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Remembering the Victims of Orlando Terror Attack; French Police Officer Killed in ISIS-Inspired Attack; FBI: Orlando Terrorist a "Homegrown Extremist". Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 14, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: There's a clearer picture emerging of the 49 people who lost their lives in the terror attack at the Pulse nightclub behind us there -- who they were, who they loved, what made them special.

[06:30:09] They ranged in age from 18 years old to 50 years old. And there was a vigil outside the performing arts center here. We heard their names read aloud. It was special and you could hear this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA (voice-over): A singer, a pharmacy tech, an aspiring firefighter, a UPS worker, a cancer survivor, a father. These are just some of the 49 victims of the Orlando terror attack. Their friends and family want the stories of how they lived to be known.

Edward Sotomayor was a popular travel planner known as Top Hat Eddie. He sent this Snapchat to friends from the nightclub on Saturday night.

Amanda Alvear, she wanted to be a nurse. Amanda took vide of the festivity inside the club before the shots. She died alongside one of her best friends, Mercedes Flores.

JOSIEN GARCIA, ESCAPED FROM CLUB: Basically my life revolved around them, and my immediate family, but they're my second family.

CAMEROTA: KJ Morris was a bouncer at Pulse. She moved at Orlando two months ago to be close to her mother and grandmother.

STARR SHELTON, EX-PARTNER OF ORLANDO VICTIM: She was so excited to start working there and to be a part of that community.

CAMEROTA: Enrique Rios, a social work student from Brooklyn, remembered by his family.

CAMILE CASTILL, VICTIM'S COUSIN: You stole someone away from a bunch of people that cared and loved him so much.

CAMEROTA: Jimmy Dejesus Velasquez was a retail worker, originally from Puerto Rico who left behind a lifelong friend.

SARA LOPEZ, BEST FRIEND OF VICTIM: I thought he was immortal. You know? He always said he would never leave me and abandon me and I trusted him. CAMEROTA: Eddie Justice, an accountant, texted his mother frantically

from the club during the massacre, asking for help and to say, mommy, I love you.

MINA JUSTICE, SON KILLED IN TERROR ATTACK: He said he was going to die and he loved me. That's the last thing I heard.

CAMEROTA: Juan Ramon Guerrero just came out as gay to his parents this year. He will be mourned alongside his boyfriend Christopher Andrew Leinonen who also died in the attack.

CHRISTINE LEINONEN, VICTIM'S MOTHER: And I loved him with, I love you, Chris.

CAMEROTA: Many of these desperate families came to this nondescript brick building Monday morning before knowing the fate of their loved ones. Inside, they got the devastating news. FBI agents gathered the roughly 250 people together, and read the names of the deceased.

ANGEL MARCIAL, YOUTH DIRECTOR, CHURCH OF GOD'S SOUTHEASTERN HISPANIC REGION: The reactions were breaking down with tears, screaming, but it was today when they came to the conclusion and they had the reality, the shock of the reality that it now is a fact they passed away.

CAMEROTA: Afterwards, a band of volunteers in red shirts flanked the grieving families, shielding them from the media scrum with a sea of black umbrellas. Nearby, at an LGBT community center, food, comfort and crisis counselors at the ready for anyone in need.

BRYAN BUCK, FAMILY SUPPORT COUNSELOR: We're coming together, and trying to be supportive of each other.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: So, we were outside that makeshift family center yesterday where it was so devastating to know that the families were going in with a glimmer of hope, and then coming out having heard the confirmation that their loved ones were dead and coming out devastated. It was quite a scene yesterday.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, one of the things that wound up being really important and is continuing to be important is that I was worried early on this was going to be about them. That this was about the gays, and that they were targeted, and it's really important to see how this community has come out, but nationally, and embracing that, no, these were Americans, these men and women, boys and girls, you know, 18 years old.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: They are, all of us, and to see even Governor Scott and the attorney general, they had bitter fights here about gay marriage, but this is not about politics. You know? This was about just loving your fellow human and it's an important message to send. And it also defeats the purpose of the act in the first place. CAMEROTA: All true. We saw that.

CUOMO: So, what do we know about what's going on else in the world? There is terror popping up in other places.

We have a horrible breaking news event in France. A French police officer and his partner killed at the hands of an ISIS sympathizer. This time, it was done in a very different way. We'll give you the story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:22] CUOMO: We're following breaking news from France. That's where we have an incident to report where it seems that ISIS killers have struck again. A police officer and his partner killed by a knife-wielding assailant who claims he was acting in the name of ISIS. This attack has a bizarre twist.

And for that, let's go to CNN's Atika Shubert. She's live at the scene with details -- Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Chris. The attack happened just shortly before 9:00 just down the street.

Now, what we know is that the attacker's name was Larossi Abballa. We know that from a source close to the investigation.

But what's especially chilling is that he apparently posted either a video or Facebook live. We're seeking clarification of this of the actual attack.

Now, he doesn't appear that he posted a video of the killing but the aftermath of it. In that video, you can also see the couple's child a 3-year-old boy in that video. So, very concerning details there. We are still seeking confirmation from both French police and investigators who are now looking at that video as well as a statement from Facebook. We're hoping to get a statement from them on exactly what was posted as well.

But this is obviously very disconcerting, especially when you consider that the attacker Larossi Abballa, who was shot dead by police late last night when they stormed the house was known to police as being somebody involved in terror networks. He was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison in 2013 for trying to recruit people into terror organizations associated with Pakistan. So very concerning that they weren't able to prevent this attack, even though he was on their police radar, Chris.

[06:40:03] CUOMO: All right, Atika. Thank you for bringing these details. A horrible story. As there are more developments let us know. We'll come back to you.

And as it is in all of these incidents, the people who commit these murders in the name of madness, known as ISIS, start the situation, but they don't finish it, and they're not the focus. Back here in Orlando, there are so many innocent lives in the gay

community, Latino community, from this community, that were taken far too soon. Coming up, we have a friend of someone who's lost someone very close to them. Memories about who is gone.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Shane Evan Tomlinson, he was just 33 years old and one of the 49 people killed at the nightclub behind me. Friends and loved ones today remembering him as a brilliant singer with an infectious laugh.

And one of his friends, Cash Arroyo, joins me now.

Cash, thanks for being here. I know this has been such a hard 72 hours for you.

Can you tell us about Shane?

[06:45:01] CASH ARROYO, LOST FRIEND IN ORLANDO TERROR ATTACK: He was a very happy person. He had a very contagious laugh. He was always happy -- just a good-spirited person, and very beautiful on the inside and the outside.

CAMEROTA: And he was a lead singer --

ARROYO: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- in a local band. I think we have a moment of him performing. So let's listen to that for a second.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

CAMEROTA: It's nice to watch him performing. I know you went to see him several times. Look at -- you can see why the crowd loves him. What was he like as a performer?

ARROYO: Just like his personality, very outspoken. He was -- everywhere he went, even amongst his friends he was the center of attention. You know? Everybody loved him. He's, a beautiful face, a beautiful personality and he really brought that out when he was onstage.

CAMEROTA: He was performing a few hours --

ARROYO: Yes. I wasn't here, though.

CAMEROTA: I know, you weren't here, because interestingly, you work at a different nightclub.

ARROYO: Right.

CAMEROTA: Across town, and you are security. You're a security guard. ARROYO: Right.

CAMEROTA: At the nightclub.

ARROYO: Uh-huh.

CAMEROTA: Tell us what happened at your nightclub the night that this was happening at Pulse?

ARROYO: We found a weapon in somebody's crotch area. We found two guns and we sent them out of the club.

CAMEROTA: You do pat-downs at your club? Do it every night.

ARROYO: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And you found weapons.

ARROYO: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Does that happen regularly?

ARROYO: Not every weekend, but on occasion, yes.

CAMEROTA: Is that scary?

ARROYO: It is.

CAMEROTA: That people are coming to the club with weapons?

ARROYO: It's scary and it's sad. You don't know their intentions. You don't know if they're afraid and that's their intention or want to do something to somebody.

CAMEROTA: Did the Pulse do pat-downs as well?

ARROYO: No. That I'm aware of, no.

Pulse was a very energetic and happy place. It didn't have problems. People didn't fight. People went there literally to have fun because there was never a problem.

CAMEROTA: And wanted it to be an open door welcome place?

ARROYO: Uh-huh.

CAMEROTA: One of the things about Shane's story, he was so upset by the murder of Christine Grimmie from "The Voice", which also happened here. I mean, unconnected, but just a cruel irony and I think that I have something that he posted about it.

He said -- he posted something on Facebook. He said, "As a stage performer you can't pep but keep questioning, how did this get past security?" And then he said, "The only complete protection we have is God, and sometimes he needs you more than this evil world. Rest in peace, Christina Grimmie." CAMEROTA: That was his philosophy.

ARROYO: And now it's ours for him.

CAMEROTA: What is that?

ARROYO: He's gone to heaven, because god definitely needed him a lot more than we did.

CAMEROTA: I mean, how do you make sense of all of the lives that were taken that night?

ARROYO: You can't. It's -- honestly, I don't think it's hit me yet. Right now, it's kind of just like, my friend is gone and my family's friends are gone, and I don't think it's completely hit me what really has happened here.

Like, I keep telling myself, but -- I don't think it's registered yet. I don't know when it will. Honestly. I haven't had time to be by myself to really, really think about it.

CAMEROTA: How did you learn of Shane's death?

ARROYO: Oh -- the same night that I -- was on my way to work, I was driving on the turnpike, because I went to work late because I just came home from Puerto Rico, and there was cops flying past me. I get off the exit and I see the commotion, literally the exit is right down the street. I didn't think anything until I got work. They were like, oh, there's been a shoot-out at the club.

And on my way back home, I seen all the cops, and I went home and got on social media and I saw all of these posts, and somebody said his name. Like, you know, we're trying to reach out to him. We don't know if he's okay.

So, immediately I came out here, and I was here all day, all night, and I waited and I waited and I didn't sleep, and then the next morning, I just waited for the names, and -- his was on there.

CAMEROTA: They read the names out loud?

ARROYO: I didn't watch the TV. I just read it on the -- on the website that they put it on. As soon as it came out.

CAMEROTA: And had you been waiting to hear from him on Facebook?

ARROYO: I was hoping, because we called the hospital. At first they said they didn't have any information. The second time they said that. They couldn't give us information because we weren't family. We thought maybe he's in critical condition or something, maybe in the hospital, but --

CAMEROTA: Your story reflects so many we heard yesterday. So many families still didn't know yesterday, the whereabouts of their loved ones. [06:50:02] And then we were there when they, the FBI came in and read the list, and I know it has been a tortuous 48 hours of people waiting.

ARROYO: Right.

CAMEROTA: And waiting, some people said, was the hardest part, of not knowing where.

Cash, thank you. Thank you for sharing your personal story about all of this with us. We wish you the best going forward.

He had been on the FBI's radar. So how did the Orlando terrorist get his hands on military-style weapons? And what can be done to prevent that from happens? We'll discuss all of that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: We know the Orlando terrorist had been on the FBI's radar. He'd been interviewed in 2013, he was a focus then. He'd been talked to again in 2014. Both of these were terror investigations.

A big and now haunting question is -- how was he able to get a weapon with the FBI doing the background check with all they knew about him?

Let's bring in CNN analyst counterterrorism, Art -- we have Art Roderick and -- sorry, Phil Mudd with us.

Gentlemen, thank you very much.

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Yes.

CUOMO: Let's talk about the big and then the small. They both matter here.

The first one, this guy is presenting a confused picture. OK? At first it was, oh, here's another guy radicalized, who did he hook up with abroad? Oh, no. He's a lone wolf. He radicalized here. What was he doing online?

Now, it seems, Phil, this is a more confused picture. This could be mental illness, this could be derangement, this could be something else that has no connection to any bigger idea except in his own maddened head?

MUDD: That's right. I mean, if we look at this over the past couple days, we're trying to box this. We're trying to say, somebody was radicalized, they talked about ISIS, they talked about al Qaeda in the past, al Nusra and Syria, and then you look at his mental state, the person conflicts, whether he visited a club, what his wife said about his personal state.

You start to say, in contrast with the story, we're talking about France this morning. Someone who had been incarcerated for recruiting people to go fight, this is not boxed yet. It's not radicalization solely. It's not personal issues solely. It's not clear to me what his mindset was.

CUOMO: Let's be honest, that's frustrating, Art, because what we want to do is we want to say, look, this guy is a Muslim, and he figured out something about this extreme ideology, he decided to own it, and came after us. That's what he is.

The fact he may be some crazy, deranged person who also had issues going on complicates it, makes it harder to deal with investigatively and just practically.

[06:55:03] ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Right, exactly. We as human beings like to box something, label it and then just move on. That's not the case in this particular point. He had three major issues going on, whether it's radicalization, his personal life, his hatred of the gay community, or, you know, where he's coming from, in his personal life, what his wife is saying about him.

I don't think we can say this is purely radicalization, it's purely issues in his personal life. I think we've got a combination of all three and he's using each of those to justify his other issues going on in his life.

CUOMO: Why does this matter? Why is this not an academic discussion? Because people like you need to know, because it's about who you target, who you watch, who you see as a real threat and who you don't?

MUDD: That's right. We're looking backwards trying to figure what happened behind us. People like me in government today are looking forward. What lessons do I draw for the future?

Can I pull a thread that says, do we have an increasing number of people radicalized by ISIS? Going in this direction and other directions, we can prevent this.

CUOMO: Here is something that matters going forward. Often the best you can hope for in these unmitigated losses is that you learn something about how you can do things you can change.

People are blaming the FBI. Just saying they had two bites at this guy. I think it's unfair on the facts, Art, but there is a real issue. Everyone I talk to in my source within the FBI community says the same thing. The law does not allow us to flag the gun purchase of someone like this. I said, but you can put him on the no-fly list.

The law allows us to put someone we're looking at on a no-fly list. We cannot flag their arm purchase. Is that true?

RODERICK: That is true.

CUOMO: Why?

RODERICK: Because the legislation, Senate, Congress, have to pass legislation to allow law enforcement to enforce these types of laws.

CUOMO: You investigate me. You close the case.

RODERICK: Right.

CUOMO: You talk to me again because my name comes up when you're working another investigation. You then find out a couple years later, I'm going to buy long guns and a handgun, and you can't pick up the phone and say, Cuomo, I need to talk to you again, because I know you and want to know about this?

RODERICK: The problem, no connection between the last interview and going and purchasing a handgun. That's the gap we're looking at here.

CUOMO: Now, but it's not a mistake. It's how the system is designed. Is that accurate?

MUDD: You've got to think about this. It is not an investigative issue. As someone who participates with investigators, I would like to say this individual is under investigation, we should, therefore, determine at this moment he cannot purchase a weapon.

As you said, we do that with flying. This is a political question. Do you want to give law enforcement the authority to say, as we've eliminated your right to travel, now we are also going to eliminate your right to bear arms because of the investigation?

CUOMO: So, you guys are the farthest from politicians but seems to me there is a real hypocrisy here. A big movement in this country right now. Obviously, Second Amendment rights, it's huge. 2008, the court and Heller gave it a big boost.

But politically, it's -- maybe keep all Muslims out of here for a while? That population is also protecting the right of this guy to get this weapon, though, right? I mean -- if you're saying you need to have a conviction or an adjudication of mental illness, otherwise leave me alone and let me get my gun, that means this guy can get a gun.

RODERICK: And there's no way to check on the adjudication.

CUOMO: The FBI just doesn't have the power.

RODERICK: They don't have the power. There's also HIPAA laws out there to protect medical records. The other interesting thing, last two shooting scenarios, San Bernardino and here, have shown issues where things have fallen through the cracks. With San Bernardino, it was the fiancee visa issue.

CUOMO: Yes.

RODERICK: Here, we're showing this gap between closed FBI investigations what in can they do on the handgun and long gun.

CUOMO: Art, Phil, thank you very much. This matters because if we don't learn, same mistakes are going to be repeated.

All right. We're going to have a lot more coverage what's going on with the Orlando investigation ahead. We're also going to hear from the people who matter most. The loved ones close to the victims. There's a lot to get to. Let's do it.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CUOMO: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States, and around the world. This is NEW DAY. We are coming to you live from Orlando, Florida.

First up, we are Orlando. Communities across the country and around the world uniting to remember the young lives cut short at the gay nightclub that you see behind us. Thousands gathering here in downtown Orlando last night to honor the victims. Thousands more on the streets of New York. And in Los Angeles, a candlelight vigil to remember all of these lives lost.

CUOMO: And remember, even here in Florida, you know, there had been bitter political battles here, but now, you have a community gay, straight, united maybe as never before.

And we're going to talk to you about the faces on your screen. Who are they? They're not just names and ages. They are lives that are lost and we're going to also take you investigation. This is a very confusing picture we're getting about the man who did this and why. It's not fitting to the box of terror, as investigators have suspected.