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Uvalde Marks 2 Years Since Robb Elementary School Massacre; Retailers Are Doing Their Own Sophisticated Detective Work To Fight In-Store Theft; Supreme Court Tensions Simmer As Major Decisions Loom. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired May 24, 2024 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: I'm wondering today how you're feeling about the way that Uvalde is handling this tragic date.
BRETT CROSS, SON KILLED IN UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING: You know, for the most part, I drove up town a little bit earlier and looking out and seeing all these people that, you know, are -- are out and about and at the cemetery and at the plaza and everything.
And I just -- I feel like -- like it's all for show. Where are all of you all when we are fighting to hold these officers accountable? Where are you all when we're fighting the city council, the school district, and everything.
So I don't -- I personally feel like it's all for show for most of this community.
SANCHEZ: Brett, 19 of the victims' families announced earlier this week that they settled a lawsuit with the city. I mentioned that they plan to sue the Texas DPS next, including 92 individual officers.
You we're not party to that settled suit. I'm wondering why.
CROSS: So, you know, there's issues with Uzi's biological parents, who -- who lost custody of him for abandonment. They're able to get on those lawsuits. I'm not.
But it doesn't matter to me. The money - the -- any of that, it doesn't matter. The fact of the matter is, is that we do all we can to keep Uziyah's memory alive and to get justice and accountability from every level that failed us.
SANCHEZ: Understood. On the same day that the settlement was announced, the police chief in Uvalde, Joshua Gutierrez, resigned. He, of course, replaced Pete Arredondo, who was fired after the shooting.
Do you have any sense of why Guterres resigned? And who do you hope might replace him?
CROSS: You know, I don't know why. I've heard rumors, but that's all I can chalk that up to. But I hope that they get somebody else in here that will, you know, do what is right for the children. You know? Because our school district has failed us countless times over, so we need more people that actually care about the children, that actually care about our children that are no longer here. And will do whatever they can to -- to empower and help the children.
SANCHEZ: Sure. So we've also spoken previously about how you filter out some of the elected officials in the community and the way that the community has approached them.
On Tuesday, Uvalde residents are set to head to the polls to cast their ballot for a number of positions. Among them, the county sheriff in Uvalde.
The Republican incumbent, Ruben Nolasco, was actually called out by name in that report from the Department of Justice on the response to the shooting at Robb Elementary.
Saying that he, quote, "did not seek out or establish a command post, establish unified command, share the intelligence he learned, nor did he assign an intelligence officer to gather intelligence on the subject."
Nolasco has told CNN that the criticism is all false. What do you make of his candidacy? Do you anticipate that he's going to be reelected?
CROSS: You know, I -- you know, with the same with, you know, all of the constables that are running, every single one of these officers that were there that day that failed our children, it -- it is just incredible that they have the -- the notion that they didn't do anything wrong.
They walk around like -- like they did nothing wrong and they continue to do that. So, you know, but seeing how Uvalde is, I'm sure he probably will be.
But that, once again, goes to show that Uvalde, the county, the community, they don't care. It's all for show.
So I think it's despicable that he ran again. I think it's despicable that every single one of these officers that were there didn't step down immediately because that is what should have happened. They failed their jobs. They failed our kids.
Kids are dead because they didn't do what they were supposed to do. And so for them to do that, it's despicable.
SANCHEZ: The White House is marking the anniversary by President Biden sending the deputy director of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention to the vigil in Uvalde.
How would you assess the federal response, the White House's response to what happened?
CROSS: I mean, the -- the Office of Gun Violence Prevention is amazing and it's long overdue. And I am -- I am happy that they are working towards, you know, eliminating these things. And to send someone down is pretty -- pretty amazing.
[14:35:08]
I just hate the fact that the federal government hasn't stepped in. Because, as everybody knows, our D.A. is not doing anything. You know, our governor isn't doing anything. The -- Steve McCraw, the head of DPS, is not doing anything. None of these entities are doing anything. And they're allowed to just not do anything. They don't care.
So it's frustrating that they -- they have not or cannot come in and do something worthwhile for our children's sake.
SANCHEZ: Brett, I want to close by focusing on Uzi. Two years later, what do you remember the most about your son?
CROSS: His infectious smile. He would do -- he would do anything to help somebody feel better. He hated seeing people sad. And he would -- he would do whatever he could to make you have a better day. And, you know, he showed us that.
SANCHEZ: Brett Cross --
CROSS: He showed us beauty.
SANCHEZ: Brett, I can't thank you enough for sharing your story with us, especially on a day like today. Thank you so much for bringing us details from Uzi's life.
CROSS: Yes, sir. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Stay with CNN. We're back in just moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:41:17]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: You've probably seen the videos. These groups of shoplifters that brazenly steal from stores across the country.
SANCHEZ: Now some big retailers are fighting back, doing their own investigating with their own detectives.
CNN's Kyung Lah has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A pre- dawn raid.
(SIRENS)
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Come out with your hands up.
LAH: Dozens of heavily armed deputies and investigators from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department surround a house. UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Four in the doorway.
LAH: Twelve people arrested.
An organized crime network, says law enforcement, suspected of links to narcotics dealing and illegal gambling.
(SIRENS)
LAH: At another location --
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Sheriff's office.
LAH: -- Santa Clara County deputies recovered the fuel for this alleged criminal network.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Tons of packaged goods. Some parts of the house looked like it was a store.
LAH: Stolen from local businesses. But it is nothing like the shoplifting you've seen in the past. Brazen thieves recorded racing out with carts full of merchandise, even attacking store workers in the process.
SEAN BROWNE, SENIOR MANAGER OF ASSET PROTECTION, HOME DEPOT: This is not somebody who forgot to scan something at self-checkout or somebody who stole food. This is a large criminal organization with multiple factors.
LAH: Sean Browne is not a cop. He works for Home Depot investigating organized retail crime. His job, a growing field in store chains as criminal organizations branch out from guns and drugs to stolen goods.
A CNN review of court records and interviews of more than two dozen retail chains and law enforcement officials show that the private sector is not just helping the police, but often delivering the initial evidence that leads to search warrants.
BROWNE: A lot of times, local and state resources don't have the capacity to investigate these crimes at that scale.
LAH (on camera): And in comes you?
BROWNE: We try to full service the investigations.
LAH (voice-over): Home Depot gave us a glimpse of a model replicated by multiple major retailers across the U.S. This is their high-tech command center with electronic eyes on their stores throughout the country.
Retailers have already moved beyond searching for the thieves you see in viral videos to their bosses. They are the real targets, known as the fences.
BROWNE: These ringleaders operate as the fence of this merchandise where they're converting it to cash, drugs, and other illicit items. LAH (on camera): It sounds like you're talking about the mob.
BROWNE: It often is conflated with what would be considered mob activities. Bad actors will target specific merchandise, usually directed by the ringleader. Almost like a shopping list.
LAH (voice-over): Store chains have the financial muscle to deploy high-tech tracking, like license plate readers and in-store monitors capturing the crime as it happens.
BROWNE: We use a lot of different investigative tactics and technologies to ensure that we can build the absolute best case for law enforcement and prosecutors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bad guys have the upper hand with respect to this issue.
LAH: The sheer scale of organized store theft is so overwhelming, members of Congress met with prosecutors and store chains looking for federal help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The organization and sophistication of these groups have grown exponentially in recent years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think organized retail crime is one of the biggest issues that is facing our local economy.
LAH (on camera): This entire aisle on this side is almost completely locked up.
BROWNE: Yes, not the way we would like to envision our rough electrical aisle for our customers, our pro contractors, but this is what your typical Home Depot looks like.
LAH (voice-over): Retail, says Browne, has already locked down their merchandise impacting the consumer from inconvenience to higher prices.
(on camera) This -- how would they get past this though?
BROWNE: We've had certain crews that have cut locks and cables and broken into some of the fixtures that we've built inside of our stores.
[14:45:06]
LAH (voice-over): What you see here is because the explosion of online shopping has made it easier than ever to move stolen merchandise, sold to a consumer hunting for a deal.
BROWNE: Twenty years ago, I needed a storefront in order to sell laundry detergent. Now, I can do it from my phone.
(SIRENS)
LAH: California has now put hundreds of millions of dollars towards combating this problem, enabling law enforcement here in Santa Clara County to break up a major crime ring. Recovering $150,000 in stolen merchandise, authorities say, from six retailers.
(on camera): How big of a heist was this?
BROWNE: This happens daily across stores. Even with all those measures that you got to see in the store, we're still impacted at this level.
LAH: Local and state law enforcement as well as these national retailers do want more intelligence sharing. So they are all backing a proposed federal bill called the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act. That would establish an intelligence sharing hub.
But this federal bill, which does have bipartisan support, is stalled in Congress.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Our thanks to Kyung Lah for that report.
And next, they appear to be, quote, "tired, testy, and very fractured." That's how our Supreme Court analyst describes the drama that is playing out between the justices. Coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:50:54]
SANCHEZ: Over the next few weeks, the Supreme Court is expected to unveil more than a dozen major decisions on some of the most hot- button issues facing the nation.
But as the conservative-dominated court prepares to set precedent, possibly for generations, there were signs of a growing rift between justices during recent oral arguments.
KEILAR: "They sounded testy and looked weary during the scheduled one- hour hearings that often ran twice as long. Several justices held their heads in their hands. Alito rolled his eyes. Elana Kagan wore a pained expression. Clarence Thomas rubbed his face.
"In some cases, when Ketanji Brown Jackson, the junior justice, posed her final queries at the end of a cleanup round of questioning, most of the others didn't look her way."
That is from CNN's Joan Biskupic behind this reporting. She's with us now.
Wow, that picture that you paint is just a sign of terrible times at the court. What is this going to mean for what they're doing right now?
JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Well, you know, the larger atmosphere, not just in oral arguments, but also in their writing, suggests that they're not really listening to each other. They're not being very respectful of varying views.
And where that could really make a difference, it's not just human relations. It could make a difference in opinions. Because these nine justices have to work toward compromise in a really speedy fashion over the next four weeks.
Consider what they have before them. Presidential immunity, abortion medication, January 6th defendants and what they could be charged with, homeless encampments, all sorts of big issues that they're going to need to compromise on. And compromise will come slower.
And here's the thing that keeps -- I keep in mind, is that Chief Justice John Roberts is going to try to get unanimity or something close to unanimity in the Trump immunity case.
And if they're having so much personal discord and distrust of each other -- distrust is a word that I that kept coming to me as I went back and looked at everything I was documenting -- it will just make him harder -- make it harder for him to get to a place where chief justices in the past have tried to get with presidential powers.
For example, on cases involving Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.
SANCHEZ: There have been tense moments on the court before. I'm thinking Bush versus Gore. But has it ever been this bad, this internal sort of dynamic between the justices?
BISKUPIC: Well, this is notable for contemporary times. You know, go back many, many decades, a century ago, yes, you know it was the old nine scorpions in a bottle idea.
SANCHEZ: Wow.
BISKUPIC: But, but in Bush v. Gore, which I hate to tell you, too, I was around for Bush v. Gore and it was tense among the justices, including especially among the law clerks.
But what's different now, Boris and Bri, is that we have this unusual tilt. This is really an unprecedented six-to-three tilt with conservatives controlling so much.
And what the liberal dissenters are writing is that the conservative majority is changing the law in America, simply because it can with its new justices change the law in America.
SANCHEZ: All right. Nine scorpions in a bottle sounds like a tequila, Joan.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: Maybe it's Joan's tequila --
(CROSSTALK)
BISKUPIC: It's your Supreme Court. At least it was your Supreme Court about a century ago, but we're coming back to that now. SANCHEZ: Yes.
BISKUPIC: You know, we're just coming back to a time when it's very difficult for them to work together. Now, they close ranks. They will close ranks against outsiders, such as us.
But you know, just think of also how much public scrutiny they're now facing with various ethics controversies --
(CROSSTALK)
BISKUPIC: -- and self-inflicted, you know, controversies over -- and Justice Samuel Alito's recent episodes with the flags flying at his homes. That has only kind of ratcheting up tensions inside, and certainly surrounding the Supreme Court.
KEILAR: I need a vacation.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Joan Biskupic, thank you so much.
BISKUPIC: Thank you.
KEILAR: All right. We do have some sad news to bring you. And that is that our former CNN colleague, Morgan Spurlock, has died after a battle with cancer.
SANCHEZ: Now Spurlock rocketed to fame with his Oscar-nominated documentary "Supersize Me," a look at the fast-food industry's impact on America and his own health as he ate only McDonalds for a month.
[14:55:06]
He went on to host the CNN original series "Inside Man" from 2013 to 2016.
KEILAR: Morgan was at his best when he was talking to the people who really make this country work. His series gave an intimate look at the people and places in America that many of us rarely if ever see.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN SPURLOCK, FORMER CNN HOST: The young steers are what's going to market. So we're basically splitting the babies from their mommies right now. It's sad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: So, in 2017, reacting to the Me Too movement, Spurlock admitted to and apologize for his own sexual misconduct in the past.
He was someone who was committed to the truth, even when it was difficult to tell or to hear. Spurlock was 53 years old.
We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
