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CNN NEWSROOM

Canada Shooting; Canadian Press Conference

Aired October 22, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Parliament building where another witness described seeing at least one body, although CNN has not been able to confirm that. We do know dozens of gunshots rang out in the halls. Watch this.

And here's what we heard just a little while ago from one of the Canadian member of parliament who's locked down in the building.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Literally, I was just taking off my jacket to go into congress. I hear this pop, pop, pop. Possibly 10 shots. Don't really know. Thought it was dynamite rather than - or construction rather than anything else. Suddenly the security guards come rushing down the hallways, usher us all out to the back of the parliament buildings. And we're standing around talking and one of the construction people says -- said to us, well, probably a better idea to stand behind one of the monuments so that if there's somebody inside shooting out then we've got a bit better chance. And then we started talking to another woman and she was apparently inside the parliament, inside the library of parliament, saw the fellow wearing a hoodie, carrying a gun, and then the implications of this start to sink in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's bring in CNN's Paula Newton. She's following this story. She knows this situation very well. She knows the scene.

What are you hearing, Paula? What's the latest? Set the scene for our viewers in the United States and around the world who may just be tuning in.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, one thing that's key here, Wolf, and that is good news, is that there was not an incident now, police are saying, near that mall. That, like I say, is about a five-minute walk from the parliament buildings. This does take the temperature down a notch. But as I was just saying, it's still unclear whether or not they're going to be able to give the all clear soon.

And right now the problem, Wolf, is, in terms of having anyone storm that parliament building, there are still places where a gunman could be hiding. And because they're not sure exactly on the number of people involved in the attack, that's the problem. But as I say, they were able to confirm that there was not a separate incident at the mall, which would have been a five-minute walk from Parliament Hill. Like really just a two or three-minute walk from that war memorial where tragically that soldier was killed.

We, of course, also learned that there are three people in hospital, two with non-life threatening condition. Authorities refusing to comment on a third person there. They're referring us to the Department of National Defense, which has to mean, of course, that that would be another soldier who was in some way, shape or form involved in this incident.

But as you say, Wolf, we should have this press conference from the RCMP and Ottawa Police any moment and hopefully they will be able to give us a clear indication.

I have to say, we are hearing that some of the lockdowns in other areas of the city, at schools, are now beginning to be lifted, which is also good news. Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, so we don't know for sure that there is a shooter at large, but presumably we'll be hearing directly from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at this news conference that's about to begin. We'll get more information. Even as we speak right now, we should be getting that news conference momentarily. We'll have live coverage.

I want to bring back Pamela Brown as she's watching what's going on.

You've been in touch with U.S. officials. They're closely monitoring what's going on. What's the latest you're hearing, Pamela?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

In fact, we're just learning from my colleague, Susan Candiotti, that a name of a possible suspect has been given to the FBI. And as we speak, they are tracing that name, trying to see if this is someone that has been on their radar, someone they've been following. We know Canadian authorities have a database of people that they are monitoring who may have been radicalized. And so this name has been given to FBI authorities.

And, of course, they're trying to determine at this point, Wolf, if there is a nexus to terrorism. That is the big concern. You have the incident earlier in Canada earlier this week where a soldier was run over and killed and now we have another soldier who has been killed. And we know that there have been calls by terrorist groups, namely ISIS, asking for attacks on westerners. We don't know if there's a connection here, but that, of course, is in the back of everyone's mind here, Wolf. As I speak to intelligence officials today, there is that concern that perhaps what we've seen today could be a copycat incident or it might be completely -- something completely separate but they do have a name of a possible suspect and they are trying to run that down as we speak. And FBI field offices here in the U.S. have been alerted to this. They are on high alert and they are on the lookout for copycat incidents here in the U.S., Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, I want you to stand by for a moment, Pamela. Drew Griffin is also watching what's going on. Drew, I know you've been doing a lot of research on how Canada has

previously dealt with monitoring tracking terrorists. What are you learning?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They track about -- currently they track about 90 people within Canada who they say have terrorist leanings. They're integrated news - integrated services are tracking these people.

What I think that we can gather from the reporting of Susan Candiotti and Pamela Brown there, and also earlier from Elise Labott, is that this person, it appears, was unknown to them. If they are sending the name to the FBI for tracing, it appears that they might not have known this person. So I'm assuming that he wasn't on that list.

But the biggest problem that Canada has had, Wolf, and it's led to some new laws passed just last year, is the number of Canadians who are going over to fight for ISIS and that's what they've been trying to deal with, how to follow those tourists, they call them, they call them terror tourists when they actually return to Canada and make sure that they are not bringing the fight back with them.

So we'll have to see what happens. Elise Labott said earlier that the initial reports from Canada were that initially they didn't think that this was jihad related. I would assume that's related to the fact that they looked at the body, they looked at this person and he didn't have the, you know, the stereotypical signs that we would assume was some kind of a jihadi fighter or some kind of a radicalized person.

BLITZER: Well, we'll know more presumably in the next few minutes as we get this news conference that Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other law enforcement authorities in Canada getting ready to brief all of us on what's going on. We'll, of course, have live coverage here on CNN. This is a significant development.

Just a little while ago, the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, he commented on the shootings in Ottawa. He said Canada is one of the closest friends and allies of the United States and the U.S. is offering full support.

All right, so we're going to get that sound from Josh Earnest and bring it to you. But he went on to say that the U.S. is obviously working closely with Canada. The U.S. expressing its deepest condolences to Canada for the loss of its soldiers. A soldier killed earlier in the week in a vehicle attack on that Canadian solider and another Canadian solider killed today.

We also know that President Obama has spoken by phone today, just a little while ago, with the Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper. So all of this unfolding right now.

Juliette Kayyem is joining us right now. She's our national security analyst, former official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Juliette, I don't know if any two countries have a closer collaborative law enforcement connection/relationship than the U.S. and Canada, do you?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: No, it's remarkable. I mean when you even just think of what NORAD is, it's actually a joint, you know, military mission with the Canadians and the U.S. It alternates its leadership between a Canadian and an American. We don't really have anything like that with any other country.

And then, of course, the border concerns have always linked the two countries. When you think pre-9/11, the potential attack in Seattle was at the Canadian border. We have always put a lot of emphasis on the border controls. And so there is just a -- it's a very symbiotic, close relationship.

And, look, I mean this is an attack where the prime minister was. I mean we cannot, you know, sort of underestimate the sort of damage that this -- if it had been successful, might have caused to world politics. And so this is a big deal today and the U.S. will offer the military assistance. But I think most importantly now the intelligence and law enforcement assistance now that we have someone, a name, figure out who he is and his background. Was he known to the FBI or the CIA? And then the investigation begins, you know, in circles around who he is, where was he, and what group, if any, has he been a part of.

BLITZER: I think we have that statement from Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, Juliette. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The thoughts and prayers of everybody here at the White House go out to the families of those who were affected by today's shooting in Canada, as well as to the family of the soldier who was killed earlier this week.

The president was briefed early today in the Oval Office by his top Homeland Security adviser, Lisa Monaco. The details about the nature of this event are still sketchy, which is not unusual in a chaotic situation like the one -- like this one. Canada is one of the closest friends and allies of the United States. And from issues ranging from the strength of our NATO alliance, to the Ebola response, to dealing with ISIL, there's a strong partnership and friendship and alliance between the United States and Canada. The United States strongly values that relationship and that relationship makes the citizens of this country safer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And as I said, the president of the United States spoke with the prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper. Clearly there's still enormous concern about what's going on in Ottawa right now.

And, once again, we're standing by for this news conference from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, other law enforcement authorities in Canada. We'll get the very latest.

But you can see these dramatic pictures. The suspicion being at least one of these shooters may still be at large in Ottawa as they gear up for more of what's going on.

Paula Newton, if you're still with me, we see these dramatic images unfolding on our screen right now. And as we've been pointing out, this is something that doesn't happen very often in Canada, does it?

NEWTON: Not at all. And this has been the debate about how secure do you really need to keep this kind of a city where you want to make sure everyone is safe, but you want to maintain those freedoms and, quite literally, the access to a lot of those buildings.

You know, we have been covering a lot of stories in the United - in Canada in the last couple of years. Some of them relating to, you know, as you know, the mayor, Rob Ford, in Toronto, and many people commenting there is absolutely no security to get into so many buildings, including city hall in a large city like Toronto. In fact, Parliament Hill, Wolf, is one of the only places where we have had some secure screening, and that came in, in place, after 9/11. They also had a separate entrance for vehicles that were unauthorized. They tried to do as much as they could with really taking in the threat level and also looking at how realistic it was to try and have that much screening. As I say, a game changer today in Ottawa and in the rest of the country.

But we have heard this chatter in Canada for several years now, Wolf. At least two other plots connected with Parliament Hill. Those were aspirational. Authorities able to disrupt them in short order. Both were subject certainly to criminal cases. They had mixed success, actually, on prosecutions in those cases.

But we have known all along that parliament and the prime minister were always targets in Canada for a lot of those reasons that Jim Sciutto was talking about and the fact that, of course, it is just in the last 48 hours that we dispatched those fighter jets to Kuwait in order to stage ahead for those ISIS air strikes in Iraq. We are definitely part of this coalition as a country and for that matter they raised the threat level in Canada just a few days ago. They lifted it to medium, understanding that they had been hearing more chatter.

Again, we have to caution, we're getting mixed signals on whether or not this is related to Islamic terrorism, Islamic radicalism in any way, shape or form. And from our reporting, I've reached out to my sources to try and get some more clarity on that issue.

Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, but so far we don't know, and I want to be precise, we don't know, the U.S. - U.S. law enforcement authorities are telling us that it's -- so far they haven't seen any evidence, but they say it's very, very early. So the key word is "so far."

David Katz (ph) is joining us right now. He's a former senior special agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. He's a terrorism expert.

We don't know if this was terrorism, if it was just some crazy guy deciding -- or a couple of guys to shoot up parliament, kill some people. We have no idea. We should be learning more, David. But walk us through how an investigation like this unfolds.

DAVID KATZ, CNN TERRORISM EXPERT (ph): Well, first and foremost, you have the security concern. You have multiple reports of multiple shooters. Now, I caution that that's unconfirmed because we had the naval - the naval yard shooting again initially reporting multiple shooters. It turned out to be one guy. So - but until proven otherwise, you don't secure the scene until you're sure.

Once that happens, it's not going to take long to put together a profile of the guy and hopefully get a sense of his motive. So it's not a hard thing to do. But since the scene is still fluid and still chaotic, you're not going to be able to get the kind of information out that you would need to make that determination.

BLITZER: It's going to take a while.

David, I want you to stay with us because momentarily this news conference is about to begin. We'll get a statement from Royal Canadian Mounted Police, other law enforcement authorities coming into this room we're told very soon. We'll take a quick break. Much more of the developing story right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: All right, this news conference is about to begin. Let's go to Ottawa right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll be the MC for this press conference.

The situation today is fluid and remains ongoing. Please be mindful that due to the ongoing situation and investigation, there will be many answers that we will not be able to answer at this time.

I would first like to acknowledge the presence of Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau. To his right, Commanding Officer of RCMP National Division Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud (ph). To his right, Major General Christopher Coates, deputy commander of joint operations command. And finally to my far right, the mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson.

In terms of proceeding with the press conference, we will first have a statement by Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau.

CHIEF CHARLES BORDELEAU, OTTAWA POLICE: Good afternoon. (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

At the 9:52 a.m. this morning, the Ottawa Police Service received multiple 911 calls regarding a shooting at the National War Memorial. The victim of the shooting is a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. His injuries were fatal. Our thoughts and prayers are with the member, his loved ones, and other members of the forces. His identity and age won't be confirmed at this time as we are in the process of contacting his family.

What followed was another incident on Parliament Hill. What I can tell you is that a male suspect is now deceased. Together with the RCMP, all available resources have been deployed to this ongoing police operation. Our priority is the safety and security of our community. Additional resources are on standby should they be required. And all measures have been taken to ensure the safety and security of our residents. We are very aware of the large presence of military personnel in our community and want them to know that we are committed to their safety.

As I said, this is an ongoing operation. We are asking members of the public to stay away from the downtown core. People in the downtown core are asked to follow the instructions of their building's management.

The Ottawa Police Service is looking for witnesses to come forward with information regarding the incident that took place this morning. Witnesses can contact our major crime section at 613-236-1222 extension 5493. And the RCMP has set up an e-mail address for public tips.

We continue to communicate and work actively with our partners, including those in neighborhood jurisdictions.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

BLITZER: All right, this is the chief, the police chief, he's speaking in French, obviously, right now. So as he translates what we just heard in English, I just want to recap what we heard.

The first incident occurred at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. The shooter in this particular case shot and killed a Canadian soldier. That soldier is dead.

The second incident, very nearby, five minutes away, Parliament Hill. The suspect went inside. We heard the shots going on in the halls of parliament. That suspect was shot and killed as well. The suspect is shot and killed. We don't know if there is another suspect at large. The police chief urging all of us to understand that the situation, in his words, is very fluid and ongoing.

He's still translating his opening statement from French - from English into French, so we're going to continue to monitor what's going on. But clearly the Q&A, the questions and answers are about to begin, so I want to go back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next is the commanding officer of RCMP National Division, Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud.

GILLES MICHAUD, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER, RCMP NATIONAL DIVISION: Good afternoon. I'm Assistant commissioner Gilles Michaud (ph), commanding officer of the RCMP's national division here in Ottawa.

First, our thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones of all those who are affected by today's events.

As you can appreciate, this is a dynamic and unfolding situation. I understand that people have many questions. And we are committed to providing some answers as soon as we are able. What I can tell you right now is that all available and necessary

resources were activated and deployed immediately when we became aware of the incident. They will continue to be here for as long as they're need.

The Ottawa Police Service is leading the investigation for all incidents that have taken place outside Parliament Hill. The RCMP (INAUDIBLE) investigation on Parliament Hill.

These are situations that we, as police officers, train for. We train our own members and we train with other police agencies. We conduct scenario based training to cover all kinds of threats, including what we've seen in Ottawa today.

It's important for all Canadians to be vigilant and report anything they think is suspicious to their local police so it can be assessed and followed up upon.

We are continually assessing the situation as we move forward and sharing information with law enforcement and security community in order to ensure we have what is necessary to do our jobs and keeping Canadians safe.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

BLITZER: All right, so he's translating once again, obviously, from English into French. Canada has two official languages, English and French. We'll go back to English as soon as this resumes.

But Pamela Brown is here with me, our justice correspondent.

U.S. officials are probably watching this almost as closely as Canadian officials are because they're clearly concerned over possible spillover impact on the United States.

BROWN: Absolutely. Their top concern, Wolf, is that there's going to be a copycat incident. Like what we've seen in Canada, we saw the incident earlier this week where a soldier was run over and now a shooting. We don't know the circumstances around the shooting. We hope to learn more at this press conference.

But, Wolf, this embodies the concern among U.S. intelligence officials that someone could be inspired to commit perhaps an act of jihad. Again, we don't know what the circumstance are here. Maybe influenced by ISIS to target soldiers, to target, you know, law enforcement personnel. We know that there is an alert that went out to law enforcement agencies across the U.S., Wolf, just last week asking them to stay vigilant because of intelligence that there was chatter, ISIS chatter, to target a military, you know, soldiers and law enforcement personnel and government officials as well.

And in speaking to law enforcement officials here, Wolf, I know that something that has been coming to their minds is the Mumbai attacks back in 2008. It was a coordinated shooting that we saw there over a course of several days and that is one scenario that I think has officials here concerned, Wolf. BLITZER: Yes. So it certainly is enormous concern. Just the scope of this news conference, the number of law enforcement authorities in Canada who are going out and speaking out right now underscores how critically important potentially this could be in Canada. They see this as a major, major incident. Obviously going after the Canadian parliament, the National War Memorial, the prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, is right there on the scene. And he's OK. Other members of parliament, other Canadian officials, they're OK. But one Canadian soldier was shot and killed at the Canadian National War Memorial. And the shooter was at the Canadian parliament. He was shot and killed as well.

Let's go back to the English.

MAJ. GEN. CHRISTOPHER COATES, DEPUTY COMMANDER, CANADIAN JOINT OPERATIONS COMMAND: I'm Major General Christopher Coates, deputy commander at continental (ph) at Canadian Joint Operations Command.

A Canadian Armed Forces member was shot by an unknown person at the National War Memorial today. The identity of the man cannot be released for privacy reasons. Our thoughts are with the member and the member's family at this time.

We are working closely with our law enforcement partners in response to this ongoing situation. As a precautionary measure and until such time as the situation is considered under control, the military and civilian personnel working in the NCR (ph) are being told to remain in their buildings until further notice. Individuals with necessary credentials are being providing access.

Canadian Armed Forces bases and establishments are currently taking precautions appropriate to their environments to ensure the safety and security of personnel and infrastructure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

Mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson.

MAYOR JIM WATSON, OTTAWA, CANADA: Thank you.

Today is a sad and tragic day for our city and our country. And I'm sure I speak for all residents of our city when I extend my heartfelt condolences to the family of the individual who lost his life this morning while standing guard at the National War Memorial in the heart of downtown Ottawa.

I also want to convey to those who were injured today, the thoughts of your city and the neighbors are with you.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

There's no pain greater than losing a loved one. To have it happen in such circumstances as this morning is beyond expression and underlined by sad anger within my heart. I will not let that anger rule the day. Our city, Ottawa, the capital of our country, has seen and lived

through tragedy in the past. We're doing so again today. A different sort of tragedy, origins as yet not fully known, causes not yet fully understood. We all want answers, none more so than me.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Those answers will come from our dedicated policing forces, the RCMP, the (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE), Ottawa Police Services and no doubt other forces as we construct this tragic course of events.

Today, I urge all my fellow residents to think of the individuals standing on guard this morning at the National War Memorial. Remember how that one person's life has been taken from us, from family, from friends, from the future that was to be his.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

I want to thank the brave men and women, our first responders, the RCMP, House of Commons security, police, paramedics, for their compassion, professionalism and dedication.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. That concludes the first part of the press conference.

We will now be taking some questions. I ask that you please identify where you're from and who your question is directed to. Secondly, please be mindful there's a lot of questions that cannot be answered at this time.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

QUESTION: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Just hang on. Hang on a second. One question at a time, please.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) from "The Star (ph)." Mr. Michaud (ph), what warning, if any, did law enforcement or national security agencies pick up about the possibility of this incident or did it take everybody by surprise?

MICHAUD: I think it's still too early to confirm that. I think that from our reaction, I think it caught us by surprise.

QUESTION: And how is that possible?

MICHAUD: Again, it's too early to get to the bottom of all the details of what transpired. It's an ongoing police operation. And up until we've had a better chance to investigate and determine what exactly what happened, it's too soon to answer that question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, ma'am.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE), "Global News." You're telling the public to be vigilant. So, are there still suspects out there? (INAUDIBLE), you said there was more than one suspect earlier. So is there still someone on the loose that committed a crime here?

BORDELEAU: We're still investigating the active operation. We're in the process right now with the RCMP is clearing and securing Parliament Hill. And that's a slow, methodical approach. What we're asking the community is to be - continue to be aware, be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity that they deem serious that could impact their safety. So to phone 911 or to phone or e-mail us with any information that will assist in the investigation. But also, in general terms, we've been asking the community to remain vigilant over a potential acts that we've seen overseas and in other countries. It is something that we have always asked Canadians to be aware of and to be constantly vigilant and to report any suspicious activity that may identify any individual that may want to cause harm to fellow Canadians.

QUESTION: But is there more than one gunman?

BORDELEAU: We're still in the process of an active operation right now. We're treating this very seriously with the RCMP in identifying and clearing Parliament Hill to render it safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, over there. Over here, please.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE). Was the suspect who was killed this morning, was he one of the - of the 19 people that have been identified as being radicalized?

BORDELEAU: Again, this is too early to be able to determine that.

QUESTION: And the to just follow up then, are you going to be either speaking with or putting those 19 people under surveillance given what happened here today and what happened in (INAUDIBLE)?