felt consoled but, you know, this community is in pain still, and, you know, i think the vast majority of the folks were not happy he was here. >> commissioner stout, appreciate you taking the time with your thoughts. thanks so much to all of you for being with us. "a.c. 360" starts now. good evening, traditionally when a president visits a city in mourning, he meets with victims and families, doctors and nurses, police and other first responders. he praises their efforts and listens to those who lost loved ones and adds what words of comfort he can. president trump did that today in dayton and el paso as tradition away from cameras and microphones, at least we have to assume that is exactly what he did but we also just moments ago heard the president of the united states using some of his precious time to talk about himself and to attack an ohio senator and the mayor of dayton.

somehow for some reason, the president thought this was an appropriate venue to air grievances and praise himself. the president spoke shortly before leaving el paso and where any other president would put the victims first and wounded and first responders, this president's first words were about the love and respect he got in ohio. >> we had an amazing day. as you know, we left ohio and the love, the respect toward the office of the presidency, it was -- i wish you could have been there to see it. i wish you could have been in there. >> he wishes you could have been in there to see all the love and respect he got, the office of the presidency. he did not mention the dead in either city. 31. 22 in el paso, nine in dayton. he didn't mention the wounded. he briefly nodded towards a first responder and said he looked forward to working with democrats on quote getting something done in washington but he did not go into specifics on that.

where he did get very specific was when asked about attacks today on some of his hosts in dayton but before we get to that to quickly set the stage for that, here is what happened according to ohio democratic senator sheriff brown, he was well received at the hospital there and quote did the right things. the president he said was comforting. dayton's mayor who we'll talk to in a moment adding quote, i think the victims and the first responders were grateful that the president of the united states came today t dayton whic what you would expect to be said of any president but not praised enough for this president so with the help of his social media director he made it known. extremely powerful moments throughout the visit with so much enthusiasm and love contrary to what the trump hating dems would say. he was treated like a rock star inside the hospital. he was treated like a rock star and the president said just left dayton, ohio where i met with victims and families, law enforcement, medical staff and first responders.

it was a warm and wonderful visit, enthusiasm and love and i saw a failed presidential candidate, zero percent sheriff brown misrepresenting what took place inside of the hospital. their news conpranference after left for el paso was a fraud. the mayor will join us in a moment and again, had nothing bad to say about the visit but the president wanted rock star and i guess had to settle for normal descent human beings. he said that a few minutes ago. >> they shouldn't be politicking today. i had it with sheriff brown. he and the mayor, they asked to go in, could we possibly go in and i said yeah, let's do it. they couldn't believe what they saw and they said it to people. they have never seen anything like this. the entire hospital no different than what we had in el paso, the entire hospital was, everybody

was so proud of the job they did. they did a great job here and then i say good-bye, i took them in at their request. we made the tour. they couldn't believe she said it to people, he said it to people. i get on air force one where they have a lot of televisions, i turn on the television and they say i don't know if it was appropriate for the president -- et cetera, et cetera. the same line. they are very dishonest and that's why he got zero percent he failed as presidential candidate. >> the president in el paso, the president today also attacked biden who had just criticized him. he did that on the way to el paso tweeting quote, watching sleepy joe biden making a speech, so boring. the lame stream media will die and the ratings and clicks with this guy. it will be over for them, not to mention the fact that our country will do poorly with him. so that's the president of the united states talking about cable news ratings and online clicks. that's what he was thinking about and openly tweeting about

on route to a city where 22 people have been massacred in racist attack. he said this hours after words bring people together. there are so many moments why we listen to anything the president says he under cutting what he said moments ago laters by revealing time and time again what he is really thinking about. the day began with these words from the president. >> no, i don't think my rhetoric has at all. i think my rhetoric is a very -- it brings people together. >> well, he's right about that today in a certain sense. here are a number of people his rhetoric brought together. protesters in both cities holding signs chanting giving speeches against the language the president used. there is simply no way to over state how far from normal this is how sadly at this point how typical.

joining me is host, mayor, what is actually important. how the city is doing, how people are dealing with this now right today. >> well, thank you, anderson. folks in the city are grieving. you know, this is going to be a long process for us and it's quite emotional. even i. we are processing this at different rates and folks are talking about the emotional trama coming forward. there is survivor guilt. there is sadness for those loved ones we've lost. this is going to be a long process for us in dayton. >> there is no timeline for grief and everyone grieves in different ways. in terms of the injured, do you have undapdates on their conditions? >> yes, we saw folks still in the hospital today. there is only a few left in the hospital, but folks actually

ka came back to see the president today and seem to be doing okay physically. it's really the emotional toll that will be the long, hard road here. >> and for people just in terms of i was in el paso and there are a lot of people who needed help in terms of paying for funerals and things like that and a lot of organizations coming forward. are you seeing that in dayton, as well? >> yeah, there is a lot of just great support in dayton. a lot of people just really holding on to one another, and supporting each other in ways that, you know, i'm not surprised by. this is a gritty resilient city. sunday night's vigil at 8:00, this area was filled the entire block. it was beautiful. there was a lot of compassion. a lot of grieving and a lot of anger, too. >> i want to turn briefly to the president and what he said today. i want to play what you actually said about his visit to the hospital earlier. let's listen. >> i think the victims and the first responders were grateful

that the president of the united states came tod dayton. >> you commented on his rhetoric how it can be divisive and that's the last thing dayton needs but did you say anything else about his visit to the hospital? >> no, anderson. that was pretty much all we talked about with the press. it's a full press conference, which i think the president saw. you know, our conversation and, you know, what we really are grateful for the president coming and comforting these victims but what the city of dayton wants is action out of washington d.c. and we didn't get a lot of comments about anything really being done from the president's desk. >> so did you have conversations with the president or his staff or did senator brown have conversation with the president or anyone on his staff what you would like to see happen in terms of action? >> absolutely. you know, when we first came on

the tarmac, i said to the president welcome today t dayto. the citizens of dayton are looking for action and i hear you're a man of action. senator brown during that time talked about hoping he would call and importance of meantal health. senator brown and i stood next to each other host of the morning and as he was leaving, after he saw the first responders, he was talking about how he wanteded to give them a special award and we had talked about the assault weapons ban and senator brown said it most eloquently. he said the best gift you can give these first responders, mr. president is getting these guns off the streets so they don't have to fight them anymore. >> did he respond to that? >> he said we're going to do something. >> so the president called you and senator brown quote very dishonest people, do you -- i

mean, what -- do you know where that comes from and what you say to that? >> look, i mean, i think i've known and watched president trump's twitter feet fd for awh. he is a bully and coward and it's fine he wants to bully me and senator brown. we're okay. we can take it. the citizens of dayton deserve action. we're hoping that, you know, this isn't a typical politician that's all talk and no action. we want to see him do something around common sense gun legislation. >> does it -- i was going to ask does it surprise you, i assume it probably doesn't surprise you that a president -- is it appropriate that any president of the united states would go to a city and take time in that city, again, not speaking about the victims, though he did meet with victims' families in both cities, but instead of, you know, taking time to talk about them, to in public remarks to

take time to attack you and senator brown and talk about him getting zero percent according to the president? does that make any sense to you that a president would do that? >> no, i mean, i really don't understand the comments at all, and, you know, he did have good report with the victims we said that and first responders were grateful. really keeping this the focus on the victims and also on getting something done really was the whole crux of the whole conversation. and, you know, we want action from the president and it's something that the citizens of dayton demanded. we've seen the governor who is a republican in the state introduced and has 17-point plan he'll start putting legislation forward. we're seeing bipartisan support for this. congressman turner who has a 93% nra record called for an assault weapons ban. we're seeing movement in ohio of being able to see this effort.

we just were hoping that we could see some action from the president, as well. >> mayor, appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. coming up next, we'll talk with our political professionals about the president's tone today andcapacity for rising to the occasion and we'll hear from the u.s. congresswoman that represents el paso who said she turned down a white house invitation to be in the presidential motorcade today. we'll be right back. with advil liqui-gels, what stiff joints? what bad back? advil is... relief that's fast. strength that lasts. you'll ask... what pain? with advil liqui-gels. so, every day, we put our latest technology

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we're talking about president trump's remarks in el paso that put himself or grievances first and last as you heard dayton's mayor said before the break there is nothing out of the ordinary, he's taking exception to the mayor's remarks and took pains to highlight the

reception that he got. >> we had an amazing day and left ohio and the love, the respect for the office of the presidency, it was -- i wish you could have been in there to see it. i wish you could have been in there. >> in that speech phrasing himself, the only remarks of the press on the trip, he didn't mention the dead in either city, 31, 222 el paso and didn't mention the wounded. joining us is former republican presidential candidate rick santorum and commentator tara and former communications director for dana and cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin. jeffrey, to hear the president, what i don't understand is by all accounts in the hospitals, he did a nice job meeting with the victims' families and wounded and first responders and doing what presidents do.

the president is a charming guy when he wants to be and i'm sure he was great with it. to under cut that by publicly have statements be about sheriff brown getting zero percent. >> the three words that always characterized the president's behavior are shocking but not surprising. i mean, this is how the narco c narcissist, who had no fight with him there. this is who he is and it is important to remember every time people try to change his behavior, you know, whether they bring in a new white house chief of staff, he says i got elected president of the united states being exactly this way, and he's right, and he may get reelected as president behaving exactly this way. >> senator santorum, i mean, we've all seen these unfortunately kind of presidential visits before. was this the way to end it? >> you know that the president

watches the media, was watching it on air force one and the media is reporting all day about all the protesters out there and how angry everybody was and how everybody didn't want him to come and how elected officials, democrats and others were complaining about it. what he was hearing, what he was responding to i think is the fact that the media spin on this was nobody wanted the president to come and he wanted to counter that narrative and say as a matter of fact, people were very happy to see me. you can't take the president's col comments in a vacuum. he's responding to what the media narrative is and criticize him for responding to it. >> he's not a child and he's the president of the united states and he's just met with people that lost loved ones, people who had body parts blown apart, he's not talking about them. he could have waited -- >> he did talk to them. >> he did talk to them. he didn't talk publicly at all about them so we don't -- you know, i hope he talked to them, and i'm assuming he did a great

job because as i said, he can be a very charming guy but he's not a child who has to respond to everything right away in front of first responders in a hospital setting. it seems tawdry. >> i would agree with you i would not have done it that way. i think we all know the president well enough to know when he feels like he's being attacked and his good intentions are being misrepresented, he's going to try to counter that narrative. i agree. he could have waited but i would make the argue the that tment tt there lobbying for something that she well knows the president is never going to support was also as inappropriate as what the president did. >> it's inappropriate? >> yeah, i do. >> what is inappropriate about mentioning -- >> this is the time when he's going to meet with victims and first responders and she can't -- she can't help herself and sheriff brown can't himself to say you need to call mcconnell and do this and that instead of trying to work on things they can work on together

to help these victims. >> i want to hear from you. >> here is the bottom line. today was not supposed to be about donald trump but he is such a malignant narcissist he can't allow one minute of one day in the wake of two massacres to go by without it being about him. he's not the consoler in chief, he's the victim in chief. everything about him is about victimizing poor me. i mean for goodness sakes, pull up your big boy pants and act like the president of the united states and rise to the occasion for once. come on, you can't sit here and tell me rick santorum that you looked at the way the president behaved today and you were proud of that. is that what you want? that's an embarrassment. he acted like a 5-year-old because he couldn't take criticism and couldn't take protesters. for goodness sakes, he couldn't remember the name of glrendon

oakley. the first thing that came out of his mouth, oh my good ness, it was such an amazing day today. amazing? people died. people died in el paso partly because of the rhetoric he ensited with white sup praem re in this country and talking about what a good day because he got a couple hugs and slaps on the back in dayton? it's ridiculous. we're fighting about the soul of america which joe biden did cussed today and here what the president is doing, this cannot be what the american people deserve. >> the reality is people have been politicizing this moment, it's not been the president of the united states but democratics for president and elected officials. >> he is, rick. >> they are not present but the president is a human being like everybody else and has a right to defend himself being attacked unlike any president during a time of crisis. every other president -- >> let him finish. >> every other president who has tried to be a united and cons e

consoler was not met with this hostility. they are not. >> you're kidding? obama wasn't met with this kind of hostility -- >> no. >> when people like you and other republicans saying he incited police violence when all that was going on and black lives matter. you guys didn't go after him claiming that barack obama and hillary clinton were responsible for isis and therefore the paris attack? you said that yourself. so don't sit here and tell me -- >> not even close. >> go after obama the same way. they did. i was one of them. let's be honest about it. >> i like this business of politicizing. it strikes me that at a time when assault weapons are used to kill large numbers of american people is exactly the right time to talk about whether assault weapons should be legal. it's exactly the right time to talk about whether people should be able to buy guns without background checks. this idea that there is some politics-free moment after these events is just an excuse not to talk about what's really at

stake here. >> it is true that if, you know, if a muslim person or an undocumented immigrant committed, you know, the horrific shooting in el paso, do you really think the president would say you know what? this is not the time to talk about banning all muslims or this is not the time to talk about, you know, undocumented immigrants and illegal aliens coming over here and infesting our communities. that would exactly be what the president would do, no? >> it's the difference between talking about the perpetrator of the crime and the instrument being used in the crime and it is appropriate to talk about what we can do to stop perpetrators of crime from perpetrating crimes and it's not necessarily to talk about did they use a car, knife, gun, handgun? >> you don't think part of that conversation would be how did this muslim terrorist get an ak-47 in the united states and

this alien get a pump shotgun or ar-15? >> we had an assault weapons ban in this country and the institution, the urban institution was charged with looking as to whether it reduced crime. we actually can't make a designificad decision -- >> i agree. >> some crimes are committed with these guns. >> what it said was we can't -- after what they said was the final report on it is we cannot, there is a drop in crime but we can't link that to this ban because it's not really a ban because there are so many assault weapons out there and people who couldn't get assault weapons went and got other weapons with high capacity magazines. that's what the final report said. it said had the ban lasted longer, maybe we could study long-term as these guns age and new guns aren't being brought in but essentially said they couldn't come to a determination, they couldn't make a link between the drop in crime. so you're right in the bottom line that it's not a guarantee, there is no one can argue 100%

assault weapons ban would have any impact. >> how -- >> that's the whole point. we know there are things we can do and do on a bipartisan way. if people are really serious about trying to engage as opposed to just playing politics, which is what is going on right now and you heard will hurd on the last show talk about a variety of different things that can be done in a bipartisan way to deal with the problems of internet violence and depression and disassociation of all these people who are committing these crimes and, you know, if you see something, say something on the internet and have law enforcement take these things seriously, there is lots of things that can be done if you want to unify and get behind this but that's not what people are talking about. that is not what the media is talking about. >> rick is talking about the agenda of the national rifle association, which owns the republican party in total. so all that non-sense about violent video games is a way of not talking about the fact that

the guy in dayton had a gun that had 100 bullets in it at once. and that's legal because the national rifle association wants it to be legal and that's who is in charge of gun policy in the united states. >> tar rartara, you can make th argument there is plenty of depression in japan and people that play violent video games in japan and mentally unstable people around the world and yet, there are not mass killings you see in the united states. >> yeah, you can make the correlation that it's because guns are so readily available here. i don't think that completely dismissing th the desensation o video games isn't a factor. i don't think that should be used to deflect away from other things and if the president was serious about actually pushing through bipartisan legislation, he would have. he made promises to democrats

after las vegas, after parkland nothing happened. >> he was going to get stronger background checks. >> instead of wasting time going after beto o'rourke on twitter or now he just recently tweeted tonight against joaquin castro and his brother calling them nobodies, instead of wasting that kind of time when we're in national mourning looking for real solutions, maybe he should get to work and stop watching cable news and tweeting all the time and do the job of presidency. >> we got to leave it there. appreciate the discussion. rick santorum, jeffrey toobin. ahead, my conversation with the democratic congresswoman that represents the area where the mass shooting occurred. why she declined to join president trump's motorcade today. we'll be right back. let's get down to business.

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as mentioned, the president left el paso. i spoke with congresswoman veronica escobar whose districts includes the walmart where saturday's shooting took place and turned down an invitation to join the president's motorcade. she said i declined because i refuse to be an accessory to his visit.

congresswoman escobar, you said that president trump put a target on the back of your community and that knhe needs t peel it off. how do you feel about the visit? did he take any steps in your opinion to do that. >> i've been spending all of my time with el paso families, and so i don't know what occurred. i don't know if he used this as an opportunity to tell the american public that the words that he has used to describe immigrants and to describe hispanics and all minorities, that those words are wrong and he should never have done that, never said them and that he takes them back. so those are the words that i think a lot of americans want to hear. they are the words that i know a lot of el pasoens want to hear. there was a petition that was circulated within 24 hours, 21,000 el paso people signed on asking him to stay away. health care workers circulated a petition asking him to stay

away. there is a feeling here in the community and not everybody, there are folks in the community who were excited about his visit, welcomed his visit. this for us, for me, not a political issue. the issue is when will the president stand up and recognize the humanity, the grace and the dignity of every human being regardless of whether that human being is an immigrant or latino or muslim. we need that in this country. >> i understand that you declined an invitation by the white house to accompany the president today. why did you decide to do that? because those who say look, it could have been an opportunity to, you know, to make your argument directly to the president. >> so, you know, i knew that should i join him on the motorcade, that was the invitation, i did not know if i would be in the same vehicle.

and and he's talking to law enforcement and try to interject and get a few stolen moments to talk about the issue and that's why i requested when the white house reached out to offer the invitation to ride in the motorcade, i requested a phone call when i knew there was nothing on his schedule and i thought we could have a few moments and i could say to him directly without any distractions and it being public, a private conversation to look for that potential that opportunity for all of us to kind of reclaim the humanity of this country and he declined. my view is if there is no time for a dialogue, i just don't want to be a property during a visit. i'd rather spend time with the families and we had a beautiful rally where we denounced hate and denounced bigotry, we denounced racism and said we would lead with love. >> i want to ask you, i know you

said you didn't hear what the president said and you were hoping he said kind of words taking back some of the words and rhetoric he's used in the past. he didn't do that but this morning when the president was asked if he was concerned about the rise of white supremacy, he responded and i'm quoting, i'm concerned about the rise of any type of hate, i don't like it. any time of supremacy, whether it's white supremacy or antifa. some people said the fact that he brought in antifa it echoed the very fine people on both sides comment. i'm wondering how you hear those comments. >> you know, i felt the same way that this is a moment where he has an opportunity to really use this as a turning point for the country. i mean, believe me, anderson, we don't -- we didn't want this. we didn't ask for this. this is devastating. the healing that this community is going to have to go through,

healing of body, mind, soul, it will be a long one and we'll face it with love and take care of one another. he had an opportunity after all of this horrific rhetoric and everything that led to this moment and all of the bloodshed in the walmart right behind me, he had an opportunity to really truly demand that all of us as a country see the humanity in one another and again, you know, i watched that press conference. he refused to really use that as an opportunity. >> congresswoman escobar, appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you. still to come, new cnn reporting about a sustained and failed attempt to get this white house to focus more on domestic terror and supremacy. two candidates already reacting. woman 1: i had no symptoms of hepatitis c.

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cnn's jack taper said homeland security tried for more than a year to make combatting co domestic terror a priority. a senior source said tapper was quote a throw away line. two presidential candidates reacted so far to the story. kamala harris said the president is turning a blind eye to the national security threats and

beto o'rourke said he made us less safe and taking a page from the charlottesville playbook talking about no longer taking on white supremacy and talked about the violence for essentially both sides. >> i am concerned about the rise of any group of hate, i don't like it. any group of hate, whether it's white supremacy, whether it's any other kind of supremacy, whether it's antifa, whether it's any group of hate, i am very concerned about it and i'll do something about it. >> joining me is cnn national security analyst and dhs juliette. what do you make of jake tapper's reporting that administration essentially has resisted in the past focussing on this? >> well, i think it's essential for a variety of reasons. it's inconsistent for what the

fbi told us, the rise is the number one terriorism threat of the united states. it's not isis and immigrants. there is a misalignment between when the department of homeland security was focussing on and what the fbi was seeing. what is as important and what people have to understand is the department of homeland security essentially guides state and local efforts, there is only about 12,000 fbi agents. there is 800,000 local state and county police officers who need guidance, right? from a department that should be able to look at the statistics and tell them what they should focus on. the white house essentially by seeing no evil, right, would stop no evil. it just undermined everything goen g going on on the ground and we wake up and realize this is a real threat killing lots of people. >> when something isn't prioritized, it impacts state and local law enforcement where

the rubber hits the road. >> that's right. we used to say there is only 300,000 of us, right? only 300,000 department of homeland security employees and millions of first responders across the united states. so what we did from the department or what a good department would do is guide priorities, it would guide funding, the department of homeland security writes big checks to state and local first responders but has guidance how to focus it. the fact they could barely mention white supremacy and the fbi is hair on fire saying this a big issue, i'm not surprise that i had are caught off gauze because of with the rise with white supremacy. >> initially he said hate and bigotry, racism, bigotry and white supremacy, i assume now he's put antifa in there, i

assume that's the bigotry part, i'm not sure of the three. back in march the president asked if he saw white nationalism as a threat, he said no. that's counter to what the fbi director says and now he's never really willing to just kind of drill down and even talk extensively about white supremacy or white nationalism. it's just i'm against hate and all supremacies. >> right. so i want people to understand that this is purposeful. this is what we've been talking about this is part of the playbook. we call it terrorism. a use of social media and the use of the president's platform to essentially radicalize, to ensite hatred towards otherothe mexicans, lgbtq, whoever. that will more likely than not result in violence if we don't know what the violent action will be. this is something that those of us who know about radicalization

will have been talking about for awhile. it's not an accident. it's not like he cares about these different kinds of ideologies. it's a way for him not to shame white supremacist. now the political people can decide why he's doing that but essentially what it does is gives comfort, it gives a sense of acceptance to the community of white supremacist who are inspired by this kind of language. i don't give the president a y pass. he's not just throwing words out there. this is a strategy that the president is outilizing that we've seen in terrorism and other radicalization efforts and the fact that he turned back to it today to me is no surprise. >> at some point, can law enforcement officials whether dhs or chris wray or attorneys around the country say look, fighting white niationalism may not be priority for president trump but is for us and they

will do whatever they feel they need to do? does it work that way? >> i think that's true to a certain extent. the fbi obviously local, state and county do not want bad things happening so i believe there is a focus on this after the horrors of the last couple days but defies logic to think that the president's priorities won't have an impact on people's willingness to start these investigations, the community's willingness to come forward, people's interest in the issue, a white house matters, i've always worked at the departments. so just from a burro cat tick p -- burwith the white house unwilling to mention, barely mention white supremacy means that, you know, yes, people are looking at this, but you need them to -- you need the white house to embrace it and really, really fight it. >> appreciate it. thank you. breaking news just ahead,

lawyers from the el paso shooter's family said his mother called police before the killings saying she was concerned her son was owning an ak-type weapon and reminder, stay tuned for the chris cuomo town hall tonight. the gun crisis at the top of the hour. i had a heart problem. i was told to begin my aspirin regimen, and i just didn't listen. until i almost lost my life. my doctors again ordered me to take aspirin, and i do. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. listen to the doctor.

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town hall, america under assault moderated by my friend chris cuomo. what are you going to be focusing on? >> the time is now. we've been to too many of these together. and many will tell us, well, let it pass. let them process. don't politicize, it's about change. it's not about right and left,

it's about reasonable and change and all of us tonight being open to a conversation we know we need to have. >> and so that's -- who are you talking to tonight. >> we have people who have survived. we have an audience full of survivors. i wanted them around me because i want to be surrounded by their strength and them putting pain to purpose is one of the most beautiful gifts of humanity. we'll have people who have lived through it, people who deal with the issues on different sides. this is not about how do we get rid of guns. i don't think that that's where this country is, frankly. so we'll look at it from different ways with one obvious cause, we can't stay where we are, anymore. this is killing us. and i think that that has to be a point of consensus. >> we'll see you in about six minutes from that. breaking news just ahead, lawyers for the el paso suspect's family says his mother called police weeks before the

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breaking news on this busy wednesday night. lawyers for the el paso suspect's family say his mom called police weeks before the mass shootings. brian todd joins us now with details. what have you learned? >> right, anderson, this is from our investigate team. they were in touch with lawyers for the family of the suspect. those lawyers are telling cnn tonight that in the weeks before the shooting, the suspect's mother called the police

department in allen, texas, expressing concern that her son was purchasing an ak-type firearm. that's very likely a reference to an ak-47 designed to kill several people with one burst. according to the lawyers, the mother was worried about his maturity level, his age and lack of experience regarding owning that kind of a firearm. the lawyers say she was not motivated out of concern that he posed any kind of a threat to anyone and it is not clear tonight whether that ak-type firearm was the same weapon used here in this walmart shooting. but clearly the mother had enough concern in the weeks just before this shooting that she contacted the police department in his hometown of allen, texas. >> and that kind of weapon is one of the things he wrote about. did authorities act on the information? is there anything they could have actually done?

>> according to the lawyers, a public safety officer who was on the phone with the mother during that call informed her that given her description of the situation and the law, that her son was legally entitled to own that firearm. the mother did not give her name or her son's name and the public safety officer did not ask for any additional information on this. and we're told by our team there that the allen, texas, police department has not responded to our requests for information about that phone call. the allen police told her under the law and given her description of the situation that her son was legally entitled to own that firearm. >> and, brian, very quickly, do we know anything more about sort of police response time and when officers or if officers went into the walmart while the shooter was there? >> we do know, anderson, from the police accounts that it took them six minutes to get here. what's unclear right now is whether they actually engaged with him.

we have reporting, police telling me, that he got in his vehicle and drove about a half mile away before he turned himself in to a motorcycle cop. that's not clear tonight. >> thanks very much. coming up right now the "cuomo prime time" town hall, "america under assault: the gun crisis," that starts now. ♪ hello, everybody. i am chris cuomo. we're calling our town hall "america under assault: the gun crisis." it's been a tough week but we should not waste this moment. let's take a breath and talk and take the time to listen. we've put together a beautiful program for you tonight with some of the most predominant voices and they have very different ideas about protecting our society from gun violence. and i am surrounded by a gift tonight,