tv CNN Newsroom Live CNN May 27, 2022 1:00am-2:00am PDT
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tough questions and growing criticism over the mass shooting that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers. the latest time line shows that no one confronted the gunman outside the school. he barricaded himself inside classrooms for nearly an hour before he was shot and killed. media posted on facebook shows him entering the building. a source tells cnn a teacher confirmed in a texas that the school was not locked down even though ramos fired shots at two
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people outside 12 minutes before he went inside. we also have extremely emotional video of parents gathered outside robb elementary while the shooting was happening. some were screaming as you can hear at police to storm the building and save their children. vigils and memorials are giving families and the community a chance to grieve, but nothing will bring back the 21 people that they have lost. and we're hearing now fror the first time from the mother of the gun man. >> translator: i have no words. i have no words to say. i don't know what he was thinking. he had his reasons for doing what he did, and please don't judge him. i only want the innocent children who died to forgive me. >> what do you tell their families? >> translator: forgive me. forgive my son. i know he had his reasons. >> what reasons could he have
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had? >> translator: to get closer to those children instead of paying attention to the other bad things. i have no words. i don't know. >> cnn's jason carroll has more now on the investigation, the time line of tuesday's massacre. >> reporter: 11:21 a.m. tuesday, i just shot my grandma in her head the gunman wrote to a girl he met online, the start of a shooting spree that would leave 19 students and two teachers dead. seconds later he wrote i'm going to shoot up an elementary school right now. the gunman took off in his grandmother's truck leaving her fighting for her life. >> she was able to run to a neighbor and get help. >> reporter: the shooter drove less than a mile crashing into a ditch. two minutes later, investigators say a 911 call reported the wreck and the gunman walking
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toward robb elementary school with a long rifle. his weapons legally purchased just days before, may 17th, he bought a rifle at a sporting goods store. the next day, 375 rounds of ammunition and on may 20th, another rifle from the same store. it was those guns he had with him on tuesday. >> he jumps out the passenger side of the truck, faces two witnesses at the funeral home across the street from where he wrecked. he engages and fires towards them. >> it was like hitting the dirt on the floor. >> bullets, close bullets from where? >> i guess he was coming from the school this way. >> reporter: the gunman climbed a fence at the school and started shooting at the building according to texas investigators. they now say earlier information a school resource officer engaged the shooter outside is wrong. at 11:40 a.m., the gun man
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walked in an unlocked door, firing. >> he walks an approximate 20 feet, 30 feet, he walks into the hallway, walks another 20 feet. turns left and into a school room. into a classroom that has doors open in the middle. >> reporter: there in those connected classrooms authorities say the gun man barricaded pos himself and killed the students and the teachers and wounded 17 people, one of the victims 10-year-old amerie jo garza tried to call police on her cellphone. a birthday present two weeks ago. >> they got confirmation from two of the students in her classroom that she was just trying to call authorities. and i guess he just shot her. >> reporter: as the gunman sporadically shot through the wall, police wait for reinforcements and evacuate other students. >> officers were there, initial
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officers, they received gunfire. they don't make entry initially because of the gunfire they are receiving. >> reporter: parents outside the school are distraught, demanding police immediately storm the building or let them. >> i told one of the officers myself, if they didn't want to go in there, let me borrow a gun and vest and i'll go in there myself to handle it up. and they told me no. >> reporter: around 1:00 p.m., one hour and 20 minutes after the gunman went inside, law enforcement forced their way into the classroom and customs and border protection agent killed the gunman. >> they came up with a plan, they entered that classroom and they took care of the situation as quickly as it possibly could. >> reporter: but it was still too late for so many. and those that we've spoken to, whether the two at the funeral home or the man arguing with authorities about trying to move into the school sooner, this was
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before that press conference where they were trying to clarify that misinformation that they had given out so people were angry even before that. and now this just compounds the anger, frustration, the grief that so many people are now having to deal with. jason carroll, cnn, uvalde, texas. >> the families of those who were shot and killed at robb elementary have already endured days of course of pain and grief. the bodies of 19 of the 21 victims have been released to funeral homes. you are looking at those faces now. so instead of celebrating the end of school and the start of the summer vacation, families are now planning funerals and memorial services for their loved ones. boris sanchez has more on the lives lost in uvalde. >> reporter: as the families of those killed the robb elementary school plan their final good-byes -- >> hearts are broken. we are devastated. >> reporter: -- clintnn is lear more about the victims.
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just 9 years old, her grandparents telling the l.a. teams she loved cheer leading and basketball and dreamed of becoming a teacher. and annabel rodriguez was also killed, her family telling khou the fourth grader shared a classroom with her cousin, jacqueline, who was also murdered. jackie's father says she touched a lot of people lives and recently had her first co communion. >> comforted me that she helped her friends. >> reporter: and another 10-year-old, the fourth grader loved tiktok. her oolder sister says that she was saving money to take the
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whole world to did disney world. and she posted you are loved so deeply, you are not a victim but a survivor, i love you always and past forever, may your wings soar higher than you could ever deal. and a 10-year-old alyssa, her family saying that she could put a file on all of their faces. and they are devastated by her passing. and jala enjoyed dancing and making tiktok videos. and also a 10-year-old who went by elijah, her aunt telling cnn our baby gained her wings. >> it was a difficult day for all of america. >> reporter: the medical experts working tirelessly to ensure the 21 lost won't become more, now grappling with the trauma of those they could not help. >> i think that is what hit us the most. not of the patients that we did receive and we are honored to
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treat them, but the patients that we did not receive. >> reporter: victims lost in another horrific shooting at an american school. >> one little girl was just covered in blood head to toe like i thought she was injured, i asked her what was wrong an she said that she is okay, she was hysterical saying that they killed her best friend, she's not breathing, that she was trying to call the cops. and i asked the little girl the name and she -- she told me amerie. >> that is how you learned. >> reporter: daughter, sons, mothers, wife, names and faces this community will never forget. amerie jo gar cia, lopez, lexie two teachers hailed at heros dying as they shielded their students from danger.
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>> you look at this girl, and she -- [ crying ] oh, my baby, my baby. >> reporter: we confirmed the tragic news on thursday that the husband of one of the teachers who perished on tuesday suffered a medical emergency, joe garcia, married to irma garcia for more than 25 years, having to be rushed to the hospital, ultimately peacing away, his family saying that they believe he died of a broken heart. boris sanchez, cnn, uvalde, texas. so much pain and so much heartbreak. despite the shooting and tragic loss of life, the national rifle association says it plans to move ahead with a convention scheduled for this week end. and they are meeting in texas. and the nra spent, get this, $29
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million in the 2020 election cycle. former president donald trump is among those scheduled to speak. texas governor abbott will send a pre-recorded video. he canceled his planned appearance. not everyone thinks that the timing of the event is a good idea. at least four high profile musicians including lee green wood have canceled their performances following tuesday's deadly shooting. and the latest on the war in ukraine is just ahead with russians slowly getting around, the u.s. considering sending one of its most formidable weapons. and a new report condemns russia for its violations of the convention. you are watching "cnn newsroom."
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residential areas of kharkiv. and multiple sources say that the biden administration is considering the request for advanced rockets, they have a greater range really than the recently deployed howitzers. and new video from mariupol shows one of the so-called filtration centers set up in a super market, it is believed hundreds of thousands of people in eastern ukraine have been processed through such screening facilities and forcibly sent to russia. and thursday finland's prime minister became the latest european leader to travel to ukraine. she visited the heavily damaged villages and pledged additional weapons for ukraine. and to get more, suzanne malveaux is joining me from lviv. let's start with the major offensive that we've seen donbas region. with ukrainian officials i believe now admitting that they are outmanned and outgunned, talk to us about this russian advance. >> reporter: it is really a rare admission from the ukrainian military to acknowledge any type
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of loss of territory, but they have in fact done so. this was just yesterday where they said that this was in the donetsk region and this is just ten miles from a critical point of resupplying. ukrainian military use that area to resupply their troops. it is also a humanitarian corridor to allow civilian safe passage as well as to bring food and supplies into the ukrainian people and forces. and now russian forces just ten miles away. and so this is definitely a blow. not necessarily and ysurprising because ukrainian military have been saying that donetsk and luhansk regions have been hard hit. and they have talked about that the russians have the advantage
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8 to 1 when it comes to personnel and twice as much when it comes to the supplies and equipment here. and one of the things that they have been dealing with is that the russian forces continue to pummel the civilian areas, targeting civilians. severdonetsk was a place where they had more than 100,000 residents who used to live there, and now down to about 15,000 who are hiding in basements and bomb shelters at this time. and again, an acknowledgement here of just how important this area is to the russian forces to move forward to the west and getting dangerously close, ukrainian military acknowledging here to that area that they depend on so much for their supplies and for their food. >> a critical area. and we've also seen kharkiv being targeted and targeting of residential areas in this area. how confident are ukrainian forces that they can hold on to
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kharkiv? >> reporter: well, they do say that they believe that the city is not threatened, that it is not in danger, that they can actually hold that city. but they say that the residents, it is the civilians that are really facing these punishing attacks. and as you had mentioned, it was just yesterday, i mean just so, so sad, there were nine civilians who were killed, including they say a family that was simply walking in the street, a man who was holding their five month old baby. and they were bombed, they were hit, and that the father died with the child, the baby, in his arms. the mother taken to a hospital severely wounded. 19 others were also wounded as well, that this is something that they feel the russians are simply demoralizing and terrorizing the residents just
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outside of the city. they feel that they can hold the city, but those around the city are gist facing a brutal punishing attacks from russian forces now. >> absolutely terrifying. suzanne malveaux for us there in lviv, thanks very much. president zelenskyy claims of genocide now backed up by a damning new report by more than 30 international experts. they concluded that kremlin propaganda, mass graves, destruction of cultural sites, forced relocations and other atrocities are all part of a pattern to destroy ukraine's national identity. the again genocide convention d it as this, any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethical, racial or religious group as such by various means. the study was compiled by the washington think tank in
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collaboration with the center for human rights of canada. and now let's go to you both in washington and montreal. thank you for staying with us. and let's start with the many conclusion from the report that russian's actions in ukraine pose a serious risk of genocide. from what your team has seen, has genocide been committed in ukraine, has that legal threshold been crossed here? >> what we've seen in our research for this report is that there exists a serious risk of genocide in ukraine. as you said, russia is -- bears state responsibility for breaches of the genocide convention, for incitement to genocide, and all of this ties together to trigger the duty to prevent international law. >> and our teams have been in ukraine for months now, we're in the third months of this war.
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teams on the ground in bucha. i've spoken to representatives from the u.n., from ukraine, those investigating on the ground there going as far as calling it genocide. why do you say serious risk of genocide while others call it genocide? >> well, genocide is a very -- it is a legal term, very strict definition. and so this report which as you said over 30 of the top legal and genocide experts in the world collaborated on, came to the conclusion that there is a serious risk of genocide. but that does not lessen what is happening in any way. because under the genocide convention, that still trirgs t triggers the duty to prevent and puts states pressure to act. >> and give our viewers a sense of how you and your team reached this conclusion, talk about the research, the investigation. obviously the point here is proving that it was russia's
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intent to destroy ukraine or ukrainians as a group. >> absolutely. we have a team of legal experts, open source intelligence analysts, and regional experts and translators who used -- everything was open source intelligence. and so states really cannot stand back and say that they didn't know what was happening. and i especially want to highlight the sexual and gender based crimes that are taking place in ukraine because these types of gender based crimes are often unreported or brushed to the side. but in this report, we dedicated a whole section to rape and sexual violence which looks at how rape can be indicative he of genocidal attempt. for example there was a report l last month that russian soldiers held a group of women and girls in a basement and raped them
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repeatedly telling them that we will rape you until you no longer want sexual contact with any man to prevent you from having ukrainian children. so this is a pretty clear cut example of how rape can be indicative genocidal intent. >> it is just horrifying hearing you layout the stories that i've heard on the ground and our team continues to hear. and i was looking for the report, and it points out the main purpose of course of the genocide convention is prevention and that includes responsibility of all 152 countries who are signatories to this including russia to intervene. so what legal action can be taken given russia's veto power at the security council? >> yeah, that is a good question. so our assessment is looking at all the evidence with our team from like you said around the world, independent experts, and we reviewed all the evidence and we came to the conclusion that
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russia is breaching the genocide convention in multiple ways. now, what this means for states is there is a legal obligation to prevent and to act and do everything reasonably in their power and capacity to influence the situation in order to both protect the targeted group of ukrainians that are subject to the genocidal campaign, as well as to respond to russia with various measures. and that is really more of a political decision because what we've done is we've assessed the fact in an impartial and objective and independent way and now the bird is on states and governments to determine how they will respond considering the security situation. >> and so emily, i really want to give our viewers a sense of your findings. and i looked i think on page 20 it says national and international investigators and
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analysts have documented rapidly expanding mass graves and pattern of civilian corpses found shot at close range and hands tied. and you argue that there is considerable evidence this dflo straights the russian soldiers have internalized state propaganda. tell us what you found here. >> yes, there is widespread campaign in russia being led by the kremlin and state propaganda to incite genocide. and so that is the whole de -nai if i indication falls under that. the fact that russian soldiers have to read putin's article that he wroteunder that. the fact that russian soldiers have to read putin's article that he wrote about one russia, one ukraine, all of this ties together to create that russia has been in-citing genocide and
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that there is a serious risk of genocide. >> and so correct me if i'm wrong, but normally takes years for any case of this magnitude to be litigated. and only happens after the conflict is over. but i want you to listen to what president zelenskyy said overnight. have a listen. >> translator: in cities, in communities closer to the russian border, in dluhansk, thy gather everyone that they can to fill the place of those killed our wounded. all of this including the deportation of our people and the mass killings of civilians is an obvious policy of genocide pursued by russia. >> an off policy of genocide taking place right now in the donbas area. i mean, if this is happening right now, what are the realistic legal means to prevent it, what can states or
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geopolitical actors do at this stage? because this really goes to the heart of your report here. >> yeah, so it is an important point and i think what he is getting at is like emily was saying, there is an incitement campaign that has been engaged in from the top in russia. and this is all happening against a backdrop of heightened restrictions on media, bans on foreign media, bans on social media, new criminal laws that will sanction certain discussions around the war. so this allows for the russian officials and state media to more directly filter the message that this war was based on, which is to fight against the nazis in ukraine. and as the war has progressed, that has gone on to broadly characterize a majority and substantial group if not entire generation of ukrainians as nazis and existential threat
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which carries an even deeper meaning in the russian context because this conditions the public to both condone and commit atrocities that they see as necessary and defensive. because the more they repeat the lie that this war is based on, the more it becomes true for the audience if it is the only message they are hearing. and so this is the policy of genocide that we have documented and determined. so as legal experts and his torians and genocide experts, we have simply looked at all the available evidence and facts and we determined that there are two breaches, one is incitement to genocide and also intent to destroy ukrainian group in part, which is a reasonable ground to conclude that there is genocide taking place as well. we definitively conclude that there is a serious risk of genocide. >> and really appreciate you both taking the time. i wish we had more time. plenty for us to talk about. really appreciate it.
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very important report. thank you both. >> thank you. the u.s. president is getting ready to return to his role as consoler in chief, he will be meeting families who lost loved ones in the texas school shooting. we'll have the details on his visit just ahead. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer, i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin ♪ ♪ yeah, that's all me ♪ ♪ nothing and me goand in hand ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin, th's my new plan ♪
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welcome back. a lot of questions are emerging about the time line of the school shooting in uvalde, texas and how police responded. local law enforcement official says that the shooter was not confronted by police before entering the school which contradicts earlier comments from authorities and it took
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more than an hour for officers to take down the 18-year-old gunman. the lengthy response time and lack of communication to the public caused chaos you can see there outside the school. frantic parents started arriving desperate to know if their kids were still alive and begging officers to get inside the school and stop the shooter or let the parents go in themselves. meanwhile on the other side of the country, support from the community that knows the particularly pain felt in uvalde. ♪ this service held in newtown, donald trump where a hauntingly similar massacre held at sandy hook almost a decade ago. meanwhile the u.s. president is getting ready to meet with victims' families, he is heading to uvalde on sunday. phil mattingly has the story for you. >> reporter: as the country
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continues to try to grapple with the horrors that cost the lives of 21 people in uvalde, 19 children, president biden will soon be down there himself with the first lady to meet with the families, to grieve with the families, to let them know the entire country is thinking about them in this moment. this was how the white house press secretary framed that visit. >> the president will meet with the community leaders, religious leaders and families of the victim. the president and first lady believe that it is important to show their support for the community during this devastating time and to be there for the families of the victims. >> reporter: the visit is set, president will arrive there on sunday, but what happens next from a policy perspective in a country where these shootings, these mass shootings, shootings at schools or grocery stores, places of worship, that remains an open question as efforts on capitol hill have started and failed. repeatedly.
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once again an effort has started. whether or not it is actually going to get anything across the puf finish line still an open question. there is a group of nine republicans and democrats in the u.s. senate that had their first meeting on thursday trying to figure out some type of bipartisan compromise. mitch mcconnell, long time gun rights advocate, has given the green light to his members in the republican caucus to try to find some bipartisan compromise. but when you talk to white house officials behind the scene, they make clear that they are very skeptical that this time will be different despite the fact that president biden has repeatedly said in the wake of this shooting that this time has to be different. the white house itself not deeply engaged at this point in time in those negotiations, waiting to see what happens in these talks over the course of the next several days making it clear that the president will continue to urge lawmakers to do something. one official saying earlier today the president can't do this position. congress has to do its job. that process has started. whether anything changes when it
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comes to legislation, whether anything actually get to the president's desk, that process failing so many times up to this point certainly has a long road ahead. phil mattingly, cnn, the white house. the russian invasion in ukraine is serving as a potential blueprint for beijing. next why some experts believe china is keeping a close eye on the war and learning lessons it could apply in taiwan. plus actor kevin space cy i facing new sexual assault charges, this time here in the uk. frank is a fan of pepcid. it works in minutes. nexium 24 hour and prilosec otc can take one to four days to fulllly work. pepcid. strong relief for fans of fast.
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invasion in ukraine that they could use in taiwan. iran watson has the story. >> reporter: russia and china enjoy a friend ship with no limits. they met on the eve of the beijing winter olympics. 20 days later, soon after the end of the olympics, moscow invaded ukraine. russia's unprovoked war sparking fears china could have similar plans for taiwan. beijing claims the self-governing island belongs to china. asked if he would get involved militarily to defend taiwan against china, the u.s. president had this explicit warning -- >> yes. >> you are? >> that is a commitment we made. >> reporter: beijing has long called for peaceful reunification with taiwan, but it has also never ruled out using force against taiwan's democratically elected government. and when it comes to military
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force, china dwarfs taiwan boasting the largest navy in the world. and the largest air force in the region. but if russia's deadly adventure in ukraine taught strategists anything, it is that size doesn't always matter. >> the country may clearly have a military advantage over an a adversary, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it would achieve easy victory. >> reporter: the war in ukraine highlights another potential challenge for china, to attack ukraine, russian troops simply drove across the border from russia and from neighboring belarus. but to reach taiwan, chinese forces would have to cross the taiwan strait, more than 100 miles of open water. >> amphibious assaults are the most difficult complex operations this warfare. if the chinese three to send an invasion force from the mainland to taiwan, they would have to
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contend with salvos of anti-ship missiles. and we'd see a massacre of shipping probably in the waters around taiwan. >> reporter: the russian navy has suffered major losses from suspected ukrainian anti-ship missiles. first losing this landing ship in the russian occupied port, and then losing the flagship of the russian black sea ship. analysts say taiwan has a much larger arsenal of anti-ship missiles at its disposal and its military has been training for 70 years against the threat of a chinese invasion. >> china is learning lessons from ukraine, both in a positive and also in the negative manner. >> reporter: early in his ukraine war, vladimir putin publicly put russia's nuclear weapons on alert. a thethinly veiled threat to th west. >> probably that china will
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bring in the kind of advantage of the nuclear threats in the early phase of the scenario that will potentially i think change the calculation of the washington, d.c. >> reporter: as a warning to the u.s., china's foreign ministry declared this week that no force in the world can stop china from achieving reunification with taiwan. ivan watson, cnn, hong kong. british prosecutors have authorized criminal charges against kevin spacey, he faces four counts of sexual assault that allegedly took place between 2005 and 2013. he also faces a possible fifth accusation, but the american performer could not be formally charged until he enters england or wales. salma abdelaziz is joining us from the theater where spacey was artistic director until 2015. and kevin space i no longer
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lives here in the uk, so key be facing extradition from the u.s.? >> that is a very could g. question. let's start with the alleged incidents because they are quite serious. prosecutors have authorized criminal charges against kevin spacey, they include four counts of sexual assault against three men, there is a fifth very serious offense causing a person to engage in penetrate difference sexual activity without concept. now, these five counts are authorizeddifference sexual activity without concept. now, these five counts are authorized from prosecutors but kevin spacey has yet to formally receive the charges because is he not here in london. and so in general in these cases, what would happen is the accused, conkevin spacey, could choose to come back and face the charges. if he does not do that, british authorities could potentially pursue extradition proceedings with the united states. when asked about this, british authorities have refused to comment, to say if they would
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pursue the extradition proceedings with the united states. the crown prosecution service of course reminding the public that is thi this is an ongoing criminal process and kevin spacey has the right to a fair trial, and that police would provide an update on when he would be formally charged. but again, this is part of a very length city process, result of a years long investigation. kevin spacey was first accused of sexual misconduct in the united states during the me too oig movement. and then subsequently here at the theater where he was artistic director from d2004 to 2015. and these alleged incidents took place in that same window. and another investigation found 20 allegations. so again, this is part of a very long process. the next step is to formally charge kevin spacey, but that
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will be very complicated by the fact that he is not here. so we'll wait to find out more. but it could take many more months if not years. >> thanks very much, salma abdelaziz. hollywood's good fella, actor ray liotta, has died. ♪ >> what do you do? >> i'm in construction. >> if we wanted something, we just took it and you didn't even think about it. >> of course he played tough guy henry hill in the film "good fellas" so well it became his trademark role that he denied he was a fighter. call mushy on the inside. ray liotta died in his sleep, he was in a hotel in the republic where he was filming a movie. also played shoeless joe jackson in "field of dreams." he did commercials and as well as soap operas and was working steady. he leaves his fiance and his daughter.
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texas. lakers putting out a statement saying that this is not a political issue, it is a moral imperative. on tuesday if you remember steve kerr delivered this message before his team took to the court in the nba western conference finals. >> when are we going to do something? >> that of course has gone viral. and he expanded on that thursday challenging people to urge their lawmakers to tackle gun violence. >> for whatever reason, it is a political issue. but it is really a public health issue. so as soon as we can shift the dynamic to this being a public health issue, then you get momentum. there is lots of amazing gun safety, gun prevention groups out there. call your senators, call your representatives. it is all very helpful. >> and steve makes so much
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sense. meanwhile the new york yankees and the ptampa bay rays used their twitter feeds to highlight the dangers of gun violence tweeting out stats like more than every day more than 100 are killed with guns and more than 200 shot and injured. meanwhile ask anybody in uvalde and they will say that this small town is like one extended family. everybody knows someone who has been affected by the senseless violence. so many lives in this community forever changed. rosa flores has more. >> reporter: in the small town of uvalde, texas, hearts are heavy. >> i lost family and friends to this, and i can't bear it. >> reporter: and the pain is palpable. >> my heartaches. i couldn't imagine my life without my daughter. >> reporter: as the community grapples with the unthinkable, 19 elementary schoolchildren and two teachers murdered in the
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classroom. the quaint town square turned into a memorial. >> i just can't -- i have no more tears after crying all day yesterday. i can't. >> reporter: with crosses bearing the names of every victim. >> how are you doing? >> heartbroken. >> especially the parents. >> yeah, the parents, oh, my gosh. >> reporter: emotions are high at the nearby mexican restaurant, a local staple for a town that is overwhelmingly hispanic. this one was born and raised here and attended robb elementary. >> we are like a big family, really are. and it is unfortunate what happened here. it really is. >> reporter: in uvalde, it seems like everyone knows someone who was impacted by this tragedy.
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victor moved here recently and says even he knows multiple people who lost children. >> pray the families are okay and pray that the kids rest in peace. >> reporter: the pain spurring the gun debate with some residents pushing for upping the minimum age to purchase guns. >> let anyone use a gun that is 21 years and older. we need guns, we need to pro protect ourselves. >> reporter: and for arming of teachers. >> teachers should be able to carry, definitely. how are you supposed to pro protected the kids behind a closed door when a gun can definitely go through it? >> reporter: one by one, members of the community have been delivering flowers to another growing memorial, this one is also a crime scene. >> i went to school here. and my niece lives down the street. my family lives not even -- just
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right behind the school. this is -- this is my home. >> reporter: for many members of this community, the pain is overwhelming. like for this grandmother who was overcome with emotion. her words are etched on the cross of one of the victims. she wrote, i will always love you my beautiful granddaughter. >> only god can bring healing definitely. god will heal uvalde. >> and if you would like to provide financial assusupport o blood donations, please go to cnn.com/impact, there you will find several ways that you can help. that does it here for me on "cnn newsroom." thank you very much for your company. our coverage continues on "early start" with laura jarrett. if respect ♪
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welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. it is friday, may 27th. i'm laura jarrett. christine has the morning off and john berman is on the ground in uvalde, texas for us. john, good morning. >> good morning to you, laura. we begin with mounting questions about the police response to the mass shooting at the robb elementary school behind me that ended in the deaths of 19 children and two adults. there are new details emerging about the basi
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