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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Ebola in New York City; Man Attacks NYPD with Ax; Learning Details About Ottawa Shooter's Past; Today's Forecast; Airstrikes Against ISIS
Aired October 24, 2014 - 04:00 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.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, Ebola in New York City. The deadly virus now in the nation's largest metropolitan area. The victim on the subway, in a bowling alley, with friends, just hours before the symptoms surfaced. Health care workers and city officials now tracking his every move since returning from West Africa.
New York Police on high alert this morning investigating possible links to terrorism after a man attacks police officers with a hatchet.
And new details this morning of a gunman who killed a Canadian soldier. His disturbing and troubling past exposed. Could this tragedy have been prevented?
Good morning, everyone. A lot going on this morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman. Christine Romans is on assignment. It is Friday, October 24th, 4:00 a.m. in the East.
And the breaking news overnight, Ebola in New York. An American doctor ,who volunteered for Doctors Without Borders in Guinea, is in a New York hospital this morning with the disease. Dr. Craig Spencer received a positive test for Ebola Thursday night. He was rushed by ambulance from his New York apartment into isolation at Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital. Officials are now tracing his fairly extensive movements in the hours before the diagnosis, out in public at a bowling alley, in a park, a restaurant, the subway, a taxi. Public officials called a news conference overnight in an effort to allay fears and to highlight what they described as New York's world-class public health system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL DE BLASIO, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: We want to state at the outset, there is no reason for New Yorkers to be alarmed. New Yorkers who have not been exposed to an infected person's bodily fluids are not at all at risk.
ANDREW CUOMO, GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: We have had a full, coordinated effort that has been working literally night and day, coordinating city, state and federal resources, coordinating and drilling from airports, to transportations, to subway stations, to ambulances, to hospitals. So we are as ready as one could be for this circumstance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: They've been training for this in New York City for weeks and weeks. CNN's Poppy Harlow is at Bellevue Hospital with the latest on this story.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
Well, this is where the 33-year-old doctor, Craig Spencer, is being treated for Ebola, the first Ebola case in the United States. We know he came to New York back from Guinea, where he was working to save lives threating Ebola patients. He came here on October 17th. On the 21st, he began to feel a bit sluggish, but that's all we're told.
And then, on Thursday morning, between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, he started to develop that significant fever, nausea, pain, fatigue, those symptoms of Ebola. That is when he immediately contacted the authorities. He was transported by ambulance with full protective gear on the EMS workers, here to Belleview Hospital, the premiere hospital in this city set to deal with any possible Ebola cases just like this. We're told by the mayor of New York City it went smoothly, seamlessly. He was taken directly into isolation, where he has been ever since and where he has been treated.
Some significant developments that we can tell you about. Officials say he was in direct contact with just four people, one of them his fiance, two of them very close friends of his. All three of those people are in quarantine at this time. Also in contact with an uber (ph) cab driver, who drove him at one point. They do not think, though, that that cab driver needs to be in isolation at this point.
We also know that as recently as Wednesday evening, he was out and about in New York City. He went bowling in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We're also told that he went to a public park here in New York City called the High Line, to a restaurant. So he has been out. He has not been in isolation. Though they say he has tried to stay at home in his apartment as much as possible.
He is cooperating completely, telling all of the officials everywhere he's been, who he's been in contact with. They're also tracing his movements to his metro card because there are two priorities here, one is to treat him and cure him and save his life, and the other priority here is to make sure that Ebola is contained and does not spread in New York City.
The message from officials, from the mayor of New York City to the governor of New York, to New Yorkers is do not panic, you are safe. Saying that the more you know, the less you should panic. It is very hard to contract Ebola. And they want New Yorkers to know they can take the subway and they can proceed knowing the likelihood of New Yorkers catching Ebola is extraordinarily slim at this hour.
John.
BERMAN: Panic is not the answer here. Our thanks to Poppy Harlow.
And stay with CNN. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is going to be on "New Day" in the 7:00 Eastern Hour to talk about the response to Ebola right here in New York.
Now, the virus is also making its first appearance in a new African nation. A confirmed case in a two-year-old girl in Mali. The World Health Organization says she was brought there from neighboring Guinea after her father died. She's now in the hospital.
In Spain, five people who were being monitored for possible exposure to Ebola are out of a Madrid hospital. They include a doctor, a cleaning lady, two beauty salon workers and a friend of Ebola survivor Teresa Romero Ramos. More people are expected to be released in the coming days.
And a team from China heading to another Ebola hot spot. Fifteen specialists are expected to arrive in Liberia today to help build and operate Ebola treatment centers there.
Other news. Big news. A huge new concern for New York Police this morning and new terror fears. Major questions about an attack on a group of officers by a man with a hatchet. Surveillance video shows the man charging the police with the weapon. Two were struck, one in the head, in critical condition now. The other offer shot and killed the attacker. Police are investigating any possible links to terrorism and are on high alert for so-called lone wolf attacks. Let's get more now from our chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, this was a brazen attack in broad daylight on the streets of Queens, New York, in New York City. Four police officers, New York City Police Officers walking on the street. They had paused to take a photograph when this man came out swinging a hatchet and attacked them. One of them hit in the arm. He was injured. Another man hit in the back of the head. He is critically injured.
We're now learning new details of the attacker, identified by police as Zale Thompson, 32 years old. He had a criminal record in California, we're told. He was also discharged from the Navy for misconduct. But what is truly concerning police at this point is that they looked at his social media, his FaceBook postings, postings on YouTube and they found signals there that make them believe this is possibly tied to recent calls by extremist groups to attack members of law enforcement, soldiers, like those attacks we saw in Canada earlier this week.
And to demonstrate their concern, New York City Police have issued a bulletin to all police officers there now saying that they should have a heightened level of awareness against random attacks like this one. This is a kind of attack that intelligence officials here have been telling me that they have been concerned for some time that this might happen. And, of course, the problem is, they're very difficult to prevent because they are lone wolf attacks. The attacker may not tell anybody else that he is planning it.
And as you saw here, just a hatchet. That's the only weapon he had, enough to attack. As we saw in Canada, the shooting on Wednesday, a gun. But earlier in the week, it was a car. One of the attackers using a car to attack a Canadian soldier. A tremendous alert here in the U.S. for these kinds of attacks as we saw in Canada as well.
John.
BERMAN: All right, our thanks to Jim Sciutto for that.
Jim mentioned the attack in Ottawa in Canada. And we are learning much more this morning about the gunman who shot a soldier there on Wednesday and was then himself killed by a security officer. Thirty- two-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau had a long record of charges for petty crimes. He once told a court-appointed psychiatrist he wanted to go to prison, believing it was the only way to break his addiction to crack cocaine. CNN's Ana Cabrera is in Ottawa with more on this shooter's past.
ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, there has been a steady stream of people coming here to the National War Memorial to pay tribute and to honor the life of Corporal Nathan Cirillo, the young soldier, just 24 years old, who was shot and killed here on Wednesday.
And now we're learning more about the man who killed Cirillo. He has been identified by Canadian authorities as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. He is an Islamic convert, we've learned. We now know he had online interactions with Islamist jihadist, but apparently he had a low profile.
He does have a criminal record involving drugs and violence and authorities had some suspicions about him but he was not being investigated as someone who was a high risk. He was not among the 90 people classified as an important threat.
Now, Canadian investigators say he came to Ottawa on October 2nd. He was in the process of applying for a passport and had possible plans to go to Syria. What prompted Wednesday's attack is unclear. But we've learned he fired at least two shots at Cirillo, hitting him in the back. He then got in his car and he drove to the parliament building.
We got a chance to see firsthand where he apparently burst through the doors. He ran right down the Hall of Honor, right next to where members of parliament, even the prime minister, were caucusing. Gunshots rang out. He eventually stopped at the end of the hallway and he hid in an alcove right behind an arch near the library.
And that's when we're told the sergeant at arms, Kevin Vickers, reportedly grabbed a gun from his office, which is just around the corner, and then he crawled along the wall to get into a position to shoot, killing the gunman. He is now being hailed a hero. Vickers, in fact, led this ceremonial parade down the Hall of Honor on Thursday. This is a daily ritual, we're told. And he was given a standing ovation by members of parliament to start their day.
Lawmakers here at the parliament building are telling us they are determined to move forward. They will not be stopped by fear. They want to act on courage and strength and have a steadfast resolve to ensure that the bad guy does not win.
John. BERMAN: All right, our thanks to Ana Cabrera for that report.
U.S. politics new. A contentious debate in New Hampshire where it was Ebola taking center stage between the two candidates for U.S. Senate. Republican Scott Brown blasting the president's handling of the virus outbreak - or the virus entrance into the United States Thursday night, as Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen called for faith in the public health system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS: We need to do a travel ban. I mean it makes sense to do a travel ban to make sure that anybody who has been in an effected county would come back and obviously get screened.
SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D), NEW HAMPSHIRE: A travel ban, if the experts tell us that that's what we need to do and that's workable, I think that's what we should support. But I'm not willing to tell the experts that this is what we have to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The World Series back on tap tonight in San Francisco. The Royals and Giants play game three. The series is tied a game apiece. That's after the first two games in Kansas City. The Giants won the opener, 7-1. The Royals took game two 7-2. Games three, four and five will be played in San Francisco.
Let's get a look at the weather right now with Chad Myers.
Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A very good early morning to you. Weather a little bit better in the northeast today. A little bit. The farther you go to the north and to the east, the worse it gets, but better in New York City, better in Philadelphia, even better in Connecticut and so on as this storm finally will move away. Sunny through the Midwest and more heavy rainfall for the Northwest.
A couple of showers across south Florida as well. Seventy-nine, though, will be the high in Miami. Those clouds will come in later on in the day. Eighty-one in Kansas City for today. Sixty-four in Chicago and 64 in New York.
Tomorrow, that storm across the northeast is long gone. Completely out of here and no more effects from that, no more travel problems as well. That's the good news. A couple of showers for the Midwest and also into Ontario and Quebec. That's about it. The heavy rainfall, another batch of heavy rain into the Pacific Northwest. This will be the third one in a series of what will be five storms in a row for the Pacific Northwest.
Sixty-five in New York for your Saturday. Seventy in D.C. And a Pleasant 76 with sunshine in Atlanta.
Guys, back to you.
BERMAN: All right, thanks so much, Chad.
A mammoth donation from Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, $100 million to fight Ebola. This quadruples an earlier pledge. The money will go to research, to agencies including the CDC and the World Health Organization and to projects like ones that evacuate infected health care workers. Allen is the largest individual donor in the fight right now against the deadly disease.
We're going to have more details on this first Ebola case in New York throughout the morning.
Meanwhile, the battle for Kobani rages on. Kurdish fighters continue to fight for control of that key city. And now there is word that new help is on the way. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: New help appears to be on the way for Kurdish forces trying to fight off ISIS in the Syrian city of Kobani. The president of Turkey says he will allow 200 Iraqi Kurdish troops, the Peshmerga, to pass through Turkey to aid in the battle to save the besieged city.
The Pentagon says U.S. jets conducting more air strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, including four near Kobani. This took out ISIS fighting positions, a vehicle and a command and control center.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is standing by for us on the border between Turkey and Syria.
Nic, what's the latest this morning?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, as you mentioned, those Peshmerga fighters are due to come here, but speaking to Kurdish officials in northern Iraq, they're not on route at all. And, in fact, the timing of their departure and their numbers still aren't known because technical discussions are continuing.
But they are, it seems, needed down here. Although we are seeing a situation on the ground which you could interpret as the Kurds being increasingly confident. We did see yesterday over to the west that ISIS had moved towards a key hill there, perhaps even taken it. But as dusk fell, an enormous air strike flattened their position there. It's not clear whether actually the Kurds have purposely withdrawn to draw them into an ambush or quite what happened. But the Kurdish flag back on top of that hill there. Clear control to that vital, strategic west established by them.
Over to the far east, that's where we're hearing more consistent clashes today. One fighter inside saying that's where a lot of the fighting has happened. ISIS tries to push in. What is clear on the ground too is that the center of the city, as it stands at the moment, seems comparatively quiet and the Kurds, I'm sure, although resupplied in the last few days by that American air drop, may have more ammunition and medical supplies to hold the ground they have, but clearly will want the heavy weapons that these Kurdish Peshmerga fighters from Iraq will bring with them if their arrival is finally approved. This fight for Kobani continuing now. ISIS clearly not giving up on their goal of taking it. But the Kurds still able to hold their ground.
John.
BERMAN: You know, until those troops arrive from Iraq, Nick, it is just talk. And I am sure the Kurdish forces inside Kobani, at this point, want more than just talk. Nick Paton Walsh for us on the border. Thanks so much, Nick.
Eighteen minutes after the hour.
The FBI is sounding an alarm for news organizations about the threat to journalists from ISIS militants. Officials say they received credible information that members of an ISIS linked terror group had been tasked with kidnapping journalists and taking them to Syria. They say ISIS supporters seeking to retaliate against the U.S. and its allies for air strikes in Iraq and Syria have identified journalists in the region as desirable targets.
After weeks of air strikes, the U.S. is now trying to hit ISIS in the wallet. The Treasury Department's anti-terrorism chief, David Cohen, says the U.S. is moving to cut off its flow of cash, which includes as much as $1 million a day in black market oil sales. At a briefing on Thursday, Cohen was asked by CNN's Jim Acosta about targeting those involved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID COHEN, TREASURY DEPT., UNDERSECRETARY FOR TERRORISM/FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE: What's different now, frankly, is that the oil that had previously moved through these smuggling networks, we now know that that oil finds its origin with ISIL. And anyone involved in the sale of this oil is, frankly, assisting ISIL, funding ISIL.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Cohen says ISIS is probably the wealthiest terror organization the United States has ever confronted. He is also calling on foreign governments to refuse ransom payments for hostages, which have netted ISIS about $20 million estimated this year.
A reported deal between the terror group Boko Haram and the Nigerian government is in doubt this morning after the Islamist militants kidnapped these 60 young women and girls from Christian villages in the north part of that country. This is according to residents of those villages. The abductions raise serious concerns about Nigerian government claims that more than 200 kidnapped girls, kidnapped in April by Boko Haram, will soon be released. The girls were supposed to be set free under the terms of an alleged ceasefire that had been touted by government officials, but Boko Haram never confirmed that that was a, you know, a deal at all. And as of now, no one has been released.
All right, the big news this morning, the first Ebola case in New York. We are bringing you the latest throughout the morning.
Also on EARLY START, a midair collision. How a small plane and helicopter collided above an airport in Maryland, leaving three dead. We'll have all the details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: This morning, investigators are trying to determine what caused a deadly midair collision in Maryland. Three people were killed, two injured after a small plane and helicopter slammed into each other. This happened shortly before 4:00 on Thursday afternoon near Frederick Municipal Airport. All of the people aboard the chopper were killed. The two passengers on the plane were treated at a hospital and released.
A bench warrant has been issued for the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham in connection with a 2005 rape case in northern Virginia. Jesse Matthew, currently being held in the Charlottesville area on charges of abducting Graham. Officers searching for the missing University of Virginia student found remains on Saturday but they have not yet been identified.
Adoptions by gay couples in Utah moving forward this morning. The Utah Supreme Court lifted a stay on Thursday which had barred the state health department by finalizing adoption by same-sex couples. The move fixes a (INAUDIBLE) after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to step in to ongoing gay marriage lawsuits. That allowed same-sex marriages to proceed in 11 states, including Utah, which had previously barred same-sex adoption.
New York City now has its first confirmed case of Ebola. Breaking overnight, a doctor testing positive for the deadly virus after -- a day after riding mass transit, a day after going to a bowling alley. We have the very latest, coming up.
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