world ♪ ♪ the violence at a place of worship, a second week in a row. this sim, a deadly shooting at a synagogue in southern california. we'll have the details for you there. public church services suspended in sri lanka. one archbishop holds mass at his home. the country marks one week since the easter bombings. also ahead, the u.s. president boycotting the white house correspondent's dinner, holding a counter rally instead of his own. we are live from cnn in atlanta and we twoowant to welcome our

viewers here in the united states and around the world. cnn news room begins now. we start in the state of california. the aftermath of a shooting in a synagogue outside san diego. we are learning new details about a victim of the attack. authorities identified this woman, 60-year-old lori kay, shot and killed by the shooter. a friend says she died after stepping between the gunman and a wounded rabbi. the rabbi told the friend kay saved his life. the story of a heroic act of sacrifice. it came as jews were marking the last day of passover. he opened fire in the synagogue. a 19-year-old suspect is in custody and reportedly wrote a manifesto. it referenced past shootings and claims responsibility for arson at a mosque.

here is president donald trump speaking about the shooting. >> america's heart is with the victims of the horrific synagogue shooting in powway, california. just happened. our entire nation mourns the loss of life, prays for the wounded and stands in solidarity with the jewish community. we forcefully condemn the evil of anti-semitism and hate, which must be defeated. >> the latest reporting on this incident, cnn's sara sidner has more on the attack from poway. >> reporter: the city is in mourning after a 19-year-old suspect opened fire in a synagogue, shooting those who were there to celebrate the end of passover. this is the eighth day of passover, a day when jews remember those who have died, their relatives who have died.

now, there is fresh pain where one woman was killed, three others injured, including a rabbi here at the synagogue. the suspect was captured a couple miles from the synagogue. he was 19 years old. he was engaged by an off duty officer. this happened on the very same day six months ago of the worst and most deadly anti-semetic. here is what the mayor said. >> standing with us, praying for us and having a vigil, starting shortly for the community. >> reporter: the police say they are looking into what they are referring to as an open letter they believe was written by the

suspe suspect. in that letter, he refers to the attack in pittsburgh at the tree of life synagogue and christchurch at the mosque there. they are delving into his background, looking into if he was affiliated with any other particular groups. at this point, they have not found affiliation. this is a community shocked by this, in part because there is a very strong interfaith community here. if you look behind me, you will see the synagogue. just down the street, just down the street, just walking distance, there are two churches, one an orthodox church that will be celebrating easter, east, ea easter, easter, if you will, tomorrow. a lot of folks bringing flowers. this community is strong and plans on sticking together through one of their most tragic

days. sara cider, cnn, poway, california. >> i want to delve into this with steve moore. he was a retired supervisor joining us. thanks for being with us. >> good to be here, thank you. >> people celebrating the end of passover. just the latest in several attacks we have seen around the world. if this trend is continuing, what sort of things can be done? what can people do to prevent and guard against things like this? >> you know, george, it's one of the sad things about the world that we are seeing this. it's a common thing now in synagogues, in christian churches, in places where people have been attacked in the past, or security teams. if you have law enforcement officers, say in your synagogue or your church, they tend to be

carrying weapons to church and to synagogue now. as we saw in the attack in poway, it's very possible this off duty officer saved lives. >> that is important to talk about because with that off-duty officer there, tell us about, you know, what happens when shooters are confronted with others who do have weapons. >> one of the things, george, the fbi studied this. what we have found is active shooters, school shooters, things like that, people like that, usually, they will shoot until they are confronted by some type of organized resistance. one form is a person with a gun or a policeman in a uniform, something like that. almost, without fail, the attack ends at that point, whether they are hit or not. the individual will almost

always cease the attack and escape or they will sometimes end their own life. it depends on their script for how this was going to end. >> the u.s. president has called this a hate crime, steve. i want to take a look now at some stats from the fbi that really indicate what's happening as of late. you can see stats here in the united states are on the rise. given your background, what do you think might be behind this trend? >> you know, it's hard to, you know, there's different opinions on this. some believe the rhetoric from both sides are causing a lack of civility. a feeling on both sides, bunker mentality. people feel like the government's powerless to do anything and the people with, who are on the fringe of sanity feel this is the time to take

arms. i think it's a sign of the times. we become a less talking society and more or less of a reasonable society. when that happens, the people on the fringe of sanity will take things into their own hands. >> the other things about this attack, a manifesto was posted online, steve, reportedly written by the shooter, similar to what we saw during the christchurch attacks in new zealand. >> frequently, i saw when i was with the fbi, white supremacist groups tend to want their ideas out there, as sick as they are, they believe they are valid. this is not uncommon for them to write these manifestos, these grand statements trying to justify a very ugly thing and, you know, shine it with some kind of virtue. doesn't exist.

but, in their own minds, somehow, before they do this, they have to justify to themselves, they know what they are going to do, but they have to make themselves feel better about it. >> steve, what do you make about the fact that, at the end, this shooter ended up driving away and later turning himself in? >> you know, i investigated a jewish community center shooting where the shooter machine gunned a class of kids. i interviewed him hours after he had executed the attack. i said what were your plans? because he ran away. he said, my plan was to die in the attack. he said, i lost my nerve. i think sometimes people who are cowardly enough to shoot unarmed people, especially because of their religious beliefs are the kind who can't even -- can't even follow through on those

type of plans. >> we are seeing too much of this. steve moore, we appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you. now to sri lanka, it's been a week since the massacre there when terrorists targeted places of worship and tourist hotels. that nation still feeling the pain of what happened on easter sunday and this sunday. prayers for 250 people who were killed and the hundreds more who were injured. earlier today, the archbishop celebrated mass in his home after suspending church services as a precaution. many of last sunday's victims were, of course, in church celebrating easter mass. let's get the latest, live in sri lanka. we are in columbo. since the bombing, of course, what is the mood there for people obviously trying to regroup? what is the latest on the

investigation? >> reporter: well, george, the mood here, it's a very palpable sense of fear. the devastating bombings, more than 200 people died. on friday, you had the shootout where police raided and found a hall of explosives, 150 explosive sticks, 900 ball bearings, a drone, paraphernalia. it underlines what we have seen. the sophistication of the cell, how well funded they are and well organized they are. as you come to terms with what happened and they mourn, there's a sense of fear. curfews are in place. all of that that we have talked about previously in the week. all of this, for many, it's like shoving the entire country back. in the '80s and '90s, when the

civil war was still on, this was common place. people didn't congregate, people were careful when they went to work or worship, they were concerned something might half. the last decade, they have been trying to move on from that. there were problems along the way. ift was a process everybody tried to ensure could be completed as best as possible. that changed in the last week. the reality they thought they left behind is back. today, church services didn't take place. catholic services didn't take place because of that. the bishop had a service at his house where the prime minister, is president and opposition showed up in a show of unity, it was televised so worshippers could worship remotely because of the threat at this country.

>> thank you for the report. there is an ongoing effort to root out the terrorists behind these attacks in sri lanka. let's talk more about that now. john is a terrorism expert who serves as international security director at the asia pacific foundation, joining us in london. good to have you with us. >> good to be with you. >> we reported on the raids playing out across sri lanka and there's a better understanding about the scope and scale of the operation behind the bombings. there were many people involved in this. what do you make of the efforts to track down the people behind it? >> george, this is going to be an ongoing challenge for sri lanka security forces. they seem to have made some progress. that is illustrated, as you mentioned, size, scale and scope of the terrorism challenges that sri lanka is facing. that doesn't mean the situation

is over and could be other individuals tied to the sri lanka blast and there could be connections not just physical, but virtual through the dark web, through encrypted messages that authorities are going to have to readjust the operation to understand. the threat is very different from what they faced some ten years ago. >> one big factor that remains is the focus of that intelligence memo. that memo that forewarned of a suicide attack. i would like to get your thoughts around that gap in security and how officials are trying to track down how it happened. >> well, my concern is that the intelligence gap may not be entirely filled even in the aftermath of the sri lanka attacks because the united states and several other countries warned the sri lankan authorities there could be threats to churches, religious institutions and went to the

president's office. the information should have been shared with the prime minister. it wasn't. that's because sri lanka has a political system where the president and prime minister from two parties. there's enormous rivalry. they are close to the leader of the opposition. there's a belief they have been trying to isolate. the political agenda aside, they are talking about national security. it seems that potentially, because of that intelligence gap, hundreds of people have been killed. it could have been avoided. the political rivalries are not going to end because of the attack. that's what worries me as sri lanka moves forward. >> what can be done to better guard against attacks like these, these soft targets. we saw another place of worship targeted in the united states, a synagogue shooting near san diego. >> it's incredibly sad when

there's a terrorist attack. particularly so when religious places are attacked. this has happened far too often. they target any religious institution. they will have terrorists from the same faith targeting another institution because they believe that place is not religious enough or doesn't follow their particular doctrine. we are seeing a situation where security is going to have to be present, visible at places of worship. that is unfortunate, perhaps a sign of the times of the new normal. >> keeping in mind, sri lanka, this is a place that coming out of a civil war back in 2009 and now we are back to a place where people see security forces on every corner. the question people are asking, john, was there a time here when sri lanka became too complacent?

>> i's a very important question, george. you can go back to 2014 to see the problems emerge. that was then during the period of isis' growth and expansion. we know western fighters from european countries traveled to join isis in iraq and syria. there were also two dozen sri lanka nationals. the warning signs were back then where it looked like they were having to deal with a problem of individuals traveling abroad. sri lanka's legal system to deal with foreign terrorist fighters is very complicated. they don't have a system where if you align yourself, you can be banned, arrested or prosecuted. that is something they will need to address. they don't have a proper system of seeing people come back to sri lanka that have traveled abroad for terrorist training. the warnings were there prior to

the easter sunday massacre, we can go to 2014 where seeds were being laid for transnational terrorism in the country. >> thank you, again, for the insight and perspective. >> pler. still ahead here on cnn, spain is holding elections in the deep of a political crisis. what is at stake and why europe is paying close attention to it. plus, the latest avengers movie is now in theaters. we hear from one man before and after the movie. he watched all 59 hours of movie marathon. he did that. we'll tell you about it. stay with us.

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welcome back to "cnn newsroom," i'm george howell. polls are now open in spain. it's their general election in four years. the result is far from certain and may add to that country's political turmoil. this is madrid, spain where polls are open. they may choose from five parties. a functioning coalition government could be a challenge.

for the first time since the death of the dictator, franco, the far right party vox could pick up seats. we are in madrid and the polls there are open as we see where you are. who is the favorite, at this point? >> reporter: hi, george. good morning. they are open in spain at 9:00 a.m. local time. the prime minister from the socialist party is one of the favorites to win this election. although, as you said, there won't be a big majority and agree between different parties to make agreementings for a coalition and spain has the tradition. we remember the election in 2015, then 2016, they had to repeat these election because of our very fragment party that couldn't allow to form government. in this situation, 2019, we are

in a more even fragment situation with also this new party, you talk about it, the far right vox. due to corruption cases that have been affected by traditional parties but due to the economical crisis. that explains the five parties we have. in spain, there were only two parties, the socialist and the people party. sometimes it was the right who won. sometimes it was the left who won. now we have a lot of different parties. the main five parties that could get a big result today, although, as you said, the result is still uncertain. there's a lot of undecided voters. a lot of them will decide their vote today. >> thank you. we will continue to follow these elections as the polls are open

now. we'll have to see who comes out ahead. thank you. tell you about a terrible situation in seattle, washington that happened. it claimed four lives on saturday. this is a large construction crane. it broke loose from a building and toppled on to a busy intersection. six vehicles were smashed by the crane. emergency officials say two crane operators were killed. two people in cars also died. several other people were hurt in the incident. a shake up in leadership at america's most powerful gun lobby. the national rifle association is happening. the president, oliver north, says he isn't being nominated for a second term. the surprise announcement is after a dispute with the organizations ceo, wayne la peer. it comes as the finances are being investigated by the new york attorney general. still ahead here, the israeli prime minister speaking

out about the synagogue shooting. we will go live to jerusalem with the latest. washington journalists hold a celebration of the first amendment, but a key person was missing. at a comfort inn with a glow taround them, so people watching will be like, "wow, maybe i'll glow too if i book direct at choicehotels.com." who glows? just say, badda book. badda boom. book now at choicehotels.com.

welcome back to viewers here in the united states and around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom" live in atlanta. i'm george howell. sri lanka's archbishop held mass in his home. this, as the island nation marks one week since the terror attacks that killed 250 people. they carried out raids to find

the people behind the attacks. in spain, the polls are open for the country's third general election in four years. voters will choose among five national parties, including a far right party called vox that's growing in popularity. pope francis is directing a half million dollars to programs helping central american migrants in mexico. it will be used for food, housing and other aide. he wants to bring to light the people in mexico unable to reach the united states. we are learning details about a deadly shooting at a synagogue in the united states. the victim killed in saturday's shooting, lori kay. a friend of the victim says she died stepping between the gunman and wounded rabbi. the rabbi said kay saved his life.

israel is reacting to what happened let's bring in orem lieberman. orem? >> reporter: it was the end of the saabeth when the shooting happened and the responses came in last night and continue this day as israel marks the end of massover. israel's president condemned the shooting and said israel's thoughts and prayers are with the family of lori gilbert kay. the murderous attack on the jewish community during the holiday of freedom and just before holocaust holiday is yet another painful reminder that anti-semitism and hatred of jews is everywhere. a few short minutes after that, israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, responded. he condemns the attack. it is a trike into the heart of the jewish people. the international community

should intensify the battle against anti-semitism. netanyahu expressing condolences to the family of kay. he will reach out to the factors and have a special discussion this week in light of another attack like this. george? >> oren, of course this, not to be forgotten what happened in pittsburgh as well, a synagogue shooting there. >> reporter: of course. it's worth noting in terms of the time, they happened, in relation to the time here, it was at the same time, right after the holiday, the end of the sabbath in both cases. a traditional day of resting to reflect a day of peace and quiet, they wake up to these horrific attacks. that is how the holiday ends here, moving into a workweek with a very, very difficult beginning.

that pittsburgh attack on everyone's mind as well. now the jewish community in america and worldwide deal with another similar attack. >> six months after the pittsburgh synagogue shooting. live in jerusalem with reaction. orne, thank you. back here in the united states, the annual white house correspondent's dinner. it happened saturday night in washington. the u.s. president was notably absent from the event. the third straight here donald trump boycotted the dinner. in fact, his entire administration was a no show this year. the president often attacked the news media. historian ron, told the room full of journalists not to be discouraged in their pursuit of truth. >> this is as good a time as in to take stock and rededicate yourself to the highest standards of integrity. donald trump is not the first and won't be the last to create

jitters about the first amendment. be humble, be skeptical and aware of being infected by the very things you are fighting and against. the press is a powerful weapon that must always be fired with reluctance and aimed with precision. >> president trump held a campaign rally in wisconsin, a counter rally while the dinner was taking place. let's talk about this with scott lucas. scott is a professor at birmingham. good to have you with us. >> thank you, george. >> there is a good article in the "washington post" that really hits the mark here. this event that is usually built around comedy, scott, self-d self-deprication. attendees welcomed a historian that set a different mood there. >> of course it did.

there's the headline, of course, about the person who wasn't there, the president of the united states. i think, in part, this was because the trump administration is aiming at folks. y'all are enemies of the people. y'all are the threat within. last year, they aimed at the comedian who was there. they said her humor was part of this assault on american values. i think it was good to hear ron. i think he's absolutely right, this is a serious time in america. i will go further. he said this won't be the last threat to the first amendment. this arguably is the most serious threat to the first amendment we have had for generations and will have for some time to come. we are now at the point, we are beyond y'all having a good time, which i hope you did. you are talking about a president who is not embracing the press as being part of the american system. you are the outsiders if you

disagree. of course those media who do support him are the good guys. that type of division, beyond being republican or democrat, doesn't do anybody any good at all. >> it is a very confusing time. the u.s. president did not attend nor did we see top staff on stage. mr. trump does not take well to jokes at his expense. the media aren't as open to humor as well, gimven the circumstances. it's like humor left the room. >> come on. it's not like y'all can't have a good laugh. you can look at folks, i won't snam a specific show, but those who make light of the, let's say pretenses of power. we have done it for generations and will do it for generations to come. i think you have to question here, which is that of spectacle

versus substance. make it about me. make it about the show. make it about how i wasn't in washington, but i was in wisconsin. the more you don't focus on the spectacle and you don't focus on the personality and the more you focus on issues, the better off you will be. let's try a bit of this. let's talk about the fact that last night, in wisconsin, donald trump facing the ongoing question of obstruction of justice, out of the mueller report, again, declared there's an attempted coup to remove him from office. he called current and former u.s. officials scum for pursuing investigations. when he talked immigration, instead of dealing with the issue, he said, i have a sick idea that i would release detained immigrants, people worried about their lives and put them in sanctuary cities to try to embarrass the democrats. this attempt to take issues and make it about trump and

highlight this idea that he is the wizard, he is the man controlling all the strings, the more you puncture that by talking ant environmental change, by talking about the economy and about health care, possibly, and joking about, well, the emperor who has no clothes or at least tattered clothes. humor and serious investigation instead of getting drawn into trump. >> i want to touch on what you mentioned, sanctuary cities. let's listen to what he had to say. >> we are sending many of them to sanctuary cities, thank you very much. they are not too happy about it. i'm proud to tell you, that was actually my sick idea. >> hmm. okay, the administration denied that plan was under consideration. as of this point, the department

of homeland security has not announced they are sending migrants to sanctuary cities. given the comments from president trump, what do you make of the change in strategy from an administration focused on setting a hard lined tone on immigration. >> there is no change in strategy or tactics, george. the plan has been mixed. it will not, you will not see the release of thousands of immigrants in sanctuary cities. democrats said they would welcome them. we are talking myth versus reality. the reality about this discussion of immigration is not where donald trump wants to be. he wanlts to give you the wall. the wall that hasn't been built and won't be built or closing the u.s.-mexico border, something that won't happen, either. or he can pardon any official. he may not do any of those things, but you get people talking about it, because, of course, it's us versus them or

trump's us. that is his people versus this post enemies trying to invade america. you know, what he did last night in wisconsin, he whipped that crowd up in a frenzy to say all immigrants were threats and anyone concerned about law is a threat as well. when you have a crowd that is screaming lock her up about hillary clinton or cheering when he made fun about democratic candidat candidates, more importantly, they are making fun of people trying to come into america and being detained for it. >> scott liucas, we appreciate your time and perspective. >> thank you. april is almost over. a surprise snowstorm makes it feel like winter in the united states. the forecast ahead. stay with us. n. we need a solution. introducing... smartdogs. the first dogs trained to train humans.

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rather unwelcome blast of late winter weather is hitting the mid western part of the united states. take a look at that. millions of people were under winter storm warnings. even though it's supposed to be spring right now, not so in rochester, minnesota, there. up to eight inches, 20 centimeters of snow could blanket the region by sunday morning. it's impacted travel in chicago and causing long flight delays out of the airports there. ivan cabrera is with us now. >> i was watching the wrigley field cam yesterday, people trying to get around. it is very cold, as you can imagine. let's talk more snow. this was the scene by the river. something you typically don't see this time of year. we'll get specific and talk about the numbers here. we do get late season events here, but this one is really getting out of control and going right, almost into may. this is the last weekend of

april. there it is. some of the totals, half a foot in oakley, wisconsin. we go to chicago, 2.5 inches. that was enough for a record for the day, of course. then milwaukee, as well, another record with 1.7 inches. we have done this before. in fact, in chicago, the average last snowfall, right, is late march. we are well beyond that. the latest is may 11. we didn't reach that record. you get the idea here. early april is typically the last time we see snow in the midwest and we are talking almost may. the storm is done. there you see it. it is pushing toward the northeast. we'll get to that in a second. i want to show you the windchills in the wake of the storm here. it is not only looking like winter outside, it feels like the temperatures feel like mid-20s. that is brutal for almost may here. there is the system. it is mainly rain as it approaches the coast. we continue to see that.

i want to talk about and i'll leave you with yet another system developing. that is going to be bringing snow to the northern plains, about places like montana. you are under a blizzard warning. that means winds in excess of 60 miles an hour and a good foot of snow. so, we are going backward here on the calendar. we should be getting into may. at some point, things will calm down and we will melt this. >> hopefully. >> in june, right? >> still ahead, can you imagine watching movies for 59 hours? the fans of the avengers watched every previous marvel movie ahead of the latest release. we'll talk to one man who completed the marathon. nosebli he thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this... luckily for all your hard-to-wash fabrics... ...there's febreze fabric refresher. febreze doesn't just mask, it eliminates odors you've... ...gone noseblind to.

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it is a movie phenomena 11 years and 22 films in the making. avengers made a worldwide debut and breaking box office records. it's racked up $600 million around the world. it is the biggest global opening in film history and the weekend isn't over, yet. some die hard fans prepared for the film by watching all 21 marvel movie that is came before

it. it was a film marathon that lasted almost 60 hours. joining me to talk about this is someone who watched all 22 marvel movies. herb is a staff writer for the news. joining us from salt lake city, utah. >> thanks for having me, i appreciate it. >> do not give away any spoilers for "end game." with that out of the way, this is more than a movie marathon. in your blog, you get into interesting and specific detail. you mention the smell of popcorn, the smell of smelly feet. briefly here, how did it go? >> i think, you know, overall it went great. it was a fun experience. you know, there were a lot of trying times during the event, like i wrote, at one point, there was a wave of just smelly

feet that washed over me. >> so gross. you wanted to walk out at that point? >> yeah. i was definitely debating my decision to stay. it was such a heavy, heavy wave of the smell. it was pretty bad. yeah. >> i'm sure there was a lot of excitement going into this, herb, but in the beginning, compare your feeling, what you were experiencing to what it was like at the very end. i'm sure you had to be exhausted. >> totally. yeah. when i first went in, i was excited, i was jazzed, you know, getting into a marathon like that, it was going to be exciting. then, by the end, you are so -- you are in a haze and kind of in this weird, like, you just watched 20 movies so your brain is on autopilot. you don't know what you are doing or saying. you keep going. >> i want you to know, we have

this image we are pulling up, me before i started the marathon and me now. it's night and day, man. one of them, you look crisp and excited, the other, you look fired. >> yeah. >> what was the atmosphere like in the theater for you? >> oh, man. it was -- i mean, the last movie, you know, the atmosphere was great, everyone was excited about it and, like, it was an amazing moment to watch that final movie, but you could tell, when people were entering and exiting the theater, we were walking like zombies. in the beginning, everyone was excited. once we got to 2:00 a.m. one morning, no one was saying anything. everyone was quiet. everyone was so exhausted. >> i'm sure. you mention in your blog, you have a new appreciation for films. explain. >> yeah, i think being able to

watch all 22 back-to-back-to-back like that, you pick up on a lot of easter eggs, nuances, story telling you don't get when you see one here, one the next year, one the year after that. there's also a lot to say about just films that highlight role models and highlight the importance of role models and positive heroes in our lives. i think that really kicked out to me how much people love that kind of story and it was fun to see that play out in those movies like that. it was really cool. i think it was a once in a lifetime experience, too. it was definitely well worth it. >> if you are not a superfan, this next question may be meta for you. asking you that question, did it matter the format was based on release date as opposed to chronological order? >> good question. i want to say no.

however, because i think it worked well that way from a personal standpoint. you got to relive your own thno stall ja, where you were when you watched the first movie. it would have been awesome if captain marvel, which came out last month, was -- was shown first, which chronologically would have made sense. it would have been interesting that way. obviously, it's not how it turned out. that is one thing i did notice, yeah, you know, it could have worked differently. >> to watch all 22 movies back-to-back, would you do something like this ever again? >> oh, completely. no, the day after, i went to the office and told them, i told my boss i would love to do the same

thing for the "star wars" movies. there's rumors they are going to do another back-to-back thing when "star wars" drops at the end of the year. yeah, i'm totally down to do this again and put myself through that kind of grind. that's what it's about. yeah, it's fun. it was cool to engage with people online, too. a lot of people were giving me positive feedback about covering it. they hadn't used twitter in a long time and they were using twitter to follow my updates. that was cool to see as a member of the media, positivity like that. i thought it was a great, great experience. >> aside from the smelly feet, i'm sure. herb, we appreciate you being with us. thank you. >> thanks for having me, i appreciate it. >> we are not asking you to watch 60 hours of "cnn newsroom." just two. we'll be back after the break with the second hour. stay with us.

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authorities in california search for answers in the deadly shooting at a california synagogue as the community mourns the loss of one of its own. plus, a nation on high alert. sri lanka marks one week since the easter attacks that took place there. also ahead this hour, mixing humor and history. washington hosts a comedian list white house correspondents dinner. live from our cnn headquarters in atlanta, we welcome all of you around the world. . i'm george howell. "cnn newsroom" starts