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Sheriff's Dept: Multiple Fatalities and Wounded, Suspect Dead In Shooting. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired May 26, 2021 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:31:18]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: We're waiting any moment now to get an update from Santa Clara sheriff's deputies and the San Jose Mayor, excuse me, on a deadly California mass shooting. What we do know right now, multiple people killed and multiple injured.

Shooting started and left 6:30 a.m. this morning West Coast time. The victims are Valley Transportation employees. The shooter is dead. You see some of the scene right there. What we don't know also very important right now, no information on the weapon, on the motive, or a firm number of those killed and hurt in this shooting. Let's try to get the very latest now from CNN's Stephanie Elam. Stephanie, what more have we learned?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. And we don't know how the shooter died, that's the other part that we are not clear on yet at this point, John. As we look to get more information out, we know that this press conference is about to happen any time now. But let me just give you some more background of what we've seen from authorities around the area, mainly the Santa Clara Valley Authority, Transportation Authority, which is where this incident happened at one of their light rail, rail yards there.

But they're saying that there was an active shooter event that did happen there that they did evacuate their employees. And that they are saying that mass transit service has not been affected by what has happened there. We have also seen a tweet also coming from California Governor Gavin Newsom, where he says that we are in close contact with local law enforcement and monitoring the situation closely.

We do know that at this press conference that is supposed to come up here that we are going to hear from the Mayor Sam Liccardo of San Jose. He's expected to be at this press conference that should be beginning momentarily here. And he has also put out a message saying, quote, our hearts are pained for the families of those who have lost, who we have lost in this horrific shooting. The shooter is deceased and more information will be provided at 9:30 a.m. that is local time here.

So just taking a look at how the responses are coming in as we know that this is no longer a situation that is a threat. But at the same time, there are still a lot of questions and there are still a lot of people who really want answers and really want to know where their loved ones are at this point, John.

KING: Amen. No longer a threat, but we'll continue to watch and try to get more information on what is the tragedy. Stephanie will stand by with us again. We'll take you to that press briefing as soon as it happens.

[12:33:28]

Also, there's news here in Washington today, a new bipartisan effort on infrastructure that might sound like progress, but don't bet on it.

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KING: The live pictures you see there San Jose, California, the scene several hours ago of a mass shooting that left multiple people dead, multiple people injured. We don't know the exact number. We may find out when this press briefing takes place in just a few moments.

So as we wait, let's get to CNN's Dan Simon who is there now, on the ground of this mass shooting. Dan, describe the scene and what we know.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, hi John. We are in front of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office and you can see all these people who are just at the office, they are walking out. These do appear to be VTA employees, Transportation Authority employees who were at the sheriff's office, which we were told was a reunification center between employees and their families. We don't know if some of these people perhaps may have been victims to the shooting, and are going to be interviewed by authorities. We're still waiting to get that information.

But you can see quite a crowd of these employees who have left the sheriff's office and are now walking across the street to a parking lot. John, as we know, the shots ringing out around 6:30 a.m., multiple fatalities at this point. We don't know how many. We do know that that press conference that update is expected to happen soon where we are hoping to get more information. But the early reports that we're getting is that there was some kind of meeting that was taking place at this facility with some employees and then the shots rang out. That is unconfirmed at this point. But those are the early reports we're getting, John.

KING: And so Dan, help us with, I know you just arrived on the scene with what we can see, we see the officials waiting to brief. We saw some of the workers walking out. You see some of the police tape. One of the reasons the sheriff's office was picked for the family reunification center was its proximity to the scene of the shooting. Can you describe that for us, how long of a distance we're talking about?

SIMON: Pretty much right across the street. In fact, over here is the parking lot to the actual facility itself. So that gives you a sense in terms of how close it is. We don't know exactly where the shooting take place in relation to where we are.

[12:40:02]

But given the fact that you do have this law enforcement building right near the facility that tells you how quickly authorities may have been able to respond in terms of what took place. This taking place in San Jose proper, this is the sheriff's office. We're not quite sure which agency will be taking lead, but nonetheless, they would be involved with this shooting, given the magnitude of what we're talking about, John.

KING: You see the officials walking up to the microphone here. Let me hold on one second. We'll just listen in.

DEP. RUSSELL DAVIS, SANTA CLARA CO., CA SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Go ahead, set up. You guys got a couple of minutes. You're fine.

KING: You see officials preparing for this press conference. This is the deputy who briefed earlier. Here we go.

DAVIS: Good morning, everyone. My name is Deputy Russell Davis, R-U-S- S-E-L-L, last name Davis, D-A-V-I-S, Santa Clark County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer. Before we want to start today, I want to put out our condolences to the victims and family members from this incident. This is a tragic and ongoing investigation that we're doing right now. So we asked for the privacy for the family members until we can get everything sorted and figured out from here. OK.

This morning at 6:34 a.m., Santa Clara County Communication Center received multiple 911 calls of a shots fired call located in the area of 101 West Younger Avenue in the city of San Jose, which is a Valley Transportation Authority hub for VTA. Upon receiving multiple phone calls of shots fired, deputies showed up to the scene and learn that there were multiple victims that were shot at the scene. And there are multiple injuries and multiple casualties from this incident.

I can't confirm with you at this point on how many injuries there are, or how many casualties. This is still a fluid and ongoing investigation and we're still trying to collaborate everything in what exactly happened with this incident. I will tell you right now, the suspect involved with this incident is deceased. I'm not going to go into details as to what was the cause of death at that point, but he is deceased. And the biggest thing we want to ensure is public safety for our community out there. And right now public safety is assured at this point.

We do have investigators on scene pretty much doing our investigation to see exactly what happened and transpired. We have multiple law enforcement agencies that responded to the incident, including multiple fire personnel from different agencies that responded to scene and assists as well. We did initiate our active shooter protocol through the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office and through the Santa Clara County, where multiple agencies assisted with this incident, including fire departments initiating like a rescue task force rescue in that incident. That's all information I have at this point. I will tell you that our reunification center is here next door at 70 West Hedding. It's going to be over at Isaac Newton Center, which is downstairs. So if anyone that is looking for a family member or trying to get in contact, it's going to be over here at 70 West Hedding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russell, do you know the relationship between the shooter and the VTA and (INAUDIBLE).

DAVIS: So I'm not going to go into details. It's still preliminary at this point. As to the shooter their information, at this point, any type of information in regards with anyone that is deceased, is going to go to the Santa Clara County Coroner's Office. OK, because they have to do their investigation and find out the next of kin and contacting from that case. In regards with the weapon involved. I don't have that information at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many deputies, police officers open fired on the suspect.

DAVIS: I don't have that information right now. If deputies or police officers, open fired from the scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it a male or a female shooter and was it indoors or outdoors?

DAVIS: So I don't know if it was indoors or outdoors. I will tell you it was a male subject. And that's all I have the information at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was there (INAUDIBLE) between the male suspect and the VTA at all?

DAVIS: I don't have that information at this point. This is all preliminary. I will tell you about -- I would say in about an hour from now, 10:30, we will have an update. And with that information right now I'm going to run it over to Mayor Sam Liccardo, San Jose Mayor. And he'll speak on behalf and then we'll go from there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Before you go --

DAVIS: Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do have a phone number that family members do called they may not be in the area --

DAVIS: Phone number information, yes, good question. Phone number is going to be 408-299-2311. I'll speak again 408-299-2311. That is our Santa Clara County Communication Center. And they'll rock that over in that aspect. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey Russell?

DAVIS: Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At any point, did a rescue operation commence at all?

DAVIS: I'm sorry, say that again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At any point was there a rescue operation of sorts where authorities had to go in and get people out of the building?

DAVIS: Yes, there was a rescue operation. So pretty much we formed multiple tactical teams that came into the building to extricate victims out as well as County Fire assisted, not County Fire, Fire Departments came in, multiple agencies came in and initiated what we call as a Rescue Task Force. That is part of our active shooter protocol where they come in and they assist, come into pretty much what we call a warm zone to assist and extricate victims out. So we -- the biggest thing is public safety. We want to get them over and get medical aid as fast as we can.

[12:45:12]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

DAVIS: One sec, I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

DAVIS: So the information with the building, 101 West Younger, I don't have that information at this point, is a building, there is an indoor and outdoor area as well. So I don't have that information someone asked about indoor and outdoor, so I don't have that information at this point. One more question, I need to run it over here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was there a gun battle between arriving officers and the shooter?

DAVIS: I don't have that information right now. It's still preliminary in that case. So --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know how many number of people were shot or died?

DAVIS: So I don't have that hard number at this point. I will give you an update once we have that information. Again, this is still preliminary. We asked for the privacy for the families and the victims of this case. OK. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to run it over to Mr. Glenn Hendricks. He is the VTA president. OK. One sec.

GLENN HENDRICKS, PRESIDENT, SANTA CLARA VALLEY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY: My name is Glenn Hendricks. I'm the chairperson of the VTA Board of Directors, G-L-E-N-N H-E-N-D-R-I-C-K-S. So horrible tragedies happen today, and our thoughts and love goes out to the VTA family, the organization, and what they've had to go through. I could not be more proud of the VTA organization.

As I drove here, I saw VTA buses out on the road. As I said, this is just a horrible tragedy that has occurred. One piece of information, the event did happen on the VTA light rail yard. But it did not happen in the Operations Control Center. It did happen on the yard. I want to go ahead and let people know that as of noon today, VTA light rail service will be suspended and additional bus bridges will be put in place so that we continue to provide service to our county residents.

And I also just want to remind people that the Reunification Center is here at 70 West Hedding for -- where people can get together and get information about their loved ones. Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry for your -- the loss. What kind of security is on the premise, on the daily?

HENDRICKS: I'll let someone handle that question later.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

HENDRICKS: We're so sorry, this event happened. We are there for you. VTA is in the process of getting grief counselors in place to help them. As I said, VTA is a family. People in the organization know everyone. This is a terrible tragedy. And we will do everything we can to help people get through this. I have no information about the investigation or what happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the facility, can you kind of describe the facility, how many employees regularly work there that sort of thing, like what to be expected at 6:30 happening?

HENDRICKS: I don't have number of people that are normally there. But it's early in the morning when light rail service is starting. This is a maintenance yard, where we do maintenance on the vehicles. And also it's where the vehicles are dispatched from.

MAYOR SAM LICCARDO (D), SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA: My name is Sam Liccardo. I'm the Mayor of the City of San Jose and I also serve on the VTA Board with Chairman Hendricks.

This is a horrific day for our city. And it's a tragic day for the VTA family. And our heart pains for the families and the coworkers because we know that so many are feeling deeply this loss of their loved ones and their friends. Now is a moment for us to collect ourselves to understand what happened to mourn and to help those who have suffered to heal. That will be my attention today and for the foreseeable future.

My attention will then be immediately turned to ensuring we do everything possible to ensure this never happens again in our city. And in the next 48 hours I will be back communication with you to talk about what we've been working on over the last year and a half. And what we intend to do in the weeks to come to ensure we never see a horrific tragedy like this again in San Jose.

We are in a very dark moment. But I am heartened to see the response of the VTA family coming together to help their coworkers. We're going to do everything we can to support the families of those who have lost their loved ones. And I'm grateful for the immediate response of law enforcement led by the Sheriff's Office who are able to secure the scene and ensure that would be no more loss of life. Thank you.

[12:50:30]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mayor, can you say something in Spanish, please?

LICCARDO: (Speaking in Spanish).

KING: You're listening to the Mayor of San Jose, California, Sam Liccardo now giving a statement in Spanish, repeating what he said in English just moments ago. The Mayor calling this horrific day in his community, also saying that once he helps the community through the pain and suffering of today avowing he'll take steps to make sure this never happens again. We sadly heard political leaders so many times try to promise that in their communities for mass shootings as we wait to see if there are additional information in the briefing.

I want to bring back our analysts and reporters, CNN's Stephanie Elam is with us, our senior law enforcement analyst, Andrew McCabe, other contributors with us as well, Andrew Barksdale and Jonathan Wackrow -- Anthony Barksdale, excuse me very much and Jonathan Wackrow.

So Stephanie, from the officials, the most frustrating part, there was not much new information. I understand some of that frustration is out of respect for the families of those killed and the families of those hurt to make sure all the information is shared with them before they hear things publicly at a press conference. But we still don't know how many were killed. We still do not know how many were injured. And we still don't know even though the shooter was killed on the scene, we did learn that it was a male, it was a he. We heard from the Russell, the sheriff's deputy, Russell Davis, but not much else about the information about how and why this played out.

ELAM: Right. And we also learn, too, John, that they did say that they actually did have a rescue task force that went into extricate the people who were victims inside the building. And that's part of I think what is taking time here is making sure that they go through and cross our T's and dot their eyes and just tried to figure this out.

What's also noteworthy here as well as that we heard from the individual from who's actually representing Glenn Hendricks is his name, he is representing the Transportation Authority there. He did say that while this did happen, it did not happen in the Control Operation Center for these trains for this light rail system. He did say that it was at the maintenance yard, this is where they maintain the trains. This is also where they are deployed from.

He also said as of noon, local time, so about two hours from now, the service will be suspended because so long so far, they've been saying that service was not impacted by what has transpired there this morning. But they are going to have other ways for people to get back if they need to. But yes, they were saying they're just getting the light rail up and running for the day as they were starting off just another workday as people are trying to get back to work now that many people can go back to work post -- as we come to the end of the pandemic here.

So those were a couple of the main things that we've learned from here, the main thing being that we now know that the shooter was a man, that's the least that we do now at this point.

KING: Anthony Barksdale, your former acting Baltimore police commissioner, help us from the law enforcement standpoint of balancing the public's right to know and the public's need for information with obviously their sensitivity about identifying the victims, notifying their families. But we did not learn about a weapon, the police know what weapon was used by now. We did not learn much at all about the shooter. Obviously, the authorities know that information right now, my guess is they don't want to share it because they're still doing a lot of investigative work. And one of the questions is, are there accomplices? Was there someone else who might know? And you don't want to share that publicly. Is that fair?

ANTHONY BARKSDALE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That is very fair. You're 100 percent correct. A lot of the details that you just mentioned, the police know, it's some of the first questions that I would have answered if I was responding to that scene. So yes, they know these things, but they have to, like we've been saying, they have to run out the facts, they have to be sure and get as much intelligence and facts as they can.

KING: Jonathan Wackrow, one of the questions that came up and the president of the Transit Authority said he would leave that for another time or another person. And you can understand that, again, there's a lot of grief. This is a man whose employees were gunned down today. So I'm not criticizing him by any means. But one of the questions was, what was the security at that site? That is sadly a question that every employer has to ask in this day and age, you cannot count on the fact that the sheriff's office is across the street, for example, to protect your workers. How relevant is that question when you have yet another mass shooting in America?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That's a critical question. You know, employers have a duty of care to protect their employees. So the safety and security of every employee is paramount for every organizational leader and when tragic incidents like this coming to, you know, come to fruition, we have to ask the question, where was there failure? How can we prevent this in the future?

[12:55:18]

And one thing I just want to note, one of the key factors coming out of this press conference, was the fact that they talked about this rescue operation that actually speaks to the very well coordinated response that not only the police, but EMS and Fire have in response to active shooter situations. And I bet you that we will see that because they were well prepared to respond to this incident, you know, we're going to look at zones of diminishing threat, et cetera, that probably saved more lives at the end of the day.

So again, we didn't have a lot of information coming out of that. But what we did have, you know, was a positive here in terms of how the police responded.

KING: And Andy McCabe, the former FBI deputy director, from an investigative standpoint though we didn't get much but every piece of new information helps an investigator ask what's the next question I need to answer? What was your perspective on what we heard?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, I agree with my colleagues. We obviously didn't hear much and as viewers and concerned citizens, we're kind of sitting on the edges of our seats, trying to understand exactly what happened here. But put yourself in the perspective of the investigators, they have families, they have loved ones to deal with. They don't want to release the sorts of numbers that we're asking for, because then you have family members counting and figuring out who's been notified. And it's trying to, you know, do the math in terms of assessing their own grief situation, which is a horrible position to be in.

So I think they're doing the appropriate thing. They're trying to get the folks who matter most up to speed first and then we'll all find out the details and the facts that we need to understand what happened here as the day goes on.

KING: What we do know, multiple people killed, multiple people injured the families now trying to get that information. The shooter has been killed. That's all we know. We don't know the weapon. We don't know the motive, more questions to be asked and answered. But I want to thank Stephanie Elam, Andy McCabe, Anthony Barksdale, and Jonathan Wackrow, for their time and their patience and hustle throughout this hour of breaking news. So thank you for your time today as we went through this sad breaking news.

Don't go anywhere. We'll get more information on this. Ana Cabrera continues our breaking news coverage after a very quick break. Please enjoy your day.

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