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Baton Rouge Ambush; Republican Party Holds National Convention. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 18, 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: I'm Brooke Baldwin in Cleveland, where the Republican National Convention is officially under way.

And let me add anti-Trump delegates are announcing this 11th-hour pitch to change things, to complicate things. We have those details for you coming up.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman live in Baton Rouge.

Any moment now, we're expecting to learn more about the ambush of officers here in this city that left three officers dead, a fourth now this afternoon clinging to life. Authorities holding a news conference, which we will bring to you as soon as it starts. we're watching closely. We will get to you as soon as it begins.

In the meantime, a source close to the investigation says a video of the attack provides information that it was a planned and meticulous attack, this attacker knew what he was doing going in.

With me now, Baton Rouge native Christopher Tyson, who is also an associate professor at LSU Law Center. I'm also joined by CNN law enforcement analyst Art Roderick. We have CNN's Ana Cabrera, who is in Kansas City at the killer's last-known address, and CNN's Brian Todd at the crime scene where these officers were attacked more than 24 hours ago.

Brian, let me start with you. We know there are three officers are dead. We know a fourth is clinging to life. We know the attacker himself is dead and there is no other shooter on the loose, but there are still some unanswered question this afternoon, aren't there?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, a lot of unanswered questions, frankly. We want to know more about what kind of planning this killer took to do all of this.

We do know from sources that they believe he tried to lure the officers to this spot. This is the B-Quik gas station and convenience store here on Airline Highway in Baton Rouge, an extremely busy part of town. This might have all been part of his calculation. We're trying to find out more about that. Maybe we will learn more in just a few minutes.

Also, who might he have been staying with in the Baton Rouge area and who did he come in contact with when he got to Baton Rouge from Dallas, when he drove from Dallas from Kansas City, getting here a short time before the shootings took place?

All of those are questions that we want answers to. And, hopefully, officials in just a few minutes will fill in some of those details.

John, this is the area where it played out, where the shooting took place, the parking lot, the drive-through area of the B-Quik mart over here. There's a car wash over here. It all took place in this area and right over here now a makeshift memorial. People have been coming here all day placing flowers, cards and balloons and praying.

There's police pastor here from another town. He's been here all day comforting people. John, again, take a look that the thoroughfare here. Look at how incredible busy it is. Yes, it's midday on a Monday and maybe early on a Sunday morning it wasn't quite as busy, but you can tell here that just about any time of the day or night, this section of Baton Rouge is going to be busy. You have got a big shopping center over here, a major thoroughfare with traffic just constant here.

And the fact more people were not killed or hurt in this is really astonishing, John.

BERMAN: Had to do a little bit with the quick response of the officers involved there. They were on the scene very, very quickly. They confronted him and eliminated him.

We are learning more about the shooter. He drove some 800 miles from Kansas City to come here to carry out this attack.

Our Ana Cabrera is in Kansas City.

Ana, what are you learning about this man?

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, we know he grew up here in the Kansas City area, he graduated high school in the nearby Grandview area in 2005. We just got his senior yearbook picture there. His family still lives in this neighborhood, a quiet neighborhood. We have seen some law enforcement presence out here today.

Neighbors didn't know the family well, they tell us, and family isn't talking right now. We do know he went on to serve in the Marines for about five years and had a short tour of duty in Iraq. But what motivated this killer? We don't know a whole lot from family members. We're learning a lot about the killer from his own writings, from his postings on social media and on YouTube.

He was prolific on the Internet and had a message he wanted to share with the world. I want to talk about a couple postings he made leading up to this killing spree that he went on.

In July 10, he was in Dallas, he says, apparently a stop along his way to Baton Rouge and he made a posting saying that people needed to fight back. He said protesting accomplished nothing, that zero percent has been accomplished, and only those who have fought back through bloodshed, he said, have been successful. And he urged others to fight back.

On July 8, he also made a post that almost now eerily seems to foreshadow the violence to come. He talks about making sure people knew should something happen to him that he was not affiliated with any group. Instead, he says he's only affiliated with the spirit of justice, nothing more, nothing else, he says, although investigators have told CNN that they did find a membership card on him after the killings and after the shoot-out with police and he seemed to be a member of a group called Washitaw the Nation.

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This is a black sovereign citizens group that claims to come from descendants of black inhabiters of the Americas before European settlement. This is a group that rejects authority. FBI sources have said they don't believe any specific group directed the attacks, although they are still very much looking into whether he had any outside influence. They want to know exactly who and what may have influenced these deadly moments -- John.

BERMAN: Ana, let's listen in. Stand by, everyone. The news conference is beginning.

Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here today to cover the ongoing events of this officer-involved shooting. It's a tragedy. This investigation is ongoing. There's many moving parts, but we felt it important to come and give you an update from what we know up to this point.

Our speakers today will start with opening remarks by Governor John Bel Edwards. Next will be Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden. Colonel Mike Edmonson will provide a status update and timeline of events. Next will be Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff, followed by Chief Carl Dabadie of the Baton Rouge City Police.

And then our federal updates will be U.S. attorney for Middle District Walt Green and the special agent in charge of the FBI in Louisiana Jeff Sallet.

We will be posting all the pictures that you will see to the State Police Facebook page. We will up to questions at the end of all the briefings.

And I will turn I over to Governor Edwards.

GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS (D), LOUISIANA: Thank you, Doug.

And good afternoon, everyone.

We wanted to have this press conference today to update you on what we now know about yesterday's horrific attack on law enforcement and actually on the entire Baton Rouge community.

Specific information related to that attack will be given to you shortly, and then at the end of the presentation today, we will take some questions as well. First -- and you all know this. It is no secret by now, but the

shooter was in fact Gavin Long. That information was not given to you yesterday by us because it had not been forensically confirmed, as it was at about midnight last night.

He is a 29-year-old from Kansas city, Missouri. He came in here from somewhere else to do harm to our community, and specifically to the law enforcement officers in our community.

And what is telling about that is for six days prior to the violence of yesterday morning, there had not been a single arrest in Baton Rouge related to any protests or demonstrations arising out of the Alton Sterling shooting.

At this point, state and local officials are partnering with federal agencies to keep people safe. And as governor of the state of Louisiana, I have no higher priority than public safety. And I am absolutely confident that we have a team on the ground to not only complete this investigation, but to maintain law and order and ensure the safety of our public, those people who live here and those people who are visiting.

We have partnering with us federal agencies, some of which you are going to hear from today. I have spoken today with officials from the White House, and I will be in further communication later today with the United States attorney general, and I want to thank them for their support at this time.

I want to assure everyone that this investigation will leave no stone unturned. But what I know, the actions of the law enforcement officers of the Baton Rouge community yesterday were nothing short of heroic. They ran towards danger in order to protect the public. They ran towards danger in order to render aid to fellow officers.

Yesterday, I visited with families at the hospital. I did so also last night. These were tremendous officers surrounded by loving families. These were good men.

And we all know the story, but it bears repeating now. No greater love hath any man than to lay down his life for others. And so we're going to continue to mourn the loss of the three officers who were killed, and we're going to pray for the recovery for the three injured officers.

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This was a diabolical attack on the very fabric of society. And that is not hyperbole. That is not an overstatement. There is nothing more fundamentally important than maintaining law and order, so that people can have good, quality lives. And that's what he attacked, the very fabric of our society. And that is not what justice looks like.

It's not justice for Alton Sterling or anything else that has ever happened in this state or anywhere else. It's not justice for anybody. It's certainly not constructive. It's just pure, unadulterated evil. And we're going to start our conversations here in Louisiana and

around our communities with community leaders, law enforcement, government officials, faith leaders, so that we can find out together where we go from here.

And there isn't any one of us who can fix this, but all of us can and will fix this problem. And, certainly, I don't have all the answers. And I know that it won't happen overnight. But it will happen. And I know that we're going to come out of this stronger than ever, and better than ever.

There is no division in Louisiana. And make no mistake, let there be no doubt, we support our law enforcement officers and our law enforcement agencies. At mass last night, in the diocese of Baton Rouge, they distributed the peace prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi.

And I just want to go with the first two lines of that. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love, the kind of love modeled by all of those police officers yesterday. And I want to direct your attention as I sum up to the words of Officer Montrell Jackson from a Facebook post of July the 8th.

And this is the last part of that post. "Finally, I personally want to send prayers out to everyone directly affected by this tragedy. These are trying times. Police don't let hate infect your heart. This city must and will get better. I'm working in these streets. So, any protesters, officers, friends, family, or whoever, if you see me, and need a hug, or want to say a prayer, I got you."

I'm going to be followed by Colonel Edmonson, who is going to give you a lot more specific information, as will the other presenters here at this press conference. And then, as I mentioned earlier, at the end of the conference, we will take some questions.

I'm sorry.

Mayor.

KIP HOLDEN (D), MAYOR OF BATON ROUGE: Good afternoon to everyone, and let me thank all of you for being here for us and getting our messages out to people all across the country.

This has been a trying day-and-a-half for all of us. But let me -- again, all of these law enforcement professionals that are here today are making sure that they get as much as we need to make sure that, if there are others out there, we bring them to justice as well.

Let me compliment them for the diligence that they have shown in this role for making sure we have all of the facts as we move forward. Let me also say, this morning, mayors from across the country have been calling all day, since early this morning.

From Boston to Los Angeles, they have been calling. But you also have Orlando, where the mayor is still reeling from the disaster that happened in their city. But they are saying to Baton Rouge just let us know what you need and we will be there, mayors from all over the city.

But the most touching call came from Mayor Rawlings of Dallas. Mayor Rawlings said: Mr. Mayor, last week, we were going through the same thing that you all are going through this week. It is going to be tough for you and the families of these officers, and it's going to be tough as we try to bring our city back together. But know that we stand ready to hold hands with you, and let people know that it's going to be tough, but you will not be walking alone.

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But Mayor Rawlings also said this to all of the law enforcement people, and many of the other mayors have said the same thing. We want you to know that, when we find the details of dealing with services, we will have representatives in Baton Rouge to be here for you, law enforcement as well as government.

So, today, we thank them for reaching out to us. They feel our pain. And many have witnessed the same kind of suffering. And I will just leave you with this. People said, how are you all going to come back and take it from this punch in the stomach?

And so I thought about it this morning. And so I said, well, all you have to do is look at Job. Job faced all kinds of atrocities in his life. And there were a lot of people saying, oh, just give up, man. God is not looking out for you. Just give up. And then all of a sudden, even Job's wife tried to turn him against God.

But Job made the statement, yea, though you slay me, I will rise again.

Yea, those you have slain some law enforcement officials, this city, this state, and this nation will rise again.

Thank you, and God bless you.

COL. MIKE EDMONSON, SUPERINTENDENT, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE: I'm Colonel Mike Edmonson.

What I want to go through with you all is kind of an update of the case itself. We told you yesterday that we would be providing you information. I think you're going to see that as we move forward.

We're just a little more than 24 hours ago, when he brought us all together. I want you to think about that and what has transpired over that time, so right at 30 hours. It was an ordinary Sunday morning. What happened after that was anything, anything less than that.

What we saw was extraordinary police officers, first-responders become extraordinary, become heroes. That what I'm talking about this morning. Our hearts are broken, but our spirit is intact. Our soul has survived an unthinkable crime committed against this community.

What we're going to see as we progress through this -- and we're going to talk about each one of these -- is you are going to see some photos -- come right here. We are going to go through some photos of actual scenes. We are going to go through a mapping in just a minute.

But my intention here this afternoon is to take our viewers, our public, our community. I want to walk them through exactly what they were going through. You saw what was reported on TV. It was chaotic. Active shooters. Multiple active shooters all over the area. People were scared, they were worried, they were concerned.

We are going to walk them through it and you're going to see unfolding in front of you exactly what happened that day. In this ongoing investigation the most compelling piece of evidence is the video. It is the chilling and the sheer brutality of the shooting. There's no doubt whatsoever that these officers were intentionally targeted and assassinated.

It was a calculated act against those who work to protect this community every single day. That indeed, ladies and gentlemen, is the shooter. That is engagement. You will see that his movements are articulated. They're intact. They're combative and they're real.

We are building a timeline from 8:40 yesterday morning and working backward to determine where the suspect has been. As the lead agency, the Louisiana State Police is going wherever this investigation takes us. We're working hand in hand with the assistance of police, both the Baton Rouge Police Department, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, our federal partners within Louisiana and around the United States.

This timeline, which will take us from 8:40 beyond -- going backwards from that, and you're going to going to look at who he may have been associated with or spoken with, and if anyone else was involved in this assault or had any advance knowledge of his intentions.

However, we are confident that this suspect was the only shooter at the scene actively involved in the attack. Whether officers may have been involved in some other fashion remains to be determined. We do not believe the suspect has been in our community for at least several days.

We do believe that. Going to see the gun photo. This is the actual weapon. This is the one that killed those officers. You see the strap that he carried on him. That strap kept that rifle in place so that when he engaged those police officers, they were deliberate and they were extremely accurate.

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With respect to the weapons, three guns have been recovered and those are being analyzed both through forensics and determining the ownership history. What you see there is, he was armed with an IWI Tavor SAR .556-caliber rifle.

He was also armed with a Springfield XD 9 -- .9-millimeter-caliber pistol. There you see it in front of you. And also a Stag Arms M-4 variant .556-caliber rifle that was staged on the vehicle and actually placed them inside the vehicle where he could get once he was parked. But I'm going to take you through that in just a couple moments. A Chevy Malibu rental from Missouri was recovered from the scene. And we're working to determine whether where the car has been and are continuing to process it for its evidence.

What we are doing, with the (INAUDIBLE) that we have the scene, this car, we're looking at the footprint, where did it go, what areas did it go to, where did the car come from, from the Missouri area, and we will take it wherever it takes us.

One of the most challenging or more challenging aspects of the investigation is examining the social media footprint of the suspect. It appears he used social media extensively. You saw after the shooting yesterday, when he is deceased, when he has been killed by Baton Rouge police, someone was still actively on his Facebook page that they had created to say that he was still alive.

Those are things we're dealing with, and even though many in the media discounted that and said it's a hoax, we cannot take it that way, which is why we didn't release his name immediately, even though most of you all had that particular name.

We want to go through an evidentiary factor to where we, from forensic standpoint, we can take his fingerprint, back through Missouri. We were able to work with the FBI, obtain prints from his military background, where we could positively identify. So just because it's read about doesn't mean we haven't sought after it and investigated it and vetted it, but before we release it, it's going to be based on fact, not on rumor.

Multiple other pieces of evidence have been seized and we are deploying all investigative methods to explore their evidentiary value, including forensic, electronics, ballistics and behavioral examinations.

We continue to ask anyone who has information related to the suspect or his motive to call 1-800-CALL-FBI, same number as yesterday, 1-800- CALL-FBI.

We're asking for your help in protecting the integrity of this investigation. And while there's much more that we know, there's much that remains to be learned. This is a big puzzle. You're looking at a crime scene which we're going to into in just a minute. It's probably 300 yards to 400 yards.

To meticulously go through that takes time and that's what you're dealing with right here. We owe it to these officers. Three officers are dead. One is fighting for his life. We owe it to them to do it right, and to get it right. We owe that to them.

And I think that the public demands nothing less. What I want to do just real quickly, I'm just going to -- just so you get a picture of where we're at one this particular one, this one just gives you an idea of where Airline Highway, going northbound, toward Baton Rouge police headquarters. You see Fitness Expo. Even though it's an older picture, we just put

this together, because we wanted you all to have something. We wanted the viewers to see this. This is where Fitness Expo is, Vinny's (ph) car wash, the B-Quik where he was first tried to engage a Baton Rouge police officer, Party City, this location.

That right here is the beauty salon where we are going to walk through the situation exactly how it happened. We believe while this individual was in the city, he was looking for locations to specifically target police officers. No doubt in my mind.

You're going to see as we walk through this. There were citizens walking all through the area. He never encountered. He completely dismissed every single one. His intentions were accurate and they were engaging. And they were all aimed at police officers.

When he first comes this the area, this particular B.Q. mart in this location, you had a sheriff's deputy, East Baton Rouge Paris sheriff's deputy was working extra detail. He provides security to this location, and he goes to multiple locations. He was at this location and a Baton Rouge city police officer and (INAUDIBLE) was parked right here.

As he came back -- he came into the area, he took his car and he parked it right here along This area. And we saw it because we see the shadow. Multiple cameras at this location. The shadows. He comes right here, he is tactically moving along the back part of the building, watching what is going on around him. He has got that gun.

You saw the earlier pictures where he has got that gun where is going forward. He is holding that one there. As he comes into it, he goes straight for this car. As he gets to the car, and this is most chilling to the sheriff and to the chief -- as he approaches the car, he engaged into a manner like this towards the car.

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He then sees that there's no one in it. He then comes back, gets back in his car, comes back, comes back on the highway. He is coming out. He noticed Baton Rouge police officer that is vacuuming his car at the Vinny's car wash.

He sees that. He pulls into the Fitness Expo, comes back around, he parks his car right here. Keep that in mind as we go back help to this in just a few minutes. He then comes out. This police officer has left the scene. He left the scene.

He then starts making his way back around, comes back around through the area, comes back over here. At this point, now, that's when the calls had come in to say that there was an individual, exact words, a dude with a rifle going down Airline Highway.

So police are engaged with police and gotten to the scene now. They go to where he went a while ago. They actually go this way. He comes in, along the side here, and he works his way, again, down this side right here. He actually at this end, this corner right here, instead of going

right around the corner, he actually comes out, where he is tactically involved, ready to fire. He comes back around these two Baton Rouge police officers and the sheriff's deputy. Comes back over, because, remember, that's where he was running. That was the location he was going into.

When he came back around, these two Baton Rouge police officers were right here standing. He shot both of them. One falls, falls right here, this location. Another one moves himself back around here. This one is dead. This one is wounded at this point. He comes back around. A deputy that was with him, he goes back to a dumpster in this area right here and kind of hides behind the dumpster.

He waits there and takes cover in that location with his gun drawn. He has got a clear view on this police officer that is wounded right here and is lying there. You can see him moving. We see that in the video.

He comes back around and he starts going to aid. Now, think about this. He hears -- heard the gunshots, he saw the guys in that area. This sheriff's deputy, he leaves his cover, with his gun drawn, and goes back to that place. That is what we're trained to do. We're trained to take care of our own.

He is going back to help that police officer. Now, as he is coming back around, he sees he is dead. And he comes back in, comes back around. And as the deputy is coming in, the shooter comes around this corner right here. At that point, he sees the deputy, he shoots the deputy. Shoots him right there.

He sees movement of this guy right here and shoots him. So he has killed those three. He then tactically moves back on around and comes running through this area. He somehow gets over this wall. We believe there's an air conditioning unit, goes into this area here, works his way back around back to where his car is.

At this point, you have got a sheriff's deputy at the scene in his car. He had gotten out. He had gotten the license plate. He was going back in to run the license plate. He is sitting in his car. When he comes back out, he shoots the deputy in the car. That's the one that is fighting for his life right now.

Shots to the upper torso, and you are going to hear that's from the sheriff in a few minutes. When he is making his way around, he's doing -- no doubt in any mind. There's police officers coming there. He shoots. He shoots a police officer and then wounds him right here, real quick, the deputy back over here.

And when he was shooting back over here, these two police officers, something got his attention. A city policeman was responding. He actually shot and wounded this city policeman out here. Three dead, one injured at this location.

Shoots the deputy in the car. He is going back. At this location, he is going back to the deputy he shot in the car, which is right over here. At this point, he shoots and wounds a police officer in this location right here.

And let me just tell you something. The responding Baton Rouge police SWAT team, from this location right here, as this gunman is coming across right here, that is the fatal shot where he shot the two, over 100 yards.

Think of the presence of mind in taking the shot right here. And that kind of leads you and puts you in the position where the viewers can see exactly what was unfolding based on what they heard on television, what they saw on the news and they heard everybody talking about it.

And what I want to do is certainly have Sheriff Gautreaux and Chief Dabadie come up to talk about their officers and kind of give us a little more rundown of where those officers were, to the best of their ability.

Keep in mind, it's an ongoing investigation. You have heard this from us all the time. The public has a right to know. And we want to give them that ability. But we also want to protect the integrity of the case and where it is leading us to.

A lot of moving parts, a very large puzzle. Some of those pieces are moving. So please keep that in mind as we provide this information to you.

Sheriff.

SID GAUTREAUX III, EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SHERIFF: I'm here today to update you as far as the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office goes.

As an agency, as a family, we're grieving the loss of deputy Brad Garafola. We have been in constant contact with his family. He leaves behind a wife and four children.