Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

New York Doctor Diagnosed with Ebola; Hatchet Attack on NYPD Officers; Attack in Ottawa

Aired October 24, 2014 - 04:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning. Ebola now confirmed in New York City. A doctor in isolation and three others quarantined, including his fiancee. Questions about extensive movement hours before his diagnosis.

A vicious attack on New York police. Why officials feel the unprovoked hatchet attack might be terror-related.

And a hero's welcome to the man who was credited for stopping what could have been even more bloodshed inside Canada's parliament.

Plus, the disturbing details of the gunman's checkered past and possible ties to terrorism.

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

And 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 Ebola.

Dr. Craig Spencer received a positive test for the virus Thursday night after he was rushed by ambulance from his New York apartment into isolation at Bellevue, a hospital here in Manhattan. Officials are now tracing his fairly extensive movements in the hours before the diagnosis, out in public at a bowling alley, a park, a restaurant, a subway, a taxi.

Public officials called a news conference last night in an effort to allay fears and to highlight what they described as New York's world class public health system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: We want to start 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.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), 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: There are some pictures circulating this morning from outside Spencer's apartment building in Harlem that appear to show police officers tossing some protective equipment, gloves, masks, caution tape, in open air trash receptacles. We don't know the context fully of these pictures. But we thought we show them to you and let you see for yourselves.

That aside, CNN's Miguel Marquez is at Spencer's apartment building with more on the public health response and the reaction by his neighbors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the apartment of Dr. Craig Spencer. They've sealed off that apartment. We don't expect anybody to enter that and certainly nobody to exit it until health officials get in there and figure out they need to either sanitize anything or need anything else from the apartment, either for the doctor or to destroy it.

Also in this neighborhood throughout the day, health workers doing two things: one, informing residents here both in Spanish and English how exactly it is that one gets Ebola, what you have to be concerned with. The other thing they're doing was taking down information from anyone who may have come in contact with Dr. Spencer.

I can tell you, folks up and down this neighborhood, you show them the picture, they know the guy very quickly. But health officials want to know if there was any heavier contact with the doctor. Now that there's that positive result, they may need to be in contact with some folks just to make sure that they are doing OK.

Folks in the neighborhood, for much of the day, didn't seem to care very much that this was going on. Once that positive result came back, though, police presence went up a bit. More people starting to gather around here, taking pictures of the buildings, expressing concern, in some cases shock that Ebola had come to their backyard, to their doorstep. People in the building now saying that they're going to take more precautions, be a little more aware of their own health and if there's anything they can do to prevent getting this disease -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Our thanks to Miguel Marquez at the apartment of Dr. Craig Spencer in Upper Manhattan this morning.

We want you to stay with CNN because New York Governor Cuomo will be on "NEW DAY" at 7:00 Eastern to talk about the response to Ebola here in New York City. Ebola is also making an appearance in a different African nation. A

confirmed case in a 2-year-old girl in Mali. The World Health Organization says she was brought there from neighboring Guinea after her father died. She is now in the hospital.

In Spain, five people who are being monitored for possible exposure to Ebola are out of a Madrid hospital. A hospital source says they include a doctor, 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.

All right. A huge new concern for New York police, a different concern, terror fears. Major concerns about an attack on a group of officers by a man with a hatchet. This surveillance video shows the man charging police with the weapon. Two officers were struck, one in the head in critical condition. The other officer shot and killed the attacker.

Now, police are investigating any possible links to terrorism. And they have been on high alert for so-called lone wolf attacks.

Let's get more now from CNN's Jim Sciutto.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was a brazen attack in broad daylight in 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 it in the back of the head, he is critically injured.

We're now learning new details about 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 they looked at his social media, his Facebook posts, 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 on Canada earlier this week.

And to demonstrate their concerned, New York City police have issued a bulletin to all police officers there, saying that they should 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. 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 had gun. But earlier in the week, it was a car, one of the attackers using a car to attack a Canadian soldier. Tremendous alert here in the U.S. for these kinds of attacks, as we saw in Canada as well -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Jim, our thanks to you.

Now, we are learning much more about the gunman behind that attack in Ottawa, the Canadian capital Wednesday, who was, of course, then killed himself by security officer. Thirty-two-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau had a long record of charges for petty crimes. He once told a psychiatrist that he wanted to go to prison believing it was the only way to break his addiction to crack.

CNN's Ana Cabrera is in Ottawa with more on this shooter's past.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, there has been a steady stream of people coming here to the National War Memorial 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's an Islamic convert, we've learned. We now know he had online interactions with Islamic jihadists. 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 learn he fired 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 new to members of parliament, even where the prime minister were caucusing. Gun shots rang out.

He eventually he stopped at the end of a hallway. 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 the 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Ana Cabrera in Ottawa for that report.

U.S. politics now -- a contentious debate in New Hampshire where Ebola took center stage between the two candidates for U.S. Senate, Republican Scott Brown blasting the president's handling of the virus in the United States. That, as Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen called for faith in the public health system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BROWN (R-NH), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: We need to do a travel ban. I mean, it makes sense to do a travel ban. Anyone who has been in an infected country would come and obviously get screened.

SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D), NEW HAMPSHIRE: A travel ban? If the experts tell us that's what we need to do and that's workable, I think that's what we should support. I'm not willing to tell the experts that this is what we have to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Forty minutes past the hour right now. The least watched World Series in history resumes tonight in San Francisco. The Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants will play game three. The series is tied at one game a piece.

The team's split the first two games in Kansas City. Giants won the opener, 7-1. Royals took the second game, 7-2. Games three, four and five will be in San Francisco.

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 CDC and World Health Organization and to projects like one that evacuates infected health care workers. He is now the largest individual donor in the fight against Ebola.

We'll have more details about the first Ebola case here in New York City throughout the morning.

But, first, a key battle against ISIS rages on. Will those fighting ISIS soon be getting a helping hand? How Turkey has decided to aid in the fight for a key city. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: New help appears to be on the way for Kurdish fighters trying to fight off ISIS in the Syrian city of Kobani. The president of Turkey said he will allow or claims he will allow 200 Iraqi Kurdish troops Peshmerga to pass through Turkey to aid in the battle to save Kobani.

The Pentagon says U.S. jets meanwhile conducted more airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, including four near Kobani that took out ISIS fighting positions. A vehicle, also a command and control center.

Nick Paton Walsh is on the border. And we'll check in with him for an update in just a little bit.

Meanwhile, 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 have been tasked with kidnapping journalists and taking them to Syria. They says ISIS supporters seeking to retaliate against the U.S. and allies for airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, have identified journalists in the region as desirable targets.

Now, back to the fight, on the ground, for Kobani. The airstrikes in and around that city continue. That as Turkey says it will allow some Iraqi Kurdish troops to help lift the siege.

Nick Paton Walsh on the border there.

Any sign of those reinforcements, Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At this stage, no. And speaking to those in northern Iraq, they say the technical discussions about how, when, who, and how many are still ongoing. More optimistic, though, is the political head of the Syrian Kurds, fighting to hold Kobani. And one of them just said to us it's possible we could see them in the next 24 hours. It could take days, though.

So, no concrete timetable. But I think a recognition, too, if those Peshmerga do come in, it's not going to be with ceremony and fanfare. They'll probably make the announcement that they have arrived after they're already inside. Bear in mind, the security considerations too, John. They're prime target for ISIS.

But we're hearing Kurdish jets in the skies around us, but also seeing a lot of the clashes now focused on the east and south of the city. That's been where ISIS have had their strongholds most forcefully in the past few weeks and out to the west where they appeared to make a flourish yesterday, trying to take a strategic hill that is now firmly back in Kurdish control and we're hearing, according to the Kurds, 20 ISIS fighters were killed by a combination of clashes and the massive coalition air strike we saw land on top of that hill as dusk fell yesterday.

So, the Kurds say they sound increasingly confident. Remember, they've had that resupply. They apparently feel bolstered by the notion that the Peshmerga, Iraqi Kurds from northern Iraq, are en route. It isn't clear when they're actually going to arrive. We've heard skepticism from some Syrian Kurds, if they even arrive at all, but it's certainly the case that they feel more confident holding Kobani, the fight certainly not over yet -- John.

BERMAN: Certainly, a change in the feeling there.

All right. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much.

And after weeks of those airstrikes, the United States is now trying to hit ISIS in the wallet. The Treasury Department's anti-terrorism chief, David Cohen, says the U.S. is working to cut off its flow of cash, which includes as much as $1 million a day in black market oil sales. At a briefing, 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 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: Now, Cohen says ISIS is probably the wealthiest terror organization the U.S. has ever confronted. He's also calling on foreign governments to refuse ransom payments for hostages, which has helped ISIS net about $20 million so far this year.

Forty-eight minutes after the hour.

A purported deal between the terror group Boko Haram and the Nigerian government is in doubt this morning after the militants kidnapped at least 60 young women and girls from villages in the north of that country. That's according to residents of those villages. The abductions raise serious doubts about Nigerian government claims that more than 200 girls kidnapped in April by Boko Haram, will soon be released. The girls were supposed to be set free under the terms of a cease fire that was touted by government officials. Unclear if that ceasefire ever really actually existed. Boko Haram never confirmed that there was any deal.

The deadly plane crash in Maryland -- what caused a small plane and helicopter to collide mid-air? We're going to have that and much more, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Investigators this morning trying to determine what cause a deadly mid-air 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 Thursday afternoon near Frederick municipal airport. All of the people in the helicopter were killed. The two passengers on the plane were treated at the hospital and released.

A bench warrant has been issued for the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham in connection with the 2005 rape case in Northern Virginia. Jesse Matthew is 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. Those remains have not yet been identified.

Adoptions for gay couples in Utah are moving forward. A Utah supreme court lifted a stay on Thursday, which had barred the state health department from finalizing adoption by same-sex couples.

Fifty-four minutes after the hour. A bad omen for Sears as the holiday approaches. An early start on your money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Time now for an early start on your money. Triple digit gains Thursday put the market on track for its best week in almost two years. Where did that come from?

Stocks were boosted by improved global manufacturing data, as well as strong corporate earnings. In fact, two stocks on the Dow, 3M and Caterpillar, pushed the average up by as much as 300 points yesterday. The Dow did pull back a bit, closing 216 points higher. NASDAQ and S&P 500 finished up more than 1 percent.

Right now, stock futures right now are lower, as investors wait for more corporate report cards. Procter & Gamble, Ford, and Colgate- Palmolive all issuing earnings before the bell.

So, at the time when most stores are gearing up for holiday sales, Sears is breaking out the going out of business signs. Seventy-seven Sears and Kmart stores shutting their doors, taking 350 jobs with them. Most of these stores will be closed by Christmas. This is a serious sign of trouble for the company because holiday sales are the cornerstone for a retailer for the year.

A spokesman for Sears declined to comment on the store closings, except to say the company had notified store employees. Fitch ratings recently suggested Sears holdings did not have the cash to continue beyond next year.

So, New York brewery is about to feel the full power of the force. Lucasfilm is suing Empire Brewery over one of its signature beers, the "Strikes Bock" beer. Get it? Empire strikes bock. It's a reference, of course, of the 1980 film, "The Empire Strikes Back." And if you did not know that, get out from under the rock. The Strikes Bock lager has been around seven years. But Lucasfilm filed against Empire Brewery when it tried to trademark the beer. The company said in the filing could confuse people into thinking the beer is related to the franchise.

Some people have learned in the past that Lucasfilm is a bit litigious. In fact, they may sue me just for saying that.

EARLY START continues right now.