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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

At Least Four Killed In Michigan Church Shooting; Marine Veteran Arrested In North Carolina Bar Attack; Oregon, Portland Sue Trump Administration to Stop Troop Deployments; Netanyahu And Trump Are Set To Meet As Pressure Mounts To End War In Gaza; At Least 41 Dead In Crush At Political Rally In India; Trump, Congressional Leaders To Meet As Shutdown Loom. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired September 29, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

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[05:00:32]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. Thank you so much for being with us. I'm Brian Abel. Rahel Solomon is off. It is Monday, September 29, 5:00 am here in Washington, D.C. and straight ahead on Early Starts.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have people trapped in the building. Repeat, people trapped in the building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The FBI is now leading the investigation and is investigating this as an act of targeted violence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to find out if there was a motive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't know what was going on and I didn't know if we were going to have to get down because we couldn't see anybody.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, NEW YORK: I cannot continue my reelection campaign. The constant media speculation about my future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And to Andrew Cuomo, you got your wish. Don't forget you wanted me as your opponent in the primary two and we beat you by 13 points.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to win an away Ryder cup so badly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the moment where you start to realize the monumental achievement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: The FBI is now leading the investigation into a deadly church attack in Michigan which investigators are calling an act of targeted violence. Police say a man crashed his car into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township where hundreds of people were attending Sunday services.

The suspect then opened fire with an assault rifle and used gasoline to deliberately set fire to the building. Police say they killed the shooter within minutes of responding. Here's part of the 911 call. Take a listen.

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UNIDENATIFIED MALE: We have active shooter of the church. I need manpower up here ASAP. I have people trapped in the building. Repeat, people trapped in the building. We have children inside, too.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ABEL: At least four people were killed. Eight others wounded in the attack, including children. As many as seven people are still unaccounted for. Church of community members describe their reaction to the chaos that unfolded.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know what was going on and I didn't know if we were going to have to get down because we couldn't see anybody to worship my Savior Jesus Christ. And I didn't expect this to happen, of course. And I've lost friends in there.

UNIDENATIFIED MALE: I'm completely distraught.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a quiet neighborhood. You know, we've never seen anything like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Investigators working late into the night, digging through the rubble of the church, searching for any additional victims. Meanwhile, officials are praising the church members who rushed to protect each other.

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CHIEF WILLIAM RENYE, GRAND BLANC, MICHIGAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: I'd also like to acknowledge the heroism of not only the first responders, but the people who were inside that church at the time. They were shielding the children who are also present within the church, moving them to safety. Just hundreds of people just practicing their faith.

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ABEL: CNN's Leigh Waldman begins our coverage from the scene.

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LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Unfortunately, the death toll continues to rise here in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, after a gunman drove into the front doors of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints, opened, fired and then used an accelerant and set that church on fire. You can see just how busy this scene is still behind us with first responders going down this road, continuing to search through the rubble of that church.

We're hearing from first responders that they have not been able to clear the entire property yet because it is so large and the church itself is deemed a total loss. It's extensive efforts, but they also spoke about the heroism of first responders responding within 30 seconds of that first 911 call and taking out the gunman less than 10 minutes later in the back parking lot of that chapel there.

We also know that they're responding to the place where they believe that he lived, working on getting search warrants to search through his digital footprint. The FBI is calling this an act of targeted violence, saying although that the gunman is dead, they are still working to determine a motive. It's important to them to determine a motive.

We also heard that there was acts of heroism from the people inside of that church. Hundreds of people inside of the church shielding their children with their own bodies, trying to keep them safe.

[05:05:00]

We're expecting to get much more information on Monday, hoping to hear more about the recovery efforts as they search through this property. Leigh Waldman, CNN, Grand Blanc, Michigan.

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ABEL: Thanks to Leigh there. Police have identified the gunman as 40- year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford. A Marine Corps spokesperson told CNN that Sanford was a Marine veteran who served in Iraq for several months in 2007. According to Social media posts, he was the father of a young child with complex medical needs. Investigators have been combing through the suspect's home looking for any evidence of a motive.

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RENYE: So where we go from here is we have investigators. We're going to do search warrants on the suspect's residence. We're going to find out if there was a motive. We're going to go through cell phone records, things like that.

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ABEL: OK. Let's go now to Jason Pack, a retired FBI supervisory special agent, a former FEMA external affairs officer and an advanced EMT and active first responder. Jason, thank you for your time this morning. As always.

The first thing that I want to focus in on here in this conversation is the victims, as many as seven people still unaccounted for. Can you walk us through what appears to be a somewhat unique situation here? There's the shooting, of course, that's all too common at this point here in the United States.

But there's the combination with the vehicle ramming and such a massive fire leading to those unaccounted. Give us a read your read on the situation and some insight of what's happening behind the police tape overnight.

JASON BACK, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Good morning. It seems like this person really prepared to do this act of violence. So the ramming of the church is one thing. The backup plan was the shooting and then the fire. All three of these things there was very shows a lot of determination on this shooter's part.

So, one thing didn't work. He had the other things to fall back on. And that's just indicative of a lot of planning. Now the crime scene this morning is still pretty hot like and it's dangerous. So we don't know yet. There's still like seven missing people unaccounted for.

I think so horrific to the think about what happened there and just the fact that the police Chief Brown said that those congregants put their bodies in harm's way over those children just putting their faith in action and there's just no way to describe what they must have been feeling.

And as your reporter also said, even though there's no federal prosecution or case in this, the FBI agents and the ATF and the local township police there still need to know the answer of why. And so they'll do just as a thorough investigation looking for those motives. They'll look at his social media, as they said. They'll interview people that knew him. We know what happened yesterday, and we've got that military background.

And they'll piece those other 17 years together to see what those grievances might have been, whether or not he was connected to the LDS Church and just other factors to try to find some kind of reason why, even though it's, you know, it's an irrational act. So there's few rational answers to this, but they're going to dig in as hard as they can and find answers for this, the victims.

ABEL: Jason, let's examine that possible motive a little bit more for a moment. What's the significance to that of the venue here, and could there be a correlation with his military background?

PACK: Well, certainly the first thing people think of is this person have PTSD and those types of things. But what I've learned through all these types of cases, each one of them has their own unique set of facts. And so it's not this person had X, so Y happened. There's a lot of combination of things in there. So they'll take a look at that and look and see what that military training had to do with it.

Clearly, he had a tour in Iraq, so there was a lot of things that he saw there and that prepped him for the skill set. So now we got to figure out what the grievance was or what happened. Was there any leakage to people he knew beforehand?

Those types of things on that pathway of violence that we talk so much about, with the ideation, with the planning, the preparation and then the execution of this plan, any one of those phases, he may have leaked something accidentally or somebody may have heard something. So I think that's what investigators will be looking to see when they talk to people.

And then when they look at his social media accounts, is there some rioting somewhere that he left or just what the answers to those questions are.

ABEL: I want to pull for a moment from your first responder experience. How did the fire here hinder those who were rushing to the scene? And we've also heard from victims inside the church as well. I use that characterization even for those not injured since everyone there inside faced this horrible traumatic experience. What do those individuals need moving forward?

PACK: Well, you heard the radio traffic from the first Duke Engine Company on the scene saying there are people trapped and they needed more help. And so when you can't immediately rush in to help somebody who may have been incapacitated because they were shot or the truck, something debris fell on them. They were pinned.

[05:10:05]

Like, it just makes you feel so helpless as a first responder. And let's talk about the quick action of the township police arriving in just mere seconds and eliminating that threat. This all is over within 10 minutes or so, which must have felt like an eternity to those involved.

ABEL: All right, Jason Pack, appreciate your expertise. Thank you.

PACK: Thank you.

ABEL: We go now to North Carolina. That is where a Marine veteran is in custody after allegedly opening fire at a waterfront bar in the small city of Southport. Three people were killed and at least eight were injured in the shooting late Saturday. Prosecutors say one victim is still fighting for their life.

Police identified the suspect as 40 year old Nigel Edge, an ex-Marine sergeant and Purple Heart recipients. And they say the shooting appeared to be highly premeditated. The attack came just hours before the other mass shooting in Michigan. So that's two mass shootings in 24 hours, both allegedly carried out by Iraq War veterans.

The city of Portland and the state of Oregon have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump for deploying the National Guard to the city. The president says that the troops needed to defend an ICE facility that he claims is under siege by Antifa.

An ICE facility south of downtown Portland has been the site of mostly peaceful protests, but have occasionally resulted in officials deploying tear gas.

On Sunday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said 200 National Guard troops will be sent to Portland. In their lawsuit, the city and state say that President Trump overreached his mandate by federalizing the Oregon National Guard as a response to unrest.

But the White House says President Trump is using his, quote, lawful authority to deal with what the administration says has been, quote, months of violent riots. Portland is a sanctuary city, meaning it does not cooperate with ICE. President Trump previously ordered National Guard deployments to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny there. And for anybody who didn't get to see him live at his residency in Puerto Rico, don't worry, he is performing at the Super Bowl. Here's the announcement.

What a shot that was. The three time Grammy winner will headline the halftime show for Super Bowl LX. It'll take place on February 8th at the home stadium for the San Francisco 49ers.

Bruno Mars, who has performed at the Super Bowl two times, now showed his support on social media. He posted quote, go get them, Bad Bunny.

Still to come, Republicans and Democrats in a standoff as a deadline for a government shutdown looms. We'll tell you what's holding up a potential deal.

Plus, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu will meet in the coming hours. The White House claiming a Gaza peace deal is imminent, but Israeli officials tell CNN they are not so sure.

Plus, a comeback for the ages at the Ryder Cup falls just short. Those stories and more after the break.

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ABEL: U.S. president Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are set to discuss the war in Gaza in the coming hours. But the outlook on the high stakes meeting already appears divided. Mr. Trump took to social media on Sunday to promise, quote, all are on board for something special in Gaza. Vice President J.D. Vance was a bit more reserved when speaking to Fox News on Sunday.

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J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The president's been very clear. He actually wants Gaza to be controlled by the people who live there. He wants the West Bank to be controlled by the people who live there. And he wants the terrorist networks that are around the Israelis to be dismantled so they can no longer pose a threat to Israel, especially the innocent civilians who live in Israel. It's never easy.

As we've learned in the Middle East over many years. This stuff comes in fits and starts and it can take very weird turns. But I think the president has gotten us to a point where we're at the one yard line and all of us are very hopeful. We can sort of punch through the end zone and accomplish a major, major thing for peace in the region.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ABEL: Sources say the White House is bracing for Israeli opposition to certain elements of its 21-point peace plan. Meanwhile, Netanyahu faces mounting pressure at home to sign a peace deal and secure the hostages return. Hamas said on Sunday that it had not received any new proposals for a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Israel is ramping up its war effort in Gaza. The Israeli army could be seen firing towards Gaza near the border on Sunday. In Gaza City, IDF tanks move deeper into residential districts. The Israeli military claims its air force struck 140 military targets across the enclave. Gaza health authorities say they haven't been able to respond to dozens of calls from people trapped in rubble. And CNN's Paula Hancocks is joining us live from Abu Dhabi.

With all of these developments and the images that we've been showing, just showcases that we are not at a ceasefire just yet, Paula. What are you hearing about the potential of this meeting between Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump?

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brian, we're certainly hearing a lot of optimism from the Trump administration. We have heard this a number of times before when the U.S. President has believed that they have been on the cusp of a breakthrough, on the cusp of a war, of a deal, only to find that it fails at the last moment.

But what we heard from one Israeli official when it comes to this 21- point plan, he said, quote, the dynamics appear more serious this time. So certainly we are seeing some significant movement on the U.S. side. Hamas has said they haven't seen this deal yet. And we understand from Israeli officials that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to push back on some of the elements within that plan.

Now, to give you an idea of what we understand the plan to be, there is an agreement that there will be a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Also, this plan will push towards the hostages being released. There are still 48 being held by Hamas and other groups. 20 of those are believed to still be alive.

Also, there would be a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza during this ceasefire. And then there would be a roadmap for Gaza that would effectively not include Hamas. This is a very specific thing that we've heard from Israel and the United States and much of the rest of the world that Hamas can have no part in governance. And Israel also saying it does need to be disarmed.

Now, what we have heard from the Israeli side is that there are concerns about a Palestinian state within this plan. We do hear that there is an acknowledgment of a Palestinian state, or at least the ambition to have one, and also a role for the Palestinian Authority, which Israel has pushed hard against in recent months and years.

Now, we did also hear from the Israeli prime minister on Sunday. Let's listen to what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're working on it, Jackie. It's not been finalized yet, but we're working with President Trump's team actually as we speak. And I hope we can make it a go because we want to free our hostages. We want to get rid of Hamas rule.

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HANCOCKS: So this is a key meeting today between the American and the Israeli leader. We understand that the U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff met with Benjamin Netanyahu last week. We believe he was expected to meet on Sunday as well with Jared Kushner, the U.S. President's son-in-law, being part of those meetings. So we are seeing the preparations for what Donald Trump wants to see as announcement of a peace deal.

Now, we understand also from an Israeli official that most of this plan was coordinated with the Israeli prime minister in advance. But they are very clear eyed about the fact that there will be pushback on some specific issues. Back to you.

ABEL: And we have seen so many of these discussions about potential peace talks and deals fall apart. We'll see what happens with this 21- point plan. Paula Hancocks for us in Abu Dhabi. Paula, thank you.

The death toll has risen to at least 41 people from a crowd crush in southern India. Families are in mourning following the tragedy when tens of thousands had turned out to see the actor turned politician known as Vijay at a rally.

More than 90 people were injured and dozens of doctors came from surrounding areas to treat the victims. Vijay's public appearances have drawn huge crowds, at times overwhelming local venues. An investigation into Saturday's incident is underway.

Residents of Kyiv cleaning up after a massive Russian missile and drone attack targeting the Ukrainian capital. Military officials there say Russia launched 48 missiles and nearly 600 drones overnight Sunday, making it one of the largest sustained air assaults on Kyiv in the war.

At least four people were killed, including a 12-year old girl. Dozens of people in Kyiv and outside the capital were wounded. Here's how Ukraine's president is responding today.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today, all day after the Russian strike, were dealing with the aftermath in Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Kyiv region and other regions of ours. Most of the hits are regular civilian residential buildings, civilian sites. More than 80 people were injured. Unfortunately, four people were killed, among them one child. My condolences to their loved ones.

We will during this week work together with our European friends so as to implement as soon as possible the steps agreed on air defenses.

[05:25:05]

Russia is sure to answer for all it is doing.

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ABEL: Zelenskyy also says the attack proves Vladimir Putin has no desire for peace.

Still ahead on Early Start, racing the clock to avoid a government shutdown. Now, President Trump is getting involved.

And the votes are in for New Zealand's Bird of the Year competition and this year's winner. It may ruffle some feathers. A bird that doesn't just beat its competition, it eats it.

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ABEL: U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly set to meet with top congressional leaders in the coming hours.