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One Killed And Three Shot In Two Maryland Incidents; Maryland Police Press Conference; Three Incidents In Area In Two Days; Unsure If Incidents Connected; Another Press Conference Coming Up; Obama Discusses Trump And 2016 Race. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 06, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You say you have a person of interest. Are you actually looking for someone right this minute?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are working with investigators simply developing different leads, and we will, obviously, look at anything, particularly any information coming to our attention.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would this person of interest be a person who's already been wounded?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know that, at this particular point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do does he have a connection to -- do you guys have a previous connection to him? Do you know him? Did you have any connection to him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The matter is still under investigation. It's still very preliminary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you all very much. We'll have another briefing in about 30 minutes or so. Thanks a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this person of interest a male or female?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. So, --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have body armor on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to start with the breaking news out of Maryland. You just heard the news conference from the local police. Multiple shootings. One person is dead. All this in suburban Washington, D.C.

We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

Our own Evan Perez has been following this disturbing development. Evan, we know this is in Bethesda, Maryland, in Montgomery Mall. It's a major shopping mall here in the Washington, D.C. area. Tell us about this shooting incident and then what is -- what also happened not that far away at another mall. EVEN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: That's right, Wolf. This all began

just after 11:00 a.m., according to the police. They say that there were three victims that were shot just outside of this mall. It appears nobody inside the mall was involved or was injured. But apparent -- but, apparently, one person approached a victim, shot the victim. Two other people came to the aid of the first victim and they were also shot.

Now, about 30 to 40 minutes later, there was a second incident, a second shooting in the parking lot of a Giant supermarket. There was also a female victim in that -- in that incident. I should mention in the first case, in the -- in the -- in the mall incident, there were two males and one female who were injured.

At this point, the police say that they don't have a suspect in custody but they have an idea of who this might be. We're told that they don't -- they have no reason to believe, at this point, that the victims knew the suspect.

But, again, this is very preliminary information. It's very early in this investigation. They've called in for help from the federal authorities. The ATF now has some agents there on the -- on the scene to try to assist in this investigation.

I should note, Wolf, that there was also another incident nearby in Prince Georges County, just a few miles away, in which what police say was a domestic shooting. That suspect is still at large. You heard, in the press conference there just a few minutes ago, that this -- they're checking to see, the police are definitely investigating to see whether or not all of these incidents are connected.

BLITZER: And the suspicion is they could be or they think that these are unrelated? What's the initial suspicion?

PEREZ: At this point, they just don't know. But, obviously, the fact that there are these two shootings in a -- in an area that is not used to having them, Montgomery County, and then, nearby, there was another shooting that has not been solved. They are definitely having to make sure that there's not a connection between the two.

Again, we don't know whether or not there is but it is something that is right at the top of the list for law enforcement.

BLITZER: And the suspects remain at large, is that right?

PEREZ: That is right. That is correct. They don't have a suspect in custody. They believe the language that the police used in the press conference just about 30 minutes ago was that they have an idea of a person of interest who they are looking for which tells us that they believe they know who did this. And now try to track the person down -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And we're just getting word, Evan, that six Montgomery County -- Montgomery County is an affluent county right outside of Washington, D.C. That's where Bethesda is, where this Montgomery Mall shopping center is. Six Montgomery County schools are now in a lockdown situation due to this incident, the shooting incident, at the mall as well as suburban hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. That's a major hospital in this region as well.

I want to bring in our Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Tom Fuentes and our Law Enforcement Analyst Art Roderick. They're both joining us on the phone. Tom, when you hear about a shooting incident like this, there's another one not that far away at a supermarket, then a third incident, obviously, there's suspicion because there really aren't a whole lot of these kinds of incidents in Montgomery -- at Montgomery Mall, I should say.

TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: No, that's true, Wolf. But in this instance, the fact that they named the person of interest in connection with the shooting at the Montgomery Mall is interesting. They were looking for a suspect yesterday believed to have been involved in a domestic murder of a teacher at North Point High School in suburban Maryland not too far away.

And now, today, they're naming that person as a person of interest in connection with the mall shooting. So, I don't know. They haven't revealed why they connected the two. Why they're declaring this person of interest still in the second shooting that happened today.

The third additional shooting that happened at a nearby giant store after the mall shooting, they haven't indicated that there's any connection to that shooting with any of the other shootings.

[13:05:00] So, it's under investigation. We'll find out, I'm sure, before too long if they think the same person involved in the murder yesterday is also involved in the shooting and now murder today, because one of the injured parties died at the mall shooting, and then the second shooting near a giant store a little bit later.

BLITZER: And that's the name of the supermarket, Giant Food. That's why we're calling it Giant. The name of the supermarket is Giant Food.

Art Roderick, there is a killer on the loose right now here in the greater Washington, D.C. area. What do they do to find this individual?

ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, they've already got the person of interest, as Tom had mentioned, and that's the key part of this current investigation is if they already had a person in mind that possibly could have committed this crime, then obviously that's a good sign.

And I know they didn't confirm, in the press conference, whether any of these individuals knew each other. But, usually, if you get a person of interest this quickly, then there is some connectivity between the victims and the -- and the perpetrator.

The interesting thing is these other shootings that have occurred, one yesterday and then another one today. You had two today, one yesterday. And if there is any connection between them, obviously, the law enforcement -- from the law enforcement perspective, you've got to look at making that connection or not making that connection. That's going to be a key to this -- to the -- all three of these shootings that have occurred here within the past 24 hours.

BLITZER: When you -- when you say that they have a person of interest in mind, Art, explain exactly what that means. Do they have a name of an individual? Do they have a description, an identity? Because if they do, that would be good to share with the public at large.

RODERICK: Yes, exactly. I'm kind of surprised. I'm sure they're double checking into this. I mean, as we know, the term, person of interest, has just come up over the past 10 years or so. I mean, usually, they were called suspects or individuals that were actually wanted for a particular crime. So, to me, when they come up with a person of interest, it sounds like they have a pretty good idea of who it is.

And, right now, they're double checking to see where this individual is, where has he been in the past 24 hours? And did he have any connection to the Giant shooting? Did he have any connection to the shooting that occurred yesterday? And all these things are going to mesh together.

And I'm fairly sure that they know exactly who they're looking for, at this point in time. They're just not going to come out with it to the public quite yet.

BLITZER: And the Montgomery County Police Department assistant chief, Darryl McSwain, he said that there's no reason to believe that the suspect, who is now on the loose, the so-called person of interest, knew the victims and there's no indication of any motives.

RODERICK: Right.

BLITZER: Once again, six Montgomery County public schools, they're on lockdown right now, according to school officials. The school -- the county's recreation centers are also on lockdown right now, according to the county's recreation Twitter feed.

Additionally, suburban hospital in Bethesda, Maryland is under a lockdown as well.

All right, we'll continue to watch this story. One dead, three in critical condition following a shooting in Bethesda, Maryland at Montgomery Mall, a very prestigious mall in the Washington, D.C. area. We're going to stay on top of this story. Much more on this coming up.

There's other dramatic news coming into CNN as well, including the president of the United States, today, only moments ago, speaking publicly about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump. Much more on that coming up as well.

[13:10:35]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: And we're following the breaking news here in the greater Washington, D.C. area in Montgomery Mall, right outside of Washington, D.C. at a prestigious mall. Four people shot at two different scenes, actually. In -- one in Bethesda, Maryland. One in Prince Georges County. All schools in Montgomery County right now are on lockdown, as a precaution.

Police are going to hold a news conference, once again, at the bottom of the hour to update us on what happened. We do know that around 11:15 a.m. earlier this morning, three adults, two males, one female, were shot outside the Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Maryland. That's right outside of Washington, D.C. The three victims were transported to suburban hospital which is not very far away in critical condition.

Also, police are looking at a nearby incident where an individual was also shot a short time later. The victim, in that case, has been determined to be a female. It's unclear whether these two incidents, though, are related. So far, police are not saying.

They are saying there's a so-called person of interest that they're looking for in the mall shootings. The suspect, right now, the shooter, remains at large. It's not clear -- it is unclear whether the victims knew the suspect and there's no known motive, at least at this time.

Once again, we're going to get an update at the bottom of the hour from Montgomery County authorities, including Montgomery County police. We'll get back there shortly.

In the meantime, there's other dramatic news we're watching here, including President Obama. He touts job growth in the United States, talks politics, just a little while ago. He was also asked about the state of the race for the White House and Donald Trump's becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

We're going to get that clip from the president, momentarily. But I want to bring in our Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash and our CNN Political Director David Chalian. The president was very blunt in making it clear this is not a celebrity show or reality show. This is the president of the United States, we're talking about. This is the man who will have his finger on that nuclear button, who goes into the White House situation room and makes, as commander in chief, life and death decisions.

In fact, we have the clip. Here is the president of the United States at the White House, just a little while ago.

[13:15:14] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: We are in serious times and this is a really serious job. This is not entertainment. This is not a reality show. This is a contest for the presidency of the United States. And what that means is that every candidate, every nominee, needs to be subject to exacting standards and genuine scrutiny.

It means that, you've got to make sure that their budgets add up. It means that if they say they've got an answer to a problem, that it is actually plausible. And that they have details for how it would work. And if it's completely implausible and would not work, that needs to be reported on and the American people need to know that.

Their standard bearer at the moment is Donald Trump. And I think, not just Republican officials, but more importantly, Republican voters are going to have to make a decision as to whether this is the guy who speaks for them and represents their values.

I think Republican women, voters, are going to have to decide, "Is that the guy I feel comfortable with in representing me and what I care about." I think folks who historically had been concerned about making sure that budgets add up and that we are responsible stewards of government finances have to ask, "Does Mr. Trump's budget work?"

You know, those are going to be questions that Republican voters' more than Republican officials have to answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Pretty strong words from the president of the United States. He's convinced (ph) that he where has raised some questions. It was clear, this was a direct attack on the credentials, the record of Donald Trump.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: 100 percent and it's not something that we haven't heard for, what, 8, 9, 10 months from fellow Republicans running against Donald Trump and others who opposed him. But, this is now a very different phase of the campaign.

We know who Donald Trump's supporters are within the Republican Party. They made him the effective nominee, but now it is a question about whether the general election and the general electorate, which goes out in much bigger droves and obviously is a very different set of dynamics and demographics, whether they are going to be persuaded with this kind of argument.

Again, it didn't work in the Republican primary, but it's a whole new ball game now.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: And remember, he is speaking obviously as a Hillary Clinton surrogate in many ways even though he hasn't endorsed her yet. He believes her victory is really important to his legacy.

But he also, from the benefit of being the sitting president and this is where I think you're going to see this time and again throughout the campaign trail is though we speak about the experienced of what it is to do the job, to use that as a contrast against Donald Trump.

And, you know, our new poll out today will shows him sitting in a 51 percent approval rating to President Obama.

BLITZER: As the president of the United States.

BASH: Right.

CHALIAN: Exactly. And his best string of approval ratings in his second term. So he is in a stronger position today to probably draw these contrasts than he was a couple of years ago.

BLITZER: When you say 51 percent, give us some perspective on other presidents at this time in their second term.

CHALIAN: So the only president in recent time that has been higher at this point in the second term is Bill Clinton. He's around the same place as Ronald Reagan. I think Ronald Reagan at this point is at 51 percent approval and George W. Bush at this point, his numbers started sliding.

So, if you just look to recent history, he's second in terms of where he sits at this point of his presidency. But, this is what we've been hearing about how Barack Obama is going to be surrogate, number one for Hillary Clinton. He is hugely important. His political help is hugely important to her and I think we're getting insight today into how he plans on using that role to someone.

BASH: And I just wanted to-- because you were covering the White House at the time, you remember the fact that the last time we had such a popular president going out after a second term, Bill Clinton ...

BLITZER: I mean, (inaudible) total number was 59 percent at this point.

BASH: Right. That the person running for his third term effectively, Al Gore and his campaign, they kept him locked in the White House. They wouldn't let him out because he had other issues. And so ...

BLITZER: That was clearly with hindsight a mistake.

BASH: Clearly.

BLITZER: He could help in Arkansas and other states as well.

BASH: Clearly, clearly a big mistake. But the time -- before that, Ronald Reagan, you know, he was, you know, I don't -- he wasn't as active as you could be in today's day and age, but there's no question that his popularity helps George H.W. Bush and that was the last time you had a third term of a certain party.

[13:20:15] So that approval rating is critically important.

BLITZER: And very quickly, David. The president's comments about Donald Trump today, they followed the stunning statement made yesterday by the Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan, an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper in which he said he's not yet ready to endorse Donald Trump.

CHALIAN: Yeah. And in fact, the president commented on that today when he was asked about it as well. Those were stunning comments.

We are seeing a party go through now what it had always sort of been wrestling with this entire election season which is how are we -- the Republican Party going to nominate someone we are not aligned with and all of these issues that have been part of our orthodoxy.

And now that he is the presumptive nominee, the party is trying to figure a way out how to come together. It's going to take some time. Paul Ryan's comments to Jake Tapper show us, it's going to take some more time than Donald Trump would like, I'm sure.

BASH: No, question.

BLITZER: All right guys, standby. We have a lot more to talk about. But I want to let our viewers know, Dana has got a big interview coming up at the top of the next hour.

The former Republican presidential candidate, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham will be joining Dana for an interview. I think you're going to want to hear what he has to say about Donald Trump and his race for the White House, so standby for that.

We also heard President Obama talking about these -- how serious these times are that the presidential race is not what he called a reality show. Remarks, once again, clearly aimed directly at Donald Trump who is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Healy Baumgardner is a senior Trump advisor. She's joining us now from Seattle. Healy, listen to what else the president said about Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Their standard bearer at the moment is Donald Trump. And I think not just Republican officials but more importantly, Republican voters are going to have to make a decision as to whether this is the guy who speaks for them and represents their values. I think Republican women, voters, are going to have to decide, "Is that the guy I feel comfortable with?"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, Healy, what's your response to the president's pretty blunt remarks?

HEALY BAUMGARDNER, TRUMP ADVISER: You know, I find it appalling, quite frankly.

If you look at the movement behind Mr. Trump and his endeavor to make America great again and the path to the presidency that he is seeking, it is so strong because of our country and the state that's in it in complete shambles because of the lack of leadership from President Barack Hussein Obama. I mean, it's a complete disaster.

And so, we are focus on making America great again and fixing all of the amends problems that Barack Obama has created. BLITZER: I know you don't like President Obama. That's clear, but listen to Paul Ryan, you know, what he said yesterday in the interview with CNN's Jake Tapper was pretty stunning when he said, "You know what, the Republican presumptive nominee, he's going to have come closer to me and accept my agenda, otherwise, he might not be able to endorse him, to support him."

I know they have a meeting coming up next week. I assume here in Washington, but you must have been shocked by Paul Ryan's comments.

BAUMGARDNER: I think that at this juncture, the focus of the Republican movement needs to be -- to unite. We need to unite in order to keep our eyes on the prize, which is ensuring that Hillary Clinton does not gain access to the White House.

BLITZER: Well, what are you going to do? Are you going to accept the agenda that Paul Ryan says, including when he questions Donald Trump's adherence to the constitution?

BAUMGARDNER: I think that at this point, the goal is, again, to unite the party. Donald Trump is the only candidate, the presumptive nominee who can beat Hillary Clinton in November and that's where the focus needs to be.

BLITZER: All right, Healy Baumgardner with the Trump campaign. Healy, thank you very much for joining us.

BAUMGARDNER: Thanks for having me, Wolf.

BLITZER: And to our viewers, we're also follow the breaking news here in the Greater Washington, D.C. area. We're standing by for a live news conference in Maryland on the deadly shootings in Montgomery County and Bethesda, specifically, right outside of Washington, D.C.

We're getting word that investigators suspect that there was a Thursday shooting that was connected to today's shooting. We're going to bring you all of that right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:23:38] BLITZER: We're follow the breaking news out of suburban Washington, D.C., Montgomery County, Maryland, specifically. Three people have been shot. At least two people have died in three separate shootings.

Police now say two of those shootings are in fact connected. They have a suspect, 62-year-old Eulalio Tordil. Police say, we'll be speaking about this any moment. There you see a photograph of this suspect right there.

Joining us now, CNN's Evan Perez who's been monitoring what's going on. Tell us what we know about this individual.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, we spoke a little while ago about another shooting that happened on Thursday. This is outside of a high school in Beltsville, Maryland and in that case, this suspect Eulalio Tordil is believed to have killed his wife.

He also shot a -- someone who tried to come to the aid of his wife and now the Prince George's County Police are looking for him.

Now we know from talking to officials that they believe he could be connected to the two shootings that occurred across the border in Montgomery County, Maryland.

We have a statement from the Federal Protective Service which Tordil was an employee of.

BLITZER: We see him wearing a police uniform.

PEREZ: That's right, that's right. And they've issued a statement that says, "They could confirm that he is a law enforcement officer with the Federal Protective Service. They say that in March, FPS placed him on administrative duty after a protective order was issued against him and removed his duty weapon badge and credentials. He was subsequently placed on administrative leave."

They say they are now working with the Prince George's County Police to assist in this investigation. We know, Wolf, that the people -- that the authorities investigating the shootings today.