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Baltimore Descends into Chaos; Obama Pledges 'Assistance as Needed' to Baltimore; More Than 4,000 Killed in Nepal Earthquake. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 28, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CO-HOST: Situation here right now, the fire...

[05:58:21] DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Chaos. Just 40 miles away from the White House.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Unbelievable scenes of lawlessness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys, we got to move back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The message that spread on social media about a purge.

CUOMO: There's a liquor store that was just lit on fire across the corner from us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A police officer clearly hurt here. Look at that. Do you see that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Baltimore Police Department doesn't have the resources.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All this violence and destruction, I am really appalled.

STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE, MAYOR OF BALTIMORE: We have control. We are responding to fire. We are responding to police.

MARQUEZ: I don't think anybody in Baltimore believes that anything is in control.

CUOMO: There's a baby coming out from the building next door. They're evacuating people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down a little further.

CUOMO: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where are the (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? Where's the mayor!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We swore to protect you people. Now get the hell out of our way and let us do our job.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CUOMO: Thankfully it is a NEW DAY, and we are live in Baltimore after a very long and scary night. Alisyn and Mick are in New York for you. I, of course, am in Baltimore. There's a state of emergency in effect here right now coming well after Baltimore fell victim to marauding rioters and looters.

Over two dozen arrests, 15 police officers injured, cars and businesses, as you can see on your screen, business, apartments, just torched all day, all night. The worst day of violence reserved for the day that Freddie Gray was being buried after apparently having been injured while in police custody over a week ago. That is the situation here.

Now, 5,000 reinforcements from neighboring states have been brought in to help control the situation which has been the ugliest rioting in Baltimore since the '60s.

Schools in Baltimore today shut down. The mayor now imposing a curfew, 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The big question is can authorities enforce it? And it's a legit question after what we saw last night. Sirens all day, through the darkness signaling the unchecked chaos.

CNN had people in the action all day and night. Here is what we saw.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (voice-over): On a day that expected peace and mourning, police stood down. And that was a mistake. The funeral of Freddie Gray marked the worst day of rioting in Baltimore since the '60s.

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: This is one of our darkest days as a city. And I know that we are much better than this.

CUOMO: National Guard troops and waves of cops fanning out after the governor declares a state of emergency. Gray's family condemning the violence, as well, but looters and rioters take advantage of lax policing to set fire to and steal from their own community, injuring police, journalists and each other.

FREDERICKA GRAY, FREDDIE GRAY'S SISTER: I think the violence is relative. Freddie Gray wasn't a person to feel violence. Freddie Gray wasn't that type of person to break into no stores or nothing like that. I don't like it at all.

CUOMO: The mayor and governor facing sharp criticism for standing down on such an emotionally-charged day and then not seeming to have a plan, leading to chaos.

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R), MARYLAND: We've been standing by in preparation just in case the violence escalated, which it did. When the mayor called, we activated. We were fully prepared.

CUOMO: Darkness adding to the danger. Brazen standoffs between masked men on both sides, hurling anything they could, even crude explosives, at cops. Police cruisers and neighborhood cars on fire.

Pepper bullets in constant supply from a largely controlled wall of resistance. Then, what seems to be a suicide mission, a car racing past us right into the police line, stopping feet away, only to return to the fray. A night no one was safe. Local stores lit up, spreading to an adjoining apartment. A mother and her baby escaping just in time.

Officials now say the riots may not have been a surprise. Word of a purge, referring to the sci-fi film where all crimes are absolved for 12 hours. A deranged rallying cry heeded, apparently, by a large number of juveniles, contributing to the violence now gripping the city.

The police commissioner calling on parents to take charge of their kids. Like this woman, angered at a young man's participation in the unrest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You down here doing this stuff?

CUOMO: Members of the community did stand strong. This man, a Vietnam vet, boldly confronts a group of youngsters taunting police, Determined to do what authorities could not: take control of this community.

ROBERT VALENTINE, RESIDENT: They do not respect this young man's death. You know? Now, momma and daddy, they lost a child. That could be them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: There are good people in this community who want to rebuild. And we know what is making people here angry. What is not clear is how things could get so out of control so quickly. And can the police and the National Guard stop it from happening again?

With that part of the story we get to CNN national correspondent, Jason Carroll -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, that is the question, certainly, that a number of people are asking out here today.

I am standing on the corner of Pennsylvania and North. You can see right out here we've got a number of state troopers who are already out here at this intersection. Just to let you know where this is, if you take a look right across the street, this is the flash point of where much of the unrest happened yesterday. That is the CVS that was looted and then burned.

Certainly, a number of additional forces are out here on the streets today that we did not see out in the streets here yesterday. Five thousand law enforcement officials will be on the streets of Baltimore. In addition to that, 1,500 National Guard member. But the city has access to as many as 5,000 if needed.

Also, a number of additional state troopers, some of them you've already seen out here on the streets tonight. Also word of that mandatory curfew in place from 10 p.m. tonight until 5 a.m. tomorrow.

Certainly, the mayor is hoping that that will make a difference. She was saying last night, Chris, that she didn't want to overreact to the situation. She saw how that worked out in Ferguson, did not want to see a repeat of that out here in Baltimore. Certainly, a number of people in the city thought she underreacted. There is one point where many people can agree: They hope today is more peaceful than yesterday -- Chris.

CUOMO: Well-said, Jason. And it's not just the local electeds here. We're going to see action, hopefully, all the way to the federal level. The new attorney general making a familiar pledge, condemning the violence as senseless, vowing to investigate all wrongdoing. But when will answers come? And what can Lynch do? And what will be this ultimate timing of resolve here?

CNN's senior correspondent, Jim Acosta, has news for us coming from Washington. Jim, what do we know?

[06:05:05] JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Chris, President Obama's once again facing another test on this issue of alleged police brutality in Baltimore as he did in Ferguson, Missouri, last year.

The president is likely to speak out on the violence in Baltimore later today when he holds a news conference with Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, this afternoon. It was quite the first day on the job for his new attorney general, though, Loretta Lynch.

Both the president and Lynch met about the unrest in Baltimore just hours after she was sworn in as the new attorney general. And she also released a statement, as you said, condemning this violence. We'll put that up on screen. She says, "I condemn the senseless acts of violence by some individuals in Baltimore. Those who commit violence actions ostensibly in protest of the death of Freddie Gray, do a disservice to his family, to his loved ones and to legitimate peaceful protestors who are working to improve their community for all its residents."

We should also point out the president also spoke by phone with Baltimore's mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan last night.

As for Loretta Lynch, she is sending Justice Department officials up to Baltimore to assess the situation. And yesterday the White House sent several officials from the administration to the funeral of Freddie Gray. You know, Chris, the president has not always raced out to the microphones to speak out after an incident like this occurs, but he may have no choice but to do just that later on today -- Chris. CUOMO: Well, no question it's going to be a balance of

priorities. The president has a lot on his plate. But one thing we know: leaders go first. And that's certainly needed here on the local and state level.

Jim, thank you very much. Keep us in the loop on what we hear from Washington.

Joining us now is the president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP, Ms. Tessa Hill-Aston.

TESSA HILL-ASTON, PRESIDENT, BALTIMORE NAACP: Good morning.

CUOMO: It is good to have you with us this morning.

Also please, Rob Weinhold, a former spokesperson for the Baltimore police. It's good to have you with us. We spent a lot of time together last night understanding this. You're now a crisis management expert. And it is good to have you here. It's very important that everybody on the police and the community levels are getting together. You need it now more than ever since we saw what happened with Freddie Gray.

Question for you. Did you hear anything? Not in advance, but the notion of a purge, this reference to this movie and that this was going to happen. And they were trying to recruit the school kids when school let out after Freddie Gray's funeral, were you aware of any of that? Or have you heard about it since?

HILL-ASTON: I wasn't aware until the police and city hall informed us. We had a meeting, and we were briefed that that had been heard. We didn't expect something like this to happen yesterday. Surely not at the extent. We thought that people would come back down to Mount (ph) and to the neighborhood where this really happened and continue to protest and just chant.

The family had asked for no one to come out and do anything. I was at the funeral. And after the funeral was over within an hour this all started. So we were shocked that it got to this magnitude.

CUOMO: Well, clearly, any pledge to respect what the family wanted was forgotten...

HILL-ASTON: Yes, yes.

CUOMO: ... for big spaces of the day yesterday. Two questions on the police side. That, one, if they knew anything about the purge, help me understand what seemed to be a complete stand down and lack of immediately available assets for any change in behavior?

ROB WEINHOLD, FORMER SPOKESMAN FOR BALTIMORE POLICE: Well, I think a couple things. No. 1, the men and women of the Baltimore Police Department, the rank and file, have done an unbelievable job of maintaining their composure. Spit on, assaulted and have done everything they can to try to end these issues in a very peaceful way. I think also, I guess in weather terms, they were expecting a

severe thunderstorm. It quickly escalated to a Category 5. They were out-resourced. Certainly seemed to be playing...

CUOMO: But the mayor said, "I wanted to give the protesters space. I wanted to learn from Ferguson. I didn't want to be in the face." That's not about weather. And look, we were with your men and women last night, the Baltimore police. They're topnotch. We watched this car fly at them on what seemed like a suicide mission. They didn't move. They didn't open fire. I saw restraint all night. Not about insulting the men and women of the police, at least last night.

But on a leadership level, you know, stand down on the most emotionally-charged day, is that something you wanted?

HILL-ASTON: Well, of course not. I think, really, that Baltimore really underestimated that this was going to happen. I think, based on what has happened -- and I've been on the ground out every day since last Sunday when Mr. Gray first passed. And I've been in the community where it happened. Most of the rallying was right there, concentrated between the police station in West Baltimore up to the spot where he was apprehended by the police.

So I think that people still thought, the mayor and the police -- I can't say what they thought, but I'm saying based on where we've been for the past six days, it was contained in that area. And that area. So I don't think even with what they thought they heard is they thought people was going to be all up in that area, not west Baltimore and then proceed down Pennsylvania avenue and looting.

I think they gave that to children, and whoever wanted to participate and rally would come back to the community, because that's where it had all been stationed for five days. So this was completely something that wasn't expected.

CUOMO: From the onset, it wasn't about protest. I didn't see any of it yesterday. We saw only what we don't want to see.

And the question is just about planning and leadership. Because it just didn't seem like they were there. And when they did get there, they got there late. And we heard a lot of reports of police being evidently told to stand down and watch things burn. What is the rationale for that?

[06:10:12] WEINHOLD: I don't understand the rationale. But what I can tell you it's very important, I think, from the law enforcement perspective, to hold people accountable. Absolutely no issue with folks who want to civilly be heard, and they should be heard and validated. No question about it. It's what makes this country great. But when people start to hurt others, loot, set fires, it must be stopped.

CUOMO: And in their own communities.

HILL-ASTON: Yes.

CUOMO: To their own local stores. You know, the CVS is a chain, but a lot of local mom-and-pop stores...

HILL-ASTON: Yes.

CUOMO: ... people's cars that they need to get to work, jobs now that they wanted to get to, all compromised. And we get the anger. The question becomes, what do you do going forward?

Now you have a curfew. People take that as a sign of disrespect, 10 p.m. at night until 5 in the morning. What is the message?

HILL-ASTON: Well, I think people do take that, because we've had a curfew already, and it's enforced. But it hasn't been too much violated where it had to come to action.

But I do think that there's a difference of protesters and people angry about the death of Freddie Gray, and people who are just out and out thieves. I mean, to go in CVS and steal anything and burn it had nothing to do...

CUOMO: They say, "I'm outraged. My society doesn't care about me. Now I won't care about it." Does that justify it?

HILL-ASTON: Well, the people who own CVS and the workers there had nothing to do with it. I think they should have continued marching and protesting and chanting and not doing anything violent or stealing. There's two different types of action. And you shouldn't hurt other people or their property.

CUOMO: From a crisis management standpoint, the mayor has a very good sense of calm and poise when she speaks. The governor, I saw some of that, as well. Where were they during the chaos yesterday? From a crisis management perspective, don't leaders go first? Don't they have to be there in that moment of crisis?

WEINHOLD: What they said is they were focused on the operations, but the fact of the matter is this. As a leader you need to be there. You need to be present, and you need to be heard. In our business, if you don't tell your story, someone else will. And when someone else tells your story, it won't be the story you want told.

People want to see emotion, want to outrage, want to see compassion from leadership. I think everybody feels that way, particularly this morning. It was a real punch in the gut yesterday. Baltimore's a wonderful place. But the fact of the matter is, there's more resources here. And hopefully, things will get back to normal very, very quickly.

CUOMO: And nobody's questioning an offset between the riots, and that means there isn't a problem. The numbers in settlements show it. The numbers of force, excessive force show it. There's a culture issue that has to be taken on here. And what happened to Freddie Gray we still don't know. And it looks bad.

And yet the riots, Martin Luther King tells us that riots are the language of the unheard. And yet what we saw yesterday just doesn't help any progress going forward. The mayor and the governor walked away from Don Lemon last night during their interview. That's easy. Turning back toward this community and letting them know you're here for them, I think that's going to be the big challenge for today.

And I know your organization is trying to organize within the community, as well, and you're trying to provide the perspective of what this community needs to balance respect for police and respect for the community.

HILL-ASTON: Yes.

WEINHOLD: It really comes down to, in my opinion, a fundamental issue of trust: trust between the community and the police that the police will do their job effectively for the right reasons. And trusting the community and that their concerns are generational and very, very valid.

CUOMO: I'll tell you this, having lived through other situations like this, the men and women who were holding up their shields last night did their part. We know there's some videos online of cops apparently throwing rocks back at protesters. Be that as it may, I saw things last night that I felt were going to really get out of control, and they didn't. So let's leave that conversation there for now.

HILL-ASTON: Right.

CUOMO: And we'll stay in communication as this story moves forward.

HILL-ASTON: Yes, yes. Thank you. Thank you.

CUOMO: It was great to see you this morning. Thanks for being up this early.

You, I don't think you went to bed.

Alisyn, back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris, we will be going back to you in Baltimore in just a moment.

But we also want to go to our other developing story. That's in Nepal. And that's where rescue workers are still digging through tons of rubble, trying to find survivors three days after that 7.8- magnitude earthquake leveled much of the area around Kathmandu. The death toll soaring to beyond 4,000 people.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is at a hospital in Kathmandu. He's helping the injured. We will get him live as soon as the bad weather there clears. He filed this report for us moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This morning vital foreign aid continues to arrive in droves. Thousands were killed during Nepal's initial earthquake. But without urgent medical care, food and water, many thousands more will likely die.

Survivors are still being pulled from the rubble. This little boy was saved after three hours of digging. According to UNICEF, Nepal's strongest earthquake in more than 80 years has left nearly a million children in need of assistance.

CHRISTOPHE BOULIERAC, UNICEF SPOKESMAN: There are lots of surgery required for children who are maimed. We need medicines. We need a place to do the surgery. And we need appropriate staff, of course.

[06:15:03] GUPTA: I met 8-year-old Selena yesterday, her grandfather driving over a day to get to this hospital after the family's home collapsed on her. As a practicing neurosurgeon, I assisted in an operation to remove a blood clot from the top of her brain and relieve swelling. The conditions and equipment available to us a bit primitive. Much like what you'd find in a war zone. But the operation was a success. Selena is alive, her prognosis is good.

Nepal's president, Ram Baran Yadav, is also a doctor. He says his country is facing a medical calamity like never seen before. And he asks that any assistance from the international community be given. There's no doubt Nepal needs all the help it can get.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Thanks to Sanjay Gupta for that incredible look.

A landmark day at the Supreme Court. Justices will hear arguments on same-sex marriage today, specifically on whether the Constitution provides couples the right to marry. Supporters of gay marriage are challenging a lower court ruling that upheld bans in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. A decision that will no doubt have national implications is expected in June.

CAMEROTA: A calculating killer or legally insane? That's the question for jurors in the trial of James Holmes, charged in the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater rampage in 2012. Twelve people were killed and 70 wounded. In their opening statement, prosecutors said Holmes was meticulous in planning the attack. The defense claims he was in the throes of a psychotic episode. If convicted, Holmes could get the death penalty.

PEREIRA: Hoping to avoid a death sentence, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's defense team says the Boston Marathon bomber was led down the path of terrorism by his increasingly fanatical older brother. In his opening statement during the trial's penalty phase, Tsarnaev's lawyer said life in prison would be a better choice, ensuring Tsarnaev fades from memory and doesn't become a martyr for extremists.

CUOMO: All right. Please stay with CNN for continuing coverage of the chaos that was Baltimore. We all witnessed the looting and rioting, much of it taking place with no police in sight for hours. The city was caught off-guard. The question is why and will they do better tonight?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:28] CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY. We're in Baltimore, where there is a state of emergency after a night of violence and chaos. Was Baltimore caught off-guard? The obvious answer seems to be yes. Can they quell the violence better going forward? The answer seems to be we hope so.

I want to bring in retired Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey. She spent 20 years as a member of the LAPD, as well as Mr. Neil Franklin, former Maryland State Police officer, who spent 23 years with the Maryland State Police before being recruited by the Baltimore Police Department to reorganize its education and training division.

Now, let's start with you, Neil, and thanks to both you and Cheryl for being with us on NEW DAY this morning.

There are some videos going around the Internet that seem to show officers throwing rocks and objects back at police officers. You've heard. I heard you talking about it last night.

Those incidents aside, or taken into consideration, there was a lot of restraint last night. The police seemed to be doing their job. The question is, were they told to be doing it soon enough? And were they planned for well enough? Your take.

NEIL FRANKLIN, FORMER MARYLAND STATE POLICE OFFICER: And let me begin with that. The police are doing their job. They're doing a very good job at it. It's very stressful. I've talked to some of them last night. They're very tired, and they're exhausted right now. So I applaud them for their restraint, and I know they will continue with that.

Now were we prepared? Do we have enough people, as we say boots on the ground when it started at Mondawin Mall, yesterday? No, we didn't. Now, the planning for that, we're talking about a fluid situation. So the planning for that has to do with the intelligence that you receive. And you try to factor in and you try to figure out how many people are going to be involved; how many school kids are we talking about? So it depends on how good your intelligence is.

And then where do you stage? OK. Where's the location you can stage where it's not going to cause problems from people seeing you staging there? And then how quickly can you deploy from that staging area to where the men and women are needed?

CUOMO: The mayor's created some confusion. At first there was a statement that she said she wanted to give protesters this space. She says, "No, I'm taken out -- taken out of context." That was just a by-product of what was going on today. We weren't really giving any artificial space."

It looked like space was given. It looked like the officers were not shadowing the activity that was there. It looked like the officers were not in the right riot gear right away and that they weren't set up to create the perimeter when they needed to and that they may have even been standing back during some of the early violence. You saw the same things I did. Do you agree or disagree?

FRANKLIN: Yes and no. Yes and no. I think, again, for I think that they were prepared physically with their equipment. They had their shields. They were forming the lines. Again, they were overwhelmed by the numbers of students. And students moved -- they moved so quickly. You know, they're up one alley. They're down another alley. They're deploying somewhere else.

The students can spread out. They can move into two, three, four, five different groups. The police officers can't do it that easily. They have to stay unified. They have to remain together and move in a uniform fashion.

CUOMO: There were many students especially when school let out, but as we saw throughout the night. It wasn't all students.

FRANKLIN: Absolutely not.

CUOMO: Cheryl, let me bring you into this conversation. You know LAPD. You know the history with riots there, what works, what doesn't. They now have school out today, and they have a curfew in place from 10 to 5. How do those two things help and hurt a situation, having the kids not under control at school and, you know, maybe out? Who knows what's going on? And also a curfew and what that means to people in the communities.

CHERYL DORSEY, RETIRED LAPD SERGEANT: Well, I think it's helpful to have the students at home today, because if they leave campus, then we have a situation much like yesterday, where we don't know exactly what their intentions are.

[06:25:08] And so I think to let cooler heads prevail, it makes more sense to not have school in session.

In terms of the activities that we're seeing, you know, it seems to me like maybe they weren't very prepared. I don't know why they would not have anticipated this kind of emotion on the day of the burial of Mr. Gray. And so I hope going forward that the curfew will play a part in quelling some of the damage that's been done.

CUOMO: And also, you know, the concern with the kids staying home is, well, who's home with them? People have to work. Most families down here you've got everybody who's home taking care of them when they get home from school, they're working during the day.

Let me ask you something, though. The distraction from the main concern of this community, which is what happened to Freddie Gray? With your experience out in L.A., when you have a riot that is surrounding anger at the police, what needs to be done in terms of focusing on that question, on that investigation and getting past the violence?

DORSEY: Well, I understand that people are interested in what's going on in the streets. But for me I'm singularly focused on why Freddie Gray was stopped in the first place. I'm singularly focused on the release of the statement of charges that came out yesterday in "The Baltimore Sun" with regard to a knife.

And it just seems to me like the department is trying to circle the wagons and justify in a couple of days the detention, the arrest and the subsequent injury based on something that makes no sense to me. A black man out on the streets in a high-crime area does not automatically make you suspicious. And that's what we need to talk about. And that's the answers that should be coming forth and without talking about this riot.

CUOMO: And it probably will be the best thing that the leadership here can provide to the communities. And that would be answers, Neil, right?

FRANKLIN: Absolutely.

CUOMO: Justice, fairness under law, whatever it turns out to be, as long as it's done the right way and it's transparent, will that do the most to make this community what you want it to be going forward?

FRANKLIN: It's a very important piece of getting back to norm in the city. It's coming forward with the information, letting the people know what happened.

Again, he was buried yesterday. I hear this time and time again, no report on the autopsy. But the commissioner has committed to this Friday coming forth with that information. I hope he sticks to it. And I hope it does make a difference. And then we can move on to the next phase of healing.

We have to start healing the city. But in that process, we can't ignore the systemic issues, the foundation of all this. And I'm not just talking about Baltimore. I'm talking about New York. I'm talking about Chicago. I'm talking about Ferguson. I'm talking about clear across this country of the tasks that we give police. And the laws that they are charged with enforcing.

Most of these arrests made in the city are low-level drug offenses, which is a health issue, not a criminal justice issue.

CUOMO: And there's no question: I said do you think it will do the most to get the answers? Unfortunately, the answer is no. You do have underlying issues. They have to be addressed.

FRANKLIN: They've got to be addressed.

CUOMO: Unfortunately, the violence and the riots distracts from the righteousness of that pursuit.

Neil, thank you very much for helping us understand this situation. We'll lean on you going forward.

And Cheryl, as always, appreciate your perspective -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris, we'll be back with you in a second. Stay with CNN for the most complete breaking news coverage of the unfolding situation in Baltimore.

What sparked the violence that is rocking this city last night? And are city officials doing enough today to restore order? We'll get into all that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)