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3 Dead, 9 Injured in Movie Theater Shooting; Donald Trump Visits U.S.-Mexico Border. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 24, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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


[06:30:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Because you don't sit down with people and take the time to vet them. I mean, that's usually the tragedy of the mass shootings, where we keep asking, how did this kid get a gun? Who let him do it? Mom and this continues --

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of questions for us to look at. We will keep asking them.

Marc and Harry, obviously, we appreciate your expertise. Tough to talk about it but it's important to do.

We'll have so much more on the deadly shooting. We are going to go to the scene. We're going to speak with a city councilman. He is a local man and talk about that tragic shooting in his hometown of Lafayette.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: There has been a deadly shooting in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. And here's what we know: a gunman opened fire, killing two and taking his own life. He injured nine others.

The shooter, light information on him so far, identified only as a 58-year-old white male. Police say about 100 people were inside that theater during the shooting spree.

Mick?

PEREIRA: Well, joining us right now, Chris, is Lafayette city councilman, Keith Patin.

Councilman Patin, first of all, it's with a heavy heart I greet you this morning. Sorry we have to speak under these circumstances.

[06:35:00] KEITH PATIN, LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCILMAN: Thank you very much. We appreciate your kind words.

PEREIRA: I want to talk to you as a hometown guy. Tell me about your reaction when you first heard about this.

PATIN: Well, it was shocking to say the least. I mean, it's just numbing. I grew up less than 500 yards from here.

We are a small community, very close knit. A lot of people know each other. It's something that we see that happened somewhere else on the national news. It's just, it's so terrible and it's devastating to be on center stage.

PEREIRA: Hard to make sense of it, isn't it? I can see the emotion in your face.

PATIN: Sure is. Sure is.

PEREIRA: Tell me what's your heart saying to you, right now?

PATIN: It's senseless.

Excuse me. It's terrible. You know, we are used to dealing with natural types of catastrophes, hurricanes, stuff like that, but nothing like this.

PEREIRA: To see this kind of pain inflicted by your fellow man, we don't know anything about him except he was a 58-year-old white man. We don't know if he was targeting anyone or it was random.

Does that matter to you or are you just in mourning right now?

PATIN: For people who have lost someone or who have had direct contact last night, I mean, specifics on information is important for closure. But, you know, that sort of stuff right now is passe. It's terrible. We are going to grieve as a community. You know, don't treasure the thought of stuff happening like this on your watch while you are part of the, you know, establishment trying to create a good place.

We are known for lots of great things. And, unfortunately, now, we will be on the list of things that are not very good at all.

PEREIRA: We know at times like this, you spoke of this being a close knit community. We saw it in Charleston where the community came together to heal. We know those days are ahead of you. And we wish you well in that.

But let's talk about the community, in terms of Louisiana and gun laws and the gun culture, what can you say about that, the fact that somebody would have a gun and walk into a movie theater when people are chilling with their loved ones, having fun on a Thursday night.

Is there a gun culture that's concerning to you in Lafayette?

PATIN: Not -- not so much in the context you are framing. I do believe law-abiding citizens ought to have the right to have firearms. It's -- the forefathers provided that for us in the Constitution.

If you want to outlaw guns, only outlaws would have guns. It's a shame. But in reality, if you took away guns, then people who do this kind of stuff would just use a different method.

PEREIRA: Do you have thoughts on how to keep guns -- do you have any idea out of the wrong hands, perhaps, is a better question.

PATIN: Well, there is a lot of processes in place. Sometimes things get lost in the shuffle. I do believe, you know, being on the local government here, we often pass ordinances and laws continually. But I think a big part of the issue is to have vigorous enforcement of the laws we do have.

PEREIRA: OK.

PATIN: I think that's a place where we could be more proficient and efficient to pay more attention to that.

PEREIRA: Do you anticipate this topic is going to come up --

PATIN: That's just mine.

PEREIRA: It's OK. It's fair and good to hear your opinion on it, especially in the wake of this. Do you feel this is going to come up now in the city council to take a hard look at it with your fellow councilman?

PATIN: We will, I'm sure, have discussion. Quite often, I get calls from people with concerns that are typically things we don't decide on a local level. You know, we handle local issues.

Now, to what extent? We will discuss and try to or possibly create something to have an impact. That, I can't say right now. But, we typically handle only local type issues, nothing from a state level or federal level.

So, I'm sure we are going to have to have a lot of discussion because discussion is part of the healing process. People have a lot of questions and, for some, the more answers, the easier for closure and for some, there will be no closure.

PEREIRA: That's a good point. We all mourn and grieve differently. As I said, our hearts are with you.

[06:40:00] We hope your community can link arms and heal together in the wake of this horrifying, horrifying act of violence. Councilman, thank you so much for joining us on NEW DAY.

PATIN: Thank you for your kind words. We are a vibrant community. We will get past this. It will take time, but we have a tradition of focusing on the positive, not the negative. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to talk. Bye-bye.

PEREIRA: We appreciate having you.

All right. Chris?

CUOMO: Part of that positive will be figuring out how to make this less likely in the future. That's why there's so many questions about why this happened.

We are expecting to get answers during the show here, within the hours of NEW DAY, we are expecting a press conference to get more information about the status of the victims, if it's still an active crime scene, was anything else learned. And, of course, what motivated someone to do something so horrible. We'll be watching.

All of that coming up. Stay with us for it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually down the street from Columbine High School. How does this kind of thing keep happening?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How does the happiest place in the world produce somebody full of hate and evil?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:01] CUOMO: We are following breaking news.

Three dead including a murderer at a shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. Authorities have identified the shooter, A 58-year-old white male, but have not given out his name.

Now, what matters much more than that is why this happened? And we are waiting on more information from authorities. We know nine people were wounded out of about 100 people in the theater at the time.

This happened during a screening of the movie "Trainwreck." The film star Amy Schumer, tweeted, "My heart is broken and my thoughts and prayers with everyone in Louisiana."

PEREIRA: New this morning, senior al Qaeda commander has been killed in a U.S. strike in Afghanistan. The U.S. military confirming that Abu Khalil al-Sudani was killed two weeks ago. Al Sudani was the head of the terrorist group's suicide and explosives operation and he was linked to external plot attacks against the U.S.

CUOMO: The Obama administration continuing its push for the Iran deal. Later this morning, Secretary of State John Kerry will be in New York City, speaking on the Council for Foreign Relations about the nuclear agreement. Skeptical senators grilled Kerry about the deal when he appeared before a Senate Thursday. To be continued.

PEREIRA: An autopsy ruled that Sandra Bland's death a suicide by hanging. Guards found the 28-year-old hanging in her cell two hours after she was last checked on.

Her family denies claims that Bland was suicidal. Instead saying her arrest and the officer's actions were out of line. Bland was arrested two weeks ago after a Texas police officer pulled her over for allegedly failing to use her turn signal.

CUOMO: We are going to have more on the deadly movie theater shooting. Again, we are waiting on a press conference from authorities.

But, first, the man on your screen, the man on your mind, Donald Trump makes a run for the border, standing by rhetoric on illegal immigration. How did that message play down there and did the Donald learn a thing or two?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:51:02] CUOMO: We are, of course, are following breaking news in Louisiana and last night's movie theater shooting there. We will get to a press conference when authorities are going to give us information. It's supposed to happen during NEW DAY.

But, first, a political shocker. Did Donald Trump actually learn something on his border trip? The Republican presidential candidate spent Thursday, as you probably know, touring the border of Laredo, Texas, as a setting to talk about immigration policy.

Joining us, Latin American political analyst Ana Maria Salazar, and along with Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, who commanded the First Armor Division and Task Force Iron in northern Iraq from 2007 to 2009. He's also a CNN military analyst.

What's Hurtling doing here? Well, first of all, he's handsome. And second of all, Trump took a sharp jab at the general in a CNN interview on the fight against Islamic terror, ISIS in specific.

So, we are going to deal with that, General, and look pretty until we get to that.

Ana Maria, let me ask you something. Trump went down to the border saying that we need a wall around this entire country. It's the only way to do it. I'm going to get Mexico to pay for it. He was very worried about his safety -- listen to what he is saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to the border tomorrow, I may never see you again, but that's a minor detail.

We're going to the border. And we'll see you later. Hopefully, we'll see you later.

Let's say it's a great danger but I have to do it.

People are saying, oh, it's so dangerous what you are doing, Mr. Trump. It's so dangerous. I have to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: The question becomes, what is danger is, how he's distorting reality or what was going to happen on the border. So, then, he goes down there. Obviously, he survives. He learns the crime statistics are better in Laredo much better than where he lives in New York City. He gets asked about the wall and suddenly says, well, we don't need a wall around the whole place, just certain pieces.

Do you think exposure and dealing with the dynamics he's talking about may be changing The Donald?

ANA MARIA SALAZAR, LATIN AMERICAN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think that he was embarrassed to contradict his guest, the mayor of Laredo, who apparently told him, you know what, Donald? We really don't need a wall to cross the whole border of the United States. So, I think that was -- that's one issue.

The other issue is when you get down to the border, it does give you a sense as to how difficult the problem is and, two, the idea that you can -- that you can basically stop 100 percent the people crossing into the United States just by putting a wall up was made clear to him. I'm still confused, Chris, to be honest with you, trying to understand what happened yesterday, because I think he went down there to be able to get a photo-op to use for the rest of the campaign, there you go, all the evil Mexicans trying to cross into the United States.

Well, the first thing he did was congratulate Mexico and say things -- you know, Mexico they are doing well and then went into a very confusing description as to what his policy would be and whether he was getting support or not by border patrol and law enforcement, which I think was the other thing. He was trying to get a photo-op, that he was getting by border patrol.

So, the whole thing was very confusing. I don't know how useful it was for his campaign. But I do know one thing -- he's not getting the Hispanic vote.

CUOMO: Why not? He hires thousands and thousands of them. They love him. He says it all the time, "Hispanics, they love me."

SALAZAR: Well, you know, just watching that interaction with Telemundo's reporter, Spanish speaking press is very important for the Spanish vote in the United States. I don't think people realize how important it is.

But, also, you know, there is this general perception that when he made those comments, they were just this very broad comments, regardless of what he said that we in the press are misinterpreting what he said. He was very offensive. And he's -- no matter what he does is going to -- he's going to be pardoned for that.

[06:55:04] The other statement he made and I do want to highlight that, he was going to take away all those jobs from the Chinese and from the Japanese and he was going to bring them back to the United States. The facts don't support it.

So, but -- you and I know this. Facts are not important for Donald Trump. So, you know, he's going to keep on making these comments and stumble and contradict himself. Maybe it's not important to him. Eventually, reality does catch up with you.

CUOMO: All right. Your turn, general. The Donald was talking about what he would do against is. Usually, he ends by saying, oh, what I'll do to is. He got questioned and put a little bit. Here is how the exchange went.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You say send in troops to ring around the oil field. General Hertling said they had 30,000 Americans, 60,000 Iraqis guarding the Kirkuk oil fields during the war. Al Qaeda was still able to get in.

TRUMP: I'm a better general than the general you are talking about, OK, then I'm a better general.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: General, you are dressed eerily familiar to Donald Trump. Other than that, do you think -- what do you take that you are somehow subpar as a general and his idea is far superior to what you did?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I do have the red tie on, Chris, this morning. And first of all, thank you for all the compliments on my handsomeness, but Michaela is better looking than you are.

So, I just say that you have commented many times on this show about the ability of our leaders to be leaders. It's an interesting factor. I think this connects, not only between Iraq and what's happening on the Mexican border, but a key value of leaders is to have values.

Some of those values are respect for other people, humility, ability to learn. And, in fact, an empathy to hear other people's ideas. When Mr. Trump started talking about what he would do in Iraq, it shows a lack of intellect and capability to understand the situation there, because he's never been there.

The same thing is true about the Mexican border. He certainly had a lesson yesterday when he went down there and situation there.

So, I think this is an individual who is used to getting his own way and used to be very blusterous. He sees the world as it is, not from the eyes of a businessman.

CUOMO: Strong points. And, as you know, we greatly value your service, not just to CNN but to the country. And, often, when you're selling people's outrage, you can get lost in the facts and realities are on the ground.

General Hertling, thank you for being here. Hertling is the right name because you hurt me with what you said about Michaela because it's true.

And, Ana Marie Salazar, thank you for the perspective as always.

Have a good weekend to you both.

So, what do you think about the issues, what happened when the Donald went under the border and what he was saying about Iraq versus the reality. Tweet, use the #NewDayCNN, or post your comment on Facebook.com/NewDay.

It's a big story, there's a lot of news. We are expecting new detail and information about what happened in Louisiana. So, let's get to it.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

PEREIRA: And welcome back to your NEW DAY. Alisyn is off today.

We are continuing to follow breaking news. Lafayette, Louisiana reeling from a shooting at a local movie theater, three people are dead, including the gunman who took his own life. Nine others were wounded.

Police know who the shooter is, but what they do not know is why he opened fire inside a packed theater.

We are, as Chris mentioned, awaiting a news conference this hour, with an update on the shooting.

CUOMO: And this morning, stories of heroism emerging. Two teachers credited with saving lives as the shooting comes almost three years to the day after that massacre at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

So, let's begin our coverage with CNN's Ed Lavandera. He is in Lafayette, Louisiana -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

Well, the shooting inside this theater here in Lafayette, Louisiana described by some as surreal and terrifying. We were told by state police official in Louisiana that they believe the gunman came to the theater alone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPORTER: Lafayette Police has the Grand 16 on Johnson Street on lockdown.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Breaking overnight, a gunman opens fire in a packed movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Leaving at least seven wounded, some with possible life- threatening injuries and three dead, including the 58-year-old male shooter who turned the gun on himself.

CHIEF JIM CRAFT, LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA POLICE DEPT.: We know identity of the shooter. We are not releasing it at this time. We are in the middle of this investigation and we don't want to affect investigators ability to do their job.

LAVANDERA: Just 20 minutes into the showing of Amy Schumer's comedy "Trainwreck" at the Grand 16 Theater.

The scene turned into something from a horror movie. Bullets flying s the gunman described by authorities as a lone, white male stood up and began shooting a handgun into the audience.

TANYA CLARK, WITNESS: We saw a lady with blood all over her leg. I just grabbed my child.