unit. He's been identified as Dominic Adasanye. Police say he was not armed. Charges against him are at this point pending. The dogs suffered injuries. He apparently kicked them. The dogs were taken to a vet for treatment.

This is the second fence-jumping incident at the White House in a little more than a month. You will recall that Omar Gonzalez sprinted across the lawn. He made it inside the White House. He did have a knife with him at the time.

Let's get an EARLY START on the forecast this morning, Indra Petersons here with that.

Good morning, Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. We felt the change yesterday. We really saw the nor'easter we saw from the heavier mountain rain and also the stronger winds kicking up with that low really developed off the coastline.

You can see it is clearly still spinning off the coastline even this morning. Places like Boston saw 2 inches of rainfall. And of course, the other side is the wind. Look at this Boston currently seeing wind gust about 40 miles per hour. And really all up and down anywhere from the mid-Atlantic to the northeast, we're still talking about some of these strong winds.

Throughout the morning we'll be looking at wind advisories and warnings until this low starts to make its way offshore. Not going in just yet. It's going to be slow-moving so we're still talking about being in place throughout the day today. Just climbing closer towards New England out towards Maine. We'll start to see more of that bull's eye in through tomorrow.

By Friday, eventually the day will only get better and better as the system kind of lifts out of here. So the rain chances will decrease as we go throughout the day. Of course around Maine, you'll still be talking about some of those heavier amounts.

Temperature wise, those little low gets out of here. Right? Temperatures start to climb at least for the first half of the weekend. It feels so much better in New York City going a nice 65 degrees. You're going to love that. Just keep in mind, by Sunday, it is going to be cooling off for the second half of the weekend.

BERMAN: So half. We'll take half.

PETERSONS: We'll take half. I will.

BERMAN: All right. Indra Petersons, thanks so much.

That's the weather. How about your money?

Alison Kosik here with that.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We are keeping an eye on global markets this morning. And they are moving mostly lower thanks to weak data from China. Also falling oil prices contributing to that.

Here in the USA, futures are higher. A very different story yesterday, though. We did see stocks fall across the board. Looks like investors were taking some profits off the table. The S&P 500 it snapped a four-day winning streak just a day after its biggest jump in a year.

Federal prosecutors are investigating the Japanese airbag company behind the recall of seven million vehicles. The "Wall Street Journal" is reporting that U.S. prosecutors are looking into whether Takata Corporation made misleading statements about the safety of its airbags.

Takata's airbags had been linked to two deaths so far and prompted a massive warning to owners by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Regulators say what would happen here is the airbags might explode sending metal fragments into the driver and any passenger in the car. Now the recalls involve at least eight carmakers and the problem seems

to be associated with high humidity, John. So it looks like this is really targeting, you know, those car owners who live in those humid states, you know, like Hawaii and Florida.

BERMAN: Yes. Along the Gulf Coast. There are big concerns there.

KOSIK: Exactly.

BERMAN: Alison Kosik, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

KOSIK: Sure.

BERMAN: New Ebola guidelines for passengers. Hundreds, maybe thousands coming into the United States and a huge logistical challenge for medical officials in states and towns across the country.

Also, new unrest in Ferguson as new details emerge from the leaked autopsy report in the Michael Brown shooting. Raising a lot of questions and plenty of anger as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Major new measures announced in the battle against Ebola. The CDC says that airline passengers who arrived in the United States from one of three West African nations hardest hit by Ebola will be monitored by state and local health authorities for 21 days.

A major logistical challenge.

Some good news to report. Dallas nurse Amber Vinson, diagnosed as having Ebola a week ago, is now said to be Ebola free. Her family made that announcement Wednesday saying she will be transferred out of isolation.

We are now hearing from another Ebola survivor, NBC cameraman Ashoka Mukpo. In an interview on "NBC Nightly News", he says he does not know exactly when he was infected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHOKA MUKPO, EBOLA SURVIVOR: The best thing that I can say is that there was a period of time of about a week that I was working with various news groups. And in the course of that week, I was at Ebola treatment units, I was following burial teams. I was with ambulance drivers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: More encouraging news. The second Dallas nurse fighting Ebola, Nina Pham, was upgraded Wednesday to good condition.

A new night of unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. Protests erupted following weeks of more information in the Michael Brown shooting. Two people arrested outside a police station. Sources now confirmed to CNN that Michael Brown's autopsy shows a gunshot wound in the hand at close range. Some analysts say that finding supports Officer Darren Wilson's account of what happened.

But speaking with CNN's Erin Burnett, an attorney for Brown's family dismissed that suggestion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY GRAY, MICHAEL BROWN'S FAMILY ATTORNEY: We've always said from the very beginning, there are two separate distinct events that occurred that day. One at the vehicle and one away from the car. So I don't see how any evaluation or any assessment as to what happened at the car bears on what happened outside of the car almost 100 feet away, which is the point in which we've all stated was the moment that Darren Wilson broke the law when he killed an unarmed Mike Brown, Jr.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Attorney General Eric Holder has told Justice Department lawyers that he is exasperated at the leaks coming out of Ferguson.

Of course our major story today, the aftermath, the investigation, the questions about what happened in Ottawa, the shootings in that nation's capital.

"NEW DAY's" Chris Cuomo now on the ground.

Chris, good morning.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: Hey, John, how you doing? I'm having a little trouble with my comms but I'm going to I assume what your question is about the situation up here in Ottawa. Certainly this is the capital city. The nation is on edge. The event yesterday is over, but this is very much just the beginning up here because this was somewhat of a baptism by fire, what is feared on both sides of the border to be a new rash of attacks.

Not to mean that they are coordinated attacks. Not to mean that there's even any intelligence behind these attacks, but these rough gun-and-knife style, one-all marauding attacks may be something that has to be prepared for differently.

And interesting to note. There's a lot of investigating going on literally right now, John. They are trying to develop what was the hole between monitoring 90 plus men that Canada had under surveillance both this man and the man from Monday. Both had been flagged enough to have their passports pulled.

So why was that done and what was the follow-up on it? And of course, they may have their own unique security concerns here surrounding their parliament, which would be, of course, to people in America, like people breaking into Congress.

So they're tracking down a lot of different angles. Because the U.S. specifically will helping Canada, there is confusion here because Canada is ahead on monitoring these people. A lot of them were not being tracked the same way in the United States. The concern for the U.S. is the man yesterday, one detail that we certainly know is, he had traveled to the U.S. several times.

When, why, whom did he meet with? He had connections supposedly to Vancouver and a man there who wanted to return to jihad. So there are a lot of different ways that this situation has to be sliced up for what here up in Canada is being perceived as a new normal. If not in terms of frequency, in terms of threat, John.

So we're going to be tracking all these different angles that's going on here as well as on the other side of the border in the U.S. because the threat there every bit as real.

BERMAN: Now, serious questions, Chris. Bad enough to have his passport frozen. So how then did he end up in that building around so many of that country's leaders, I know you will push for answers there this morning. Look forward to "NEW DAY" in just a little bit.

Thanks, Chris.

That attack in Canada has many countries around the world on edge. New fears about homegrown terrorists here, in London as well. We'll take you there right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: The attacks in Canada sparking global fears of the possibility of homegrown terrorists who might be inspired by calls from Islamic militants.

I want to go to CNN's Atika Shubert in London with the latest.

Good morning, Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Unfortunately London has already had its own experience with homegrown attacks, lone wolf attacks like this and last year you probably remember two young Muslim converts actually hacked to death a British soldier on the streets of London. And since then there's been a lot of awareness that it could happen again.

Recently five young men were arrested for obtaining a gun and, according to police, preparing to an act of terror in response to ISIS calls for terror attacks. So it's something that's very much of a concern here.

BERMAN: Concern there. I know a concern in so many other countries as well. How do you stop that? Where can you catch it? These are the questions that so many countries face.

Atika Shubert for us in London. Thanks so much.

Fifty-four minutes after the hour. Apple Pay suffers a stumble out of the gate. An EARLY START on your money next.

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BERMAN: Let's get an EARLY START on your money.

Alison Kosik here with us.

KOSIK: Let's talk Apple Pay, shall we? I'm talking about Apple's new mobile payment system, yes, it debuted on Monday to much fanfare, but now some customers are unhappy with the service after being double charged. About 1,000 Bank of America customers, they got charged twice for purchases made on Apple Pay this week.

Bank of America is saying Apple is to blame. A source with knowledge of the situation told CNN Money that Apple Pay's system, it's got a fix yesterday.

All right. The only thing scary about this Halloween costume, I'd say it's price tag. Morph Costumes is selling the million-dollar Morph suit encrusted with 70,000 diamonds for a cool $1.6 million.

Hey, if that doesn't fit your budget, how about buying a robot costume for $25,000. They've also got a cowboy costume for $2500 if you can't afford that.

Certainly puts my $60 SWAT team uniform to shame which I bought for Halloween.

BERMAN: With the handcuffs?

KOSIK: I've got the hat and handcuffs. Very sassy.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: Alison Kosik, thanks very much. We have to leave that there.

There is a lot of news this morning. Breaking news overnight as Canada's prime minister has called the killing of a Canadian soldier a terror attack. He says Canada will not be intimidated.

Chris Cuomo on the ground in Ottawa as "NEW DAY" covers that and more right now.