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2 Teens Lose Arms in Separate Shark Attacks; Search for Prison Escapees Grows to 800 Officers; Prison Worker in Jail as Convicts Elude Manhunt; Dallas Police Attacker's Parents Speak Out; Syrian Refugees Fleeing for Their Lives into Turkey. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 15, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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


CHAD MYERS, CNN: Well, it's just the time where the baitfish come in. There's a big fishing pier here. Lots of fishermen there throwing bait in, throwing chum in. And all of a sudden, this is the highest part, this is the deepest part of the water.

When the water is out and you're in a low sandbar, there's very little depth for the sharks to get in that low tide, in that low; maybe six to eight inches there, all the way out to the sandbar that's just offshore. But when the high tide comes in, now you have three to four feet all the way here. And that's enough water for the sharks to get right up to the shore.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN: OK, Chad. Thanks so much for all of that information.

Now, we want to get to our other top story, and that is the search for two murderers on the loose in New York. This is entering its tenth day.

Governor Andrew Cuomo is set to launch an investigation into this prison break as questions intensify about the plot. There's word that more charges could be on the way as the woman who allegedly helped them escape does appear in court again this morning.

Our coverage begins with CNN's Polo Sandoval. He is at the search staging area in New York. Polo, what's happening this morning?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn. Really, the search for these very dangerous men now entering week two, and still police not really showing signs of scaling back. In fact, the officers you see behind me on this rainy morning in upstate New York, just one of hundreds that are still on the job at this hour. In fact, you can break down the numbers. It will give you a better indication of just how many resources are being poured into this at this point.

At least 800 state and local law enforcement officers really part of the search. They're following up on at least 870 leads. And much of the focus on an area about 13 square miles, which is really just a few miles from the prison in Dannemora, New York.

Investigators spending the weekend going door-to-door, making sure that they look behind every tree and inside almost every home. But still, we're also hearing from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who says that, when you step back and look at the very latest in the case, there really is no sign on where these two men are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: We don't know if they are still in the immediate area or if they are in Mexico by now, right? Enough time has transpired. But we're following up every lead the best we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And this morning, so many people here in some of the communities in upstate New York now trying to get their lives back to normal. But still, a seven-mile stretch of 374, Highway 374, remains closed.

From our vantage point, Michaela, we've seen school buses having to pretty much go around some of these roadblocks, many people trying to get to work. And you get to talk to some of these people who are -- who actually live here, Michaela, and they say, really, they are willing to at least endure this inconvenience, if it means trying to track these two men down so they can end this nightmare.

PEREIRA: Sure. I think everybody will sleep a lot more soundly, once they're caught. Polo, thanks for that.

Meanwhile, new details are emerging about Joyce Rich -- Mitchell's role in the prisoners' escape. She is due back in court in about 90 minutes' time. Sara Ganim is live at the courthouse there in Plattsburgh, New York, with more for us -- Sara.

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

Yes, Joyce Mitchell expected here in court for a pretty routine appearance on those charges that she helped those two men escape from prison. But before she was arrested, she talked to authorities. She gave details of what their plan of escape was supposed to be.

The district attorney told me these new details this weekend. He also told me that these two men were likely practicing their escape by climbing into the prison walls in the middle of the night, leading up to their escape. They told me Joyce Mitchell told police when she was interrogated that she planned to run off with these two men. She was to meet them in a location in the middle of the night and then drive them to a destination that was about seven hours away.

Before that, she had allegedly brought tools into the prison: chisels, hacksaw blades and drill bits, and even lighted goggles which police now believe they used to help cut their way out of the jail.

Now, of course, she didn't go through with it on the night of the escape. And the district attorney told me part of the reason why. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW WYLIE, CLINTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: One of the reasons why she didn't show up was because, you know, she did love her husband, and she didn't want to do this to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GANIM: Now, over the weekend, Joyce Mitchell was actually moved over the weekend from the Clinton County Jail to a neighboring jail about two hours away. She's expected to be brought here for this court hearing. But the sheriff here told CNN he did not want her to be a distraction during this manhunt -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: It will be fascinating to watch her in court this morning. Sara, thanks for that.

Let's bring in Lenny DePaul. He's the former commander of the U.S. Marshals Service, regional fugitive task force for New York and New Jersey.

Lenny, great to see you.

LENNY DEPAUL, FORMER COMMANDER, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE, REGIONAL FUGITIVE TASK FORCE FOR NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about what happened over the weekend. The search right around the prison. How many homes are these investigators searching?

DEPAUL: Certainly, still an intense manhunt that's going on. There's over 500 homes, I believe, that they're searching. Summer homes that haven't been opened up yet. So it's very plausible these two guys are still contained in that perimeter. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

CAMEROTA: I mean, what are your -- what are your instincts? You've been involved in hundreds of these cases. Do you think that they're holed up someplace really close to the prison, or are they far, far away?

DEPAUL: I mean, my gut reaction is -- and I hope I'm dead wrong -- I think they're long gone. I mean, that's -- again, I hope they're contained within this perimeter and they're laying low somewhere. This is day ten. It's too quiet. There's no robberies, break-ins. There's no hostages, no one saying anything.

I think there's somebody else in play, and Mitchell was played herself. And, you know, they realized that law enforcement was going to focus on her. She's got previous history with David Sweat. So they escaped. They're going to go right to her. And they fed her pretty good, what they wanted law enforcement to believe. So just my gut reaction. I'm thinking somebody else was in play. You don't just pop up out of a manhole cover and your ride's not there and you hang a sign that says have a nice day. That's not going to happen.

CAMEROTA: You think there's another accomplice on the outside, or they could have hitched a ride with somebody either who wanted to help them or who didn't know yet who they were.

DEPAUL: Yes, but then they would have came forward at this point. No one's saying anything. So if there's somebody else is in play, they get picked up prior to Mrs. Mitchell not even showing up, to their advantage, actually.

So yes, then they're long gone. They had six, seven, eight hour jumpstart on law enforcement.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about Joyce Mitchell. Does the fact that she has now been arrested and she is behind bars, does that mean that she stopped cooperating?

DEPAUL: Not necessarily. I mean, she's probably told them everything she knows. She probably doesn't even realize if, in fact, what I just said is accurate. I'm hoping I'm wrong. But she's told them everything. You know, pick us up; we want to go to Vermont. I mean, she certainly is cooperating at 100 percent, from what I understand. I'm not there.

But, you know, there's the manhunt and there's a fugitive investigation. The U.S. marshals are sending leads all over the world, from Canada to Mexico. So we're certainly doing our part to assist the New York State troopers.

CAMEROTA: Because you know, there's some information that maybe it -- she, who shared this with investigators, but the plan was to go about seven hours away. Well, that's an awfully big radius. I mean, she hasn't -- at least they're not sharing with the media -- she hasn't said if that's north, south, east or west. So how do the marshals and the FBI try to pinpoint that?

DEPAUL: Well, again, where is it? North, south, east or west? Who knows? And who knows if she's even telling the truth?

If she is, again, that plays into my theory. They told her, "Hey, tell them we're going to Vermont." They know law enforcement is going to talk to her. So they're focusing on her. And what she's giving them, and we're in Vermont. We're all over the place.

So -- but we're doing our homework and certainly crossing our "T's" and dotting our "I's." And there are several leads out. Our international branch has jumped in from the get-go. And we're doing our -- you know, what's necessary to hopefully zero in on these guys.

CAMEROTA: Last hour, we had a correctional officer from Clinton Correctional, a former one who worked there for 16 years. And he said that there's no metal detector, that workers every day come in, they have their metal lunchboxes. They'd bring those in, and you can bring really whatever you want in that lunchbox. Is something going to change now, as a result of this breakout?

DEPAUL: Well, again, I don't know what goes on inside the prison other than transporting in and out of there. But I'm hoping things change, if that's accurate, yes, absolutely. It's always after the fact, unfortunately, and you've got two vicious animals out there running around. Hopefully they -- and again, thanks to you guys, their face is all over the place. They're tattooed from head to toe. So where are they going to go? They're laying low somewhere.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. And we know that it does work, the public looking and spotting guys and calling in, even anonymously. It does work.

Lenny DePaul, thanks so much for your information.

Here's the tip line: 800-336-0102. You can always call 911 if you don't have a pen.

Let's get over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. We're also learning more about the gunman who attacked Dallas police headquarters this weekend. James Boulware's parents say that they believe he reached his breaking point after a bitter custody battle, blaming police for taking his son away.

CNN's Nick Valencia is live in Dallas with the latest for us today -- Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michaela -- Michaela, this is the spot where James Boulware -- that's the 35-year-old suspect -- carried out his attack against police over the weekend. Police spent their time digitally mapping this crime scene, trying to figure out exactly how it all played out.

Boulware, as we've been learning throughout the weekend, is a man with a troubled history, haunted by mental-health issues. His mother spoke to CNN and talked about the struggle her son was going through.

Essentially, what she told our producer is that he's a man who has had a history of problems, mental-health issues. He's also had incidents in past criminal history, run-ins with the law. In 2013, he had an incident, a domestic violence incident that he was convinced kept him from getting a job. He was an unemployed mechanic.

Meanwhile, Dallas police officers involved in that shootout, 14 of them have been put on administrative leave. That's standard operating procedure after being involved in a shoot-out and pulling their weapons. Many of them just thankful for their lives. So many bullets dodged this weekend. So many close calls.

Today, the medical examiner will continue their autopsy on the suspect. We'll try to learn more details -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Nick. We'll also talk more about what to do with this mental health situation.

Well, thousands of Syrians seeking refuge, crossing into Turkey after cutting through a border fence on Sunday. They're trying to escape as Kurdish forces battle ISIS.

CNN's Arwa Damon is on the Turkey-Syrian border at that crossing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: People are understandably quite upset as they are just being allowed to come across on this day. Those women were just saying it's beyond a nightmare. We've seen groups of people also dumping water on themselves. It's been fairly difficult for them on the other side, some of them having to wait overnight. Women, children, babies, all of them.

This is just the latest round of individuals that are fleeing the latest bout of fighting. In this particular case, we're talking about a vital town called Akcakale on the other side of the border that is under ISIS control. And there, there are Kurdish fighters, along with some Arabs who have encircled the town. If they are able to capture it -- and Akcakale is just out of eyesight on the other side of that wall -- they will have cut off one of the key ISIS strategic routes through their stronghold of Raqqah.

You can see the Turkish military readying themselves along this border.

People were in such a panic a few days ago in some cases that they literally forced down the wall in some areas. And for so many of those who are coming across, this is not necessarily the first time that they have been forced to flee. Some who we were talking to who were living in Akcakale said they were refugees there, as well. They didn't want to necessarily live under ISIS. But for some of them, it was a better option than living in insecurity; then having to make the choice to come across and end up as refugees.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Incredible look at the plight of those people there. Thank you for that, Arwa.

Take a look at this video out of South Texas. A massive inferno breaks out after a natural gas line ruptures. A spokesperson for Energy Transfer Partners tells CNN it happened around 8 p.m. last night. It affected a 42-inch line. That pipeline was isolated. The gas was rerouted. We're told several homes were evacuated as a precaution, but thankfully, no injuries have been reported.

CAMEROTA: Scary.

PEREIRA: Terrifying.

CAMEROTA: All right. Well, meanwhile, we do have more on that Dallas gunman taken down after targeting Dallas Police headquarters. His family says he snapped following a custody battle. We have more of his backstory, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM BOULWARE, FATHER OF DALLAS GUNMAN: Every one of us has a breaking point. Every one of us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did your son hit his breaking point?

BOULWARE: He hit his breaking point.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CAMEROTA: That was the father of the gunman who fired at Dallas Police headquarters Saturday, telling CNN that his son snapped after losing custody of his own son.

For more on the gunman's past and his mindset, let's bring in criminologist and behavioral analyst Dr. Casey Jordan.

Dr. Jordan, thanks so much for being here.

JORDAN: Great to be here.

CAMEROTA: His father says he hit his breaking point. He basically snapped when he lost custody of his son. But you don't think that he snapped. What is your theory?

JORDAN: There's way too much planning went into it. So let's just -- you know, everyone can snap, literally implode, if they are pushed to the wall.

CAMEROTA: Everyone -- your point, every single person has a breaking point.

JORDAN: It's how we handle it. Then, it's how we handle it. Every one of us has felt that moment where we just want to explode or implode. But, most of us have coping mechanisms and ways that we have been raised to actually get that feeling down.

Today, we send people to anger management classes. And there's a lot of people who say it doesn't work. But the key is, this man, we have it on record, the judge was afraid of him. He had a long history of not being able to handle his anger. And even his father says he had had mental issues.

CAMEROTA: And you also don't believe he snapped because, as you were saying, he planned this.

JORDAN: He sure did. I mean, he made five pipe bombs. He bought a van, allegedly from the set of "The Walking Dead," armored and bulletproof. He planned on actually committing a lot more mayhem than he actually accomplished, and that's due in no small part to the Dallas P.D.'s handling.

CAMEROTA: And yet, he also had a long history of mental illness.

JORDAN: Correct.

CAMEROTA: Let me show you some of the things that he suffered from. This is according to his parents, as well as some documents. He suffered from hallucinations. He talked about the FBI in a paranoid fashion. He talked about the Sandy Hook shooting. He was fascinated with that. He threatened suicide many times.

JORDAN: Right.

CAMEROTA: He had precognitive dreams, meaning he believed that he dreamed things before they happened. His parents say that, you know, he didn't. It was after the fact that he thought that it was before. So this was -- he's mentally ill.

JORDAN: We see that, but he doesn't see that. He thinks he is right, and we are wrong. And he has something to prove. If there is one hallmark of his attitude, it's self-righteousness. He believes that he is a good father. He never laid hands on his son, and no one's ever accused him of that. His domestic violence was against his mother, who as we know was given custody of the son.

So he thinks he is justified in being angry at his [SIC] mother over the custody battle. So in his mind -- you can call it splitting -- he is right, we are wrong. And he has two issues, and he articulated them: losing custody of his son, but the police had dubbed him a terrorist. And he took that very personally.

CAMEROTA: He believed they had.

JORDAN: He believed, exactly. That's part of his persecution complex. So you have to see that he actually got the van, got the pipe bombs, got the power to go and basically say, "You've labeled me. Let me prove something to you." By all accounts, this man should be a mass murderer. It's just a miracle that nobody was killed.

CAMEROTA: But in your experience, this is not somebody with just anger management issues or lack of coping. This is someone who's mentally ill.

[06:20:00] JORDAN: He is mentally ill. And as his father said, and if we walk away with one take-away, his father said, "Where does somebody go to get help? There is no help available." Our society has got to really square this fact: the civil rights liberties versus mental illness.

Why does somebody have to do something so off the rails, like get a van and do a rampage attack on a police station, before we actually get them the help that they need? There has to be less of a gap between being diagnosed and being helped.

CAMEROTA: Isn't there help for people who have hallucinations, who may have been diagnosed with schizophrenia? He was in a mental-health hospital at 14 years old, but then, of course, released. Then what is the family supposed to do when somebody is exhibiting these symptoms?

JORDAN: The system is really broken with regard to the actual getting of help. Remember, the person who is mentally ill is in the least possible position to get help themselves -- they don't think they need help. They don't want to pick up the phone. They're not going to go to the hospital, because they don't want to lose their freedoms.

And for families, a person has to do something extremely dangerous to themselves or others.

CAMEROTA: They have to do it or they have to threaten it?

JORDAN: Well, and how do you articulate the threat? Say, "You're going to be sorry for that" is very different than "I am going to go get a pipe bomb." He never told anyone what his plan was. No one has said they knew.

So to have dangerous thoughts and to have very vague notions of threatening -- I, you know, writing on Facebook, "I really want to get back at this judge." It has to be specific, and it has to be that a reasonable person would fear that he is capable of taking it out. No one ever tried to have this man civilly committed, as far as I know.

CAMEROTA: So in order to commit someone, they need to spell out the harm they're going to do to themselves or to someone else, as this point?

JORDAN: Correct. And the problem is, people can talk, talk, talk, but they need to make steps. And they need to -- you have to have the evidence of that.

In the United States, we take people's freedom of liberty very seriously, and we should. We don't want to just be able to go civilly commit our dotty aunt or, you know, eccentric uncle. So the fact of the matter is that unless family members --- and not everyone has family members to actually push them in this direction, keep pushing to get the help they need, this person is not going to seek help. They're going to be paranoid. They're not going to trust the system.

But let everyone know: medications and therapies are available that can make huge inroads into this type of mental illness.

CAMEROTA: That's a great point to end on. Dr. Casey Jordan, thanks so much for all the information.

If you want to weigh in on this, you can find me on Twitter, @AlisynCamerota. I'd love to read your thoughts.

Let's get over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: Great conversation there, Alisyn.

Jeb Bush officially set to launch his 2016 bid today from Florida. So what can we expect from his campaign, and how does he exactly feel about his family name? John King will take a look, "Inside Politics."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:26:33] PEREIRA: Some frightening moments on a beach in North Carolina. Two teenagers mauled by sharks in separate attacks, each of those children losing an arm. The attacks taking place within 90 minutes of one another Sunday on the very same stretch of beach in Oak Island, North Carolina. A third teen was bitten by a shark last week at a nearby beach. She was not seriously injured.

CAMEROTA: Eight hundred officers searching for two escaped convicts in upstate New York as the hunt enters day ten. "The New York Times" reporting Governor Andrew Cuomo will launch a broad investigation of this prison break. And we're also learning that the convicts, Richard Matt and David Sweat, may have rehearsed their getaway and that more arrests could be in the making. Joyce Mitchell is due in court about an hour from now, following her arraignment Friday on charges that she helped them in the plot. So stay with NEW DAY. We will have coverage of that hearing.

PEREIRA: Two Minnesota bishops are resigning their post, accused of failing to respond adequately to charges of sex abuse by priests. Prosecutors say Archbishop John Nienstedt and Bishop Lee Piche didn't answer the call of duty after repeated reports of inappropriate conduct by former priest Curtis Wehmeyer. He is now serving time for sex abuse. And the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are facing charges as a corporation for failing to protect children.

CAMEROTA: OK, Michaela, let's take a look at this story, because she was several miles from home and in danger on a Washington highway. State Trooper David Hintz spotted this elderly woman on an electric scooter, and he followed her for a while. And when he finally checked on her, he found out that she was lost, and trying to go for coffee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID HINTZ, STATE TROOPER: We're going to have to do something, because we're -- I don't want you to get hurt out here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, he didn't want her to get hit out there, obviously. He pointed her in the right direction. He even helped her out of a ditch, at one point. Seventy minutes and with Hintz in tow -- he followed her...

PEREIRA: She got an escort.

CAMEROTA: ... she got back home safely.

PEREIRA: She got turned around. It looks like there isn't really a true shoulder. It's like some of the roads where I grew up. There isn't really a shoulder or a bike lane, and it's a little uneven.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely.

PEREIRA: You could go over in a ditch quite easily there. I'm so glad that he was there in time. We have angels appear in our lives, don't we?

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. Look, police officers and state troopers do wonderful things all the time.

PEREIRA: Yes.

CAMEROTA: I mean, this is standard for them.

PEREIRA: She is in the merge lane. Look at her go.

CAMEROTA: All the time, so it's important to highlight those stories.

PEREIRA: Yes. Wow. Wow.

CAMEROTA: That's so very fast.

PEREIRA: A little insight into what we're going to be like here.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

PEREIRA: Will you push me around in mine?

CAMEROTA: Happily.

PEREIRA: Great.

CAMEROTA: Let's get now to "Inside Politics" on NEW DAY with John King.

PEREIRA: You would be a terror in one of those things.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: I was just going to say, I want to have a cup of coffee with her, talk politics. But you two need a little -- get you out of a ditch someday, I'll help you out. We'll have a cup of coffee.

PEREIRA: Appreciate it.

KING: We'll be all right. God bless that trooper. God bless that trooper; that's a good guy.

All right. Busy day to get "Inside Politics," and as I introduce Sara Murray from CNN and Robert Costa (Ph) from "The Washington Post," we're going to say, ladies and gentlemen, that everything must end in this first part with an exclamation point. OK?

Jeb Bush gets into the race today. We'll get to the exclamation point in a minute. He has an issue. His name is a great asset in some ways; it's a liability in others, especially with the conservative base of the party. Listen to Jeb here talking to CNN's Dana Bash about, "Hey, look, it's my name. I'm going to deal with it."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA: Jeb is different than George. And Jeb is who he is. My life story is different. I don't have to disassociate myself from my family; I love them. But I know that if I'm going to be successful, I have to show my heart and tell my story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It is remarkable. His dad was president, not all that long ago. His brother was president, not all that long -- much closer than that.