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Four Crew Members Killed in U.S. Refueling Plan Crash in Iraq; FBI Says, Synagogue Ramming a Targeted Attack on Jewish Community; FBI Says, University Shooter was Convicted ISIS Supporter. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired March 13, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Pentagon now confirms at least four service members are dead after an Air Force refueling plane crashed in Iraq. We expect an update from the Pentagon next hour.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning, on guard in America. New security measures across the country after the attacks on a synagogue in Michigan and a university in Virginia. The new threat assessments coming in this morning.

And new video of an SUV gone wild, flying across a busy street, woo, and right into the scaffolding outside a restaurant. We've got new information on what went very wrong.

Sara is out today. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: The breaking news this morning, U.S. Central Command confirms four of six crew members were who were on board an Air Force refueling plane that crashed in Western Iraq have been killed. Their names are being withheld until their families are notified. Rescue efforts do continue for the two other crew members, we're told.

The circumstances around this crash under investigation, but the Pentagon does say that it was not due to hostile or friendly fire. Put it all together, 11 U.S. troops have now been killed -- have died so far in the Iran war.

As the war now goes into day 14, that crucial critical shipping channel, the Strait of Hormuz, becomes front and center even more than it has been, as President Trump is now saying this morning that oil tankers should, quote, go through the straight and show some guts.

Iran has been actively targeting ships, we have been tracking this in the waterway, with missiles and drones since the war began and is now -- Iran is now warning that it will set oil and gas infrastructure across the region on fire if its energy sites are attacked.

CNN's Oren Liebermann, let's start with Oren this hour live from Israel. There is a lot going on as we have seen each day with this war. What are you tracking right now, Oren? OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Kate, we're getting some of the newest info on that incident in which a KC-135 aerial refueling tanker crashed in Western Iraq. According to a pair of statements from U.S. Central Command this morning, the incident involved two tankers. One of those, as we now know, crashed in Western Iraq, and four of the six crew members on board that plane have been declared dead now as search and rescue efforts continue for the other two there.

The second one involved, according to Israel's ambassador to the United States, landed here at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport behind me safely several hours ago. It's unclear exactly what happened between these two aircraft, but the nature of the incident so far suggests it may have been a mid-air collision. U.S. Central Command is investigating

Kate, as you pointed out, this now makes 11 U.S. service members who have been killed since the start of the war 14 days ago. That is six in Kuwait, one in Saudi Arabia, and then four more in this crash in Western Iraq, as we wait for news on the other two crew members onboard that tanker.

BOLDUAN: There's also some news coming in, Oren, about a strike near a rally in Tehran. What are you picking up on this?

LIEBERMANN: So, there have been massive rallies across Iran, not only in the capital of Tehran, but also other cities for Al-Quds Day, which is a day in solidarity with Palestinians. And you see the crowds out there in these videos here, you can see first that they're waving Iranian flags and you can see, or you get a sense of their determination and their defiance in the face of U.S. and Israeli strikes.

Now, as these were happening, Israel issued evacuation warnings for several areas around Tehran near these strikes. And, in fact, you can see the strikes in the background of some of these videos during these Al-Quds Day marches in the capital of Tehran. In these videos, you also hear the crowds there chanting defiantly, Allahu Akbar, God is greatest, as they're watching these strikes takes place.

So, you see two things here. First, you see the Israeli American determination to keep on going after the Iranian regime in Tehran and across the country. And, second, you see the support the regime still has on the streets of the capital and other places across the country today.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Oren, thank you so much for starting us off this hour.

[07:05:00]

It seems a lot that's happening already today. John?

BERMAN: All right. In Virginia this morning, the FBI is investigating a deadly shooting at Old Dominion University as an act of terrorism. And in Michigan, the bureau is calling the attack on a synagogue near Detroit, a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community. A man rammed his vehicle into the temple in Temple Israel Synagogue and school setting part of the building on fire. Officials say the man had a rifle on a large amount of explosives in his vehicle.

According to the synagogue, some 140 children were inside the building, but all the students, staff and teachers, they are okay. One of the rabbis described how the teachers comforted the children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RABBI ARIANNA GORDON, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, TEMPLE ISRAEL: It was certainly terrifying for the teachers. I think the students didn't really have a great understanding of what was going on. They were being snuggled by their teachers, and they were singing songs, and they were being kept calm and distracted throughout the entire afternoon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's get right to CNN's Whitney Wild live on the scene at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan. What's the latest this morning, Whitney?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, DHS is now identifying the suspect in this case as 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali. He was born in Lebanon and became a U.S. citizen in 2016. Sources had told CNN's reporters Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz, John Miller as well as Kasie Hunt, that they believe this man is from an area called Dearborn Heights. That's about 17 miles from here, about a 30-minute drive. This heightened sense of alert had been pervasive in this area ever since at least October 7th, and certainly ramped up as this war broke out in Iran.

The sense of security here completely shattered, although I think the major headline here, John, is how well the security team at Temple Israel responded. As you said, that vehicle rammed through that front door, went right into that front hallway. The first person who engaged that suspect was the head security guard. The vehicle hit that head security officer. He's now recovering in the hospital. Multiple other security officers engaged the suspect. He was killed on scene.

As you pointed out, the vehicle was engulfed in flames, thick smoke everywhere. The area became highly volatile, highly dangerous. And even still within five minutes, law enforcement here rushed inside, putting their own lives at risk to try to evacuate that building as quickly as possible. Around 30 first responders are now in the hospital recovering from smoke inhalation.

Here's more about that reflects how it felt in those very moments. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASSI COHEN, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT, TEMPLE ISRAEL: I was just standing near the hallway where the car came in and I heard a large, loud crash and I saw some debris from the car and knew that something was very wrong. I heard a bang, which was a shot and grabbed the staff members that were around me and we ran into my office, which was very close by and just barricaded the door and hid under my desk and stayed there until we got the all-clear from the SWAT team.

STEVEN INGBER, CEO, JEWISH DETROIT: This wasn't an attack on just Jews. This was an attack on all of us in our way of life. You should all be free to pray wherever you want. This is not just about us, this is about the community and how we should live as humans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: The motivation here still under investigation, according to officials, although sources are telling CNN that this man had told people that he had family members who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon in recent days. John?

BERMAN: I got to say this just puts a spotlight on the security at synagogues and sensitive areas all over the country and the growing need for that security given the nature of the threat.

Whitney Wild, terrific reporting from West Bloomfield, Michigan, thank you very much.

We do have new details this morning on the suspect in the attack at Old Dominion University in Virginia, a veteran who served significant prison time for trying to help ISIS.

And up, up and up again, gas prices rise for the 13th straight day. How high might they go?

Plus, today, we have new data on inflation coming in very shortly. And an SUV goes airborne across a busy street, just missing people on the sidewalk, the scaffolding not so lucky.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: There are new details this morning about the suspect in the deadly shooting at Old Dominion University in Virginia shooting that the FBI is now investigating as an act of terrorism. Agents say that a man who was already a convicted ISIS supporter opened fire in a classroom at the university and killed the instructor, injured to others before students actually jumped into action and took him down.

CNN's Brian Todd is live in Sterling, Virginia. This is where the shooter actually lived. Brian, what are you learning this morning?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, we're picking up some new information about the shooter and his family here at their home in Sterling, Virginia, going to get to that in just a moment. But, first, we want to give you some witness accounts of just how the shooting unfolded yesterday on the campus of Old Dominion University. These were people who were near the building where the shooting occurred. Take a listen to what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAHARI, OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY STUDENT: We heard like scream, like faint screaming and we just like looked back, we didn't know what it was, and then we heard the screams getting louder and then that's when the alarm went off and everyone just like ran out the building.

[07:15:02]

I think it's crazy, like it's crazy. That's all I can say. Like I thought I never thought I would experience something like this.

My heart dropped. I didn't know -- really know what was going on. I just know I had to leave immediately. So, it was pretty scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Now, according to law enforcement sources who spoke to CNN, it was just even more harrowing inside the room because what the sources are telling us is that when the shooting started, the shooter was subdued by other students and at least one student stabbed him to death. That's how everything just pretty much ended right then and there. So, very harrowing sequence of events inside the classroom.

Now, more about what we're learning about the suspect himself. He's identified as 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh. He is a former Virginia National Guard member, spent nearly seven years in prison after pleading guilty to trying to aid the terrorist group ISIS. According to officials at the time in 2016, when he was convicted, he was trying to procure weapons for an ISIS attack.

Now, in this neighborhood, we knocked on the door of the house that we believe to be his family's house where he lived here in Sterling. That's just behind me down in this neighborhood here of townhouses. A man who answered the door kind of pointed to a sign that they had taped on the front door, the sign saying, we do not wish to speak to the press. That's what he -- he pointed to that when I spoke to him and when he answered the door, and then he closed the door.

A second time when I knocked, he answered the door and he said, look, I'm trying to find to be as polite with you as I can, but we really don't want to speak to the media. And he said, you have to understand we're going through a tough time right now. I asked him if he was the shooter's father. He did not answer that question.

Neighbors telling us this is a family that keeps to themselves, they don't really interact with neighbors. One neighbor said when he would pass the suspect during his walks in the neighborhood, the suspect wouldn't engage with him. When he said, hi, he wouldn't say anything back. He would look down to the ground. This neighbor says, quote, about the suspect, something with him just didn't sit well with me. Another neighbor said that they were surprised that they released him and let him come back here. Kate, he was released in December of 2024.

BOLDUAN: Yes, that's right, after serving years in prison for what you were just talking about.

Brian, thank you so much. I really appreciate the reporting, much more to come from that. We also have new reporting that the Trump administration severely underestimated Iran's willingness to attack and shut down the Strait of Hormuz. New CNN reporting coming in on how now some officials are describing this as the worst case scenario.

Also, March Madness is nearly here. Top seeded Duke hanging on to beat Florida State with Selection Sunday now just two days away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: Almost a good morning for Duke haters, but not quite. An excellent morning though to cram for March Madness, it is very nearly here.

With us now, CNN's Andy Scholes. Good morning to you, sir.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, good morning, John. Start doing all that research, right, because Selection Sunday is now just two days away. That means we're all going to be digging in, filling out those brackets very soon. Lots of really good teams this year, including Duke, and the Blue Devils, they survived in the ACC tournament quarterfinals last night against Florida State. They were up one with the ball here, but Alex Steen blocks Duke Superstar Cam Boozer.

Seminoles then go up the court with a chance to win the game. And Robert McCrae with a step back three, but his shot no good at the buzzer. Blue Devils survived that one to advance to the semi-finals of the ACC tournament tonight against Clemson.

Big 12 meanwhile announcing last night that they are swapping out their fancy LED court for traditional hardwood court for the rest of the conference tournament. So, the LED court, it received mixed reviews due to some players slipping and struggling with their grip. Now, the change comes right after Texas Tech star Christian Anderson, he injured his groin against Iowa State last night. That caused him to miss the final eight minutes of that game, but they're going back to traditional court now.

All right, now certain things are guaranteed in life. As the saying goes, they're death, taxes and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 20 points in an NBA game. So, SGA poured in 35 points against the Celtics last night. This was his 127th straight game scoring at least 20 points, breaking Wilt Chamberlain's record.

And this was a good one, Jalen Brown here coming through in the clutch for the Celtics. He tied the game there at 102. But in the final second, Chet Holmgren got that offensive rebound. He was fouled. He made both free throws, so Thunder got the win 104-102.

And after the game, during his interview, SGA's teammates, they gave him the old water bottle bath to celebrate the record. As you can see, he was not too pleased about being drenched right there on the court. But finally after being rescued by Italy, Team USA going to be back on the field tonight in Houston taking on Canada in the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic. And Olympic hero Jack Hughes, he sent the team a message to fire them up ahead of the matchup.

So, John, here we are again, USA versus Canada. You know, we just did this in the gold medal matchup in both men's hockey and women's hockey, USA baseball, 4-1 all-time against Canada. So, you know, we can't win all the hockey games and then lose the baseball game, right?

BERMAN: No, no, that would be bad. That would be bad, considering where the talent mostly is. I will say I expect most of the players to keep their teeth on the field today when they play.

SCHOLES: We hope so.

BERMAN: I do have one correction. You said Chet Holmgren was fouled in the last second, so that actually isn't accurate. They called a foul. He was not actually fouled by Sam Hauser. It was a bad call. That's my fact check, CNN fact check. Get Daniel Dale on that one.

SCHOLES: Yes, from a self expand.

[07:25:00]

BERMAN: Andy Scholes, thank you very much.

SCHOLES: All right.

BERMAN: All right. President Trump says oil tanker crews should, quote, show some guts and go through the Strait of Hormuz. At least 16 ships have been attacked since the war began.

And if you thought spring was finally here, this just in, you were wrong.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: This morning, the country's on edge after two violent attacks carried out in the same day, more than 700 miles apart in Michigan and Virginia. Outside Detroit, the investigation still very much getting underway after a man rammed a vehicle into Temple Israel, setting part of the synagogue on fire. Homeland Security has identified the suspect as a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen. Officials say he was found dead at the scene with a rifle and a large amount of explosives in the vehicle.

The synagogue says that 140 children were inside the building at the time, along with teachers and staff. Everyone though is okay, though obviously traumatized.

[07:30:00]

Here's what the FBI is also saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JENNIFER RUNYAN, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: I can confirm that we are leading the investigation right now as a targeted act of violence against.