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CNN NEWSROOM

Nine Dead After Tornadoes In Oklahoma Yesterday; Bardstown Officer Shot Dead

Aired June 1, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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


MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: It is 3:00 p.m. on the East Coast, noon out West. For those of you just joining us, welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I am Miguel Marquez, in for Fredricka Whitfield.

Tornados rip across the Midwest leaving huge paths of destruction and reducing homes to piles of sticks. We are now getting a sense of how bad the damage is. Surveyors say an EF-3 tornados hit Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma last night. That means wind speeds as high as 165 miles an hour. That is strong enough to rip roofs off homes and toss heavy cars around like toys. In Oklahoma, nine people died including two children. And this comes just as those communities struggle to recover and even bigger twister that touched down almost two weeks ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): More than 600 miles of terror, a massive storm system again sweeping through tornado alley from Oklahoma all the way to Indiana.

In Union City, Oklahoma, storm chaser Brandon Sullivan caught a storm and maybe more than he bargained for.

At least 17 tornados reported like this one in El Reno, Oklahoma. Then there is in El Reno, a double tornado turning into a single twister as people narrowly escape. Even the weather channel's storm chaser, a heavy SUV wasn't spared. A tornado found it and tossed it some 200 yards, only minor injuries for meteorologist Mike Betts and his team.

In an area already traumatized by storms, flash flooding in Oklahoma city turned streets into rivers. Some drivers could only stand on their cars waiting for rescue. Outside of Oklahoma city cars flipped off freeways. This woman tried to out run the storm. A state trooper helped her check for debris lodged in her head.

The damaged from wind and rain, massive. This road, east of Oklahoma city nearly washed away. You can see the earth beneath it falling away. Across a huge swath of the country power cut to hundreds of thousands. Power lines like this in Bridgeton, Missouri, on fire or knocked right over.

Even before the sun rose businesses took stock of damage. Trucks and warehouses badly damaged in Earth City, Missouri.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the tractor-trailer blew over and rolled over his car. We have four or five trucks damaged.

MARQUEZ: Driving in town or highways treacherous, not only flooding but lightning and debris on roads made for slow going across the storm's path.

In Gillespie, Illinois, the high school badly damaged and the hope now no more tornados than a year where mother nature has been unrelenting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: It seems like Oklahoma just cannot catch a break from the weather. Two major storm cells with deadly tornados and less than two weeks, but we keep hearing people there are tough.

Ed Lavandera is live in union city for us.

Ed, what are you seeing there on the ground?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Miguel.

You know, you mentioned in that piece just a short distance away from where that weather channel truck was toppled. It is just over here a short distance on the main road from the neighborhood we're in, and we just watched a crew cleaning up that car and taking it away, a wrecker service.

But, what we're seeing, Miguel, in this neighborhoods is that process of cleaning up. You have you a family over here and this is when people lean on family and friends the most, you know, I ask myself often when you are in the situations, how do you even begin to pick up the pieces here? And simple answer, you hear repeatedly from people that we talked to it is just one piece at a time. You have to start going through your homes and sifting out what you can salvage and figuring out what you have to leave behind at this point. So, that's what we're seeing a lot of people do, not just that family here.

But you look this is a sparsely populated area. We are on the west side of Oklahoma city, Oklahoma city far that way. But you know, several homes here in this area between Union City and El Reno, toppled homes off their foundations. So, this is where these families are at.

But from as we look here in the distance in this area where there is probably five or six, seven homes, you see these families beginning the process of cleaning up and you see the same thing over and over again, people bringing trucks and trailers, whatever they can to be able to salvage what they can from their homes and belongings and see what they can salvage and drive away with because now, the long hard process of cleaning up and rebuilding begins. And that's what we are seeing throughout many parts of Oklahoma city. Now, back in the city, one of the things we are hearing about and what people are contending with as you get into the work week, there are a lot of businesses, especially in downtown Oklahoma city, we were told, dealing with flooding issues and the cleanup involved with that. So, that will be a focus they are on extremely intensely today as they get ready for the work week beginning on Monday. So, that will be something to watch out for as well, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Ed Lavandera for us in Union City. Thank you very much.

You mentioned flooding, Ed. And we have some new pictures of flooding in Oklahoma city. Despite the fact that it is sunny weather today, the scope of the rain that fell from the storm system is beginning to be known. Looks like an enormous field there with the oil service industry completely flooded out there near Oklahoma city.

In Missouri, two reported tornados touched down tearing up roof, roads and much more. Teams from the national weather service say the damage in St. Charles County shows an EF-3 hit the area. The governor has declared a state of emergency as portions of more than 250 roads in the state are closed due to flooding there as well. The latest word is more than 80,000 people are without power. And several high schools were damaged forcing the cancelation of graduation ceremonies today.

The damage from this destructive system stretches into Illinois. The town of Gillespie, about an hour's drive northeast from St. Louis is now starting the summer with a major cleanup at its high school.

Meteorologist, Jennifer Delgado, is live to show us what happened there.

Jennifer, what is it like?

JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Miguel.

You know, you are right. I am in Gillespie, Illinois, about an hour and a half away from St. Louis. And they suffered their own storm damage last night as severe storms came through. And what are you looking at behind me, that is what's left of the gymnasium. You see all the bricks down on the ground. Well, right now, we are still waiting to hear whether the national weather service is going to say what type of damage this is. Based on me looking at this, it looks more like straight line winds. You can see how the debris is all in one direction. When you talk about tornado damage you see more debris spread around, but residents here said they heard the tornado warnings last night. A lot of them took safety and rightfully so because a lot of damage here reportedly 70 homes were damaged and seven to 10 of those were destroyed.

Now, luckily there were no injuries here. But, we do have mayor John Hicks here.

And John, if you can step on here and you can talk about you are a proud town here of Gillespie. I mean, this is incredible seeing that you guys had a tornado pretty close to the state four years ago and very close to this spot.

MAYOR JOHN HICKS, GILLESPIE, ILLINOIS: That almost exactly the same spot just from a different direction. Instead of southwest like it was this time, it was northeast last time. So, it kind a bit bad luck two times in the last four years. And both did a lot of damage to the school both times.

DELGADO: And you are probably, you know, very thankful that school got out on the 24th. Now, what is next for your city here? What are you going to do for the residents?

HICKS: Well, we are going to try to clean up the property for one thing. We want people to be safe, be careful out cleaning up and do not touch wires. Assume every wire is live. Just don't touch it. And if you need help getting rid of debris, give us a call.

DELGADO: All right, and this building here, this isn't a building that was just made a couple years ago. You know, my parents say when the buildings come from the '20s and '30s these are well made buildings. And that's a sturdy building. This is pretty shocking.

HICKS: It is. It built in 1920s. They just spent a couple million dollars a few years back remodeling so it would be more up to date and it is a shame this is going to be lost now for the city.

DELGADO: All right. Well, hopefully everybody in the city of Gillespie will help you and get everything back together. But right now, I can tell you this that luckily things have quieted down here. We still have a chance of showers and thunderstorms out here as we go throughout the day. But luckily after tomorrow, the weather is going to clear up and that means residents will really be able to get out here and start to clean things up -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Hey, Jennifer. Do you know if the mayor was injured in this storm?

DELGADO: No injuries. And that's a great thing. And that's a sign of the tornado sirens there. And you also want to point out, you also have those tornado watches out there. And when you hear that, that means get your plan together. Don't wait around for the warning and looked like a lot of residents did that here and that's why we are not hearing about injuries out here.

MARQUEZ: Jennifer, the mayor's arm, though, he is clearly in a cast of some sort. Was he injured in the storm or the cleanup?

DELGADO: No. You know, the mayor apparently had a little accident with his arm. My anchor wants to know what's going on with your arm here, but, he is well. He is out here.

MARQUEZ: Jennifer Delgado, thank you very, very much, from Gillespie, Illinois. Thank you.

DELGADO: You are welcome.

MARQUEZ: Imagine driving right through the middle of a tornado outbreak.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

MARQUEZ: I will talk with this storm chaser head. And check this out. It looks like a low budget scene from star trek. Mr. Spock, captain Kirk, they were played by IRS workers. This video cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars and many are asking why would they spend their money on this?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: After a night of storms, people across three states are assessing damage today. Oklahoma is the hardest hit. Tornados left a path of destruction and killed nine people.

I want to bring in, meteorologist Chad Myers. He is in Oklahoma City.

Chad, we are hearing the storm assessment teams, there were several EF-3 storms that touched down in that area. IS that what you are seeing on the ground?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, absolutely. That's the first tornado we saw yesterday when we are near El Reno. And then, we saw damage north of that, a different cell, I believe, north of the interstate i-40. That was F-2 or F-3 damage without a doubt, cars upside down. And then, the rest of the cells kind of died out, although the circulation looked really amazing on the radar, that circulation never got all the way down to one tornado to make big damage.

We now know that the Moore tornado that went across even parts of the old damage, not really a direct path was an EF-0, about 60, 70, 80 miles per hour, so really blowing just things around. You can actually get just as much as straight line, wind damage as an EF-0 tornado wind damaged.

But behind me here is today's story. The story of the day is flooding. That's a road. Well, it was a road. Isn't a useable road any more. Those are types under the road that you can see exposed because that used to be dirt there. The dirt is gone. Sinkhole. Everything really moved all the away. The water washed away the dirt. Kind of clay dirt there, that soil, and now the road is unusable. It used to be a culvert under here. The culvert was completely overwhelmed and not enough room in the culvert for the water to go through. It started going over the roadway and over the ditch here, washed that completely away. Those big pipes, that big black pipe you see there, the biggest one, that's pressurized natural gas. And they are trying to get it shut off so the pressure is no longer in there.

There is another smaller three-inch pipe. It is crude oil. That is broke. It is leaking into the Canadian river and they are trying to get a crew to stop the leaking. This is going to be the story the next couple of days. The water in Oklahoma does not run off very fast. It is not hilly here. It is pretty flat. Water takes a long time to run off. So, if are you seeing flooding now it will be flooding for quite some time. This water is not going to go down for a couple days, at least. In fact, it is going to go up a little bit before it goes down because there is still more water up river that has to wash down here. So, we expect more flooding, more wash away, more washout, more of that road to go away -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Well, so many knock-on problems there. You know, it seems that is feels as though this year has been a record setter for tornados. But, that is not the case, is it?

MYERS: No, not even close. In fact, up until about two weeks ago, we had half as many tornados as we are supposed to have at this time of year. Should have had 500 tornadoes on the ground by the middle of May, May 15th, we had 250. It was a tornado drought because it was so cold in the east.

The eastern part of the U.S. didn't have much of a spring. Well now, it is spring and now we are seeing severe weather. Now we are seeing the spring weather come here. Cold air to the west, warm air to the east, that's the humidity. And that clash of warm and cold makes tornados. We have had at least a couple of hundred just in the time to make up for the tornado drought.

As soon as we started talking about tornado drought, then all of a sudden mother nature said, wait a minute, I forgot about that and then, we put a bunch of them down. But, this year is not a record setter by any means.

MARQUEZ: Well, let's just hope that we are through the worst of it, though, and we don't have another month of it to come.

Chad Myers for us, thank you very much.

A lot of extraordinary video we have seen in those deadly storms across the Midwest. It comes from storm chasers, people who actually drive towards the storm instead of seeking shelter.

Brandon Sullivan is among them. Take a look what he and his team ran into in union city, Oklahoma.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON SULLIVAN, STORM CHASER: No, no, turn. No. Go south! Go south. We are going to die. Get down! Duck down! Duck down! Drive.

There were a couple things going through my head at the time. You know, is it safer to, you know, be in the car and take shelter in the ditch? Is it safer to turn a certain direction or continue? So, I at that time I decided that we were south of the tornado.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: And Brandon now joins us live on the phone.

Brandon, are you all right? Well, Brandon does not join us live on the phone. Apparently, we have lost Brandon. We will try to get him back and hopefully talk to him a little later in the hour. Amazing, amazing video and lucky that he and his colleagues escaped unharmed and brought us some video that only Hollywood we have seen before this could pull off.

Up next, who ambushed and killed a Kentucky police officer? His family and investigators search for answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't a traffic stop that went bad. It wasn't an arrest that went bad. That someone actually took the time to plan it and set it up makes it that much more obviously hurtful, but it makes you mad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you know a guy like Jason who is just a great man and a wonderful guy, you just don't expect this to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: All right. We have re-established communications with Brandon Sullivan, the storm chaser in Oklahoma who captured the amazing video just outside of Union City, Oklahoma.

Brandon, you and your team doing all right today?

SULLIVAN (via phone): Yes. We are all doing fine. Just trying to get rested up and sort everything out.

MARQUEZ: This thing went on and on. I mean, it literally looked what you were saying, you thought you were going to die.

SULLIVAN: Yes. It definitely got, you know, very intense. Off to my right was a very large tornado. Grew rapidly. You know, actually, in the end the tornado ended passing about a half-mile to our north. So, we were a good distance from it. but, it was so strong that the winds ripped apart a barn right in front of us and threw the debris into our car that you can see.

MARQUEZ: It is just amazing. You have been chasing tornados since you were 14, as I understand it. I don't think you ever caught one. Do you want to catch one again?

SULLIVAN: Yes, that's correct. I have been chasing since I was about 14. You know, we have captured a lot of incredible photos. We are usually right there in the action. But, we definitely got too close yesterday. Yes, we are going to continue chasing, but next time I am not going to hold our team up from leaving so long. I think we will go out sooner.

MARQUEZ: I have to give it up to your driver, Brett, I believe it is. You kept screaming at him and the guy was cool as a cucumber. I take it all three of you are a little closer today because a guy in the backseat as well? SULLIVAN: Yes. you know, the guy in the backseat actually is a storm chasing friend from Mississippi who came out. It was his first tornado, you know, and you got his money's worth. You know, as for Brett, I think he had the luxury of having to be focused on the road and not seeing what was over to our right. But, he is always the one driving in the situation. He was an incredible driver and he definitely stayed calm and he definitely saved us.

MARQUEZ: Well, Brett can drive for me any time. The most to me the most -- it was incredible to watch the debris hitting the windshield, cracking it and you guys must have really been in the middle of this. The most amazing thing is that, in the middle of all of this you just sort of put your seat belt on like that's going to help. What were you thinking?

SULLIVAN: Well, yes, originally, you know, we got back in the car after filming the tornadoes, and I was still focused on getting myself in the car and starting to get south that I forgot to buckle up. As we start getting hit by debris, I almost grew concerned there for a bit we could get blown off the road and my consciousness took over and said hey, you need to put your seat belt on.

MARQUEZ: Brandon Sullivan, thank you very much. Congrats to you and your team for surviving this and stay safe out there.

SULLIVAN: Thank you.

MARQUEZ: The search for whoever ambushed and killed a Kentucky police officer a week ago today is intensifying. And for his widow, so is the sense of loss. Officer Jason Ellis met his wife on valentine's day 12 years ago. They were inseparable until now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY ELLIS, WIDOW OF SLAIN OFFICER: He was an amazing man and I just want everybody to know what an amazing man that he was. He was a dedicated family man. He loved our family. He loved our boys. He loved me. He was dedicated to his job. He loved his job. He loved the people that he worked with. And I just want, you know, I want everybody to know what amazing man that he was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Well, you can certainly see that in the turnout for his funeral. Many in Bardstown, Kentucky, are in shock over this crime. Officers from all across the state joined family, friends, and the community to mourn officer Ellis even as the investigation moves ahead.

Here is Alina Machado.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fueled by anger and grief, the police chief in Bardstown, Kentucky is vowing revenge. CHIEF RICK MCCUBBIN, BARDSTOWN, KENTUCKY POLICE: I can assure you we won't give up on this person until we have them either in custody or the front side of one of our weapons.

MACHADO: Authorities say Bardstown police office, Jason Ellis, was driving home from work early Saturday morning when he stopped to clear debris from a freeway exit ramp and was ambushed. Police say someone was hiding nearby and opened fire with a shotgun killing the 33-year-old, seven year police veteran.

TROOPER NORMAN CHAFFINS, KENTUCKY STATE POLICE (voice-over): He was a distance away and it was obvious that he was laying in wait for someone to stop and pick up that debris. And you know, as reported earlier, you know, officer Ellis never had a chance.

MACHADO: The officer's weapon was still in his holster when he was found. Other drivers stopped and called for help, but it was too late. Ellis leaves behind a wife and two young boys. His church honored his life during Sunday's services.

PASTOR BRENT SNOOK, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, GLEN ESTE, KENTUCKY: When you know a guy like Jason who is just a great man and a wonderful guy, you just don't expect this to happen.

MACHADO: Police say it is not clear if the shooter targeted officer Ellis or intended to shoot whoever stopped. Residents of this area 40 miles south of Louisville already on edge are being told to remain vigilant.

CHAFFINS: We have a dead police officer. And if a gunman is willing to shoot an armed police officer in a marked stay-put area in a marked cruiser, then you know, they are capable of killing anyone. And these people are dangerous to the public.

MACHADO: And in front of the police station a memorial of balloons and stuffed animals sits in tribute to a fellow officer gone too soon.

Alina Machado. CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now, the Bardstown police are taking officer Ellis' murder personally. Let's get the latest on the investigation from Kentucky state trooper Norman Chaffins. He joins us live from Louisville.

Trooper, any new developments in the investigation?

CHAFFINS: Well, Miguel, we still continue to follow up on every lead that we receive. We have every resource available to us, made available to us from federal authorities, local and state authorities and we have several entities within our own agency working together to try to bring this person to justice. And we will not stop until we do so. MARQUEZ: You have called this an ambush. Do you think that the police officer was the target of the ambush and how are you so sure that this was an ambush?

CHAFFINS: Well, we cannot confirm 100 percent this was targeted towards officer Ellis. However, most of the tips that we received, most of the leads we have developed in our investigation are leading us to that he was the target of this attack.

We know that it was an ambush because someone placed that -- deliberately placed that debris in the roadway and knew that he would probably get out and pick it up. And that's exactly what he did.

MARQUEZ: They would also have to have been following him. A very concerning situation if they were following him and watching his ways and means and the way he got around and what he was doing. Was there anything that he was working on? Were there cases that there might be reason for someone to want to kill him?

CHAFFINS: You know, it is obviously something we are looking into. We have detectives as we speak going through each one of his cases that he has worked on not just for the year but the past few years, and it takes a lot of manpower and a lot of time to do that, and that's something that we are looking into, absolutely. And if it turns out to be that, then that will give us a good suspect to follow up on.

MARQUEZ: Trooper Chaffin, I also know that other police down there are concerned. Is there reason for other police officers in Bardstown or other agencies to be concerned about their safety?

CHAFFINS: You know, I stated before this is a wake-up call not just for the Bardstown police department, but for law enforcement agencies around the nation. If someone would take the time to plan this, take the time to set this up, they could not just do it here but they could do it other places as well, you know. We want other agencies to know this did happen to one of our officers here in Kentucky so the next time they step out of the vehicle and step out of their cruiser to remove debris or do anything, especially rural areas, take the time to check your surroundings before you step out. And you know, that's something we are, that were very going to be alert about.

MARQUEZ: Trooper Chaffins, thank you very, very much for being with us this afternoon.

CHAFFINS: Thank you for having me, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Now, this just into CNN. A second man has been charged in the grisly murder of a British soldier last month. Michael Adebolajo has charged with the attempted murder of two police officers. Adebolajo and the other suspect were filmed by witnesses following the attack. He was seen talking directly into a camera with blood on his hands just minutes after Lee Rigby was hacked to death with a meat cleaver in the middle of the busy London streets.

Letters laced with the deadly poisons sent to President Obama and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. We have new details of the investigation in to who sent them. We have a copy of one of the letters and will show it to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Now new information on the threatening letter sent to President Obama, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bloomberg's top gun control group. Test results are in and they confirm that all of the letters did in fact contain the poison ricin. CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti joins me from New York. Susan, you've obtained a copy of one of these letters. What does it say?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The letter to Mark Glaze, who is the director of Mayor Bloomberg's group called Mayors Against Illegal Guns, same exact words as the letter that Mayor Bloomberg got and we are told through sources is similar or the very same that President Obama was sent as well.

The wording goes like this. Quote, "You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. Anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional, God-given right, and I will exercise that right until the day I die. What's is in this letter is nothing I have compared to what I've got planned for you."

Now, Glaze who got this letter, is the only one of the three who actually opened the letter because the other two were intercepted before they reached President Obama and New York's Mayor Bloomberg.

MARQUEZ: Now, he is doing all right, as I understand. The letters in the envelope, they have markings on them. What's that about?

CANDIOTTI: They sure do. This is what happens when investigators get hold of them. They start testing them. Of course for residue of any ricin or any evidence they can get it from. For example, fingerprints or any other chemicals. And so that's what made those blotches on the envelopes that we have seen. This investigation still ongoing, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: And the investigation, in that investigation there was a Texas couple that authorities have been interviewing. Is that right?

CANDIOTTI: That's right. Evidently the FBI is still at the house where they live today. They have been there for at least a couple of days now. Our sources tell us they interviewed this couple. However, one of our law enforcement sources is telling us there are some credibility issues with what is being said by the wife about her husband. So there is nothing that has been solved on this yet. Still on that site looking for any evidence. If they have found any, they're not letting on, but certainly they're interviewing those people. Whether it was pan out, we'll have to see, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: A couple of days, that's a long time. Thank you very much. Susan Candiotti in New York. Tragedy shakes the nation's third largest fire department. Why Houston's mayor says this hotel fire will be remembered as the worst day for the city's fire fighters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: This week, Anthony Bourdain heads to Peru. He finds a vibrant culture and exotic food, of course, all while he goes in search of the rare cocoa bean, chocolate for most of us. The the main ingredient for amazing chocolate he is involved with. I spoke with him about his journey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST: I always like going to Peru. It has one of the most extraordinary, forward-thinking, emerging cuisines in the world. But this time, I went in search of chocolate. I got into a high-end chocolate venture with my friend Eric Repare (ph) awhile back, and I started to ask myself the question, well, who gets paid out of this chocolate bar? Where does the money go? Where does chocolate come from. And I wanted to -- I decided to make an adventure out of it and track back the entire process back to the farmers and pickers and the original source of our chocolate.

MARQUEZ: I want to talk about chocolate in a second because it is somewhat controversial in parts of the world, but this was definitely an adventure. Here is one laugh out loud moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) and I wish you a lot of success.

Especially in the back, the neck, the back. That's it here. Like that, sir.

BOURDAIN: We wanted a blessing for our cocoa harvest; we got this. My aura is now cleaner than Gwyneth Paltrow's colon after a three-month juice cleanse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: That's awesome. I want to have that done by a shaman. What was that experience like?

BOURDAIN: My aura was definitely rearranged. Quite an experience.

MARQUEZ: Chocolate makes people crazy. I love chocolate. Everybody seems to love chocolate. But it's also - I mean, what did you find about where it comes from? In some parts of the world, it is children picking this stuff.

BOURDAIN: Yes.

MARQUEZ: And chocolate that we all enjoy, yes? BOURDAIN: Yes. Who gets paid, how much do they get paid. Our trees are - wild -- grown wild, placed in between in farming communities who also grow coffee, bananas, other things. But yes, it can be a very difficult and very lethal business in some parts of the world. And there are very many different types of businesses and arrangements with farmers that can occur within that spectrum.

MARQUEZ: What I like about you and your show, you are fearless. You dive right into this stuff.

BOURDAIN: Look, it was a morally, you know -- I am asking myself at the end of the show do I want to be in this business? Is life for these farmers and pickers better after having done business with me and my partner, or is it worse or is it the same? Have I done a good thing, or have I contributed to a bad thing? That's exactly what I wanted to explore a slice of. You know, especially because this is a subject we're all in some way a part of. I mean, we all love chocolate pretty much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: So true. You can watch Anthony Bourdain's trip to Peru tomorrow night at 9 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: When you hear Landon Weeks play the piano, his talent is obvious. But when you see him, you will be amazed he is able to play so beautifully. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has this in this story in this week's "Human Factor."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Nothing makes Landon Weeks happier than singing and playing his piano. But as you listen to him play, look closely. Something may surprise you. Weeks was born with a condition called fokomelia. It's a rare birth defect that mostly affects the development of upper limbs.

LANDON WEEKS, 17-YEAR OLD MUSICIAN: Well in my case, it's a fused radius and ulna. And they're shorter. And my elbow is like bent backwards, so it's in. And I have two fingers and my slanted thumbs.

GUPTA: And yet there are few things Weeks can't do. He's been zip lining, horseback riding and he's one of a small number of Boy Scouts to earn every available merit badge.

WEEKS: This is drama, and you have to like make up like a pantomime thing and like act it out. Let's see. There's cycling. You have to do a 50-mile bike ride.

GUPTA: But playing the piano, that's his first love. Weeks started lessons in the fourth grade, and today he practices two hours a day and says his dream is to play for audiences around the world.

WEEKS (singing): When I see my arms, there's not a thing that I would change because they are amazing just the way they are --

GUPTA: He's already won over local audiences, playing at assemblies around his hometown of Ogden, Utah. He's even got fan mail.

WEEKS: Dear Landon, you were -- you were awesome, and you are better than anyone in the world.

GUPTA: Weeks says that his short arms are a gift, not a disability, and he shares his wisdom with the children he performs for.

WEEKS: Keep going and never give up. And just -- if it's hard just keep trying and it will come to you eventually.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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MARQUEZ: In what Houston, Texas mayor Annise Parker is calling the worst day in the history of her city's fire department, four Houston firefighters died yesterday after a hotel wall collapsed while they were battling a major fire. Fourteen other fire fighters are being treated at hospitals. Houston's fire department is the third largest in the country.

I want to bring in Sara Ganim, who is in Houston for us. Sara, can you tell us more about the fire fighters that lost their lives?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. One of the them was 24-year-old Ann Sullivan. She just graduated from the fire academy in April. Another one, 29-year-old Robert Garner, 41-year-old Robert Beady. His cousin told me that immediately when he heard that his uncle had died that - or I am sorry, that his cousin had died -- he thought he must have been saving lives. This was the job that he loved. Thirty-five-year-old Matthew Renaud. All of these were beloved by their company.

One of the public information officers here told me this is the third largest company in the country, yet they pride themselves on acting like a small town fire department. They all know each other very well. This morning as soon as we got to this scene, one of the firefighters came up to me with his cell phone and said I want to show you this. It was a picture of a memorial. I think we have it to show you. It was four axes turned upside down and stuck into the ground with four helmets hanging from those axes, just a symbol, a very powerful symbol of how sad these people are here today.

MARQUEZ: Everybody loves the fire department. This is so sad to see, Sara. I understand they thought there were people in that building; that's why they went in. Do we know the cause of the fire that started at this restaurant?

GANIM: We don't. It will probably be several months before we do. I just talked to someone, the state fire marshal. There are so many people here, literally dozens of trucks. The ATF is here -- Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms. There's the state fire marshal, they must have six or seven trucks of people here. Plus the fire department local and state and you know, they're all working towards the same thing, but they're not rushing it.

This building was destroyed. It is rubble. It was a huge and very intense fire. Walls collapsed. We know that because that's why the four firefighters died. There is just a lot of debris, and they're being very careful right now not to go in and compromise that and essentially disrupt the investigation.

MARQUEZ: Just a blow to the city of Houston. Thank you very much, Sara Ganim, for being on top of that for us.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Ohio has a new look, and Hall of Famer Joe Namath was there to see it. We'll hear from the legendary football player next.

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MARQUEZ: Today is the 50-year anniversary of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in lovely Canton, Ohio. And to celebrate, it's debuting a $27 million renovation. Football legend and hall of fame - Hall of Fame inductee Joe Namath attended today's opening ceremony. Namath sat down with CNN's Carol Costello earlier this week. Here is his take on the grand opening.

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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you know, I was born in Canton where football began and I have been to the Hall of Fame many, many times. And you know people have criticized the Hall of Fame for being rather shabby. And they've criticized the NFL for not pouring more money into it. But now it's gone -- undergone this renovation, so -- so tell me, when I go, because I haven't been there for five years or so, what is the first thing that I have to see?

NAMATH: Well, as soon as you go through the doors that's been changed right away. It's a huge open area that a couple of stories high that has history, artifacts, pictures, memorabilia of what's taken place. And then there are interactive areas where the kids, the adults can go and take part in actual video replays and make the right call. There are areas that you can listen to today's coaches calling plays right in the game, talking to the quarterback.

It's just -- you can spend hours going through there.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's awesome. So -- your personal favorite bust in the Canton pro Hall of Fame?

NAMATH: Oh, my personal favorite. You know what I have to go back to the guys that paved the way, so to speak. You know Sammy Baugh, those guys, Jim Thorpe, early on that really developed the sport. It's the sport that's the great thing. And the players that hung in there. The coaches that hung in there and helped develop it. Those are the guys that I enjoy seeing. COSTELLO: It's amazing. Jim Thorpe wore that flimsy-looking helmet. It's just amazing that people could survive playing in those days.

NAMATH: Oh and they have shoes from the 1800s, you know, shoulder pads, things have changed drastically since I guess it was about 1886 when Rutgers and Princeton played. They took soccer and they tried to adjust it to change the game. The soccer and rugby combined that evolved actually into our game of football as we know it.

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MARQUEZ: Go, Joe. As a former New York Jets quarterback, Namath says he hopes former Jet Tim Tebow will be back as a quarterback on another NFL team. He said Tebow just needs to improve his passing.

Joining you at the top of next hour, we'll bring you the latest from tornado-weary Oklahoma. For the third in less than a month, tornadoes have killed people and created neighborhoods of debris. But now there's also flooding.

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