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tv   Fareed Zakaria GPS  CNN  July 17, 2016 10:00am-11:01am PDT

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there was some sort of ambush on police officers. at least six were shot, six or seven were shot. we know that three officers have been killed. taken to our lady of the lake hospital in baton rouge. three were wounded. of the wounded, one of the officers is in critical condition. we hope and pray that he or she recovers and this death toll does not rise any further. one suspect has been killed by law enforcement. multiple suspects are still on the loose. baton rouge police are asking anyone who baton rouge who sees anything unusual to call 911 as soon as possible. i'll throw it off to poppy harlow with more on this story. thanks for watching. jake, thank you very much. i'm poppy harlow in cleveland. we are following the latest on this horrific breaking news out of baton rouge, louisiana this morning. what we know at this hour, at
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least three police officers are dead. they were shot by at least one gunman. the gunman is described as dressed in all black wearing a mask, firing an assault rifle at these afrofficers. three officers have been killed, six officers in total were shot. we've just gotten an update from the hospital. our lady of the lake regional medical center says they've received five patients. three of those patients are deceased. one is in critical condition, one is in fair condition at this hour. is horrific police shooting in baton rouge, louisiana. police have confirmed that at least one suspect, the suspected shooter is dead. however, there is a manhunt under way right now. they are looking for other suspects. we heard the governor's statement saying perpetrators, plural, meaning they are looking for others involved with this, others that may be at large at this minute. authorities are calling the
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scene active. they say it is contained, but still active. we're talking about a shopping center location with several stores nearby. a sheriff's department spokesperson says they're checking the area for possible explosives. one thing we've heard, they sent a robot into the scene where the suspected shooter went down. they sent a robot in there as well just to confirm that he is dead. one gunman dead. as i said, they're searching for others. let's talk about the context of this, because this is very, very important. this comes less than two weeks after those 12 officers were ambushed in dallas killing five, seven more were injured. this also comes in baton rouge, louisiana, at the height of tension between some communities and police officers after the death of alton sterling at the hands of police. nights and nights of protest, very peaceful protest, but
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tension has been high. want to go to baton rouge. just to talk about what it was like for you there and set the scene for us as this community is gripping with the fact that three officers have been murdered, three more wounded, and potentially other suspects on the lam. >> reporter: we were in baton rouge covering the funeral of alton sterling, the man who was shot and killed by baton rouge police officers about a week and a half ago. yes, there was this growing concern for law enforcement. while we were there, we saw members of the community actually come in asking officers to please be careful as they continue to stay on the beat out there. sadly now, there are these grim numbers to report. at least three officers killed. at least three other wounded there in baton rouge, louisiana, as the search for the possible suspects continues with one of them confirmed dead.
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this is information from authorities there on the ground, that they are looking to the possibility that there could be other suspects involved. now, there are two things that officials are asking for. that is for any information that could confirm those reports and for prayers, plenty of them. especially as americans across the country head to church this morning. i want to read a statement from louisiana governor john bell who echoed that statement there, asking for prayers. he also said, quote, this is an unspeakable and unjust fie efie attack on all of us at a time when we need unity and healing. rest assured, every resource available will be used to make sure tperpetrators are brought o justice. >> thank you so much. stay with us. i want to bring in cedric alexander, cnn law enforcement analyst. cedric, your thoughts at this
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moment? it's unspeakable, the tragedy. and it comes in the context of the dallas police officer ambush less than two weeks ago. >> yeah, absolutely, poppy. first, let me say this. my heart and prayers go out to those officers who lost their life in louisiana today and those who are injured. it is a time that we as a nation really have to pray for their recovery, those that are injured. by equally important as well too, it is very clear to see that we're in a very challenging time in american policing in this country. and i think with that being said, i need to note that at this very moment here in the nation capital of washington where i am, there's a national conference going on. national organization of black law enforcement executives were in a civil rights brunch when this news broke. i can't tell you the hurt and outrage that over 1,000 people in attendance today are
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suffering along with many other people across the u.s. in addition to that, we had louisiana officers in there from that department and neighboring department. it's really very sad for all of us right now. >> absolutely. art, stay with me. i do want to read our viewers a statement we just received from the white house. the president has been briefed on the shooting of police officers in baton rouge and asked to be updated throughout the day as more details become available. the who is has been in contact with local officials in baton rouge and offered any assistance necessary. again, that statement just into us from the white house. as i go to tom fuentes, former fbi assistant director, i do want to give you a little more detail about what we know at this hour. according to authorities, there was a man walking down the highway, airline highway, with an assault rifle. they received a call, the authorities received a call of assia
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suspicious person walk down the highway. that is when the shooting took place. tom fuentes, to you, we know at this history there are other suspects. there is an active manhunt under way. as we heard from the governor in his statement, he used the word "perpetrators," believing there are potential multiple individuals involved in this. if you are the authorities on the ground right now, as you try to protect your aurss and hunt down anyone potentially involved, walk me through what is happening. >> the officers are going to be more concerned with finding these people than their own personal safety. so that's number one. they're going to want to get to the bottom of this. but they really need to identify the suspect that's been killed and that may be difficult. if he doesn't have identification on him or a cell phone or any other electronic or other identification, it may be very difficult to do that. until they do that, it's going
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to make it hard to find who his partners were that were involved in this crime. they're going to have a very difficult time right now. and you do have a couple of murderers on the loose. it's a danger roadways situation for the people in that city of baton rouge, as well as the officers trying to hunt them down. >> tom, let's listen to a corporal with the baton rouge police department. he spoke just a few minutes ago. listen to this with me. >> that's why we asking if you see anybody suspicious in nature. if they wearing army fatigue, if they're wearing all black, anything that's out there, please give us a call. >> so there you have it, tom. he's asking on the public to help. you have the east baton rouge sheriff's office just coming out and saying they believe that two other individuals involved in this attack may still be at large. as we know, the shooter was wearing all black and a mask.
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he's calling on the public to help identify anyone all in black or anyone in military fatigues. tom. >> well, that description is what they looked like three and a half hours ago when they attacked the police. so what they are wearing now, you know, can be entirely different with all this time. they could be out of state by now. they're going to have to use intelligence information, either people in the community, anybody that can help the police. for example, if somebody saw people walking out of an apartment wearing those outfits before the shooting, that would be extremely useful to the police. if there's any other description of those individuals getting into a vehicle where they could possibly identify the type of car, license plate of the car, and then look for it on various security cameras. so that kind of investigative
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technique is probably what it's going to take to actually identify these people and get them in custody. >> okay, tom. i'm also hearing from our affiliate, this is not confirmed yet. but our affiliates are reporting we may hear from the governor of the state of louisiana shortly. we're expected to hear from him in the next few hours. we will let you know as soon as we have that confirmed to us. i want to go back to you because you spent time in baton rouge over the last two weeks. just about week ago, three suspects came into focus in terms of their robbery of a pawnshop, stealing guns, because they were allegedly according to authorities believed to be planning an attack on police. two of those men were arrested. one's still on the run. how does that play into this context here? >> it's important to point out at the time officials believe this was in fact a credible
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threat. to authorities. that was that these individuals had broken into a pawnshop to steal handguns. being on the ground, we did learn there was information out there suggest that this could -- perhaps that these individuals may not have been planning to go through with this. however, that was enough to increase awareness and to increase police presence. in fact, we saw a major protest take place about eight days ago on the streets of baton rouge just outside of the police department on that airline avenue we're now talking about again today and we did see a significant police presence. authorities later said that is why, because they had this quote credible threat to worry about in addition to another threat they were following up on of an officer being followed. while we continue to learn more about these possible threats or possible plots, it is still fueling the concerns for law enforcement that they could be
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targeted amid this climate across the country, poppy. >> thank you. stay with me. also, it's interesting to note that in the state of louisiana, just as of the end of may, it is now officially a hate crime to kill, to target and kill a police officer. now officially a hate crime in louisiana according to new legislation just passed by the state there and signed by the governor. we are waiting a press conference later this afternoon with governor john bell edwards. six officers ambushed in a horrific attack this morning around 9:00 a.m. in baton rouge, louisiana. a man with an assault rifle walking down the side of the highway. police called to respond, he opened fire. three of those officers fighting for their life at this hour. much more ahead. ♪ it was always just a hobby.
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we are continuing to follow the horrific breaking news out of baton rouge, louisiana, this morning. if you are just joining us, here is what we know at this hour. six officers have been ambushed by a gunman walking down a highway this morning with a rifle. we know that three of those officers are dead. we know that three officers are fighting for their life at the hospital right now. we have just gotten in sound of what took place this morning in this horrific attack. listen. [ gunshots ] [ sirens ]
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>> we know that at least one individual who carried out this horrific attack is down, is dead. the suspected shooter is dead, but he according to authorities likely not alone. right now, they are looking for at least two other suspects. they have called on the public to be vigilant. they have called on the public to let authorities know if they see anyone dressed in all black or military fatigues. this is an ongoing active situation. a manhunt under way right now. here is more of what we have from the scene. [ gunshots ] >> art roderick is with me, cnn
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law enforcement analyst, bob reed also with me, cnn law enforcement analyst. to the two of you, as officers, when you listen to the absolute chaos of that situation, what comes to your mind for these officers? >> when you're going up against somebody with an assault rifle, with a handgun, that is terrifying. that type of assault weapon, that type of caliber of weapon can go right through a standard bullet proof vest issued to law enforcement. it's a high super sonic type round. it will go right through a car door. >> they are not protected as they're approaching this individual, bob. >> they're not. right in the open, someone with an assault rifle is deadly, right through body armor. what this does, too, every call police officers go on, the minor calls in the near future, everybody's on edge. as i would be if i were in uniform. so even the most minor calls can result in an escalated issue. >> the fact that this happens at
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a period of time when this country is grappling with such tension between police officers and some of the communities they police, speak to that for a moment. we're sitting here less than two weeks after 12 officers were brutally attacked in the middle of the night in dallas. we're taulking about this following the death of alton sterling in brounl, louisiana. >> i was in dallas after the shooting. it was absolutely horrible. this is terrifying if there's more than one shooter. at least in dallas, we have one single deranged individual. >> let's just remember, and it's really important to tell our viewers and be fully transparent, that this is an ongoing situation. we are telling you our viewers
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what we know at this hour. authorities believe there are two other suspects at least. but that can all change. in the wake of dallas, they thought there were potentially multiple shooters, bob. >> correct. it's horrific to believe there's three involved in it. in an intelligence thought, it's now that one is down, we get an id, we have two more that now we're looking for. when you have three suspects, sometimes some things don't stay a secret. for an intelligence post-tragedy, it's kind of good that we have three suspects because we're going to get intelligence much more quicker. >> take me into the mind of the authorities on the ground right now as they are trying to care for obviously the other afoffics that were shot. they're also searching for other individuals involved. >> you've got several things going on at once here. you have not only the -- when you respond to an active shooter scenario, the first thing you have to do, even before you
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initiate any type of first aid is neutralize the threat. then you take care of your officers, render them first aid. you've got the crime scene at that particular location, and then you have a manhunt going on. so this is organized chaos. what you've got is multiple law enforcement agencies, state, local, and federal, that have showed up. i just talked to some law enforcement friends of mine and they are looking for two other shooters. again, not confirmed. that's some of the witness statements they're getting. but law enforcement is actively pursuing two other individuals. whether there were -- >> early reporting. have to be very careful. my colleague martin savage is here in cleveland as well. the nation, the world's media is here covering the republican national convention. the security, martin, is incredibly tight here. when you talk about how this factors into where we are
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sitting at the rnc here in cleveland, it would be remiss not to mention the fact that this is an open carry state. as we see some of the protests that are expected to play out this week, they are allowed to carry weapons openly if they have the licenses. that come evplicates things for authorities here. >> reporter: it does, indeed, pop poppy. the news coming out of baton rouge has passed through the ohio police like a shock. that's not to say that this department wasn't plans or prepared for something like this, it's just to say it's a real emotional gut blow. you can see the officers are here on public square. this is part of the bicycle unit. cleveland has about 300 of them. let me show you what other adjustment the city has already made. see the snowplows?
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it is not going to snow. not in july. this is the response to what happened with the terror in france. now they've had to adjust again. you can imagine that of course in light of what we already had seen in dallas, the police force here had planned and altered their security plan based on a shooter that might try to go after police officers. the city is very much on edge, in part because of the protests, in part because of terror, and it's got 50,000 people coming in for what was already a controversial convention. the news today from baton rouge is only going to make the level of concern worse. cleveland maintains security-wise, they're ready. 4,000 military troops are here to help with the convention. they have over 3,000 police officers that are here. i won't even begin to tell you the alphabet soup of all the federal agencies that are here. this city is not in lockdown, but it is certainly heavily
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armed and right now very an anxious convention city. >> stay with is as we continue to follow this breaking news. i do want to let you know we have just learned that the governor of louisiana, governor john bell edwards will be holding 4:00 p.m. eastern press conference. we will carry that for you live of course. before he does update us, though, we learned that he is right now at the hospital with the victims. those police officers and their families, comforting their families as this city of baton rouge stritries to grapple with fact that six of its officers were ambushed at 9:00 a.m. this morning by a man walk down the highway with an assault rifle, killing three, wounding three more. we'll be right back. incredible bladder protection in a pad this thin, i didn't...
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come on fellas let's go! easy to use chase technology for whatever you're trying to master. all right. we are continuing to cover the pra breaking news out of baton rouge, louisiana. an absolutely horrifying scene
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playing around this morning when a man with an assault rifle was walking down a highway. police were called and that person openly and indiscriminately fired on those officers. three are dead. three are injured at the hospital. one at least in critical condition. they believe there are potentially two other people involved. they are on the run right now. as officers in the city grapple with what is going on, at the same time, there is a manhunt under way for two other people potentially involved. we have full team coverage. tom fuentes, bob reed and art roderick, ail law enforcement analysts. i want all of us to take a moment and pause and listen to new video just into cnn.
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[ inaudible ] [ gunshots ] >> art roderick, that's the first time we've all heard that. this is amateur video coming into cnn from the scene that played out this morning around 9:00 a.m. your thoughts as a former member of law enforcement, your thoughts being at scene like this. you respond to a call and this happens. >> i spent ten years in the special operations group, which is their tactical unit. that sounds like somebody's at a range. that is horrible to hear. you've got law enforcement officers there with handguns probably, maybe a couple might have had shotguns. that's usually what they carry in the cruisers. to go up against an assault rifle would definitely be outgunned. especially, yet to be confirmed, more than one shooter. >> bob, what would you do in a situation like that? you've got at least one other
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officer with you. but you see this person with a long rifle. what do you do? you have to approach the suspect right, if they won't drop the weapon? >> we're immediately trained to get out of the car. >> no matter what. knowing those bullets can go through your bullet proof vest and all you've got is a handgun. >> car is a coffin, that's what they call it. it's better to put the car between you and the suspect and use the car. many cars are not quipped with assault rifles. these things happen so quickly and so fast, sometimes that can't happen. you're ambushed inside the car. your partner's opening the car on the wrong side where the shooter is on that side. so these things happen very quickly. and the adrenaline's pumping at the same time. and -- but that's what we're trained for. we continually train every month for issues such as this. that's why i think we're better.
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but in this case, lot of carnage for law enforcement. >> we've also learned in just the past few moments that the governor, governor john bell edwards will be holding a press conference today at 4:00 p.m. eastern. he's at the hospital right now with the victims of this shooting and their families. we'll get much more from him at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. we've learned from the white house that the president has been updated on the situation and he will continue to be updated as we learn more. let's get the context of this. you were down in baton rouge, louisiana, covering the protests in the wake of the alton sterling shooting there. talk to me about the angst in baton rouge right now, how high tension is in that city right now. >> reporter: not just there for protests, but also this renewed call for peace. as we wait to find out whether or not this is directly linked to this growing violence across the country, as we witnessed in
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dallas, yes, there was this growing concern among the community there for officers here. we did see a protest last weekend. things got fairly heated. large amount of arrests. also, i spoke to some police officers who were there. yes, they did spot some individuals that did have firearms. as you mention, though, this is an open carry state. so that was a concern for individuals that people may or may not have firearms in the crowd. some of these instigators we have seen over and over before in protests. we did see a significant police presence on the streets. at the police department itself too, we witnessed large group of police officers set up at the entrance of that department as not just security measure, but also to speak to some of the individuals that were coming in to show their support. because, yes, there was that too. people were coming in with food and drink for these officers and also asking them to please be careful as they remain on the
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beat. because sadly, those concerns have now become a reality, regardless of what that potential would be. we now have those grim numbers that report at least three officers killed and three wounded. speaking to people on the ground, there's concern that that casualty count could potentially rise. that is what we have as we wait to find out whether or not these officers were in fact ambushed or drirectly targeted or if thi was something else. >> thank you. i want to go to bill cassidy of louisiana, joining me now. senator, can you hear me? >> poply, i can hear you. i assume you can hear me. >> i can hear you. i understand you are in baton rouge. first -- yes, i can hear you. can you hear me senator? >> yes, ma'am. >> okay. senator, i understand you're in baton rouge at this hour. first, my sincere condolences and thoughts with that entire
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community right now. what an absolutely horrifying sunday morning for all of you. what can you tell us at this history? because we have reports from the police saying that, yes, one shooter is down, but they are looking for at least two others. is that how you understand it? >> that is what i understand as well. obviously -- first, let me just say, we our heart we ail grieve. we grieve for our community. right now, we particularly grieve for these families. with my head, i know what you're saying. we have to wait for the details. we have to make sure people are safe and we have to make sure that everybody that did this terrible crime are captured. so totally agree with you on that. i've spoken to people at the scene. the details i've heard are the same as you've just related. >> what can you tell us about the condition of the officers that were injured by not killed? >> i cannot add to that. i'm not at the hospital, although i am a physician and i
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do have privileges at the lake where they are. i am not speaking to the physicians who are caring for them and frankly until proper channels are gone through, it's probably not wise to speak about that. their families should know first before we -- >> let's talk about your city. this has been a very, very difficult few weeks for the entire country following the police ambush in dallas, following the shoots of two african-american men, one in minneapolis, one in baton rouge, louisiana, and now this. let's talk about the state of the nation as we see this play out. your thoughts, senator? >> we first have to recognize that the police have this incredibly tough job. all last week, people discounted the fact that there might be people -- we don't yet know if this is related to the sterling
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affair, but it's easy to imagine it might be. all week people discounted the fact that the police might fear for their safety. in the meantime, the police were out there actively protecting the constitutional rights of those who wish to protest. it is a tension and responsibility and duty that fuel other job's demand. if our city, we have much to do, but we have done much. to diversify the police force for example. the front page of the newspaper speaks about how there's great progress in terms of diversi diversifying our police force, in terms of african-american and white and other groups as members of it. and what we can't do is allow the actions of a few to break down the really positive things that have occurred. more to occur, but nonetheless have occurred already. i think that's the challenge and the resolve we have to have as
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well as the support of police force. >> governor -- senator, a statement from governor edwards that came out just a little while ago called this an unspeakable and unjustfied attack on all of us at a time when we need unity and healing. he spoke about multiple perpetrators, saying they will be brought to justice. are you getting any indication of how many people authorities believe at this hour, and i acknowledge it is quite early and, you know, the facts are just coming in, but any sense from you on how many people may have been involved in this? >> it's my understanding that they think three are. but obviously this could be point of a spear of a larger effort. this may be three folks who decided to get together. so we must wait for more details before we kind of jump to that. >> can you -- >> and so we've -- i'll leave that statement there.
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>> so your understanding, just so i have it clearly, that three people is what your understanding were involved in this. the one shooter that is dead and two that are at large, is that correct, senator? >> that is my understanding as well. and -- and it appeared to be planned and potentially an ambush, although i'm not sure that's been confirmed yet. but that is also the detail i have. >> what is your message before i let you go to the people of baton rouge, louisiana right now as they cope with yet another unspeakable tragedy there? >> we are all americans. and we in the midst of this terrible tragedy must remember first, we just need to remember, one, that as we are told in scripture, we are to do unto others as we would have them do
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unto us. this ask a time to come together and not allow anyone to create division. second, to support law enforcement. the law enforcement is a thin line between civil society and anarchy. even though someone may have anger in their heart toward law enforcement, i ask them to bury that and just to speak positively. there will be some deranged by what for others is a casual comment. thirdly, our community has made great progress. we have great progress yet to do. on the other hand, we cannot let this hurt our state and our community, even more so than the loss of three lives of those in law enforcement and the grief that their families and all of us are feeling right now. >> senator bill cassidy there with us from baton rouge today. our thoughts are with your entire kmiecommunity right now. thank you so much for joining
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us. we're going to take a quick break. we'll be back with the latest from this horrific police shooting in baton rouge, louisiana, in just a minute. women don't get paid as much as men and that is wrong. and we have to pay more for the same stuff. what? yeah. cars... what? dry cleaning... what? shampoo. what? you pay more but get paid less? that is double wrong. i'm calling everyone i know and i'm telling them about this. this has got to stop! bud light proudly supports equal pay, that's why bud light costs the same no matter if you're a dude or a lady. yeah mom you have to pay more for a car than dad. no one treats my mom like this!
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>> we are continuing no follow breaking news this hour after baton rouge, louisiana. three officers have been shot and killed there this morning, murdered on duty. we know three more officers have been injured and are in the hospital. we know that one suspect is dead. we also know from authorities that at least two other people are suspected to be involved in this ambush and that they are on the run right now. a witness captured this video and the sound of the gunfire as it rang out this morning. [ gunshots ]
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>> all right. that's what unfolded this morning along airline highway in baton rouge, louisiana, just around 9:00 a.m. when officers responded to a call of someone walking down that highway armed with rifle. now, sources are telling us here at cnn that investigators are looking into whether or not that call was made to lure the officers directly, directly into an ambush. we don't know that. that is part of the ongoing investigation. i want you also to listen to this video. [ gunshots ] >> witnesses say that the shooter was wearing all black, that the shooter had a mask on
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at the time that this all unfold ld. police are warning people in the area to be very vigilant, obviously, but also they need your help. they need people in the area to let them know if they see anyone that looks suspicious. anyone dressed in all black or military fatigues because, again, they believe there are at least two other people involved in this on the run right now. local businesses are on lockdown. we just heard last hour from someone calling in from one of those buildings shut down. our affiliates say that two hospitals at this hour are also on lockdown with armed police standing on guard outside as they work to treat these officers. three killed, three more injured, one at least in critical condition. we are also now hearing firsthand from a man who witnessed the shooting this morning. he called our affiliate station wafb moments ago detailing what
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he saw play out. >> i'm directly next to the scene on carolyn drive right behind party city. and they still have the whole place surrounded. they have cops lining the street in front of the house. they have -- i'm not really sure what's going on at the moment. >> from what we've gathered from witness and from law enforcement, there have been reports that officers were targeted. do you believe that based off of what you have seen and heard? >> i'm not entirely sure. i don't think that police officers were targeted. it may have been a planned attack, but not to my assumption, what i witnessed as i walked around the fence and saw a man laying on the ground in a red shirt that wasn't police officer. it was in parking lot, an empty park lot, with another gunman running away as more shots were
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being fired back and forth from several guns. and then about 45 seconds later, that's when police started to pull up on the scene. >> did you see one of the suspects wearing a mask? we've heard reports of a masked test. did you witness that? >> yes, ma'am. he ran -- as he was running down away from the scene, he was running towards me. he wasn't ninja-style or military at all. he was -- he wasn't all black. in black shorts or black shirt, a mask on and gun in his hand. the way he was moving, you would just know that this was a pedestrian running with a rifle in his hands rather than someone trained. if anything, this is just a man on the street acting out or having a problem. i'm not entirely sure.
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from what i saw, i don't believe that it was police-targeted. >> police, this is greg. we want to be careful that, you know -- tell us what your vantage point was in case maybe you saw part of it and you didn't see the other part of it. is that possible? >> yes, sir. as i seen -- as it was happening, i didn't see the store situation. i just saw what took place behind the store in the parking lot. >> now, what were you doing around this time, brady, to give us an idea? it was just your regular sunday morning. what were you in the middle of when this all unfolded? >> i was pulling up to a job site over here. i'm doing a floor -- i'm doing a floor over in a foster center this morning and that's what was going on. i was pulling in to take care of that. >> when you heard the gunshots,
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brady, did they sound like automatic, in very close secessions? >> definitely semiautomatic and maybe a handgun as well because from the shots i heard, it was rapid fire but it wasn't -- you know, it wasn't an automatic weapon. but it was a semiautomatic rifle. >> semiautomatic. that's what i was referring to. right now we're looking at pictures that viewers have sent in from the scene. so many of those businesses are well-known to our viewers. the pep boys, albertson's is very close to that shopping center. brady, what business were you near? >> sir? >> where were you specifically at? >> right behind party city on carolyn road or drive. i was directly behind the scene, maybe -- i would say maybe 25
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yards from the gunman before he realized i was standing in the street in front of him and he turned around and he realized i was there and so he started hiking back towards party city and towards the stores and running back. >> a witness, brady vancel, saying that he believes there was gunfire even before the officers showed up. we are going to talk about that witness account and what that could mean with our experts right after this.
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all right. we're continuing to follow breaking news. this morning around 9:00 a.m.a. man with a rifle was walking down a hallway. police responded to a call and that person shot six officers. three are dead and three are
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injured and police are saying that they believe at least two other people involved in this are on the run. we just heard from a witness who said he heard gunfire before the authorities arrived. let's go to tom fuentes, former fbi assistant director. what do you make of what that witness said? that could indicate that perhaps this was not an ambush. again, it's early reporting and we're giving you all of the facts we have but this one witness account says there was gunfire before the authorities arrived. what do you make of that? >> poppy, i'm very leery of these kind of witness accounts to suddenly come out and get worldwide coverage even if they may or may not be true. i'm not saying that this witness lied. i'm saying he could be wrong.
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he could just be telling us what he thinks occurred, not what occurred. two other young ladies in ferguson after the michael brown shooting and the hands up don't shoot movement started from their witness statements that brown had his hands up and other witnesses from the canfield apartments told the departments secretly, please don't reveal our identity. it was revealed that brown never had his hands up. they recanted later under oath. so that can happen. as we reset for our viewers, please stay with me. we are continuing to follow breaking news. tom, stay with us.
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all right. we are continuing to follow breaking news. i'm poppy harlow joining you from cleveland, the site of the republican national convention but all eyes are on baton rouge where a horrific event occurred where a man was walking down a highway. police responded, six of those officers were shot. three of them we know have been killed. three are in the hospital. one is in critical, critical condition. the suspect, one suspect is dead. police say there are two others on the run right now. a manhunt is under way for those two other people, at least two other people believed to be involved. i want you to listen to what a witness captured. sounds of gunfire at the