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Three Officers Killed, At Least Three Wounded In Baton Rouge; Interview with Rep. Garrett Graves of Louisiana. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired July 17, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: We are continuing to follow breaking news. I'm Poppy Harlow joining you from Cleveland, the site of the Republican national convention but all eyes are on Baton Rouge.

And that is where a horrific scene played out this morning at 9:00 a.m. eastern time when a man with a rifle was walking down, walking down a highway. Police responded, six of those officers were shot. Three of them we know have been killed. Three are in the hospital. One is in critical, critical condition.

The suspect, one suspect is dead. Police s there are two others on the run right now. A manhunt is under way for those two other people, at least two other people believed to be involved. I want you to listen to what a witness captured. Sounds gunfire to scene.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

HARLOW: Our Polo Sandoval is covering all the latest developments.

Polo, you just returned from being in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And the context of this is so important. This police shooting comes in Baton Rouge where there have been nights and nights of protest after the police-involved shooting and killing of Alton Sterling. You were there covering that. This also comes after the killing of Philando Castile in Minneapolis and the (INAUDIBLE) protest there and after the ambush and attack of 12 police officers in Dallas, five were killed, seven injured there. Talk to me about the state of the community in Baton Rouge right now as this happens.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, you take all of those incidents you just mentioned and that basically equals to a very tense community. And that is what we saw firsthand as we were there in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. There was a large demonstration that took place just over a week ago in which some officers were seriously injured but eventually were able to recover.

Yes, there were arrests made and, yes, we did see an increase of police presence after that. Not just because of the violence that broke out during some of these demonstrations but also because there were at least two quote "credible threats" that investigators were following up on.

At the same time, we are also seeing the community -- several members of the community come together and actually stopping by the police department as we witnessed while we were there, asking these officers to be careful, to please be extra cautious as they head out (INAUDIBLE) because there was a concern that something like this could potentially happen.

So now, what we have is this shooting incident that may or may not be tied directly to that growing violence against law enforcement but at the same time did result tragically in the loss of at least three police officers with at least three others wounded. And then, of course, also the gunman himself who was shot and killed during this shooting itself.

As you mentioned, there are some witness reports that are now surfacing that suggest there may have been some other kind of incident before this shooting. But, again, we have to be extremely cautious as we press forward here. This investigation is only about four hours old. There are still plenty of questions. But what I can tell you, again, this is certainly not going to help the situation in Baton Rouge for many people who feared that some of these law enforcements officers were being targeted.

HARLOW: All right. Polo, thank you very much. Stay with us.

I do want to read to our viewers in full the statement that we got from the governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana. Let's pull that up.

This is an unspeakable and unjustified attack on all of us at a time when we need unity and healing. Rest assured every resource to the state of Louisiana will be used to ensure that the perpetrators are swiftly brought to justice. For now, I'm asking all Louisianans to join Donna and me in praying for the officers who were involved and their families as these details continue to unfold.

We are awaiting a press conference from the governor. That will happen at 4:00 p.m. We know right now he is at the hospital comforting the families of the wounded officers, the families of those three officers that were murdered in all of this.

And just as we are learning now, the White House is also monitoring the situation. They have come out with a statement saying that the president has been briefed on all of it. He will continue to be briefed throughout the day.

This is just in to CNN as well. We just received some audio that I want to play for you. This is police radio communication happening at the moment that the deadly shooting incident occurred there describing the man that they believe that the shooter and a weapon. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we pulled up he got the windshield, he had a mask on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One subject, all black, carrying an AR.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right. You heard that. It said one subject, all black carrying -- I believe they said a big arm. Meaning a big firearm wearing all black and a mask.

Let's talk about this with our law enforcement analyst team, Art Roderick, Bob Reid, Tom Fuentes, Cedric Alexander.

Bob Reid to you. What do you make - this is the first time we have heard that audio. You can hear the angst in the officer's voice approaching the situation, given the context of the past few weeks and you have a man with the mask on all in black with a large weapon. We don't know what kind of guns.

[14:05:28] BOB REID, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Right. This sounds like a rifle. Tensions are obviously high. They are trying - officers are multi-taskers. They are trying to give other officers more information because now we have what appears to be a fugitive on the run. But in addition, they are also in addition they are taking incoming. So you know, they are multi-taskers. They can do many things. But what they are trying is making sure radio, that the central dispatch knows what is happening and that we are going to have a fugitive here in a few minutes.

HARLOW: Art Roderick, you bring up the point that when you are faces an officer with someone carrying a weapon that they described as a large arm. We don't know what kind of gun it is. The officer, what would they be armed with? And how protected would they be walking into this?

ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, A lot of police departments now have assault rifles in their vehicles but usually what you have is a side arm, and possibly a shotgun in a lot of the cruisers which is not going to do much. With the best individual has a long arm or rifle of some kind, he can reach out and touch you from a very long distance away where that shotgun and that handgun are completely inaccurate and unaffected. So this is a situation that is the worst scenario. It's like bringing a knife to a gunfight. I mean, it really isn't going to make that much difference.

HARLOW: Tom Fuentes, to you. Look, it's early on here. We are just getting all the facts coming in to us. And I just want to alert our viewers that we are bringing you what we are learning from law enforcement. But as is the case in situations like this, sometimes t facts that we hear at the beginning are just initial reports.

So Tom Fuentes, early reports that officers believe that there are potentially two other individuals involved that are on the run, how would they get there? If the shooter is dead, what would lead them to believe that, Tom?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, whatever, you know, whatever it came up from the officer that was making that first broadcast about taking a bullet through the windshield may have put out more information about other individuals or when the other officer arrived, people may be working in those nearby businesses and said we saw two other people similarly dressed running away from the scene. So there could be a number of ways that they get that information to try to put out that broadcast. You know, I think at this point, four-and-a-half hours into this and

the main shooter is dead, that unless it's was too gruesome, the police should -- if they don't have his identity, they should take photograph and put out to the public, anybody know this person? If they do know his identity, they might withhold that, giving them time to conduct search warrants at his residents or other places, in the meantime before the media arrives. But if they haven't identified him yet, they need to get that out there and get public help.

HARLOW: Tom, to you, the witness that we heard from just moments ago described what he believes was gunfire before police showed up. You are wary of some early witness accounts. Why?

FUENTES: Completely where we had other witness accounts as I mentioned in other situation in the past in the last couple of years that turned out to be inaccurate. And then, as I mentioned, Michael Brown in Ferguson never had his hands up. The FBI and department of justice determined that he never had his hands up. And we had an entire movement that started, hands up, don't shoot, based on a lie.

HARLOW: Cedric Alexander, to you. We have now heard the first police communications as this was playing out. We have seen amateur video and heard shot bringing out very, very rapidly. Talk to me about your mindset as an officer driving up to the situation like this, someone dress all in black with a mask with what is inscribe as a big arm rifle. We are not sure what type of gun it is, in the environment, the context of the tension across this nation right now when it comes to encounters with police officers and community members. Your thoughts if you were in this officers' shoes.

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Poppy, let me try to bring this (INAUDIBLE) and put it to some real perspective here. First of all, we don't know really what the motivation behind this shooting is. Is this something that they were targeting the officers or was is something else that was going on that these officers either road up on or were called to. We really don't know. We have one bad guy down. We know we have three officers down and dead and three or four that are severely injured. And I think it's important at this early stage of the investigation to really try to keep this in much perspective as we can for the American people. Because here's the piece. I'm not going to compare this shooting to any other shooting and certainly not the Michael Brown shooting. Because what we have here, we don't know yet.

And if you think about the very early accounts of your witness that you just had there on television, we don't know whether his statements are spot on or not, but here's what we do know. Is that those are statements that are being given to us, that's all we have to go on that point. We weight them but we don't overweigh them and we don't under-weigh them. This is an emerging investigation. We still don't know whether these officers were targeted or rather these officers responded to something that could have been going on which there is some inference to that if you listen to your witness' statement. But we are not clear at this point. But I think as the day continues to move on, we will be able to determine this shooting which we cannot compare to other shootings other than the fact that we have officers that are dead and that certainly upsets and angers all of us because, regardless of how they end up dying in the line of duty, what is very important here is that they were attacked and an attack upon them, regardless of the circumstances, is not acceptable.

[14:11:30] HARLOW: Art Roderick, that's important, important context right now. Thank you so much. Stay with us.

Just to reset for our viewers here, we know that six officers have been shot. We know that three have been killed, three more injured, responding about 9:00 a.m. this morning in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to a man walking down airline highway with a weapon. We just heard the police audio described as a big arm, responding to that, this is what played out. What we don't know as Art Roderick just importantly said, that if these officers were targeted, if this was an ambush, if they were responding to an ongoing situation, that is just unclear at this hour.

Much more of our breaking news from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:18] HARLOW: All right, I'm Poppy Harlow. We are continuing to follow the breaking news out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at this hour. That is where three officers have been shot and killed. Three more officers wounded. This all took place this morning right around 9:00 a.m. Police say that the gunman -- one gunman is dead. They say two other suspects at least are believed to be on the run at this hour.

We just have new video in. I want to show it to you. This is video from a witness near the scene of how this all unfolded.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

HARLOW: My colleague, Pamela Brown, is here with me, our justice correspondent.

And Pamela, before I get to the reporting that you have, I do want to bring this to our viewers. The Baton Rouge police department has just said that they do not believe that this is race-related. Again, the Baton Rouge police department just saying this does not appear to be race-related. And as you and I have covered and what has unfolded over the last few weeks, important context to all of this following the shooting of those officers in Dallas, those 12 officers from someone who was targeting white police officers. The Baton Rouge police at this hour do not believe this is race-related.

What else can you tell us as you sit here in Cleveland, in the context of the major security concerns around the Republican National Convention?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right. So I have spoken to law enforcement officials in Louisiana as well as, really, across the country and Washington and elsewhere, and there are certainly a lot of concerns (INAUDIBLE) what is unfolding in Baton Rouge, on the heels of what we saw in Dallas. As one law enforcement official described it, he said, you know, it's

a powder keg specifically in Louisiana. And so, what we are trying to figure out in this important context with the Baton Rouge police is whether this was a police ambush or whether police were responding to a crime call of some sort.

HARLOW: And we heard one witness say, only one, say they believe there was gunfire before the police arrived. But as Tom Fuentes pointed out, there are many different accounts and we're just bringing you what we are hearing.

BROWN: So what I'm told by an official in Louisiana is that a call was made alerting law enforcement that there was a person dressed in all black with a mask, carried a long rifle. So as soon police responded, there was a long fire fight that ensued and there was video that actually captured that fire fight that was posted to social media that has since been taken down. But law enforcement has been looking at that trying to figure out what unfolded, if there's more than one suspect and we were initially told that there could be two in addition to the one that is dead. But as you know, preliminary information can often times be wrong. And so, they have been analyzing this video.

But I'm told that this area where this happened, as one official put it, is not the best area in town but there's a coffee shop there where police frequent. And so, they are trying to figure out, Poppy, the context surrounding the shooting right now.

HARLOW: Did they now, did your sources tell you what was said on that call or was it simply a call from a bystander to say, hey, there's a man all dressed in black with a mask with a gun, you should come. Did they say anything else?

BROWN: So that was the sense that I was given by talking to this official, that someone said, hey, there is a person is walking around with a long rifle. Now, what's unclear is, did this person open fire before police arrived? And so we're hearing different accounts in that regard. And that, of course, could change the perspective in terms of whether or not there is a police ambush.

HARLOW: You mentioned video posted on social media taken down?

BROWN: That's right.

HARLOW: Who was the video from and why was it taken down?

BROWN: Apparently this was a witness in that area that took video of the shooting, the fire fight, and posted it on Facebook. And then it has been taken down.

HARLOW: Do you know why?

BROWN: You know, I'm not sure why. I wasn't told why. And I imagine this witness is someone that police are really in the process of either speaking or trying to track down as we speak. But, you know, in the bigger context of Cleveland, law enforcement across the country are just paying close attention because you have a situation here where there's going to be inevitable protests and it's impossible to weed out. People coming to protests who may have nefarious purses. And then you have a lot of law enforcement around. And so you have a situation that could end up being a tinderbox. And so, there is concern given what we saw in Dallas and again Baton Rouge. They are still trying to figure out the context surrounding that shooting.

HARLOW: So let's talk about Cleveland and similarly in terms of gun laws in both states. Because in Louisiana, it's an open carry state. Meaning, if you're licensed to have a gun, you can openly carry it in public without a special license to do that. That is the same law as applies here in Cleveland. And the police union here in Cleveland leading up to the RNC was advocating to not allow open carry in the protest that will be around here. They did not get what they wanted on that front. And people who are protesting this week will be able to open carry their licensed weapons. That makes this situation, Pamela, for law enforcement more complex, doesn't it?

[14:20:37] BROWN: It certainly does. And as you point out that the police union is calling for a temporary restriction as we go through the convention and as large crowds gather, the concern, as we saw in Dallas, that if many people can bring guns and if there's a shooting, it's tough to figure out who the suspect is. But again, that's the law here. People are allowed to carry their licensed weapon and that will be the case, as far as we know, unless Governor Kasich and other politicians step in and puts a temporary restriction on it. But I can tell you from a law enforcement perspective that only heightens the concern in the wake of the shootings, you know, it is just law enforcement - one law enforcement that I spoke to said, you know, we are kind of freaked out right now, you know. We feel as though we have targets on our back and you see what is happening in Baton Rouge and in Dallas. And again, Baton Rouge will try to figure that out. But there is certainly a heightened concern but, you know, security, they are just outside. Security is very tight. There are a lot of law enforcement officials and they are trying to do everything that they can to prevent something from happening.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Pamela Brown, our justice correspondent, thank you so much. She'll keep us posted as she gets more and more reporting.

Again, just to reset for you, we have three officers killed, three more wounded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this morning. One suspected shooter is dead but police are saying they believe two others are still on the run.

Much more of our breaking news straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:25:50] HARLOW: I'm Poppy Harlow. We are continuing to follow the breaking news at this hour out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where three officers have been shot and killed. Three more are wounded. Police are confirming to us that one shooter is dead. Two more people, though, are believed to be on the run. We've also just gotten a statement from the department of homeland security that Jeh Johnson, the head of DHS has been briefed on the situation of this shooting of the police officers in Baton Rouge. He will continue to receive regular updates. The White House also issuing a statement that the president has been briefed on this and will continue to be monitoring it.

The governor of Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards, expected to hold a news conference later this afternoon. He did note that this is an attack on all of us, he said, and that the perpetrators will be swiftly brought to justice, indicating more than one person potentially involved.

Let's bring in CNN anchor Don Lemon for more on this. He has been talking to his sources.

And Don, early this morning you received a call in just a moment following this. What do you know?

DON LEMON, CNN HOST, CNN TONIGHT (on the phone): Well, I've been talking to the very same source who says that the press conference, Poppy, was supposed to be held at 3:00 p.m. central time. But just 2:00 he said. But they are meeting now, the governor, the mayor and members of the police department, especially the state police are meeting with the families. Sadly, of the officers who were killed in this horrific event.

Right now the concern is for the fourth officer who is in the hospital in very critical condition, I'm told. And so they are hoping that they don't have to add one more officer's life to the list of three officers. And let's hope that they don't.

The mayor now is considering a curfew. There's no curfew at this point but he is going to ask people if they don't have to be out, not to be out and may have to put a curfew in place. And again, you're right, it's one gunman now that they have and they are looking for possibly two others.

There is also some information that, you know, that Pamela has been reporting and she has been right on that this is a very heavily trafficked drug area. This is where police go to get coffee in this area. It is that there are reports out there that this may have been a drug deal going bad. But my sources are telling me that they don't want to go that far. They are not exactly sure if that is indeed the case and it still could have been a targeted attack and they are looking at information in that direction. But they are still investigating. Still an active investigation going on, of course.

HARLOW: Yes.

And Don, it's so important that you bring it up that way because we just don't know. This is all unfolding moment by moment. And the context that this comes in over the last two weeks, of all that we have seen play out across this country and the heightened tension between police and some of the communities that they do police obviously has everyone on high alert. But again, we just don't know why this happened. We don't know, as Don said, whether this was a crime scene or a drug deal gone bad or whether this was a police ambush. Don, the sergeant, Sergeant Don Coppola, of the Baton Rouge police

department did say, when asked just moments ago, whether or not the officers' race was an issue in this shooting, he said that the shooting did not appear to be race-related. Again, he said at this early stage he does not believe that this shooting was race-related. And he went on to say that there may still be possibly one or two at- large gunmen but they are still trying to confirm that.

Don, what do you make of those comments? Obviously he was asked about race, given the context of what this all comes in in recent weeks.

LEMON: You know, I mean, race because of what happened with Alton Sterling and the protests that ensued. But I mean, you know, we tend to contextualize the conversation around race. But we have to remember, you know, not all members of police departments are white. Right? And so, you know, when people are going after police officers and if they are indeed targeted, they are going after entire police departments which makes up every ethnicity in this country. And if you look at the member of the police department, I think it's the sheriff's colonel or whomever this morning, he's an African-American and some of these officers who were shot and killed or at least wounded in Baton Rouge may have been African-American. They have not released the names of the officers yet, though.

You know, just because it's not a racial attack does not mean that someone did not target police officers. And we're talking about what is the target. Any time someone shoots a police officer, they are targeting a police officer because they are going after a police officer who is doing their job.

HARLOW: Right.

LEMON: So I just want to put that context out there. It may not be explicitly race but officers were targeted.

HARLOW: That's such an important point, Don. As you know better than anyone, from the state of Louisiana, just a few months ago, they passed legislation that makes shooting a police officer a hate crime.

LEMON: A hate crime. Yes. It is a hate crime and that has been a very controversial law. I think it's the blue law. I think they were calling it a blue lives matter law or something like that. I don't know if that's the official name of it but that's what they call it.

Baton Rouge is my hometown. I know the streets very well. It's not a very big city and, you know, a lot -- many people know each other. I happen to have gone to high school with the Baton Rouge police chief, Carl Dabadie, he graduated the year before me.

So it's not a small town, but it's not a very big city. A lot of people know each other. It's probably two degrees of separation. Yes, there is a law that was very controversial because many people believe there are already laws on the book that are harsh enough for when people, if you shoot or injure a police officer.

But now with this new law in effect, we're going to see what happens with the suspect or these particular suspects. And it may be, indeed, the first time -- one of the first times that this legislation is used.

If not for the three or four young men that they arrested last week who said that they were indeed trying to -- they were indeed targeting police officers when they broke into a pawnshop and stole guns and also looking for ammunition to go after Baton Rouge police officers.

HARLOW: Yes. Don lemon, CNN anchor with me, Don, thank you so much. Keep us posted when you get more information as well. Obviously Don is from there and knows that the context of this repeat as our Pamela Brown is reporting.

Right now investigators are reviewing video of the fire fight that broke out there in Baton Rouge this morning. This video was posted to social media, to Facebook. It was taken down. But investigators are looking at it right now to see who may have been involved in this shooting.

That comes from a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation to our Pamela Brown and at the same time, the governor of Louisiana is at the hospital right now comforting the families of those officers killed and those officers wounded.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back with more of this breaking news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:14]

HARLOW: All right. Updating you on the breaking news right now. Multiple police officers have been shot. Six police officers shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Three are dead at this hour. Listen.

(VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That was video recorded at the scene of this shootout with police which happened about 9:00 a.m. this morning on the side of a highway when a man with a weapon, a long gun of some sort was walking down the street with a mask all dressed in black. Police were called to the scene and immediately, immediately they were shot.

I want to bring Congressman Garrett Graves. He represents the Sixth District of Louisiana. That is the district where this all played out this morning right along Airline Highway in Baton Rouge.

Congressman, thank you for being with me. This is your community. These are your police officers who you are very close with. What are you hearing at this hour from your law enforcement contacts?

REP. GARRET GRAVES (R), LOUISIANA (via telephone): Well, first of all, I'd like to say that this really is what community is about. We have had places of disaster, whether floods and other disasters and we come together. I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that these are folks from out of town, outside agitators that we saw coming and really made things much more aggressive last weekend.

But in regard to the community, people right now absolutely devastated. We are a very close community. While a pretty big city, a very, very small town feel and folks are very close and just at church this morning, people are in disbelief with what is going on right now.

HARLOW: From what you know at this hour -- and it is very early going, let's be very clear, the facts are just starting to come in. Are you hearing that police believed that this was an ambush?

GRAVES: You know, I had to talk to local law enforcement and certainly the word has been used with not any degree of certainty. Basically, saying we are trying to determine if this is an ambush.

You know, some of the earlier reports indicated that there was a 911 call sometime in the 8:30, 8:45 in the Central Time frame from a woman who said that there was a masked man with an assault rifle on Airline Highway.

There were other reports that there was a shooting that occurred before the cops actually got there, but I will tell you from some of the law enforcement officers that I spoke to, the initial officers, when they got to the scene, were being shot at and had no idea where it was coming from.

So that sounds like an ambush to me because certainly it seems like law enforcement, someone would shoot at law enforcement only if they felt threatened, but for the law enforcement officers to be shot at and not know where the bullets are coming from appears to paint a different picture.

HARLOW: Do you know anything, Representative Graves, about potentially two other suspects on the run right now? We know there is -- we've heard reporting from police, a manhunt under way for anyone else who may be involved in this. We're hearing the number of two other individuals. What do you know?

GRAVES: That's what law enforcement has told us as well, that one suspect was killed and that there is the possibility that up to two others were involved in the shooting.

[14:40:03]That was the latest information I have and we're actually about to go into another briefing with law enforcement in the next 15 minutes or so to get an update on the latest.

HARLOW: Before I let you go, the condition of the police officers, three officers wounded and three murdered, killed, what do we know about the condition of those three officers at this hour?

GRAVES: It's my understanding that one of the three injured officers is in critical condition and they are doing everything they can to take care of that one officer, as I understand. There's another officer who is in moderate condition and one other that appears to be in a little bit better shape. So three degrees of injury, from what I understand. But one of the officers in particular, they indicated he was severely wounded.

HARLOW: And obviously we want to be very careful in terms of identifying those officers. We don't have the identity of those officers yet and obviously their families would all be notified and want them notified first before anything is made public. So without asking their names, I will just ask you, Congressman, do you happen to know any of those officers personally?

GRAVES: I've got to tell you, I'm not positive right now. Those that I'm closest to, I did exchange phone calls and text messages with, but I do not have the names at this point so I can't say one way or another I just know that the officers I'm closest to I've been in touch with them over the past few hours.

HARLOW: Congressman Garret Graves of the Sixth District of Louisiana, thank you so much for talking to us. What a tragedy in your community right now. I'll let you get back to all of the work I know you have to do. Thank you very much.

We are going to take a quick break. We'll be back with much more of this breaking news out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:41]

HARLOW: All right. As we continue to follow this breaking news of the police shooting out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, we are just for the first time in the past hour or so hearing the police radio communication of what happened during that shootout with police that left three officers dead, three more in the hospital, one we know of at least in critical condition.

On it what you're going to hear is police described the man that they say is the shooter and his weapon. Listen.

(SOUND CLIP)

HARLOW: Tom Fuentes, CNN senior law enforcement analyst, former assistant director of the FBI, is with me. Tom, what do you hear in that?

TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: What I hear to me, it sounds like an ambush because the officer is just arriving. He's not had any interaction with the subject or attempted him or subdue him.

As he arrives, he takes a round through the windshield and I think that's pretty indicative that whoever fired that shot is almost waiting for the police officer to show up. So to me it sounds very much like an ambush. HARLOW: Let's play some more sound. What I'm going to play for our viewers now is witness video and sound that was captured during all of it.

(VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Tom, put yourself in the shoes of those officers arriving on the scene walking towards someone with what has been described as a big rifle, a big weapon. What are these officers armed with to respond and how do you approach a situation like that?

FUENTES: Are you asking me? I'm sorry.

HARLOW: I am, Tom. Yes.

FUENTES: OK. You know, the officers probably have their handguns and many of them may be equipped with shotguns and assault rifles, but they won't be carrying them or leaving them in the car.

And that's because if they are answering another call and they have to go into a building or an office, they can't be walking around with assault rifles and certainly don't want to leave them in the car where they are easily stolen.

So that's one of the problems for these officers on patrol and I had the same problem. We had our handguns and shotguns in a dash black mount, but nothing more than that. Both weapons would be inadequate against an assault rifle like it sounds like in this situation.

Secondly, in Dallas where we heard the shots ricocheting the echo, ricocheting off of buildings, it makes it sound like there are many shooters but you don't know.

In this situation, it appears that this is a fairly open area where you wouldn't have an echo. So when you hear that many shots, it's probably individual shots and, also, pistol fire outside will sound like firecrackers from a distance. Assault rifles will not.

HARLOW: Tom Fuentes, please standby. Stay with me. I have to get a quick break in here. We are continuing to follow the breaking news out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Where at 9:00 this morning, six officers were shot, three murdered. Three in the hospital. One in critical condition. One suspect is dead. At this hour, police believe at least two others, though, are still on the run. Much more from Baton Rouge, next.

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[14:53:02]

HARLOW: As we continue to follow the breaking news of the police shooting deaths in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, today where six officers were attacked, three have been killed, we now have a statement from the president. Let me read that to you.

President Obama writing, "I condemn in the strongest sense of the word the attack on law enforcement in Baton Rouge. For the second time in two weeks, police officers who put their lives on the line for ours every day were going to do their job when they were killed in a cowardly and reprehensible assault. These attacks on public servants, on the rule of law and civilized society must stop."

The president going on saying, "We may not know the motive for this attack, but I want to be clear there is no justification for violence against law enforcement."

He ends his statement by saying, "Today on the Lord 's Day, all of us stand united in prayer with the people of Baton Rouge, with the police officers who have been wounded and with the grieving families of the fallen, may God bless them all."

That statement just coming to us in part, that's part of the statement from President Obama. Our Martin Savidge is here in Cleveland where we're all here covering the Republican National Convention.

Martin, the context of this is the heightened, heightened security here in Cleveland and the attention across this nation because of the events of recent weeks, Martin. Like Louisiana is an open carry state so is Ohio where we are right now and that complicates things for officers.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's a huge concern for law enforcement right now. In fact, I was reading a statement coming from the Citizens for Trump group. They have a large demonstration planned for tomorrow.

Many there have been planning to bring their own weapons because it is an open carry state for self-protection and also to make a statement. Now the organization is saying keep the guns at home.

Given what has happened in Baton Rouge and elsewhere in this country, they do not want or need extra fire power. Law enforcement is extremely concerned because how are you going to tell those who have evil intent and those who are just trying to make a statement.

[14:55:07]On Public Square earlier today, there was one man with a rifle, he was openly carrying it over his shoulder and he was out to make a statement.

Police here have not changed in their posture or attitude, but you can tell emotionally things have changed dramatically. Their heads are all on a swivel here. It's only going to get tighter security-wise -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Martin Savidge, thank you so much. We appreciate it here for us in Cleveland. Just to reset for our viewers what we know at this hour, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, six officers attacked this morning. Three have been murdered. Three more are in the hospital, at least one in critical condition.

This, as a man with a long rifle walking down the side of a highway opened fire indiscriminately on officers. That shooter is dead. Two more individuals suspected to be involved in this attack are on the run and a manhunt is under way at this hour.

We have much more coverage straight ahead. My colleague Anderson Cooper takes it over from here. We'll be right back.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And you're watching CNN breaking news coverage. I'm Anderson Cooper in Cleveland. If you're just joining us, we're here today ahead of the Republican National Convention starting tomorrow.

Right now, the breaking news to tell you about is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. At least three police officers are dead after a morning daylight shootout.

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