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9 Killed in 'Hate Crime' Church Massacre. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 18, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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


CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: ... also very historically relevant church there. We are waiting on a briefing from officials at any moment. We already heard from them once this morning where they put out the picture of the man that they believe responsible for this and what may be his vehicle.

[07:00:13] They said they would come back to us with enhanced imaging that we understand the FBI is doing, as well as enhanced understanding about why this was done and what happened inside. Because that is very relevant to their investigation right now. This wasn't a simple situation where someone walked in, and shot and left.

So let's begin our complete coverage this morning. We have CNN's Nick Valencia on the ground.

Nick, what is the latest from Charleston?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

A very fluid situation here in Charleston, where there is an active manhunt for a suspect in the shooting. The alleged suspect, 21 years old. No identification given but police say a distinctive haircut, distinctive sweatshirt and they believe they have pinpointed the car he came in last night to carry out this murder. Nine people left dead, including a state senator.

Just a short time ago, I spoke to another senator here who confirmed to me the pastor of this historic Emmanuel Church, Clementa Pinckney, is one of those killed.

Police in a press conference a short time ago said that this individual that they are looking for is dangerous. They believe that this individual could still potentially be in the city of Charleston, that they are casting a wide net beyond this city.

They're asking for the public's assistance. Also included in this investigation is the FBI. Lots of moving parts here. Right now it's still unclear what was the motive. What would propel -- or compel, I should say, somebody to carry out this attack? What we understand is it was carried out during a Bible study session.

Also, what we're told from State Senator Kimpson is that Clementa Pinckney, the pastor at this church, was just hours before, debating the budget, saying that he needed to come to a meeting here at this church, a very important meeting. And he was here when this senseless tragedy was carried out. Let's take you to the press conference, happening right now,

where we're expected to hear from the police chief more details.

CHIEF GREG MULLEN, CHARLESTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: ... briefly go over the facts that we started with last night, and then we'll add some things as we go along.

And I think as you've already been told at the conclusion of the comments, we'll start to my right. If you have questions, we'll identify you. Please don't shout questions out to us. We want to make sure that we answer your questions logically and so that everybody understands them.

Last night at approximately 9:05, the Charleston County consolidated dispatch received a call for a shooting that occurred at the Emanuel AME Church on Calvin Street in downtown Charleston. Charleston police units were immediately dispatched and arrived at that location. When we did, we initially identified eight victims inside of the church that had suffered gunshot wounds.

Earlier, we told you that there were two victims that were transported to NUSC. There was actually one victim that was transported to NUSC, and that individual is deceased, as well. So we have a total of nine victims that were involved in this very tragic situation that occurred last night. The victims -- there were three males and six female victims in this tragedy.

As we told you last night, we have -- we have a unified command that has been set up, that is comprised of the Charleston Police Department; Charleston County Sheriff's office; State Law Enforcement Division; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and other federal agencies working with us.

We are committed. We are determined, and we are definitely working right now with a number of agents and police officers in our region to identify the individual that we passed out to you about one hour ago -- the suspect in this case. This is a situation that is unacceptable in any society and especially in our society and our city. We are committed to do whatever is necessary to bring this individual to justice. And I am committed and all the people that are working with us are committed to do whatever it takes, to work as long as we have to, our partners are committed.

We are bringing in resources from Washington D.C., from the FBI headquarters to help us. We've set up a hotline, as we mentioned earlier, 1-800-CALL-FBI. We have agents and police officers manning that phone. We will continue to man that phone until we've identified and arrested the suspect.

It is critical that the members of the community who have seen the picture of the vehicle as well as the suspect to call law enforcement. This is a very dangerous individual. He should not be approached by anyone. Call law enforcement if you recognize the individual or the car so that we can take the appropriate action to address the situation. [07:05:18] Again, this is a dangerous individual, and we do not

want more people harmed trying to approach him or trying to follow the vehicle if they see it. Notify law enforcement, and we will address that.

We are also very concerned about the families of the victims. We have set up a family assistance center at the Embassy Suites in downtown Charleston. We have members of the Charleston Police Department Victim Advocacy Unit as well as the FBI Citizen -- Victim Assistance Unit, as well.

I just want to say this. From the time this call came in, we have resources coming from all over the East Coast. We've got more resources that are coming in this morning from the FBI and other federal agencies. The state law enforcement division has committed a significant number of resources with both their crime scene, their investigative agents.

And we are not leaving anything -- any stone unturned. This tragedy that we are addressing right now is indescribable. No one in this community will ever forget this night. And as a result of that, and because of the pain and because of the hurt that this individual has caused this community, this entire community, the law enforcement agencies that are working on this are committed, and we will catch this individual.

The important thing for you in the media is to help us catch this individual. You have the ability to get this picture, to get this car out to places quickly. A broad perspective of media sphere, social media -- please help us to help our community.

Mayor.

MAYOR JOSEPH RILEY (D), CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: First of all, thank you, Chief Mullen and members of our police department and all of the departments who are here -- the state, the FBI, the county, other jurisdictions.

And the immediacy and the quality of the work of our law enforcement agencies has been inspiring. This is an unfathomable and unspeakable act by somebody filled with hate and with the deranged mind.

And as Chief Mullen said this person is dangerous. We need every tip we can get to bring this person into custody as soon as possible and, of course, we'll make sure that he pays the price for this horrible act. In our community, which is a community together, people loving and respecting each other. It is a community that honors our religious institutions and respect the different cultures and beliefs.

We're called the "Homey City", all the church fires that reach out to the sky, including Emanuel AME Church where this horrific crime occurred last night. So of all communities, in Charleston you have a horrible hateful person go into a church and kill people there to pray and worship with each other, is something that is beyond incomprehensible and is not explained. But this is what we can do, now. We can catch this no-good,

horrible person and see that he pays the price. And then what we will do and what this community has always done is we are going to put our arms around that church and that church family.

[07:10:14] This is an historic church. AME Church and the African-American churches were very important religious as well as social pieces of a fabric of society here for 200 years. People come to these churches to pray and worship and to support each other, help each other. And this historic church was exactly that.

So what this community will do -- and I've seen this great community respond to challenges before. You will see an outpouring of love and assistance and kindness and help and these people, these citizens, these families -- and the Chief and I met with them last night. We hugged as many as we could, and there were probably a couple of hundred in there, families and friends, weeping and distraught. Mothers and grandmothers and fathers and grandfathers were killed in their church. And we -- we extended to them on the behalf of our community our love.

So today we are committed to finding this horrible scoundrel. But today we're going to -- this community is going to provide the best example of a community coming together to help those grieving because of an unbelievable event that has forever ruptured their family bond. We will work to heal them and love them and support them and that church as long as we live.

MULLEN: Let's start over here. Questions? Yes ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know the names of the victims?

MULLEN: The victims -- that will have to come from the coroner's office. We -- that -- the coroner is working right now to try to get all of that information. And as soon as she can identify the family members she'll put that information out. But right now obviously our biggest concern is making sure their family members are communicated with first.

Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of the streets around the site have been opened. Does that mean the suspect is not (INAUDIBLE).

MULLEN: We don't have any information about any specific location. If we did that's where we would be. So we need for the whole community to be vigilant. That is why we got the information out about the vehicle and the picture. Hopefully, with all the officers that we have out in the community and the region as well as all the citizens we'll be able to identify that vehicle and the suspect.

Yes, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE). MULLEN: Right. The individual -- the individual was actually in

the church, attending a meeting that was going on there and stayed there almost an hour with the group before the actual event.

Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mayor said you guys have the families and have been talking to a lot of them (INAUDIBLE). Can you comment on the suspect letting one woman escape?

MULLEN: We' re not going to talk about that particular part of the investigation right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to follow up on the bomb threat last night. Any more details on that (INAUDIBLE)?

MULLEN: Well, we made sure that it wasn't a bomb last night and we are following up on those leads. We're not sure exactly if those are connected right now, but that's certainly something that we're following up on.

Yes sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You saw the shooter in the surveillance (INAUDIBLE). Could you describe his manner of walking?

MULLEN: We're going to send out some additional stills to you in a very short period of time. I'm not really going to comment on any kind of attitude or anything.

Yes, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a number of the survivors (INAUDIBLE)?

MULLEN: There were three.

Yes, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you tell us what type of weapon was used, what type of caliber?

MULLEN: We're not going to talk about the forensic piece right now. We'll do that later on but not right now.

Yes, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What kind of (INAUDIBLE)?

MULLEN: We're not in a position to answer that question. I don't know that. It's still under investigation. As soon as we identify either the individual so that we can talk to him, we might be able to answer that question. But right now we don't know if anyone was targeted other than the church itself.

Yes, Ma'am. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What (INAUDIBLE)?

[07:15:07] MULLEN: Right. There is some information that has been developed in the investigation that would lead us to believe that. We're not going to put that out right now, because if we do capture the individual, we want to make sure during our interview process that we're getting real information from him, not something that has been posted on the Internet or either through a story.

Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You put the picture out an hour ago. Have you any further tips in that hour?

MULLEN: We are getting phone calls in. I hope that we're getting good tips. I know the phone calls are coming in. As soon as a phone call comes in if it is legitimate we're sending out teams of investigators.

Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said that there's no reason to believe that anyone was targeted (INAUDIBLE) or the family of the victims (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

MULLEN: No, that's not police. That's the victim assistance. Whenever you have a tragedy like this one of the things that you want to do is make sure that you offer assistance to the victims' families. No, it's just a matter -- there's a grief situation, and we have our victim advocates there to assist them to go through this process.

RILEY: I might just say that's an important part of police work. So we've got police chaplains and victims' assistance, personnel on payroll as well as volunteers. So it is a huge cadre of trained people that can quickly come to the fore as they did last night. And it was an amazing sight to see all the conferences there with all the family members, working with them to get through the most difficult time of their lives.

CAMEROTA: OK, you've been watching a press conference here. This is the latest information that we have. It was from South Carolina authorities, including the police chief there in Charleston, as well as Charleston's mayor. And they did share with us some new information.

At 9:05 the Charleston Police Department received a phone call that there had been a shooting at this historic church. They said that nine people were killed, six of them men, three of them women.

They say that they've set up an assistance center for victims' families, who are desperate and grieving right now. They also talked a little bit more about what happened during that hour between 8 and 9. They believe that this gunman -- here's a picture of the suspect -- entered the church at about 8 and then stayed in the church. And it almost sounded as if he had participated somehow in the prayer group. He was there for the prayer group for an hour before the Charleston police got those terrible phone calls to rush to the scene.

We want to bring in now South Carolina State Senator Marlon Kimpson -- Kimpson.

Senator, we are so sorry for the ordeal that your community is going through this morning.

SEN. MARLON KIMPSON, SOUTH CAROLINA STATE SENATOR: Thank you for your condolences.

CAMEROTA: What can -- what can you tell us about the only person -- the only victim's name that we know at the moment was this pastor, Clementa Pinckney. He's one of your colleagues there in the Senate there in South Carolina. What can you tell us about him?

KIMPSON: Well, he was a giant. Senator Pinckney was a legend. He was the moral compass of the State Senate. When we would have difficult times, and we would be at an impasse discussing major pieces of legislation, it was Senator Pinckney who brought a sense of calmness to the body so that we could collectively negotiate towards a successful resolution.

I was with the senator on yesterday at a Senate Democratic Caucus meeting. We are current debating the budget, so most of the -- both the House and the Senate was in session.

But before the meeting ended, he indicated to me that he had a very important church meeting to attend in Charleston, which is about two hours away from Columbia, the state capital. And so I was aware that he was at a meeting in Charleston and not in Columbia at the time of the shooting.

When I learned of the shooting shortly after 9:30 from the -- Elliott Summey, the chair of the county council, I immediately called Senator Pinckney, but there was no answer.

When I eventually made it over to the victims' assistance center at the Embassy Suites, I did see his -- had a brief conversation with his wife and his two daughters. And we're asking the nation for prayer for the city of Charleston and for all of the victims of this horrific tragedy.

CAMEROTA: What a loss. Everything that we've heard about this pastor is that he was a pillar of the community and a real voice of solace for people there. Can you tell us anything more about the other victims? Do you know who they were?

KIMPSON: Well, other than the description I was listening to from Chief Mullen, other than the descriptions that he -- he announced, I don't really have any more details. I do know that there were a number of family members at the Embassy Suites.

[07:20:15] But let me also say this about Senator Pinckney. Just weeks ago, we were negotiating one of the most major -- one of the biggest pieces of legislation this session, the body camera bill. And we were getting some opposition. And he gave a speech on the Senate floor, and he talked about violence. But he talked about unity and the general assembly, the need to send a message to the rest of the nation that we would react in the aftermath of a shooting. And that is what is so ironic about this tragedy.

CAMEROTA: Senator, we want to talk about the crime scene, which could not be more historically significant. This is the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. There was a prayer meeting going on at 8 p.m. there last night. Why do you think anyone would target that church?

KIMPSON: I have no idea. And so I'm hoping that law enforcement can bring this shooter to justice and explore. But I do believe this is a hate crime. I do believe anyone of any race who goes into a church and commits murder has hate in his heart.

And we are resilient people in Charleston. We will rebound and move forward, but I think that we have to collectively, as a state, embrace that there is not -- there is racial -- lack of racial harmony here. And we must do what we can to bring race relations at the forefront of our legislative agenda. And when this suspect is captured, try to feather out what -- what was in his state of mind when he committed this horrific -- this horrific crime.

CAMEROTA: Senator, there was a lot going on in Charleston last night when this happened. Hillary Clinton was about a mile away. She was having a political event there in Charleston. Jeb Bush was supposed to be having his own event there today. He has since canceled it because of this tragedy. Do you make anything of the timing of this crime?

KIMPSON: I don't want to speculate. Obviously, you know, in Charleston there, we've got a presidential primary coming up. So both Republicans and Democrats are coming through the state. And this is one of the most active electorate bases, but that's not a unique thing to Charleston.

Now what is significant is that years ago, there was a huge fire in Charleston, and we lost nine firefighters. So it's ironic that the shooter killed nine people and just years ago on this same day we lost nine firefighters. I can't tell you what was in -- what was in the shooter's state of mind, only that there was hate in his heart.

CAMEROTA: Yes. In fact, the Dr. Martin Luther King center in Atlanta, Georgia, put out a powerful statement about this early this morning, in which they said, "We believe that nonviolence is not just about our physical response but includes our social media communication." They're urging everyone, even on social media, to keep a level head.

They went on to say, "We pray vigorously that this person's hate did not cultivate more hate. We must defy hate with truth and love." I mean, they're calling for people to transcend the hate, but of course, it's so hard to do that this morning when you're waking up and hearing the news of this massacre. What are you telling your constituents this morning? KIMPSON: Well, we are a resilient people. We've experienced

tragedy before but nothing on this level. We will be preaching patience, and we will be asking the community to come together.

In fact, last night a group of ministers and community members led a prayer right -- right behind me. And that's what we'll be doing for the better part of the day.

But let me be clear: we want to come away with this, with an agenda to reduce gun violence. You know, we just recently debated a deal in the South Carolina General Assembly against the people who use their hands in the physical abuse of domestic violence victims. And most of the debate was centered around protecting the right of gun owners to have guns.

We must make getting guns out of the hands of bad people a legislative agenda, and that's what I intend to do when session goes back in January.

CAMEROTA: State Senator Marlon Kimpson, thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, and our prayers are with your community.

KIMPSON: Thanks for having me.

[07:25:16] CUOMO: All right. Obviously, we're following this intense manhunt that's shaping up this morning. Police say they're looking for this man, the man on your screen. You're going to see this online. You should circulate it. That's what the authorities want you to do.

He is the man who entered a Bible study, stayed there for about an hour, according to authorities; opened fire, killing nine people. He may have said things inside, as well, that show why he wanted this to happen and what he wanted people to say.

We're going to stay on this story. We're going to talk with the head of the NAACP next. Remember this picture. Circulate it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RILEY: People in prayer on a Wednesday evening, obviously, the most intolerable and unbelievable act possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back. We are following breaking news. There is an intense manhunt underway for a shooter who killed nine people overnight inside a Charleston, South Carolina, church. Officials are calling it a hate crime. Why? Well, because of the target being this historical black church and what the gunman may have done and said while in the inside of that church.

So the NAACP released a statement, outraged over the massacre, and understandably so. Joining us live from Palo Alto, California, is NAACP president and CEO Cornell William Brooks.

It's good to have you on the show, sir. Not for this reason, though. We read the statement that came out. What is your understanding of why this happened?