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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

School Attack in Pakistan, Sydney on Alert; Manhunt for Pennsylvania Shooting Suspect; Sony Pictures Chiefs: Studio Will Recover; Bill Cosby's Wife Breaks Her Silence; Russian Economy Headed for Collapse

Aired December 16, 2014 - 04:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning: A school under attack. At least 20 people dead, including students. We'll have the latest in moments.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Sydney on alert this morning, a day after a madman held 17 people hostage inside a cafe. Two of the hostages and gunman now dead. Is Australia and possibly the U.S. at risk for more attacks like this?

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: Good to see you today. I'm John Berman. It is Tuesday, December 16th, 4:00 a.m. in the East.

And we will get to the latest in Sydney for just a moment. But, first, breaking news happening just a short time ago: a deadly attack on a school in Pakistan, a school. Gunmen have stormed the school in Peshawar. At least 20 people are dead, including 17 children. This is according to Pakistan's health minister. It does appear that many, many more are injured.

Let's get right to Manisha Tank who's following this for us.

And, Manisha, an attack on a school.

MANISHA TANK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, this is turning out to be a horrific attack.

Now, Pakistani Taliban has already claimed responsibility, even putting a statement, saying it sent in six attackers, six attackers wearing suicide vests. Those attackers were given orders apparently, they were given orders that they could target -- they could target anyone in that school who seemed like they might be, you know, reaching puberty and up. They were supposed to give minors safe passage and should have free rein to target military personnel.

What's turning out to be horrendous details on this. Right now, there could be anything between 500 and 700 students still stuck in the school. But it isn't yet clear whether it is actually a hostage situation.

Just to repeat the number of fatalities. The number just rose very sharply. Initially, we thought four were dead. And then, we heard 20. Like you said ,17 of those just children, two teachers and one attacker.

So, police have confirmed to our office in Islamabad, that there is a paramilitary operation under way. Gunfire could be heard until a short time ago. That seem to have now ceased apparently. But we are watching this very closely.

The injured and there are scores of them, they are being taken to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, which is in Pakistan's north. It is a restive area, very close to the Afghan border, a very active area for the Pakistani Taliban. But that according to a lot of reports on Twitter and CNN hasn't yet confirmed this, but you can see the -- you can see the tweets going out. That hospital saying it's running short on blood and asking for blood donations.

But turning out to be a horrendous attack, John.

BERMAN: A barbaric attack. All right. Manisha Tank, thanks for following that for us. We're going to get the latest on this as soon as we can. Appreciate you being with us.

ROMANS: Now, this morning, Sydney remains on high alert after the most serious act of terrorism on Australian soil in almost 40 years. A lone wolf gunman taking 17 hostages in the Lindt chocolate cafe in the city's central business district, holding them hostage for 16 hours.

Now, some of these hostages escaped before finally police moved in with stun grenades. The gunman and two hostages were killed, an entire city now in shock. The hostage taker is a Muslim cleric with a long criminal record named Man Haron Monis.

Overnight, Prime Minister Tony Abbott addressed concerns about the gunman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: It's pretty obvious that the perpetrator was a deeply disturbed individual, a long history of crime, a long history of mental instability and infatuation with extremism. It's interesting that the ISIL death cult seems to attract people like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Two hostage fatalities have also been named. They are lawyer Katrina Dawson, and floor manager Tori Johnson. Sydney is grieving this loss. Look at this, this is a huge floral memorial is now standing outside the site of the siege.

CNN's Andrew Stevens joins us now live from Sydney with the latest.

Good morning, Andrew.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. That floral tribute, too, just continues to grow. Every few minutes, from our live location here, I'm seeing people walking past, holding bouquets, flowers to go down and remember happened here just a few short hours ago.

It has been a traumatic 36 hours for Sydney. There was, as you say, a 16-hour siege which ended with the death of two of Sydney's own, hostage taker also dying in that -- in the freeing of the hostages. And there's a role or feeling here that it is shock, but there's also resilience here, John. The people have seen what happened last night. They lived through it because the attack actually occurred right next to one of the main television broadcasters of Australia and it could train its cameras to let Australians in on what was going on. A very traumatic event as I say.

But the people I speak to today, and I have spoken to a lot of people today, (a), shocked, but, (b) relieved, because at one stage, this look like it could have been an Islamic, a religious fundamentalist with links to ISIS actually perpetrating this attack. It could have been part of a bigger plot. It turned out not to be the case. This was a lone wolf gunman which does some bring some relief here, but nevertheless the vigilance is more than it was, John.

And Sydneysiders are getting back -- going about the business. I've been asking them, is this going to change how your life goes on and they said no. But we will be watching so much closer now.

BERMAN: What are we learning now -- sorry, what are we learning about the two hostages who died and how they died, Andrew?

STEVENS: Well, the details are still very sketchy. We're getting local reports. None of them have actually been confirmed. And we haven't actually heard much from the hostages at all so far, John, which is quite unusual given social media here is very much alive and well across Australia.

What we do know is that Tori Johnson, who was the manager of the Lindt Cafe, was described by many as a hero. Again, these are unconfirmed reports. But there is suggestions that he tried to take the gun from the hostage taker. The hostage taker may have been dozing and Johnson grappled with him to get control of the gun. It went tragically wrong.

Johnson died in the process. Those shots triggered the police response. They were in within seconds with the stun grenades, the flash grenades and another hostage died. And that was Kate Dawson.

She is a mother of three children, all of them under the age of 10 years. A truly tragic story. She was a rising young star in Australia's legal circles. She had gone in there to have a coffee with a pregnant friend of hers. One report again unconfirmed saying that she died trying to protect her pregnant friend.

But just tragic stories emerging and will continue to emerge over the next couple of days.

BERMAN: I know that entire nation and, in fact, the entire world grieves right alongside.

Andrew Stevens thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. There's new information this morning about the Sydney gunman and his long criminal past. Australian Officials say he was out on bail for a sexual assault committed 12 years ago. That he had been charged as accessory in the murder of his wife and had pleaded guilty to writing cruel letters -- cruel letters to the families of Australian troops.

New South Wales Premier Mike Baird says this man should not have been on the streets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE BAIRD, NEW SOUTH WALES PREMIER: We are all outraged that this guy was on the streets. We are. And we need to understand why he was. We also need to understand why he wasn't picked up, and we will work closely with the federal authorities, together with our agencies, to ensure what we can do better. We need to understand the circumstances here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: CNN's Atika Shubert live with us in London with the latest details and the gunman's shocking past.

And this is someone, Atika, known to authorities, known to authorities, and they must have known that he could be quite erratic as they were doing all of this -- trying to negotiate with him during the siege.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they knew he was a very erratic person. He'd been known to authorities because of this criminal record he had, sending the string of harassing letters of the families of soldiers who died in Afghanistan. He was charged as accessory of his wife's -- former wife's murder and, you know, he had this string of charges of sexual assault, dating back to 2002.

But he had a criminal record, not necessarily a record that led, that -- you know, sort of tipped off anybody worried about a terror attack. That seems to be where he fell through the crack but, yes, somebody who's very erratic, somebody who was always seeking attention. He chained himself to parliament several times in these extravagant protests.

So, what he was really seeking was that publicity. And that was something that was constantly being denied to him over the course of the siege. He was demanding live interviews to be aired. They weren't making it to air and that was likely making him even more frustrated as it wore on.

ROMANS: So, he had a criminal -- long criminal past, but nothing to indicate terrorism links, bigger terrorism links?

SHUBERT: I would say bigger terrorism links because, you know, what he did was he made very conflicting statements on social media. One minute, he was a peace activist, and the next, he said he was pledging allegiance to ISIS, and it kind of went back-and-forth. But he didn't seem to have any definite links to any particular extremist or terror organization.

ROMANS: All right. Atika Shubert, thank you for that, Atika.

BERMAN: We're going to take a closer look at the Sydney gunman, and whether or not he was acting alone. What might have inspired him? Could this be a bigger trend? >

ROMANS: And meantime, a manhunt is underway right now in Pennsylvania for a former U.S. marine suspected of killing six people, including his ex-wife. He is considered armed and dangerous. He is on the loose. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Sydney beginning to recover this morning from Monday's horrific 16-hour hostage siege. That incident ending with three deaths, including the gunman. Questions still swirling about this man's motives, his connections to radical Islam and long criminal record.

For answers, we want to turn to Peter Neumann. He is a professor at Kings College, London, and the director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization.

He's someone who was self-styled -- welcome to the program -- someone who's a self-styled cleric, Muslim cleric. He pledged allegiance to ISIS quite recently and then goes on the hostage spree.

Could we have seen this coming? Could law enforcement have seen this coming?

PROF. PETER NEUMANN, DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF RADICALIZATION: Well, as with a lot of so-called lone wolves, he has been active in the sort of extremists scene in Sydney. He was known to local police. He was known to local media because he had a high profile.

Of course, it's one thing to be known to local police and another thing for the police to know that you are planning a violent action. So, he was on the radar screen of the security forces. He would have been one of probably hundreds that are casually watching. But probably they were missing that one small indicator that told them he is about to strike.

BERMAN: And, Professor, there are some who suggest this man is unhinged. This man was deranged. This man, you know, had a checkered and criminal past. But, you know, no ties -- systematic ties to ISIS perhaps. Maybe this isn't mutually exclusive. Maybe it is that people on the fringes or in the shadows like this are susceptible to that ISIS message.

NEUMANN: Yes. And there have been studies about so-called lone wolves, that is people who act without any planning or direction from a terrorist organization. And they found that there is a significantly higher percentage of people with mental issues. And this kind of acting on your own, being a little bit unhinged, it lends itself to that sort of activity.

And we know, of course, that ISIS, two months ago, issued a statement precisely encouraging these kinds of actions. So, it fits together.

ROMANS: Yes. This is something that ISIS has tried to -- you know, if they're -- they can do so much more damage if they can inspire lone wolves around the country -- around the world frankly.

Do you think that this man was responding to that ISIS call of just a couple of months ago?

NEUMANN: It could have been because since that call two months ago, we have seen a number of attempted actions around the world --

ROMANS: Right.

NEUMANN: -- in Britain, in Switzerland, in Australia. So I don't think this will be the last action like this, unfortunately.

BERMAN: And is there any way to stop this, Professor?

NEUMANN: Well, it is more difficult for the police because if you have a complex -- sophisticated bombing, for example, that involves a lot of people, you have a lot of time -- they spend planning and talking about it, so police can detect it. Lone wolves is more difficult, because the time is shorter and there's less communication.

But as I said at the beginning, these people are known to police. These people, even though they are lone wolves, they are not entirely on their own all the time. And often, they talk to other people.

It is more difficult. You have to pay more attention. But it is definitely possible to detect them.

ROMANS: Are they looking for -- was this man, does it seem to you, he was looking for validation, of being part of something bigger? I mean, he demanded an ISIS flag. He was really using media to try to get out there and make more discussion about himself. Did he want more attention for himself, did he want validation from the bigger, from -- you know, the bigger terrorism community or was he just unhinged?

NEUMANN: Yes, it could be. I mean, I am not a psychologist. But there is a theory in psychology that is called the quest for significance. Sometimes people do things just simply to be recognized and to -- for other people to give them recognition and to become significant themselves.

And without knowing the details of this case, it certainly seems like we were dealing with someone who was trying to be an important person and who was doing this in order to perhaps get the recognition that he never got before.

BERMAN: Professor Peter Neumann, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate the discussion this morning.

Seventeen minutes at the hour.

Some other news now. An Iraq war veteran accused of killing six people and now there is an intense manhunt underway. Police are asking for the public's help. That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. The hunt is on for Iraq war vet suspected of killing his ex-wife and five former in-laws. Right now, officers are scouring Doylestown, Pennsylvania, that's where Bradley Williams Stone was apparently spotted after going on a shooting rampage Monday. A rampage in three Philadelphia suburbs.

Police say the 35-year-old killed his ex-wife, her mother, her grandmother and sister, as well as his brother-in-law and 14-year-old daughter. Bradley did not kill his two daughters who were living with his estranged wife.

Officials say Stone is considered armed and dangerous, suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RISA VETRI FERMAN, MONTGOMERY COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We are reaching out to the public to see if anyone has sighted him. As we stand here right now, we do not know where he is. We are -- we do not have vehicle information. We actually recovered his vehicle and his personal cell phone. So, we do not have information about how he might be traveling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Twenty-one minutes after the hour.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is trying to reassure employees that the studio will survive this huge cyber attack that exposed thousands of sensitive documents, including internal e-mails, film scripts, even employees' Social Security numbers. At two meetings, the CEO and the co-chair thanked staff for keeping the studio going and promised that they will recover.

Standing by with the latest is CNN's Will Ripley in Tokyo.

And, Will, this is just a mess.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It sure is, John.

And we have been reaching out to Sony Pictures Entertainment's parent company Sony here in Tokyo for the past several days. I was finally able to reach their spokesperson today. And he acknowledged that this is a very difficult time for the company. He also said that most of the investigation into the hack is happening in the United States.

But he did acknowledge the growing speculation here in Japan and around the world that North Korea may have played a major role in this hack in some capacity. He did say, though, that the investigation is ongoing. And it's all that Sony is willing to go on the record with right now.

But if you think about this, there are a lot of implications. Sony is an iconic Japanese company, and Japan is a close neighbor of North Korea, a country that routinely launched projectiles into the Sea of Japan and that still maintains backchannels influence here in Tokyo through political and business ties, influence that may have something to do with the fact, John, that "The Interview", even though it's releasing in Christmas Day in the U.S. is not releasing at all here in Japan. You won't find it in theaters. It's a decision that Sony says was made before this really disastrous and humiliating hacking cyber attack.

BERMAN: That is interesting. I did not know that. So, that film will not be released in Japan.

And, Will, here in the United States, lawyers for Sony are telling media companies, you know, don't publish this data that has been stolen from Sony.

RIPLEY: They are. That's a threat that's coming from media lawyers that a lot of experts say really would be difficult to enforce, because once the information is out there in the public domain, as you know and as our CNN legal experts know, it's there. Media networks like CNN and others report on it.

But you do talk about the ethics of releasing certain things like employee Social Security numbers, personal information, sensitive information, movie scripts, and that's sort of thing. And that's something that Sony here is struggling to deal with. One analyst today here in Tokyo told me this really shines a light on very lax cyber security in this part of the world. You think Japan would be very high tech to be able to protect against that kind of thing, but it's just not the case here, John.

BERMAN: Will Ripley for us in the Tokyo, Will, we'll send you a DVD of "The Interview", since you won't be able to see it in theaters there. Appreciate you being with us.

ROMANS: All right. The Senate has confirmed Dr. Vivek Murthy as the next surgeon general of the United States. His nomination has been stalled for nearly a year after he made comments of stricter gun laws. President Obama said the 37-year-old is committed to keeping Americans safe. He also said Dr. Murthy will be the huge asset in the battle against Ebola.

BERMAN: A really interesting development in the Bill Cosby saga. His wife Camille is now speaking out, making her first public comments in the wake of claims made by almost two dozen women that they were drugged or raped or sexually assaulted by her husband in more than five decades.

In a statement, she accuses the media of giving, quote, "a pass" to his accusers. She says, "A different man has been portrayed in the media over the last two months. It is the portrait of the man I do not know." She says, "It is also a portrait painted by individuals and organizations who many in the media have given a pass." She also compared the story to what is going on at UVA and "Rolling Stone". Of course, Bill Cosby has denied these accusations.

ROMANS: All right. Russia's economy headed for a crash. Early today, the central bank raised its key interest rates for the sixth time this year.

Look at this. Interest rates now 17 percent in Russia. Now, that's helping to boost its currency, the ruble has been in a free-fall, plunging 12 percent on Monday. It's down 50 percent against the dollar this year.

Think of that. The currency has been cut in half.

Collapsing oil prices and impact of the Western sanctions are driving up inflation. Every day, it costs dramatically more for every day Russians to buy a loaf of bread. Cash flooding out of Russia and the weak ruble makes it hard for Russian companies to repay their foreign creditors. That increases the risk for a default, which is not good for the financial system.

The Bank of Russia warned the country could sink into a deep recession next year if oil prices stay low. A critical situation right now for Vladimir Putin who has remarkably high approval ratings. Now, that could change if the economy spirals toward disaster, but certainly, when you look at its stock market, its currency market, interest rates in that country, and inflation and the plight of every day people, certainly gets worse by the minute.

BERMAN: Yes, stay tuned to this because this isn't just a story about interest rates. This has huge geopolitical implications, and what happens in Russia has an effect all over the world. So pay attention here.

All right. Twenty-six minutes after the hour.

We are following a horrific story out of Pakistan. Some breaking news, a deadly attack on a school there, a barbaric attack. We'll have a live report ahead.

And the latest on what we know about the investigation into the siege at the cafe in Sydney. How these terrifying events unfolded and what we're learning new this morning about the gunman. We'll have a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)