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EARLY START

"An Awful Night for Louisiana"; Hillary Clinton Facing Possible Criminal Probe; Amazon Posts Surprise Profit. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired July 24, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:05] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: EARLY START continues right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ROMANS: Our breaking news this morning: Three dead, seven injured in a Thursday evening movie theater shooting. New information on that attack begins right now.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, July 24th, 5:00 a.m. in the East.

Let's begin with our breaking news this morning. A gunman opened fire in a crowded movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, killing two people, wounding at least seven others. Three critically, before taking his own life.

Now, the bomb squad on the scene overnight detonating a suspicious package in the shooter's vehicle. About 100 people inside the Grand Theatre 16 Multiplex for the screening of "Trainwreck." when shots rang out. Witnesses describe a surreal chaotic scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't expect it at first. I saw people running out. Maybe they were caught watching a movie they were not supposed to. Then the next thing I see is a lady full of blood in her dress, and then there's a gun. I said (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Oh, I'm sorry.

Then I just ran. And she was telling me go. The people she was with, they were telling me go. They were looking at me. Everyone was running and I was just sitting there. I had no idea what's going on. I thought it was great (ph). I didn't even understand what's happening at the moment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Buying popcorn at the concession stand when the whole group of people, teenagers mainly, running out telling everybody to run for their life. I thought it was teenagers playing like a little prank, you know? Then, I see a whole another bigger group coming out screaming the same thing.

And my reaction was -- and we saw a lady with blood all over her leg. I just grabbed my child and we just all ran.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whenever a bunch of girls started screaming and they came out of the movie theater saying that someone got shot.

REPORTER: And after that, what did you do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't know what happened yet. So, then, we -- the guards or something came and told everybody to get out and we ran outside. And they had a lady right there and she's on a dress and there was blood everywhere. That's when I realized what was going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Now, police described the suspect as a 58-year-old white male. They say he acted alone. They say he appeared to be firing a handgun randomly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM CRAFT, LAFAYETTE POLICE CHIEF: We know the identity of shooter. We are not releasing it at this time. We are right in the middle of the vehicles. We don't want to affect the integrity or the investigators' ability to do their jobs or ability to get information on the shooter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Four officers who entered the theater found the gunman dead.

Governor Bobby Jindal describes it as an awful night for Louisiana and the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: It's both shocking and frustrating and horrified at the same time. You are both saddened and frustrated and angry. You read about these incidents across our country, you don't think it will happen in Louisiana. You don't think it will happen in Lafayette.

I got three young kids. They go to movies all the time. It's summer break. It's something we do routinely. And it's something you don't think twice about as a parent. You don't think when your child goes to a movie they could be in harm's way.

This was a regular Thursday night. When this evening started, it was a regular Thursday night for a lot of families. A lot of them were just -- the teachers, one last movie before they go back to school. So, for a lot of families, this was last outing before school starts in just several days, in a couple of weeks. You never think that this could be a scene of a horrific shooting.

So, I was angry and upset at the same time. It shouldn't happen in our country anywhere. You certainly don't expect it to happen in your backyard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: For the latest on the shooting and how police are handling the situation, I want to bring in law enforcement analyst Cedric Alexander.

Thank you for joining me.

What do you think is the first business for the investigators? They say the gunman is dead. They're identifying him. They're not releasing his identity, randomly firing a handgun in a crowded movie theater.

Where does the investigation go from here?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, this is the early part of the investigation, Christine. And as you heard from the law enforcement official there, not releasing his name is very important to the integrity to make sure they do not compromise any part of the investigation.

But this is just still very early. They still have a lot of witnesses they have to interview. I'm sure they've got to collect a lot of forensics evidence at the scene, do a lot of measurement, take a lot of video, and just beginning the investigation from the beginning right down to the point of the shooting, to make some determination and also going into the background of the subject as well, too, and determining who he is and what might have motivated him to go out and do the heinous crime that he did last night.

[05:05:04] ROMANS: All they're telling us, he is 58-year-old white male. He is deceased.

What they'll be looking for now is a motive. Was there a note? Was there some sort of beef for law enforcement?

ALEXANDER: That's right. That's right.

ROMANS: They mention there is a criminal history here, but not recently. So they will try to zero in on the more recent past.

ALEXANDER: Right. Absolutely.

Here again, this investigation is going to take some time. It's still very early. We're coming into the daylight morning hours now. They took some time last night as we all well know to clear that movie theater.

Tactical units had to move through there. They found a vehicle in which there was suspicious package. That, of course, was taken care of.

As this investigation continues, what we are going to see is an evolution of evidence and information that's going to lead to some idea as to who this perpetrator is and what motivated or what was his motive behind taking on the act he did just injuring and killing totally innocent people who are there at a movie theater on a summer night just enjoying themselves. And, again, I want to say, our hearts and prayers goes out to those who lost their lives and those that are recovering from their injuries.

ROMANS: And there are some -- and there are three who we're told are still fighting for their lives at this hour.

ALEXANDER: That's right.

ROMANS: And with very serious injuries.

Let me ask you about the safety in movie theaters. After the Aurora shooting, just a horrific shooting where that guy came in armed to the teeth through an exit door.

ALEXANDER: Right.

ROMANS: There have been some subtle changes. I mean, no firearms allowed in theater chains. I guess you could argue that means some people would be able to defend themselves inside a movie theater. Also you know, some security guards, but mostly it is really the same. There have not been overt changes to the movie going public.

ALEXANDER: Well, I think we are going to have to step back. We have seen a number of these theater shootings over a short period of time. And it does create some pause. It does make us have to begin to look at how do we better secure soft targets such as movie theaters?

Now, some theaters across the country may have off-duty police officers working there, particularly on the weekends. But, of course, a tragedy like this could happen anytime. I think one of the best things that could happen in the industry itself, the movie industry itself, those who are responsible for opening and closing of the theaters, those owners, I cannot imagine they will step back and take a look at how we better secure soft targets like theaters.

You know, every week, it appears, Christine, that some of this magnitude is occurring in this country.

ROMANS: I know.

ALEXANDER: And that's a sad part. So, you're going to probably see going forward, some lot of dialogue and conversation around gun laws and how we make sure that those citizens who are legal citizens who operate in a way that's legal. They are gun owners who are responsible.

We want to make sure their rights are maintained, but at the same time as well, too, we have to have further dialogue with those individuals on both sides of the house. There has to be further dialogue in regards to how better protect people without violates rights of those gun owners.

ROMANS: Yes, I will say it. A teacher pulled the fire alarm quickly. It looks like four police officers on the scene very quickly. So, at least the quick response here is something that is notable. Thank you.

ALEXANDER: Yes, a lot of courage, of course, you know, we are finding out early this morning. A lot of courageous people on that scene, particularly from your law enforcement community and civilians themselves trying to help each other.

ROMANS: All right. Mr. Alexander, thank you so much. Nice to see this morning. We'll talk to you very soon.

ALEXANDER: Thank you for having me.

ROMANS: We are following latest on the movie theater shooting all morning long. The president has been briefed on the tragedy. New information, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:12:14] ROMANS: We are following the tragic breaking news this morning from Lafayette, Louisiana, three dead, including a gunman, in a movie theater shooting Thursday night. Seven others wounded. The police say the shooter, 58-year-old white male opened fire inside the crowded theater before turning the gun on himself.

This happened during the screening of "Trainwreck."

Witnesses described a scene of chaos and horror. We're also hearing some stories of bravery.

JINDAL: Out of tonight's tragedy, you are beginning to hear stories of heroism and self sacrifice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JINDAL: A couple of the teachers at a movie together. One of the teachers literally jumped on top of the other, may have saved a life, and literally took a bullet that could have hit the second teacher in the head, the second teacher was injured, was shot, but not life threatening. She's one of the ones being discharged.

Despite being injured, the second teacher was able to pull a fire alarm and help to save other lives. When you think about it, two friends together, one jumps in the way of the other to save the other's life. The other one, even she's shot, pulls the fire alarm and saves other people's lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The seven people injured in the shootings are said to range from their late teens to their 60s. Last week, James Holmes was found guilty of killing and wounding 70 others inside an Aurora, Colorado movie theater.

Now that's happened, a lot of people are wondering if movie theaters are safe.

I want to bring in CNN's senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES", Brian Stelter. You make a very good point that statistically, you are safe in a movie theater, but these stories keep happening. These stories of someone going in and shooting people in a place that is supposed to be a respite from the real world.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, think about the experience of going to the movies. First of all, you are going to escape from the real world. You want to immerse yourself in the fantasy or some sort of story. The reason you want to sit back in the chair and eat popcorn is because you know you are safe. You are surrounded by strangers, but you're in comfortable place.

People are waking up to this this morning and it cuts to the heart of what it's like to go to the movie theater and immerse yourself for the couple hours. We know that was playing at the time was "Trainwreck" is a well known movie. Amy Schumer is a fast rising star. To think you are 20 minutes into the comedy and have this happen is horrific. One witness said I almost thought it was part of the movie at first. Unimaginable to hear gun shots and you think it is because of the movie theater, when it in fact it's actually happened.

ROMANS: Are the companies under pressure, the movie theater chains are under pressure to make changes because after Aurora and now this most recent event overnight. Are they going to make changes?

STELTER: I think we will hear from some movie theater owners today.

[05:15:00] We haven't heard from them overnight. I've been trying to reach out to this theater operator and association that represents all of them. They have not commented yet.

You know, if you think about what happened after Aurora, there were some security changes, but not publicized. They did not want to make a big deal out of it publicly because they didn't want to make people think about going to the theater.

They preferred to make the efforts private. They did add security guards and bag checks in some cases and things like that. But we didn't see fundamental changes. I highly doubt we will in this case either. You think about what is viewed as being the worst of the many shootings in recent years, the one at Sandy Hook, in an elementary school. Even in that case, we did not see fundamental change in terms of security and things like that.

By the way, it is noteworthy, Christine, among the trending topics this morning, Lafayette is trending on Twitter, but so is Sandy Hook. People are bringing back that, you know, horrible case involving Newtown several years ago to make various points about gun control and violence.

ROMANS: That horrible case brought up debate about gun violence and control. Nothing has changed. There's been, no real Washington move to try to restrict gun ownership or that kind of ownership in that case.

This was a hand gun in this case.

STELTER: And also a 58-year-old. What an unusual case. We don't normally hear -- when you hear about these stories, we hear about them all too often. You don't hear about a 58-year-old too often.

ROMANS: I listened to something the president said. He is on his way to Kenya. He has been briefed on this matter.

But also gave an interview just before the shooting. He gave an interview to BBC. And he talked about one of his regrets in his administration. I want you to listen to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The one area where I feel that I have been most frustrated and most stymied, it is the fact that the United States of America is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient common sense gun safety laws, even in the face of repeated mass killings.

And, you know, if you look at the number of Americans killed since 9/11 by terrorism, it's less than 100. If you look at the number have been killed by gun violence, it's in the tens of thousands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Interesting. He's talking and making a good point that he is talking to the BBC and talking to people outside looking in at American culture on guns.

STELTER: He is begging for a sense of perspective. He is begging for people to have a sense of perspective, when they think about the perceived risks from something like domestic terrorism, what they perceived as domestic terrorism, versus something like guns, the daily toll that guns take.

You know, in the wake of Sandy Hook and in the wake of Aurora, what we saw form a number of news outlets, like "New York Times" and "Huffington Post" was the attempt for the first time to keep count of the daily toll of the gun violence in the U.S.

There's not a lot of great data when it comes to this. Shootings in movie theaters are very rare. Shootings at schools are very rare. But there are on almost a daily basis, horrific events involving guns and other kinds of violence.

There's not a great amount of data of how that happens and when it happens. There are some attempts to keep count. Some Second Amendment activists don't like that, don't agree with that. But everybody agrees, you should go to the movie theaters and feel safe. I think they will say something today.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Brian. Nice to see you.

STELTER: Thanks.

ROMANS: We are following the latest on the Louisiana movie theater shooting all morning long.

First, breaking overnight, the criminal investigation could soon be launched into Hillary Clinton's handling of email during her time as secretary of state.

We've got that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:21] ROMANS: The latest in the breaking news from the shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. Two people killed. Nine others wounded.

The 58-year-old shooter taking his life. We do not know a motive at this hour. Now, police are also withholding the gunman's name.

Here is what we know about him so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRAFT: He does have a criminal history. It looks like it's pretty old. Nothing recent we found thus far.

But one of the things we have to do is make sure that the person we are looking at is positively identified as the person whose identity we found. So, that's going to take some time. I know there's a lot of speculation right now on social media and we ask, please don't put out any information that could put our officers in harm's way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The wounded victims range in age from their late teens to their 60s. One patient has been released and one in surgery and, quote, "not doing well". Certainly hope them all the best.

We will continue to follow the breaking developments.

Another story we're following, breaking overnight: Hillary Clinton facing a possible criminal investigation. Two State Department inspectors general asking the Justice Department to open a case to find out whether Clinton mishandled sensitive government information on a private e-mail account she used when she was secretary of state.

The Democratic frontrunner denies having any classified information in that account. But those inspectors have already determined the account contained hundreds of potentially classified e- mails.

A spokesman for Clinton responding to the story first published in "The New York Times", saying, "she followed appropriate practices in dealing with classified materials. As has been reported in multiple occasions, any released e-mails deemed classified by the administration have been done so after the fact and not at the time they were transmitted."

All right. Twenty-four minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money. Alison Kosik is here for that this morning.

The Dow down 119 points yesterday. Three bad days in a row.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you can pin that on earnings season. The Dow is back in negative territory for the year after yesterday's losses. Lousy earnings from American Express and 3M, those are some of the earnings that weighed on index.

Those corporate report cards actually overshadowed news that we got on the jobs front. First time claims at the lowest level in 42 years.

As for stocks today, we are seeing U.S. futures up slightly at the moment. Some good news from Amazon. That could help turn stocks around today. We are seeing in the pre-market trading, Amazon shares up more than 19 percent. Yes, the online retail giant posted a surprise profit of $19 million versus a loss a year ago.

[05:25:02] Now, Amazon famously tends to lose money because it invests so much in its future products. Now, this is a company that has made profits in the past, but it is also had long periods of losses.

After hours jump in stock price, Christine, means Amazon is worth more than Walmart. That crown could change depending on the stock price. Right now, that's a title Amazon is wearing.

ROMANS: I will tell you -- that is a stock that has done very, very well this year.

KOSIK: It has.

ROMANS: So, that's made people happy.

All right. Thank you for that.

We are following the latest on the Louisiana movie theater shooting all morning long. We have three dead and nine injured, and witnesses sharing their story. We've got the latest on the investigation, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ROMANS: Breaking news this morning: three dead and nine injured in a Thursday evening movie theater shooting. New information on the attack developing now.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is 29 minutes past the hour.

Our breaking news this morning. A gunman opening fire inside a crowded movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, killing two people and wounding nine others. Now three of them are wounded critically before taking his own life. The bomb squad on the scene overnight, detonating a suspicious package in the shooter's vehicle. About 100 people were inside the Grand Theater 16 Multiplex first screening of the comedy "Trainwreck" when the shots rang out.

Witnesses describing a surreal, chaotic scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't expect it at first. I saw people running out. Maybe they were caught watching a movie they were not supposed to. Then the next thing I see is a lady full of blood in her dress, and then there's a gun. I said (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Oh, I'm sorry.

Then I just ran. And she was telling me go. The people she was with, they were telling me go.