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EARLY START

Gunman Kills 4 Marines in Tennessee; Guilty Verdict in James Holmes Trial; Spieth Starts Strong for 3rd Straight Major. Aired 5- 5:30a ET

Aired July 17, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, July 17th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

[05:00:00] Breaking news this morning: FBI and ATF investigators in Chattanooga, Tennessee, working Thursday's shooting rampage.

They are combing through two crime scenes now. One where officials say 24-year-old Mohammad Abdulazeez sprayed bullets at a military recruiting station. The other crime scene, a naval installation seven miles away, where officials say he shot and killed four marines and injured at least three other people before being killed by officers.

Now, we have new details on the shooting overnight. Law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation tell CNN, Abdulazeez was armed with an AK-47 style weapon, was carrying 30-round clips. One source tells CNN the gunman was able to keep police at bay for some time in a, quote, "harrowing gun fight" with the amount of ammunition he was carrying.

The federal investigation really is just getting under way now.

CNN's Victor Blackwell is in Chattanooga with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, investigators at both scenes worked late into the night trying to collect the physical evidence. But, of course, the most difficult part of this investigation is answering that the single question: Why? Why 24- year-old Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez would start out by peppering military recruitment center with bullets, injuring one, and then drive seven miles to a naval reserve center and kill four marines. Right after interaction with police, Abdulazeez himself died.

Here's what we know about the investigation: the feds have taken over. FBI, the ATF leading this investigation. One special agent telling CNN that they have not determined if what happened here is an act of domestic or international terrorism or if it was just a criminal act.

But they say that they will treat this as a terrorism investigation until it's determined that it is not. Now, what do we know about Abdulazeez? Well, he was born in Kuwait,

was a Jordanian citizen, but most recently was a naturalized U.S. citizen. A former wrestling coach called him humble and smart.

So, as this investigation continues, Christine, they, too, would like an answer to the question: why?

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Victor, thank you.

That is the question his high school classmates are asking. They are stunned. They recall him as popular, a good student who was also well-liked. They say he fit in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN WAGNER, WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL WITH ALLEGED SHOOTER (via telephone): He was kind. He was funny. He always had the witty comment. He liked to laugh. But he's really smart even though he was kind of like a jokester. He did not let it affect his grades at all.

I distinctly remember in the sixth grade, we studied bible history together in middle school. He had one of the highest grades in the class. He just -- he was a good guy. He just -- you wouldn't think that he would do something like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That classmate also remembers her yearbook quote. "My name causes national security alerts. What does yours do?" She says it was only a joke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAGNER: It's ironic now, morbidly so. But at that time, we didn't think anything of it. We thought it was just -- it was just a joke. You know, a stab at, you know, being named Mohammad Abdulazeez and living in the South, you know? That's not something that is really going unnoticed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: We also know that Abdulazeez was an athlete. In addition to high school wrestling, he competed on the local mixed martial arts circuit. After high school, he earned an engineering degree from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga.

We also know that the gunman's family was religious. Friends of Abdulazeez say all the women in the family wore traditional garb and his mixed martial arts coach says he was told Abdulazeez moved back to the Middle East for a time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALMIR DIZDAREVIC, SUSPECT'S FORMER MIXD MARTIAL ARTS COACH: I know he moved out of the country about a year or two ago. He went back home and stayed overseas. I asked his dad where's Abdulazeez? I didn't see him in a while. He said, he moved back home. But I saw him a couple times when he visited.

Now, I'm not the one to speculate. But what happens overseas in a certain different environments, I don't know.

REPORTER: Where was overseas? When was he overseas?

DIZDAREVIC: You would have to ask his family about that. I mean --

REPORTER: You say he went overseas for two years?

DIZDAREVIC: A year or two ago when he actually went back, I think after he graduated at UTC or so.

REPORTER: He went back where?

DIZDAREVIC: Jordan, Yemen? I don't know. I'm not sure which one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Also, we're learning that investigators are looking into a blog that seemed to belong to Mohammad Abdulazeez, although CNN cannot independently that's the case. Here is what it says. This blog consists of just two religious fables. One alludes to being rewarded in the afterlife for devotion. Another is a story of three blind men and elephant whose view of Islam is too narrow.

Thursday's attacks is heightening terrorism concerns around the country. Authorities say they have no reason to believe there's any further danger connected to the Tennessee attack. Even so, securities being tightened at sensitive locations in New York and federal facilities around the country.

[05:05:01] With the latest on the federal government response, senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine, President Obama vowed the FBI will conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of the shootings down in Tennessee that left four marines dead. Just as he returned from a trip in Oklahoma, the president rushed to the Oval Office for a statement to the country about the attack. He said he received a briefing from FBI Director James Comey.

At this point, the president said it appears this was a work of a lone gunman, but that it is too early to say what the motive was behind these shootings. He added he had been in contact with the Pentagon to make sure all facilities run by the Defense Department are being vigilant as investigators sort out what happened, and the president expressed his sympathies to the families of the fallen marines. Here's what he had to say.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My main message right now is, obviously, the deepest sympathies of the American people to the four marines that have been killed. It is a heartbreaking circumstance for these individuals who have served our country with great valor to be killed in this fashion. And although the families are still in the process of being contacted, I want them to know that I speak for the American people and expressing our deepest condolences and knowing that they their full -- they have our full support as they try to overcome the grief that's involved here.

ACOSTA: The president stressed that because this was an attack on a military facility, he wants his administration to have all of the information necessary to make an assessment about any motives. In the meantime, he is asking the entire country to pray for the marines and their families -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Indeed. Jim Acosta, thank you for that.

Now, federal investigators are so firmly avoiding any comment on the motive of the Chattanooga gunman. But with Abdulazeez dead, a motive has to be a central question in the investigation.

Joining us now to talk about that and all other aspects of this case, Will Geddes, managing director of International Corporate Protection, joining us again this morning.

Help walk us through, Will, what investigators are going to be looking at and just what happened here. Let me just tell you some of the words people who knew the gunman are using -- well-liked, he fit in, smart, popular, practical joker, humble, a Tennessee country boy.

In April, he gets a dui. He was due to appear in court on that this month. There may have been a trip to the Middle East in the past couple of years.

But by all accounts, this is someone who people who knew him are shocked he would be involved in.

What do you think investigators are zeroing in on?

WILL GEDDES, SECURITY EXPERT: Well, I think, Christine, they will be doing a very, very significant sift job, both in terms of his background and as we were saying earlier, his digital footprint, what web sites he was visiting, who was he communicating with, which social platforms. They are looking at that aspect and interviewing friends, family members and anybody that came in contact with him, even the coffee shop he would get his coffee from if he went and his gym.

They'll be trying to determine at one point, was there any kind of change to the personality that everybody seems to be reporting as having been a very normal, very sensible man to this individual that could carry out such a horrific act and attack. So, they'll be looking through a number of things. They'll be looking at obviously where he acquired the AK-47, where he acquired the ammunition, had he acquired that ammunition over an extended period of time, or whether he had gone out and bought as much as he possibly could.

They'll be looking obviously at this trip overseas that apparently he took, and also where he potentially was visiting and where and who he may have met with. There's a very, very major investigation that's going to be launched behind this.

ROMANS: You think they will look at mental health and substantial abuse, too? Would that be part of it?

GEDDES: Oh, absolutely. You know, there was a DUI arrest as you mentioned, which was being processed. So, they are looking at anything that potentially could have motivated him on the day. We know that certainly in other instances of terrorist attacks, the individuals or perpetrators have been under the influence of some kind of element, whether it'd be alcohol or some kind of narcotic.

So, they'll be looking at him certainly forensically in a post-mortem to see if there were toxins within his body in assisting him in carrying out these attacks. But again, there are so many elements.

ROMANS: Yes, or just whether his life was falling apart. You know, you talked to investigators. And, you know, one lead investigator said they are investigating as domestic or international terrorism or is it a criminal act? You know, they're keeping -- this is a terrorism investigation until they rule out all of these other things.

The fact there were two locations here, two crime scenes and investigators are going through right now, what does that tell you?

[05:10:00] Does that tell you this man has a singular motive?

GEDDES: Well, yes, I think that's pretty evident. It was obviously an anti-military agenda he had here.

What is interesting and I would like to see more certainly when the authorities release further statements as to why it's being discounted that there is another immediate threat or any further threat in the area, which I believe is what their current stance is. One cannot discount these days that there could be associated individuals.

As we saw with the Tunisian perpetrator, there had been a number of subsequent arrests and a number of suspects which is still on the run that hadn't been apprehended. I understand the authorities and the federal agencies have increased and upped the security at key locations. But these days, we cannot discount it being one individual. There could be known associates, there could be collaborators, there could be facilitators.

So, again, it's going to be interesting later on to see what further information gets released.

ROMANS: You know, these loan wolves are so terrifying and investigators have been concerned about them for such a long time because it's so hard to find any kind of red flags ahead of time. And they're all sort of different. Some fall under this jihadi narrative. There's an emptiness or there's something that's filled by the jihadi narrative. Some anti-American, domestic terrorism, people who hate America or hate the government or want the government out.

And then, there's a mental break, someone who has a mental illness that has gone undiagnosed and has a mental break.

We just don't know which of those this is at this point, but they all are very troubling for law enforcement who are trying to protect this country.

GEDDES: Yes, I mean, certainly, as we are seeing certainly with a lot of these lone actors, and particularly those radicalized over a period of time, it is a clever social engineering campaign by extremists to recruit and to provenance some of their objections or some of their questions about the extreme acts that some of these extremist groups like IS will carry out, and to quell those fears and to quell those questions and engage and recruit and cultivate them to then carrying out attacks.

So, I think what's going to be interesting is when the federal bureau comes out with further statements to tell us and certainly hopefully reveal further information as to whether the individual was radicalized over an extended period of time or whether it was perhaps rooted back to certainly his visit overseas is believed to have happen in the last couple years.

ROMANS: Will Geddes, thank you for shedding some light on and what investigators clearly will be focusing in on. Thank you so much, Will, for your help this hour. We are covering the latest on the Chattanooga shootings all morning long.

But, first, the Colorado movie massacre gunman found guilty. What comes next for James Holmes, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:56] ROMANS: Here's the latest on our breaking news this morning, an attack on two military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The gunman identified by the FBI as 24-year-old Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez. With an AK-47 type assault weapon and 30-round magazines, he peppered a recruiting station with bullets and drove seven miles to a naval reserve center where he killed four marines and wounded at least three other people. Police then shot and killed Abdulazeez.

Now, friends and high school classmates, people who knew him in college, they described him as a nice guy, a good student, funny and kind. A former mixed martial arts coach shocked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT SCHRAEDER, FORMER MIXED MARTIAL ARTS COACH: I mean, he seemed like the all American kid. I mean, he -- you know, never loud, never boisterous, never got out of line, hard worker, you know, seemed to enjoy the training and got along with everybody.

He's a smart kid. He was in high school at the time. And I believe he went on from there to get an engineering degree from UTC, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: In the 19 hours since the shooting, that is a uniform assessment of that man in his growing up there in Tennessee.

Now, Abdulazeez was born in Kuwait. Had Jordanian citizenship. He was a naturalized U.S. citizen. No word -- no official word so far on motive. We will keep you up to date on all these fast-moving developments.

Meantime, guilty on all counts. Jurors in the trial of Colorado movie theater gunman James Holmes rejecting his insanity defense and reaching their verdict in less than two days. They'll now decide whether Holmes gets life in prison or death in the trial sentencing phase that begins next week.

Let's get more on the verdict from CNN's Ana Cabrera. She is in Centennial, Colorado.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, the jury of nine women and three men deliberated for about 12 hours before returning a guilty verdict, guilty on all 165 charges, including first degree murder, as well as attempted murder charges. They did not buy the defense's claim that James Holmes was insane at the time he opened fire inside that packed movie theater almost three years ago, killing 12 people and wounding 70 others.

Now, the jury sat there about 11.5 weeks of testimony. They heard from 250 plus witnesses, including dozens of victims, college professors, as well as mental health experts. And they considered thousands of pieces of evidence before reaching this verdict. It was the moment victims' loved ones and survivors have been waiting for, for years.

TOM SULLIVAN, FATHER OF VICTIM ALEX SULLIVAN: As soon as you heard the first, you know, guilty, we knew, you know, the dominoes were all, you know, going to fall. That was just what we needed to hear.

SANDY PHILLIPS, MOTHER OF VICTIM : We are happy this animal, this monster, will never see the light of day.

CABRERA: Now because Holmes was found guilty, this all moves in to the sentencing phase which we're told could take about another month. The prosecution has said it push for the death penalty -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Ana Cabrera, thank you, in Colorado. All right. The teenager who survived a plane crash and then trekked

alone out of the Washington state wilderness, she is speaking out for the first time about that ordeal.

In an interview with CNN's Sara Sidner, 16-year-old Autumn Veatch says she's desperately tried to save her step-grandparents who died from a fiery wreckage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Once you were down on the ground, the plane had crashed, it was on fire, what did you do then and what did you see around you?

AUTUMN VEATCH, PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR: I got out this fire. My face got burned and my hair was burning and stuff. And my immediate response was to go and try to help them out because they were alive. They were alive. They were both screaming and I was -- there was no way I could get to grandmother because she was on the far side. There was nothing I could do. I assumed if I got grandpa out first, then maybe she would come out.

[05:20:00] But I was trying to pull them out and I just couldn't do it, like there was a lot of fire. And I'm a small person. That's what happened to my hand. I was trying to pull them out, but there was a point where it was -- it's not happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Autumn was traveling in that small plane with her grandparents from Montana when it crashed in the North Cascade Mountains. She hiked for two days to reach safety, making out of the mountains and unto a highway Monday where she finally found help. What a story.

All right. Greece getting a desperately need lifeline. I want to bring in CNN Money correspondent Alison Kosik.

Alison, give us a check on the global markets this hour.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Let's go around the world. European shares are down just a bit right now, even as Greece is getting two financial lifelines. An interim loan worth $7.6 billion to pay its most urgent debt and emergency funding for Greek banks.

Banks have been closed for almost three weeks and they're going to stay closed through Sunday. According to one source, banks are ready to resume limited operations on Monday, but the government has yet to make that decision.

Here in the U.S., stock futures are barely moving. But yesterday was a record day at least for NASDAQ, reaching a closing high, as investors reacted to good news from Greece and strong earnings. But can you believe it is up 9 percent for the year? And now, the focus is shifting to domestic and shifting to second quarter earnings.

ROMANS: And, you know, it's up 9 percent for the year, as people know higher rates are coming.

KOSIK: Yes.

ROMANS: It has not spooked them.

KOSIK: Not at all.

ROMANS: I guess with everything happening around the world. The U.S. markets, especially tech stocks seems to be the place people want to be.

All right. Alison, thanks. See you soon.

Round two of the British Open and Mother Nature is player through. We'll update the weather and the leaderboard.

Andy Scholes, he stops by next with the bleacher report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:25:07] ROMANS: Despite heavy rains this morning in Scotland, round two of the open championship is underway. And Jordan Spieth is in the hunt as he tries to win his third straight Major.

Andy Scholes has more on this morning's bleacher report.

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Christine.

You know, the past six winners at the British Open have all been within two strokes of the lead after round one. So, that's how important it is to get off to a good start in the tournament. Jordan Spieth, he's continuing his stellar play in round one. The reigning Masters and U.S. Open champion shooting a 5 under round of 67. Spieth, right now, is two shots off the lead.

The leader right now is Dustin Johnson. He's playing with Spieth in the first two rounds. And Johnson has clearly shaken off his U.S. Open collapse. He had five birdies and eagle in round one. He's at 7 under par heading into today's round.

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, well, he did not get off to the start he was hoping for. Very first hole, Tiger finds the water. He had five bogeys on the day to go along with just one birdie. He is at 4 over par, probably not going to make the cut.

Before the tournament, Tiger joked he wasn't thinking of retirement because he did not have his AARP card yet. Well, the AARP sent out a tweet after Tiger's round yesterday and it read, "It's better to be over 50 than to be over par."

All right. Due to doctors orders, 5-year-old Leah Still wasn't able to join her dad at the ESPYs Wednesday night to accept the Jimmy V Perseverance Awards for her brave fight against cancer. But Leah did get her trophy yesterday. Here is the pic her dad tweeted out last night of Leah with her much deserved ESPY. That's pretty cool to say.

All right. Christine, will we hear from Roger Goodell today about Tom Brady's deflategate suspension? Of course, he had the appeal. We've all been waiting to see what Goodell has to say about it. Reports are, if Goodell does not completely throw out Brady's four-game suspension, Brady will, in fact, sue the NFL.

Very big day for John Berman, wouldn't you say?

ROMANS: Yes, John Berman told me he is not coming back to EARLY START until this is all resolved.

SCHOLES: I believe it.

ROMANS: So, until it's resolved, I'll be here by myself.

All right. Thanks, Andy Scholes. Have a great weekend, Andy.

SCHOLES: You, too.

ROMANS: Breaking news this morning: new information about the gunman who murdered four people and shot several others in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We've got all of the fast-moving developments, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)