if he can deliver the ratings but i know lester can do a really good job. that's a good choice for them. get a guy in there who can do a really solid job. >> bill carter, thank you for joining me. that's it for "the lead." i'm jake tapper. turning you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." happening now, war powers. president obama says a rapidly expanding isis is a threat to the united states and is asking congress for new authority to take the fight to the terror group. will congress go along? rescue missions. we have new details on the desperate efforts to free a young american woman held hostage by isis ranging from a courageous bluff to a military commando raid. and hate crime. that's how the father of two of the three murdered muslim students describes the execution style killings in a quiet college town. what's behind this shocking incident? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

the breaking news as bloody fighting rages against isis on a growing number of fronts president obama formally asks congress for authorization to wage war against the terror group. we heard him spell out what he wants to do at the white house a little while ago. the go ahead to keep pounding isis targets from the air along with strict limits on ground combat operations. the president calls for a vote but it's not clear if a divide in congress will buy into his strategy. senator bernie sanders is standing by live along with our correspondents and analysts. let's begin with the very latest. our senior white house correspondent jim acosta joins us. jim? >> reporter: in the first call to congress to authorize war in 13 years, president obama is making it clear the battle against isis won't be a repeat of iraq and afghanistan but the president is also leaving a lot of the details, in a word, fuzzy. president obama's proposal to authorize the war on isis opens a new door.

to more than just air strikes. >> our coalition is on the offensive. isil is on the defensive and isil is going to lose. >> reporter: asking congress for the green light on his war plan the president charges isis with the deaths of american hostages including their most recent known victim, kayla mueller. if left unchecked, he warns isis could pose a threat to the u.s. homeland. while the president says this battle won't be a flashback to the wars in iraq and afghanistan involving hundreds of thousands of troops mr. obama's new authorization does seek ground forces for rescue operations. missions to kill isis leaders, intel collection and air strikes. >> if we had actionable intelligence about a gathering of isil leaders and our partners didn't have the capacity to get them i would be prepared to order our special forces to take action. >> reporter: the president's fellow democrats are nervous

about the proposal's language barring quote, enduring combat. >> i'm concerned about the breadth and vagueness of the ground troop language. >> none of us really know what enduring offensive combat operations means and deliberately i think drafted to be ambiguous. >> reporter: the white house responds to that. >> the language is fuzzy, is it not? >> intentionally so. >> intentionally so? intentionally fuzzy? >> yes, jim. because we believe it's important there aren't overly burdensome constraints placed on the commander in chief who needs the flexibility to be able to respond to contingencies that emerge in a chaotic military conflict like this. >> reporter: in other words, enough u.s. forces to help local iraqis and syrians take the fight to isis. without breaking the president's pledge last fall. >> as your commander in chief, i will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in iraq.

>> reporter: the white house attempt to find a happy medium is already turning off republicans. >> the president's point is that he wants to dismantle and destroy isis. i haven't seen a strategy yet that i think will accomplish that. >> reporter: now, the white house is not ruling out additional ground troops to carry out this war on isis. when asked about whether or not more forces could be sent to fight isis the answer was quote, not at this time. wolf? >> jim acosta thank you. the president's request for formal war fighting authority comes as isis is extending its reach in the middle east. let's go to our chief national security correspondent, jim sciutto. he is watching what's going on. the president trying to underscore he doesn't want another -- the united states in another ground war but he did open the door potentially for more u.s. ground forces going in there. >> he did. in fact he gave very specific circumstances. he said for instance if we have intelligence on a senior isis leader we might send in special forces to go and take that leader out. in fact his commanders have brought up other instances that are possible the idea of

forward ground controllers to call in air strikes and to put some of these military advisors in iraq on the front lines as they prepare iraqi forces prepare to retake the isis stronghold of mosul this spring. all those possibilities on the table. but keep this in mind as well. in addition to further combat operations in iraq and syria which is where isis is concentrated now, it includes language from going after isis associated forces which are now showing up in other places beyond syria and iraq carrying out attacks against egyptian military and police here in egypt, carrying out an attack or claiming to against a hotel in tripoli that killed ten people including an american and there were some aqap fighters in yemen who expressed some solidarity for isis isis claiming a foothold here as well. this amuf conceivably gives the president authority to order operations far outside of this area to other areas around the world. >> you mentioned yemen. we know six months or so ago the

president was citing yemen as an example of a successful u.s. counterterrorism strategy but it's turned out right now to be a disaster. >> the embassy is closed and we have talked about this an embassy is more than about issuing visas, it's about close political partnerships with that former partner government in yemen the president decided is a success, it's about military relationships, partnerships and about intelligence gathering. that footprint is off the ground in yemen. we are told by the military that some military personnel remains on the ground in country though not in the capital. they won't say where for security reasons. they will be able to keep up counterterror training. they will be able to keep up drone strikes against aqap targets in the southwestern part of the country but pentagon officials acknowledge that removing that embassy will have an impact on the counterterror efforts. >> the latest u.s. embassy to be forced to shut down not only in yemen but in libya, somalia, syria and we know the u.s. embassy in iran has been shut down since 1979. jim sciutto, thanks very much. the president's war powers

request is taking some heat from all sides. let's get the latest from senator bernie sanders. he is the independent senator from vermont. senator sanders, thanks very much for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> you say you cannot support the president's proposed legislation in its current form that's the words, those are the words you used. why? >> look wolf i remember the war in afghanistan which was supposed to last a few months the war in iraq was going to be very easy. we were in those countries for over ten years. we have lost close to 7,000 brave men and women. the country has spent trillions of dollars. at the end of the day, if isis is going to be defeated this is a brutal horrible organization that needs to be defeated it is going to have to be defeated by the muslim nations in the region. saudi arabia has the fourth largest defense budget in the world.

you've got billionaire families in qatar, in the uae. they have got to be increasingly involved in providing security in their region. the u.s. can be supportive. western europe can be supportive. but they are going to have to do the hard work. >> what did it say to you, if anything because i couldn't help but notice remembering the leadup to the war in iraq in 2003 at the end of 2002 there was that resolution the war powers resolution authorizing the use of force to go to war against saddam hussein. when the president walked into the roosevelt room to make that speech you see who is with him, the vice president, joe biden, the secretary of state, john kerry, secretary of defense chuck hagel. they were all u.s. senators at the end of 2002. they all voted in favor of that war authorization. you opposed it at the time. what does it say to you the president's surrounded by men who supported going to war at that time? >> look i think the president is doing everything that he can in trying to defeat isis. but when i hear words like enduring conflict it makes me

very very nervous. i think it opens a door wider than it should be. i think we've got to continue air strikes. i think we've got to use special operations forces when we can. but i do not want to see a never-ending quagmire in the middle east where our troops die, come back with terrible illnesses and we end up spending trillions of dollars. once again, this war is a battle for the soul of islam and it will have to be the muslim countries who are stepping up. these are billionaire families all over that region. they've got to get their hands dirty. they've got to get their troops on the ground. they've got to win that war with our support. we cannot be leading the effort. >> when the white house says if you just heard the white house press secretary josh earnest tell our own white house correspondent jim acosta that the president wants this language to be, in his words, intentionally fuzzy, fuzzy, f-u-z-z-y, what does that say to you? >> it says the president and i have a disagreement on this

issue and the language. and i will work very hard to try to change that language. >> specifically, what do you want to change? >> i want to make sure that our young men and women are not fighting a never-ending war in the region not getting killed. i want to make sure the leaders of the effort are in fact saudi arabia and qatar and jordan and the uae. i want the muslim nations to take the lead. i want their troops to be on the ground. i want them to be aggressive. i want them to be spending the money necessary to defeat isis. i want us to be in a supportive role but not leading the effort. >> but you don't believe, do you, because you study this area for a long time senator, that any of these countries, whether saudi arabia uae, qatar, kuwait bahrain, any moderate arab countries will take the lead without the united states right at the front of that lead? >> what you're saying is they've got these billionaire families and they're saying hey, why do we want to sacrifice our kids why spend our money, we got

uncle sam there who is going to do the work for us. let's just sit back. american troops will take out isis. i disagree with that philosophy. i think they've got to jump in. we support them. i believe that strongly. >> senator, i want you to stand by. we have much more to discuss. senator bernie sanders is with us. we are talking about the president's proposal. he is seeking war powers authorization for three years to fight isis to launch this war, to continue the war, potentially expand the war in iraq and syria. stay with us. [meow mix jingle slowly and quietly plucks] right on cue. [cat meows] ♪meow, meow, meow, meow...♪ it's more than just a meal it's meow mix mealtime. with great taste and 100% complete nutrition, it's the only one cats ask for by name. it's happening. today, more and more people with type 2 diabetes are learning about long-acting levemir® an injectable insulin that can give you blood sugar control for up to 24 hours. and levemir® helps lower your a1c.

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the united states congress for authorization to use military force against isis. we are back with senator bernie sanders, the vermont independent. he opposes the president's war powers request as it currently stands. there would have to be major changes for him to vote in favor of this legislation. if the legislation isn't approved senator, what happens next? because in your statement that you released today, you did say that isis is a brutal and dangerous terrorist organization that must be defeated. >> absolutely. look these guys it's literally unspeakable the things that they have done the thousands of innocent men, women and children, including americans, they have killed. they have got to be defeated. but after ten years or over ten years in iraq and afghanistan, i hope we have learned a lesson that the people in the region the people who are most threatened by isis they have got to step up to the plate. these are not poor countries, wolf. these are countries without exception run by multi billionaire families. they can put their military forces on the ground. they have got to lead the effort

to take on isis. we have got to be supportive. i support the air strikes that the united states air force is now doing and i think they have been reasonably effective. but the muslim nations themselves are going to have to step up and defeat isis. >> let me quickly, senator, turn to the situation in yemen right now which is turning out to be a total disaster. the state department basically shut down the united states embassy in the capital of sanaa amid enormous security concerns. the houthi rebels are taking charge over there. as you know aqap al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, is based in yemen. what's going on over here? because this is yet another failed state in this part of the world. >> that just talks about the instability in the region and the need for again, in my view the countries of the region to play a much more active role. >> so obviously, it looks like yemen is a failed state now. libya, remember what the u.s. did launch a tomahawk cruise

missile to get rid of gadhafi, spent a few billion dollars in u.s. taxpayer money to do so. look what's going on in libya. the u.s. embassy is shut down the rebels are swimming in the swimming pool of the u.s. ambassador's residence. take a look at these videos this video. they are diving into the pool having a good time. this is the united states embassy residence in tripoli. senator, go ahead. >> you know it is what it is. it's a very very bad and difficult situation. it's going to require the entire world and the muslim countries in the region to step up and address this issue. the only point that i make is that the united states cannot continue to do it alone. the other countries cannot sit back and say we don't have to worry because the soldiers of america and the american taxpayers do it all. >> one final question before i let you go. i know you're thinking about running for the democratic presidential nomination.

when do you think you will decide? >> well, as soon as i have to. we are going around the country, talking to a lot of people, getting a lot of support. but when you take on the billionaire class, that ain't an easy assignment. i got to make sure the support is there and that's what we're trying to ascertain. >> when you say taking on the billionaire class, you would be taking on hillary clinton as your main democratic opponent. as far as i know she's not a billionaire. >> well no i would be taking on the koch brothers and wall street and the pharmaceutical industry and the private insurance companies. my job is not to run against hillary clinton. my job is to take on the political, economic and media establishment which have so much power in this country. >> senator bernie sanders, the independent senator from vermont, as usual, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. coming up the desperate efforts to free a young american woman held hostage by isis ranging from a courageous bluff to a military commando raid. we have new details. and three muslim students shot execution style in a quiet

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isis captivity from a daring bluff to a special forces raid. many people put their lives at risk trying to bring her back to her family. kayla mueller was in captivity at an isis camp in syria. out of nowhere, a man appeared in the camp. he told her captors he was her husband and appealed for her release. it was a ruse that mueller wasn't in on. >> of course she said she wasn't married and she didn't lie to her captors that she was married, so that foiled that plan. >> reporter: congressman paul gossert doesn't know who the man was but says he could have been a fellow aid worker who had been captured with mueller and later released. >> i think this was orchestrated from the folks she was associated with. people very concerned for a young lady caught behind militant lines and her safety was paramount to them. they wanted to try to get her home. >> reporter: he represents mueller's home district in minnesota and has had extensive contact with her parents since she was captured in 2013. he was briefed on that attempted rescue by state department

sources, members of mueller's family and fellow arizonan senator john mccain. tonight, cnn is learning of exhaustive and daring efforts to win the release of kayla mueller. mccain himself traveled to iraq qatar, met with syrian rebel leaders to try to get mueller out. he says his own chief of staff ventured into a refugee camp just across the turkish border from kobani to try to get information on mueller. it was an enormous risk. >> it was overrun with a number of terrorist soldiers. from that standpoint he was being watched very carefully. >> reporter: his aide came up empty. the u.s. military took on a dangerous mission to rescue kayla mueller. >> i deployed an entire operation at significant risk to rescue not only her but the other individuals that had been held and probably missed them by a day or two. >> reporter: july 2014 navy

s.e.a.l.s and delta force commandos move in by helicopter to an abandoned oil refinery near the isis stronghold of roqqa. they get to a building where they think mueller and james foley and other hostages are being held. no one is there but they find strands of hair believed to be mueller's. a firefight ensues. the mission lasts two hours. former s.e.a.l. john mcguire was not on that raid but knows how risky it was. >> intelligence we do the best we can with what we have. it's never perfect. it's not a perfect world. the situations and the training are not exactly perfect. >> even with all of that and with all the risks involved both the congressmen and senator mccain have told reporters they feel they failed kayla mueller's family because despite those exhaustive efforts, she was not returned safely to her home. >> were senator mccain and the congressman satisfied with the way the obama administration actually handled the kayla mueller case? >> for the most part they say they were. they both acknowledge that the administration had limited

intelligence because of the situation in syria about kayla mueller but at one point there was frustration. the aide met with an experienced state department official at the u.s. embassy in turkey asking for help on the mueller case. he says that official did not give much help. he says he shrugged his shoulders and told him to deal with the issue in washington. mccain also complained that he didn't get much information from the obama administration. we approached the state department on those complaints. they did not respond. >> brian, thanks very much. let's get some analysis. joining us our cnn military analyst, retired lieutenant general mark hertling. bob baer former cia operative. peter bergen and tom fuentes, a former fbi assistant director. bob baer, how common are these kinds of raids and the fact that very often they do fail? >> the military will do them when ordered. the techniques they use are wonderful. i have watched them at fort

bragg and watch the s.e.a.l.s as well. they can't be beaten in the field of battle but it's always the intelligence because there is no way to absolutely confirm the hostages are where they are going when they are making the raid. that's why they are reluctant to do it usually because the intelligence is not good enough not because of soldiering. >> because you really risk those american lives going in for a raid if the intelligence isn't good. there could be a trap. that certainly is the highest concern. general, you suggested to us yesterday you thought when the president was speaking about the failed raid he was maybe giving away too much information to the terrorists out there. i want you to elaborate and explain what you mean. >> let me jump into what bob just said first, if i can. over a 15-month period of time in iraq special operators worked for me and they would conduct anywhere from five to 20 raids per day. usually at nighttime. each one of those, the intelligence from human sources, from overhead platforms, from signals intelligence as bob said, has to be near perfect.

these guys can work miracles. what i'm suggesting is over the last several months is we have had these kind of raids and the president talked about him deploying forces to do this. we probably talked about these things too much. it gives away too much operational security. special operations forces are magnificent at what they do and part of what they do is very secretive. we should keep it a little more secretive than what we have been lately. >> you agree, tom? >> yes. i think i do. these things are so sensitive to try to do that and what happens is the sympathy for the family and for the girl are so strong the senators want to get involved other people want to get involved and they actually can make it more dangerous and risk the success of a military operation. the problem is by keeping what's being planned a secret even from the family it appears the government is doing nothing and the less that shows, probably the more they actually are trying to do. that's just the nature of the business. so the government the president, the politicians need

to be able to withstand the criticism of the family who says they are doing nothing when they know they are doing everything possible and that eventually they are going to deploy a delta team and s.e.a.l. team and risk their lives to try to effect a release. >> the process there could be political grief they are worried about and that's why they may go ahead, start spilling some of the secrets, for example, they sent someone in pretending to be her husband. that could be useful information next time around so all of a sudden that kind of operative presumably goes away because that kind of plot has been revealed. >> that's true. that's true. the politics shouldn't override the safety of this rescue or future rescues. >> that would reveal what they call methods which could be very very dangerous. peter bergen let's talk about these reports out there that kayla mueller, the 26-year-old hostage who was killed may have actually been sold off to a leader of isis as a so-called bride. would that be common for a young female hostage, an american young woman like this to be

given to someone as a bride, if you will? >> wolf i'm skeptical of the report on two levels. first of all, isis has definitely enslaved people they consider to be enslavable like the yazidis but christians are accorded some protections. in their kind of warped view i think this report of her being sold is something i would look at with skepticism. let me add to that how do we know this fact? i think we are all agreeing with this discussion that we didn't know where kayla was. if we don't know where kayla was, how do we know she was married to somebody? if we knew she was married to somebody then we know where she was. it doesn't quite, the chain of logic doesn't quite add up. certainly the family was told by the top counterterrorism official in the united states that the government had this hypothesis but this is

intelligence not a fact. it's an estimate not a definite fact. >> bob baer what do you think about that the point that peter is making that they would give a certain degree of respect to christians and jews if you will even though we know they are more than happy to go ahead and behead christians and jews who may be taken hostage. >> peter is absolutely right. the female hostages taken by the islamic state were treated well. i'm getting this from the released hostages one removed. kayla was not sold off as a bride, at least until may of last year. she was treated differently from the men. she was not tortured she was not used given to a man, anything like that. so these reports i think are just flat out wrong. peter is absolutely right, that for whatever reason these people treat christian women, jewish women, different. >> guys i want all of you to stand by. we have more coming up. also coming up shock and

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at ally bank no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like mute buttons equal danger. ...that sound good? not being on this phone call sounds good. it's not muted. was that you jason? it was geoffrey! it was jason. it could've been brenda. breaking now, despite a long day of high level negotiations we're seeing absolutely to letup in the bloody fighting between russian supported rebels and government forces in ukraine. an unsmiling ukrainian president poroshenko quickly shook hands with russia's vladimir putin as they prepared to sit down with leaders of germany and france in

an attempt to reach a peace deal. our senior international correspondent nick paton-walsh is right near all the fighting that's going on in ukraine. he's got more. what's the very latest? >> reporter: today started as possibly the worst possible backdrop for peace talks. stray shell hitting a bus stop here in the very city center of donetsk, separatist held area killing four. the driver caught in the flames there in his bus, in fact. we drove north to try and see exactly how the fight for that key town with both sides desperately wanting to seize or have control of before the cease-fire talks, how that fight was going. we understand that in fact the militant separatists tried to take over a police station in the city center there. they failed as far as we understand but they still claim they have that town surrounded. we saw ourselves how separatist artillery was firing a lot of hardware in the direction of that town. also interestingly, too, amongst the ranks there, a device known

as an sa-13 gopher air defense system the russian military and other militaries too, use as well showing again the high tech equipment these separatist rebels seem to be able to get their hands on. later on today in donetsk we have heard pretty consistent shelling. deathly quiet now with the occasional thud of incoming artillery. the talks still going on. the foreign minister lavrov telling russian state media he doesn't think there will be a signature today. that was actually speaking yesterday. so there could be potential hopes for the hours ahead but it looks like the talks are really dragging on. >> the fighting is obviously still going on where you are. i want you to be really careful. nick paton walsh on the ground for us giving us the very latest. critical moments in this entire war. up next we have new details as investigators here in the united states in north carolina, they're looking into why three arab american college students were shot dead. the father of two of the victims calls it a hate crime because they were muslim.

there's growing outrage tonight over the shooting deaths of three muslim students near the university of north carolina in chapel hill. the father of two of the students is calling it an execution style hate crime. our national correspondent suzanne malveaux is in north carolina for us. suzanne, this has been a horrendous horrendous story. i know you are covering it for us. give us the very latest. >> reporter: wolf it's tragic. it is also bizarre.

you talk to people in the neighborhood they just can't understand how something like this happened. the car is still in the driveway parked here. one of the neighbors as well as the condominium on the second floor where the alleged shooter came out and started shooting at those neighbors. there is a big debate and there were dueling press conferences today from the victims' families as well as from the suspect's families regarding whether or not the motive was simply a parking dispute or a hate crime. chilling 911 calls describe a horrifying scene. >> i heard about eight shots go off in an apartment. i don't know the number. about three girls, more than one girl screaming, then there was nothing. >> reporter: three muslim students were shot in the head near the campus of the university of north carolina at chapel hill tuesday night. chapel hill police say they are investigating the possibility the shooting was a hate crime, targeting the three students for their muslim faith.

the preliminary investigation says the incident began as a dispute over parking but angry family members insist this had nothing to do with a parking spot. a family spokesperson says the suspect had threatened the victims before. >> we ask that the authorities investigate these senseless and heinous murders as a hate crime. >> reporter: but the suspect's wife has come out saying this has nothing to do with religion. >> i can say with my absolute belief that this incident had nothing to do with religion or victims' faith. >> reporter: the alleged shooter, 46-year-old craig steven hicks, turned himself in last night and is being held without bond on three counts of first degree murder. hicks, who claims he is an atheist, allegedly posted anti-religious statements on his facebook page writing quote, when it comes to insults, your religion started this not me. if your religion kept its big mouth shut, so would i.

cnn could not independently confirm the authenticity of the posts or his facebook page. the victims, a 23-year-old dentistry student, his 21-year-old wife of just over a month, and her 19-year-old sister. he was raising money on a fund-raising site to provide dental care to syrian refugees in turkey. >> have you ever felt helpless about the situation in syria and felt like you can't do anything about it? >> reporter: we spoke with a close friend of all three victims. >> this is maybe a week or two ago, out of the blue he just said, this is the kind of guy he is he just texted me i love you, man. >> reporter: i had a chance to talk to many of their friends and some of the neighbors as well of the slain victims and they say it is a tight muslim community, that friends of the victims cannot speak to hicks' motivations but they do say they never felt targeted as a

community, that people are very supportive here in chapel hill that they have gotten a lot of love but the slain victims' families they think there is certainly more behind this than simply a parking dispute. >> there must be more. you don't go ahead and allegedly shoot someone in the head three young people like this simply because of a parking dispute. obviously there is something horrendous going on. so the community there, i assume is in shock right now over what happened, suzanne. >> reporter: they are absolutely in shock. they don't understand this. i talked to so many of the friends who started posting and talking via text and facebook. it was just you know a couple days ago that they received their last post from him, saying how excited he was to be part of a community, a community that was providing free dental care to the homeless as well as food that this guy was a role model. this is somebody that people just loved being around and that these two, the couple they had

just gotten married in december. they were still kind of celebrating, if you will newlyweds, and the younger sister who happened to be in the condominium it was hard to understand how these vibrant people very much a part of the community, could be go so quickly and so tragically. >> i know you will stay there for us and get more information. i want to bring in evan perez. he has working his sources. what are you learning about this investigation? federal authorities are now looking into it as well? >> everybody in washington and down in raleigh is monitoring this. they are looking at is very closely. a lot of pressure on the federal government because of this allegation that it could be a hate crime. we know that the police and fbi have been looking at this suspect's computer all day today. they have been looking through every single thing that perhaps he was planning to do this based on religion or against muslims.

they have found absolutely nothing. he has no criminal record. he is unemployed. there's nothing indicating any pattern of violence or anything that would suggest he would do this. >> no one believes this is over a parking spot. >> that's the thing. a lot of people are finding it hard to believe. so far, this is what i know this is what police know from what has happened. apparent apparently he found the victim's car in what he said was his parking space. this is a dispute they have had before. he went up to the condo and confronted them and shot the three victims. that's exactly what he has told police happene. his word is the only thing they have to go on. there are no other witnesses. they're trying to do -- going through the computer to make sure there's nothing else. >> stand by. a prayer vigil for the three victims of the shooting scheduled to start in less than an hour. students from universities in the area they are all expected

to attend. joining us on the phone is the mayor of chapel hill. mayor, thanks very much for joining us. give us the very latest. do you believe for instance this was a hate crime? >> caller: well i think that the motive behind any kind of action like this is unknown to anyone. the actions that this man took are irrational. i think that while we are here in mourning for the loss of these three lives we're struggling to understand what could have motivated mr. hicks to commit this crime. so at this time like our law enforcement officers we are investigating and we are waiting for some evidence that would point in that direction. >> have you seen any evidence in the social media, whether facebook or twitter or anything else that he hated muslims, for example? >> caller: i am not aware of any

of that. i think the reporting that you just had that related what has been discovered through the investigation is really all that we do know. we know that this man had a difficult interaction with neighbors. he handled it in ways that a rational person would not and not a way of this community would. so again, we're struggling with motives just as everyone else is. >> the victims' family members -- you know this mayor. they say the three were threatened before by this suspect, that they say he posted offensive things about religion online. were police for example, in your community aware that these three believed they had been threatened by the suspect? >> caller: i'm not aware that our police understood that or knew that had occurred.

and that is the kind of evidence that they are looking for. they are looking for something that would point to why would he respond in this kind of way. the neighborhood that they lived is like many here in chapel hill, has limited facility. folks in that neighborhood have dealt with and worked with each other in a very chapel hill way in the past in rationing parking spaces. this is so out of line. this kind of behavior is out of line in the way anyone here would respond to something like this. it just baffles us as much as you. >> are muslims in chapel hill safe right now? are you going to step up security at muslim sites? >> caller: muslims in chapel hill tonight are safe as anyone in chapel hill tonight. this is a community that has a longstanding history of ensuring the safety of its citizens.

crime like this is extraordinarily rare in chapel hill. largely because of people like these three young people who spend their time here reaching out to each other, embracing each other and the diverseity within our community to create that safe space. one of the things that's most offensive about this crime is that someone would shatter the hard work that these three young people participated in doing, which is creating this wonderful community. a community and work of theirs that extended well beyond our borders. as you have reported actually touched people around the world. i think that's one of the most challenging things that we're dealing with tonight. but the people of our community are safe this evening. >> thank you, mayor, very much for joining us. our deepest condolences to the families of these three wonderful young people. we'll be right back.

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happening now, isis war power, president obama urges congress to give him new authority to destroy the terrorist group. will get reaction from a leading republican critic senator lindsey graham. a hostage bride? new information about kayla mueller's life in captivity and the possibility she was forced into a relationship with a terrorist. urgent peace talks as the body count rises in ukraine. russia's putin meets with key leaders. what's he willing to do to end the fighting? muslims gunned down. a family is shattered.

a u.s. college town is shaken. was religious hate the motive? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you are in "the situation room." our coalition is on the offensive. isil is on the defensive and isil is going to lose. >> breaking news tonight. president obama makes the case for new authority to wage war against isis. he spoke at the white house just a little while ago after six months of air strikes. the president's new request to congress would allow limited but not enduring ground combat operations. the white house acknowledges the language is intentionally fuzzy to give the president maximum flexibility. senator lindsey graham leading republican voice on military matters, he is standing by live along with our correspondents analysts. they are covering the breaking news. let's get the latest first. our chief national security

correspondent jim sciutto joins us. >> reporter: the president expressed a combination of confidence and caution. he vows to defeat isis but makes clear to a war weary american public the u.s. will not engage in a long prolonged war to fight the terror group. he deliberately left space for ground operations in iraq and syria. it is becoming clearer far beyond. isis fighters parade through concurred territory with dozens of vehicles in tow. this isn't iraq or syria. it is libya. as the isis flag waves over parts of more and more countries, the new military authorization could give president obama and his successors the freedom to engage in more places and on the ground in a limited way. >> if we had intelligence about a gathering of isil leaders and our partners ss didn't have the capacity to get them i would be prepared to order our special

forces to take action because i will not allow these terrorists to have a safe haven. >> reporter: there are concerns about overreach. >> a resolution that says we can go after isil any time, anywhere using any level of ground force as long as it's not enduring that pretty much is carp blanche. >> reporter: isis is going to libya. they claimed responsibility for an attack on a hotel in january that killed at least ten, including an american. to the peninsula in egypt where dozens were killed when isis launched suicide attacks on army and police positions. isis claims these photos show the explosions. on to yemen where isis has gained support among fighters for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. on the republican side of the aisle, there's the opposite concern, about tieing the hands of future president ss to fight terror groups wherever and

however they decide sglt president's point is he wants to dismantle and destroy isis. i haven't seen a strategy that will accomplish that. >> reporter: with the number of foreign fighters growing to more than 20,000 strong there are fears thatd ss that the problem could land in the u.s. in a horrific way. >> they are barbarians. they are at the gate. we want to keep them outside the gate of the united states. i'm concerned that some have already returned. >> reporter: the president's proposed authorization specifies isis and close affiliates but doesn't specify going after them where. keep in mind they have expanded beyond syria and iraq. they have carried out operations -- show that up here. carried out operations in the pa peninsula in egypt, libya and yemen and support further afield in afghanistan and pakistan. this authorization leaving open the possibility of military

action not just here in syria and iraq but elsewhere in the years coming. it's not going to be necessarily a limited war. >> all right. good point. thanks very much jim sciutto. let's go a critical battleground in the war against isis. phil black is joining us from northern iraq. you are in a dangerous area where the fighting continues right now. what's the latest there? >> reporter: well wolf a senior kurdish leader told me he believes kurdish fighters have cleared isis from 5,000 square miles of territory here in northern iraq. isis still controls the city of mosul, they say it's now surrounded from the north, south, east and west and crucially the kurdish fighters have achieved a key objective. there is a route that is resupply for isis. you can see that position is now held by kurdish fighters.

as we saw at that position today, it comes under fire every day according to the fighters there. sometimes, also by isis members driving truck bombs at their positions to try and blast their way through. so far, they have not been able to do so. the kurdish fighters believe they have achieved almost all they can on their own in this region claiming back all possible areas with exception of mosul because of the ethnic sensitivities. they say they cannot move into these areas alone. they must now wait for the iraqi army to finish its retraining. the rebuilding process that has been going on ever since isis invaded and the iraqi army performed poorly it may not be ready for some months. >> is there any indication that the iraqi military will show up? you are correct. so far they have been mia, missing in action. >> reporter: well it's not

imminent. the kurdish leaders on the ground believe it's later this year most likely that they will be in a position to launch some sort of joint operation with the iraqi army. this noise is from baghdad are more optimistic. u.s. officials believe offensives involving the iraqi army could begin within a couple of months. as i say, from here on the ground the view of the kurdish leaders, kurdish fighters that have been the ground force in this war on isis so far, they believe it is still sometime off. >> the kurdish forces peshmerga, they are stepping up to the fight. yet to see if the iraqi military trained by the funded by the united states will show up and fight the war. phil black, thanks very much. be careful over there. in the president's new wars power request he mentioned americans captured and slaughtered by isis including kayla mueller. tonight, new questions about whether she was actually forced into a relationship with a terrorist.

our justice correspondent pamela brown has been working sources. what are you learning? >> reporter: i just got off the phone with a spokesperson for the mueller family. we learned in a desperate reach to get their daughter last summer they reached out to the white house. when isis had a deadline to execute kayla. they asked the white house if they would commute the sentence for a lady al qaeda. there had been calls by isis to have her released. the white house responded back we're not sure what the response was. it's challenging to get a picture of what happened while kayla was in captivity because syria is an intelligence black hole. the bits and pieces paints the picture of an incredible young woman trying to survive. intelligence suggests 26-year-old kayla mueller was given to a male isis fighter, possibly as a bride, after she was kidnapped in 2013 according to u.s. government officials.

officials say there are indications mueller converted to islam, a practice seen in the past by hostages in the middle east. >> these hostages are under severe duress for very long time. they are threatened with death and so forth. for them to say that we're going to convert to the religion of our hostage takers suggests maybe they can get favor that way. >> reporter: cnn learned pictures sent to mueller's family helped confirm her death. according to a u.s. official pictures include her wearing muslim garb. a contrast from the beheading of male hostages. chris voss says it's clear isis treated her differently. >> because she was remarkably decent human being and because she was a woman, that it wouldn't be surprising for them to treat her with more respect in life and in death. if they cover and wrapped her properly, those are respectful actions. >> reporter: how she died is a

mystery. the u.s. military says there's no evidence backing up the isis claim that mueller was killed in a jordanian air strike. arizona congressman paul gosar says there were several foiled rescue attempts to save her. one attempt a man claimed to be mueller's husband from arizona and demanded her release. but was turned away after mueller denied being anyone's wife. >> she said she wasn't married and she didn't lie to her captors that she was married. so that foiled the plan. >> reporter: the spokesperson said the man who was posing as her husband was her boyfriend who she was kidnapped with. he was released and risked his life to go back and try to rescue kayla. wolf? >> a sad story all of this is. the president's moves set the stage for the first war powers vote in congress in more than a decade. let's talk about this and more. joining us in "the situation

room," republican senator lindsey graham of south carolina. a prominent member of the senate armed services committee. thanks for coming in. >> thank you. >> are you going to support the language the president put forthauthorizing the u.s. military to destroy isis? >> it's fatally flawed. i don't think anybody believes him, including me. his actions are not consistent with that statement. his speech today will never replace churchill. he continued a damning narrative. among our friends and allies he is seen as uncertain. among our enemies, he is seen as weak. if you could understand what he was saying today about our commitment to destroy isil you did a better job than i do. >> he wants to degrade and destroy isis. >> how do you do that? >> he said that a few times. he says you can do that with air power, some ground forces as advisers but let the iraqi army peshmerga, kurds, the free

syrian military some of the moderate arab states let them get the job done instead of the u.s. having another iraq or afghanistan war that will last for decades. >> is isil a threat to our homeland? do you think it is? do you? >> doesn't everybody? >> yeah. okay. so let's act as if it's a threat to the homeland not somebody else's problem. let's play out this strategy. i asked the white house a direct question yesterday. does this authorization to use military force allow us to protect the free syrian army that we're training from being barrel bombed by assad? here is the plan. here going to train free syrians if we can find them. we're going to send them in to fight isil. likely most likely when assad sees them coming and gaining capacity he's going to attack them because he knows one day they will turn on him. i asked the question in the event that assad goes after the people we train, can we defend them? they said no. >> what do you want? what do you want this language

to include? do you want another kind of iraq or afghanistan deployment of tens of thousands of u.s. troops to go in there? >> no. >> if the u.s. sends troops into iraq or syria, with the air power, the u.s. military capability they could get the job done right? >> yeah. but you don't need that. i want to destroy isil. i want a strategy that makes sense. >> how do you do that? >> the first thing is you do is train the iraqi army the kurds, increase the capacity. get the tribes away from isil. the first thing is convince people actually committed to winning. when you ask people to go in on the ground you have to be willing to go with them. they have capabilities that they lack. >> you want boots on the ground? you want combat forces. how many combat forces do you think would be necessary to destroy isis american troop snz. >> we have 3,000 now. i've been told by experts that you need american advisers probably at the battalion level. helicopter medevac, special

forces logistics, things they don't have. somewhere around 10,000. here is the good news. we can do this i think with around 10,000. the bad news is we don't have a strategy to accomplish the job in syria. there is no ground component in syria. the free syrian army will take 50 years to train enough to defeat isil at this rate. to get any arab army to go in you have to take care of assad. why won't the arabs follow us? >> because our game plan doesn't include assad. they don't want to give syria to iran iran. >> you want the u.s. to launch air strikes against the regime not just going after isis targets in syria? >> i want to make sure that the people we train to go in and fight isil can't be destroyed by assad. i want a no-fly zone. i want a no fly no drive zone. i want to make sure assad doesn't kill them. the big problem in the mideast, i was told by arab allies, it's

better to be america's enemy than friend. you respect friends. this statement by the president and this strategy will not get the job done in syria. >> you can't really rely on the iraqi military. >> you got that right. >> we spent hundreds of billions of dollars in iraq. we trained them. we built a strong army -- a strong air force and all of a sudden a few isis guys come in from syria. they run away. they leave the armored eded vehicles weapons. they run away. mosul, you have been -- i have been to mosul. two million people second largest city in iraq. they abandon it. isis takes charge. do you believe this new government who is very close to the iranians is any better potentially than maliki? >> yes. everybody in the region tells me so. it's not my view. what you see is predictable. we argue that if you leave no

troops behind if you leave iraq without a residual force, this will happen. three years ago, we said if you can do a no-fly zone and train the free syrian army today, assad will be gone. the decisions not to leave a force behind in iraq not to do a no-fly zone three years ago have come back to haunt us. the army in iraq is a shia-led group. the political progress in iraq is not going to progress until we show a commitment to stay with it. we're the glue that holds it together. when you take us out of the mix, everybody goes back to their sectarian corners. again, as to syria, this president is not serious about destroying isil because his policy strategy toward syria makes no sense. >> senator, stand by. we have more to discuss. a quick break. more with senator lindsey graham, right after this. thank you for being a sailor, and my daddy.

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we're getting new information about the war in ukraine. we will get to that in a moment. i want to discuss what's going on in iraq and syria, the war against isis. senator lindsey graham a member of the armed services committee is with us. i look at the situation in iraq. it's painful to say this but the big strategic winner maybe you agree or disagree in that part of the world seems to be iran. >> without question, they are the biggest winner of what's going on. but i asked a question of the white house general counsel about the authorization to use military force. we will send them into syria. they will fight isil. they will turn on assad. he knows that assad does.

if he does attack the people we train, i asked the question will we defend them from an air campaign? >> the free syrian army? >> yes. he said no. i said why? he said we don't want a backlash from iran. that says all you need to know about -- >> iran is supported by assad's regime. they are aligned with the iraqis right now, this new government. >> they are running iraq. >> it's a very disturbing situation. stand by senator. there's more coming up. our senior international correspondent nic robertson is joining us live. i take it talks are under way at this late hour where you are. what is the latest? >> reporter: six hours of talks so far still under way. started off with the heads of state. they brought in the foreign ministers to build out on the discussions. one of the russian news agencies

is quoting the russian foreign minister as saying that the talks are going better than super. it does seem the russians are quite, if you will buoyant about the way things are going. the german delegation will not share details. somebody else said talks will go on as long as necessary. one of the russian-backed separatists has commented that the only way forward in this is for ukraine to be politically, militarily regionally neutral. there are clearly big issues still at stake. what is being agreed is not clear. there's sense that something is coming together wolf. >> stay very close with you at this late hour over there. we will be watching what's going on. senator graham what's your reaction to maybe close to a

deal? >> the fact that the russians are happy, is all you need to know. the french and germans are about to sell out the ukraine. in the late '90s the united states and russia and other countries signed a memorandum saying to the ukrainian people if you turn over your nuclear arsenal, we the united states will guarantee your sovereignty. well look what russia has done. they have dismembered the ukraine and our european allies are more worried i think about their economic relationship with russia than about allowing putin to dismember a neighboring country. what do you think the iranians are thinking right now? let's say there's a p-5 plus one deal. >> with iran? >> yeah. looking at the west given the deal we have done with the ukraine, don't you think the ayatollahs are thinking no matter what i sign if i break it they're not going to anything about it? >> that's a subject we will get into another time. we're out of time right now. senator graham thanks for joining us. >> thank you.

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u.s. counterterrorism officials are saying more than 3,000 westerners are fighting with isis in iraq and syria,

including roughly 150 americans. a top fbi official is telling congress the agency cannot keep track of all of them. >> if i were to say we had it under control then i would say i knew of every individual traveling. i don't. i don't know every person there and i don't know everyone coming back. it's not close to being under control. >> he is in charge of counterterrorism at the fbi. thanks very much to all of you. how alarming is this? the man at the fbi in charge of counter terrorism says they can't keep track of all the americans, 150 americans they suspect have been working with isis in iraq and syria and some may be back here in the united states. >> it's very worrying indeed. they think about 150 americans have tried to travel to syria to

fight or actually got over there. that's quite a significant number. they believe around a dozen are with isis. they don't know. that's what they are most concerned about. the europeans are even more worried, because there's so many more europeans who have traveled out there. thousands of europeans. they have a bigger problem in europe and concern that more than 500 people have come back to europe. also concern that some of those could get on planes to the united states. >> because philip mudd the europeans, certainly not the americans, they don't need visas to come in the united states if they want to show up here. right? >> that's correct. what i would say to comment on this situation is in some ways what the fbi official is saying is worrying. in my world it's assuring. here is why, wolf. i sat -- i tried to count how many counterterrorism meetings i

sat in on. you own a cell. you get technical coverage phone and e-mail. you get a human source in there. the thing that i was always worried about and the thing our officers were focused on is what about the people you don't know about? 15 years after 9/11 you want people who are constantly thinking, there are cells or individuals out there we don't know about. in contrast to the people we're covering today, it's the unknowns that we have to chase every day. >> evan you are getting information about an isis terrorist out there trying to recruit people. what are you learning? >> this guy is -- one of the things that worried officials is it seemed to suggest he was an american. he was claiming to be american. he is from trinidad. what he is doing is trying to encourage americans to come join isis. he is posting recipes for explosives.

this is something that they have seen before which is you have westerners out there trying to encourage other westerners to come over. they are not just there to fight. they there to recruit others to encourage them to come. >> you have been involved trying to help the syrian opposition the so-called free syrian army. the u.s. supposedly vetting some of these guys to send them for training to saudi arabia. how is that going? >> the process is just beginning. this is a critical element in the fight against isis. you can have military strategy against isis that's predicated on killing as many isis fighters as you can. but the thing is is that isis is replenishing its ranks. the way you hold the ground the way you hold territory and prevent isis from filling the chaos, filling the chaos in syria, is by training local indigenous forces in syria to play that security role and to really be the tip of the speer in the fight against isis on the ground.

>> none of them have been trained. they are still being vetted. there's concern that there could be isis members who could pretend to be members of the free syrian military. has anybody been sent to saudi arabia for training? >> they have not. there's a lot of complaints on the syrian side. there's some dissenting voices that you are hearing in the pentagon. the white house is not sufficiently moving fast enough and training the free syrian forces the rebels on the ground. the program is being run by the defendant of defense. the white house told us that the main priority is iraq and syria is a shaping operation. as long as isis has the safe haven in syria, we cannot defeat isis in iraq. >> paul i know you are monitoring the websites. they are powerful the isis social media recruitment machine. isn't it? >> very powerful indeed. they are spreading this propaganda message online on social media depicting the

islamic state as this idyllic destination for jihadis. that's causing people to travel there. 1,000 foreign fighters coulding in coming in. women and children are coming in families leaving europe leaving other destinations to go and join this caliphate. it has a lot of residence. that's a big problem. the air strikes are killing isis fighters but other isis recruits are coming in to replace them. >> philip mudd the recent beheadings burning of the jordanian pilot, killing of okay kayla mueller, the 26-year-old american humanitarian air worker do they hurt recruitment efforts or help? >> they don't hurt as much as you would expect. let me explain why. the first is what isis is trying to recruit is the fringe. they are not trying to recruit mainstream. among the fringe there are

going to be people who say, there is only one game in town if you want to go join the real revolution the real islamic revolution. that's isis. the second point is more critical and one we haven't talked about much. that is we look at this conflict in syria and iraq particularly through a western lens a 9/11 lens. this is a conflict against isis which is an isolation that inherited the ideology of al qaeda. this is sunni versus shia which is more than important than al qaeda or isis. against a shia government in baghdad. it's the houthis who are against the al qaeda element in southern yemen, sunni. we have to look at this not as just as people joining isis but as people joining a group that is fighting shia. that's a very powerful magnet for a lot of people despite what we have seen. >> do you agree? the iranians are supporting all

of the shia groups whether in iraq syria and yemen and elsewhere. >> a lot of people don't realize isis has been killing almost more sunnis than shia. if you look at the pattern that isis has pursued, they have gone into areas where sunni tribal leaders and moderate forces have existed and killed them. we saw isis slaughter over 700 sunni tribesmen in eastern syria. they have done that in iraq. they are continuing to do it again today. it's not just a sunni/shia fight. moderate sunnis are on the front line. >> i want everyone to stand by. we are following other breaking news. president obama speaking out, making his case for congress to give him new authority to wage war against isis. a very sad vigil tonight for three muslim students shot to death in chapel hill north carolina. a neighbor is now charged with murder. we're going there live.

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breaking news we are following president obama vowing isis will be defeated as he requests new orangization from congress to wage war against the terrorists. he spoke out a little while ago. jim acosta joining us from the white house. update our viewers.

what's the president saying specifically? >> reporter: president obama is insisting today that this new authorization for the war on isis will not plunge 100,000 troops back into combat in iraq. the president points out his authorization is aimed at limited operations such as rescue attempts and missions to take out isis leadership. he did take note of the three-year limit built into the authorization that would require congress to re-visit this issue under the next president. he was saying isis will be defeated. he wanted democrats nervous on capitol hill to rest assured this is not another big war. here is what he had to say. >> the resolution we have submitted today does not call for the deployment of u.s. ground combat forces to iraq or syria. it is not the authorization of another ground war like afghanistan or iraq. the 2,600 american troops in iraq today largely serve or bases.

yes, they face the risks that come with service in any dangerous environment. but they do not have a combat mission. >> reporter: president obama is finding out why there has not been a war authorization in congress for 13 years. he is taking heat from all sides. republicans say he doesn't have a plan. democrats who say the president's proposal is too vague. i pressed eded josh earnest on the fuzzy language. he says it's fuzzy. the president has the flexibility to battle isis wherever they are around the world. wolf the congress may want better answers than that. given the fact that this war is already under way and the white house believes they have the authorization built into current law to wage this war, congress really doesn't have much of a motivation to be in any hurry. >> looks like they will have hearings and hearings and hearings and debate. let's see what they do. thanks very much. let's dig deeper. joining us is gloria borger and

dana bash. the president is in a tight spot. the democrats -- liberal democrats don't want any authorization for combat forces. a lot of conservative republicans say, you have to have authorization for combat forces. >> the republicans are saying this is too sir couple described. it doesn't give the president the flexibility he needs. i spoke with a senior administration official who made the point, congress wanted this. the president believes he has the authority, by the way he has been waging the war without this vote. what he has given congress is an effort to thread the needle to walk a little bit between the democrats and the republicans. if you were to take a vote on this today, wolf it would not pass. i believe people in the white house know that. i believe they understand that. they are going to sit back because they believe in congress does nothing, it's congress that will look bad, not the president. >> they will because they're ones who have been demanding

this for months and months. this was not intended -- certainly, this was the outline from the white house. but they knew full well that congress will change it and massage it and do what they need to do to get the vote. >> to come up with new long. >> . >> the house foreign affairs committee, the places where they will really try to figure out how to thread the needle. find the language that can attract enough democrats and republicans. you are probably going to see a situation where there will be democrats who will never and republicans who will never vote for this. one quick thing about this text and the whole concept of the limitations, the fact that he has a sub set called limitations in here. republicans walking the halls today as i did are just kind of stunned. they say -- i think they are right. it's unprecedented for a president of the united states to ask for authorization for military action and has such limits on his own power.

>> there is history that we're talking about going back. his history at the end of 2002 last time there was legislation seeking authorization to go to war, as you well remember, all of us remember covering it the leadup to the war in iraq to get rid of saddam hussein. there was authorization to go forward. when the president walked in to the roosevelt room today, look who joined him. let's show the video to our viewers. the president walked in with the vice president joe biden, the secretary of state john kerry. there they are. chuck hagel. all of whom in the end of 2002 were united states senators. they all voted in favor of that war authorization. >> by the way -- >> that president bush sought. now they are surrounding the president. he was not in the senate the president, but he didn't like it. >> didso did hillary clinton cast her vote. that vote was one of the reasons that obama is now the president

of the united states. because he ran against hillary clinton on authorizing the war in iraq. if you step back for a moment and look at this through the prism of barak obama's politics what he is doing is saying to the american public i'm not going to war again in iraq and afghanistan. that's not part of my narrative. my narrative is ending these wars. i ran on ending the wars. what he is saying to the congress is i am not george w. bush. you can't tie my hand tie my hands because i want them tied to a certain degree. i am not ready to authorize unlimited warfare. >> there's a hangover with members of congress who will have to vote on this as with the president. people like bob menendez who will help craft this he voted against the iraq war. he wears it as a badge of honor. i got guff for this.

i was right. >> bottom line is this going anywhere this legislation? >> not for a while. will tell you as i said before it could not pass now. you have got democrats and republicans opposed to it. there is probably a way in the end for them to do something on this that will make enough moderate democrats and republicans happy. but not any time soon. >> they will hold hearings for most of march and try to get a vote in the committee by the end of march. it will take a while. >> it's going to be a long process. >> thanks very much. >> operations will continue while they debate. up next new details of the shocking deaths of three muslim students in north carolina. live to one of the best known u.s. college towns. it's reeling from a deadly triple shooting.

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[people gasping] objection your honor. sustained. with the x1 dvr library you could take anywhere, xfinity is perfect for people on the go. a vil vigil is being held in chapel nevada. among the dead newlywed couple whose neighbor is charged with first-degree murder in this case. what are the police saying about this horrendous horrendous

murder? >> reporter: there's all kinds of conflicting stories. they are completely shock and out raged. they say this is not the kind of community that would have any anti-muslim sentiment. the police are looking into this. the three students it all started here because of this car that was parked in this space. it still exists here. they say the suspect who lives on the second floor right behind there, 46-year-old craig stephenhicks told them that the neighbors were many the wrong space. he went over to the neighbor's house, those three individuals and shot them execution style in the head before turning himself in. those three victim young students. we're talking about 23-year-old dia. his wife. they were married just a month or so and her sister. the younger sister 19 years old. a lot of grief. a lot of confusion and anger

from the community. then something very bizarre that happened this afternoon. the suspect's wife came out insisting that the motive for this shooting would have been over that parking space and not have been based on any kind of religious bias. we also heard from the family of the victims as well. they pointed to a facebook posting of hicks says it was anti-religious. it demonstrated that he had an anti-muslim bias and he was threatened before. they are calling this a hate crime. this is the fbi working local police to try to figure out whether it's a hate crime or was a dispute over the parking space. the bigger picture here is the mourning of this community. people just heartbroken over the loss of these three students. >> stand by. i want to bring back our justice

reporter. like these three, you're a syrian american muslim. give us the latest information. >> wolf just because of the sensitivity of this the obvious concern down thereabouts a hate crime, the fbi the justice department here in washington have been monitoring this case. so far what they have seen from the searches of the suspect computer they haven't seen any indication he was pre-planning this or motivation because of religion. they believe it was something he have motivated because of the dispute over a parking space. they say there's been a history of him having the outbursts against some of his neighbors. they believe that's most likely what happened. >> this is painful for all of us but especially painful for the syrian american community like these three young student who is are muslim syrian americans.

when you heard about this what did you think in. >> it's beyond heartbreaking. it's beyond heartbreaking. these are young muslim americans they were integrated with the community. they were model americans. they pushed back against the negative stereotypes about the muslim-american community. they showed the world what it means to be a muslim-american, a syrian-american. they were good hearted young kids. what's happening here is beyond devastating because this is the best and the brightest of our generation and the fact that this gunman took them out execution style really should be a call for the entire country, for the entire world to realize that what happened yesterday was premeditated. this was an attack. it was not a lone incident. this person has to be brought to justice and there needs to be

justice for what happened to these young kids. >> a dental student. 23 years old. he wanted to go turkey and help syrian refugees get dental work. he did this video that we've been watching. >> we know he was passionate about the syrian cause and the suffering of the syrian people. he was planning to go as part of a medical mission run by the syrian american medical society to help young refugee children with dental problems and the families that have nothing. he was giving with his time.

tching. erin burnett outfront next.