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Seven Killed, 40 Injured in Chicago Over the Weekend; South Carolina Lawmakers to Debate Flag's Removal; Suspect in Woman's Killing Deported 5 Times; San Francisco Shooting Ignites Immigration Debate; Lawmakers Consider Removing Rebel Flag. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired July 6, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST, "NEW DAY": Look at that. Yes.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST, "NEW DAY": But remember, this is Massachusetts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was one of those, like, so happy but so pissed off at the same time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: Perfect. Just perfect.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN HOST, "NEW DAY": I love it. How beautiful.

CAMEROTA: That's great.

PEREIRA: Wonderful. Thanks for that.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. And thank you, John Berman, for being with.

PEREIRA: Yes.

CAMEROTA: It's so great to have you.

PEREIRA: You look sharp in the scarf.

BERMAN: Have a scarf.

CAMEROTA: All right. Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Ana Cabrera in for Carol Costello.

Good morning.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. How can anybody take John seriously as a journalist with that scarf around his neck?

PEREIRA: Wow. Wow.

CAMEROTA: It's difficult. BERMAN: It's America.

PEREIRA: Just like that. All those years of schooling.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: I know.

PEREIRA: Ouch. Ouch, John.

BERMAN: Ouch.

CABRERA: You're so patriotic, indeed. Have a good day, you guys.

CAMEROTA: See you.

CABRERA: NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Happening now in the NEWSROOM.

SUPERINTENDENT GARY MCCARTHY, CHICAGO POLICE: I'm angered. I'm frustrated. And I'm frustrated and angry that we're here again talking about another senseless murder.

CABRERA: A 7-year-old killed by mistake during violent holiday weekend in Chicago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wish this upon nobody. I wish this upon nobody.

CABRERA: Even with more police patrolling the streets, dozens hurt. Another seven killed in shootings across the city.

Plus, the Confederate flag, will it stay or will it go? Heritage or hate? Questions lawmakers in South Carolina will begin debating today as they decide whether to remove divisive symbol from in front of the state house.

And --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An unbelievable team performance.

CABRERA: Record-setting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dreams do come true.

CABRERA: Historic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This time it's just our time.

CABRERA: The U.S. women's soccer team topples Japan bringing home the World Cup for the first time in 16 years.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Good morning, and thanks so much for being here. Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend. I'm Ana Cabrera in for Carol Costello.

Sadly we start with outrage, sadness and demands for justice after violence erupts in Chicago over this past holiday weekend. In just three days, seven people were killed after being gunned down and that leaves 40 others were injured. Among the dead a 7-year-old Amari Brown who was struck by a bullet while waiting to watch fireworks. And now police are trying to track down his killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEIRDRE HOLMAN, RELATIVE OF AMARI BROWN: You might as well turn yourself in because this 7-year-old, our family member did nothing to you.

MICHAEL SINGLETON, FAMILY FRIEND: All you all will be out here next week on another corner, filming the same thing from somebody else saying exactly what I'm saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Authorities say Brown's father, a ranking gang member who has been arrested more than 40 times, was the intended target.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARTHY: I'm angered. I'm frustrated. And I'm frustrated and angry that we're here again talking about another senseless murder. If we don't hold criminals accountable, people do not go to jail for illegal guns, if they do not fear the criminal justice system. If they feel repercussions from the gang that they belong to for losing the gun outweighs the criminal justice sanctions that they would be subject to, we're going to stay in the position that we're in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And listen to this, since Friday police say they have recovered one illegal gun every hour.

Let's bring in CNN's Ryan Young. He is in Chicago with the latest.

And, Ryan, these numbers are startling.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just startling. In fact, that one fact that you just gave, the fact that every hour since Friday they've been able to get one illegal gun off the streets. It's really astounding and talks about the problems here in Chicago. But so many people focused on that 7-year-old who was trying to watch fireworks like so many others throughout this city, throughout this country, who were trying to enjoy the Fourth of July, when apparently his father may have been the target of the shooting, but instead he was shot. That 7-year-old died and now calls throughout the city for something

to change when it comes to this violence. When you think about it, they added more than 30 percent officers to the streets, they're all working 12-hour shifts, and one fact -- one shooting happened right in front of one officer who was on patrol.

So you understand the amount of violence that's going on here and the superintendent spoke passionately about it yesterday talking about how he wants to see the system change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARTHY: We need to help here, folks. We have to fix this broken system. If you think that putting more cops on the street would make a difference, then take a look at the fact that we put a third more manpower on the street this weekend. What's the result? We're getting more guns. That's great. It's not stopping the violence. And it's not going to stop the violence until criminals are held accountable and something is done to stem the flow of these guns into our city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:05:04] YOUNG: Now, Ana, I live here in Chicago, and of course, some of the headlines here are astounding. The June 1st headline in this city was 161 people killed in 151 days. You talk to reverends, you talk to pastors, people who are in the community. They're at an impasse on what to do next.

Of course there was a lot of talk about a movie that's being filmed in the area, it's "Chiraq" and people know that. It's a term that's used for the city. The idea that violence is so high and it seems like nothing they can do to stop it. People are asking questions about how to get some of these guns off their street and how to stop this cycle of violence.

CABRERA: We need answers for sure.

Ryan Young, thank you so much.

Let's talk more about all of this with former NYPD detective and law enforcement consultant Tom Verni.

Thanks so much for being with us, Tom.

TOM VERNI, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Thank you.

CABRERA: The why and then how do we get the problem under control are the two most important questions. Let's start with the why. I mean, it's not for a lack of effort to try to stop this violence on behalf of law enforcement. Why do you think this community seems to be spiraling out of control?

VERNI: Well, Chicago, like other large cities like Baltimore, even in New York or Detroit, these large cities have had an influx of gangs and an influx of guns. I mean, how many kids -- how many 7-year-olds will it take before we finally address the gun issue in this country.

CABRERA: You think it's a gun patrol problem?

VERNI: Listen, I'm a Second Amendment guy. I'm all for the Second Amendment. However, somehow somewhat we have -- our cities are awash in illegal guns. Somehow these guns are making their way to the streets and they're making their way into the hands of gang members. And the gang members are not afraid to use them and cause all kinds of chaos. The victim's father had 45 arrests at his credit. That's one arrest for every year that I'm alive.

CABRERA: And yet he's out on the streets.

VERNI: He's out on the streets.

CABRERA: And that's one thing that the police superintendent brought up was people are kind of going in and out of prison. That there aren't strict enough penalties, as he put it. And in fact I want to take a look at some of the stats and the penalties that are currently in place. The minimum sentence in Illinois for illegal gun possession is just one year. And in 2014 -- this is according to the "Chicago Sun Times" study there, found that most of the convicts in Chicago are just getting the minimum sentence.

So one year, and in some communities, the study found that many people were serving less than of those sentences because of good behavior, times served already. So do you think that's also part of the problem, these mandatory minimum sentences not being tough enough?

VERNI: Absolutely. And we've had that problem here in New York. And again a lot of large cities have this issue and even some of those -- a lot of those policies and decisions as well. When they try to get guns -- you lock up somebody with a gun, there's not good behavior there at all. They have that gun illegally. They're using that gun for illegal means. Usually to commit some robberies or other, you know, heinous crimes. So when somebody has a firearm that doesn't belong to them that they didn't obtain legally, they need to sit in jail at the minimum, whatever the minimum sentence is which is usually a year because it's a felony.

But they need to do at least that and then some. A message needs to be sent that that behavior is not going to be tolerated. And when you have judges and a parole system that just lets them go out, what does that tell someone? It tells you it's not such a big deal. I'm going to go out there and do it again.

CABRERA: Some says that tougher penalties could unfairly target minorities, your thoughts?

VERNI: It's going to unfairly target those whether they're black, white, brown, or otherwise choose to obtain an illegal weapon and go out and commit crime. That's who's going to unfairly target. Someone who's black or white or others, that's their choice to go out and obtain a weapon illegally and terrorize our society.

This is like an ISIS dream. We don't have to worry about ISIS. We have more Americans killing other Americans every year by guns than ISIS could ever dream of.

CABRERA: The thought crossed my mind when we heard about this violence in Chicago and the focus was so much on preventing a terrorist act this weekend.

VERNI: Right. Exactly.

CABRERA: When thankfully nothing major happened. But then you still look at what happened in Chicago.

VERNI: Look at what happened. We have Americans that are killed this weekend.

CABRERA: Seven people were killed.

VERNI: By Americans.

CABRERA: Forty others were injured. Yes.

VERNI: Yes. So we're didn't have to worry about ISIS. And we do have to worry about them but in the day-to-day reality of America, we have to worry about Americans having illegal firearms and going out and terrorizing out own people.

CABRERA: I think this is just the beginning of the discussion really to be had.

VERNI: Yes, it is.

CABRERA: And Tom Verni --

VERNI: Something has to be changed.

CABRERA: Thank you so much for joining us.

VERNI: You're welcome.

CABRERA: And offering your expertise. We appreciate it.

It is a big day in South Carolina. In less than an hour lawmakers will begin to debate the fate of the Confederate flag that stands on capital grounds. Large rallies both for and against the flag drawing hundreds of people this weekend in states across the south. This video from protests in Arkansas. But South Carolina has been ground zero on this issue.

Will the flag that flies in front of the capitol come down? Well, this week we could find out the answer. Opponents of the flag used Independence Day to say the flag needs to go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of a stain on our state. You can't really deny that the only thing that it really symbolizes is racism.

[09:10:05] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was put up to represent segregation. And so it represents segregation to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: We also talked to supporters there. Supporters of the flag told CNN the flag is part of the south's heritage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You take the flag down it's going to piss more people and a lot will be gone.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because this is our heritage. This is who we are. This is who we are proud to be. I mean, in the south you stand with us or you stand against us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CNN's Nick Valencia is joining us live at the state capitol in Columbia, South Carolina.

Nick, what can we expect to happen there today as lawmakers return?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ana. Today state lawmakers will begin that debate of whether or not to permanently remove the Confederate flag from state grounds. It's been up since 1961. Moved to the front of this Confederate Soldier's Monument just behind me about 15 years ago.

I spoke to one former representative who tells me that today's debate will focus on whether or not there will be testimony on this bill or if it will go straight to the floor. Bakari Sellers tells me if everything goes smoothly, we could expect a vote as soon as Thursday and if it is voted to remove that flag, well, then it will happen swiftly and according to him unceremoniously.

For that to happen, Ana, it will take a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of the state's general assembly.

Without question this has been a polarizing issue with some saying that the flag simply represents southern heritage. Others saying that it symbolizes racism and hatred -- Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Nick Valencia, watching developments in South Carolina, today. We'll continue to follow this story. Thanks so much.

And still to come, a woman gunned down on a busy pier. Police say her killer, an undocumented immigrant, was deported five times previously. Now her death is sparking a fiery political debate on immigration.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:05] CABRERA: New information this morning on a San Francisco shooting. Now, the man accused of killing 31-year-old Kate Steinle as she was walking on the pier has confessed. Juan Francisco Lopez- Sanchez, an illegal immigrant, who has been deported five times, says the shooting was an accident. He says he found the gun wrapped in a t-shirt near the bench, and it went off as he picked it up.

Let's bring in CNN's Dan Simon.

Dan, what more are you learning about the suspect?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Ana.

First of all, the story is really going to galvanize critics of America's immigration system. Here you have the guy who was deported an astounding five times to his native Mexico, yet somehow he's able to room the streets of San Francisco, find a gun, and then shoot and kill a woman in a popular tourist area.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPORTER: Did you shoot Kate Steinle, the lady who was down on Pier 14?

FRANCISCO LOPEZ-SANCHEZ, MURDER SUSPECT: Yes.

SIMON (voice-over): Confessing the homicide, 45-year-old Francisco Sanchez is behind bars in California this morning. But he shouldn't be in the United States at all. Sanchez is an undocumented immigrant and repeat felon.

The victim is 31-year-old Kate Steinle, killed with a single gunshot to the chest at the popular San Francisco pier last Wednesday.

JIM STEINLE, VICTIM'S FATHER: You could feel she was fighting and then gasping for every breath.

SIMON: Kate's father, who was with her at the time, says no words were exchanged between Sanchez and his daughter. Officials say this was a random act of violence.

STEINLE: I have a little solace that I was with her. But I also have an overwhelming grief of a thought of the moment she was shot.

SIMON: Sanchez has been deported five times to Mexico. In a jailhouse interview with CNN affiliate KGO, he says the lure of a paycheck kept him returning.

SANCHEZ: I'm looking for a jobs in the restaurant or roofing, landscaping or construction.

SIMON: The shooting quickly seized on by Donald Trump. The GOP presidential hopeful who made headlines for his inflammatory remarks about Mexican immigrants said the tragic shooting is, quote, "yet another example of why we must secure our border immediately."

Sanchez was held on an outstanding drug charge back in March. But that charge was dropped and San Francisco officials said they had no legal basis to hold him. Under the city's so called Sanctuary Law, they didn't transfer him back to immigration officials either because there's no warrant or judicial order for his removal.

So, on April 15th, Sanchez was released.

SANCHEZ: I'm sorry for everybody.

REPORTER: Including Kate Steinle's family?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON: Now listen to this, prior to wandering to the tourist area, Sanchez says he popped some sleeping pills that he found in a dumpster. Then he said he found the gun wrapped in a t-shirt and then it somehow went off accidentally, although we should point out he originally told police that he was aiming for sea lions.

Ana, the question is whether San Francisco's sanctuary policy and cities that also have similar policies are going to re-examine what they're doing in the wake of this tragedy -- Ana.

CABRERA: Absolutely. That is a good question.

Dan Simon, thank you so much for joining us.

Let's talk more now as the killing has reignited the immigration debate and questions over this law, this policy involving people illegally in the U.S. in San Francisco, especially in the light of respect presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent comments about Mexicans.

Let's bring in CNN's political reporter Sara Murray.

Now, Sara, let's start with the law. The suspect was released by the San Francisco sheriff's department despite the request from immigration officials for him to be detained. Explain a little bit more about why it happened.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, I think Dan gave us a pretty good idea of how this works. Essentially, San Francisco says we're only going to detain people for immigration officials if they have a violent history. And they said this guy did not fit the bill even though he had many previous felonies. There was no recent history of documented violent crimes.

[09:20:02] And so, they released him. And then, what we're hearing from federal officials is they were saying at least you could have given us a heads up he was about to be released, even if you weren't going to detain him for us.

So, there was a clearly a break down between local officials and federal officials. Now we're seeing the fallout from that.

CABRERA: And it's really stirring the immigration discussion on a national level. Donald Trump holding this shooting up as an example of why the U.S. needs to secure the border and now other Republicans are coming out speaking against Trump basically turning on him. We heard strong words over the weekend. What is the latest?

MURRAY: Well, I think that Republicans are a little disappointed to see Donald Trump paint every immigrant and every immigrant who is in the country illegally in the same light. Donald Trump is sort of trying to say they're all criminals and they're all rapists except for a couple who are a good people.

And Republicans are saying, wait, no, we worked hard to repair our relationship with the Hispanic community and a lot of people come here because they want a better life, because they want jobs, because they want, you know, a better future for their children.

So, we even heard from Jeb Bush over the weekend who disagreed with Donald Trump's comments broadly, but said, look, in this case we should be deporting people who commit crimes and we should be taking a closer look at the way these sanctuary cities handle undocumented immigrants.

CABRERA: Right. It seems like there's a big gap here.

How did this relationship between the sanctuary cities and ICE seem to grow so strained over the past years?

MURRAY: Yes, I think context is important when we talk about this, because a lot of people are wondering how could a city like San Francisco have a rule like this? You have to look back decades to when ICE was running raids in a lot of these cities. They would come in. They would raid a business. They would raid a factory. A lot of these cases, these were not necessarily criminals who had committed felonies or something like that, but their crime was to be in the United States undocumented.

And when they would do these raids, they would arrest hundreds of mothers, hundreds of fathers. There could be kids who would come home from school and their parents wouldn't be there. And it really tore apart communities. And that's when we started to see a lot of these sanctuary communities rise up and say, look, we're not going to allow you to do this to our families.

CABRERA: And we heard Dan mentioned now San Francisco perhaps other sanctuary cities taking another look at their policies. On a bigger picture level, is it going to inspire new debate, you think, among Congress to really tackle the immigration system?

MURRAY: Well, I think we've seen Congress try to try tackle this before very recently. They sort of failed to do it. But I think it could inspire a debate among Republican presidential candidates about how you actually deal with the immigration system.

We've heard a lot of glad attitudes so far about securing the border, about trying to figure out what to do with the 11 million. We haven't heard a lot of plans. So, if this sort of pushes the debate forward a step and says here is how I would secure the border, here is what I would do with the people undocumented here, here is how we handle people in the country and were in the country illegally and have committed crimes, I think that would be a benefit to the discussion we're hearing among 2016 presidential hopefuls right now.

CABRERA: All right. Sara Murray joining us live in Washington, D.C., thank you so much.

And still to come, hate or heritage? Hundred of demonstrating as the fate of the Confederate flag in the South Carolina capitol continues to cause a riff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You take the flag down it's going to piss more people and make more people mad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whether it's up there or in a museum. It's a symbol. It's what we do with the symbol that is going to determine whether South Carolina is the news for the wrong reasons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: State Senator Marlon Kimpson joins us minutes before lawmakers begin debating whether to take down the rebel banner flag.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:07] CABRERA: Hello again. I'm Ana Cabrera. Thanks so much for joining me on this Monday.

Is the Confederate flag about to history in South Carolina? In about 30 minutes, lawmakers will begin debating whether the flag can continue flying on capitol grounds.

Now, the controversial emblem was raised over the state house, in fact, back in 1961 and nearly 40 years later, a comprise moved it to a Confederate war memorial on the lawn in front of the capitol.

Well, now, efforts to remove this flag from the capitol all together are at a turning point.

Marlon Kimpson is an attorney and South Carolina state senator, and he's joining us now.

Thanks so much for spending the day with us. We know it's a busy day for you.

This proposal is not without opposition. How confident are you that the legislature has enough votes to remove the flag?

MARLON KIMPSON (D), SOUTH CAROLINA STATE SENATE: Well, let me say this -- the gravity of the nation is here centered here in Columbia at the state house. But all of this arose in the aftermath of the nine deaths in Charleston, my Senate district.

What we do today will be to remember those nine victims, because this is truly a symbol that is associated with hate. We want to move forward without delay, but we are a nation and a state and a Senate of rules. So, under the rules, we -- if it's going to take two-thirds vote, and

we have introduced a bill. This is second reading. Second reading is the most important reading in the Senate. I fully expect that there will be amendments offered to distract us from the mission and purpose in the aftermath of those nine lives, but we as a state, I'm cautiously optimistic will move forward with second reading today.

You can't take anything for granted. We can't take anything for granted.

CABRERA: You did mention you needs two-thirds majority to vote for the flag's removal, for that to happen.