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THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER

Police Tracking Suspects in Canada Shooting; U.S. Increased Security Status

Aired October 22, 2014 - 16:30   ET

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


JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. We're continuing our breaking news coverage on a series of violent attacks in Ottawa, Canada.

Ottawa police just confirmed to us that they are looking for more than one suspect in connection with multiple shootings around Ottawa's downtown area, specifically near the parliament. There has been no official word that the suspects have ties to any specific extremist groups, but some Canadian officials are not waiting for law enforcement officials to label this an act of terror. Conservative cabinet minister Jason Kenny tweeting earlier today, "Canada will not be terrorized or intimidated. What we do know is that there have been calls by ISIS for lone wolf attacks against westerners. Add to that the fact that today's incident comes just days after a man ran down two Canadian soldiers near Montreal. That suspect reportedly had been arrested and had had his passport yanked after he attempted to travel to Syria. Let's bring in former CIA counterterrorism official Phil Mudd and CNN terror analyst Paul Cruickshank. Gentlemen, thanks for being with us. Phil, investigators have the name of a suspect in today's attack. They're not sure if it's real or an alias. Based on your experience, give us a tick tock of what these investigators are likely doing right now.

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Right, now, Jake, you have got an information explosion because you have got to prove a negative. That is, did he ever travel here? Financial records, phone, email, student records, looking over potentially years. What you've got to do within the space of hours because you do not want to see somebody linked to him do something in an American city tomorrow morning. You have got to start figuring out whether he ever traveled here, whether he had any contacts here, whether he had a virtual cell - that is whether he was emailing here because if there is somebody who is part of a broader web of conspiracy you want to be on him tonight.

TAPPER: Paul, the Canadian law enforcement officials have enlisted the help of the FBI. They have given the FBI the name of this individual who is now dead. The suspected shooter, whether it's a real name or an alias they don't know. What can the FBI do with that name that Canada can't do and more generally, what role will the U.S. play in the investigation?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERROR ANALYST: Well, the FBI only have a huge sort of database of Islamist extremists, of other sort of people with other motivations, right wing extremists and they can kind of go through these databases and they can help the Canadians try to identify who this is and do they have any links with any radical organizations and that kind of thing, Jake.

TAPPER: Paul, I want to ask you -- I'm sorry, Phil, I want to ask you the - it was a few years ago when the then secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, she made some comments about the Canadian border, and she had to walk the back of it, but in her walk back, she said the fact of the matter is that Canada allows people into its country that we do not allow into hours. What was she saying?

MUDD: I think she's talking about immigration policy. Obviously, a big debate in America today. If you look at Canada over the course of decades their immigration policy is much more liberal than that of the United States. My guess is this is the kind of debate that might rise up again in Canada as a result of this incident, but I think she's referring to the differences in immigration standards between the two countries.

TAPPER: Paul, does the nature of this attack say anything to you at all about who might be responsible going after a soldier at the war memorial and going into the parliament building?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, it's interesting that the Canadian police are now saying potentially two suspects and that would suggest some sort of conspiracy, some sort of planning, a more ambitious attack than if it was just one gunman, one suspect. I think that increases the likelihood this is some kind of a political terrorist attack, but not clear what the motivation is at this point or whether it's linked to Islamic extremism.

TAPPER: Phil, the Department of Homeland Security said that there is no indication that any of the events in Canada today pose any sort of threat to the U.S. There must be some concern, however, about the potential for copycat attacks or perhaps even homegrown terrorists in the U.S., seeing this as an inspirational moment or homegrown Canadian terrorists crossing the border.

MUDD: Yeah, I mean I would not have said that if I were them for a couple of reasons. One is what you just said, there is a chance that somebody is saying, U.S. city saying, hey, if they can do it, I can, as well. I've been thinking about it, I should conduct the same kind of operation. The second, though, Jake is something I experienced for a lot of years and the first kind of information you get in situations like this is often bad or just bits and pieces that you can't fully put together. To say at this point that we don't have any indication, that this reached the United States, we're not going to know for some time, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow. And then there are bigger questions about what this person might have done six months ago, 12 months ago. Proving a negative takes a long time and it is too early to come out and say whether this guy is somehow linked to American or not.

TAPPER: It's a good reminder because, of course, police initially and after the Navy Yard shootings were saying that there were at least three shooters that they are looking for, ultimately it was one. Initial information often incorrect. Paul Cruickshank, Phil Mudd, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Coming up after today's shootings, in Canada's capital city fighter jets scrambled into position, ready to move in a moment to notice. Now, the North American Command is raising its alert level. That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to "The Lead.", I'm Jake Tapper. We are continuing our coverage of our world leader string of shootings in Ottawa that has left at least one soldier dead and the Canadian parliament temporarily paralyzed. Details solely trickling out from both Canadian and U.S. law enforcement officials today about today's attack. So, far, we know that just before 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time a gunman toting a long-barreled rifle unleashed a torrent of bullets on Parliament Hill, at a war memorial.

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[shots fired]

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TAPPER: Before moving inside parliament itself firing shot after shot which is what you see in this video, from the (INAUDUIBLE) - forcing those inside to barricade themselves inside a caucus room or sprint for the exits. Ottawa police Constable Chuck Benoit just told me that police are still searching for another suspect or suspects in the city. This, as Canadian and U.S. intelligence agencies are combing and combining their vast resources, running the dead gunman's name through databases hoping for a hit on something that offers a clue as to motive. So far the U.S. law enforcement sources say it is too early to rule out a connection to Islamic extremism or any extremism. The Department of Homeland Security says there is no specific threat to the United States. Still, the shootings have put the U.S. military on alert. Fighter jets are at the ready at NORAD, which is a joint Canadian U.S. military effort, it has some sort of heightened readiness right now, and CNN's Barbara Starr was the first to report that she joins us live from the Pentagon. Barbara, what steps specifically is NORAD taking?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jake, because the situation is so uncertain throughout the day, NORAD, that joint command between the U.S. and Canadian military raised the alert status on some Canadian aircraft in the region that could respond in Ottawa, if needed. What we are told is they moved a number of aircraft to a base closer to Ottawa to be ready if this took on a component where they felt they had to protect the airspace over Ottawa, very typical, but it also shows just how concerned and how uncertain they are about what has really happened here.

TAPPER: And Barbara, obviously, the shooting at the War Memorial in Ottawa has caused U.S. officials to take a look at possible targets in the United States. What is the U.S. doing?

STARR: Throughout the day they've been doing exactly that, Jake, looking at U.S. military installations and what we now know is they have decided to increase security precautions at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery here in Washington. Some of the most hallowed ground in this country. The Tomb of the Unknowns, of course, guarded by that precision team, that military honor guard around the clock and because the Canadian situation unfolded at their war memorial against one of their military personnel, the decision was made out of an abundance of precaution to do the same here at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

TAPPER: Barbara Starr, thank you so much. Appreciate it. When we come back, a suspect is dead, but Ottawa police tell me officers are still actively searching for an additional suspect or suspects. What we are just learning now about the investigation coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. We'll continue our coverage of our World Lead, pandemonium in parliament. Canada's capital locked down after a gunman sprayed round after round into crowds at Parliament Hill and inside Parliament itself.

Tom Foreman is over at the magic wall with everything we know about what happened today, when and where. Tom, give us insight of what happened.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It all launched at about 9:52 this morning. Witnesses say that's when at least one gunman came from around this building and approached the war memorial over here. The war memorial is something that is well known to all of the people in that area there.

You have the honor guards and this is where many people lay poppies and they lay wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknowns. In any event after this happened at this very hallowed place for Canadians, then witnesses say the gunman headed off toward parliament up this way.

Now there are some who say he actually hijacked a car and took it up here. It's not entirely clear what the details are about that, but we do know that once he arrived at this location that he then entered to what's called the Peace Tower.

The Peace Tower is a monument to World War I. It's also a national symbol and yet he went inside and then there was a lot of shooting in the foyer and about a minute later, a lot of shooting near the back of the building as he moved back toward the library area and he went back toward which is right back in here and the caucus rooms.

That's where he was finally taken down by security forces and particularly by the sergeant at arms, but it wasn't over there precisely because of what you were talking about, Jake. Authorities had been perceiving all along in the belief that there may have been another gunman involved here.

So what happened as a result is a whole lot of this entire area, buildings, offices, bridges, all closed down as they tried to search to see if someone else might be here.

The Toronto Maple Leaves were in town for a hockey game and they were locked down in their hotel because they were trying to find if there was another gunman there. It's all very involved. It's very complicated, but it's what they must do precisely because of what you just reported, Jake, because they still think there might be somebody in here who is part of the shooting -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Tom Foreman, thank you. The investigation of today's shootings will be an international undertaking. Canadian authorities have asked the FBI to help them trace the identity of the dead shooter.

Joining me now are two experts in tracking criminals, Shawn Henry, former executive assistant director of the FBI and Mary Ellen O'Toole, former senior FBI profiler.

Shawn, the FBI says, quote, "We stand ready to assist our Canadian partners as they deal with the ongoing situation in the capital. No doubt they already mentioned, what are the next steps for the bureau?

SHAWN HENRY, PRESIDENT, CROWDSTRIKE: The bureau wants to know what happened in Canada and how that might implicate or be an issue here in the United States. What type of intelligence can we collect?

What type of intelligence does the United States, FBI and other law enforcement intelligence agencies have that might help the Canadians if they're looking for another actor in that matter.

There are two very important things you need to do in something like this, first, you want to neutralize the threat. The second piece is gathering intelligence to look and see if this is a much broader plot and does it implicate just the Canada or is it also going to touch the United States of America?

TAPPER: Mary Ellen, the Canadian authorities have reportedly shared the name of the suspect with American investigators. We have that name, but we are not reporting it yet. How quickly can they put together a profile with that name?

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, ACTIVE SHOOTER PROFILER: Depending on the amount of information they can put something together pretty quickly. They will do a personality assessment on the person and it's looking into everything about that individual from the time he was a small child up until today and they'll look at his personality and his social life.

Everything about him and they'll particularly focus any change of behavior that may have come about as a result of any terrorist association, but at what point did he start planning this and how did he carry out those plans and who helped him.

TAPPER: Shawn, one of the things that is interesting about this case is the possibility that it is a homegrown terrorist, self-radicalized. It's very rare and we don't know whether this individual acted alone or not and the Canadian police tell me they were looking for other suspects, but it is very rare that it would be anything other than one person?

HENRY: That's right. The FBI just concluded an active shooter analysis. Out of 160 investigations that they looked at these active shooters, only two involved more than one shooter. So it is unusual and that might lead investigators to conclude that this could possibly be that coordinated attack and potentially tied to terrorism.

It is still very early and it will take a lot of investigation, but that's certainly what law enforcement and intelligence agencies will be thinking about right here.

TAPPER: That's what law enforcement is most afraid of is a Mumbai- style attack, multiple shooters killing a lot of people at once.

HENRY: think that that's right. Specifically if we're talking about a terrorist incident and actors are looking to do as much impact as they can, and wreak as much havoc as they can display throughout the community and multiple shooters will have that capability.

TAPPER: Mary Ellen, the big fear right now, one of many big fears right now, copycats.

O'TOOLE: Absolutely. And that's the real world, 20 years ago, when the FBI started to talk about copycats, we defined it as someone wanted to do the same thing, but now copycat behavior means that there's someone looking at the shooting today, saying, I know where he made mistakes. This is where I will do it different when it's my time on the world stage.

TAPPER: We don't know what the motivations of the shooter were. It might be an Islamic terrorist and the attack on the U.S. capitol, I think it was in 1998, that was -- I don't even know what his political motivations were. He was an insane person and he killed two Capitol Hill police officers.

HENRY: I think you don't know and it will take days and possibly weeks to really uncover all of that, but I think out of an abundance of caution on the current stage that we face where we have terrorist threats here in the U.S. as well as in the western world.

I think investigators often times will default on that and try to back away from that, they want to address the highest priority and terrorist is at that level and they'll look at that first.

TAPPER: And that's why Canada raised its threat level last week was because of the threat from Islamic terrorists. Mary Ellen and Shawn, thank you so much as always. Appreciate you being here.

When we come back, another attack, this time in Jerusalem, a 3-month- old baby girl was killed and several others injured after a car barrels into a group of pedestrians in Israel. Why police say this could be terror related next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. We're following the breaking news. The FBI on alert after shots were fired in and near Canada's parliament building and a member of the Canadian armed forces is dead along with one gunman. But police in Canada are not ruling out more possible suspects at this time.

This is the second time just this week that the Canadian military became a target, less than 48 hours before today's attack on Parliament Hill, Martin Ahmed Rolo, a suspected ISIS supporter ran a car into two Canadian soldiers in Quebec, killing one of them.

Police say Rolo is one of dozens of Canadians suspected of being radicalized. His passport had recently been confiscated.

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BOB PAULSON, RCMP COMMISSIONER: We were working him along with other suspects and we'll need to let the investigation proceed.

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TAPPER: The Canada's rail system was threatened. Police charged two men with conspiracy to commit a terrorist act on the trains there and those acts were sponsored by a familiar foe.

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JAMES MALIZI, RCMP ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER: The individuals were receiving support from al Qaeda elements located in Iran.

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TAPPER: Luckily, that plot was foiled. While we do not know who is responsible for today's bullets, Canada's involvement in the coalition fight against ISIS makes the country a bigger target.

Meanwhile, its ability to defend against the attacks is something the nation's own deputy director of security intelligence recently expressed some doubts about.

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JEFF YAWORSKI, CSIS DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS: I would be fool hearted to say we have the bases covered. We do what we can.

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TAPPER: We are also watching another chaotic scene. Another suspected terrorist attack, which was caught on security cam, this one in Jerusalem, where a car rammed into pedestrians waiting at a light rail stop.

Health officials say a 3-month-old baby girl was killed and seven other people were hurt, one of them severely. Israeli police say this was not an accident and they're treating it as a suspected terror attack.

Make sure you follow me on Twitter @jaketapper and check out the show page at cnn.com/thelead for video, blogs, extras. You can also subscribe to our magazine on Flipboard.

That's it for THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. I now turn you over to Wolf Blitzer. He's right next door to me in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.