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CNN NEWSROOM

Baltimore Reels from Violence; Almost 200 Arrests, 150+ Fires So Far. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired April 28, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:23] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello live in Baltimore this morning. Thank you so much for being here for this very important special coverage we have on tap for you this morning.

In Baltimore anger rages and a city burns, buildings go up in flames. I'm going to take you through last night to tell you what happened here that's made this city angry and sad at the same time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): A state of emergency, rocks crunch against shields as roaming crowds of people face-off with police in the streets. Businesses ripped open, then set on fire, some of them still smoldering this morning and police standing by as parts of the city burn. And watch as this driver speeds up, aims straight at a police line. More than one dozen officers are injured this morning, at least six of them seriously.

MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE, BALTIMORE: This is one of our darkest days as a city and I know that we are much better than this. We know that the world is watching, and we cannot allow our city to evolve into chaos.

COSTELLO: The mayor and the governor under criticism for failing to control the chaos more than a week after the death of Freddie Gray in police custody.

RICHARD SHIPLEY, FREDDIE GRAY'S STEPFATHER: To see that it turned into all this violence destruction, I am really appalled. Family, I love you. And we're supposed to be in this with justice, but is it just us?

COSTELLO: Now the National Guard has been activated and state police calling for reinforcements. As many as 5,000 other officers from the mid-Atlantic region. Many of the instigators apparently high school students.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want to be tased. Let's go. You want to be out here doing this nonsense. (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Get the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) over here.

ANTHONY BATTS, COMMISSIONER, BALTIMORE PD: A number of them came right out of the local high schools there on the other side of Mondawmin Mall, started engaging in this, and if you saw on one scene, you have one mother who grabbed her child, who had a hood on his head, and she started -- smacked him on the head because she was so embarrassed. I wish I had more parents that took charge of their kids out there tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: We're going to talk about that mother and the young kids on the streets last night and also this morning. We have CNN crews fanned out across the city and across this developing story.

I want to bring in somebody that I think the city of Baltimore will really welcome. He is Captain Christian Callender of the Maryland National Guard. The National Guard is going to try to, well, help Baltimore police keep order, and I must say, I think the city of Baltimore will be glad to see you.

So, first of all, tell me what the plan is for you guys here.

CAPT. CHRISTIAN CALLENDER, MARYLAND NATIONAL GUARD: Well, our plan really is to support the Maryland State Police in keeping the peace and protecting the people of Baltimore, which is really our mission all the time.

COSTELLO: So you won't be in charge of arresting people or anything like that or rounding people up. You'll just be there as needed?

CALLENDER: Right. We're a force multiplier, more or less. We are law enforcement personnel. We're there to assist in any way we can and we're happy to do it.

COSTELLO: How many are here now?

CALLENDER: Currently we have about 500 troops on the ground, which is really when you think about it, it's only been a little over 12 hours since the state of emergency was declared, and we are working to get upwards of 1,000 by the close of business.

COSTELLO: And where will you be stationed around the city?

CALLENDER: All over city. We have our troops. Wherever there are Maryland State Police, we've more or less been embedded all over the city and the surrounding environment.

COSTELLO: What kind of equipment will you use?

CALLENDER: Standard equipment. We'll, you know, have a, you know, our regular counter rattle, our armor. We have our vehicles, of course. We have just about everything we need to help keep the peace here.

COSTELLO: And I'm just looking around at some of the troops gathered here around and I see some are showing their weapons and some are not, by design?

CALLENDER: Well, you know, like I said, we are a force multiplier, and I guess the key word there is force. COSTELLO: Thank you so much, Captain, for joining me this morning. I

sure appreciate it, and like I said, I'm sure the city of Baltimore welcomes you.

CALLENDER: It's an honor to serve them.

COSTELLO: All right. So we have -- we have reporters as I said stationed throughout the station of Baltimore. Jason Carroll is in downtown Baltimore where he just talked to the Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

Jason, what did she say?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, quite frankly, it was a pretty frank conversation as the mayor came out here. This is a symbolic spot.

Let me just sort of set the scene from where we are so you can get a better understanding of where she showed up. Just a few minutes ago, Pennsylvania Avenue and West North, this was the flash point of so much of the unrest out here. You can see -- you've got some of those state troopers who are already out here, still in riot gear, still managing the spot.

[09:05:12] Right across the street on the other end, that is the CVS, Carol, that was looted and then burned. And the mayor was out here, again, just a few moments ago. The governor out here as well. I asked her a number of questions, most importantly about the city's response, was it enough?

And also I asked her, Carol, about a woman that I met out here, a pregnant woman who came out here and said something that a lot of people have been feeling in this community, which is basically that the city as a whole has failed many of the young people out here. I asked her about both of those issues. I want you to listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: And I also spoke to someone here who knows how hard we fought to get a CVS to invest in this neighborhood, and to destroy it when this is the only place so many people have to pick up their prescriptions, they do health checks here, we just announced a major health initiative here with CVS. And to take that away from our community, we -- everybody knows we have a city with great needs and there are many that are struggling.

What happened last night made sure that more people are struggling and that more people have needs and those needs are going to go unmet because of what was destroyed.

CARROLL: Did you move as quickly as you should have?

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: I understand that from the outside, you don't know -- you can't see everything that I see. You don't know all the different moving pieces. I know that in order for me to respond I have to do the work. While I have an obligation as the chief spokesperson, I also have an obligation as chief executive and that work needed to be done.

We worked very swiftly and it's a delicate balancing act when we have -- to make sure that we're managing but not increasing and escalating the problem. And you know -- I think there will be a time to talk about all the different things that were going on, that we were responding to, but at the end of the day, it is very important that we respond to the situation as it was on the ground.

You know, there is always going to be armchair quarterbacks that never sat in my seat that see things differently, but this isn't the first emergency that I've had to deal with, and I know that you have to put in the work and manage the crisis on the ground and that's what we're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So was it enough, Carol? I think that determination will probably be made at another point. Both the mayor and the governor were asked what they thought would happen later on today and both of them said that they are hoping they will not see a repeat of last night, certainly.

What we have seen out here in this community is much to continue what we saw, and what, you know, our CNN cameras saw out here yesterday. Seeing people coming out cleaning up, bringing water to some of the officers who are out here, some of them coming out and thanking some of the officers who are standing guard at this point.

Again, the wait now is to see what happens later on this afternoon and tonight -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It is nice to see people out cleaning up after -- after all the looting that went down last night.

You know, I just want to say, Jason Carroll, I have a house in Baltimore and I have lived here for quite a long time and what happened last night, it's just -- it's just a tragedy, because, you know, it reconfirms that perception people have of the city of Baltimore as a city that's just crime ridden and that's all, and that's not Baltimore.

Baltimore is a great place with beautiful neighborhoods. It's got problems just like other big cities do and its city leaders have to better deal with those problems, but at large Baltimore is a great place to live.

CARROLL: And Carol, if I could just say --

COSTELLO: Go ahead, Jason. You're saying?

CARROLL: You know, my father was from Baltimore. I have -- my father is from Baltimore. I was actually born in Baltimore. I have a lot of aunts and uncles who are probably watching who still live here, and so it's not the Baltimore that I used to come and visit, which was a very warm city for me. So it's heartbreaking on a number of issues.

But I do hear what that woman told me who came right here to the corner and said -- she basically said we're pointing fingers at young people but really we are all to blame as a society in many ways for what happened here out here, because as a society we are failing to reach the young people who caused so much of the destruction.

And if that doesn't change, you're going to see it again, perhaps not in Baltimore but perhaps somewhere else -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's right. That's exactly what we saw at Mondawmin Mall, right? Those protesters, those rioters, or call them what they were, were kids. Some of them looked as young as 14 years old. There's a problem there, a deep-rooted problem, and it's not just a problem for Baltimore. It's a problem for much of our nation, especially in larger urban areas.

[09:10:10] I want to bring in CNN's Joe Johns right now because you were out and about last night in the city of Baltimore.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Right.

COSTELLO: And you talked to some of the great people here.

JOHNS: Yes, we did. And one of the things I think was really interesting is the extent to which the community is trying to beat back some of this violence on their own. We've seen incredible things. The members of the family of Freddie Gray, going public saying we don't want violence.

We're seeing gang members going public on television saying we don't want violence, even though we know there's that police intelligence report out there suggesting that gang members maybe wanted to take out a police officer. We've seen the nation of Islam, ministers, the fraternity Omega Psi Phi, all out in the streets talking to people trying to get between the protesters and the police to stop the violence, if you will.

But one of the people I think really stood out for me last night was Robert Valentine, a Vietnam vet we ran into, basically telling kids on the streets of Baltimore to go home. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Sir, who are you?

ROBERT VALENTINE, VIETNAM VETERAN: I'm just a soldier.

JOHNS: And you sort of took it upon yourself to tell those young people to go away.

VALENTINE: Yes.

JOHNS: Weren't you a little bit concerned about your own safety? I mean, there's a lot of bottles and rocks and things. VALENTINE: Here's number one. I did 30 years, OK, came out of

(INAUDIBLE). I have seen more than all of this. I've been through the riots already. This right here is not relevant. They need to have their butts at home. They need to be in their home units with their family studying and doing something with their life. Not out here protesting about something that's not really about nothing.

They do not respect this young man's death. You know? Now, mama and daddy done lost a child, and that could be them. So I am very pissed.

JOHNS: So what's your name?

VALENTINE: Valentine.

JOHNS: And your first name?

VALENTINE: Robert.

JOHNS: Robert Valentine, and you're a Vietnam vet.

VALENTINE: Yes.

JOHNS: And you just decided to come out here and stand up against these guys?

VALENTINE: Yes.

JOHNS: You know, a lot of people would think twice, wouldn't they?

VALENTINE: I love my country, I love my charmed city, and I'm an American. I'm not black, white, red, yellow, I am an American.

JOHNS: Are you concerned about what's happening to the community?

VALENTINE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: And you also ask yourself what is happening with the parents when so many of these people out on the streets are young people, and you'd think, well, I thought last night, why aren't you home, why aren't you in bed, doing homework, getting ready for school? But the truth of the matter is, the parents were not entirely MIA. There were parents who are out there grabbing their kids and taking them back home, telling them to stop, but --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Well, an illustration of that, an illustration of that was this video that was taken on the streets of Baltimore. It's gone viral now. The mother going after her kid. Like take a look at that. She is saying, I know that's you under that mask, you get off the street right now and you go home.

JOHNS: Sure.

COSTELLO: This is not where you belong.

JOHNS: Right.

COSTELLO: And of course city leaders are saying, I wish I could see more of this, right?

JOHNS: Yes. I mean, and that's a parents' reaction, isn't it, you know, your child in a ski mask out on the street causing trouble when there is a riot? No way. That's the responsible thing to do if you are a parent. So you very much relate to what she is doing there, and I know we don't always agree on whether striking your child is the right thing or not, but in this instance, I think anybody can understand that.

COSTELLO: Well, you can sense her frustration. It's like, what did I teach you?

JOHNS: Sure.

COSTELLO: You haven't learned anything, kid.

JOHNS: Exactly. Yes, I brought you into this world.

COSTELLO: Right. Get out. Right. Good for her.

Joe Johns, many thanks to you. Thanks so much. And to Jason Carroll as well. And of course Captain Callender.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Loretta Lynch, day one as the nation's top law enforcement and forced to confront rioting in a major American city, That will be this one. We'll talk about the White House response, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:00] COSTELLO: Good morning, again. I am Carol Costello live in Baltimore this morning, where I have updated numbers for you, and they are pretty shocking.

There were nearly 200 arrests overnight, 144 vehicle fires and 15 structure fires, and that's just last night during the horrible unrest in Baltimore. Those numbers according the mayor's office.

Also this morning, a state of emergency hangs over Baltimore and the community, of course, is continuing to hold its breath, wondering if rioting will erupt again today.

So far the White House has remained on the sidelines. President Obama is receiving updates, and his new attorney general faces her first potential crisis just hours into the job.

Jim Acosta is live at the White House to tell us that part of the story.

Good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Right now, you may not be able to hear it, but on the south lawn of the White House, President Obama is welcoming the prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe. But that is not what the world is watching right now. The world is watching what is happening in Baltimore.

And President Obama is facing another test on this issue of police brutality and civil unrest as he did in Ferguson, Missouri, last year. The president is likely to speak out on the violence in Baltimore later today. It could be within the hour actually, he sits down with the prime minster within the hour and then has a news conference at noon.

But as you mention, there was quite the first day for this new attorney general, Loretta Lynch. Of course, the president and Lynch met about the unrest in Baltimore just hours after she was sworn in. She also released a statement condemning the violence. We can put that on screen here what she said. She said, "I condemn the senseless act of violence by some individuals in Baltimore. Those who commit violent actions, ostensibly in protest of the death of Freddie Gray, do a disservice to his family, to his loved ones, and to legitimate peaceful protesters who are working to improve their community for all its resident."

We should also mention the president spoke by phone with Baltimore's mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan last night.

Here is how Governor Hogan described his conversation with the president. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[09:20:00] GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R), MARYLAND: I talked to the president of the United States who believes that we're taking the proper actions. We're bringing every available resource we can from all over, federal, state, county and local assets, and we are trying our best to get the situation under control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: You know, Carol, the president has not always raced out to the microphones to speak out after an incident like this, but he may have no choice to do that -- but to do that later on today.

But it is interesting to point out, Carol, yesterday, the president and Loretta Lynch, as we mentioned, they met behind closed doors. They did allow the press to come in and take a snapshot of the meeting but they did not allow the full press corps to go in, with the potential of asking questions of the president on this.

The White House has said, well, you know, the reason why the president hasn't spoken out on all of this is that he hasn't been asked a question. But the opportunity was present yesterday and they did not take that opportunity. So, perhaps we'll hear from the president on this later today, Carol. COSTELLO: Well, I think -- I don't know, you know, you form that big

task force and we talked about community policing and blah, blah, blah, but none of that has really worked. There has been no marked difference or Baltimore wouldn't have ignited that way.

ACOSTA: And they're still working on this issue. They're still asking to have that task force come out with some recommendations that they can put into actions in communities around the country. But no question about it, Carol, this is a problem that keeps coming back from the president, and time and again, whether it's in Ferguson or Staten Island or down in South Carolina, we have not really heard the president comment on what happened down in South Carolina, that was a few weeks ago, and now, this situation in Baltimore.

So, it seems to me, Carol, the president has no choice but to talk about this later on today. I think it would just be almost political malpractice on the part of this White House, for the president not to come out at some point today and talk about this. So, I would have to take it to the bank at this point that we're going to hear the president address the situation. It could be within the hour. He may elect to take the question when he sits down with Shinzo Abe in the Oval Office within the next 45, 50 minutes, so it doesn't happen in a joint press conference.

But I think you have to -- it's almost a guarantee he'll have to take this question at some point today, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Acosta, many thanks to you.

Let's talk about last night a little more, shall we? Sparked by a film ignited by social media, according to "The Baltimore Sun", that riot, that initial riot at the Mondawmin Mall begun with an online call for high school students to meet after class. Now, the riot has been liked to a film called "The Purge," a movie about a society where laws are thrown out for a full 24 hours.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

COSTELLO: Afternoon riots turning into this, violence escalating into the night. Amid the destruction, a startling union, members of the Crips, Bloods and the Nation of Islam, coming together, urging protesters to stop the violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say we are animals and acting like savages out here. But I also agree what was -- I don't agree what was going on, but I understand what was going on. You know what I'm saying? I understand why people are mad, but we've got to handle things another way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Police say they feel threaten, receiving credible information that members of the same gangs are partnering to take law enforcement out. I want to bring in Wallace Zeins. He's a former NYPD hostage

negotiator and he has a lot of experience with youth gangs.

So, I'm eager to talk to you this morning, sir.

WALLACE ZEINS, FORMER NYPD HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: Thank you for having me.

COSTELLO: I want to start -- thank you so much for being here.

I want to start at the beginning. So, a movie inspires 15 and 16- year-old kids to throw rocks at the police and to loot stores. It just doesn't make much sense to me. Where does -- where does that come from?

ZEINS: Well, first of all, a picture is worth 1,000 words, and it just puts fuel on the fire. All of those incidents do start to reflect into everyday life should a situation like Baltimore take place. And, you know, throughout the country, all law enforcement takes this type of threat extremely seriously.

In fact, the New York Police Department Sergeants Benevolence Association, which has about 5,000 members, last night came out with a memo from the president to every sergeant active and retired telling them that we have to be vigilant, you have to wear your vest, you have to carry extra magazines in your weapon and you have to be working with a partner, and you must check your cars before you leave the department.

We are on a very high alert last night, and law enforcement is taking this extremely seriously throughout the whole United States.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about some of the challenges that police had at the Mondawmin Mall, right? Because we have still pictures of these kids so everybody can see how young they were.

[09:25:04] Some look to be as young as 13 years old to me. So, you're out there, you're trying to stop a crowd like this from throwing rocks and jumping on your car and breaking windows.

What do you do?

ZEINS: Well, first of all, you know, there is a balance here. When you have protesting under your First Amendment, it's a totally different ball game. But and when you have a community with unrest, the law enforcement community has to come in a part in dispersing this.

One thing we learned in 1970 -- excuse me, 1997 when we had the Crown Heights riots in New York, and I was part of it, we learn -- through your experiences you gained your experiences.

Carol, I want to hold up a book, and we learned about disorder control. The New York City Police Department wrote the book on disorder control, and each incident that took place last night has a category. For instance, what to do for looters? From every rank in the department, what to do in different types of instances.

COSTELLO: So, what does it say about handling 15-year-old looters? What do you do?

ZEINS: It doesn't -- it doesn't matter on the age. First of all, go back to educating people and dealing with the community. Law enforcement today doesn't work by just law enforcement alone, it works with the community, it works with the media, it works with education and it works with the police. Everyone has to work together.

Last night, they lost that city, and I don't blame the cops, I blame what took place with the mayor. Keep in mind that the police commissioner is appointed by the mayor, and she can hire or fire him anytime she wants. And also, the police above the rank of captain all serve at the pleasure of the police commissioner.

Therefore, they have to follow the orders that were told. They apparently probably were told, do not take any type of action. And that is the wrong thing, because when you're standing there, people will test the waters.

COSTELLO: OK, let's pause there, let's pause there, because I know exactly what you're talking about. The mayor, a few days ago, came out with this statement when she was describing how people would be allowed to protest in the city of Baltimore. So, let's listen to that initial comment and then let's listen to the mayor addressing criticism over those comments next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE (D), BALTIMORE, MD: It's a very delicate balancing act because while we try to make sure that they are protected from the cars and other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. We don't have her response, but we will get that in the show later.

But as you're listening to the mayor, what goes through your mind? Did she create confusion?

ZEINS: She definitely did create big confusion. In fact, with those words, what she said, it could be a very long, hot summer in Baltimore. I mean, it's very unfortunate that, you know, a play on words can be interpreted in many different ways, and those words just opened up the door for more potential violence.

COSTELLO: Well, now, the National Guard has been in and I can see them, they are all around, and you certainly feel their presence because you see them. Will that take care of things?

ZEINS: Well, you know, you got to understand, you need to have one person in command. Now, the National Guard supposedly is going to report to, I believe, the state police and the state police will report to the police commissioner of Baltimore. The name of the game in this particular type of work is them to be on

the parameter. Keep in mind, you know, the National Guard does not have the national experience in disorder control. They do not have that. But they will be in omni presence at certain locations, maybe at schools, maybe at important places within Baltimore.

We don't want to have an incident that took place in Kent State many years ago. What we want is to work as a team, and law enforcement has to have one supervisor who can control all of it, one commanding officer. Always remember one thing they taught us at NYPD, that when an incident ends, the highest ranking officer has to answer to the community tomorrow, the next day, and it's important that gets resolved without violence -- minimum violence I should say.

COSTELLO: Wallace Zeins -- yes, well, Wallace Zeins, thank your for your insight, as usual. I appreciate it.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)