Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Starvation Crisis in Gaza; Trump Set to Return From Overseas Trip; Deadly Mass Shooting in New York. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired July 29, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now: breaking news on the mass shooting in Manhattan, new revelations about why a gunman entered a Park Avenue high-rise and opened fire and killing four people, including an off-duty New York City police officer.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off today. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: And we begin this hour with breaking news.

Right now, flags are flying at half-staff across New York as the city reels from its most deadly shooting attack in some 25 years. The security camera captures the gunman, 27-year-old Shane Tamura, as he walks toward a Park Avenue high-rise carrying an M4 assault-style rifle by his side.

Police say he opened fire in the lobby, got into an elevator, and then traveled to the 33rd floor, where he opened fire again. Police say he killed four people and then killed himself. Witnesses describe the terror.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I heard all these loud bangs, no idea what it was. Turned around. I thought the ceiling was going to collapse or something. When I turned around, all these people were running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The building houses corporate offices of the NFL and a source says the killer had a suicide note voicing grievances with the league.

This is what New York's mayor said this morning:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC ADAMS (D), MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: From our preliminary investigation, he took the wrong elevator bank up to the NFL headquarters. Instead, it took him to Rudin Management, and that is where he carried out additional shootings and took the lives of additional employees.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Among the dead, an employee at Blackstone who is being remembered today as brilliant, passionate, warm and generous, and a 3.5-year veteran of the New York City Police Department who was working at that building off-duty, off-duty security.

CNN's Omar Jimenez is just outside the building on Park Avenue where all this unfolded.

Omar, what are you learning this morning?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so this morning we have been monitoring the scene here outside the building. And there are still remnants of what happened.

Actually, if you walk over here, you can see the police officers guarding out front, but you can actually see this cracked window pane with an impact point that appears to be where a bullet may have come through. You pan over to the right as well, you also see something similar at the lower portion of this revolving door.

This was where the shooter walked up, headed toward that lobby and began opening fire. You can also see these flags at half-staff because of one of the people killed in the shooting was a New York police officer.

But, as I was mentioning, this is where the shooter walked in, started opening fire at that lobby, killing three people in the lobby before making his way to an elevator, going up to the 33rd floor, which, as we have heard from New York City mayor, may have been the wrong elevator bank, because the mayor has said the shooter may have been targeting the NFL, which has offices here.

But in any event, the shooter went up to the 33rd floor, encountered another person, killed that person, before turning the gun on himself. This was someone, 27 years old, who drove from the Las Vegas area all the way here to New York City and then began carrying out what we have learned from law enforcement.

Now, they say that a suicide note was found on the body of the shooter, saying that this person had CTE, which, of course, is a brain injury associated with head trauma. But it's all part of what is an ongoing investigation right now, Wolf, to figure out why exactly this person did what they did.

[11:05:01]

BLITZER: Omar Jimenez, thanks very much for that update. We will stay in very close touch with you.

I want to take a closer look right now at all of this. Joining us, the CNN senior law enforcement analyst, Andrew McCabe,

he's a former deputy director of the FBI.

Andrew, thanks so much for joining us.

What are investigators focusing on, do you believe, this morning?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Wolf, the recovery of a suicide note on his person at the scene really sheds significant additional light on what might be his motives.

But it's important to note that investigators won't rely on that alone. They want to confirm everything with absolutely verifiable facts. So they're going to continue the work that they started last night, which is executing search warrants at his residence, seizing his vehicle, searching that with a search warrant as well, taking everything that they collect at those locations, particularly electronics, devices, computers, telephones, tablets, anything that can access the Internet.

And they will exploit all those devices fully. They want to see the sorts of things that he's been writing. They want to see what he's been looking at, Google searches, Internet searches, those sorts of things. And, importantly, they want to see who else he's been in contact with. And maybe he's not in contact with anyone. Maybe isolation is a piece of his psychological decline.

But, nevertheless, they will try to confirm all that with the hard evidence they recover from those searchers. They will also be going out and conducting interviews with anyone who they can identify from this work that might be connected to this shooter, so family members, maybe former work associates, neighbors, things like that, to try to get their views on, what was he all about?

How did he live? Did he have a lot of friends? Was he mostly by himself? Did he ever talk about these things? Did he talk about the NFL? Did he talk about some sort of grievance or claimed injury that he thought the NFL was responsible for?

So it's a painstaking process, but it's one that's still crucially important, even though we feel like we know a fair chunk of this story now. Investigators don't ever rely on that. They're going to dig down and try to prove every element of it.

BLITZER: Yes, there's a lot more they certainly want to learn.

Officials tell CNN, Andrew, that the government had no significant criminal background, but he had a documented mental health history. Does it surprise you that he acquired concealed weapons, and he walked around with a gun openly and he had a permit that he received in Nevada to do so?

MCCABE: Wolf, it surprises me not at all, not at all, because that is a very easy thing to do in this country. There are, as you know -- under federal firearms laws, there are elements defined in the law that can exclude you as a potential purchaser of a firearm. But the kind of mental health element requires that you have been

adjudicated a mental defective. That's the language from the statute. So that means you have been through a process where a judge has determined that you must be held in a treatment facility against your will.

And that's very, very rare. We have many, many people across our country and our society that struggle with severe mental challenges, psychological challenges, things of that nature. And none of those things come up on a gun background check. None of those things can exclude you from purchasing a weapon.

So the fact that he had a license as a private investigator, that's probably what led him to the concealed carry permit. It's pretty common for private investigators to carry firearms in a lawful way in the city or state that they work in.

But the fact that he rolled into someplace and bought a -- or somehow acquired an AR-15, that is basically something that almost anyone who's 21 or over in this country can do.

BLITZER: Interesting.

Police say the suspect actually drove from Las Vegas to New York, pulled up in front of that high-rise building on Park Avenue, double- parked. What does his movements tell you?

MCCABE: It certainly suggests, well, I should say supports this narrative that he's somebody who's extremely troubled and struggling with psychological problems.

I mean, that's an incredibly challenging drive for someone to make on their own. The fact that he comes straight into Manhattan, parks in front of the building in the middle of the street, gets out and walks in, all of that to me is consistent with what we saw on that single photograph of him walking into the building.

He's walking into that building. He doesn't seem nervous. He's not looking behind him to see if he's attracted the attention of a crowd or a police officer or law enforcement or security by open-carrying a large shoulder-fired weapon. He is just walking into that building with only one thing on his mind, and that is getting inside and wreaking some sort of havoc.

[11:10:03]

So that's -- I think the picture is remarkable. He looks as if he's walking down to the corner cafe to get a cup of coffee, totally relaxed, totally focused and intent on one thing and that is hurting other people with that gun.

BLITZER: Yes, so awful indeed.

Andrew McCabe, thank you very much for your expertise. We always appreciate it.

MCCABE: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: And happening now: President Donald Trump is preparing to return to Washington later today as he wraps up a visit to Scotland that's again blended business and diplomacy fresh off two days of trade talks with key European leaders.

The president capping off his trip by officially opening his latest golf course today in Scotland.

Want to go live to CNN's chief national affairs correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, who's an Edinburgh for us right now.

What are you seeing over there in Scotland, Jeff?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we know that President Trump has completed his golf for the morning and we believe this trip and will shortly be returning to Washington after what can certainly be viewed as a successful foreign policy trip.

A lot of golf on this trip, but also a lot of diplomatic deals as well, the big trade deal, of course. But a couple things clearly will be front and mind for the challenges of facing the president as he flies back to Washington. One, of course, is Israel and Gaza.

The president said he expects to have a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the crisis in Gaza. They're following up on that as well. But he had this to say when asked on the golf course this morning about what's next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And then I go back to D.C. and we put out fires all over the world. We did one yesterday. As you know, we stopped a war. But we have stopped about five wars. So that's much more important than playing golf.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Much more important than playing golf perhaps, but there was a lot of golf played on this trip. In fact, that was one of the central reasons that the president has been here in Scotland since Friday afternoon.

It was to open that golf course, a second golf course on a club in the northern part of Scotland. But also, Wolf, one of the other challenges facing the president and decisions facing the president is on Russia. Yesterday, he made clear he does not want to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin and he's giving a new time frame of 10 to 12 days.

So that is a time frame that the Kremlin has acknowledged, but certainly has not indicated that they plan to abide by that. If past is prologue here, Wolf, they will simply ignore it. So then the challenge for President Trump will be, does he impose secondary sanctions on Moscow? And that could be very significant, because, of course, those are involving countries that do business with a Russia. It could be India and China. Is that something that the Trump administration wants to get involved in?

So, Wolf, many challenges here as the president begins to wrap up this trip to Scotland. He will be coming back to the U.K. in September for an official state visit with the king.

BLITZER: All right, Jeff Zeleny in Edinburgh, Scotland, for us.

Jeff, thank you very much.

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

Plus:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE ROGAN, HOST, "THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE": When you have this one hardcore line in the sand that everybody been talking about forever and then they're trying to gaslight you on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: One of the biggest podcasters, Joe Rogan, is not letting up on the Epstein controversy, so why this could be a big problem for President Trump.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:18:26]

BLITZER: We're following new developments in Gaza right now.

Israel says 52 aid packages have been dropped into Gaza today, today, in coordination, they say, with Arab nations. Three more countries, France, Spain, and Germany, are now also among those dropping aid.

And after appearing to disagree with Prime Minister Netanyahu over the crisis in Gaza yesterday, here's what President Trump said this morning. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: What will you say next to Benjamin Netanyahu?

TRUMP: We're working together. We're going to try and get things straightened out for the world. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I want to go live right now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He's joining us from Jerusalem.

Jeremy, what more are we learning about the aid now going into Gaza today?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we know that, yesterday, some 200 trucks were distributed in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. That certainly marks an uptick from what we were seeing last week, when we were talking for weeks before about an average of 70 trucks maximum per day.

So this certainly represents an uptick, but humanitarian aid officials say it's still well short of what's needed to even begin to alleviate the starvation crisis that is currently gripping the Gaza Strip. But there's no question that there has been a major change in Israeli policy and attitudes, as they have begun to relax many of the restrictions that have brought us to this very situation of starvation in Gaza.

But, as we are seeing some steps in the right direction, we know that the current situation in Gaza is now being called a worst-case scenario of famine by the leading global authority on food security, the IPC, which is backed by the United Nations.

[11:20:12]

They say that, over the course of the last few months, since April, there have been some 20,000 children who've been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition; 3,000 of those cases represent severe malnutrition, and indeed every single day for the past week, Wolf, we have been watching as Palestinians have been dying as a result of that starvation.

And so it's important to note that, even as more food is getting into Gaza right now, we know that people will continue to die of malnutrition in the days ahead, because, for some people, Wolf, it simply is too late at this point -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And, Jeremy, I said you're in Jerusalem. You're in Tel Aviv now, right?

DIAMOND: Correct.

BLITZER: All right, good. Just want to be precise. Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv for us, he's our Jerusalem correspondent. He's in Tel Aviv.

Thank you very, very much.

I want to continue the conversation right now with Jan Egeland. He's the secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, the former U.N. undersecretary for humanitarian affairs.

Jan, thanks so much for joining us.

Israel said it airdropped dozens of aid packages into Gaza today. We also saw several other countries begin to airdrop aid over these last few days. Are you hearing from your people on the ground in Gaza that this is helping?

JAN EGELAND, SECRETARY-GENERAL, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: Not really. It's not nearly enough.

Listen, we are now in a situation of a manmade starvation across Gaza, more than two million people. Airdrops is something that politicians, diplomats and television journalists like, because they are photogenic and it then appears as if you're doing something.

But one airdrop, that's 25 tons. That's two trucks. We need 600 trucks per day. And would you feed Tel Aviv with one airdrop or two or three? You would have to have hundreds of trucks going in, hundreds of airdrops. So this is really a situation that is still ticking relentlessly towards a biblical-style famine, and it is manmade from A to Z.

BLITZER: And who do you blame for this manmade famine?

EGELAND: I blame those who have blocked all of the border crossings, who prevent my organization, Norwegian Refugee Council, from coming in now 160 days and nights in a row, namely, the Israeli military, Israeli war machine.

They -- Egypt couldn't open because the Israelis is blocking from the other side. It's really Israel. Since Hamas' horrific terror on the 7th of October, and when all of the world was on the side of Israel against terror, Israel has done its utmost to push the rest of the world away, as they have done every -- they have violated every rule in the international law.

They have committed war crimes. It cannot continue like this.

BLITZER: The Israeli ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, I interviewed him in the last hour, and he totally put all the blame on Hamas and those groups like the Iranians who are supporting Hamas. How much blame does Hamas get for this failure to deliver all of that aid to the people at Gaza?

EGELAND: Well, listen, I have been twice to Gaza since the 7th of October. You cannot see Hamas. I mean, they're down there in the bunkers, where they still hold some hostages, by the way, in an abhorrent way.

We distributed freely when we get into Gaza. It's the Israelis that have prevented us from working. My organization was closed down by Hamas in 2015, when they -- when we rejected their interference in our work. They tried to interfere. We blocked them. We stopped all work. They then blocked us. Then they relented.

And, since, we have been able to do our work freely there. It's on Israel and on its allies, the United States and the others, who gave arms to this indiscriminate bombing of housing, of mosques, of universities, of schools, and of hospitals.

BLITZER: Jan Egeland, thank you so much for joining us.

[11:25:02]

EGELAND: Thank you.

BLITZER: And just ahead, we will be joined by the New York City mayor, Eric Adams, as investigators are working to try to figure out a motive behind the deadly shooting in a Manhattan office building.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We have new details this morning on the shooting that left four people dead in a Park Avenue office building in Manhattan. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is suggesting the shooter may have been targeting the NFL.

A surveillance camera captures 27-year-old Shane Tamura with an M4 assault-style rifle walking toward the building that houses offices of the NFL and other businesses. A source says the killer had a suicide note voicing grievances with the league.

[11:30:00]