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South Carolina Church Gunman Arrested; Interview with Former Classmate of South Carolina Gunman; Victims of South Carolina Church Shooting Profiled; Prison Break Fugitives Added to "Most Wanted" List; Remembering Massacre Victims. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 19, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: -- in this travesty has reportedly confessed his crimes to police. CNN learning that Dylann Roof told authorities he did open fire inside one of the nation's most historic African-American churches killing nine people. He says he did it because he wanted to start a race war. He is due back in court here this afternoon, Chris. And we'll be watching that, of course.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Of course. The massacre is raising lot of questions about race, hate, terror, guns, and why so many are resistant to calling this what it is. Are we too conditioned to seeing terror as coming from outside, or are we hiding from realities at home, Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Chris, we are debating and exploring that as we learn about the suspect's past. He made racist comments and he also had possible ties to white supremacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you feeling?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did you do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you feel?

CAMEROTA: Behind bars, alleged mass murder, Dylann Roof accused of killing nine people at a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to talk a little bit about it.

CAMEROTA: This cellphone video captured moments before the carnage shows Roof sitting at a table with a small bible study group. The 21-year-old inside for about an hour before opening fire with a 45 caliber pistol. One of the survivors pleaded with the gunman to stop.

SYLVIA JOHNSON, FRIEND SURVIVED SOUTH CAROLINA CHURCH MASSACRE: After the young man tried to stop him from doing what he wanted to finish off, he said, no, you raped our women, and you are taking over the country.

CAMEROTA: After the massacre, Roof fled the scene. And less than 14 hours later -- DEBBIE DILLS, SPOTTED DYLANN ROOF WHILE DRIVING: It was God who

made this happen.

CAMEROTA: A floral shop owner Debbie Dills spots the alleged shooter more than 200 miles away in North Carolina following Roof until police got him without incident.

DILLS: God heard the prayers of those people and he just used us as his vessels to get his work done.

CAMEROTA: Roof's roommate telling ABC News he was, quote, "big into segregation," alleging Roof was plotting this for six months. Roof's childhood friend tells the network --

JOEY MEEK, FRIEND OF DYLANN ROOF: I think he wanted something big like Trayvon Martin. He wanted to spark up the race war again.

CAMEROTA: This Facebook photo revealing two flags on Roof's jacket, one from apartheid era South Africa, and the other from the former Rhodesia when it was ruled by a white minority, now called Zimbabwe.

MAYOR JOSEPH RILEY, JR., CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: There's something weird and bad and hateful going on in his mind.

CAMEROTA: The community left reeling, the governor of South Carolina fighting back tears.

GOV. NIKKI HALEY, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: The heart and soul of South Carolina was broken. And so we have some grieving to do. And we've got some pain we have to go through.

CAMEROTA: President Obama said he and Michelle personally knew several members of the historic Emanuel AME Church.

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To say our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families and their community doesn't say enough to convey the heartache and the sadness and the anger that we feel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Now, it's not clear if Roof's roommate went to authorities. But Joey Meek told ABC News that he had not. It's not clear why he didn't. CNN has reached out to both the roommate and Meek. We will update you when we have more information. But we do have that breaking news on the suspect's apparent confession. We want to get right to CNN's Justice Reporter Evan Perez. He's in Washington with all the breaking details. What have you learned, Evan?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Alisyn, he said he wanted to start a race war. That's the confession from Dylann Roof in talking to the FBI and Charleston homicide detectives who interviewed him yesterday in North Carolina. Today he is back in jail and he must be thinking that he really has failed because you can see the reaction there in Charleston has been the opposite. We are told that he talked to these investigators freely and

openly for several hours before he was taken to court to be -- to begin the process to send him back to Charleston. Now, we also know that the AFT and the FBI have been working this case. The ATF has helped trace the handgun. We are told that Roof bought this handgun, this .45 caliber handgun, in Charleston in April. He bought it himself. His grandfather told Brian Todd last night that his father, Roof's father, had given him money to buy the gun for his birthday. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Evan, that's quite a development. Thanks so much for that.

And we want to try to get some insight now on this gunman from someone who knew the alleged killer. John Mullins is Dylann Roof's former high school classmate. John, thanks so much for being with us this morning. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it you and Dylann Roof were not tight friends, but you did share a close mutual friend. So tell us what your impressions of Dylann Roof were.

[08:05:09] JOHN MULLINS, FORMER CLASSMATE OF CHURCH SHOOTING SUSPECT: From what I remember, he was always just, like kind of quiet. He had like a teenager vibe to him, I guess. It's hard to remember because it was so far back. But --

CAMEROTA: Did you hear him make racist remarks when you were in high school?

MULLINS: They were jokes, I guess, racist slurs, but they were never taken too seriously until now. Now I'm looking at him in a different manner.

CAMEROTA: I mean, when you say jokes, can you characterize them for us? What type of thing did he say?

MULLINS: I mean, they were racist slurs. I'm not going to say them on the TV. But they were around our black friends that we shared mutually. And they didn't take them as serious jokes, either. So nobody really -- it was always a bunch of people talking, I guess.

CAMEROTA: I mean, that's what's interesting, John, is that on his apparent Facebook page, the one that appears to be linked to him, he does have black Facebook friends, yet his language and what he says appears to have gotten more and more racist. At the time, you thought he was joking. Did you know him to be angry?

MULLINS: I mean, every teenager gets mad, but I never considered him an angry person. He never was belligerent in that sense, I guess.

CAMEROTA: What about -- what about his drug use? We have heard different things. Was he a drug user?

MULLINS: I've told many people through CNN and other reporters that it was, I assumed, by association. But now it's been surfaced he was on drugs. CAMEROTA: Because I thought you had said, in fact, he was a pill

popper, that it was your impression he was on drugs that were harder than marijuana?

MULLINS: Yes, I was under the impression he was a pill popper because of the people he would associate with in our school.

CAMEROTA: John, what was your school like? What was the culture of your school like? Help us understand what the race relations were like that he could have black friends yet say sort of offensive, racist jokes.

MULLINS: I mean, if your friends are making jokes at you and you are making jokes back, it's just taken as a joke overall. So it wasn't -- he never went and targeted people like that in high school. It was just, he was in that group, I guess.

CAMEROTA: You know, we have talked about how pictures of him have shown him wearing apartheid on his jacket. What did that tell you about his belief system and what he thought about values like that?

MULLINS: I guess it's not too good, obviously. Now it makes sense that he wore that. When I saw the pictures on Facebook before all this, I didn't know what any of it meant. It's kind of like, you have to look into it to know what it meant, I guess.

CAMEROTA: But, I mean, I know you were thinking he was somebody who exhibited intense southern pride. Can you tell us more about that?

MULLINS: Well, that was from "The Daily Beast," and they had twisted my words.

CAMEROTA: Clarify for us.

MULLINS: They asked me if he showed any sort of southern pride. And I said I guess so because the school we went to was, it's got a lot of, I guess they would consider themselves rednecks. And I mean it was a very largely -- we had a diverse school. I mean, he used to talk to --

CAMEROTA: Did he drop out of -- OK, I wanted to ask you about that. You went to a diverse school?

MULLINS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And he was part of different cliques?

MULLINS: Yes. But, he never dropped out. He attended another school in the middle of the ninth grade year. It was like a weird -- he went to White Knoll for one ninth grade year and then went for another half of the ninth grade year and then went on to Dreher high school.

CAMEROTA: Do you know if he graduated from that other high school?

MULLINS: I do not know, to be honest.

[08:10:00] CAMEROTA: You know, he has been described, lately, as being unemployed, being at loose ends, being so introverted as to almost be reclusive. According to his uncle, he spent a lot of time in his room not socializing. His language does seem to have become more racist. In fact, he started talking about plans, talking about violent plans. When you knew him, did you ever see any strain of violence?

MULLINS: I did not. All this is just a shock. I mean, I really don't know what to say about it, to be honest.

CAMEROTA: Do you think there's anything that his roommates could have done? I mean, they say they tried to take away his gun but ultimately gave it back to him. Do you think there's anything his roommates could have done to have stopped him?

MULLINS: Honestly, probably not. I'm really not sure. I mean, if he already had this planned out for six months, as his roommates said, then he was eventually going to execute his idea.

CAMEROTA: John Mullins, we appreciate you sharing your memories from high school about him. Thanks so much.

MULLINS: You're welcome.

CAMEROTA: We want to get over to Michaela -- thank you -- Michaela now who has a look at how the victims of the massacre, what they are all about. They, of course, were at the church. And their family members are still together now. Michaela, tell us the latest.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's important as we are struggling to find answers about why this happened and how this happened. I mean, you're talking to somebody that knew this gunman. It's important to talk about these victims, the nine lives cut short. Emotional vigils are being held for these nine victims that were gunned down in this senseless tragedy. Their family and friends remembering their loved ones whose lives were cut short in this beautiful place of worship.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: From the heart of the tragedy in South Carolina --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our hope is in God.

PEREIRA: To the historic walls of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Georgia thousands came to mourn nine of Charleston's most prominent leaders killed inside Emanuel AME church Wednesday, including four beloved reverends. Among them 74-year-old retired reverend Daniel Simmons who attended the church every Sunday, 49-year-old Revered DePayne Middleton-Doctor who served her community in the learning center of Southern Wesleyan University, 45-year-old Reverend Sharonda Singleton pictured here with her son on Mother's Day coached at a local high school. Consoled by his teammate, Chris Singleton remembers his mom.

CHRIS SINGLETON, MOTHER KILLED IN CHARLESTON SHOOTING: We just love the way my mom would. The hate won't be anywhere close to what love is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only love can conquer hate.

PEREIRA: And the distinctive voice of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, a leader of the Emanuel AME Church, was also silenced, gunned down as he preached.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To see him die face down in the ground.

PEREIRA: State Senator Reverend Pinckney became the youngest African-American ever elected to the South Carolina legislature. After the shooting of Walter Scott by police he stressed the need for body police cameras in South Carolina.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A badge and a gun does not give someone superiority or still trump their constitutionally protected privileges and rights in South Carolina.

PEREIRA: Friends and family struggle to cope with the loss of so many inside a place of worship. Recent college graduate, Tywanza Sanders, just 26-year-old, lost his life. Cynthia Hurd, 54-year-old, she worked for decades as a librarian. Now as a tribute to her service, it will be renamed in her honor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just want to know why, like why would you do something like this?

PEREIRA: Tim Jackson mourning the loss of his 87-year-old grandmother Susie. He remembers here as a loving person with a great smile. Susie's 70-year-old cousin Ethel Lance also killed. And Myra Thompson, 59, she was teaching the bible study held each Wednesday when the gunman opened fire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Now that the gunman has confessed, the families can get a little insight, a little comfort, that is, into why this happened. They can begin this emotional, this long and difficult journey of healing. We are going to talk to one of the victim's best friends. He'll join us a little later. Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Michaela, we are looking forward to that.

Now, back here in New York, we want to, obviously, draw attention to the fact the suspect in California, really not a suspect, he's pleaded guilty to these. He's admitted the murders, that is. The legal process is somewhat of a formality in South Carolina. But how about in New York? What's going on here? Well, there are plenty of reasons it was easier done in South Carolina, but we do have the latest information on these escaped killers. Let's get to CNN's Alexandra Field in Dannemora, New York.

[08:15:02] Much easier tell in South Carolina than you have up there. But we are hearing the escapees are now on the U.S. Marshals' most wanted list, true?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And that only indicates that the urgency holds here. There's an intense effort still to find these men who have been missing for nearly two weeks now.

State police in the area say that they are continuing to scour empty and abandoned buildings. They are calling on people who live nearby to take a look at surveillance cameras, turn in any video that they might have from surveillance cameras or trail cameras.

At the same time, we are learning about Lyle Mitchell, he is the husband of the woman accused of helping Richard Matt and David Sweat, convicted killers to escape from the maximum security prison. There are allegations she had relationships with both of these men. An attorney for Lyle Mitchell now says that Lyle had no idea his wife had any kind of sexual relationship with Richard Matt, but that he had in the past confronted her amid reports of a possible relationship with David Sweat.

At the time, she denied those accusations to her husband. We know that Lyle Mitchell went to visit Joyce Mitchell behind bars. He had questions he wanted answered.

His attorney said he left confused. He had no knowledge of the escape plan or his wife's part in it. And now, he has no plans to testify on her behalf -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. So, you have that drama in terms of the relationship. But the question in concern still is, where are these two bad men? We'll check back with Alexandra and she'll give us any developments as they come in.

So, in other headlines, a signature piece of legislation is in the hands of the Senate, hanging by a thread. The House voted Thursday to grant President Obama fast track authority. Now, that allows him to negotiate a Pacific trade deal.

But they only give it to him by 10 votes and now, he's seeing a tight thing in the Senate. Fourteen Democrats are with holding support until they were guaranteed a separate worker protection bill. The House has to debate that. So, stay tuned.

The EPA and Transportation Department will unveil regulations to reduce emissions from big rigs and heavy duty trucks. The rules kick in in the 2019 model year. The auto makers will give their chance for input before new rules take effect.

All right. So, Tiger Woods. You know, sad, disappointing, even laughable -- those are the words you could use to describe his worst ever round in a U.S. Open. He is ten over par. He shot at 80 in the first round at Chambers Bay. It's the second time he shot a round in the 80s. He's now in danger of missing the cut.

All right. Mick, let's back to you in Charleston.

PEREIRA: Oh, we are here in Charleston. We're learning about the community, the tremendous resilience and community that is here. And I've got the opportunity to talk to a friend of the youngest victim who, actually, we are told, died trying to save others.

I'm talking a young man named Tywanza or Wanza Sanders. He was 26 years old. His friend, A.J. Harley is here.

I'm asking you, brother, how you are doing today?

A.J. HARLEY, FRIEND OF TYWANZA SANDERS: I'm doing great, you know? It's good to be able to speak on behalf of Tywanza and his family and the Charleston community about how everything is going right now.

PEREIRA: How are you feeling? How is the community? How is the family? You were a tight group of friends.

HARLEY: Extremely tight, we are pretty much like brothers. I'm doing good. They are doing good. We have been contacted by media. It's good to be able to actually put out how positive everything is going.

PEREIRA: We are going to talk to you a little bit more. We're going to take a short break.

We'll be right back.

HARLEY: Thanks.

PEREIRA: We'll talk to A.J. in a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:22:16] PEREIRA: Back in Charleston, South Carolina, this morning with the very latest in the church massacre. This beautiful church, Mother Emanuel behind. What a scene we are seeing, outpouring of emotion.

I want to bring back A.J. Harley, the best friend of Tywanza or Wanza Sanders. He was the youngest victim of the attack at Emanuel AME.

So, you talk about the fact that this was a guy you have known for a long time, A.J. We are hearing reports -- and I'm sorry if this is upsetting for you to hear -- that he actually tried to play the hero, he tried to save lives and tries to talk the gunman out of acting out of violence. Is this the guy you knew?

HARLEY: Yes, this is exactly like the guy we knew, the guy we know. It's just like Tywanza. He's there for everybody, especially to protect a family member. It's nothing out of the blue for him. He is loving, caring. So, it was good to hear that, and sure that like, you know, he didn't die in vain.

PEREIRA: And as you are struggling to make sense of this, there is no sense to be made, what is the conversation you are hearing from shared friends, from other people your age. What is the conversation you are having?

HARLEY: It's astonishing. None of us were or are prepared for the situation everybody is going through. But the community is together. Our friends, family, everybody is strong. His family is strong.

So, it's good to know everybody has held together.

PEREIRA: In terms of moving forward, what do you see is the conversation people are having in Charleston? Because, you know, we know, recently, this area has had to deal with the Walter Scott death.

HARLEY: Yes.

PEREIRA: And that caused a lot of controversy. We know there's a lot of strong feelings and emotions in this community.

HARLEY: Naturally.

PEREIRA: But now, after this, when you think about that this church, a place people go to seek solace and answers about life struggles, nine people killed in that very act of worship -- what are the conversations that need to be had going forward?

HARLEY: I just believe that everybody just needs to keep a level head. People need to understand that the shooter is not from Charleston. You know, he's from a little further away. So, it was an attack. We put some stuff in place to where we want to recognize the people from Charleston and we want to represent Tywanza. We have a scholarship we put together.

PEREIRA: Tell me about that.

HARLEY: A few of our friends, and our friend group, we did a scholarship at the high school that we went to, on James Island, and it was called Race for Achievement. So, basically what we did, we actually just change the name to the Tywanza Sanders Scholarship in dedication to him. We will continue to grow the scholarship and try to provide education, because that's what he was about. He was about being educated, you know, stimulating yourself, growing intellectually.

[08:25:00] So, we want to continue that movement for him.

PEREIRA: He also was somebody who was vocal on social media.

HARLEY: Yes.

PEREIRA: In fact, we know that on the day before this horrific act of violence that took his life, he actually posted a quote from Jackie Robinson. I'll read to you. "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."

You smile when I say that.

HARLEY: It was just mind boggling to actually see that, after hearing the situation and, you know, you hear it, you go on his Facebook page, you go on his Instagram, and see that post happen literally a couple hours before he would have been in the church is just, you know, mind boggling to me.

PEREIRA: Where were you when you found out?

HARLEY: I was at home. My wife told me. I was actually -- I heard about the situation, like many people. It spread virally throughout the city. Nobody knew who was involved.

PEREIRA: You knew he went to the church?

HARLEY: Yes, I know that he went to this church, but I didn't know he was going to be there that night at the bible study, you know -- which wasn't surprising. I was home, fell asleep on the couch, just watching TV, went to bed late. My wife and daughter had already gone to sleep.

And my wife came out and she was upset. Woke me up and told me that another friend from Miami called her and told her what happened.

PEREIRA: You didn't believe it at first?

HARLEY: Not at all. I was like there's no way.

PEREIRA: What was the first emotion?

HARLEY: I mean, the first emotion was fear, because I feared, like, you know, something happened to one of my best friends. Disbelief. Naturally, I couldn't believe it. After everything sank in, friends, brothers, everybody is calling each other, alerting each other making sure everybody knew. Everybody was consoling each other.

And our next order was to just ensure his mother was OK.

PEREIRA: Is she doing all right?

HARLEY: From what I have seen. I only got to see her once. I'm going to try to make it out there.

PEREIRA: She is going to need you. The friends of Wanza, she's going to need you there.

HARLEY: She's got a strong support system.

PEREIRA: She's got a strong support system.

HARLEY: She does.

PEREIRA: And it sounds as though you all do.

Thank you for letting us know about this tremendous young man.

HARLEY: I appreciate it. Thank you.

PEREIRA: You fought to get here this morning. There's a lot of media in the area. There's a lot of roadblocks obviously. A struggle for A.J. to get here with us, but it's important.

HARLEY: Thank you.

PEREIRA: Because we want the focus to remain, Alisyn, on the lives that were lost, not at the focus of this man that took their lives, this senseless act of violence. That's an important message we are hearing resoundingly from Charleston.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. I mean we try to figure out why he did it by focusing a little bit on who knew the gunman, but of course it's so much more important as you have been doing to highlight the victim's lives.

So, we will have so much more on the church massacre in Charleston. Should the U.S. revisit its gun control laws in the wake of this attack? We will ask South Carolina senator and 2016 presidential hopeful, Lindsey Graham, when he joins us right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)