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Consumer Confidence Rises; New York Mass Shooting Investigation. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 29, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Investigators are trying to piece together the motive behind the deadliest mass shooting in New York in 25 years. Ahead, what we're learning about the victims and the shooter's intended target that investigators believe he missed.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, two key reports giving us the clearest look yet that the impact that President Trump's trade war is having on the U.S. economy, the new numbers leading off what may be the most consequential week for the economy in years with his tariff deadline coming on Friday.

And a stark new warning about what is unfolding right now in Gaza from a U.N. initiative -- quote -- "the worst-case scenario of famine." The pressure now mounting on Israel to get more aid into the enclave.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Today, we're learning disturbing new details about New York City's deadliest mass shooting in decades, a gunman opening fire in a Manhattan office building, killing four and seriously injuring one.

And, right now, the shooter's apparent grudge against the National Football League and its handling of the trauma-induced brain disease CTE a key focus in the investigation.

We're now seeing brand-new images of the ammunition the killer left behind in his car, a handgun, magazines and medication that law enforcement discovered after his killing spree. We're also learning more about the victims today, including Wesley LePatner, an executive at the private equity firm Blackstone.

Her company describing her as brilliant, passionate, warm, generous and deeply respected. Blackstone adding that: "Our prayers are with her husband, children and family."

Let's go to CNN's Omar Jimenez, who is live on scene in Midtown Manhattan.

Omar, first tell us about where the investigation stands right now.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so as we understand from Mayor Eric Adams, they're sending investigators to Las Vegas now to help pursue more in this investigation, which is critical because that's where this shooter came from, believed to have come -- worked in the Las Vegas area, drove from he's been on that area here to New York City, got to this block just behind me here on Monday afternoon, went inside the building behind me and began opening fire.

We have seen the images of him approaching this lobby with that rifle that authorities believe he got in Las Vegas, but also clearly had other weapons and ammunition in his vehicle. He opened fire in the lobby, killing three people there, including New York City police officer that was off duty working security detail at the time, then goes to an elevator bank.

And a woman gets off of the elevator. As we understand from the mayor, he doesn't shoot. He instead gets in the elevator, goes to the 33rd floor, kills another person, before turning the gun on himself.

Now, as far as what investigators are looking at, one, they're looking at a note that investigators say he left that talked about him suffering from CTE, that brain injury that's brought on by head trauma typically associated with playing football. This is where the NFL offices were. And the mayor believes this person may have gotten on the wrong set of elevators, instead trying to target the NFL, but ended up where this person did.

Moving forward, the mayor says it will be up to the medical examiner to test this person for CTE, which, again, you can't test for while you're living. But at the same time, this is something that ended with four people killed, the deadliest here in New York City in 25 years.

KEILAR: And tell us a little bit more about the victims, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

So I mentioned that 36-year-old police officer, Didarul Islam. It's why we're seeing flags at half-staff this morning, where essentially he is a father of two, family expecting a third as well. You also mentioned the employee for Blackstone. Her name is Wesley LePatner, survived by her husband and children.

On top of that, we just learned of a security guard killed named Aland Etienne, according to his union. So we're still learning the names of these people. And as the investigation continues on, so too does the mourning process, as investigators try to piece together how this could have happened and people who loved the folks lost try to figure out why this could have happened to them -- Brianna.

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KEILAR: Omar Jimenez live for us in New York City, thank you for the latest -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Let's look deeper at the investigation now with former FBI Deputy Director and CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe.

Andy, thanks so much for being with us.

How can investigators now use that apparent suicide note that was found in his pocket in the process of determining a motive?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Sure.

So, Boris, the suicide note shed some light on what has been a very dark space, right? It was only last night as we were discussing what happened in New York we were talking constantly about, why was this person at this building? Why did he go to the 32nd or 33rd floor? Why -- what was fueling this kind of rage?

So now we have a narrative at least that starts to explain that if it's actually true. And that's a big if. That's really what investigators are focused on right now. They're not going to make any -- take anything for granted. They're not going to make any assumptions. They're still going to pursue hard evidence. They're going to go back and look at his life leading up to this moment.

They want to understand what he was doing online, who he may have been connected with. What sort of things did he used to look for when he performed searches on Google and other platforms? They want to talk to the people who were connected to him, family members, maybe work colleagues, things of that nature, to try to build a rich picture of who this man was and why he might -- may have been spiraling out of control, to understand if he actually had a medical condition or if the medical condition was something that he kind of created in his mind to kind of explain his own psychological distress.

All of those facts -- even though we're after the -- after that crisis here, all those facts can help investigators explain how yet another person turned to a mass shooting to solve their problems.

SANCHEZ: Does it tell you a lot about his level of planning that he apparently went to the wrong elevator or took an elevator to a floor that he wasn't aiming to get out on?

MCCABE: You know, you typically have -- and this case is no different. You can get wildly different facts that point to a high degree of planning and organized thinking or to a very low degree, maybe last-minute kind of activity.

Here, the trip from Nevada to Manhattan shows clearly a high degree of planning, of organized thought, of an ability to execute a plan over several days, something that's not easy to do, drive across the country by yourself, to find the building, abandons his car out front. But then, as you mentioned, he doesn't actually even know the floor where he's going.

He clearly got his hands full in the lobby as he is killing his fellow citizens and trying to evade law enforcement. And so he doesn't process the elevator lobby correctly and, again, doesn't really know where he's going. So this kind of contrast of organization and disorganization at the same time could be another indicator of his tenuous psychological state.

SANCHEZ: There is another line of analysis here pertaining to building security, right, because there were security guards that he encountered almost right away when he entered the building.

And then, in many of these highly secured corporate offices, you need a badge in to be able to access an elevator. So I wonder, as you see these details emerge, what questions you have about how the shooter was able to access the space that he got into?

MCCABE: I'm sure there will be a review of security procedures at this building. And they may indeed find places where they think they can tighten things up.

But to secure a large building that's open to the public against a deranged gunman who walks, as you can see in this picture, boldly carrying an AR-15 in the middle of the day right up to the door, this is something that's very hard to protect against entirely. If people have access to that lobby, they're going to get inside. If someone gets inside with a weapon like that, they're likely going to be able to cause enough chaos to avoid your badging system and to just maybe walk up to the first row of elevator lobbies and get in an elevator that someone else is getting out of.

And, in that way, they likely wouldn't need to badge in or to even indicate what floor they were going to. They might be able to just ride the elevator up to its next assignment.

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So, unless you're going to completely harden that structure, and that would mean cutting it off from the public, forcing everyone who enters to go through law enforcement screening, metal detectors, all that sort of stuff that -- like we see at courthouses and highly sensitive facilities, unless you're prepared to do that, you're really looking at a very tough day when somebody comes strolling up to the front door with an AR-15.

SANCHEZ: Andrew McCabe, great to get your perspective. Appreciate you joining us.

MCCABE: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: As we mentioned a moment ago, a source with knowledge of the investigation says the gunman walked into the building with a suicide note in his back pocket alleging that he suffered from CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease linked to trauma.

KEILAR: That's right.

We have CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us now on this.

I guess the question, Sanjay, is, since CTE cannot be diagnosed until someone is dead, what might this shooter have known about his condition? Could he have known or suspected he had it? What do you think?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's what it sounds like.

I mean, certainly, people who have had repeated blows to the head and then develop symptoms, that is sort of the pattern of CTE. It doesn't mean you have it, and, as you point out, you can only definitively diagnose it after someone has died.

But you may remember, for example, with Aaron Hernandez, he was in prison. He ended up dying by suicide. His brain was subsequently examined on autopsy, and he was found to have advanced CTE. So my guess is, based on reports and high-profile stories like that, a history of repeated blows to the head, some of these symptoms, maybe he thought he had this.

Most people will not, by the way. One percent of the general population will actually have CTE, so statistically not likely, but possible based on those sorts of findings.

SANCHEZ: And when you talk about the symptoms that might lead him to believe that he had CTE, walk us through those.

GUPTA: Yes, so, first of all, if I can, I will just show you these images to sort of demonstrate what we're talking about when someone has CTE versus a normal brain.

I don't know if we have those images, but basically -- yes, so on the top there, the top two images, that is a brain with CTE. What happens is, those repeated blows to the head cause these proteins to sort of be released, something known as tau, and that causes this neurodegenerative disease, which is progressive.

But, Boris, to your question, I mean, it really encompasses all sorts of different symptoms. There can be behavioral symptoms, memory loss, impulse control problems. People may have depression, suicidal behavior. Again, we have heard these stories, Junior Seau, Chris Nowinski, Aaron Hernandez. Those are the types of symptoms they have.

Typically, in people who are younger -- Hernandez, by the way, was 27 years old as well -- people who are younger, the mood disturbances, the impulsivity, they tend to be more predominant symptoms. As you get older, people tend to have more memory loss and even motor symptoms. Sometimes, people can look like they have evidence of Parkinson's disease, for example. That's typically older.

But those are the symptoms. But they can change or progress over someone's age, over someone's life.

KEILAR: And talk about when someone does play football how many impacts we're talking about. Does it require someone to have an extensive NFL career? Is this something that someone who played high school football or even younger could have?

GUPTA: Yes. Yes, it's a really good question, Brianna. I think -- two things.

First of all, it can happen in younger people, just to answer that question. But there's also more theories now that some people may just be more predisposed to this. So fewer hits could potentially lead to CTE versus someone else who had more hits and never got CTE.

There may be people who have a vulnerability to it. But there was this 2023 study that came out that basically looked at people young, 17 to 29 years old, so as young as 17 years old, that are found to have CTE. They donated their brains because they were concerned about CTE, just like we're talking about with this individual.

And in that case, 40 percent of them did test positive for CTE. So, again, more than half did not, but still you can sort of see how young it can possibly happen, and the fact that when people are suspicious of it, based on their own life history, you get a sense of how many people actually ended up having it.

KEILAR: Yes.

Sanjay, super helpful to have you walk us through that. Thank you.

GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.

KEILAR: It's a desperate situation that is unfolding right now in Gaza. There's new video showing Palestinians swarming aid trucks, as the food crisis grows more dire by the day.

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SANCHEZ: Plus, two new reports kicking off what's expected to be a flood of economic data this week. The numbers could help clarify where the U.S. economy is headed and how the Fed may respond.

And police releasing a sketch of a man they want to question in relation to the killings of a mother and father at an Arkansas state park. Their two daughters were there and somehow got away.

We will have the latest on the manhunt still ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: We're starting to get a clearer picture of how President Trump's trade wars are impacting Americans' outlook about the economy. Some key indicators were released today, showing growing confidence among consumers, even as hiring and job openings are starting to drop.

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CNN's Matt Egan is here to break down the numbers.

So, Matt, read the numbers for us in terms of how they signify what's happening in the economy.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Boris, I think the latest reports show that everyone is still trying to adjust to this new world of historically high and volatile tariffs.

And that everyone includes CEOs, small business owners and, yes, all of us as consumers. So this new survey out today from the Conference Board shows that the mood on Main Street, it did improve in July a little bit, right, consumer confidence increasing by about 2 percent in July.

But what's really notable to me is, I went back and looked, where was consumer confidence at this point of President Trump's first term. And look at this. Back in July 2017, consumer confidence was much higher. So this does show that, yes, consumer confidence has stabilized a bit, but clearly many Americans are not thrilled where the economy is right now.

When we look at some of the internals of this report, they were kind of mixed. Good news is that recession fears continue to come down. People are feeling better about the road ahead in terms of the short- term outlook, but they also mark down their views on the present conditions, in particular because of concerns about the job market.

The Conference Board said that, when they asked people about how available they believe jobs are, this metric fell for the seventh month in a row to the lowest level since March of 2021, back during the COVID-19 pandemic.

So, I think the bottom line here is, yes, people are feeling better about the economy than they were back in the spring, but there is some underlying nervousness here, in particular about the job market.

SANCHEZ: Yes, so tell us about this new report on job openings and hiring.

EGAN: Yes, that's right.

We did get a new look on job openings. This is the JOLTS report from the Labor Department, and it showed that the number of job openings fell from 7.7 million in may to 7.4 million. So some context, that's more or less in line with expectations. It shows that the number of job openings, it's still well above where they were back before COVID- 19.

But it's also come down pretty sharply from three years ago, when it felt like there were help wanted signs all over the place. And when we look at the job openings by industries, you can see there's still a lot of industries that are hiring. There's a lot of industries that they are very much in demand for workers, including retail, information and local schools, public schools.

But there was a significant drop in job openings in accommodation and food services. That's bars, restaurants, hotels, health care and social assistance. That has been a major source of job growth, but they significantly cut job openings in June, also in finance and insurance.

Another thing that really stood out from this report is hiring. It's been anemic all year, but it plunged in June to a one-year low. You see that hiring peaked back in April, and that's when tariffs really intensified. And you can see how it has come down. Hiring has slowed very significantly since then.

And I think it makes sense, right? I mean, there's just so much uncertainty right now. CEOs, small business owners, they're trying to navigate through the fog of the trade war. And, these days, it's hard to have any confidence where tariffs are going to be at the end of the day, let alone the end of the year -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, that is a good point.

Matt Egan, thank you so much for that -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Let's talk more about this and what it means for the economy.

With us now, economist and president of the Budget Lab at Yale, Natasha Sarin.

Natasha, thank you for being with us.

First, I do want to ask you, because we are just learning that these China-U.S. trade talks concluded without a clear path forward to avert tariffs from skyrocketing back to those super high levels on August 12. How big of a deal is that? How should people be looking at this?

NATASHA SARIN, PROFESSOR OF LAW AND FINANCE, YALE LAW SCHOOL: Well, it a little bit reflects what Matt was just describing about the nature of the uncertainty in the landscape at the moment.

I mean, you have had Commerce Secretary Lutnick and other members of the administration be very specific that August 1 was meant to be this deadline upon which tariff rates would be set and it would become clear to American businesses and American consumers what the new world order was really going to look like.

The challenge, if you kick the can down the road, first to August 12 with China and now to some indefinite future moment, is you're not resolving that uncertainty with respect to the most significant of the trading partners that we're trying to work through the trade war with.

And that means that you're still in this sort of nebulous zone of not exactly knowing how to adjust or the ways in which you should think about investments both in the United States in other countries that are our allies and with respect to an adversary like China.

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KEILAR: I wonder, what are you watching most as we're in this big week where we have these economic data points and deadlines?

SARIN: Yes, it's been called a monster week of data with respect to the economy, of course, because the Federal Reserve is going to be making a decision about interest rates this week.

But then also we're going to get information about inflation and about the labor market trajectory later in the week that's going to help paint a bit of a picture about what exactly is happening as a result of the trade war that was launched in April.

The pieces that I think are really important for us to look through and kind of start to disentangle are the ways in which these tariffs that at current levels are at about an effective tariff rate of 18 percent. That compares to an effective tariff rate when President Trump took office of around 2.5 percent. So that's a really substantial shift.

Work that I have done with my colleagues at the Budget Lab at Yale suggests that, as a result of that shift, you're going to see GDP be persistently lower by about 0.5 percentage points. That number, it's sort of hard to contextualize, but here's a pass at it. That's about $150 billion of GDP lower over the course of the year as a result of these tariffs.

That translates to about A $1,000 loss per household as a result of the trade war. And that translates to fewer jobs in the economy, because it is less likely that businesses are going to want to invest and consumers are going to want to buy things at higher prices.

And we're going to start to get more information about all of those pieces of the chain over the course of the next few days, but we're also going to continue to get that information in the months and years, frankly, ahead.

KEILAR: Yes, that's big money left on the table there.

So this new consumer confidence report is telling us that, actually, and we have talked about the uncertainty, but Americans are growing more hopeful about the economy. How are they seeing trade talks and tariff threats? And do you think that that is going to continue, based on what we're seeing with tariffs and negotiations and the fact that sometimes these indicators lag on that?

SARIN: Yes, I mean, I am hopeful as well about the American economy, in that what we have learned thus far many months in is -- and Matt was describing it -- effective tariff rates have changed on 40 days, 40-plus days in this administration. That's about once every five days.

So we have seen a ton of volatility with respect to what the trade environment is going to look like. And yet the economy has been quite resilient. The labor market is quite strong. Inflation is ticking up, but still remains close to that 2 percent target. And that's given the Federal Reserve a fair bit of leeway with respect to how it makes choices with respect to the interest rate trajectory.

The challenge from the consumer perspective or the cause for optimism, depending on how you look at the coin, is in some sense that, when this trade war was launched in April, things looked like they were going to be much more dire, because we had tariff rates that were announced on China of 145 percent, on a whole host of countries that are both our allies and adversaries alike at levels that have since come down somewhat as this negotiation has proceeded.

And so I suspect we're in a world in which it looks like what the administration is gravitating towards is a baseline tariff rate of around 15 percent on many -- most of the rest of the world. And that rate is really quite high. Those losses mean about $2,700 in increased prices for consumers.

Those losses mean fewer jobs in this country and less growth in this country, but in some sense it could be much worse if we had gravitated or remained towards those levels when the trade war was launched. And I think that's the piece that consumers are starting to reflect. But, again, we're going to know much more over the course of the months ahead about the ways in which this is really impacting the American people's pocketbooks.

KEILAR: Yes, but 2,700 bucks, I mean, so many people are not going to have that cushion, and we're going to see the effects of that.

Natasha Sarin, it's great to have you. Thank you so much.

SARIN: Thanks so much for having me.

KEILAR: Still ahead: a new alert from a United Nations-backed group warning that the worst-case scenario of famine is currently unfolding in Gaza.

We're live from the region next.

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