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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Virginia TV News Gunman Fled North; Will Biden Run?; Clinton Takes "Responsibility" For Email Use; Trump Ends Feud with FOX News; Stocks Climbing Around the World. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 27, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: After the shooting, Vester Lee Flanigan faxed a 22-page suicide note to ABC News under the name Bryce Williams. The name he used on the air and used until he was fired. In the note, he details a long list of grievances and expresses admiration for the Virginia Tech and Columbine shooters.

Flanigan, an African-American, points to the Charleston church massacre as a spark for his crime. He writes, "The church shooting was the tipping point, but my anger has been building steadily. I have been a human powder keg for a while just waiting to go boom."

He claims he was the target of racism in the workplace and previous employers blocked him from getting a new job, writing, "I tried to pull myself up from the bootstraps, but the damage was already done. And when somebody gets to this point, there is nothing that can be said or done to change their sadness to happiness. It does not work that way. Meds? Nah, it's just too much."

For more on the shooting and the gunman's troubled history, let's bring in CNN's Brian Todd in Roanoke, Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alison and Miguel, we have information on the shooter's movements from the moments of the shooting early Wednesday morning. Authorities say that he left from this location and drove northwest toward the Roanoke Regional Airport, where he switched cars. He then drove nearly 200 miles up I-81 to Route 66, was heading east toward Washington when a state police trooper spotted him and spotted the vehicle through the license plate of his car.

This trooper approached him. He refused to stop. He then went off the road. And it was then that they observed that he had self- inflicted gunshot wound. He died a couple hours after that.

Investigators were able to track his movements through his cell phone. Also, we have some new threads in the investigation into his past. I talked to two people who worked with the shooter, Vester Flanigan at two different television stations. One is WDBJ, not far from here in Roanoke, where these two journalists also worked, and another worked with him at WTOC TV in Savannah, Georgia. Both of those former employees told me that he was a troubled employee, he had trouble getting along with people, that he was struggling as a reporter.

We know that he was fired from WDBJ for performance-related issues. And one of the former employees of that station told me that on the day he was fired in February of 2013, they had to bring in police to escort him out. He made threats. He was very agitated and that some members of the news staff had to actually evacuate the building and go on lockdown at that time.

We also have found out that in the year 2000, he filed a lawsuit against another former station of his WTWC in Tallahassee, Florida. That lawsuit alleged some racist mistreatment directed toward him. He alleged in that lawsuit that he was called a "monkey" by a superior -- by an executive producer at that station and there were other epithets and other things directed toward him. That lawsuit was settled out of court. So, clearly, this man was a disgruntled former employee of at least two television stations, including the one here where these two deceased journalists worked -- Alison and Miguel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's turn our attention to the victims of the crime -- reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward, and a Chamber of Commerce official Vicki Gardner who Parker and Ward were interviewing for WDBJ's morning show. Even on that early shift, their boss tells CNN the pair always maintained a cheerful can- do attitude.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF MARKS, WDBJ GENERAL MANAGER: If I walked in the building in the morning, and I saw Alison and Adam first, I knew I was in for smiles. They had a great attitude. And it showed in their work. Adam was always willing to do whatever extra was needed, even at the end of a long shift when he gotten up at 3:00 in the morning. Alison would get involved in any project and do whatever he was asked to do and she was showing such solid growth as a reporter and occasionally as an anchor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: For more on the three victims, let's turn to CNN's Victor Blackwell in Roanoke.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alison, Miguel, understandably, the team at WDBJ is heartbroken this morning, their first morning in a while without waking up with the A team, as they called them. Alison Parker and Adam Ward, the reporter and photographer who worked the morning shift.

Now, we knew that Alison Parker had just turned 24 years old. She graduated from James Madison and worked in North Carolina, but returned home to southwest Virginia. And she grew up about 50 miles outside of Roanoke. Her colleagues say that she was living her dream.

Now, one part of Parker's life that viewers just learned about yesterday was that she was also dating one of the anchors there at WDBJ, Chris Hurst.

[04:35:00] He sent this out on social media, "She was the most radiant woman I ever met and for some reason, she loved me back."

And we also had learned that Adam Ward was also in love with someone there at the station. He was engaged to the morning show producer. And imagine this -- his fiancee was producing the show during the time he was killed on live television.

A colleague also says that Ward was someone who always had a smile on his face and dedicated to the job and was determined to put smiles on other faces as well.

Now, let's talk about the sole survivor of this attack, Vicki Gardner. She is the executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber and Commerce. And friends say that, yes, that was her title. However, she really did anything she could to promote this community that she loves so much. She is a wife, mother, a grandmother as well, and artist.

We got this message from her employer late yesterday when they say that they are confident that she will recover and they're going to stand strong with her through this -- Miguel, Alison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Alison Parker's grieving father paid tribute to his daughter last night, fittingly with a television appearance in which he praised her finest qualities. He conveyed a passionate message about gun regulation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY PARKER, FATHER OF ALISON PARKER: She lived a great life. She excelled at everything she did. She loved what she did. She loved the people she worked with. She was happy with her place in life.

So, you know, we can only take some solace in the fact she had a wonderful life, she was extremely and she loved this guy with all her heart. And that's the toughest thing for me, that she -- everybody that she touched loved her and she loved everybody back.

And, you know, I'm not going to let this issue drop. This is, you know, we've got to do something about crazy people getting guns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: So heartbreaking.

The gunman's family in northern California is seeking privacy this morning, but expressing condolences for the victims' families. Their statement read by a family friend who went to high school with the shooter. She calls the shooting, quote, "a shock to everybody."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AMBER BOWMAN, FRIEND OF VESTER FLANAGAN'S FAMILY: It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness we express our deepest condolences of the families of Alison Parker and Adam Ward. We are praying for the recovery of Vicki Gardner. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and with WDBJ television station family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Now, President Obama calls the shooting of the two Virginia journalists heartbreaking. He is challenging lawmakers to end the bottleneck on gun control, insisting Americans need to keep the pressure on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What we know is the number of people who die from gun-related incidents around this country dwarfs any deaths that happened through terrorism. We are willing to spend trillions of dollars to prevent terrorist activities, but we haven't been willing, so far at least, to impose some common sense gun safety measures that could save some lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: The tragedy in Roanoke is also igniting the gun control on the campaign trail. Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton calling on Congress to come up with legislation that tightens restrictions on guns without infringing on the constitutional rights of Americans.

But Republican candidate Marco Rubio claims there is no need to do that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: First of all, it's not just crazy people. It's the violent people. It's not the guns. It's the people that are doing this. And so, here's the problem that I have.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: First of all, the Second Amendment is in the Constitution. I didn't write the Constitution, but I support it. And I think the Second Amendment is an important part of the Constitution that needs to be adhered to.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is so much evidence that if guns were not so readily available, if we had universal background checks, maybe we could prevent this kind of carnage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Most of the Republican candidates tweeted their condolences to those who knew and loved Alison and Adam, without commenting on gun control.

MARQUEZ: Now, we will continue the cover the latest on the on-air murder of the Virginia journalists all morning.

But first, will Vice President Joe Biden run? The vice president on the record about the possibility of him entering the race for president. That's coming up right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:43:20] KOSIK: Vice President Joe Biden has been talking to key Democrats about a possible 2016 run for the presidency. On Tuesday, he addressed the issue with members of the DNC.

In the meantime, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, is weighing on a potential Biden candidacy.

We get more from CNN's Joe Johns in Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Alison and Miguel, Vice President Biden giving members of the Democratic National Committee just a glimpse of his deliberations on whether he will run for president. On a conference call to members of the committee to try to convince to get behind the Iran nuclear deal, the question and answer period quickly turned to politics, with Biden telling members of the committee that before he decides to run, he has to conclude that he can put his heart and soul into a race.

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I were to announce to run, I have to be able to commit to all of you that I would be able to give it my whole heart and my whole soul. And right now, both are pretty well banged up and we are trying to figure out that issue.

JOHNS: Meanwhile, at a campaign even here in Iowa, Hillary Clinton responding to all the buzz about Joe Biden with some deeply personal remarks, referencing the fact that the Biden family is going through the grief process after the death of Beau Biden in May.

CLINTON: I want him to reach whatever the right decision is. And he has to do that. And it has to be a really, really hard one.

And I was at his son's funeral. I mean, I cannot even imagine the grief and the heartbreak.

[04:45:02] I mean, Joe has had more terrible events than most people can even, you know, contemplate, losing his first wife, losing his first daughter. Now, losing his son.

I think everybody should -- he has to do what he has to do. But I'm just going to continue with my campaign. I'm going to do what I believe I should do. And he will have to decide what he should be doing.

JOHNS: Sources have said the vice president is likely to make his decision in the coming weeks in the run up to the first Democratic debate -- Miguel and Alison. (END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Hillary Clinton admits she understands why people question her use of the private e-mail server when she was secretary of state and says she is taking responsibility for a decision that, quote, "wasn't the best choice." Clinton says she was confident she never received classified e-mails on her private account, but acknowledges she should have used government servers for official business.

Donald Trump ending one feud, while escalating another. The Republican frontrunner no longer has a beef with FOX News after chatting with the head of the network, Roger Ailes. Trump is suggesting he'll even stop tweeting negative comments about anchor Megyn Kelly.

But he is not backing down from Univision's Jorge Ramos. Trump had Ramos physically removed from a news conference Wednesday. He insists the well-respected anchor was, quote, "ranting and raving like a mad man and looking for a confrontation."

That's not quite how Ramos sees it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JORGE RAMOS, UNIVISION ANCHOR: There are questions that need to be answered. And the problem is he is not used to be questioned. He doesn't like uncomfortable questions. It happened with you. It happened with your colleagues at FOX News. He hates it when he is being confronted. And we have to ask those questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Ramos says he believes Trump is, quote, "selling hate".

KOSIK: Time for an early start on your money.

Stocks around the world are powering higher. Asian shares are up. Look at Shanghai's benchmark index. It's up 5.3 percent today, that's after it tumbled 15 percent earlier this week, and sending global markets into panic mode. European shares are also much higher.

Here in the U.S., stock futures are climbing. We could see another rebound today or have the rebound continue. Yesterday, the Dow climbed 619 points. That was its third biggest point gain ever.

The rally stopped a six-day selling streak driven by serious concerns about China's growth. And oil prices, they're are climbing, up more than 4 percent. Back above $40 a barrel. But prices have been tumbling recently on concerns of global demand while supply keeps booming.

Two people, including a police officer, killed. A SWAT team standoff turned deadly. Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:51:37] MARQUEZ: A suspect in custody this morning accused of fatally shooting a police officer in Sunset, Louisiana, who responded to a domestic disturbance. Authorities say he also stabbed three women, killing one of them. The suspect, 35-year-old Harrison Lee Riley, fled the scene, crashing his car into a convenience store several blocks away, and barricading himself inside against police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After they said a few words, he did not want to come out. They stacked up at the door. One got through a tear gas. They barged in. Flash bang went off. I mean, I got to see all that and that was crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another officer has died in the line of duty, you know? And this officer basically, you know, raised me. You know, I've seen this officer for years. He's been part of the deputy -- part of the police station for years, you know? He would motivate when I was in sports and band and all of that good stuff, you know? Great guy, you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Police identified the slain officer as 52-year-old Henry Nelson. Tamika Johnson died of stab wounds. Two other stabbing victims are hospitalized and in serious condition.

KOSIK: Twelve -- count 'em -- 12 life terms plus 3,318 years. Colorado movie theater gunman James Holmes formally sentenced Wednesday to the maximum for murdering 12 people and wounding 70 others in 2012. Survivors and victims' family members cheered as court deputies took Holmes away, and the judge making no effort to hide his contempt for Holmes' actions, said, "Get the defendant out of my courtroom."

MARQUEZ: Closing arguments set today in New Hampshire at the trial of prep school graduate Owen Labrie. He's accused of raping a freshman student when he was a senior at the prestigious St. Paul's school last year.

Testifying Wednesday in his defense, Labrie told jurors the encounter with the then 15-year-old girl was consensual, but did not include intercourse. Prosecutors say the encounter was part of the prep school tradition known as senior salute. The elite school is famous as alma mater of congressmen, Nobel Prize winners, and even Secretary of State John Kerry.

KOSIK: Yesterday's tragic shooting reigniting the national gun debate as the nation's biggest retailer makes a big move. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:57:54] KOSIK: I'm Alison Kosik. Let's get an early start on your money.

It's a great morning for stocks so far. Asian shares are up. Look at Shanghai's benchmark index, up 5.3 percent today. That's after it tumbled more than 15 percent earlier in the week and sending global markets into panic mode. European shares and U.S. stock futures are also much higher.

Yesterday, we saw the Dow climb a stunning 619 points. That was the third biggest point gain ever. The rally snapped a six-day selling streak driven by serious concerns about China's growth.

Walmart will stop selling military style semiautomatic rifles. That includes the AR-15s. The guns used in several mass shootings, including Newtown, Connecticut, and Aurora, Colorado. The announcement coming the same day two TV journalists were shot and killed on live TV. Walmart says the change is in response to slumping demand although generally speaking, gun sales have been strong this summer.

MARQUEZ: Interesting change for Walmart.

EARLY START continues right now.

(MUSIC)

MARQUEZ: Now, two journalists murdered on live television. This morning, the station at the center of that strategy about to begin their first morning broadcast since the killing.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Miguel Marquez.

KOSIK: And I'm Alison Kosik. It's Thursday, August 27th. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East.

MARQUEZ: Now, new information this morning about the gunman who killed two Virginia TV journalists and seriously wounded the woman they were interviewing live on the air Wednesday morning.

The shooter Vester Lee Flanigan, a former reporter at the same station in Roanoke, CNN affiliate WDBJ, he fled the scene and uploading the video of the crime as he went. When police caught to him some five hours later, the gunman killed himself. Now nearly 24 hours after the shooting, the WDBJ's morning show is returning to air and we are just about to bring it live to you.

KOSIK: Very difficult day to say the least for the whole crew there. I mean, not only did they lose their colleagues, these were their friends and they have to go on TV today, the day after this happens and be professional about it.

MARQUEZ: And to see the reaction when it actually happened live on air and the confusion that their anchor there had and then as his developed throughout the morning was shocking.