Transcripts For CNNW New Day Weekend With Victor Blackwell A

Expecting a press conference to begin. So this is very fluid, what is happening right now. Well, of course, bring that to you live when it happens. But heres what we know right now. Sources say that this suspect was a disgruntled employee. He was killed in a shootout with police. Now, they say that a. 45 caliber pistol was found near the shooter along with a suppresser and several empty higher capacity magazines. This all happened late yesterday afternoon. Police say the suspect started shooting on all three floors of that building and Officials Say they found victims on all three floors of this building behind me. Lets go now to the courthouse where this News Conference will happen. Brian todd is there. Hes been following this story all night. What are you learning . Reporter right, victor. Were anticipating this News Conference any moment now. And were eagerly anticipating it, because we hope they will give new afghanistinformation a the shooting unfolded. Some of the details about what happened inside the building in this complex and also about possible motive. What might have prompted this man to come into the complex and start shooting. What we can tell you is, from all indications weve gotten so far from police, fbi, and other officials, the gunman came into that building prepared to inflict carnage and prepared, seemingly, to do battle with police. My deepest condolences and prayers go to the families of those who left home this morning and will not return tonight. Reporter tragedy in Virginia Beach friday evening. A mass shooting at the virginia Municipal Building, the deadliest mass shooting in america since november of 2018, when 12 people were killed at the border line Country Music bar in california. Today is Virginia Beachs darkest hour. I have a number of officers right now who are processing through what best could be described as a war zone. Reporter a virginia government source tells cnn it was a disgruntled employee, 40yearold dewayne craddock, who worked as a certified professional engineer for the city of Virginia Beach. They say he walked into the Municipal Building with a. 45 caliber handgun and opened fire, leaving behind a trail of carnage. The suspect was reloading extended magazines in that handgun, firing at victims throughout the building and at our officers. Reporter police say they want people to remember the victims and not their killer. We will release his name once. Were going to mention his name once. And then he will be forever referred to as the suspect. Reporter craddock was killed during a long gun battle with police. We have numerous victims and we have numerous families. Lets make sure that we keep their dignity and their respect as the number one piece of news that were going to give out. And some new information that we can tell you this morning. Cnn was able to reach the shooters parents last night. Spoke to them briefly on the phone. My colleague, David Shoretel was able to reach his parents. At that moment, they did not know that their son was involved in this shooting. And they told david that they did not have any indication that he had problems with anyone at his work. So hopefully well learn some of those details in the coming moments, victor, while, you know, police come in here and brief us and maybe give us more information about how the shooting unfolded, some details about maybe the gun battle with police. And of course, the key details about a possible motive. Victor . All right, brian. Quick question, and you may not know the answer to this, so well accept that, but do we know if the governor will be back this morning as part of this News Conference or if were hearing primarily from the mayor, the police chief and local officials . Reporter we are not quite sure about the governor. We believe the governor is going to have an event later on this morning, a separate event, but we do not know that. We do expect the police chief, jim cervera to come in and give some new details, possibly mayor bobby dyer. Those have been the two gentlemen who have given the most information so far and we havent had a lot of details since last nights conference, so were counting on semifor some key information. And were looking for any real detail about possible conflict this man had with people at his work that might have prompted him to come in and start shooting people. And whether there might have been a specific target in mind. Those are some things that maybe the police chief and the mayor, possibly the fbi might be able to answer. Yeah. And what we learned from the scanner traffic initially after the shooting and those first calls came in is that police went quickly into this building. Obviously, since its a public building, a city building, they knew the layout well and knew what they had to do. Whats quite, i would say, iron wick, is that there was, there was a specific type of training scheduled for today. Tell us about that. Reporter thats right. There was an active shooter seminar scheduled for today that has been canceled. But, you know, whats interesting, also, is that the police chief and others have said that, you know, their Police Officers were already very well trained for a possible event like this. And it was evident from the details that we know. They got into the building very quickly. Were told that four Law Enforcement officers were the initial ones to come into the building and they quickly determine idea the shooter was, based on the sounds of the gunfire and were able to engage him. Their actions might very well have saved many lives. Victor . All right. Brian todd, well get back to you. This News Conference happening in a few moments from now. Of course, well bring that to you live. But also, we want to show you this. A photo journalist from our affiliate wtkr was here at the Municipal Building yesterday covering a different story when the shooting started. Heres what he says happened. It was pretty scary, when i right after 4 00, because we were doing a live shot at building 1, which is maybe a hundred yards from building 2 where everything happened, and i see a bunch of Police Officers in Tactical Gear running around in front of building 2 and around the back and start surrounding it, so i figured, let me go see whats going on. And i got right in front of building 2 and all of a sudden i just hear a barrage of gunfire. And it could have been an exchange, im not sure, because it sounded like it was different gun s firing. And i just ducked behind a car almost instinct chually, just g down and waited for about ten seconds to hear a break in the gunfire and hightailed it back to the van. Were also hearing from some of the people who work in that building. Cnn affiliate wtkr was on the air live. They were talking with a man whose wife was trapped in the building and heres what happened after that. Im just praying the whole time. So there she go right there, hugging that guy. Thats your wife . Yeah. Yeah. This gentlemen who was on the phone with his wife while the shooting was going on, he is getting ready to be reunited with her after she has been debriefed by the Police Department and the fbi. And you can see this wonderful reunion. You know, this relief this man is feeling. We just heard people yelling and screaming to get down and i was on the phone with 911, so i was trying to concentrate on getting talking to them. We put the desk against the door, because we didnt know if they were coming in or anything. Heard a sound on the stairs, we go to the corridor and there was a lady on the stair unconscious, blood on her stairway, we didnt know what happened. When they went upstairs, she came back down saying, get out of the building, theres some guy with a gun. And still the question of why. Why did this man start shooting in this public building, killing 12, injuring four more. Were expecting this News Conference to start in just a couple of minutes here. Weve been told that we could be just a minute or two away. And one of the interesting elements here was that not every victim was shot inside that building. Were told that the shooter actually shot one person in a car in the parking lot right here behind me. And were expecting more details about this. You can see the building, Municipal Building 2 over my shoulder here. Three floors, and victims on all three floors there. And this shooter was killed in this long gun battle as described by the police chief. I think we have cnn Law Enforcement analyst Cedric Alexander with us. Cedric, can you hear me . I got you. Cedric, good morning to you. Good morning. First, give us an idea of what this investigation looks like, what we cannot see. I can see plenty of Virginia Police Virginia Beach Police Department cars here, so we know theres something happening. Give us an idea of the investigation thats happening behind the scenes. Well, the investigation youre seeing taking place now is a continuation of what occurred yesterday after that shooting. What youre going to have today and particularly now that you have more daylight, youre going to continue to see investigators go in and out. Theres going to be a continuation of interviews of any witnesses that may be in and around this event when it occurred. But whats going on behind the scenes, with the help of both state and federal Law Enforcement, im quite sure, is finding out more about who this subject shooter was. And more importantly, to try to begin to determine what was the motive behind this act of such violence that created so much carnage . So theres a lot of things, victor, that are taking place at this very moment that we speak that were speaking, that certainly is seen, but very importantly, is finding out who was that subject, what was the motive, what may have led up to this shooting, because more information that we have, the more we are able to make some determinations about what we can do going into future, maybe to help stop these types of events. Which seems to be so much occurring so frequently, too often in this country. You know, one of our colleagues reached out to this shooters parents and they said at that point, they have not heard from police. Is this in that effort to find the motive, to understand why he would have done this. Is that expected at that hour, that they would not have heard from police . Well, you know, it could be a variety of reasons why they may not have heard from Police Officials at this point, victor. Concerning the fact that this event is still within the last 24 hours, so a lot of things have occurred in that short period of time. And having an opportunity to talk with and meet with his family is certainly on the list of things to do to determine about who he is, but there are a lot of things that immediately at this very moment that needs to be addressed, particularly at this crime scene. And youve got a lot of resources from both local, state, and federal authorities that are there supporting each other, but it just depends on where that investigation goes. We dont know exactly what all police may be investigating and having to concern themselves with that at this particular moment, but being able to get this family and his friends are certainly on that list and its very important. And they understand the importance of it, but theres a lot going on at one time. So i wouldnt too much overly concern myself with that other than the fact that the immediacy of being able to care for those that were injured is very important as well. Absolutely. Yeah if you see me looking down here, im looking at a monitor. I have a live shot here of the courtroom. Were expecting this News Conference to happen. We were told it was going to happen within just a couple of minutes. It looks like theyre a bit behind schedule, so lets do this. With our thanks to Cedric Alexander for his expertise, lets take a break and hopefully theyll be starting when we come back from that break. More live coverage of the breaking news here after 12 people killed, 4 people still in hospitals. The mass shooting in Virginia Beach. Well be back. Woman 1 i had no symptoms of hepatitis c. Man 1 mine. Man 1 . Caused liver damage. Vo epclusa treats all main types of chronic hep c. Vo whatever your type, ask your doctor if epclusa is your kind of cure. Woman 2 i had the common type. 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To help keep the soil healthy. And the coffee delicious. For future generations. All for a smoother tasting cup. Green mountain Coffee Roasters. Im Victor Blackwell live in Virginia Beach. Were awaiting a News Conference here from the Virginia Beach police chief, also the mayor of Virginia Beach. We have some officials walking into the room, expecting new information after that mass shooting here friday afternoon. At least 12 people were killed after a gunman walked into building 2 of the Virginia Beach Municipal Center and started shooting. Were told that he fired shots off on each of the three floors and there were victims found on each of those floors. Our brian todd has been following this all overnight and hes there inside the courthouse where this News Conference will happen. Brian, the chief here made a point in the News Conference initially of saying that this shooters name will be mentioned only one time, vocationing on the victims, those who are deceased and those who are still in hospitals. Thats right. The police chief and other officials here said, victor, that they want to focus on the victims and their separation rather than the shooter and drawing attention to him. Youre seeing that more and more often these days, in instances of mass shootings, where the shooters name is maybe mentioned a couple of times, but officials often now try to play that down, because they, of course, dont want to give attention to the shooter, which, you know, on occasion he or she might be seeking. So, yes, the police chief was very clear about that. He was emotional when he spoke about that. But it remains, victor, that we still need information about this man. We need information about his possible motive. We need information about whether he was previously known to police in any way. We are getting indications that he may not have been. The only thing we know about possible path infractions was a minor Traffic Violation at this point. Thats what we know about him at this point. But to keep his name completely out of the mix as far as media coverage, thats a debate thats ongoing among members of the media and Law Enforcement authorities throughout the country, but the fact remains this morning that at least in this instance, we do need more information about this man, about possible conflicts that he might have had at his work that might have spurred him to do what he did. We did we were able to reach his parents last night. Our colleague, David Shoretel, reach his parents briefly on the phone. And at the time david reached them, they said they did not know that their son was involved in the shooting. And they told them they did not know of any possible conflicts he might have had at his work. How deep their knowledge is of his situation, we may be able to piece that together. But the key unanswered question right now is specific motive. Another key unanswered question is was there a sp