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Target Attack

Aired July 14, 2003 - 13:00   ET

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

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


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Scary indeed, not to mention frustrating for police, and a nightmare for the store.
For more on the investigation, we turn now to CNN correspondent, former D.C. police detective Mike brooks.

I know you have been working your sources, scouring the sex offender registry.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's one of the things they are looking at, Kyra. In that particular county, Kennowa (ph) County, in West Virginia, around South Charleston, in this particular county, there are over 223 people on the sex offender registry. This is a registry that the West Virginia state police keeps on former sex offenders. So they told, me, I spoke just a short time ago with the South Charleston Police Department, and they said that is one of the things they are looking at. They said they are getting in tons of tips.

They also just got in some new video. They said they were looking at it as we spoke. It was about 25 minutes ago when I spoke to them. They are looking for additional tips from that. They said they are gleaning good information from the video they got, but they are also sending it to the FBI and NASA to have it enhanced.

And I can tell from you working some cases where I had the video enhanced, it really helps a great deal in bringing out the detail in some of the -- we don't know if this is digital, tape, those kind of things, but depending on what kind of video it is, as you can see the video, they possibly could get a little bit sharper features of the man's face, to help them make an identification.

But there have been many cases that have been made from video like this shown to the public from the media, and they call in with, saying, hey, I know that guy. So they say they are getting tons of tips, and they are looking at a couple people right now, but they wouldn't say exactly who and where the person lived.

PHILLIPS: So, obviously we can't show the whole tape. But is there more to this? Is he actually caught on tape molesting this little girl?

BROOKS: They wouldn't say if it showed the act of the sexual assault. It took place in two different departments in the Target store. It took place in the men's department and in the seasonal department, that sells coolers, lawn chairs, those kinds of things, but what we saw when we saw that video just a moment ago, the detective working the case says that is him actually stalking the little girl. He says if you know what you're looking for, you can see that. And looking at the video a number of different times, I could see a girl just over to the side on the direction he was looking.

So this is video of him actually stalking the girl before it took place.

PHILLIPS: Now this leads me to my next question. Do security guards, as long as the store is open, are they constantly looking at these cameras and looking at people in the store. Are there times they just have the cameras rolling and they are not monitoring, because I would think if they were watching it constantly, boom, they would have been on this guy immediately.

BROOKS: Well, one of the main reasons you use a video camera in a store like this is loss prevention. And, again, it's a tool. But...

PHILLIPS: Shoplifting.

BROOKS: Exactly. But it's only as good as the person who is looking at it. If they do catch someone shoplifting, if there's a floor detective, let's say, who is following someone, they catch them putting something under their coat, under their shirt, they go ahead and they snatch him up. Then can go back and look in that particular department, pull that camera up from that department and show them stealing the merchandise and take that to court as evidence.

But there are also other times where they can use this for crimes like this. You know, crimes in progress, if you will. You know, the new video they just got in, they wouldn't tell me exactly where it came from. But usually a Target is in a shopping center with other stores. So did this offender go outside the store? A lot of times...

PHILLIPS: Do it again someplace else?

BROOKS: That's a possibility. Or going to his car, did they get a tag number. They said if they had any other good information that would be useful to put in media, they would let me know. Also other stores have cameras. If he came out of Target, turned left to right and walked in front of other stores they could have also gleaned some good video from other stores in the shopping center.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll continue to follow the case. I know you'll be checking your sources.

BROOKS: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: Mike Brooks, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired July 14, 2003 - 13:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Scary indeed, not to mention frustrating for police, and a nightmare for the store.
For more on the investigation, we turn now to CNN correspondent, former D.C. police detective Mike brooks.

I know you have been working your sources, scouring the sex offender registry.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's one of the things they are looking at, Kyra. In that particular county, Kennowa (ph) County, in West Virginia, around South Charleston, in this particular county, there are over 223 people on the sex offender registry. This is a registry that the West Virginia state police keeps on former sex offenders. So they told, me, I spoke just a short time ago with the South Charleston Police Department, and they said that is one of the things they are looking at. They said they are getting in tons of tips.

They also just got in some new video. They said they were looking at it as we spoke. It was about 25 minutes ago when I spoke to them. They are looking for additional tips from that. They said they are gleaning good information from the video they got, but they are also sending it to the FBI and NASA to have it enhanced.

And I can tell from you working some cases where I had the video enhanced, it really helps a great deal in bringing out the detail in some of the -- we don't know if this is digital, tape, those kind of things, but depending on what kind of video it is, as you can see the video, they possibly could get a little bit sharper features of the man's face, to help them make an identification.

But there have been many cases that have been made from video like this shown to the public from the media, and they call in with, saying, hey, I know that guy. So they say they are getting tons of tips, and they are looking at a couple people right now, but they wouldn't say exactly who and where the person lived.

PHILLIPS: So, obviously we can't show the whole tape. But is there more to this? Is he actually caught on tape molesting this little girl?

BROOKS: They wouldn't say if it showed the act of the sexual assault. It took place in two different departments in the Target store. It took place in the men's department and in the seasonal department, that sells coolers, lawn chairs, those kinds of things, but what we saw when we saw that video just a moment ago, the detective working the case says that is him actually stalking the little girl. He says if you know what you're looking for, you can see that. And looking at the video a number of different times, I could see a girl just over to the side on the direction he was looking.

So this is video of him actually stalking the girl before it took place.

PHILLIPS: Now this leads me to my next question. Do security guards, as long as the store is open, are they constantly looking at these cameras and looking at people in the store. Are there times they just have the cameras rolling and they are not monitoring, because I would think if they were watching it constantly, boom, they would have been on this guy immediately.

BROOKS: Well, one of the main reasons you use a video camera in a store like this is loss prevention. And, again, it's a tool. But...

PHILLIPS: Shoplifting.

BROOKS: Exactly. But it's only as good as the person who is looking at it. If they do catch someone shoplifting, if there's a floor detective, let's say, who is following someone, they catch them putting something under their coat, under their shirt, they go ahead and they snatch him up. Then can go back and look in that particular department, pull that camera up from that department and show them stealing the merchandise and take that to court as evidence.

But there are also other times where they can use this for crimes like this. You know, crimes in progress, if you will. You know, the new video they just got in, they wouldn't tell me exactly where it came from. But usually a Target is in a shopping center with other stores. So did this offender go outside the store? A lot of times...

PHILLIPS: Do it again someplace else?

BROOKS: That's a possibility. Or going to his car, did they get a tag number. They said if they had any other good information that would be useful to put in media, they would let me know. Also other stores have cameras. If he came out of Target, turned left to right and walked in front of other stores they could have also gleaned some good video from other stores in the shopping center.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll continue to follow the case. I know you'll be checking your sources.

BROOKS: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: Mike Brooks, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com