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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Bodycam Video Shows Police Shooting Of Unarmed Louisiana Man; MSU Professor Recounts Terror As Gunman Opens Fire In Classroom; Russian Missile Targets Volunteer Medics In Ukraine, Killing American Pete Reed; Sen. Fetterman Checks Himself Into Walter Reed "To Receive Treatment For Clinical Depression"; President Biden's Physician: Biden Remains "Healthy" And "Vigorous"; Prosecutor Play Tape Of Murdaugh Discussing Details Of $10M Insurance Plot. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired February 16, 2023 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: But now this new -- because they're saying they found out that he has dementia, and it is called FTD for short, the type that he has.

The Mayo Clinic calls it an umbrella term for a group of brain disorders, generally associated with personality, behavior, and language.

Our thoughts are with him and all of his family.

Thanks so much for joining us. AC 360 starts now.

[20:00:21]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening.

For the second time in a matter of weeks, authorities have released video of someone's deadly encounter with police. The footage shows the last seconds before 43-year-old Alonzo Bagley is fatally shot by a member of the Shreveport, Louisiana Police Department.

The sequence starts toward the end of what was a very short chase after police responded to a domestic disturbance complaint.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

COOPER: Now just two seconds later, Officer Alexander Tyler fired once killing Mr. Bagley. This was on the third of this month.

Today, Officer Tyler was charged with negligent homicide, and again, as in the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols, there are questions being asked about police training in the use of deadly force.

CNN's Ryan Young is just outside Shreveport for us tonight. He starts us off -- Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, another tough Night in America. People are trying to process exactly what happened here. The State is investigating. They took several days before releasing this video, but you have a community asking so many questions about the video you're about to see and I have to warn everyone, it is tough to watch and even tough to listen to because you can hear the officer crying after the shot is fired.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG (voice over): The entire incident took less than two minutes. Two officers arrived at the home of Alonzo Bagley just before 11:00 PM in response to a 9-1-1 call. His wife made complaints, he was threatening her and her daughter.

OFFICER: Hey, what's your name?

ALONZO BAGLEY: Alonzo.

OFFICER: Hey, can you step out for me?

BAGLEY: No -- this is the (INCOMPREHENSIBLE). I've got a dog.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, come out sir. You're disturbing the peace. People, they are (INCOMPREHENSIBLE.)

BAGLEY: Let me put my dog up.

OFFICER: Sit down.

BAGLEY: Let me put my dog up.

OFFICER: Sit down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is intoxicated. That's right.

OFFICER: Let her -- hey, come here.

BAGLEY: I am putting my dog up.

OFFICER: She can put the dog up.

YOUNG (voice over): The first officer follows Bagley down the hallway after he says he is going to put his dogs away as his wife continues to yell in the background.

OFFICER: Hey, hey.

YOUNG (voice over): The officer realizes Bagley is heading out the door of a balcony and sees him jump from the second floor to the ground below.

He then turns back to run through and out of the apartment downstairs to chase after Bagley. Once outside, you hear one officer yell to the other.

OFFICER: He went that way.

YOUNG (voice over): About five seconds later, you hear a single gunshot.

(GUNSHOT)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no.

YOUNG (voice over): It's been one minute and 25 seconds since officers first knocked on the door.

OFFICER: That's right. Send EMS right now. Shot fired. Shots fired.

YOUNG (voice over): For the next two minutes, you can hear the officers distraught and pleading with Bagley to keep breathing and see the two officers administer CPR.

OFFICER: Hey, hey, hey.

OFFICER: No, no, no.

OFFICER: Hey, come on, come on, come on. Come on.

OFFICER: No.

OFFICER: Come on.

OFFICER: No. Come on. Come on.

OFFICER: No. No. No.

OFFICER: Come on.

OFFICER: Come on, man. No. Come on, dude.

OFFICER: This way.

OFFICER: Come on, man.

OFFICER: Send EMS right now at 1019 -- 1018.

OFFICER: Come on, dude. Come on, dude. Stay with me. Stay with me.

OFFICER: Compression. Compression.

OFFICER: Stay with me, man. Stay with me.

OFFICER: Come on, you're good. You're good, bro. Hey, you've got to -- hey, keep breathing. Keep breathing. Keep breathing. Keep breathing.

OFFICER: Stay with me, man. Stay with me. [Bleep].

OFFICER: Keep breathing. [Bleep]. Hey, you're good. Keep breathing. Keep breathing, dude. Keep breathing. Keep breathing. Keep breathing.

OFFICER: [Bleep]. Dude.

OFFICER: Hey, go to -- go to the front of the building. Go to the front of the building. Wave them down. Wave them down with your flashlight. Come on. Run, run, run, run, run. Hey, dude. You're going to be alright. You're going to be alright. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Hey, wake up. Wake up. Look at me. Come on. Wake up. Hey, respond. Come on. Come on. Come on. Wake up. Respond.

[20:05:06]

YOUNG (voice over): But he doesn't wake up. Bagley is later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Alexander Tyler, the officer who fired that shot was arrested today on a charge of negligent homicide. His lawyer says he hopes the bodycam footage is thoroughly reviewed for the facts and evidence.

DHU THOMPSON, ATTORNEY FOR OFFICER ALEXANDER TYLER: Officers are always faced on a day-to-day basis with dangerous situations like that, and at times, where they have to make split-second decisions, where they are in a potential life-threatening situation.

The mere fact that an argument is being made by the investigator in Court that he was unarmed does not necessarily mean he is not a threat to the officer.

YOUNG (voice over): Bagley's brother, who also viewed the video today said it wasn't an easy thing to watch.

XAVIER SUDDS, ALONZO BAGLEY'S BROTHER: It took me back to being a little brother, watching my older brother take his last birth and that struck everybody in that room.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And that video, I mean, it's just horrific to see the -- what's the reaction been like from the community?

YOUNG: Anderson, it is tough when you think about hearing a man take his last breath, because if he watched that video, you can pretty much hear him do that. That has been difficult.

I think it really hit this community hard in more than one way, Anderson, because this community is dealing with a rising crime rate, but then at the same time, they want better policing.

And they also felt like it took too long for the video to be released. The video did get released today by the LSP. People were pretty much cheering that part of it on, but obviously, there are just so many difficult questions also, whether or not the officer follow policy by running with his finger possibly on that trigger, and not really having time to react.

But there was also some fallout from the Mayor because he didn't reach out to the family right after the shooting happened, and today, he apologized for that.

It is a Republican Mayor in a Democratic city and he said, he pretty much got that part wrong and he needs to be better about it. But so many questions in this community that is clearly hurting, especially after watching that video and from many different angles, which makes it so hard when you watch how it went down.

COOPER: Yes, Ryan Young, appreciate it. Again, Alonzo Bagley's fatal encounter with police came three weeks after another chase ended with a man dead and officers charged in his killing, Tyre Nichols.

Some perspective now from CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI Deputy Director, Andrew McCabe.

Andy, obviously very different than the Nichols case. But what do you make of what that bodycam video shows?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, it is absolutely excruciating to watch. I can't imagine what it's like to watch that as a family member or a friend of Mr. Bagley. It is hard to watch as a member of law enforcement, as well.

You know, there are a couple of things that jumped out at you right away, obviously, any fleeing suspect, does not immediately qualify as someone who presents a mortal threat to you as an officer or to any other individuals who might be in the area.

So, it highlights the incredible -- how incredibly hard it is to make these life and death decisions very quickly, and maybe highlights why it is so important to effectively train officers to deescalate in situations, maybe make decisions not to pursue fleeing suspects when they're not known to be armed or seeking a position of cover to return fire or something like that because it leads you down a path into a situation where you have basically no time to think, no time to assess, and you're relying on gut reactions in an incredibly intensive moment and I think that's what you see on the video.

COOPER: It was a domestic disturbance call and in a call like that, would there be information about whether or not the person was armed? I assume that would only come through if the person who had made the call stayed on the line to talk with an operator.

MCCABE: Yes, so you know, every single one of these situations is different, Anderson and that is why police officers are at a such a state of heightened alert when they go into any general domestic call.

But if you listen to this tape, you can hear that the 9-1-1 operator asks the complainant, who is presumably the wife in this situation, whether or not he is armed. And she says, you know, she basically says she doesn't know, that he had been someplace else earlier that evening and she doesn't know what he did there.

So I don't believe at any time he is ever identified as having a weapon or alleged to have had a weapon. However, you know, as a police officer showing up, you don't know and, and let's be honest, the fact that there are so many guns in this country, one of the very deadly implications of that fact is that a police officer never knows that anytime you assess or begin to interact with someone, whether it is a domestic call or a traffic stop, or whatever it might be, it's always hovering in the back of your mind that that person might be armed, because in this country, that's a pretty good chance.

[20:10:20]

COOPER: We also -- we don't really see this from another angle, so it is not clear, at least from this recording, about, you know, how distant the officer was, who took -- who fired the shot. I mean, is it possible to tell from this video what the correct level of force or perhaps some other action might have been in this situation?

MCCABE: You know, you'd really have to -- they will have to do some very careful analysis of the video. From the view, we see it appears that the officer crosses a doorway, it looks like Mr. Bagley comes out or appears in that doorway, and then the officer turns and shoots.

It has been reported that Mr. Bagley was -- we know that he wasn't armed. There was no firearm recovered from the scene, and it also been reported that he has had his hands in the air at the time he was shot. I didn't see that on the video, maybe that's possible with closer analysis.

But these are exactly the facts that the officer will have to articulate in the consideration of whether or not qualified immunity applies in this case, as you know, there is a reasonableness standard.

COOPER: Let's actually look at that moment, I think because I think I don't know if we have it from another angle so let's just see because you mentioned the hands. That is Mr. Bagley there. It's hard to tell if -- I believe his family has said that his hands were partial. Okay, let's -- this is the video in slow motion awe are going to show. Yes.

MCCABE: It's really hard to see there if his hands are up before he is shot, which would be the key moment, right? He is standing there --

COOPER And we don't have audio on this angle, so we can't tell when the shot took place.

MCCABE: That's right. That's right.

You know, but at the end of the day, from the legal perspective, the issue of qualified immunity, which has been discussed a lot lately in terms of in the context of these police use of force issues, at the end of the day, it's a very high standard to be able to pierce that qualified immunity and hold someone criminally responsible or civilly responsible for the use of an act of force there.

That goes back to the standard, you know, the Graham standard from 1989 Supreme Court case and it is basically an analysis that's conducted from the perspective of a reasonable police officer who under the same circumstances in the exact same place, would the actions taken by this officer have been considered reasonable?

And police officers are given enormous deference and leeway in assessing whether or not they felt that they were in mortal danger in that moment.

COOPER: Andrew McCabe, I appreciate it. Thank you. Alonzo Bagley's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Officer, Alexander Tyler in Federal Court. Ronald Haley is an attorney for the family. Xavier Sudds who you saw on Ryan Young's report is Alonso Bagley's brother.

I spoke to them both just before airtime.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Mr. Sudds, can you share with us seeing this body camera video that you've been waiting for, what stuck out to you?

SUDDS: What stuck out to me was probably just how -- how everything went. My initial response to the bodycam footage was confusion, followed by anger and that is just from not understanding of why a domestic call turned deadly, not understanding that, everything tied in with pain.

But I prepared myself for that as much as I could, but you can't compare it -- you can't prepare yourself for something like that when you see that.

COOPER: Did it did it answer questions for you? I mean, it all happened it seems in the video so fast. Did you get answers from it?

SUDDS: I did get answers that I had a question, I did. I think at this point, the only thing I'm wondering is just, you know, the procedure, the procedure. Why did it happen like it happened?

But yes, I did get the answers that I wanted and it was tough, it is still tough. It still is painful like, again, it's not easy. None of this has been easy, but in all of it, I am learning as I go, and I'm building to stay strong in this entire process.

COOPER: Mr. Haley, from a legal standpoint, have you been satisfied with the level of transparency from the Louisiana law enforcement? How critical is this body camera footage?

[20:15:31]

RONALD HALEY, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Oh, this body camera footage, if we don't have this body camera footage, we just had this officer's word, we'd likely do not have an arrest today and this family will be bearing their loved one with the cloud of uncertainty.

I am very pleased with the transparency from the Louisiana State Police. Sure, would I have wanted the family to view the footage earlier so that they could gone through that earlier? Absolutely. But Anderson, as you know, we've represented the family of Ronald Greene, Aaron Bowman, both cases were covered by your station, and those cases took years before the bodycam footage turned up and any level of accountability was had.

So the fact that two weeks or less than two weeks since this incident, I will say that I am pleased with the changes that were made by the Louisiana State Police. And listen, I have to give them their due. They said that they will make changes after Ronald Greene and this was an opportunity to show that and they did.

COOPER: Mr. Sudds, what is your response to the charge of negligent homicide against the officer involved in your brother's death?

SUDDS: My immediate response was, it is okay, that's fine, but it doesn't stop there. It can't stop there. We have to make sure that my brother's death is not in vain. We have to make sure that we have like Ronald said, transparency to make sure that we have justice.

Like I am -- like to double back what he said, they did work pretty fast and that was a major plus, but it doesn't stop there. We don't start to applaud that until the job is done, for my family and for me and for my mom and my brother.

But I understand from a civilian point, I understand that, you know, that's the charges that they came up with. Again, until we get that justice, until you know, the sentencing, I'm still looking like, okay, what's next?

COOPER: Xavier Sudds, I'm sorry for your loss and I appreciate talking to you. Ronald Haley as well. Thank you so much.

HALEY: Thank you, Anderson.

SUDDS: Thank you

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Coming up next, a Michigan State Professor talks about the moment a gunman opened fire on his class, what he did to try and save lives and what he is going through after seeing two of his students murdered.

And later, even as he is recovering from a serious stroke, a new health challenge for Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, I will tell you about that.

And doctors deliver in the news after President Biden's latest medical exam. We'll talk to her own Dr. Sanjay Gupta about both those stories.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:21:39]

COOPER: Three days after the shootings in Michigan State University, students and teachers are still grappling with what happened. This weekend, funerals will be held for two of the three students shot and killed on campus on Monday.

An MSU Assistant Professor named Marco Diaz-Munoz talked with our Miguel Marquez about what happened. It was his class the gunman came in to, seven of his students were shot, two of whom, Alexandria Verner and Arielle Anderson died.

Miguel joins us from East Lansing tonight, just off campus.

What did you guys talk about? What did he tell you about what unfolded in the classroom?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, these are just ordinary people in these just unbelievable, extraordinary situation. This is a guy that they certainly didn't know. He was most of the way through a late class, it was a little after 8:15, about 45 minutes left in the class, 45 kids in this classroom. This is the classroom he loved.

And suddenly, just as he was introducing a new topic during class, comes walking in this gunman into Classroom 114 at MSU's Berkey Hall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARCO DIAZ-MUNOZ, MSU ASSISTANT PROFESSOR: So he entered the classroom from the backdoor.

MARQUEZ: The backdoor.

DIAZ-MUNOZ: Where a lot of the students that don't sit in the front, they sit in that, by that back door.

And at that moment, we all kind of froze. I think somebody said something about you know, "shooter," and one of my students and everybody panicked. Some froze. I think a lot of them stood up. Some of them froze in place.

Some of them, I don't know if I screamed just, you know, find cover, go under the desks. A lot of them went under, curled up in a ball under their chairs, and others ran.

And the guy stepped in about a foot inside the classroom, not completely just like a foot and then -- or even less than a foot, enough that I could see this figure and it was so horrible because, you know when you see someone who is totally masked, you don't see their face. You don't see their hands. You don't see -- it was like seeing a robot. It was like seeing something not human standing there and all I could see was this silvery, kind of a steel shiny weapon.

I don't think it was a pistol. I think it was something larger than that. And then I could hear then the shots and they're just as loud as the ones in the hallway. And it was just a nightmare.

I think everybody under adrenaline did whatever they could. I don't know how long he stood there. Probably, -- I mean, he shot at least 15 shots, one after the other, one after the other one.

MARQUEZ: Bang, bang, bang.

DIAZ-MUNOZ: Bang, bang, bang. He stepped out, and at that moment, because I don't recall what I did between his starting to shoot and what I'm going to tell you just now. I just -- my intuition told me he is walking down the hall and he is going to enter through the door I'm closest to. [20:25:10]

So, I threw myself at that door and I squatted and I held the door like this, so that my weight would keep it from -- and I was putting my foot on the wall and holding like this, so that he couldn't open it. All the time, aware that he could just shoot the door handle and open it, but the only thing I thought I could do was that, at least I'll attempt to stop it.

And that lasted for about 10 minutes, it was an eternity, or 12 minutes. In the meantime, I told my students, and that I remember, I told the students just escape through the windows, just kick the windows open and escape through the windows.

And the first line of windows closer to the rows of seats couldn't be kicked, I mean, it couldn't be broken, they are made out of very hard glass, probably for you know, insulation. So they attempted and they couldn't open those. But then the second set of Windows higher up, they were open and there was big enough an opening, so they start escaping that way.

In the meantime, the rest -- there were quite a few on the floor, wounded and I had some kids that were very heroic and were helping those that were wounded. And some of them, I don't know much about how to -- you know, what paramedics do or what you do in a situation like that, but my students kind of knew what to do.

So they were trying to cover the wounds with their hands, so they didn't bleed to death.

I think, I'll be haunted by it. I definitely don't want to go to Berkey Hall because I couldn't go into that classroom after what I saw.

I think the administration is going to move my class to a different building, same time, but a different building. I don't know if I'll be nervous every time I teach. I don't know if I will -- I don't know what the university is going to do. They're going to put locks in rooms so that you can lock the room from the inside. I think that's one of the things that might happen.

I don't know if that means we're going to have to use gate cards to enter into a building and leave. But what does that say about our society?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: I mean, it's incredible to hear just the recitation of sort of the second by second account. I mean, how is he doing?

MARQUEZ: It's hard to tell, to be honest. He feels a lot of guilt right now because he felt -- he feels like he could have done more and is replaying it in his head. He feels fear because of clearly what happened. He feels confusion still. He doesn't feel -- it still -- it didn't feel real at the time, it doesn't feel real right now and he is starting to feel real anger as well. This is somebody who, he was aware of all the gun violence in this country. He was concerned about it, but it has put such a fine point on it for him.

You know, he wants to see his students again, he wants to start this healing process. He wants to reach out to them. He has been drafting a letter to the students in that class trying to figure out what to say.

But for a Professor who has -- you know, this is a guy who has all the answers. He is very, very intelligent, but he is really struggling to write that letter and figure out what to say to his students and where they go from here -- Anderson.

COOPER: Miguel, I appreciate it. I know there is more to the interview.

You can see Miguel's full interview in the next hour on Erin Burnett "Out Front."

Still ahead, we have more on the story that we brought you yesterday about an American aid worker who was killed while selflessly helping the wounded in Ukraine. We will tell you how he came to be there. It's a remarkable story of dedication and a love story, as well with his wife who joins us in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:32:36]

COOPER: Last night we told you about Pete Reed, an American aid worker who was killed in a Russian missile attack while trying to save the lives of others. Pete Reed was a Marine Corps veteran whose service continued after he left the military. He dedicated his life to saving others in war zones.

In January, he began working in Ukraine with a medical organization called Global Outreach Doctors but two weeks ago tonight on February 2, he was killed in Bakhmut. It's a Russian missile struck his ambulance. You see it there. As we mentioned last night it's the -- this is the split second before it explodes next to a team of aid workers including Pete Reed attending to a wounded civilian.

The missile is flying parallel to the ground. It's said to be a precision guided anti-tank missile, which means that somebody had eyes on the target, which is the vehicle driven by the aid workers. The vehicle they're standing right next to.

Reed's wife Alex Potter says she believes the attack was intentional. And she joins me now. Alex, thanks you so much for being with us. I am so sorry for your loss. And I knew Pete's memorial service was just yesterday. Can you take us back to just how you met because I've read this story and I find it amazing. You both met -- you had gone both to Iraq, you went to cover the battle for Mosul. How did you meet each other in the midst of this?

ALEX POTTER, VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL RESPONSE MEDICINE: Yes. So I had worked around the Middle East and had left Yemen about a year prior to going to Iraq. I went to cover the battle, but there were plenty of people more experienced already documenting it, but I'm also a trauma nurse. And there's a real shortage of frontline providers just because of the security situation most NGOs were further back than that golden hour or platinum 10 minutes or trauma care.

So I read an article in the post about Pete and Derek who also recently passed and the other group of medics and I Facebook message them saying I can come help you guys and I thought I'd stay for a couple weeks but we fell in love really quickly and formed this partnership and founded the nonprofit and then had been together ever since, so.

COOPER: What was it about him?

POTTER: Pardon?

COOPER: What was it about him when you met him that you fell in love? I mean, what do you remember?

POTTER: Yes. I mean, I said this during the memorial service yesterday and it was interesting to to write down but he was just like a big guy in every sense of the word. He had a big personality, a big laugh, he gave really good hugs and like the command of a situation and how he could really lead people was also very attractive to me.

[20:35:11]

But when you're in a war and in these battles, and there's a lot of heightened emotions, like both good and bad, so I feel like people in those situations are able to form bonds really quickly.

COOPER: Yes.

POTTER: So know that we're a good match for each other.

COOPER: You also see each other in the most difficult trying of circumstances, and, you know who the other person is, there's no BS, you know, it's real.

POTTER: Yes.

COOPER: I know, you would have celebrated your first wedding anniversary in just three days. Did you -- why was it important for him to be in Ukraine?

POTTER: He really found purpose in helping people. He's a problem solver. So if he -- if there's a problem out there, and he's not able to solve it, it was very distressing to him. In particular, if that problem involves people being hurt, you know, and that is everything, from intimate relationships, to friendships, to family like if someone was hurting, and they needed advice on something like he had to fix the problem, all the way up to civilian suffering and a war.

So he -- it was like a moral affront to him when people were hurting, and he just really wanted to be there helping and he's incredibly good at it. Like the medicines side, the medicine piece is one piece, you know, he's a paramedic. TCCC trained, et cetera. But what he was really good at was making connections with people and identifying other people's strengths.

So both in Mosul and in Ukraine, he brought together this coalition of, you know, half a dozen smaller NGOs, who are kind of going it alone. And it was able to bring everybody together to, you know, serve the greater good.

COOPER: Do you want to continue doing this kind of work?

POTTER: Oh, yes, it's absolutely necessary, you know, and he wouldn't want -- he would want everyone to be safe, you know, but the need is still there. And the work never stops. But I hope, if anything comes from this that helps other people be aware of the type of risks that they're facing, how they can mitigate those risks, and just honor each other and continuing to be safe while they're taking care of people who need it.

COOPER: Does it -- I mean, knowing that this seems like was a targeted attack, does that -- does it change the way you see this? Does it matter to you the details?

POTTER: No, it absolutely does. And it's hard to say because, you know, terrorists, in particular, have targeted medical workers for a long time. So it's a, you know, it's a risk versus other type of risk scenario. You know, if you mark your ambulance, ISIS might have targeted you in Iraq, but if you don't mark it, you might be at risk or something like this.

And their ambulance was marked just on the other side, and on the back was covered with mud. But, you know, the Russians could say, oh, we mistook them for military. But it's been seen that Russians have targeted medical workers in the past anyway. So what you do to mitigate those risks, it's hard to say, but it's like, you know, that's why you have friends who know what's going on in the ground or an are in constant communication with them, because what you do one day might have to change the next day based on where you're going.

And the decision might be, you know, we need to pull back or pull out or change our tactics, but it's still necessary to do the work, so.

COOPER: Yes. Well, Alex, it's really lovely talking to you. And Pete, sounds like such an extraordinary person. And I'm so glad you had each other and have each other and I'm so sorry for your loss.

POTTER: Yes, thank you. I appreciate it. He really was.

COOPER: Yes. You take care.

POTTER: Thank you.

COOPER: Coming up next, we'll talk to Pennsylvania Senator John -- about Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman's latest medical challenge, hospitalization for depression and the bipartisan support he's getting in his decision to seek help. And what President Biden's checkup perhaps the last before the election says and doesn't say about his health and his fitness for office ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:43:11]

COOPER: Tonight, Democratic Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is back in the hospital, this time receiving treatment for clinical depression. According to a statement from his office, Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed Medical Centers receiving treatment on a voluntary basis.

Meanwhile, the results of President Biden's annual physical exam had been released. According to his physician, the President remains healthy, vigorous and quote, fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.

Joining me now is CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. So Sanjay, let's talk about Senator Fetterman. How significant is it that he's going public with his battle against depression?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Anderson, I think obviously, that's it's significant when a public figure talks about depression is going public with it. I think that as you and I've talked about so many times over the years, there are so many people who simply don't. They don't seek treatment because of stigma. So I think that, you know, just I think it's important for that reason.

Keep in mind, his history now, back in May is when he had this stroke. And it sounds like was pretty significant. There are details about that, that we were still not fully given, but we know that he had a pacemaker and defibrillator placed at that time. It was last week that he was in the hospital again, because he went into the hospital for lightheadedness.

There was no sort of additional stroke that was found at that point. He was discharged two days later, and now he's going into the hospital for depression. Something we heard, Anderson, that he has suffered from on and off for a long time. But his doctors, at least the doctors that are talking to him at Walter Reed where he is thinks that he should do well, should make a recovery from this.

COOPER: The statement from him -- from his office says that he's experienced it on and off throughout his whole life, but it became --

GUPTA: Yes.

COOPER: -- severe in recent weeks. Do you think it's related to the stroke?

[20:45:00]

GUPTA: You know it could be. I mean, it's certainly something that is seen. If you look across the board, I think about a third of people who have had a stroke do suffer some sort of clinical depression, diagnoseable depression, it could be for different reasons. One is it could be directly due to the impact on the brain from the stroke, what a stroke is, is a period of time, when there's a not enough oxygenated blood going to the brain, some brain cells could have died, that could be part of what's causing a stroke, or it could be more of a psychological impact from dealing with abilities that you have lost as a result of the previous stroke.

So they could be tied together, it could be that he had previous depression that was then amplified by this. But nevertheless, I read the same statement, Anderson, and his doctors are optimistic about his recovery here.

COOPER: As we mentioned, President Biden had his regular physical today. His physician said he's, quote, healthy and vigorous. What do you -- you've looked at the results, what do you see, as you know, obviously, there'll be a lot of focus on neurological issues.

GUPTA: Yes. So if you looked at his last physical when he was 78, and read the statement today, and now that he's 80, it's pretty similar. You know, healthy and vigorous is the term that they use to describe him. They talk about the various medications that he's on, the most notable ones being Eliquis, which is an anticoagulant for his atrial fibrillation.

He's also taking crest store for his cholesterol. But, you know, it's a pretty similar readout to what we saw about a year and a half ago. Biggest difference is that he had COVID in the interim. We had heard about the fact that he had COVID. They've described some of the findings at that point, his oxygenation, for example, had not dropped below 97 percent. That was notable.

The neurological exam, that's something that the doctors did focus on quite a bit. It's interesting, because what they're talking about is that he seems to have this stiffness of his walking. If you see him walking, they were wondering why his gait has become more stiff. And they, you know, is this something due to Parkinson's disease? Is this something due to some sort of spinal issue?

And at least according to the neurological exam, that was documented, he does not seem to have evidence of that. So, you know, those are some of the areas that they focused on specifically. He's had this history of having had brain operations in the past for aneurysms in his brain. That was a long time ago. The afib, the hypercholesterol, the stiffness of gait are sort of the main things that they're focusing on now.

COOPER: And last night, obviously, you're in Turkey. I know, you've talked to a crew who rescued a 13-year-old boy, what did they tell you?

GUPTA: Yes, this was an incredible story, Anderson. Keep in mind, again, we are, you know, 10 days out. What crews are often getting called for, is because to remove bodies, you know. And so this was a new crew, relatively new crew that had come on. They were told that there were some bodies sadly, in this one area of rubble. And when they got there, as the lead rescuer was telling me, and it was really interesting to see these guys so emotional talking about this. I mean, it's been emotional for everybody. But they saw a pair of eyes initially, and then heard a voice, a 13-year-old boy's voice boy. Boy's name is Mustafa. And the boy was just shouting, brother, brother.

And they all -- hang on, and if you're looking at the video now, Anderson --

COOPER: Yes.

GUPTA: -- they all went in there and started clearing the rubble and they found this boy and he was pinned, you know, and his left leg was essentially -- it was essentially missing, Anderson, as a result of 10 days of basically being pinned. But they were able to essentially rescue this boy, it had been 200 and I think 28 hours --

COOPER: That's incredible.

GUPTA: -- and he had not had water. I mean, I still don't know. It's funny. I've been talking to my colleagues, I talked to the rescuers, how does someone go for nearly 10 days without water, it hadn't even been raining necessarily in the area. It's not clear they kept calling it miraculous. But nevertheless, he's in the hospital in Adana now. And sounds like he's going to recover. A significant injury to his leg, sounds like he's going to recover.

COOPER: It's incredible. Sanjay, appreciate it. Thank you.

Coming up, the latest on the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial, including details of a tape played for jurors today, in which Murdaugh discusses a $10 million insurance plot involving the man he says was his drug dealer.

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[20:53:16]

COOPER: Disturbing testimony today in the double murder trial disgraced South Carolina Attorney Alex Murdaugh. Murdaugh is accused of killing his wife and youngest son in attempt to distract what prosecutors say were fraud schemes were about to be revealed. Prosecution is in the final days and making their case today.

Jurors heard in graphic detail about how the gunshots traveled through the victims and a CSI expert testified that when Maggie Murdaugh, his wife, suffered the first fatal shot, she, quote, would have been on her knees and had at least one hand on the ground.

Jurors also heard a taped interview between Murdaugh and investigators something that no one in the public had heard before about a failed insurance plot or at least $10 million involving the man that he says dealt him with drugs. Randi Kaye has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RYAN KELLY, SENIOR SPECIAL AGENT: Are you talking to us willingly?

ALEX MURDAUGH, KILLED HIS WIFE AND SON Yes, sir.

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): September 13th, 2021, Alex Murdaugh is being interviewed over the phone by Senior Special Agent Ryan Kelly, after being shot on the side of the road on September 4th.

KELLY: So the .38 revolver, it was your revolver?

MURDAUGH: Yes, sir.

KELLY: Do you know where it is now?

MURDAUGH: No, sir.

KAYE (voice-over): Murdaugh's defense lawyers are with him as well. As Murdaugh tells it the shooting was all part of his scheme, so he's only surviving son Buster could get millions in insurance money. He tells the investigator he arranged for a man named Curtis Eddie Smith to shoot him in the head and kill him.

KELLY: But you entered into a verbal agreement with him to set up a scheme where he would shoot you. It would be a suicide set up as a robbery homicide. And you doing so was in order for your son to get your life insurance policy?

[20:55:01]

MURDAUGH: I don't know about a robbery, but everything else is true.

KAYE (voice-over): Earlier in the conversation, one of his lawyers asks Murdaugh about his state of mind. Remember, this was about three months after Murdaugh's wife and son were murdered, and he's alleged financial schemes were coming to light.

DICK HARPOOTLIAN, ALEX'S ATTORNEY: And how would you describe your state of mind at that time?

MURDAUGH: I was in a very bad place. I thought that it would make it easier on my family for me to be dead. I have a fair amount of life insurance.

HARPOOTLIAN: Do you remember how much?

MURDAUGH: Like $10 million, $12 million?

HARPOOTLIAN: OK. And so you decided to end your life?

MURDAUGH: That's correct. I called Curtis Eddie Smith on the telephone.

HARPOOTLIAN: Who is Curtis Eddie Smith.

MURDAUGH: Curtis Eddie Smith is the primary person I purchased pills from for years. I mean, we had weeks where they would be $40,000, $50,000, $60,000.

KAYE (voice-over): As much as $60,000 a week on pills. Murdaugh says he met Smith on the side of the road and gave him the gun. He says Smith gave him a knife, which Murdaugh says he used to slash his tire. The plan was for it to look like Murdaugh was fixing his flat tire when he was shot.

KELLY: And you just stand there and wait for him to shoot you?

MURDAUGH: Yes, sir.

KAYE (voice-over): Smith has denied shooting Murdaugh, though Smith has been charged in the scheme. The gunshot wherever it came from just grazed Murdaugh's head. He called 911, but didn't say who shot him.

MURDAUGH: I stopped, I got a flat tire and I stopped and somebody stopped to help me. And when I turned my back, they tried to shoot me.

KAYE (voice-over): Alex Murdaugh waited more than a week before telling investigators about the scheme and telling them who allegedly shot him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And Anderson, the reason the state probably played that recording today, that interview is because earlier, the defense floated the theory that Alex Murdaugh had a drug addiction. So perhaps it was some drug deal gone bad and a drug dealer killed Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

So the state wanted to make sure that they put that theory to bed. So they wanted the jury to hear him tell that investigator in that interview where he got his drugs, from Curtis Eddie Smith. As they wrap up their case, they want to make sure that the jury believes that only one man could have done this and that would be Alex Murdaugh, Anderson.

COOPER: Randi Kaye, bizarre. Thank you.

The news continues. Erin Burnett OutFront is next right after a quick break.

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