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Gun Shop Owner Alerted FBI; Funerals for Orlando Victims; Video of Clubgoers Hiding; Remembering the Charleston Church Massacre. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 17, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:15] DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon.

We're going to begin with some breaking news on the terror attack in Orlando. Two FBI agents just left a Florida mosque where the killer often went to pray. And CNN has been told those agents questioned a mosque official about the killer's relationship with other members and those in the local Islamic community.

We're also learning today that the gunman visited Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia four years ago with a delegation from the Islamic Center at New York University. Many in that group were Muslim officers with the New York Police Department and their family - and their families.

And now questions about whether the FBI dropped the ball weeks before the attack. The owner of the Florida gun shop says he contacted the agency when the killer came in looking for - to buy body armor and a large amount of ammunition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBBIE ABELL, CO-OWNER, LOTUS GUNWORKS: When he was on his cell phone, he had a conversation in a foreign language. That was more concerning. Then he came back and he was requesting ammo. So he wanted bulk ammo only. So at that time he declined any business and he left the store. We had no link, no contact. We had - didn't know who he was, but we did contact authorities and let them know we just had a suspicious person that was in here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Live to Orlando now and CNN's Jessica Schneider for us.

Jessica, what is the FBI saying about all this now?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, the FBI is stressing the timeline on this. The store clerk at that gun shop in Jensen Beach, Florida, just south of where the shooter lived, told - said that a man walked in, like you said, trying to buy that ammunition, also trying to buy body armor, and saying that that man was talking into his cell phone in a foreign language. The store clerk and the manager reported it to the FBI. The FBI did call back. But the problem here is that the store clerk and other people at that

gun shop didn't realize that this man appeared to be Omar Mateen until just after the nightclub shooting at Pulse. So they didn't connect the two. In addition, the store didn't have any surveillance video. They didn't have any contact information, identifying information, or even any purchase records. So they had nothing to give the FBI, and that's why the FBI investigation could not move forward on this without any of that supporting information, Don.

LEMON: Interesting.

Jessica Schneider, thank you very much. I appreciate your reporting.

We are also learning more about the gunman's past. Documents provided to CNN show that he was suspend from his Florida high school a total of 48 times, most were in-school suspension and the incidents included fighting with injury. I want to bring in now Michael Balboni. He is a senior fellow at the Homeland Security Policy Institute and a former New York state homeland security advisor.

Clearly, we're getting a picture of a very troubled man, even before Sunday's massacre.

MICHAEL BALBONI, FORMER NEW YORK STATE HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISOR: One of the things that you see here is that this is really the worst-case scenario. You have somebody living in a community who has demonstrated some problems with violence, some problems, some anti-social behavior. But it was always described as being charming, being able to kind of dance away from the problem. And you know what that reminds me of, is if you take a look at some of the profiles about serial killers, like Ted Bundy, they demonstrate some of the similar types of capabilities, very charming, always below their radar screen. The question is, when does it become enough to tip that scale and say, this is a guy who's a real problem, don't give him a gun license, don't hire him as a security guard, don't let him become anything within law enforcement?

LEMON: He was also texting his wife and making phone calls during the -

BALBONI: Yes.

LEMON: Does that tell you anything about him?

BALBONI: Well, I'm not a psychiatrist, but, you know, disassociation.

LEMON: Or about his motives.

BALBONI: Yes. But this is a guy who has no remorse at that point in time. It's about him. It's about what he's doing. And so there are all sorts of questions as to what the true motivations are.

LEMON: What about his background, the fact that he - there are questions about his sexuality, his claim, you know, that he pledged allegiance to ISIS and all that on the 911 call? Does that make it more difficult for investigators? BALBONI: Yes, it -- this is really an onion of information that they've got to peel back each layer and it should reveal something new. And one of the things that I've always stressed when I've been involved in this is to let the evidence take you where it takes you. Right now we want to jump to the conclusion that this is an ISIS related incident. And it may be that and it may be more things as well.

The problem with ISIS is, they are so good at advertising, they're so good at soliciting people, and yet we know that a certain part of the population is going to react to that. But it takes more than just seeing images on a TV. As of this point in time, we don't know that he actually had any type of contact with ISIS operatives. So he's sitting around watching the images on television. They refer to 9/11, that he was cheerful at that. You know, what were the things that motivated that? And then to take that - those steps, those images, those mental predisposition and then go out and do this kind of massacre, this's going to be a haunting question for investigators.

[14:05:10] LEMON: Because you're looking - listening to Jessica's report about the gun shop owner contacting the FBI, but then the FBI saying, you know, we didn't have enough identifying information.

BALBONI: Yes.

LEMON: When is the breakdown there?

BALBONI: Yes. So, you know, I've seen investigations where it takes you both ways. You have so many different elements and you're like, it's got to be this, and it turns out not to be that. And then the same thing is always the fear that you've overlooked something, or that something is going to come together and suddenly you're going to - in retrospect, 20/20 hindsight, you're going to say ah-ha, you should have seen this, this and this. But that's so difficult real- time, particularly based upon resources, based upon the ability to go interview somebody. And as I said here, did you have a really good picture of the guy? Did you have a really good description? Very hard to put all those pieces together quickly.

LEMON: So you don't think the FBI dropped the ball here?

BALBONI: I think that - obviously they're going to be criticized because they're the folks who are supposed to be leading the investigations on this, but this guy had a license for a gun. He was working as a security guard. He passed psychologicals. You know, this may not have risen up to that level quick enough to prevent this. Because, remember, the new standard, it's not about investigating crime, as the FBI's traditional mission is, it's about preventing an act of violence. Very, very difficult.

LEMON: One more thing on the text messages and contacting other people because we know that the wife now, that investigators are looking at the wife now.

BALBONI: Yes. Yes. LEMON: He texted her and said, you know - she said, where are you? And he says don't you have - you know, don't you know what's going on? She said, no, and then, I love you. Does this sort of exonerate her from having any connection with this?

BALBONI: Well, the - really the question is, how complicit was she? There was some reports out there that she actually went around with him, driving around, and they were supposedly looking at targets. Well, did she know that? And that she talked him out of this. You know, at what point in time does she have to pick up the phone, does she have that duty to report this to officials? That's really a very tough question.

LEMON: They're saying - we've heard that this, as far as getting a grand jury together and what's going on with that, this is moving at a rapid speed. Is that - is it usual, this amount of time, to assemble a grand jury and to try to figure out if they want to indict her?

BALBONI: Well, it's pretty fast, but then the outrageous, you know, carnage that was done here really is captivating the entire nation, not - the entire world.

LEMON: Does it say something about her involvement, though?

BALBONI: Yes, it does.

LEMON: What does it say?

BALBONI: It says that prosecutors looked at this initially and said, we have to bring evidence before a grand jury and see what they are going to say about it. So they believe that they have enough at least to present to a grand jury (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: Yes. I spoke to an - I spoke to a number of attorneys when I was there in Orlando and they said that they don't usually do this -

BALBONI: Yes.

LEMON: Unless they feel that they have a very strong case.

BALBONI: Yes, very true.

LEMON: And the chances are is that she will be indicted.

BALBONI: I mean it's hard to speculate at this point in time -

LEMON: Yes.

BALBONI: But certainly they - I don't think they'd bring it to the grand jury with this much scrutiny unless they felt they really had something.

LEMON: Thank you, Mr. Balboni.

BALBONI: Thank you.

LEMON: Appreciate that.

The grief-stricken city of Orlando is now saying its final good-byes to the 49 victims who were killed in the massacre at Pulse Nightclub. Funeral services are being held today for five of the victims, including a couple whose friends say had plans to get married. This is so sad. Visitations are scheduled today for four others. An Orlando bartender who knew many of the victims tells our John Berman that it has been a very difficult week with so many funerals to attend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You told me you're going to two memorials, two funerals a day.

JOEL GRAN, ORLANDO BARTENDER WHO LOST 5 FRIENDS IN ATTACK: I've been to four already, yes.

BERMAN: And you have more to go?

GRAN: Yes.

BERMAN: What's it like?

GRAN: It's - it's hard. You go and you see the same people over and over again. It's such a tight community that I told people that I work with, I said, I'm seeing you way to much this week - this week. The same people everywhere you go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: There she is. Fredericka Whitfield joins me now live from Orlando.

Fred, it's just unbelievable, story after story, heartache after heartache that we're hearing.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is exactly the case. You are so right. In fact, you heard it, you know, underscored by the president yesterday when he said people keep saying to him, why does this keep happening? Well, another question we keep hearing from people, which is, how do you stop it before it begins? And this on a day when so many people came out for the funeral of Anthony Luis Laureanodisla (ph), 25 years old. There were nine scheduled funerals today.

But it's also been a very difficult day for the survivors, many of them expressing, and I talked to a number of family members who saying their loved ones say they are - they are now suffering from a type of survivor's guilt. They are 23 people who remain hospitalized, six of whom are in critical condition, three guarded and 14 stable.

It has been a real emotional roller coaster for so many. I talked to a number of people last night, in fact, at the memorial that has been set up where to see crosses, each one representing the 49 people who were killed. And they express that they have felt everything from fear, to sadness, anger and even hope. [14:10:01] President Obama meeting with a young man by the name of

Angel Santiago at the hospital. Earlier today I spoke with his mother, Gloria, and his brother, Samuel, who say the deepest, perhaps invisible wounds are the ones that are going to take the longest to heal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMUEL SANTIAGO, BROTHER OF SHOOTING SURVIVOR ANGEL SANTIAGO JR.: But he just doesn't really want to think about it. It's hard for him to speak to media. It's hard for him to just speak about it. When we're in the actual hospital room, if something comes on the TV, immediately his demeanor changes. He's like, hey, change that. Change that. He doesn't want to see it. He doesn't want to think about it.

And friends coming, family coming, people are showing their love and support, it really helps him out. And that's what we're trying to do. We're just trying to show him love and that we're happy that he's alive. There's so many people that didn't make it and we're so sorry for their losses, but today we're blessed that my brother is here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And Samuel lives here in Orlando, so he will have an opportunity to frequent the hospital. His brother, Angel, still has to undergo surgery for those leg injuries.

Meantime, the mother, Gloria Santiago, says she is really torn. She lives in Philadelphia. She came down right away. But soon she'll have to go back. And she'll have to check on him by way of social media or the phone or through the brother, Samuel Santiago.

Don.

LEMON: Nine funerals today. Just awful.

Fredericka, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

And Fred will have special coverage from Orlando tomorrow morning here on CNN. Make sure you tune in for that.

New video surfaces of the harrowing moments during the standoff inside the bathroom where hostages waited. You're going to hear from the survivor who captured that video.

Plus, a year ago today, a gunman walked into a church in Charleston and killed nine people during their Bible study. Now we're getting our first look inside that room.

And news just in, an effort underway by Republicans to stop Donald Trump at the convention. Hear what they want to do with his delegates.

This is CNN's special live coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:16:02] LEMON: Harrowing scenes inside the bathroom of the Pulse Nightclub. And I want to warn you, you guys at home, that the video you're about to see is really hard to watch. Terrified clubgoers huddling together in pools of blood. Our Anderson Cooper sat down with the man who shot this video.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, ANCHOR, CNN'S "AC 360" (voice-over): It was dark and hot. And the bathroom was full of panicked club goers. This grainy cell phone video is one of three taken by Miguel Leiva, who got pushed into the bathroom when the shots began.

MIGUEL LEIVA, ORLANDO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I just remember, like, you can smell like the blood. There was so much blood. It was like you could just smell it. And it's like, everywhere you leaned, like all my clothes was full of blood. My - we were sitting down and it was just like, a huge puddle of blood. And after a while, when it started drying up, it just started like to smell really bad.

COOPER: Though some people were crying and whispering to each other, Miguel says he tried to remain quiet and recorded these images to send to his girlfriend so she knew he was alive.

LEIVA: The only people who are alive in the video are the people who are talking and moving. Everybody else is dead. There was about 17 of us in there. Only like five or six of us made it out.

COOPER (on camera): Had you been hit at that point?

LEIVA: Yes. I was shot in the foot.

COOPER: At one point in the video you see - it looks like people passing a glass of water.

LEIVA: Yes, we were passing water around because there was - there was one guy, Chris, he was choking on his own blood, so we were trying to, like, you know, make him swallow to make sure he was OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chris. (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. OK.

LEIVA: And he kept asking for water. And there was other people that were shot that was just - they needed water and they wanted water, and it was the only thing we could think of to calm them down at the moment.

COOPER (on camera): So there was a sink inside the stall?

LEIVA: Yes.

COOPER (voice-over): Twice, he says, the gunman fired into the stall. As the hours passed, they tried to help one another stay calm, in constant fear the gunman would return, in constant fear those already wounded would die.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you stay with me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

COOPER (on camera): Were people talking to each other?

LEIVA: Yes, we were whispering to each other, trying to keep everybody quiet.

COOPER (voice-over): Miguel was shot twice on his right foot and his left leg and he's just been released from the hospital. He knows he's fortunate to be alive, but says he can't stop thinking of those who died beside him.

LEIVA: So many people, innocent people, you know, just there to have a good time.

COOPER: Anderson Cooper, CNN, Orlando.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Truly harrowing scenes and harrowing scenes up next, too. One year ago today, another horrific tragedy. Nine church members in Charleston gunned down while they held a Bible study. Up next, CNN goes inside the room of the shooting and speaks with survivors and officials who saw what happened inside. Don't miss this special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:23:35] LEMON: As mourners gather today to say good-bye to those killed in Orlando, we remember the victims of another mass shooting that stunned the nation, and that is Charleston. Nine people were in a Bible study at the historic Mother Emanuel AME Church when they were brutally gunned down one year ago today. The victims included their pastor. And as the city of Charleston, South Carolina, pauses to remember, many recall President Barack Obama's eulogy, perhaps one of the most powerful, painfully heartfelt speeches of his tenure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Amazing grace.

(singing) Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Hmm, sang the whole song. Now, that was a moment.

Brooke Baldwin takes us back and revisits the tragic timeline of that day's events.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was asking that he wouldn't kill all of us.

[14:25:01] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The sounds in that room that night will always be with me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you see it come across the TV, I was like, whoa, that's my mama church.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I felt like that this person had come into my community and had ripped it apart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will never be the same as we move forward.

BROOKE BALDWIN, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEWSROOM" (voice-over): On June 17, 2015, like many other Wednesday nights, a group of people gathered for Bible study at Charleston's Mother Emanuel AME Church, one of the largest, oldest black congregations in the south.

POLLY SHEPPARD, SURVIVOR: I stayed that night because my friend was leading the Bible study, Myra Thompson. And she asked me to stay. Originally I said I wasn't going to stay.

BALDWIN: Polly Sheppard was one of 12 members, part of this devout group who welcomed a stranger into their worship, a young white man who had never attended before. Nearly an hour later, as they closed their eyes in prayer, the man unloaded his gun.

BALDWIN (on camera): Evil walked into the side door of you church.

SHEPPARD: I had faith. That's why I'm still here. I prayed under that table and he left me here.

BALDWIN (voice-over): The gunman told Polly Sheppard he would let her live to tell the story. She was one of five people to survive the massacre one year ago.

CNN was given rare access inside that Bible study room. And I spoke exclusively to those left behind.

BALDWIN (on camera): This was the room?

REVEREND NORVEL GOFF, PRESIDING ELDER, EDISTO (ph) DISTRICT, SOUTH CAROLINA: This is the room.

BALDWIN: This is where he came?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BALDWIN: This is where people were seated?

GOFF: Yes.

BALDWIN: Around a table?

GOFF: Around a table, yes.

BALDWIN: Holding Bible study. GOFF: Yes. And he was invited to join them.

BALDWIN (voice-over): Reverend Novel Goff presides over 30 churches in the district. He left Mother Emanuel just before the gunman entered the church through the side door.

GOFF: I left to go to another meeting, and that was about 20 minutes away. My understanding, the gunman was already in the parking lot.

BALDWIN: A dispatch log details the initial 911 calls from survivors that night. These chilling words show their pleas for help. "Shot pastor." "Female is hiding under the table." "Male is reloading." The number of shots fired, "so many."

BALDWIN (on camera): Were you sitting around the table or you were in the back?

SHEPPARD: I was around the table, the last table in the back.

BALDWIN: When you prayed under that table, were you asking for something?

SHEPPARD: I was asking that he wouldn't kill all of us. Yes.

BALDWIN (voice-over): First responders rushed to the scene in mere minutes. That's when Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen got the call.

CHIEF GREGORY MULLEN, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA POLICE: I was in my home with my wife preparing to go to bed, actually, and when I received the phone call, very quickly I realized something was bad because my deputy chief told me that we had a shooting in the church downtown and he's informing me as well that there are resource that are on the way to the - to the church to help. And then I'm on the phone talking with the mayor and advising him.

JOSEPH RILEY, FORMER CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, MAYOR: When the police chief called, it was about 9:30. And after I hung up, I went to my closet and put on a coat and tie, a suit.

BALDWIN (on camera): Why?

RILEY: Because I knew that everything I said and did had to be perfect. And I knew that I had to have complete respect for this church.

BALDWIN (voice-over): Even after the rampage, law enforcement, including the FBI, were on high alert.

MULLEN: The first stop was the church itself, to make sure that the crime scene was secure. For over about an hour and a half, we were doing bomb sweeps to try to make sure that we did not have any secondary devices, because at that particular time, we weren't sure if the individual was still in the area.

BALDWIN (on camera): Do you remember hearing the sirens? SHEPPARD: I do.

BALDWIN (voice-over): The honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney was the church's beloved pastor.

BALDWIN (on camera): Did you ask where the reverend was?

RILEY: Well, when I got here, I said to the police officers, I said, has Senator Pinckney arrived yet? I pictured him coming down the highway at 100 miles an hour from Columbia. And they said, no, Mayor Riley, he was there.

[14:29:56] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you see - come close to the TV, I be like, whoa, that's my mama church.

BALDWIN (voice-over): Ester Lance (ph) was among other family members and friends gathered around the block in a hotel waiting to hear the fate of their loved ones.

BALDWIN (on camera): When you knew something was wrong at the church, did you know your mom was there and --