Portrayed as having a threat in mind for the outcome of today. And they are here to tell you, and they dont want to be identified thats happening right now at the church from freddie grays family. If we can pan over so youre listening now to the press conference the family is holding a press conference. One of the family members saying the violence youre witnessing now is not about freddie gray. That freddie gray would not want that. Thats his twin sister. She doesnt want whats happening on the street to reflect on her brother and what theyre dealing with right now. Its 11 00 p. M. Here in baltimore on the east coast. One of americas greatest cities in crisis this evening. The scene right now, a state of emergency. Violent clashes between rioters and police happening today. Businesses looted. 15 Police Officers injured. Several with broken bones. Police cars burned. The citys Public Schools are closed tomorrow. And a call for 5,000 additional officers. 5,000 additional officers to help restore the peace just hours after the funeral of freddie gray. Miguel has been witnessing much of the violence and the happenings here in baltimore today. Miguel whats the very latest . Yeah youre looking at the Southern Baptist church here. This was an elderly home that was going to be finished in about nine months here. 60 units. It was going to provide services on the community. This is about two and a half miles from the worst of it up near north avenue and pennsylvania avenue. Weve seen all night the wood structure has burned away but in recent minutes, the cement structures that are there are starting to topple from the heat and pressure from the water hoses that have been hitting them all night. Its extraordinarily sad to see this. We spoke to the pastor Dante Hickman a short time ago. He said he believes this was deliberately set, but this is just one incident of many in this city. If you travel that twotothree mile corridor up baltimore, the area near north avenue looked like a war zone today. Cars on fire cvs looted then burned. Stores up and down that area looted. Just incredible to see stores that dont have much people that dont have much destroying their Community Like this out of the anger that they feel toward their city in so many ways. And then farther north still, the Monument Mall area, where all of this started when schools poured out, high schools poured out and they started fighting with police. A very frightening scene there where several Police Officers were injured. We also saw a firefighter injured here at this location. It has just been a night of horror for baltimore. Don . Miguel as you have been weve also been reporting on people who were standing between the people who came out and wanted to cause this destruction and trying to get them to stop. And they should be acknowledged as well miguel. Dante hickman, the pastor here was one of those individuals. The pastors all got together where the funeral was today at new shiloh they went out in the community trying to collar young people trying to get them back into their homes, get them away from the violence get them off the streets. Its a frenzy out there once it gets started and its frightening to see. You had individuals wearing 300 on their shirts and they were young men, trying to get other young men off the streets. You had the what is that sound . You had members from the Muslim Community going in throwing people out of the stores trying to establish some sort of order. Absolutely frustration and anger among many members of the community at what they see happening to their own neighborhoods, but at the same time you have people who literally, soon as police leave a scene, they descend on it and begin looting stores. Ive just never seen anything quite so lawless. Don . All right, miguel. I want you to stand by. Again, youre looking at update our viewers now, its after 11 00 p. M. Eastern. Youre looking at baltimore, maryland, one of americas largest cities on fire right now. Were awaiting a press conference from police now. Its been delayed just a little bit. It should happen within the next hopefully 20 minutes or so. Try to get some answers as to what is going on here what precipitated all of this what are they doing to bring it under control . Well continue our conversations that weve been having with members of the cnn family as well as Community Members to try to get to the bottom of all of this and how do you fix it . How do you fix it here . So lets talk about it as we continue to look at these pictures. I want to bring in Neill Franklin a retired police major. And a spokesperson for the Baltimore Police and a crisis and Public Safety expert. Gentlemen, thank you very much. I dont know if youve been able to listen to the conversations. Been trying to figure out where do you go . Should we be focusing on these pictures or the problem that got people so angry that they were able to do bring themselves to do things like this . As we await this News Conference thats going to happen shortly from the Police Department what are we going to hear from police do you think . In answer to your first question i think that we should remain focused on the core issue. I understand that this is something that people need to know about and that people want to see, people want to learn about across the country. But still the core message is whats going on in this city regarding the death of freddie gray. We still need information regarding that. And again, not just about Baltimore City but the systemic issues that were seeing across this country as it relates to police and their interaction with the citizens. As far as what well hear from the Police Department and commissioner im not sure. Im hoping to get some information about what happened earlier today. People need to know what happened earlier today. Its going to help us with tomorrow. Its going to help us to figure out tomorrow and the day after. Real quickly, what would you like to hear from police . I think well get an update. Folks want to know that neighborhoods are in control. That resources are in place and that theres a save place to live work and raise a family. And many of these communities across the city. Im sure well be updated on tactics and unfortunately some of the injuries that may have occurred the arrests that may have occurred. But again, the city needs to be under control. I think it is in many many pockets. That needs to clear up. And then also the investigation. Not everyone has lost sight of that and shouldnt lose sight of that. Folks want to be heard, they want to be validated and hear actionable steps which will improve the quality of life in this city. Very important to instill of sense of trust and confidence back in the folks who are now questioning it. Stand by, gentlemen. I want to go 40 miles down the road to the white house. Michelle kosinski joins us now. Shes in washington with the very latest. Obviously the president monitoring the situation here, michelle. Right. Thats similar to what we usually hear in a situation like this. I think what weve seen is a low key and decidedly so response from the white house. Thats similar to what weve seen in prior incidents where Police Abuses have been alleged over the last couple of months. What weve heard behind the scenes at the white house and some of these prior incidents, theres a feeling, were not going to see the president come out and give a statement directly to the public just yet. A feeling within the white house of well what would do any good at this point . Is it necessary for him to come out . Might that even inflate or escalate the situation . So what were seeing at this point is the president wanting to say, this is in the hands firmly of the department of justice and the brand new attorney general. I mean hours into being sworn in. So he met with her today, she briefed him. They talked about the use of doj resources and she, loretta lynch, was the one who put out the statement condemning what she called the senseless acts of violence. And talking about some of those federal resources that would be committed there. Its things like personnel michelle . Yeah . I need to jump in there. We need to go to the mayor who was having an interview. But continue on he did meet with her today and she put out some information. Yeah she talked about some of the people who would be going there to the scene, people within the department of justice and Community Relations and community policing. So thats the kind of response from the federal government and the white house that were expecting at this point. That said were also seeing some outreach. Are we starting now . Okay all right. I need to get to the mayor, michelle. Lets get to the mayor. Is this fire related [ all speak at once ] what do you make of the trail of destruction across the city right now . It is extremely heartbreaking for someone, im born and raised in baltimore, my parents are born and raised here. We know how hard people work to be able to have the city that we know and love and to watch a group of criminals go through our city with an intent top destroy, what does that solve . You dont get justice for that. What does it solve . You know why should those individuals who fought to get those jobs at cvs, you know now they have what are they going to do . The people who fought so hard to get that resource there so the community could be served and have a good place to get a pharmacy and things that they need how is the looting going to help them . You know so you hear people say that they care about their community and they want to be heard, but you cant care about your community and do what they did. What do you say to those who say, theyre just angry, theyve tried peaceful means and its time to make the community, the Society Heard and do something about what they see is a big problem . I understand anger, but what were seeing isnt anger. Its destruction of a community, the same community they say they care about, theyre destroying. You cant have it both ways. Mayor, whats the next step to bring things under control . Were working around the clock to bring order. Thats why i spent a big portion of the day working to assemble Additional Resources, so we could bring calm to the city. We worked on making sure that we got the executive order right, to be able to give people enough time to know that we were putting the curfew in place. We worked with the School System to make sure there was a daytime curfew in place, since the schools were going to be closed. A lot of ts to cross and is to dot to make sure we get it right. In ferguson there are some month said having troops on the streets aggravated the situation. Are you worried about that . We will bring order. Its very clear im not interested in exacerbating the situation. My goal is to bring calm but we will have order, and we will have peace. There are too many of us who believe that baltimore is much better than what youre seeing today. What do you say to the pastor of this church that specifically says not enough was done so this particular fire is under investigation. We dont know if its related to the riots. With the pastor saying not enough was done soon enough, what would you say to him . We are responding to incidents all throughout the city. This is a horrible incident that we certainly didnt want to see happen but we are, like i said responding all over the city and we worked very hard to respond swiftly to this one. Thank you. Do you regret that decision to allow the protesters to protest, or do you stand by decision . Im going to protect peoples right to protest. The fact that people exploited that does not mean i dont have an obligation to protect peoples right to protest. I never said nor would i ever say, that we are giving people space to destroy our city. So my words should not be twisted. Would you do anything differently, mayor . All right, youre listening to the mayor of baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings blake, speaking to members of the media at the scene of one of those fires. Again, its important, she said dont twist my words. I said we were giving people the space to protest, not the space to destroy the city. So lets discuss that now with Cedric Alexander of the National Organization of black Law Enforcement enforcement. Van, it appears that the mayor is saying essentially what you said. You cant really have it both ways. You would like to but you cant have it both ways. You cant say you love the city you care about it and then destroy it. Well i think that shes exactly right. I think shes speaking for the vast majority of the people in the black community and baltimore and frankly across the country and around the world. Listen, the conditions of the young people in baltimore, i want to underscore theres a report that says that teens in baltimore are suffering worse conditions of poverty and deprivation than teens in nigeria. I think theres a part of america, that were only just now beginning to take seriously, theyre suffering incredible economic deprivation as well and a horrible series of provocations and pain from their relationship with Law Enforcement. Police have been getting away with stuff for too long. Now were trying to have a reckoning. What i want to say, and what i think most people would say, its important that we hold ourselves to the highest standards possible while we hold society to high standards. And dr. King and his comment about riots being the language of the unheard was condemning economic violence in the ghetto and condemning political and social violence. So i want to make sure as we go forward, that we look at the underlying causes here. But we also need to draw a very clear line. As i said black lives matter black neighborhoods matter black jobs matter black businesses matter. And we do not advance the cause, in my view by doing harm to neighborhoods that will not recover for ten or 20 years. Every time we have these kinds of things happen it is 20 minutes of action and 20 years of pain. And that should not be a part of our strategy going forward. Okay stand by everyone. I want to get to cnns chris cuomo. Hes at the scene of some of the unrest right now. Chris, what are you seeing . Yeah hey, don, were at the corner of north fulton and worth. The officers are dealing with some cars that have been lit on fire in the intersection. Bottles are being thrown at them some seem to be containing some type of fluid that is an irritant. Theres a liquor store that was just lit on fire across the corner from us. If you pan over to the left show them the liquor store thats on fire. That just happened. And the officers are firing off the pepper bullets. Trying to take the position here as you can see across the street though the people are just standing in the street here. Its a little bit of a taunting game going on. But there are also people who just live here, who are coming outside to see whats going on right outside their home. Theres a woman looking through the window right next to us here. Shes literally just trapped in her home don. Weve been walking block by block with these guys. Theres someone holding up a bible. Come around and you can see, theres a man holding up a bible, asking the officers not to come down the street that way, but the officers have a very tough task. Because, don, i dont know if you can see, pan up, theyre trying to put spotlights on the buildings, up on top, because there are windows that things are coming down at them from don. So thats the situation here right now, the officers are holding on west north street and north fulton to see whats going to happen. And chris, as we look there, were going to stay with you. Just so you know so people understand, those arent bullets. Those are the pepper suppressants that theyre shooting there at people as they throw bottles at them. Chris, were going to continue to talk to you. And theres a big delay between us, so i want to make our viewers aware of that and im sure youre aware of it as well. Chris, as were seeing the cars that are on fire were also seeing officers it appears that they are standing there at the ready with guns drawn, and then across from you, at a liquor store, we see people running in and out of that as well. Describe to our viewers, if you will the chaos, and the magnitude, how many people are out there, and how many officers are out there. Were probably with several hundred Police Officers here. Theyre in a fal anks but really the action is right here on this corner. There are people down the street to the left of where we are right now, that are throwing bottles and different types of objects to try to hurt the cops. Theyre not firing bullets back. Theyre firing suppression bullets with the pepper spray. Thats the clouds that are coming this way, a mixture of the pepper spray that comes out of the bummets. There are some bottles and things coming over the top. There are a couple hundred people in the streets across from us. And there are things coming down on us. Now were seeing some vehicles taking off. Some of the guys got into cars and took off. Other people are just by standing. That liquor store is on fire. Chris, were going to continue but, please be careful, chris. Strategic teams in front. Go ahead don. I just want to remind you to please be careful because you never know what can pop off here but continue on with what were seeing. All right, theres a fire truck coming with us here along the way now, obviously to deal with the two vehicles that are on fire. What theyve dpone here. They maneuvered the officers out in front to create a barrier. Pan to the right, so they can see the fire truck. Hes now here to deal with the two vehicles that are on fire. Thats just auto smoke, whatevers burning in the car. This is to the left of the liquor store thats on fire. Somebody just went in there and torched it. Theres a baby coming out from the building next door. Theyre evacuating people. Theres a mother here whos worried about her kids. Theres her baby. The officer is taking the child, seems to be with the other parent. Hes going back in to get other people. Lets follow her along. Theres the baby the baby seems okay. Obviously panicked because of what just happened. Shes looking for her husband. Her husband went back into that building. Well try and keep an eye on