Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Police Unconvinced Killer Planned Las Vegas Attack Alone; Girlfriend Says She Didn't Know About Attack Plans; Some GOP Lawmakers Open to Bump Stock Ban; Interview with Representative David Cicilline; Hotel Security Guard Jesus Campos Took on Gunman Alone; Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired October 5, 2017 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:17] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm John Berman.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Poppy Harlow.

It was the deadliest shooting in mass shooting in modern U.S. history carried out by more than one person. Police in Las Vegas say the assumption is it just may have been. They said late last night in a presser the career gambler who took 58 innocent lives and wounded almost 500 others had to have some help at some point, though who might have given it, when and how, still very much unknown.

BERMAN: And the murderer's girlfriend say s she was completely in the dark. Marilou Danley has now spoken to Las Vegas police as well as the FBI. They have many questions, to say the least.

We also have new video of the horror of the shooting. Look at this. This was taken by a city worker who helped get people out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those are shots. Run, those are shots. Run. Don't walk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run. Go. Go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody go. Go, run. Keep your head down. Go. Keep your head down, go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: "Everybody go." Many new developments we are following this morning. Let's begin the hour with CNN's Jean Casarez -- Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Authorities are trying to figure out who this killer is. They do believe he was a wealthy gambler. At one point on a real estate application he wrote that he gambles about $1 million per year. The current home he lived in in Mesquite, Nevada, he paid cash for. He has had real estate deals selling and buying for years now. In fact he sold an apartment complex in California for $3.5 million at one point.

But while they are developing the profile of this man, they also now have a timeline. They established through body cam video and closed circuit video that the shooting lasted for 10 minutes. The barrage of bullets from 10:05 p.m. Sunday night to 10:15 p.m. Sunday night. Two minutes later that's when the first two officers reached the 32nd floor of the hotel and one minute later, at 10:18, that's when the security guard ventured out along the hallway by himself, saw a hotel room ajar, stopped, and that's when 200 rounds of ammunition went through that door, only shooting him in his leg.

But it was discovered at that point by law enforcement officers that there were cameras, cameras set up on that food cart and also later they found a camera that was in the peephole. They realized they could not make a move until the SWAT team arrived. At the same time they realized that the bullets had stopped. So what they did, they started evacuating rooms along that hallway.

Tactical unit got in the hallway and finally at 11:20 that's when the SWAT team made entry and they saw that the perpetrator was there dead on the floor. Now law enforcement says their working theory is that with everything from his car to his hotel room to his homes in Mesquite and Reno area, that he just couldn't have done all this by himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF JOSEPH LOMBARDO, LAS VERGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE: Look at this. I mean, you look at the weapon obtaining, the different amounts of Tannerite available. Do you think this was all accomplished on his own? Self-value, face value? You got to make the assumption that he had to have some help at some point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: They are also looking at the Ogden Hotel. It's downtown Las Vegas. It's really a condominium complex but a week ago there was a concert there and they believe that he checked in and they're searching all the surveillance video to see who he was with and what he brought in -- Poppy, John.

BERMAN: Jean Casarez for us in Las Vegas. Jean, thanks so much.

So many questions this morning about the girlfriend who is talking to investigators now.

HARLOW: Yes.

BERMAN: So what is she saying?

CNN's Jessica Schneider here with that -- Jessica.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the shooter's girlfriend saying she is devastated by the deaths and to that end, we know that Danley, she is cooperating with authorities. She's been interviewed by FBI agents. She's talking with Las Vegas police. All of that since she arrived back from the Philippines in Los Angeles Tuesday night. Now she had been overseas since September 15th.

Her lawyer read a statement explaining that Stephen Paddock is the one who purchased her plane ticket, overseas to the Philippines, just about two weeks before the attack, and he insists that she did not know anything about his plans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT LOMBARD, MARILOU DANLEY'S ATTORNEY: He never said anything to me or took any action that I was aware of that I understood in any way to be a warning that something horrible like this was going to happen.

[10:05:07] I was grateful but honestly I was worried that, first, the unexpected trip home and then the money was a way of breaking up with me. It never occurred to me in any way whatsoever that he was planning violence against anyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: So again it was Paddock who bought his girlfriend Marilou Danley that airline ticket overseas. Now Danley's sisters, they're in Australia and they've spoken out saying that Paddock sent her away so she wouldn't, quote, "interfere with the planning."

Danley's stepdaughter from a previous marriage, she is also coming to Danley's defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANETTE HENRY, MARILOU DANLEY'S FORMER STEPDAUGHTER: And who's to say, you know, with the guns we consume, being in his house, that he didn't take those guns there after she went to the Philippines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: But we know that Paddock had at least 47 firearms and we know that at least 33 of them had been stockpiled in his house since last fall, so Danley, she lived with him at his home in Mesquite, Nevada. So of course investigators are likely going to take a second look at those statements saying she knew nothing of course since the attack required such extensive planning on Paddock's part -- John and Poppy.

HARLOW: Jessica Schneider in Washington with that. Thank you very much.

Joining us now CNN law enforcement analyst, former Philadelphia police commissioner, Charles Ramsey is here, and CNN senior law enforcement analyst, former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes.

Gentlemen, thank you for being here.

Tom, let me start with you and what we heard from the sheriff, that this -- the assumption has to be, he said, that this was not carried out alone. Now he talked about how difficult it is to take 10 bags full of big guns upstairs but aside from that do you think he and his team are seeing something else that tells them that this shooter may not have acted alone?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That's a good question, Poppy. I was surprised to hear them express that opinion especially when he chastised the reporters for forming opinions of their own. So I was a little bit taken aback, that he said well, we're assuming that there was somebody when we don't know if that's based on something.

If there is investigative information that he was being assisted, then I'm still surprised he would say it. Just go after that person, exhaust every possible lead to disprove that possible theory. And you have nothing to lose by exhausting all leads and be sure that there was no other assistance.

But as far as individually carrying all those guns and doing that, that's very possible. Hotels in Las Vegas have the valet service. They meet your car or they meet your taxi when you're coming in. And he could easily have had people help him and he had several days to bring that equipment up into that room. So I don't think it's completely out of the question that he could do it by himself if he wanted to.

BERMAN: You know, Commissioner, I suppose there's a difference between saying he must have had help and we see evidence, specific evidence, that he had help. But if there is someone that they believe was involved at some point in assisting with this, how much of a threat would that person be and what level of urgency is there in terms of public safety for finding that individual?

CHARLES RAMSEY, FORMER PHILADELPHIA POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, you know, help can take a variety of forms. I mean, people could have helped, you know, maybe obtained Tannerite or something else but had no idea he was planning on doing what he wound up doing. So I'm not really clear on what they mean by having help.

But I do know that they have access to a lot of information that we simply do not have. You've got a hard drive from a computer, you've got video from the hotel, you've got the interview with the live-in girlfriend. I mean, all these things are things that we don't necessarily know, but Sheriff Lombardo and others in the investigation would know.

I know Joe Lombardo very well, he's a good friend, and he's as solid as they come. So I think as the days unfold we'll start to see a different picture, a profile of this individual. I mean, right now you're hearing about how great a guy he was. Clearly that's not the case. So I think as days go on, that profile will get darker and darker when we start really digging into this guy.

HARLOW: Tom, what do you think in terms of what the commissioner has said on a different profile?

FUENTES: No, I agree. The commissioner is exactly right. You know, we're going to learn a lot more about Paddock than we know now or what we've been hearing. You know, and we've heard from family members and his girlfriend and others that he was a really good guy, but, you know, more and more information will come out that maybe he's not so good. But the problem is that --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Wow.

FUENTES: -- that, you know, you have somebody 64 years old with no real criminal record other than maybe, you know, he mistreated his girlfriend in coffee shops and bullied people or did things like that. There are a lot of people that do that and don't go out and kill 58 people, so, you know, we will learn more.

The question is, we want to learn more from an evidentiary standpoint if it's going to link other people to this conspiracy.

[10:10:06] BERMAN: And one thing we know for sure is the guy was a monster, an evil, pure and simple.

HARLOW: Yes.

BERMAN: I think no matter what else is discovered about him, that much will be included.

Commissioner, as to the profile of this guy, there's some interesting -- I don't know if they're contradictions but you have the fact that he bought more than 30 weapons.

HARLOW: In a year.

BERMAN: In the last year. You have the fact that he'd been going to other concerts, maybe scoping out other opportunities or dry runs perhaps, but then you have what the commissioner said that in this instance where he did murder so many people, it appears he made plans to escape. So how do those different factors contribute to the profile?

RAMSEY: Well, they don't. I mean, listen, this guy hasn't fit the traditional profile yet so there's no reason to think that we're not going to uncover more stuff that doesn't fit the profile. But think about it for a moment, maybe he did in his mind, which was clearly deranged, think that he could escape but he's in one position firing that many rounds for 10 minutes, how could you possibly think he didn't waltz out of the room and get away.

It's not logical. But he's not a logical person. He's deranged. So there are a lot of things that we'll uncover that may not necessarily fit neatly but I think he's probably giving people down at the FBI behavioral science unit fits right now trying to figure this guy out because he does not fit what we have traditionally thought of as a person who would commit this kind of crime.

HARLOW: What about the fact, Tom, in his car, the sheriff is now saying they found 50 pounds of explosives, 1600 rounds of ammunition. Knowing that he thought he could or wanted to escape, does that tell you that perhaps he was planning on a secondary target, planning to get away and strike somewhere else? FUENTES: Sure. He could have been planning other targets and we

don't know and probably never will know what compelled him to attack on this particular day at that particular event. When Las Vegas hosts these kinds of events on a continuing basis, as we said, he's scoped out another concert just a week or two earlier.

So there was nothing -- if he was going to use those explosives he certainly had enough time to put them in the position where he could have so we don't understand exactly what happened there.

I think -- and the commissioner is right, you know, we're trying to apply logic and reason and rationale thinking to someone who clearly is not logical, rationale. He was very capable of putting together all this weaponry and pulling the trigger but that doesn't mean that he thinks like any of us do and trying to unravel his brain is going to be, you know, maybe impossible.

BERMAN: All right. Charles Ramsey, Tom Fuentes, thanks so much for your expertise here. Appreciate you being with us.

Big discussion right now about guns, specifically the guns used to murder so many people in Las Vegas. New thoughts about making the bump stocks which turned these guns into machine guns illegal and maybe some bipartisan support here.

HARLOW: Also, remarkable stories of survivor and heroism including the hotel security guard who approached the shooter's room unarmed. Even after he had been shot, he stayed to help. Now that man being recognized rightly so for his courage under fire. That story ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:17:20] HARLOW: So this morning, some top congressional Republicans, including the speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, indicating we should have hearings, they will consider banning bump stocks.

BERMAN: Yes. This is the device, bump stocks are the device used in the Las Vegas massacre. It enabled the killer to make his guns fire basically like machine guns.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty in Washington and there are some new developments just over the last few minutes -- Sunlen.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. And I would describe it as being tepid interest by Republicans here. They are certainly for potentially looking into this legislation on bump stock proposed by Senator Dianne Feinstein and adding to the list of Republicans who are opening the door, considering this legislation, just moments ago speaker of the House Paul Ryan indicating in a radio interview that he could potentially get on board with at least looking at the legislation. He said, quote, "Clearly this is something we need to look into."

And as I've been talking to Republicans up here on Capitol Hill this week, this certainly is the sentiment that does seem to be growing. Many Republicans admitting that they don't know much about bump stocks but they're willing to learn more and they certainly are intrigued by the idea by Senator Dianne Feinstein that it's worth looking more into.

We also heard from Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican senator, who said he is open to entertaining the idea of regulating these. So it certainly is significant that you're hearing from many Republicans and many Republicans from the Republican leadership. As we said Speaker of the House Paul Ryan also Senator John Cornyn, the number two Senate Republican, saying that he thinks this should be held up to a hearing, that the Senate judiciary should look into that.

But the reality checks of all of it, even though there are -- there is some tepid interest from Republicans here, there still are no Republican co-sponsors on that bill to regulate bump stock that has 26 Democratic supporters on there, signers on there, but no Republicans formally signed on yet and, of course, no hearings scheduled.

Mitch McConnell has not said how he feels about this. We all know after the immediate aftermath of Las Vegas, he said it's too early to politicize this issue, he believed, and it's too early to look at legislation. So a lot of movement up here, some momentum but not sure yet if that will actually translate into anything real -- John and Poppy.

BERMAN: Could this be a rare moment of agreement?

Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much.

Let's dive in deeper, one Democratic congressman member of the House is proposing a similar measure, Dianne Feinstein. He has 140 co- sponsors. Joining us now, Rhode Island Congressman David Cicilline, a Democrat.

Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. 140 co-sponsors right now, any Republicans?

REP. DAVID CICILLINE (D), FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: No. Actually 148 co-sponsors. I am in active discussion with five or six of my Republican colleagues who are reviewing the bill.

[10:20:06] I think there is bipartisan interest, but just to remind your viewers this is a device that allows you to convert semiautomatic weapon into essentially function as a machine gun capable of discharging 400 to 800 bullets a minute. So this is a commonsense proposal. I'm hopeful that it will be a bipartisan effort. Right now it's only Democrats on my bill but I'm working hard to persuade some of my Republican colleagues to join this effort.

HARLOW: What do you think? I mean, you've got a number of your Republican colleagues on the Senate side. Senator Ron Johnson saying, quote, "I have no problem banning those," Paul Ryan just saying, you know, we should look at this, there should be hearings.

Do you feel like, Congressman, this could be the moment? I mean, this would not be comprehensive gun legislation but this would be something? CICILLINE: Yes.

HARLOW: Does it feel different this time to you?

CICILLINE: I mean, it, obviously, doesn't solve the larger issue of the epidemic of gun violence in our country but it's one very specific thing we can do to address this very challenging bill that you'll be able to turn a semiautomatic weapon into basically a machine gun. So I think it would be a great moment to show the country that we can work together in a bipartisan way to address this issue and maybe it will lead to more work together on not only gun safety but other issues.

But I think this is a moment. This was the worst shooting in U.S. history, the magnitude of the devastation I think really shook the country and they expect Congress to do something about it and at the very least banning these bump stocks is a first step.

BERMAN: You know, Kellyanne Conway, the president's adviser, and Breitbart, others have said well, these bump stocks were approved or at least allowed to go forward during the Obama administration.

HARLOW: Yes.

BERMAN: So I guess two questions here, was the Obama administration wrong? Did they make a mistake? And number two, does that have any pertinence to whether or not they should be banned right now?

CICILLINE: I think it's irrelevant but certainly in 2010, ATF made a ruling that made the use of bump stocks legal. I think that was a mistake then. It could be corrected legislatively or, obviously, by the agency. But I think the important thing is we need to ban bump stocks. They're dangerous, they allow people to basically have the ability to use a machine gun, we've seen the consequences of it in Nevada, and I think the ATF ruling was wrong. I wish it were reversed. But the legislation that I've proposed and introduced with 148 colleagues will accomplish that.

HARLOW: All right. Let's get your take on some of these other issues that are certainly in the headlines as well. You sit on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Your counterpart Senator Bob Corker had a stark assessment yesterday of who it is in the administration that protects this country, separates this country from chaos. Listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE: I think Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Mattis, and Chief of Staff Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos. And I support them very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: He did not mention the president and he actually went on later to say there are other people in the administration who do not do that, who do not separate this country from chaos. Do you agree with his sentiment?

CICILLINE: Well, I mean, I think there's no question that the three individuals that the senator mentioned are people that many of us in the Congress look to to maintain some stability in this administration. The president has, sadly, brought tremendous chaos not only internationally but on domestic issues as well. Fortunately he's surrounded by a few people who I think have deep respect of the Congress and seem to be helping to maintain some stability.

But, you know, this is very challenging when the president of the United States is not the figure that either the country or the world looks to, to provide the kind of stability and leadership that we need in a very challenging time in our country and in the world. So I think the senator's observations are fair and I think it's alarming frankly that that's the conclusion that many people have drawn.

BERMAN: So the secretary of state yesterday, he denied he ever threatened to resign or having to be talked out of resigning but he didn't deny that he called the president of the United States a moron. And my question to you is, you know, how can he credibly go negotiate with foreign leaders or foreign diplomats? Why would another diplomat take him seriously as a spokesman for an administration when he thinks the leader or said the leader, if he said, the leader was a moron?

CICILLINE: Now this is a very serious issue. Look, I'm not so interested in the internal squabbling in the White House and the disagreements that happen in private. But I do think that the importance of the secretary of state having a full confidence of the president and that foreign leaders knowing that when the secretary of state speaks he speaks for the United States and for the president of the United States, and to the extent that that relationship is divided or challenged, it makes it much more difficult to do the really important diplomatic work around the world.

So this is a serious issue and I'm not sure what the resolution of it is. But we cannot have the secretary of state not being perceived as the spokesperson and the representative of our country and of the -- of the president in these diplomatic efforts. So this is very, very disturbing and presents very serious challenges.

[10:25:17] HARLOW: Congressman David Cicilline, we appreciate your time. Let us know if you get Republicans to sign on.

CICILLINE: I'm working on it. And I'll be sure to let you know.

BERMAN: No, seriously, the minute -- if you get one tell us.

CICILLINE: I will.

BERMAN: It will be a very significant development.

CICILLINE: Absolutely.

HARLOW: Thank you.

To the victims next, 172 people remain in the hospital this morning in the wake of Sunday's Las Vegas massacre. Of those, 29 are still in critical condition.

BERMAN: Yes. Out of this tragedy so many stories of heroism.

CNN's Scott McLean joins us from Las Vegas with that -- Scott.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John and Poppy. So one of those stories of heroism the security guard at Mandalay Bay who ran up to the 32nd floor and was the first one to come into contact with the shooter. His name is Jesus Campos. He was actually shot in the leg. But despite that, he didn't lay down. He continued to help police get into that room and he continued to clear rooms himself.

He was credited with distracting the shooter for at least some time, which likely saved some lives. Here's what the sheriff here in Las Vegas said about him yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOMBARDO: His bravery was amazing because he remained with our officers providing them the key pass to access the door and actually continued to help them clear rooms until our officers demanded that he go seek medical attention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: So amazingly Campos is actually out of the hospital but he will have to go back in for surgery to take the bullet out of his leg.

Now on the ground at the concert venue, obviously, there are plenty of other survival stories including the one from Addison Short. She is an 18-year-old young woman who was shot in the leg. She's lucky that she ran into a guy named Jamie Jackson, who saw that her boot was soaked through with blood. He took it off. He used a belt to try to stop some of the bleeding using it as a tourniquet.

But because of where she was shot she couldn't walk or run herself so he literally took her, put her over his shoulder and ran her to safety. She ended up getting to the hospital in the back of a taxi. But after that, Jackson didn't actually know what happened to Short until his mother-in-law saw an interview with her on "ANDERSON COOPER" here on CNN and they were able to be reunited. Here's what happened during that reunion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have no idea how much I appreciate you, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm glad we could help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm glad you're OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were worried.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I know. I was worried about you guys, too. I was just hoping that you guys were OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: What's also interesting here is that Short's mother is actually a police officer in Las Vegas who usually signs up to work at this country music festival. She signed up this year as well but she didn't get any shifts. Her daughter is, obviously, pretty thankful that she wasn't there and that she wasn't in harm's way.

HARLOW: Yes.

MCLEAN: John and Poppy.

HARLOW: Scott McLean for us, thank you so much. Please keep us posted. Again, there's 29 people that remain in critical condition this morning, we appreciate it.

When we come back, U.S. Special Forces killed while rooting out terrorists in Africa. We're live at the Pentagon with the mission, the ambush, all of that is ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)