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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Terror Attack in Paris: Hunt For the Gunmen; Terror Concerns Ramp Up Across Europe; Police Officer Shot this Morning Dies

Aired January 08, 2015 - 05:00   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.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning: Two terrorists on the run, wanted in the deadly attack on the French satirical magazine. A third man turning himself in overnight being questioned right now, along with several others.

France this morning in mourning. The terror alert raised as investigators try to figure out how this tragedy happened and who is responsible. Live team coverage starts right now.

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman. It Thursday, January 8th, it is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

And we do want to welcome all of our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

ROMANS: All right. Breaking overnight: several people in custody in the worst terror attack in France in recent history. Twelve people killed in attack on the French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo", 11 more wounded. One eyewitness calling the scene a massacre, after that attack was carefully planned. The suspects jumped in a car and drove away and sparking a national manhunt for three suspects, stretching from the city of Paris to the city of Reims, some 90 miles away.

BERMAN: Overnight, France's interior minister announced that there are now, quote, "several detentions", several detentions in connection with the shooting. One suspect named earlier by police is also now in custody. He is 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad. He turned himself in. That is according to the AFP, the French press agency. Was he the driver in the getaway car? That's a question.

Police say two other suspects, the two main suspects here are brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi. These men are believed to be heavily armed and are still on the run.

For the latest, let's get to the ground in Paris, turning to NEW DAY anchor Chris Cuomo, who is there.

Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST, NEW DAY: Hey, John, hey, Christine. All right. We have developments for you to discuss -- obviously, the

two main suspects still at large. There's a massive manhunt now. There's a lot of manpower brought into Paris from French military and intelligence resources.

However, there was another shooting here in South France that has drawn a lot of interest. Police officers were shot and that's adding to the mix here. That is unusual in France to have police officers as the targets of violence. There is no knowledge at this point that there is any connection with the shooting in south France and what happened here at the offices of "Charlie Hebdo" yesterday.

However, here are points of curiosity. Again, it was a police checkpoint, a traffic checkpoint. Two officers had been injured in what was an open gun assault by a man in his mid-50s. A point of curiosity, he was dressed in similar fashion to the two terrorists yesterday. Black garb and similarly equipped as yesterday. That's driving it.

We have Jim Bittermann who raced to that scene to see if we can develop any reporting on that. It's certainly drawing a lot of interest, but no hard connection at this point right now.

Some other developments -- first of all, this is a nation in mourning and understandably so. It's been decades since they lost life like this to terrorism and has never experienced anything like this.

The way this was done cannot be minimized. We have to take a very close look at it. The people who are involved, how they did this, where they came from, what kind of training they had.

We will take you through different parts of the video this morning on EARLY START and "NEW DAY" that shows you why there is such cause for concern. These weren't maniacs. These weren't mentally unstable people who are drawn to the call of jihad. They seem to have had training and they did thing in a very coldblooded and deliberate way.

Now, at noon local time, guys, which would be 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time in the States, there's going to be a moment of silence here. It will be observed because of what happened just behind us. On a side street just down from where we are now are the offices of "Charlie Hebdo."

And again, at 11:30 in the morning, right around lunchtime, here is what we know happened now. They went and did a frontal assault into the office buildings. These two heavily armed gunmen, Kalashnikovs, maybe a rocket propelled gun launchers. They had to ask for directions from two maintenance workers which building it was exactly. What does that mean for investigators?

Two possible things. It was more confusing they thought and they did not scout it originally. Or maybe these were mercs. Maybe these were mercenaries. Investigators are looking into fighters who were trained abroad, brought back here to execute something that they themselves did not plan.

In any event, they wound up killing -- they wound up shooting one of the two maintenance workers. The other escaped. They went up and created the carnage we are all now too painfully aware of.

But they did it in the middle of the day, John and Christine. They would take on three different batteries of police in making their escape. They got into a car, which may or may not have been driven by this 18-year-old kid who turned himself in. He says he had nothing to do with it. He learned his name was out there on social media.

But they would take on police three times. Two different patrols, and one bike patrol. One of the officers they would wind up killing right there. The other officer who was killed was a security detail for one of the cartoonists of "Charlie Hebdo." And the way they do it, I hear in my ear that you must be showing some of my video.

When people commit acts of violence like this, there is a franticness to what happens. It is very disorienting to be around this kind of violence. It is difficult to use weaponry like this, heavy small firearms fire like a Kalashnikov.

But when we look at the bullet patterns in the windshield, John and Christine, they are tight bullet patterns. That is not easy to achieve without training. The way they move, the way they move up to execute the police officers, the way they move subsequently in getting in the car and talking to each other. There is an ease. There is a coldness that goes hand-in-hand. One would say with being a sociopath, but also with training.

So, investigators right now are very focused on the manhunt. They are distracted by the shooting in south Paris. But we don't know there is any hard connection to what happened to the offices at "Charlie Hebdo."

One other thing that is important for our reporting this morning. Memorials have popped up. There is one over my shoulder here that is a point of media fascination because in many ways, this was an attack on media. It's an attack on freedom of speech. But there was a second memorial near where one of the officers was taken down. And a lot of people are there. They are showing remorse and somberness that you would expect in a situation like this.

But it's also become a point of resolve. People are going there. They are going to say this is wrong. They are going there and holding up copies of "Charlie Hebdo."

And they are saying that this is something that can't be tolerated. There should be more satire now. There should be more cartoons of this nature. And it's a very interesting point of resolve.

Now, on the governmental side, interior minister was reported as saying this morning, maybe we should reintroduce a death penalty. Now, that is a lone voice right now of calling for an enhanced violent reaction to this.

Most of the people we've spoken to, John and Christine, are calling for calm and understanding and tolerance beats terrorism.

ROMANS: Tolerance is what beats terrorism. So interesting to look at those pictures, Chris. You are right to talk about the bullet patterns and the way they move, the confidence in which they move through the streets and executing a police officer who was down on the ground.

One thing that is different and really troubling about this, these men had their hands covered and their skin was covered and their face was covered completely. They were not wearing suicide vests as far as we know.

These were two men who intended to escape to potentially do more harm again. Different than we've seen before, radicalized people who blow themselves up or sacrifice themselves as they do their carnage.

CUOMO: That is a strong point. Ordinarily, we are used to suicide bombers, people who don't see an exit. Or they see that somehow the fulfillment of their zealotry will be found in their own demise. That was not the case here.

We have learned and John knows very well from his extensive war reporting that the higher and more trained warriors are, the less likely they are to be used as suicide bombers. So, maybe there is a nexus in that understanding there, though.

But let's not give these gentlemen too much credit for one reason if not many others. There was a bone-headed enough move to leave their identification in and around the office place. That is the big reason that they found this lead to finding these gentlemen. They left an identification card behind. They don't think it was intentional.

So, maybe it was just an accident. Certainly they were not perfect in what they designed to do.

BERMAN: And, Chris, we know one of the Kouachi brothers, one of these brothers was arrested. He served time eight years ago because he wanted to fight in Syria. Do we have any sense, or French officials confirming that either of these brothers themselves ever made it to Iraq or Syria?

CUOMO: I have not heard that. Our reporting right now, John, is that he was a middleman, the older brother. And he got arrested and got half a sentence. He served 18 months -- was sentenced to 36 but wounding up doing 18, for being essentially that middleman.

There has been speculation that they did make it abroad, maybe they return from Syria. We have no confirm on that.

But we also know they were not just known for law enforcement. At least one of them was being watched. That raises a very familiar issue that we have back in the States, about how much manpower can you devote? A similar issue is with the security of "Charlie Hebdo", because of what happened in 2011 and the fire bombing here. There had been extensive and obvious police presence here.

A van was known to be outside all the time. It supposedly disappeared in recent weeks. There was still a body man of one of the cartoonists.

But was there are relaxing of that sense of security. These are all things for the investigation. But this was not something that would have been easily thwarted, John. These men were heavily armed and had a specific sense of what they wanted to do and how to do it.

BERMAN: And, remember, they are on the loose right now.

Chris Cuomo, we are lucky to have you there in Paris. Let us know if you hear anything over the next minutes. Thanks, Chris.

ROMANS: All right. French journalist Martin Boudot took extraordinary video on the "Charlie Hebdo" magazine offices as it unfolded. He was on the roof of the building. When it was over, he entered the magazine office.

He described the gruesome scene to CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN BOUDOT, REPORTER/DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: It was a massacre. Could see the bodies on the left and into the meeting room. The other people from "Charlie Hebdo" who were spared or hiding, and they were just standing like not zombies, but they were like standing and didn't do anything. We tried to help the very first one, but actually to be honest, they were enough -- a lot of wounded -- they were just people dead all around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: He says he only saw two of three suspects, a gunman who stormed the magazine office.

BERMAN: The Obama administration is condemning the deadly terror attack and offering its support. The White House released this photo of President Obama on the phone with French President Hollande.

CNN's Michelle Kosinski has more now on the formal U.S. response -- Michelle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John and Christine.

Well, we heard from the president and White House officials several times in the aftermath of these attacks, in strongly worded statements. The president called this attack horrific, evil and cowardly.

So, we know that they're on this. They are monitoring it closely, and maybe most importantly, offering France whatever assistance it might need.

What we're not hearing from just yet, from the White House or national security team any detail on what exactly the White House might have known about any of these suspects, anything about any chatter that may have been going on in the background leading to this. It's just too early for them to weighing in on that kind of detail.

Also, they didn't want to get too much detail on exactly the kind of assistance that the U.S. is offering. I mean, several times we heard from the Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, and he would only say that the U.S. is doing a number of things to help France. We did hear from the FBI, though, saying that they were combing through databases to try to help the French gather information, look for connections and they did say that top security officials are in open and constant communication with their French counterparts.

We also heard from the White House press secretary saying he knew of no specific threat or credible information to indicate that any similar attacks are being planned in the U.S., but he did emphasize the importance of vigilance, especially when U.S. officials are concerned about lone wolf attacks and how hard they are to prevent -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Michelle Kosinski, thank you for that.

We are following the latest on the Paris terror attacks all morning long. Two gunmen, those gunmen are on the loose. Several police detained by police being questioned. But, first, the terror threat spreads across Europe. Experts warning about the rising risk of attacks.

We are live in London.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. We do have breaking news just in from France. There was an officer shot south of Paris earlier this morning. That officer has now died. That's according to the union spokesperson speaking to CNN's Jim Bittermann.

This happened overnight our time, early morning Paris time. Apparently, this police officer was shot by someone also wearing black, heavily armed. We are not sure if it was connected to the assault in Paris yesterday, a copycat killing. Unclear. We also know that one man is in custody for this attack, but it has caused a great deal of alarm this morning.

We are working on more reporting for that. We'll bring it to you as soon as we get it. Again, the news, the officer there has died.

Of course, we've been following the breaking news out of France. They now have several people in custody in connection with the worst terror attack in memory. That was the attack yesterday on that satirical magazine.

France's interior minister is not specifying how many or why they are being held. There is a manhunt under way to track down the two gunmen who stormed the Paris office of "Charlie Hebdo", targeting their victims by name. They sped off minutes later, leaving 12 cartoonists, police officers and others dead.

Police are now -- police were pursuing three suspects. The youngest suspect, 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad, has turned himself in. Was he the driver? He claims not to be connected. We will get more information on that.

The two main suspects are brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi. These are still on the loose. Police efforts appear to be focused right now on the northern city of Reims.

ROMANS: All right. The events in Paris are raising terror alarms all over Europe. European terror expert Claude Monique says what he has seen so far show the "Charlie Hebdo" gunmen were well-trained. They may have had combat experience, perhaps in Syria. Monique says the "Charlie Hebdo" attack is proof the terror environment in Europe is escalating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAUDE MONIQUE, EUROPEAN STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE & SECURITY CENTER: In the past, we had a few hundreds dangerous people in all of Europe. Today, we have a few -- at least a few hundred dangerous people in each European country. That means thousands of dangerous people in Europe and thousands of people waiting to take action (ph) in the Western world, willing to kill people and willing to go into jihad, in Syria or in Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And all of them with passports allowing them to move freely among those countries.

One sign of the heightened anxiety is the announcement that Spain raised its terror alert status to level three.

Joining us with more on the situation in Europe, CNN's Max Foster live at 10 Downing Street.

Max, that's what is so concerning to so many people I'm sure, that you have homegrown, people who -- French nationals who could get on a train or get on a plane, and very easily travel around the European Union.

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So many things that are worrying about this. There's also the fact that these were homegrown terrorists. It's a military-style operation. And that sort of thing can happen in any country in Europe. And governments have been warning about that as well.

So, you have that situation with Spain and the terror alert increased. They are now concerned something could happen there, whether it is coming from France or again homegrown.

This hour, as I speak to you, the British government emergency COBRA committee is meeting in the building next door to discuss how prepared the U.K. is for a similar type of attack. This is a fear across, Europe. It's not just an attack on France, say European leaders. It's an attack on civilized society. So, they united here yesterday.

I saw Angela Merkel and David Cameron working together. They received a joint briefing from U.K. intelligence, really showing how closely countries are working together on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): We are working very closely together in such situations because this is not something that a single country can solve by itself.

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We have to all be vigilant. We have to try to address all the problems of radicalization that have happened in our country. We have to make sure we invest in our security intelligence agencies properly. We have to deal with the problems at source.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: So, we wait to see whether or not U.K. raises the terror threat level after that meeting.

Also today, in the next ten minutes or so, police across the United Kingdom will all hold a moment of silence in solidarity and support for those killed in Paris. This really is an international story today. It's not just a French story.

ROMANS: Absolutely. All right. Max Foster for us in London -- thank you, Max.

BERMAN: You know, it's an international story that is developing by the minute. We just got word that a police officer was shot and has now died south of Paris. We have the latest on all angles of the story, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BERMAN: We do have breaking news. A new development in all of the chaos in France.

A day after 12 people killed in the office of "Charlie Hebdo", we just got word a police officer south of Paris was shot and killed. That officer has now died. You can see a large presence there on the ground. This is videotape from shortly ago.

We have our Jim Bittermann on the ground there near the scene.

Jim, give us the details.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, John and Christine, we're about 100 yards away from where this took place. Apparently, according to the eyewitnesses this morning, in fact, there was a routine traffic accident. Police were out directing traffic. Municipal police officer among them and shot by a gunman who got out of a car and just shot the police officer and another police officer, and the one police officer has now died.

Police now are cordoning this area off. And they brought up an armored truck, as well as a very, very heavily armed police contingent here. About 20 officers or so who are in bulletproof vests and wearing masks and they seem to be surrounding an apartment, which is very close to the scene of the original traffic accident this morning. They also have tracked down a car that they believe was used and they sent out a bomb squad around the car.

Now, the car is not right here. It is a different location. So, there's some confusion about what happened.

But the witnesses say the person who did the shooting got out of the car as the police were investigating the traffic accident. Got out of the car and confronted (ph) the two police officers and then fled the scene. He was dressed similarly to the attackers yesterday. That is to say all in black and had automatic weapon and wearing a bulletproof vest. That's what the eyewitness is saying. Of course, I haven't confirmed to the police yet.

The minister of the interior was here a while ago, he has now left. Obviously, this is clearly being taken seriously. It is not known what the link may or may not be with yesterday's attack.

ROMANS: Yes, we don't know the link may be or may not be.

So, quickly, the person who got out of the car and shot the two police officers. That person fled or that person is in custody?

BITTERMANN: No, he fled. There was somebody taken in custody. A 53- year-old man was taken in custody. We are not sure why. He may have had some connection with this.

But they are also surrounding the apartment building which indicates, I think, that they believe there is somebody that is a person of interest they are trying to track down. Like I said, it brought up considerable reinforcements, including an armored car and they also brought the medical personnel.

They are not busy at the moment. So, I'm assuming it sounds like they are perhaps preparing for some kind of assault. I'm not real sure. I don't want to be committed on that. It does look like it has the appearances of that.

BERMAN: Well, clearly, Jim, there's a lot of activity there south of Paris where an officer was killed. And as you say, an apartment building now apparently surrounded by police. There could be some action. We will check back in with you and let us know if you hear anything.

Thank you so much, Jim Bittermann, south of Paris. ROMANS: A dramatic 24 hours certainly in France. Breaking this

morning: the desperate manhunt for those terrorists behind the deadly attack at the French satirical magazine. New developments, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)