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Baltimore Descends Into Chaos; Riots Cloud First Day for New Attorney General; More Than 4,000 Killed in Nepal Earthquake. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired April 28, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: National Guard troops and waves of cops fanning out after the governor declares a state of emergency. Gray's family condemning the violence, as well, but looters and rioters take advantage of lax policing to set fire to and steal from their own community, injuring police, journalists and each other.

[07:00:17] FREDERICKA GRAY, FREDDIE GRAY'S SISTER: I think the violence is relative. Freddie Gray wasn't a person to feel violence. Freddie Gray wasn't that type of person to break into no stores or nothing like that. I don't like it at all.

CUOMO: The mayor and governor facing sharp criticism for standing down on such an emotionally-charged day and then not seeming to have a plan, leading to chaos.

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R), MARYLAND: We've been standing by in preparation just in case the violence escalated, which it did. When the mayor called, we activated. We were fully prepared.

CUOMO: Darkness adding to the danger. Brazen standoffs between masked men on both sides, hurling anything they could, even crude explosives, at cops. Police cruisers and neighborhood cars on fire.

Pepper bullets in constant supply from a largely controlled wall of resistance. Then, what seems to be a suicide mission, a car racing past us right into the police line, stopping feet away, only to return to the fray.

A night no one was safe. Local stores lit up, spreading to an adjoining apartment. A mother and her baby escaping just in time.

Officials now say the riots may not have been a surprise. Word of a purge, referring to the sci-fi film where all crimes are absolved for 12 hours. A deranged rallying cry heeded, apparently, by a large number of juveniles, contributing to the violence now gripping the city.

The police commissioner calling on parents to take charge of their kids. Like this woman, angered at a young man's participation in the unrest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You down here doing this stuff?

CUOMO: Members of the community did stand strong. This man, a Vietnam vet, boldly confronts a group of youngsters taunting police, Determined to do what authorities could not: take control of this community.

ROBERT VALENTINE, RESIDENT: They do not respect this young man's death. You know? Now, momma and daddy, they lost a child. That could be them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: The police here in Baltimore are trying to beef up its presence to create more of a control situation. So we don't repeat what we saw Monday night. But resources are running very thin. That's why they pulled in a lot of outside help.

We have CNN's Athena Jones here with more about the resources that are being brought to make this situation more secure.

Athena, what do we know?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

That's right. There will be reinforcements on the streets of Baltimore today. Much-needed extra resources. We're already seeing some deployed at this early hour this morning.

Here's what they'll have: 5,000 law enforcement officials, 1,500 National Guard members, 40 additional state troopers. We already saw state troopers out last night along with Baltimore County police officers.

And there's also going to be this mandatory curfew we've been talking about from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. Now, whether they'll be able to maintain that curfew remains the big question.

As you mentioned, Baltimore city public schools are closed today. So we'll have to see what kind of activity that brings. I say that, because what we saw yesterday outside of the high school that's less than a mile from the church where Freddie Gray's funeral was held, was a lot of young people involved in these confrontations with the police. Throwing rocks, throwing stones, chunks of concrete, bricks, setting trash cans on fire.

Yesterday we also saw police taking a mostly defensive posture. We saw them struggling to establish a perimeter early on, struggling to hold the line against these teenagers.

And even as we saw police being injured, being carried away and bloodied, our team -- it was about two hours before we saw them begin to start making arrests. So whether police will show that kind of restraint again today should things begin to blow up, restraint that many people are saying was far too much restraint, that is going to be the question for today -- Chris.

CUOMO: Right. And the answer to that question will also fold into what they are told to do, Athena, right? What the plan is. So we'll be following that. You have to remember, Baltimore is not some little enclave or

small town. This is a major city: 600,000 people, just 40 miles from the White House. And that's where an emergency meeting had to be called between the president and his new attorney general, Loretta Lynch. She is now facing her first crisis just hours after being sworn-in. So what will the plan be there?

CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta has more on that -- Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And, Chris, it's not just Loretta Lynch facing this test. President Obama is once again facing a test on this issue of alleged police brutality, this time in Baltimore. As he did last year in Ferguson, Missouri, the president is likely to speak out on the violence in Baltimore later today when he holds a news conference with Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, this afternoon.

But as you said, it was quite the first day on the job for his new attorney general, Loretta Lynch. Both the president and Lynch met about the unrest in Baltimore just hours after she was sworn-in as the new attorney general. We have a picture of that to show you.

[07:05:07] And she released a statement later on, condemning this violence. We can put that up on screen. She says, "I condemn the senseless acts of violence by some individuals in Baltimore. Those who commit violence actions, ostensibly in protest of the death of Freddie Gray, do a disservice to his family, to his loved ones and to legitimate peaceful protesters, who are working to improve their community for all its residents."

And we should also point out the president spoke, as well, by phone with Baltimore's mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake; Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, last night.

Lynch, for her part, she's sending Justice Department officials to assess the situation in Baltimore. And yesterday, the White House sent several officials from the administration to the funeral of Freddie Gray.

But you know, Chris, the president has not always raced out to the microphones to speak out after an incident like this occurs. But he may have no choice but to do that later on today.

And they are sensitive to the optics over here, Chris. You mentioned that meeting that the president had with Loretta Lynch. That was a previously scheduled meeting, the White House says. They wanted to point that out. But of course, they talked about the situation in Baltimore.

And they did not allow all reporters and all photographers into the room, presumably so the president would not be asked a question about this. That Attorney General Loretta Lynch not be asked a question about this. So there's some sensitivity to the optics of this, as well, Chris.

CUOMO: Well, optics are always in the play, right, Jim?

ACOSTA: That's right.

CUOMO: But one thing we know is leadership matters. And more is better in times of crisis.

So let's talk about what's going on here right now. We have Mary Koch. She is part of the legal team representing the family of Freddie Gray. And we have Brandon Scott, Baltimore city councilman. Thank you to both of you.

MARY KOCH, ATTORNEY FOR FREDDIE GRAY'S FAMILY: Good morning.

CUOMO: The family yesterday, they expected a day of bereavement and calm so that they could lay their loved one to peace. They got the opposite. How are they handling it?

KOCH: Well, last night, they obviously told everyone how they felt, asked for everyone to be peaceful. They are -- they've been so devastated by the loss of their son. The one thing they wanted was some peace and some calm on the day that he was actually, you know, buried. And asked the community to do that. The community didn't honor their wishes. And in that way they dishonored Freddie's legacy.

And so I think disappointment and hope that, after the terrible events of yesterday, that there will be calm and that people will step back and allow the investigation to take the forefront, because that's what really matters at this point in time.

CUOMO: That is his legacy of Freddie Gray.

KOCH: That is his legacy.

CUOMO: Will be the truth of the situation. And any way you look at it, this is a distraction from that, no matter how justified people may feel about their outrage.

KOCH: Absolutely. Because nobody's talking about all the information that the police have that hasn't been released. No one's talking about what happened between the police department and Freddie Gray. People need to talk about it, because we don't want any more Freddie Grays. In order for there to be no more Freddie Grays, we have to investigate this. We have to get justice for Freddie and his family. But we have to change the way we police the community so these events don't happen anymore.

CUOMO: And you know, Councilman, a big reason, as you've been learning being around the media here, a big reason that you go out last night and put yourself in situations that you probably shouldn't be in is because the sets of eyes -- yes, sometimes they may foment. But just as often, they prevent. People, police, citizens, from going the wrong way.

The cover of "The Baltimore Sun" this morning is like a metaphor. You have a line, a phalanx of police with their shields, and in front of it, you have a kid on a bike with a gas mask right in front of them. And there was a lot of brazen confrontation last night. What do you see in the eyes of that man in the mask? Why is he there?

BRANDON SCOTT, BALTIMORE CITY COUNCILMAN: We know why he's there. We know that, in Baltimore and every city in America, there is a long, long, long-standing issues with young African-Americans in some of our communities. And this is -- this is not one person's fault. This is generations.

As I said yesterday, I have been imploring ever since I was on this council for more people to get involved with these young people, because we know some of them have been forgotten by even their own families. So we know that we're talking about years and decades of mistrust, of misfortune, of despair that is just coming out in anger.

And just trying to help them understand that this is not the way to go about it, that people do love them, people do care about them. But this is what their -- no, it is not right for them to burn down their own city, but that is what's coming out of these young people.

CUOMO: Martin Luther King, the last set of riots here in the '60s...

SCOTT: Right.

CUOMO: ... were in the aftermath of his assassination. He said riots are the voice -- are the language of the voiceless.

But the leaders give them voice.

SCOTT: Right.

CUOMO: And when you look at the mayor here, it's easy to cast blame looking backwards, but it's also important to do. This idea that space was supposed to be given yesterday, is that a fair accommodation? Or should there have been more presence?

SCOTT: I think -- I think that folks are taking it out of context.

CUOMO: Please.

SCOTT: What I understand them saying from Saturday is what they understand is they didn't want -- we can't play Monday-morning quarterback both ways.

After Ferguson, we said that the police were too aggressive. They tried to -- from my opinion, it looks like they tried not meet with the immediate aggression on Saturday. And as of immediately not being aggressive with the protestors, some of which of them say they were not being violent, then as a by-product of that, the space was given.

[07:10:08] That's what -- that's what they're saying, not that they intentionally gave them space. Good, bad or indifferent, they got the space because they were less aggressive, trying to avoid some of the issues.

CUOMO: But jump yesterday that wasn't a protest.

SCOTT: Yes. No, from jump yesterday wasn't protest. And that's a different story.

CUOMO: And you -- and they also had cops. Once they'd gone into position -- unless you saw it differently, please speak your mind -- they were watching a lot of criminal activity...

SCOTT: Right. They also had to...

CUOMO: ... almost as if they'd been told, "Stand down, stand down."

SCOTT: But we also don't -- we don't know there were orders they were given, but they also have to be safe, as well.

And knowing, and growing up not too far from that area, you're talking about an area where it is very, very, very wide open. And people can come from lots and lots of directions. So they have to be safe, as well.

Yes, no one wants to see the rioting and looting, but you're going to take all considerations. And it's easy for all of us to sit here and criticize, but for now, for me the important thing is how are we? How are the citizens, how are the average everyday citizen, many of whom have called me, they want to get out; they want to help get order and repair their neighborhoods and repair their city.

CUOMO: Because that's what was damaged last night.

SCOTT: Right.

CUOMO: The police weren't hurt last night.

SCOTT: That's us.

CUOMO: That CVS, I know it's a big chain, but that was jobs.

SCOTT: That was jobs and people in that community.

CUOMO: That was prescriptions. That was Pampers.

SCOTT: That community is filled with a lot of seniors who probably can't get to any other pharmacy. Some of the young people probably worked there in that pharmacy.

And it's important to point out that some of that neighborhood never -- has never been rebuilt since 1968 yet. So it's important for that -- and I just to implore the young people to understand that they should be angry. They should be angry any time anyone dies in Baltimore. As I met with young people at school, one of my schools yesterday. I asked them all to raise their hand if they'd lost someone to violence in the city of Baltimore. We all -- everyone in the room raised their hand.

CUOMO: I just think... SCOTT: I said, "Keep your hand up -- keep your hand up if anyone

protested for them." They all put their hands down. So they're dealing with years of trauma. And we have to figure out ways, again -- I implore people, we have to work better with these young people moving forward. Every kid that wants a mentor in Baltimore should have it, starting today.

CUOMO: That's also why message is so important. You're very clear and consistent with your own. There's no question that there was confusion caused by the mayor. Was she was saying they were giving space to people to destroy? You know, was she saying that we know that there are going to be bad things, and we have to let it happen, because that's OK, too?

And whether she meant it or not, whether she was taken out of context or not, it created a confusion. And now it takes us back to this main question again. If you do not get answers about Freddie Gray, whether they are, you know, confusing or they are clarifying, what happens? How soon do you need that?

KOCH: You need it right away. And the thing that sort of boggles my mind is that a lot of this information is static. And what I mean by that is when you're talking about transmissions between police officers, when you're talking about reports written by police officers, when you're talking about interviews that have been taken and signed off on, they don't change. So I understand and appreciate that the prosecutor's office, you know, needs to do their work, too, and the Justice Department. But people have a right to information, because this is our city and our government.

CUOMO: And you've had statements since the 12th from five out of six of the police officers.

KOCH: That's right. And we have heard none of that. And the point of the matter is, is that I don't care where the investigation goes; that information is going to remain the same throughout the course of the investigation. So let people know what you know.

Go out on the streets, tell them what video you've collected, tell them what people you've talked to. Tell them where you are in your investigation and explain to them the process, because there really hasn't been an explanation of the process.

CUOMO: Everything that you've done in all your years of practice, you've been on both sides of the bench right now.

KOCH: I have.

CUOMO: What is your sense of what's going on with this investigation? Because I have to tell you, it doesn't line up optically as a very complex situation.

KOCH: My sense of this investigation, and I have to say I have to give a little bit of credit -- I talked about this last night, and I'll talk about it again -- to "The Baltimore Sun," my sense of this investigation is it wasn't started -- parts of it weren't started soon enough.

Because as soon as -- as soon as those KGA tapes, those transmissions were listened to, in my -- you know, in my estimation, if I'm in charge of this investigation, I'm saying you go to every one of those locations. You ask anybody whether or not they have any video. You collect that video. That wasn't done. Because one of those shopkeepers, actually, who had video pointed towards one of the stops of the wagon, said, "My video was gone after six days. You came to me eight or nine days later."

CUOMO: Overwhelmed or under-motivated?

KOCH: Not -- maybe -- you know, I don't know the answer to that. I just have to say not very well-executed. Because you've got -- you've got a young man who is in critical condition. He was found unresponsive in the back of your van. You have an obligation to that young man, just like any other person who is injured or murdered in this city. Do the investigation and do it immediately and collect the evidence. Every homicide detective knows that the first 24 hours after a homicide are the most important and the most critical for the collection of evidence.

CUOMO: Clarity creates consensus. The sooner you get information, the sooner the community can process it and the family, as well.

Counsel, thank you very much.

KOCH: Thank you so much.

CUOMO: Councilman, thank you very much. Look forward to speaking with you as we continue the dynamic here.

All right. We're going to have more from Baltimore in a moment, but there's also breaking news. So let me get back to New York.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Chris. We do want to bring people breaking news now, and it is out of Nepal.

[07:15:04] Our own Sanjay Gupta has been there at a hospital for us. The death toll from the earthquake is soaring well beyond 4,000 people. Rescue crews are still digging through tons of rubble to find survivors.

So CNN's chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, as I said, is in Kathmandu. He joins us live.

Sanjay, give us the latest.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, more than three days now after the earthquake, you're seeing what it has come to in some regards, Alisyn. This is a field hospital. You can tell -- I'm not sure how good the images are that you're seeing here, but we're outside, and this is literally in the middle of a field. And they are taking care of patients now in this field hospital, a pregnant woman getting an ultrasound earlier. They are casting fractures. They're even doing minor operations out here.

Literally, this is something like you've never seen before. And they're constantly moving patients in and out. This is a very, very important time, Alisyn. The 72 hours, it's that critical time period where they think the likelihood of survival is going to be the greatest. Once you move beyond those 72 hours, things start to get even more dire.

Just take a look. Again, I just want you to see this. You can see here, see some of these images. These are people who are literally on stretchers. They are being taken back and forth. There are so many others who are waiting. I almost hate to say that these are the lucky ones, but they are the lucky ones, because so many others have not been rescued. Even if they have been rescued, they're not able to get this sort of care. It is really extraordinary.

This is the Nepalese army. Many of them medics, many of them doctors, trying to do this work. Helicopters flying overhead again. These rescue missions are ongoing -- Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Sanjay, thank you for that look. We know the transmission was a little difficult, but it is important for us to see the ongoing efforts there. They will continue, and we'll continue our coverage.

Meanwhile, Baltimore, a city on edge, a state of emergency in effect. Did a delayed response by police lead to the explosion of that violence? We're getting a law enforcement perspective next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:20:46] COMMISSIONER ANTHONY BATTS, BALTIMORE POLICE: This is not protesting. This is not your First Amendment rights. This is just criminal acts, doing damage to a community that is challenged in some ways, that do not need this and do not need to be harmed in a way that we have today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That was Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts reacting to Monday's riots. The National Guard and more police have all been deployed in response. But did the city respond too late to the violence?

We want to turn to Cedric Alexander. He is the president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives; also the deputy chief operating officer of public safety in DeKalb County, Georgia; and is on the president's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which is certainly getting its test, Cedric. Boy, we're glad to talk to you. We need law enforcement perspective on this. And specifically yours.

First of all, I've got to get your reaction to what we see happen overnight in Baltimore. What do you think went wrong? CEDRIC ALEXANDER, PRESIDENT, NOBLE: Well, you know, we're all

very sad about what happened last night. We're talking about a major American city with a great deal of civil unrest, a long history of discontent between police and community. But we have to move forward and away from where we were last night.

And I encourage all the parents in and around Baltimore, particularly in the city, to keep your children off the street so that that city can begin to make some recommendations as to how it's going to move forward.

I think we all are very sensitive to what's going on across the country. But, Michaela, I have to tell you, last night was just -- what we saw with many acts of just -- of criminality that should not have occurred. But it's kind of a very difficult place that that city is in right now.

PEREIRA: I think it sickened a lot of us, I have to say, Cedric.

ALEXANDER: Yes.

PEREIRA: I want to ask you, to your point about keeping the kids at home, do you think it's the right move to keep kids in -- out of school, rather, and enforce a curfew? Do you think that's the proper move?

ALEXANDER: I think it's the proper move to make right now. And here's the thing that we also have to keep in mind, too, Michaela, is the fact that the mayor and the leadership in that police department, Commissioner Batts, they're doing the very best they can under the circumstances.

You know, there is not a playbook in terms of how to manage these types of situations when they occur. If we go back last year to Ferguson, we're seeing a very different optic here. And even though the police are being criticized for not moving fast enough, we also criticized in Ferguson last year some optics we're certain very uncomfortable with we have not seen in Baltimore. So sometimes it's six in one, half a dozen in the other.

CAMEROTA: Yes, you're talking...

ALEXANDER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: I mean, basically you've talked about this catch-22...

ALEXANDER: Right.

CAMEROTA: ... that if you have too much of a police presence, it becomes a police state.

ALEXANDER: Right.

CAMEROTA: And then there was -- the police force took so much heat in Ferguson when that happened.

ALEXANDER: Right.

CAMEROTA: But doesn't it feel to you, Cedric, that there were not -- there was not enough preparation for the escalating violence last night?

ALEXANDER: Well, I don't really think, and I don't want to speak for Baltimore, but I don't think that they had any idea that things would erupt so quickly in that city. So in their preparation -- and we don't know what information they were operating on, what intel information they may have gathered. I have to leave that to the leadership there in Baltimore. But I believe, under the circumstances, that they did as best they could.

But getting back to these kids again, Michaela, it is important that the parents keep them off the street tonight. And keep them home, and give this community an opportunity to take a breath so that they can be more planful (ph) going forward in terms as to how they're going to meet challenges that they may have.

PEREIRA: So Cedric, we do know a few things, though. It's Michaela speaking again. You have Alisyn and Michaela here in studio talking to you.

ALEXANDER: Yes.

PEREIRA: We do know that the mayor was part of a group of people that were tasked with sort of writing this playbook post-Ferguson. So we know that she has been involved in trying to make a plan for this.

We also know that there was social media and text messaging. Some sort of effort some people are calling the purge that was going around to sort of activate these group of teenagers.

ALEXANDER: Right. Right.

PEREIRA: So to your point about keeping the kids at home, that's one aspect. But what needs to be done in terms of community policing to make sure there's sort of a counter-effort online to sort of combat those messages that are going out?

ALEXANDER: Well, one thing that can happen, hopefully, is that local government there in the police department can jump in on social media, give some direction, some leadership as to what needs to happen, need not to happen.

But I think very importantly -- I will say, too, as well, that here again that city needs an opportunity to recapture, regain itself. And police having an opportunity to do that during this curfew will allow them a chance to do exactly that. And that's to catch a breath.

But here's the thing. But here's the thing I have to point out. There is no playbook to this. If you look at what happened last night, and I'm looking at it from a thousand miles away, but if you look at what happened last night, what you're also seeing is some strategic movements that were made by young people in and around that community. They know the alleyways; they know the backyards. They know how to maneuver themselves through those communities. So this will give the city of Baltimore police an opportunity to strategize a little better when they are able to have a little time here.

PEREIRA: Cedric Alexander, we always appreciate when you join us on our air. Thank you so much for your perspective.

ALEXANDER: Thank you for having me.

PEREIRA: We'll be calling on you in subsequent days, I know.

ALEXANDER: Thank you.

PEREIRA: But you at home, what's your take? You can give us a little tweet. Tweet using the #NewDayCNN.

CAMEROTA: Right. Well, there's new scrutiny of Baltimore city leaders and their handling of this violence. Was there any plan in place? We'll take a look at what that plan might have been, next.

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