Return to Transcripts main page

New Day Saturday

Seven Killed Including Gunman In California Shooting; Pope Francis Arrives In Jordan; Malaysia Promises To Release Data Soon; Source: Shelly Sterling To Sell Clippers

Aired May 24, 2014 - 8:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Very startling situation out of California this morning as seven people -- well, 14 people have been shot.

But good morning. I'm Christi Paul. We're going to get you the latest from Isla Vista.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. I'm Victor Blackwell.

The breaking news again: seven people shot, including -- seven people killed rather, including the alleged man, and seven people in hospitals after what the sheriff is calling a mass murder. This happened near the town in Isla Vista, near the UC-Santa Barbara campus.

We've got our Nick Valencia here who is following developments in the story. We're getting pictures here from our affiliate there in Santa Barbara, KEYT.

Nick, what have you learned?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, seven dead as you mentioned seven injured, Victor, in a series of shootings that happened late last night. The shootings took place in a span of about 10 minutes and according to the sheriff's office happened in about nine different locations, very scary moments. We are seeing a lot of reaction from students at UC Santa Barbara on social media.

Now sheriffs believe that the suspect, who is also deceased, you are looking at a picture of his car. He crashed into a parked car before exchanging gunfire with deputies. That he is deceased. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, they believed. The sheriff's office was asked also, Victor and Christi, about an ominous Facebook or YouTube video that was posted by the suspect.

They are looking into it and seeing whether or not that this had any connection. But I took a looked at that video. I think you guys have seen that video as well. You know this alleged suspect alludes to being upset and overlooked by girls. Saying he would carry out retribution because he had a lonely life and he was looked over and looked past by girls he said he tried to make advances on. So this situation is still unfolding and still developing right now. We do believe the situation, this suspect as I mention, acted alone. We believe the threat to the community is over at this point. The sheriff's office is saying that this may be premeditated mass murder.

PAUL: They said he has been mentally disturbed. The sheriff came out and called him a mad man. Is there anything else you can tell us about him? What about the reports? We heard from KEYT reporter earlier, Victoria Sanchez, telling us that there are reports there was somebody else in the car with him at some point.

VALENCIA: So some witnesses have told local reporters that there was another person in the car. The sheriff's office has come out and said the person acted alone. We don't know about the second person. We have been taking a looked at this alleged suspect's Facebook page to glean anymore details about the individual's life.

On this video posted, he mentions that he is a 22-year-old student there locally in Santa Barbara. We don't know if he went to a community college or UC Santa Barbara. He talks at length about carrying out retribution and that he will be a God-like figure and show everyone else as animals. It is chilling as you watch that. He just looks into the camera with no emotion.

BLACKWELL: It is all very pointed.

VALENCIA: All very pointed. Exactly. Sinister laughs.

PAUL: There were sinister laughs in what we saw. We don't know for certain that is the suspect. The alleged suspect we know of. I have to think the people on campus are shaken up this morning.

BLACKWELL: Yes and you think about the crowds that are out in and around campus on a Friday night at 9:30 when this reportedly happened. If you are just joining us, the breaking news out of Isla Vista, small town near the University of California Santa Barbara campus. Seven people dead, including the alleged shooter, also seven people in hospitals for traumatic injuries, many of them gunshot wounds.

We know one person has undergone surgery. The sheriff in Santa Barbara County, Bill Brown, accounts nine crime scenes as the shooting went on for 10 minutes. A semiautomatic handgun recovered in the vehicle. But again as Nick Valencia is here reporting. They are working now to investigate writings and video. One video on YouTube by this alleged shooter.

PAUL: We are just getting word here that the Justice Department in D.C. is also getting in on this. Our reporters at the Justice Department. We will look at exactly where it goes from here and what they are able to dig up online and obviously, they will be going to somebody's home. They will do a lot of work in that regard.

VALENCIA: The emotions are still very raw. We are seeing reaction from people tweeting in the community saying I want to go home. This is very scary. This shouldn't happen on a Friday night. This is a very social campus, Victor and Christi. This is, you know, in other times, happier times known as a party school and more social school.

BLACKWELL: And a celebratory time.

VALENCIA: A Memorial Day holiday weekend. Terrible. We would like to hear from you. If you are there on campus or in the area and you would like to send Victor, Christi or myself tweets to talk about the situation, if you are in the area and would like to talk to us or tweet us, please reach out to CNN.

PAUL: Nick, thank you for your reporting. We appreciate it. Obviously, as we continue to get more, we will bring it to you.

BLACKWELL: And of course, we are going to have HLN law enforcement analyst, Mike Brooks, to talk to us about how this is being investigated. Again, 10-minute rampage. Nine scenes reportedly. We will get an update from him in just a few moments.

Also right now, historic visit to the Middle East happening at this moment.

PAUL: Pope Francis, the spiritual head of the 1 billion Roman Catholics is in Amman, Jordan right now. He will celebrate mass at the international stadium there. These are live pictures coming to us from the stadium. He has been meeting with the Jordanian king and queen and top dignitaries. He stepped off the plane a few hours ago. Getting the red carpet treatment.

BLACKWELL: We have CNN's Becky Anderson joining us from Amman. Becky, Amman is the first stop on the pope's visit to the Middle East. He has a tight schedule for these three visits.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes, he has. Three days, two masses, 13 speeches. He just made his papal remarks at the palace, which I was in attendance from and now on a motorcade to the stadium for the full on mass celebrated here in Jordan in front of 25,000 people. Relations with the pope and minority here in Jordan are amicable on the whole.

He was greeted by King Abdullah and his queen. He said a peaceful solution is need to the Syrian crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. He commended for seeking a lasting peace for the entire region. Very hard pressed to overstate the importance of this visit. His schedule here down on the banks of the River Jordan.

And after the mass at the stadium and then over the border to meet religious and political leaders. He said this is specifically religious. He said this is not a political trip, but also in his remarks about the Syrian crisis and Palestinian crisis, there is no doubt this has a political edge.

BLACKWELL: We are seeing here -- I apologize. I want to narrate for what we are seeing here. The pope arriving at this stadium in Amman. Mass schedule to begin at the top of the hour. What is notability here with the visit to Rio de Janeiro in 2013, this is not one of those typical expensive stately cars we are seeing the pope in. He was in a fiat driving around Brazil. He is here in the back of a sedan with a couple of flags on the hood here.

ANDERSON: Correct, as we all are in the motorcade as it makes its way to the stadium. This is a very modest man. We have seen evidence of that in the way he conducts himself in the Vatican and the way he conducted himself on the tour in Brazil. A nightmare for security wherever he goes. I'm sure the Jordanians are dealing with that as best they can.

This man, he wants to get in among the people. We are well aware of that. We have seen much evidence of that. He will do a tour of the stadium when he arrives in a pope mobile or some sort of vehicle. He will conduct the mass in front of 25,000 Christians invited here. This is a Muslim country, but a significant minority of Christians here. Incredibly important to those. Particularly the school children who will get their first holy communion from the pope. Imagine that if you are 11 or 12 years old.

PAUL: Yes. What an experience. Becky Anderson, thank you so much. You are looking at live pictures from Amman, Jordan. We did see the pope just arrived. You can see how that place will explode with applause here in a couple of minutes when he walks in as the 25,000 people have been waiting for him. Here he is getting into the popemobile. As he is known to do without the glass around him, without that security.

He said going into this that he wants to be close to the people. That is a quote. That is what he will continue to do. We will watch this throughout the morning and bring you the latest as he continues this historic three-day trip and this being the beginning this morning.

BLACKWELL: The satellite company now on day 78 of the MAH-370 mystery. The satellite company Inmarsat that had the last data communication from the missing Malaysia plane says they have given all the raw data to the Malaysian authorities, but the families of the passengers, they have not seen it yet. So why the delay in releasing it?

PAUL: Also, Donald and Shelly Sterling changed the game plan. Now they are seeking a sale of the L.A. Clippers. What does that do to the NBA's plan to terminate the couple's ownership?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Seven eight days now it's been since the Malaysian plane disappeared. Inmarsat, the satellite company, it says it has given all the data from the plane's communication logs to the Malaysian authorities.

PAUL: In the meantime, another company says their satellites zeroed in on the image in the Bay of Bengal that resembles that aircraft, but no one is searching in that area.

BLACKWELL: Let's bring in CNN aviation analyst, Mary Schiavo. She is an aviation attorney and former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and also Keith Masback, President of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation. Good to have both of you with us this morning.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Mary, the searchers there are looking for the plane and the black boxes in the Southern Indian Ocean. What is your degree of confidence now on day 78 that they are looking in the right place?

SCHIAVO: Well, you cannot have a great degree of confidence because they have not found anything yet, but by the same token, they have not looked in all areas where they had picked up ping signals. The Bluefin could not go deep enough in some areas and could not finish the job. However, the delay in releasing the Inmarsat data, which the Malaysian authorities had said they did not have and then Inmarsat said they had it all along does cause suspicion.

What is the problem? Why not release it? Perhaps they are reviewing it. Trying to make it a little more publicly palatable. But now there are new reports that there is doubts on whether the pings were from aircraft pingers or something else. So the confidence is waning pretty much all the way around. It can be reversed by simply finding the plane.

PAUL: Finding one thing. Keith, let me ask you, let me go back to the company, Geo Resonance who found that image in the Bay of Bengal and that shifted everything for a couple of days. This week, the company released a statement.

"GeoResonance has been informed by sources by the Malaysian and Australian governments that the precise location identified by the GeoResonance in the Bay of Bengal, contrary to the reports, has not been searched by the Bangladesh Navy and will not be as the JACC are certain MH370 is in the Southern Indian Ocean."

I know Keith that you had been sceptical about these findings. What is your biggest red flag here?

KEITH MASBACK, PRESIDENT, GEOSPATIAL INTELLIGENCE FOUNDATION: The biggest red flag is the science, as they described it, the techniques they say they used, simply are unknown to those of us who do this for a living. If we could get a better understanding of what they did. If they show their math in a way more comprehensive to date. They could develop more confidence. There is no known science to allow someone to look to the depth they say they searched with the aircraft that we know are available on the sensors that go on. It just isn't possible.

BLACKWELL: Mary, is there any intellectual property argument? I mean, we understand why Inmarsat possibly didn't possibly release the data because the Malaysians were at the head of the investigation. It was their intellectual property. Is there any argument that could be made 70 days in why the Malaysians would not release everything?

SCHIAVO: Inmarsat blew that argument. Once they said they had given all of the data to the accident investigation, remember the ICAO Annex 13, the guidelines, they are not law, they are guidelines. They are guidelines that our NTSB follows as well. Once that data was given to the organization, then you have to reasonably assume it will be released because the guidelines say at the end of the investigation, you should release all of the information. Any proprietary claims are blown especially since Inmarsat said it was geometry. They used math and data. Now you have to show your work just like we had to do in school.

PAUL: All right, Keith Masback and Mary Schiavo, thank you both for taking the time to be with us.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, the NBA says it's moving ahead with plans for a forced sale of the Clippers.

PAUL: But guess what, a source says the league is talking to Shelly Sterling about a voluntary sale? What is going on? We will talk about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Live pictures here from the stadium in Amman, Jordan. Pope Francis making his first trip to the holy land, 25,000 people at the stadium. His first official event of a trip to the holy land. Three stops there in Amman and the Palestinian territory and ending in Jerusalem, 13 speeches and several masses. We will follow that throughout this trip.

PAUL: Look at all of those people. There he is on the big screen. His speaking will start in just about 40 minutes.

BLACKWELL: Yes, mass atop of the hour at 9:00 a.m. Eastern here.

All right, the shot clock is ticking down, so to speak, on Donald Sterling and his ownership of the L.A. Clippers. Now he decided to switch strategies. Donald Sterling has agreed to allow his wife to negotiate the voluntary sale of the team. Shelly and the NBA have already been in discussions about the matter. This news comes days before the Tuesday deadline when Sterling must respond to the NBA's charge to terminate his ownership rights.

PAUL: Now earlier this week an "L.A. Times" report, the NBA accused the Sterlings and the Clippers president of covering up the racist comments that he made, Sterling made, on tape to V. Stiviano. Stiviano, of course, is the woman who on Wednesday, again denied that she was Sterling's mistress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

V. STIVIANO: I have never had any type of sexual contact with Mr. Sterling whatsoever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he make approaches?

V. STIVIANO: Never did he ever come on to me. What I meant by him being in love with me, I meant in love like a person, like a daughter. In love with me like he always wanted to protect me. I sometimes make bad choices and associate myself with bad people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So question here, what is next in the sale of the Clippers and what does it mean that Commissioner Adam Silver seems to have been orchestrating these negotiations. Gary Roberts is a law professor at Indiana University and the former president of the Sports Lawyers Association. We've also have with us this morning, Joey Jackson, defense attorney and HLN legal analyst. Both men are with us now. Good to have both of you.

JOEY JACKSON, HLN ANALYST: Good morning, Victor. Good morning, Christi.

PAUL: Good morning, Gentlemen. So Gary, let's start with you. The NBA owners are supposed to vote on June 3rd on whether to strip Donald Sterling of his ownership rights. Does this vote change at all now that Shelly, as we understand it, is already in negotiations?

GARY ROBERTS, LAW PROFESSOR, INDIANA UNIVERSITY: Well, who knows? If progress is being made, they may postpone the vote. They may not. That is a decision they have to make as the story unfolds. I think they will continue to have it scheduled. That is part of the pressure that is being brought on the Sterlings to sell the team. The more pressure you can bring to bear, the more likely they are to hurry up and get this deal done.

BLACKWELL: Joey, the "L.A. Times" is reporting that their sources say, if the NBA doesn't allow Shelly Sterling to retain at least partial interest in the team, that deal falls through. I mean, I guess, you can, you know add any variable to a deal, but is that possible or probable?

JACKSON: Well, you know, anything is possible, Victor, as you know. I think the NBA is certainly committed to having anything Sterling removed from the team, whatever it takes. I think it is a good development that they move forward and try to do it voluntarily. Why? Because it avoids all sorts of litigation. We are not in court for anti-trust violations. We know he hired anti-trust attorney. That voids that.

It voids the issue of an internal arbitration. They may not have to take a vote if things go according to plan. There is a lot still influx as it moves forward. It is moving rapidly, but at the end of the day, Victor, as long as the NBA gets what it needs, which is them removed, the Sterling not impairing their brand, the fans are happy and the sponsors are happy and owners are happy. I think that's progress and it looks good.

PAUL: All right, so Gary, earlier this week, the "L.A. Times" reported the NBA accused the Sterlings of, quote, "destroying evidence related to the recording." You think Adam Silver used that tactic to get Sterling to concede control and give control to his wife?

ROBERTS: Well, first of all, that is an inflammatory way of characterizing it. Donald Sterling has done nothing illegal. These remarks are simply embarrassing and stupid. And destroying a tape that is embarrassing is not an illegal act. He is not destroying evidence or engaging in a cover up. Those are terms designed to make him look bad or worse than he already is.

Right now, the league is trying to put pressure on Sterling in every conceivable way. Remember, I did an interview a couple of weeks ago on CNN and I said this is going to end without litigation. There may be a lawsuit filed, but at the end of the day, the Sterlings will sell the team voluntarily because it is in their interest to do so.

JACKSON: Christi, just one point if I may and to Gary's point, he's absolutely right. I don't think there is anything illegal here. It is not inflammatory at all to describe what he engaged in is somewhat of a cover up. We are talking about an internal proceeding. We are not talking about an FBI investigation.

However, if the NBA is conducting an investigation and investigators are on this and things get destroyed, that is a cover up. That does not comport with good character. It is not inflammatory at all. This is a description as to what happened here.

ROBERTS: It depends --

BLACKWELL: Gary, we have to wrap it up. Joey Jackson, thank you both.

PAUL: Thank you, Gentlemen.

One of the big stories we are looking at today is something that happened overnight. These are some of the first pictures. A California college rocked by a mass shooting. This deadly attack left six people and the gunman dead. Sent seven others to the hospital.

BLACKWELL: We are working to get new information and we will have that for you in an update next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, a very troubling and frightening situation in California overnight.

We are so glad to have you with us. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell.

You know this holiday weekend turned into a deadly weekend in California. The college community of Santa Barbara was rocked last night. Six people were killed in a drive-by shooting.

PAUL: The rampage actually happened in the town of Isla Vista. Witnesses reported multiple shots fired from a black BMW. And these are some of the first pictures we are getting from the scene. That black BMW you saw there allegedly sped through the city streets and the sheriff labeled the incident, quote, "mass murder."

BLACKWELL: Ok so who then is this alleged mass murderer and let's talk about this person. Jeff Gardere is a psychologist he's joining us by the phone. What we know about this person so far at that is being described as male. The investigators are still looking into other attributes, other pieces of possible evidence, but a mass murderer. Tell us someone who goes on a rampage who goes on for ten minutes, what it takes to go on and plan something like that.

JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST (via telephone): Well, certainly someone who has a lot of rage, cold and calculated. And from what we have seen from previous profiles, these are individuals who blame society for being isolated, who have very poor social skills who see themselves as being superior, but yet cannot understand why they feel they are being rejected all the time. And therefore, they are hell bent on revenge.

And at the same time, Victor and Christi do want to die. They do want to commit suicide after they wipe out as many people as they can.

PAUL: Jeff what about -- I'm wondering about the folks that saw this, the witnesses and the victims here. They are waking up after just thinking they we're going to go out for a nice stroll on a Friday evening at 9:30. You are in the middle of graduation for this college, you're in the middle of finals for this college. What would you say to people who are trying to reconcile this morning as they wake up what happened last night?

GARDERE: Well what -- the only thing we can tell them is that of course, this is yet another episode in this sort of random violence that we see. There really is no way at this point from the patterns of all of these mass killers to actually predict when this might happen to a general population.

We have to allow people to talk about what this feels like. They may not be feeling safe right now, but we have to let them know that they are safe at this particular time, but they have to talk about their feelings, especially the families and people who are affected by this directly.

PAUL: Sure. So let's get back to this suspect. The sheriff described him -- not just -- this is a mass murderer, but him as a mad man. And they are looking we know at videos and written statements from that suspect. Would somebody who does something like this be intent in documenting it prior to the incident?

GARDERE: Yes. For the simple fact that what we know from these mass shooters is that they do want to let the world know how angry they are and how they feel superior and now will take their revenge. For a very long time, someone like this looking at the profile may have felt that he was slighted, that people didn't like him that he was considered less than and this is his way of now becoming a God by being able to take lives just at his own whim.

So yes, this is a mad man. Maybe not a mad man as in a schizophrenic, but a mad man who has a severe personality disorder and who has delusions of grandeur.

PAUL: Ok so Jeff, let me ask you this, from the people who may -- have been around him, would there have been any outward signs that he would have been planning something like this -- would -- anything that they could have seen or picked up on in audio? GARDERE: And this is -- and this is the issue every time. We do see people again fitting the profile who may be isolated who may have poor social skills who may not be able to interact in normal and healthy manner who do feel that they are victimized.

But we can't take every single person like that and say that they are going to become a mass murderer. I think what we have to do is this thing called triangulation where we get information from friends, from family, from school officials and then when you put all that information together then we see that this is someone who is at risk for doing something extreme, especially if there is a slow, quiet, seething rage that seems to be developing as part of that person's personality.

BLACKWELL: And that is part of the investigation we know, in Santa Barbara County.

Jeff Gardere psychologist with us this morning as we cover the breaking news out of California in the small town of Isla Vista right next to UC Santa Barbara where seven people are confirmed dead -- that number including the alleged shooter here. Also seven people in hospitals from traumatic injuries including some gunshot wounds. These are the first pictures coming in from the scene.

We have in studio with us now HLN law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks. We're going to talk with him about the nine crime scenes the sheriff has counted thus far. And if -- this is going to be my first question after the break -- shooting outside of campus, off campus, do you think that was a strategic choice to ramp up the body count? We'll start with that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Twenty minutes until the top of the hour now. And we're following the breaking news out of Isla Vista, California. A small town right next to the University of California Santa Barbara campus where we know this morning from the Santa Barbara Sheriff, Bill Brown, seven people are dead, including the alleged shooter who killed the other six and shot at least some of the seven who are also in hospitals this morning; 14 people, including the shooter, some injury or death is related to this incident. It happened at about 9:30 West Coast Time last night.

And we've got HLN law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks with us here this morning. Mike, my first question to you, this happened off campus.

MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Right.

BLACKWELL: In Isla Vista near the campus. Do you think that this shooter who we only know is male, that's all we know --

BROOKS: Right.

BLACKWELL: He chose to shoot off campus because he would have more freedom and more room to drive and ramp up their body counts? BROOKS: Absolutely. Especially on a holiday weekend like this on Isla Vista. You know I have been in that area before. I can tell you it's usually congested on a normal weekend, but now with the holiday here there are a lot of people, school getting out and I think that's probably the reason he chose this area if he wanted to wreak, you know carnage, you know wreak havoc on an area it would be off campus in this particular areas.

PAUL: Ok so the fact that it lasted for ten minutes. What do you make of that? This guy driving around and able to get away from anybody who might have been trying to stop him for ten minutes. That's a long time.

BROOKS: Well you know it does seem like a long time. But what you -- you have to kind of find out exactly what's going on.

PAUL: Sure.

BROOKS: You hear gunshots. Then you report people down. But he is mobile. It is not like it happened in one area. So he's driving around. And you've got nine different crime scenes. So you know that in and of itself, will kind of tell you hey this guy was on the move very, very quickly before he was either brought down by sheriff's deputies or he killed himself as when they found him apparently he got a gunshot wound. They don't know if it was an exchange of gunfire with deputies. If you look at the car, the front -- the windshield is shot out. So we don't know if a deputy killed him or he killed himself.

But it does seem like that is a long time, but still for law enforcement to get a handle on that that quickly and I was hearing also that they were telling people when they did find out hey stay off the streets because they weren't sure if this was a lone gunman or not. But they do believe he was acting alone by himself.

BLACKWELL: The sheriff there says that they have recovered a semiautomatic handgun. Ant that's all that they detail. Are you expecting that we'll hear more are you surprised by just a single handgun being involved thus far?

BROOKS: You know you can - you can do a lot of damage with a single handgun because -- depending on what the capacity of the magazine or magazines he had. Because I'm sure with this many people, killed and wounded, he probably reloaded. But when you are riding up on somebody in a car and you're shooting people on the sidewalk, shooting people through windows of the shops there, you are very, very close proximity to the sidewalks. There are fairly -- fairly narrow streets in Isla Vista.

So no I'm not surprised at all. And you know, we may find another gun, we may not. But he probably had to reload a number of times.

PAUL: With 14 people -- with 14 people shot, how do you go about getting all of those witnesses together and determining who you need to talk to and who you don't? BROOKS: Well you know that's you know -- number one, you are notifying the people who were injured there and their next of kin and those kinds of thing but people who are on the streets. I'm sure there's people who were there are more than happy to give information to law enforcement about what happened.

You know and then the other thing we have to consider also, this person, the gunman. Where does this person live? Does he live there on campus? Does he live nearby? Because I guarantee you right now as we speak, they are at his residence trying to find out exactly what the motive for these shootings were.

BLACKWELL: There have been some reports that there was a second person in the vehicle. The sheriff says that this shooter acted alone. In your experience, does your experience tell you that there's usually another person there or it is a lone guy in a vehicle in a drive-by?

BROOKS: You know it depends on what is motivating this gunman. You know I usually see that something like this usually someone who is this troubled, something happened within the last 24 to 48 hours to just push this person over the edge to make this person act in this way.

Whether or not there was a person -- you know sometimes that doesn't make a difference. Was this person there and trying to talk this person out of doing what he was planning to do and with this mass shooting?

So the sheriff said he was acting alone. So you know I'm going to go with what the sheriff says and say ok maybe this was a lone gunman.

PAUL: So with nine crime scenes to reconcile, how long do you think it's going to take and how much manpower?

BROOKS: That whole downtown Isla Vista is going to be shutdown for quite some time. It's going to take a lot of manpower. I would not be surprised if the sheriff was going to bring in possibly the FBI and their evidence response team to help them collect evidence in these crime scenes since it's a fast area outside the campus there. So it's going to be a while before they collect all the evidence.

BLACKWELL: We have received the update that the Department of Justice -- criminalist from the Department of Justice -- will be involved as far as collecting and managing these nine crime scenes. We know that also the state highway patrol will be involved in this investigation -- of course, the local officials.

If you are just joining us and you're see the breaking news headline on the bottom of your screen. Seven dead in California in a drive-by shooting. We learned that in that town of Isla Vista right next to University of California, Santa Barbara. A person reportedly in a black BMW, drove through the town of Isla Vista, shot and killed six people. He was also killed. That brings the total to seven. But also seven others are treated for what we know is a collection of gunshot wounds and also some traumatic injuries.

We know that he was driving erratically so quite possibly some of those people were hurt in maybe avoiding the car or being hit by the car. We do not know that. We don't know much more of the suspect other than he is male or at least was male because he was found dead inside the vehicle. Not yet sure. Has not been confirmed if that was a self inflicted gun wound or if he was shot by Sheriff's deputies as they try to marginalize the there in Isla Vista.

PAUL: Yes, we just know he was shot and that it ended when he crashed into a parked car. They're telling us. Because I know that this was off campus, but because it is so close, will UCSB, University of California Santa Barbara play any role in this if he was a student?

BROOKS: Oh absolutely. Don't go back there because if he was a student, they're going to go back and are going to take a look at all of his records and talk to his friends and associates. Even if some of those people have already gone home for the summer, they're going to be able -- we're going to contact them just to see exactly what was going on with this guy, if he was a student for the last number of days, if he had any kind of psychiatric history. These kind of things -- all very important to finding out exactly what happened.

BLACKWELL: We know that nine crime scenes as we said, commencement weekend at UCSB is still a couple of weeks away. 14th and 15th of June. That wasn't happening this weekend. The number could have been higher if you consider all the families that would have been in town. But it is Memorial Day Weekend.

How long will that area be shutdown as they continue to look for clues?

BROOKS: I would say, most likely it's going to be shut down the remainder of today because you have such a vast crime scene. It's going to be -- the businesses, they're not going to be open most likely because you had -- think about this -- nine Crime scenes. You know when we looked at the navy yard shooter and he was going through the building and navy yard in Washington, there were a number of crime scenes contained inside that building. It was a lot easier to work than it is out on

BROOKS: Probably box long crime scenes here.

PAUL: We have been waiting to hear from the sheriff's department there in California. We are going to, as I understand it, just getting some sound in from a press conference from the sheriff. We will play that for you here in just a moment.

We're going to take a quick break. Stay close and we will have that on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Thoughts are with the community of Isla Vista today after an overnight shooting. Seven people are dead, seven others in the hospital. One has already been through surgery, we understand, from life threatening injuries. This from a drive-by shooting -- more than drive-by -- really driving shooting, we should call it because the suspect was in his car. He was driving from street to street shooting people. And we know that he is one of those seven dead from a gunshot wound. We don't know if it was self inflicted or if it was from gunfire from some of patrol officers who responded.

Let's get the latest here from Sheriff Bill Brown.

SHERIFF BILL BROWN: I'm here to give you information on the incident that occurred in Isla Vista at approximately 9:27 p.m., last night, the incident appears to be a mass murder situation. The timeline as we have been able to put it together thus far is as follows, 9:27 p.m., the sheriff's dispatch center received calls of multiple gunshots being fired in the Isla Vista area. We had deputies in the area on foot who also heard a number of shots being fired. The deputies began responding in the direction of the gunshots and immediately found several victims who were suffering from gunshot wounds.

As they were performing first aid on those victims, they were also receiving suspect information and a vehicle description. As this was occurring, additional shots were fired and calls were received by the sheriff's dispatch from several areas in Isla Vista. During this initial stage, both the suspect and suspect vehicle descriptions were broadcast to those law enforcement personnel who were in the area.

At 9:33 p.m., six minutes after the initial call was received, the suspect engaged a group of responding deputies with gunfire. The deputies returned fire and the suspect fled in his vehicle. Seconds later, the suspect was again spotted by another deputy. Another exchange of gunfire occurred at that time. The suspect fled down Del Playa and eventually crashed into a parked vehicle. The deputies approached the crashed vehicle and determined that the suspect, within that vehicle was dead, from an apparent gunshot wound to the head. A handgun was recovered from within that vehicle. Although we have preliminarily identified the suspect, we are not releasing the suspect's name until a positive identification can be made.

BLACKWELL: That's Sheriff Bill Brown from the news conference updating us on the breaking news in Isla Vista near the University of California Santa Barbara. What do you glean from that -- Mike?

BROOKS: Well, yes. We talk about 10 minutes -- so from this first report they had of gunshots fired at one location, six minutes, deputies were encountering this guy and exchanging gunshots with them. He ran again. Three minutes later, they exchange some more gunfire with him with some more deputies.

So I'd say, you know, it was a pretty good response by law enforcement. You heard what he said. In that area at nighttime, they have foot patrols as well as people as deputies in car. Deputies on foot they were going toward the sound of the gunfire and started to see people who were wounded started aiding them. And then there was more shots in a number of different locations. So that is -- you know, nine crime scenes. I'm not surprised at all. BLACKWELL: And if you joined us just at the tip end of that. Well, I'd like you know at the top of the hour we're going to replay that sound from the sheriff there in San Barbara County.

PAUL: Yes. But if you are just joining us again, seven people dead in this driving shooting that lasted about ten minutes. And as Mike talked about, nine crime scenes to analyze -- this is going to take a while. Mike saying that -- you believe, Mike, this area in Isla Vista is going to be shutdown for quite some time. Obviously, we will -- as Victor said, we will bring you the entire presser from the Sheriff Bill Brown there. They are really scrambling, I'm sure, this morning, trying to figure this out. We understand they are looking at video. They are looking at writings from this alleged suspect and trying to determine the motive here. Because that is the big question for everybody at this time.

BLACKWELL: Yes, there are a few things that they know, but there's a long list of things that investigators do not know.

We will continue to cover this breaking story out of California. More at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)