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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Church Shooting Suspect Back In Charleston; Remembering The Victims; Lyle Mitchell's Lawyer: "He's Just Devastated"; Nasdaq at Record High; McDonald's Slims Down. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 19, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Mother Emanuel, as she is known here. The source of strength here in the community really for 200 years and strength that is so badly needed today as this city and this nation grieves about what happened here behind me.

Nine lives lost at the hands of one shooter. The alleged shooter, 21- year-old Dylann Roof is scheduled to make a court appearance this afternoon in Charleston. Police say he was the person who opened fire inside this church behind me Wednesday night killing nine people in a bible study class.

He was spotted by a woman in Shelby, North Carolina, about a four-hour drive from here. He had a gun in his possession when he was apprehended. It's not clear whether that was the same gun used in the shooting. Family members are disputing law enforcement reports that Roof's father bought him a 45-caliber handgun for his 21st birthday.

It's possible some reports say that he got money for his birthday and bought the gun himself. We are learning new information about the final moments inside the bible study class where nine people lost their lives. Before the shooter opened fire, he sat with them for an hour during the bible study, perhaps even praying with them.

I want to bring in CNN's Nick Valencia, who has been covering the story right from the start with the latest developments. Good morning, Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. The 21-year- old Dylann Roof will wake up in a North Charleston County jail this morning. About four hours away from here, 245 miles, he was captured yesterday in Shelby, North Carolina after being spotted by a florist, who noticed his suspicious vehicle and notified police that led to his arrest.

What we know about Roof this morning is that he's likely separated from the rest of the prison population in isolation, perhaps even on suicide watch. According to our local affiliate here in Charleston, WCBD, we expect him to make his first court appearance in the state of South Carolina, a bond hearing where the murder charges will be formalized.

This, of course, John, is a capital offense, which will carry the death penalty. All of that won't be figured out necessarily today as yesterday was trying to find him. Today will be trying to figure out who this individual is and what compelled him to carry out this mass shooting in that Emanuel AME church.

The grieving here just getting started, the tension that we saw yesterday during that manhunt, that's come and gone, but the grief here in this community is just getting started -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, so much relief when he was caught, Nick. A man who allegedly said he wanted to kill black people and then in fact did. There was fear here. There was just also just fantastic police work in getting him into custody. Nick Valencia for us, thanks so much.

There are questions about how someone can come to hate so much. How do you develop such loathing. People who grew up with the shooter say he was a shy and quiet guy who kept mostly to himself. He dropped out of high school after ninth grade.

He was arrested in February on drug charges. He was then arrested again in April on a trespassing charge. Authorities say he was lingering around a mall, a shopping mall. We also have a photo from Roof's Facebook page.

It features a picture of him in the woods wearing a jacket. Now take a look at the two patches on that jacket. One is a flag of the former apartheid regime of South Africa. The other is a flag of Zimbabwe.

These are seen by many as racist symbols, symbols of white supremacy. A friend told ABC News about this man's attitude toward black people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wanted segregation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did he want to see happen? How was he going to do this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he wanted something big. He wanted to make something spark up the race war again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What kind of guns did he have?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A .45 Glock.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he carry it around?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In his car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The youngest victim of the shooting 26-year-old Tawanza Sanders. He posted a Snapchat video from inside the bible study moments before the deadly attack. In the video you can see the alleged shooter at the far end of the table.

Family members of victims say that when the shooter began firing, sanders stepped in front of his aunt and took a bullet that was intended for her. Nevertheless, he was also killed. Sanders did post on Instagram three hours before his death. He put up a quote from Jackie Robinson. Listen to the quote, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." He had such an impact on so many lives.

Now I want you to listen to an interview that a woman named Sylvia Johnson gave to Anderson Cooper. One of Sylvia's relatives was killed in the church shooting. A woman who survived the massacre by pretending to be dead described to her that the shear horror of what unfolded inside that bible study class.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[05:35:05] SYLVIA JOHNSON, COUSIN OF REV. CLEMENTA PINCKNEY: What I heard is after shooting a couple rounds, her son tried to talk him into not committing anymore murder. He tried to talk him down. And her son and grand baby had already planned that they were going to just act as though they were already killed.

But the son was concerned about Reverend Clementa and he got up and that's when the gunman said, you know, after the young man tried to stop him from doing what he wanted to finish off, he said, no, you raped our women and you are taking over the country.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC 360": You have raped our women and taking over the country?

JOHNSON: I have to do what I have to do and he shot the young man, his mother was there. She witnessed -- she pretended as though she was dead, that she was shot and dead, but she watched her son fall and laid there. She laid there in his blood.

COOPER: She laid there in his blood?

JOHNSON: Yes, she did. Her entire dress was drenched in blood. She said that's my son's blood. He was a good boy. He was a good boy.

COOPER: And he passed?

JOHNSON: And he passed, him along with one of her aunts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: So much loss and there is so much grief here in this city this morning, but really all around the country as well. Churches from coast to coast are honoring the nine victims, the six women and three men who were learning shared a love of faith and family.

Please these are the names I want you to remember today. Reverend Clementa Pinckney, he was the leader of the Emanuel AME Church. He served in the South Carolina Senate. He's being remembered as a gentleman with a strong voice. He was a friend of so many people I've spoken with here.

Sharonda Singleton, also a pastor at the church. She was a speech therapist and a high school track and field coach. Her son plays college baseball. Cynthia Hurd worked in the Charleston Public Library System for 31 years. She was a manager at one of the busiest branches.

Depayne Middleton-Doctor was another church minister. Susie Jackson was at bible study with her cousin, Ethel Lance. Both were longtime members of Emanuel AME. Ethel was 70. Susie was 87 years old.

Daniel Simmons was a retired pastor who attended services every Sunday and attended bible study every Wednesday. Mira Thompson was teaching bible study when the gunman opened fire and 26-year-old Tywanza Sanders, we told you about him. He was the youngest victim. Friends say he was committed to his church and family and so generous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

A.J. HARLEY, CLOSE FRIEND OF TYWANZA SANDERS: A loving friend, family, he really loves his family. He talks about his mom every day that he get a chance to talk to his mom all the time. Anything you asked him to do, he would do. If you met him, you knew you had a good friend on your side regardless of anything. He made you smile even when you didn't want to smile. Happy, always smiling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: He made you want to smile when you didn't. Christine, you have four church leaders, four people who were leaders in this church. So many others who were leaders in the community, an 87-year-old woman, these are the names. These are the names that are important to remember. These are the lives that were taken, but their presence, I can tell you, is still felt here in this city.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: John, we're showing those pictures now. I see the Reverend Sharonda Singleton smiling on the top row. She was a speech therapist. She was a girl's track coach, and she had a son who is an athlete himself who said so famously that love is stronger than hate. And to hear that from his mouth, that's what I want to think about this morning that love is stronger than hate -- John.

All right, 39 minutes past the hour, another big story we're following this morning. Two escaped killers now on the FBI's most wanted list. New information in the case as the search widens next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:43:32]

ROMANS: Two inmates who broke out of an upstate New York prison two week ago are now on the FBI's most wanted list, and we're learning more about the prison worker, Joyce Mitchell's role in the escape and how her husband is now coping with the realization she may have been plotting with them to kill him. We get more from CNN's Alexandra Field.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, John, Joyce Mitchell is accused of helping two convicted killers break out of a maximum security prison. Her husband's attorney is speaking out saying that Lyle Mitchell had no knowledge of the escape plan.

He only learned about it after the fact from his own wife, who also told him it involved a possible plot to kill him. Joyce Mitchell is now behind bars at the Clinton County jail. Lyle went to visit his wife of 21 years earlier in week. His attorney says he had questions that needed answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DUMAS, ATTORNEY FOR LYLE MITCHELL: His questions are were you really part of this plot to have me hurt? Were you really part of this escape plot? What was really going on with these two individuals and you? I mean, like I said, he was in love with her. He had had no idea she was having these conversations with other men. He's devastated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: According to investigators Joyce Mitchell and Richard Matt had a sexual relationship, something that Lyle's attorney says he never suspected. As for the possibility of some kind of relationship between Joyce Mitchell and David Sweat, well, that had been previously investigated after there were reports of improper interactions.

[05:45:06] At the time Lyle's attorney says that Lyle confronted his wife, Joyce, who denied the allegations. Later David Sweat approached Lyle Mitchell, also according to the attorney, also denying those allegations -- Christine, John.

ROMANS: All right, Alexandra, thanks for that. Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." Alisyn Camerota joins us this morning. Hi, Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hi, Christine. Great to see you. I'm in South Carolina with all of the latest developments and there are a lot of them following the massacre at that Charleston church.

So we have details about the suspect's past. We'll speak with people who knew the gunman as well as, of course, friends of the victims. We'll hear from the woman who spotted the suspect and led police to him.

We'll address this growing concern that somehow we have lost our focus on home grown extremism. We'll explore all of that and much more when Michaela and I see you from Charleston, South Carolina, at the top of the hour.

ROMANS: All right, can't wait for that. Thank you so much. The sun is just starting to come up.

We're following breaking news this morning as well, the suspected Charleston church shooter in custody, as Alisyn said, expected in court this afternoon. We're learning more every minute. The latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Sunrising over the Emanuel AME Church here in Charleston, South Carolina. John Berman reporting live from the scene right now. Let me give you the latest.

[05:50:05] The suspect, 21-year-old Dylann Roof is scheduled to make a court appearance this afternoon. He's the man who allegedly opened fire at a bible study class Wednesday night killing nine people.

He was apprehended by police 14 hours after the shooting in Shelby, North Carolina. That's about a four-hour drive from here. He had a handgun in his possession at the time of arrest. It's not clear whether that was the same gun used in the church attack.

Roof was spotted in Shelby by a florist named Debbie Dills. She says she recognized him by seeing his picture on TV. She was running late to work. She immediately grabbed her phone and dialed her boss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD FRADY, DEBBIE DILLS' BOSS: When she called, she said I think this is the guy from Charleston that shot the people. She said I'm right beside him. So I said where are you at? She pulled off by then. I said we have to call the police to notify them that it may be him.

Of course, our conversation may not be him, and she didn't want to call if it wasn't him, but it could be. So we called the police while she was on the phone and she got back on 74 headed to catch up with him because he had probably travelled four or five miles before she could catch up with him.

DEBBIE DILLS, SPOTTED DYLANN ROOF WHILE DRIVING: There was something inside of me that didn't look right to me. I had seen the tag on the front of his car and everything was -- I even noticed the haircut that he had from watching it on the news. So everything inside of me said it was possible, but everything inside of me didn't want to believe it either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: She recognized the haircut. The story gets really interesting. Debbie says she had just been praying for the victims of the shooting. She was in church praying and then after she spotted Roof in his car and she says she believes it was a case of divine intervention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DILLS: He answered the prayers of those people that were praying in Charleston last night that were in those circles holding hands and praying. God heard the prayers of those people and used us as vessels to get His work done.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: It was also just a textbook case of police work, Christine. The police used the video to get the picture out to use the video to trace the license plate. They got his name. They used media. They had been thanking the media for getting the man's picture and name out there so that Debbie Dills could recognize his haircut driving on the road. Just really solid police work.

ROMANS: Really is and exactly what police said they wanted. They needed the public to help them find their perpetrator. In fact, so interesting that it was just 24 hours ago that they released those photos so glad that it happened so quickly that they were able to apprehend him. He'll appear in court later this morning. John, thanks for that.

Other news for you this morning, the company that brought us Supersize is slimming down. The latest trouble for McDonald's, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:57:05]

BERMAN: Welcome back. I'm Christine Romans. Let get an EARLY START on you money this Friday morning. Asian shares are up, but China is the big story, they are down more than 6 percent right now on bubble fears.

European shares are much higher. No deal on Greece's bailout program yesterday, but there will be an emergency summit of EU leaders on Monday to try to avert default. Fears about Greece are not holding stocks back here. The Nasdaq topped its peak set 15 years ago during the dot-com bubble.

All right, the top media story, suspended NBC anchor, Brian Williams is meeting with colleagues to apologize for embarrassing the news division. In New York, "Nightly News" staffers choked back tears. The meetings in D.C. were also emotional but for different reasons with some journalists acting weary or even hostile. It's part of an uphill battle to rehabilitate William's image and bring him back in a limit role with a lower salary at the cable division, MSNBC.

McDonald's is slimming down. They plan to close more restaurants than it opens this year in the U.S. That's a first. The chain has seen rapid expansion for most of its history. It even thrived during the recession because of their low prices. But the chain has lost its luster with millennials. They prefer restaurants like Chipotle and Five Guys with fresh customizable food.

All right, 58 minutes past the hour, the man accused murdering nine people at a Charleston church, he is in custody. He is set to appear in court today. "NEW DAY" picks up this important story now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: The suspect is in custody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was in the church to shoot black people. DILLS: That guy was right behind him at a stoplight. It was God who made this happen. He answered the prayers of those people.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I have had to make statements like this this too many times.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The heart and soul of South Carolina is broken.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are a strong and faithful state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This wasn't a tornado. This was racist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't eliminate these types of incidents if we don't get at the source of the problem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together we come to bury racism, to bury bigotry and to revive compassion and tenderness.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Friday, June 19th. It's 6:00 in the east. I'm Alisyn Camerota. I'm live in Charleston, South Carolina, at the Maritime Center where police have been briefing the media. Michaela Pereira is just a few blocks away at the Emanuel AME Church. And Chris, of course, is in New York.

Chris, we can tell you that the city of Charleston is reeling, of course, from this cold bloodied massacre. Nine people killed while in bible study at one of the nation's most historic African-American churches.

Authorities captured the alleged gunman more than 200 miles away in North Carolina. So this morning, Chris, he is back here in Charleston to face charges.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: And that's what we'll be watching today, Alisyn.