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CNN NEWSROOM

Hillary on Trump University; Zoo Investigation; UCLA Campus Shooting. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 1, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:02]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go to Evan Perez, our justice correspondent, who has some new information.

Evan Perez, what are you learning?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, I think what we will want to draw attention to, if you look at the police there at the scene, what we're trying to get a sense of is whether or not they believe whether there's still an active shooter.

And I'm told that, at this point, that they do not.

BALDWIN: Ah.

PEREZ: They think that right now the operating theory for the investigation is that this appears to be a murder-suicide.

So the two people inside that building that the spokesman referred to in the last few minutes ago in his impromptu press conference, those two people were the two victims. One was the victim and the other apparently self-inflicted gunshot, so that's right now what investigators are working on and are looking at.

The situation obviously is still in lockdown, because they are not sure whether there's someone else who could have been involved, and so it takes some time to be able to figure that out.

I know it's probably scary and frustrating for people who are in those buildings and locked in, especially the young lady who just described having to jerry-rig a way to secure herself and a friend inside that room.

BALDWIN: Yes.

PEREZ: But it is a situation that's going to take probably some hours before the authorities can assure that everybody will be safe, but, at this point, it appears to have been a murder-suicide that occurred.

This is an investigation that is obviously still only at its beginnings. They're going to figure out what might have led to that, what possibly could have caused this. But at this stage, it does appear that this situation is to longer an active shooter and it's more about trying to make sure that everyone else is safe on the large, large campus there.

BALDWIN: Murder-suicide or not, that is still a tragic day for people at UCLA. If that is in fact the case, hopefully then they will be able to start communicating with the thousands and thousands of students and this can begin to come to a close, but, Evan Perez, thank you so much for that really significant nugget of news.

And, again, we're watching and waiting to hear from Charlie Beck, who is the LAPD chief, to get confirmation on that officially from him.

Stephanie Elam, as I mentioned a moment ago, is our correspondent. She and her crew have been at different locations on campus there describing the scene. It's quiet.

Go ahead, Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can see right now we were just told by these officers who are here that you see in the shot right now to get back. That is still an active scene, but I have to tell you that the energy on campus is -- has changed since I first got here. They are still saying, look, is this is an active scene. Get back. If you're too close, you could be part of the problem, which obvious we do not want to do yet.

But I can tell you that I have seen more people come out on campus and even the energy around some of the buildings seems to have changed a bit. This idea obviously being tweeted out, what you just heard Evan talking about, is something that I see other people here talking about well, and so it's still very scary for these people who are held up in these buildings, holed up, looking out the window.

You can still see them and it's still eerily quiet here, except for the sound of these police vans and also the helicopter overhead, especially going into finals here, but overall it does not -- there's not a lot of activity about where on campus is something happening now.

That's has changed. That's one of the biggest changes here, as that seems to have become a little less tedious at this point, but the campus presence of the police is still very massive. And so I don't want to underplay how that looks here. They're definitely still all over the campus here.

We're right in the heart of the campus where we're standing right now, so it's still not a good place for people who are students to come out here and start walking around like normal. It's just not that time yet.

BALDWIN: No, it's not at all. Stephanie, thank you so much.

And just quickly, before we talk to the student on the phone, looking at these pictures, Humvees, tactical vehicles, David Katz has just been seated, former special agent, DEA, firearms instructor.

What do you think when you see that sort of scene?

DAVID KATZ, FOUNDER AND CEO, GLOBAL SECURITY GROUP: They still don't know whether it is in fact an active situation.

Apparently, what the reports are saying now, it was a murder-suicide.

BALDWIN: Right.

KATZ: And there's a difference between a shooting at a particular location and an active shooter. If it's a shooting, presumably, the victim unfortunately is deceased and probably the shooter killed himself, which by the way, is the way most active shooter incidents end.

However, since they don't know, they're not going to just declare the scene safe. They are going to continue with a strong presence. They're going to basically clear the entire facility until they get probably some intelligence, maybe a witness who knows the person, knows exactly what happened.

BALDWIN: Let me come back to you on the clearing the scene.

KATZ: Sure.

BALDWIN: But I do have Amber on the phone. Amber is on the phone in the library or a library on campus. Amber, can you hear me?

AMBER LATIF, STUDENT: Hi. Yes, I can hear you.

BALDWIN: So, Amber, I understand you're in the library. How many students are with you?

LATIF: About 50 students with me in the library. This is the (INAUDIBLE) which is the center of campus. And it's the heart of UCLA really.

[15:05:02]

BALDWIN: As I understand, this Engineering 4, this particular building, was the heart of campus as well, and are you -- I was told by a producer you were under a desk.

LATIF: Yes.

We actually had a few scares during our lockdown here, so, currently, you know, we have all the lights off. Our windows are blocked. We had a crowbar on the door, so we were peeking through the window and we happened to see someone walking around in a black jacket and black pants.

And that was (INAUDIBLE) everyone kind of flowed under the desks. Earlier, we had another individual that managed to barge through one of back corners into our room. And I understand (INAUDIBLE) horrified and we all kind of dove under the desk.

And people were shaking. It just turned out to be an administrator of the school. We're all safe right now. We're all taking care of each other. We're giving each other food. We're just kind of crowded together right now keeping each other safe. BALDWIN: I'm glad you all are together, that you're not alone, that

you said you have about 50 people here in this library. I'm just sorry you're having to go through this.

My goodness, looks like we're about to hear from police here in L.A to confirm what exactly happened.

Amber, stand by.

Looks like he's nearing the microphones, Charlie Beck, the chief of the LAPD.

CHARLIE BECK, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, POLICE CHIEF: All right. You guys ready.

Charlie Beck. I'm chief of Los Angeles Police Department. I'm joined here by the head of our regional FBI office, by the chief of the UCLA Police Department, by our fire chief, Ralph Terrazas, by UCLA management.

This is what has occurred. At about 10:00 this morning, a homicide and a suicide occurred in the engineering facility -- engineering part of the UCLA campus on the south side. It appears it is entirely contained.

We believe there are no suspects outstanding and no continuing threat to UCLA's campus. We're in the process of releasing students from lockdown, but we need to do so in an orderly fashion and in a way that allows us to make sure there are no other participants.

At that point, this investigation will be handed over to Robbery Homicide Division of Los Angeles Police Department. The coroner will take custody of the bodies, and this will become a homicide investigation.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BECK: I can't hear you.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BECK: The method of suicide is gunshot wound. I won't go into it any further. It is early in the investigation. Many, many questions are unanswered at this point.

But I think the important thing for people to take away from this is that the campus is now safe. The issue that has occurred has been contained. We are in the process of releasing the campus back to the students. They're in their finals.

This is a very stressful time for them, and we're trying to alleviate that. We do not believe there are -- there is no evidence to support outstanding suspects at this point, but we are, out of an abundance of caution, going to continue our search of several of the buildings adjacent to the crime scene.

QUESTION: Can you confirm reports that suicide note has been found?

BECK: There is evidence there would be -- that could be a suicide note, but we do not know that at this point.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BECK: I do not know that at this point.

QUESTION: Male? female?

BECK: Two males, two male adults.

QUESTION: chief, where did it happen? Was it a classroom, was it an office?

BECK: It was a small office in the engineering building.

QUESTION: Were they both students?

BECK: I don't know that.

QUESTION: Did they know each other?

BECK: We don't have the identities, nor would I release them until the coroner has verified that. So, you can ask all the questions you want about identity. But you're not going to get anywhere.

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: There is a gun at the scene.

QUESTION: Were they dead at the scene or dead at the hospital?

BECK: No, they were both deceased at scene.

QUESTION: Shots fired?

BECK: UCLA P.D. responded to a report of three shots fired. We don't know if there were more than that, but at least three.

Thank you all very much. There will be continuing information and the school will go about its business of reopening. Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: All right. Well, sadly, there you have it from the chief of L.A. police himself, from Charlie Beck, that that was in fact a homicide-suicide, murder-suicide by gun, both of those victims, both male, happening inside of a small office within that engineering building.

[15:10:00]

The question as to why, obviously, we're far from figuring that out. Were they students? We don't know. But this will now be turned over to the homicide division. It will be a homicide investigation.

And then the question, of course, next is, all of these students, the thousands of students at this sprawling campus, how will that lockdown be released? It will take time, as we heard from Chief Beck.

David Katz is with me.

That's exactly as we had heard from Evan Perez. You were saying tragically so many of these active shooter situations end like this.

KATZ: Yes. Well, whether it's a shooting or an active shooter, what they need to -- they did the appropriate thing. They assumed the worst, so rather than say, well, look, it was a contained situation, they took whatever -- put into place the protocols that they obviously prepared for and they kept everyone else safe.

But, by the way, one thing that should be noted, the young woman who you spoke, Amber, being in a library hiding under a desk, that's not what we recommend.

BALDWIN: Yes.

KATZ: We recommend making sure you can -- as the other young lady did, whatever you take, lock the door, barricade the door.

BALDWIN: She said there was a crowbar.

KATZ: Crowbar is good. Pile up furniture. Nothing is too much. I know this is a little bit of an afterthought now.

BALDWIN: No.

KATZ: But we teach that to people every day here in New York City, to avoid, barricade, confront. That's what they need to do, not simply hide under a desk. So...

BALDWIN: I know you sit here and you say to me, do you know where your exits? I have you in mind, sadly.

KATZ: We have talked about that.

BALDWIN: I do.

David Katz, thank you so much.

KATZ: You're welcome.

BALDWIN: And thank you all so much for watching this piece of our coverage here this tragic story on campus at UCLA. As we get more updates for you, we will promise to pass those along.

But I do want to pivot now to more breaking news out of Ohio, and the incident involving that child who fell into the gorilla enclosure. We now are hearing the 911 calls from that day straight from the mother of that little boy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:42]

BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Let's get you now to Cincinnati. We have breaking news there. We're getting the frantic 911 call from the mother whose son fell into this gorilla enclosure. You know the story. Happened at the Cincinnati Zoo over the weekend. It's now officially under investigation.

It's also drawing international attention after zoo officials shot and killed that 450-pound endangered gorilla to save this 3-year-old little boy. We have all seen and cringed watching these terrifying pictures of this little boy in the hands of this massive gorilla, and now we have the call from the mother pleading with this 911 operator.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: What is the emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need you to call (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

911 OPERATOR: Cincinnati 9111. What is the address?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. My son fell in the zoo exhibit at the gorilla. The Cincinnati Zoo, my son fell in with the gorilla. There's a male gorilla standing over him. I need someone to contact the zoo please.

911 OPERATOR: OK. We do already have it started. We do already have help started there, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

911 OPERATOR: How old is your child?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Be calm, be calm. Be calm. Be calm. He's dragging my son. I can't watch this. I can't -- I can't...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't watch.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here. Let me help you out.

911 OPERATOR: Hello?

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR: How old is he? How old is he?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need to call his dad.

911 OPERATOR: Hello?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, got a couple of voices to talk to out of this tape from this mother.

Jessica Schneider is standing by there outside of the Cincinnati Zoo. Jeff Corwin is back with us, animal expert and host of ABC's "Ocean Mysteries." Also with us, Art Roderick, CNN law enforcement analyst and former assistant director of the U.S. Marshals Office.

But, Jessica, just first to you. To hear this mother repeat to her son be calm, can't imagine.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, you heard that frantic tone. You heard the tense moments. We have seen it on video, and now we know exactly what that mother was experiencing. That call lasting about a minute-and-a-half. Her call was just one of six that came into the dispatch. We heard from many different people, not just the mother.

We heard from people who were calling and seeing this all unfold. One of the calls, in fact, was one woman urging all of the crowd there to stay calm. So we heard the panic and the tense nature of the mother's voice. That's how a lot of those 911 callers sounded, and many of the people there in the crowd just trying to tell everyone to stay calm, because obviously we have heard from the zoo director that this gorilla became very agitated and very aggressive.

It was recounted in the video that we saw. It's recounted in some of these 911 calls, the recounting of the gorilla grabbing the child and dragging him violently. People urging those -- the people in the crowd to stay very calm, but the mother there, you could hear that panic in her voice. You could hear it as she was trying to describe to the 911 dispatcher what was going on.

Again, remember, the mother now under investigation along with the other family members by the Cincinnati Police Department. That investigation is taking shape now. The prosecutor will become involved if the police decide that there's evidence to charge criminally the mother, the father or any other parent.

So, obviously, these 911 calls will come into play in this investigation as well as the witness, the witnesses who videotaped this, as well as the other witnesses who called 911 -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Jeff, to you, feel free to weigh in on the call. But I'm also curious, as we have been hearing, we heard from the zoo director a couple days ago. And he said that they heard from people all around the world, including the famous Jane Goodall.

And apparently Jane Goodall, I'm paraphrasing, but when she saw the video, she didn't think that Harambe, this gorilla, was acting violently. She thought that she saw the gorilla putting his arm around this little boy. What do you make of that?

JEFF CORWIN, HOST, "THE JEFF CORWIN EXPERIENCE": What do I make of Jane Goodall's comment?

Well, Jane Goodall is the grande dame of primatology. Of course, she's an icon in this when it comes to the conservation of these incredible creatures. But we also kind of need to take stock of the observations from those folks in this terrified moment of -- ensued to absolute chaos.

[15:20:01]

You're hearing the terror in the woman's voice, but yet even though she's incredibly terrified, she is able to stay calm and focused and connect with her child. It's absolutely -- I have palpitations listening to this emergency call.

BALDWIN: Totally. I have talked to other mothers, who have said, my goodness, I don't know if I could have held back and not jumped in.

But that probably would have made the situation 1,000 times worse.

Art Roderick, you hear this call. You heard that 911 operator trying to keep her calm. What do you make of the response there and also by the zoo and police?

ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: The response was absolutely right on. I think obviously there's a lot of controversy involving the shooting of the animal. Why couldn't they have used some type of dart on him?

But I think the key part here was the mother. I agree with Jeff. The mother was very calm during this whole scenario, and when you're talking to 911 dispatchers, their job is to calm the individual that's making the 911 call. I mean, they are trained to do this. These are very organized units, the 911 dispatch units.

And I actually worked as a dispatcher for a while. And it can get pretty hectic in there, and you can hear them calm the mother down. But I think the mother did a fantastic job of connecting with her child in that type of situation.

BALDWIN: The mother, again, we haven't really heard from the family. They want to just be quiet, stay -- keep this private. They don't want any money is what I'm hearing also, Jessica, but, back to you, you made the point a second ago and let me just have you reiterate it about the focus of this investigation.

We have heard from the police and the county is specifically on the mother, yes? Jessica, can you hear me?

SCHNEIDER: Oh, I'm sorry, Brooke.

Yes. Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: On the mother. I was just asking on the mother. The investigation is regarding the mom.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, right. Yes, the focus, they say, is on the family, so presumably the only

family member that we know that was there right now based on the 911 calls is from the mother herself. But there may have been other family members there. That is all part of the broad spoke, broad -- the width of the police department is looking into all the family members.

We're not exactly sure who that entails, but, yes, the mother will probably be their number one person that they need to talk to along those other witnesses. There were other 911 calls too.

BALDWIN: OK.

And, Jeff, we heard -- again, I go back to the zoo director. I was hanging on his every word. He said that they have had this kind of a gorilla enclosure for 38 years, never had a problem. But now you have this horrible accident, this thing that happens.

And I'm wondering, do you think that this should change or force zoos all across the country to reconsider gorilla enclosures or just how we view these wild animals at all?

CORWIN: Hard to try to predict the future, but oftentimes it's paramount moments like this that will dictate the evolution of whatever that mission is.

I can tell you the zoos that we have today, Brooke, are very different than we had 100 years ago, just like the medical profession today is very different. And all of this is based on evolving with the needs and the times and the challenges that one faces.

As you said, this zoo has been around for 150 years. This exhibit has been around nearly four decades. They have never had a situation like this before. But, clearly, this is something new. They are going to have to manage it and hopefully learn from this challenge.

BALDWIN: Jeff Corwin, thank you so much. And, Jessica Schneider and Art Roderick, thank you and all your voices here on the news out of Cincinnati right now.

Let's pivot and talk politics. Just in, some strong words from Hillary Clinton reacting moments ago to Trump University.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:20]

BALDWIN: Bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Newly released court documents revealing damning accusations against the man who in a little more than month will officially become the Republican nominee for president. The filings show Donald Trump failed to live up to his word to people who attended or even was employed by Trump University. In fact, a former sales manager said this, quoting the sales manager:

"I resigned my position in May of 2007 because I believed Trump University was engaging in misleading, fraudulent and dishonest conduct."

Trump, whose face is on pretty much, much of this material, the class material, he promoted the university as a way to learn how to profit from real estate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And action is what Trump University is all about. But action is just a small part of Trump University. Trump University is about knowledge about a lot of different things. Above all, it's about how to become successful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, Hillary Clinton today has swiftly seized upon these new details as released, this 400-page document dump that happened right around this time yesterday. She has sent out a barrage of tweets, at least nine tweets on this today, including this one.

"The gist," she tweets. "Trump's for-profit university deceived and exploited students to take their money and he has the gall to call the media sleazy" -- that from Hillary Clinton.

Moments ago, she said this at an event with Jon Bon Jovi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Trump and his employees took advantage of vulnerable Americans, encouraging them to max out their credit cards, empty their retirement savings, destroy their financial futures, all while making promises they knew were false from the beginning.