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3 People Dead, Several Hurt In Seattle Food Festival Shooting; Sources: Vance, Caine Raised Concerns About Escalating War; Midterm Season In Full Swing With Elections 99 Days Out. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired July 27, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, a deadly mass shooting in Seattle and a manhunt underway right now. Authorities say three people are dead, several others injured, including a toddler, and a possible suspect is still on the loose. The horrifying attack unfolded at a popular food festival right next to the Space Needle, an event that brings out thousands and thousands of families. Chilling video captures the moment the gunfire rang out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooting, shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooting. Oh, oh, right here. Get down, get down, get down, get down. Yes, just get down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And some of those terrified visitors taking cover in the Space Needle gift shop. Here's how witnesses describe the chaos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There were about six or seven multiple gunshots, and then there was, it almost sounded like an automatic going off, and all of a sudden I just saw a sea of people running towards us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, there was a lot of chaos. You know, my brother actually got pushed, you know, and he fell. He's pretty bruised up right now, but he's OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And investigators believe that two people were shooting at each other. One person was taken into custody, but police are still looking for a second possible suspect. Joining us now is Justin Smith. He was at the festival during the shooting. Justin, we're glad that you're OK, but I imagine you're still shaken up from what you experienced. Tell us more about how you're doing right now.

JUSTIN SMITH, SHOOTING EYEWITNESS: I'm doing OK. You know, last night was a weird night. You know, I always keep a pistol for home invasions close to me, and last night I made sure it was loaded, and it's kind of a weird feeling to feel. I can't imagine what our troops go through every single day that have fought for our country. They have real PTSD, and it changes. It changes everything. It changes your mindset on everything.

BROWN: Tell us more about that. How does it change things for you in the wake of this?

SMITH: I don't know how it's really going to affect me long term. I hope not at all. My main concern is, you know, the victims and their families and the people that see real tragedy on a daily basis fighting for our country. I serve for a non-profit called MissionOutdoors.org, and we take veterans outdoors to get them reconnected with the outdoors because there's 22 veteran suicides per day that have seen real tragedies, and so I can't imagine, you know, this tragedy that I've seen at a small scale on a wide scale what people really deal with on a daily basis.

BROWN: Yes, take us inside that moment when the chaos broke out. When did you know that something was wrong?

SMITH: When I was in line to get food, and there was two sisters next to me. Once you're in line for about 20 minutes, you start talking to people in line with you, and I was talking to these two sisters, and we heard, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and then I looked to see if there was fireworks. Looked down the corridor to see. I was -- there's a corridor like right there, and I looked down the corridor, and I saw another round of fire, and this time I could see flash bangs happening, and when that happened, I knew it wasn't fireworks at that point, and it was gunfire, and I said, run.

I started pushing people towards the opposite way of where the gunfire was coming from. It was the area that I just spent earlier where there's a lot of kids playing on different toys and stuff like that, and as we're running a sprint, I've, you know, you don't really realize because you're in the moment. You're just reacting in that moment. A kid had fell in front of me, so I picked this kid up and got him back again running, and then the girl that -- the two girls, the two sisters were running with me. One of them, their slippers fell off, and she wanted to go back for her slippers. I told her no.

She still insisted, and then I said, let's go, and she started running barefoot, and then we ran for about four blocks, non-stop sprinting, and that's finally when we slowed down, and I took my phone out to record my reaction, and that's the moment that you really realize I think we're safe. But I was so worried because I was listening for more gunfire to see if they had got this guy, and I never heard any more gunfire, so I figured they, somebody had tackled him or something.

BROWN: Just a horrible turn of events for this family-friendly event, right? You said that there were kids there playing just before the shooting broke out. I imagine you saw, as you pointed out, one little boy fell in front of you. Other kids were running. Tell us more about what you saw as you were trying to flee. SMITH: You know, you're just reacting in that moment. It's so surreal. It was pure pandemonium and chaos. It's things you see in movies only, but now it's real life, and now you just got to react, and you're in a heightened sense of awareness, and I just wanted to make sure that as many people as possible could get away from the gunfire. You don't know because you see, you know, different shootings in Vegas, and the guys up on a perch. You don't know if there's, if it's a trap, if people are going to be following.

[11:05:13]

You don't know what's going on. You don't know if it's between two people, if it's a mass shooting where more people or more shooters. So you're looking everywhere to make sure that you're not next, and so I wanted to make sure that everybody was safe around me and myself and get away from the gunfire as soon as possible. It was crazy.

BROWN: Yes, it sounds like it, and from what you saw and experienced, so I believe we lost him. Well, Justin is back with us, and I'm just wondering from what you saw and experienced, Justin, was there anything organizers could have done to make the event safer?

SMITH: There's so many entry points. Have you ever been in Seattle Center, the space, there's so many entry points from every location around that park. It's a huge area. I think it's like 70 acre area, so it's a huge lot, an area for the community to come into, and it's always been that way. I can't imagine next year. I've been to this festival probably 10 to 12 times, and I really had a premonition of this happening today.

Moments before, I was just walking through, and it's just shoulder to shoulder, lots of people. I'm like, this feels really unsafe. This is the type of situation where something bad could happen, and you see a lot of police officers in blue, and to be honest, when I was running away, they were running towards the gunfire, and they're heroes because potentially more people could have lost their lives more than the three that we know of, and so I'm really thankful for the men in blue and the women in blue that serve our communities to keep us safe every day.

BROWN: How do you feel knowing that they're still looking for a second suspect?

SMITH: There's a lot of cell phone cameras, a lot of people recording, you know, doing food reviews and things. I feel like they definitely will have this person apprehended shortly. I'm hoping that the people that are responsible will be held to justice shortly, and we can really avoid this type of thing with God's love. I feel like, you know, that's the only thing that can heal America is God and putting Bible back in schools and just loving one another and coming together as a community because it's how you react to things. It's not what happens to you. It's how you're reacting, and I feel like our community is going to be stronger because of this.

BROWN: All right, Justin Smith, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your experience and perspective on all of this. We appreciate it. Best of luck to you.

SMITH: All right, thank you. God bless.

BROWN: Wolf?

BLITZER: And happening now, U.S. strikes on Iran appear to have paused after nearly two weeks of nightly attacks, and this comes as CNN has learned that Vice President J.D. Vance and the Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine have both raised concerns about escalating the war. CNN senior national security reporter Zachary Cohen is here with us in the Situation Room. Zach, sources say that General Caine specifically raised concerns about U.S. munitions stockpiles and other potential issues. What more are you learning?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Wolf, this was during Friday's White House meeting where President Trump and his top advisors were discussing options to potentially escalate this conflict with Iran. But I'm told that both Vance and Caine laid out some hard truths for the President during this discussion, and Caine in particular raised this concern about the U.S. stockpile of critical munitions, things like air defense systems that not only protect U.S. military installations in the Middle East and around the world, but also are what are used by key partners, including the Gulf partners, that are helping mediate these discussions between Iran and the U.S.

And Caine voicing these concerns again, saying that the war with Iran has significantly depleted the U.S. stockpile of these munitions, things like THAAD interceptors, Patriot missiles, and Tomahawks, and said that an extended, an even more extended campaign would even further reduce those stockpiles in a way that could impact the U.S.'s ability to wage a future war, especially if it's against somebody like China or Russia.

Now, the Trump administration is pushing back on the idea that the U.S. is in any way underprepared for continuing this war with Iran. Take a listen to what U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz said when he was asked about the stockpile issue just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: I want to be crystal clear. The U.S. military, and I've verified this every which way, has everything that it needs to conduct this campaign as effectively as it needs to be. And I have to tell you, the people that are leaking this nonsense deserve to be in jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So just quickly, Waltz saying that the U.S. military has everything they need to conduct this war. But again, the concerns about the stockpile issue is that if the war continues for an extended amount of time, the U.S. may be underprepared for a future conflict against China or Russia or a near-peer adversary of sorts.

[11:10:01] And I'm also told that during this Friday White House meeting, advisers also raised other concerns about expanding and escalating this conflict, including the potential for massive civilian casualties if the U.S. were to resume full combat operations. We know that President Trump has floated the idea of potentially hitting civilian infrastructure, like bridges and power plants, things that would likely lead to those civilian deaths. That was mentioned, as well as concerns about retaliation from Iran, specifically targeting Gulf energy infrastructure and desalination plants.

That would be a massive escalation and response escalation by Iran. And that is something neither the U.S. nor its Gulf partners are really interested in seeing take place.

BLITZER: Yes, they're clearly worried about the U.S. running out of air defense systems, Patriot air defense missile batteries and stuff like that. All right, Zach Cohen, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, still ahead. It's the economy, stupid. We're reminded of that famous quote from James Carville. As Americans share their major concerns ahead of the fall midterms, but are Democrats and Republicans listening?

BLITZER: And the search for a suspect comes to a deadly end after what German police call an Islamic terror attack on a pride festival. You're in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:15:51]

BLITZER: Happening now, midterm season is in full swing with November's elections less than 100 days away. Polling consistently shows that voters most want candidates to talk about economic issues, namely prices and affordability. A new Pew Research survey finds Americans are almost evenly split on which party they most agree with on economic policies, 37 percent back Democrats, 36 percent support Republicans, while 25 percent of registered voters say neither.

BROWN: Joining us now in the Situation Room is CNN Washington Bureau Chief and Political Director David Chalian. David, always great to have you on.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Great to be with you guys.

BROWN: So perhaps unsurprisingly, the economy is a top issue for voters heading into the midterms. Is it surprising at all, though, that Democrats don't have a bigger lead on this issue, given the GOP's control over the White House and Congress?

CHALIAN: Well, first of all, the economy has traditionally been a strong suit for Donald Trump. He's given that away in a lot of the polling that we've seen over the last year in his second term, whether it's his tariff policies or the war causing gas prices to go up. And not only have voters told us time and again now that they're disapproving of the way Donald Trump is handling the economy, they're tying it to his policies.

So yes, I think that one Pew poll, and there are other polls out there, shows parity. But even parity is taking away what had been a pretty clear Republican advantage recently.

BLITZER: On the other hand, David, we should point out that a "Fox News" poll showed Democrats with a nine-point advantage, nine-point advantage over the Republican Party when it comes to who voters trust to handle the economy. There you see Democratic Party, 54 percent, Republican Party, 45 percent. That's obviously very different than that Pew poll. How do you look at these disparities?

CHALIAN: Well, they're slightly different questions. They're both totally reputable pollsters. I -- as with all polling questions, like, I try to look at the totality of it all and not single out any one poll. I think, again, Democrats have not sealed the deal, I think, with the American people in some way that they are far and away the party that will cure all their economic ills. I think there are still some sour feelings about the Biden economy.

But it is now Trump's economy. And the public does say Trump's policies are hurting them and that he doesn't, he's not focused on their, what they see as the right priorities. That is what's creating such a poor political environment right now for the President's party.

BROWN: And something that stands out from this Pew Research Center polling is the fact that immigration, of course, a top issue that catalyzed President Trump and the GOP in 2024, does not appear to be as important right now, this time around. What do you read from that?

CHALIAN: Yes, I mean, listen, Donald Trump, as you've seen through successive elections that he was on the ballot, was able to use the immigration issue as a real issue to both fire up his base and peel away some folks in the middle. But even in 2024, when he beat Kamala Harris, the number one issue in, according to the exit polls, was the economy. I mean, that is what people vote on their pocketbook. That tends to be a driving force.

And what we're seeing now is immigration has faded a bit in salience, as you're saying, sort of like an importance issue, but also another strong suit, formerly of Donald Trump's, where he's sort of given it away now. He's now upside down on immigration in most polling. More people disapprove of his handling of that issue than approve of it.

So even though it's not as top of mind for people in this moment in July that we're sitting in right now, it's still not a net positive for the President when it is top of mind.

BLITZER: On the Iran war, David, a new CBS News and YouGov poll asked Americans who has a better approach to Iran, 32 percent said Trump and Republicans, 30 percent said Democrats, 22 percent said neither, 15 percent said they were not sure. How problematic is that for the Democratic Party right now, even though this war is unpopular?

[11:20:00] CHALIAN: The war is unpopular. You're right about that. And the fact that what the country has said time and again they are not interested in seeing is sort of a reengaged military action in full force. I think Donald Trump's aware of that, too. Perhaps that's guiding some of his thinking that we've seen in the last 48, 72 hours here.

But here's the thing. I don't think voters are looking to Democrats, as Pam noted, like Republicans are in charge of everything right now. Democrats are not the ones voters are looking for to solve the Iran crisis that Donald Trump started. I think what they see here is this is not what we were saying was our and it's not what you ran on.

You told us there would be no more endless wars. You told us you would bring prices down. Here is a war that is now into its fifth month, and prices have not gone dramatically down. That's the problem for Donald Trump. I don't think the Democrats need to sort of win on the Iran issue. I think the argument they're going to try to make to the American people, and we'll see if it works this fall, is Donald Trump did not follow through on his promises and is not focused on the priorities he said he would be focused on. That's sort of strong --

BLITZER: Less than 100 days now to the midterm elections in November. David Chalian, thank you very, very much.

CHALIAN: Thank you.

BLITZER: Pam.

BROWN: All right. Thanks, David.

And still ahead, under review the action that ICE is now taking after that deadly shooting in Maine involving one of its officers. You're in The Situation Room, and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:25:58]

BLITZER: Happening now, the U.S. and Iran appear to have hit the pause button in their strikes. The U.S. hasn't launched any attacks since last week. President Trump says he is giving Iran some space. CNN has learned that Vice President Vance and Joint Chiefs Chairman Caine have both raised concerns about the U.S. potentially escalating the war. Joining us now, retired U.S. General Wesley Clark. He's the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and the founder of Renew America Together. General, thanks so much for joining us. Is there concern within the U.S. military that the U.S. may be tapping too deeply into its munitions stockpile right now?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FOUNDER, RENEW AMERICA TOGETHER: Well, I think there's always that concern, Wolf. But the truth is we've got lots of munitions, just not those specific specialized munitions that we started the strikes with. So if you want standoff precision strike, yes, we've taken that down. But you get -- you take out the radars, you get your aircraft over, you use bombs that have the joint direct attack munition warhead attached to them, guidance system, and you get the same effect. So we're making do with it. That's not the issue, really.

BROWN: So I want to jump in quickly here as, look, that happens to all of us, right, our phone goes off. But I want to ask you, General, this about what I talked to the Rear Admiral Robert Loughran Jr. about last, a couple weeks ago when I was in the Arabian Sea. And I asked him about this very issue while I was aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Tell me more about just the armaments and replenishing them. What has that been like? Has there been some challenges with that?

REAR ADM. ROBERT LOUGHRAN JR., USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: No, we're very fortunate to have, as I said, a really robust combat logistics force out here that's supporting us. We have the ability to move our destroyers into locations to reload their Tomahawk land attack missiles when they were using them during combat operations. We have ordnance support ships that can come out and provide us with additional ordnance here on board the carrier for the aircraft to use. So we're able to reload quite frequently as needed. And we do that regularly as part of our normal logistics efforts out here.

BROWN: So you haven't been in a position where you're we're running really low, this is getting dangerous?

LOUGHRAN: Yes, no, that has not been a problem for the carriers or the destroyers out here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So obviously, when I was on that aircraft carrier, this Admiral didn't seem to believe that stockpiles and reloads were a major issue. But how quickly can that change?

CLARK: Well, to rebuild the stockpiles for some of these munitions, it might take a couple of years. But, you know, this is really dodging the issue, if I could be so forward as to say that. The real thing here is we're at a turning point. We've got to either make up our mind to really go in and fight and defeat the IRGC. Or we've got to find a way to gracefully excuse ourselves from the combat. And moving forward by pausing for discussions, bombing a little bit, pausing for discussions.

Wolf, I was alive -- I was a West Point cadet watching this in 1964, '65, in something called Rolling Thunder, where the Johnson administration did the same thing in Vietnam. And the truth about it is this is exactly unfolding the same way. So you go into something, you say, it's not that serious. Maybe it's a skirmish or something, maybe we'll get through this. And so you don't make the critical, hard decisions. You're worried about China, you're worried about Russia.

[11:29:47]

You say, we're going to get through this. And then deeper and deeper and deeper. So in Vietnam, we did bombing pauses. We hoped it would bring negotiations. Of course it doesn't. When you do a bombing pause like this, what you're telling the enemy is, I need your help. Please get me out of this fix. If they wanted to negotiate, they would have come to us and there would be a --