[Berman:] We're getting new details this morning into what could have been a massacre in downtown Dallas. Right now, the FBI is scouring the social media and military history of a 22-year-old masked gunman who opened fire outside a federal courthouse before he was shot dead by police. I want to bring in Josh Campbell, CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI supervisory special agent. Josh, there are 200 FBI agents now working on this case. If you were one of them, what questions would you be asking?
[Josh Campbell, Cnn Law Enforcement Analyst, Former Supervisory Special Agent, Fbi:] Well, so many questions. And let me say at the outset John, if I can, that we herald the work of law enforcement in this country. We hold their feet to the fire whenever required. This is one of those days that all of us should be honoring the work of a federal agency that most of us have never heard of the Federal Protective Service. They're charged with protecting federal buildings in Washington, D.C. and around the country. And but for their quick actions in engaging the shooter, we may be talking about a mass murder right now. As you mentioned, the FBI special agent in charge indicating over 200 agents assigned to this case. Essentially, the entire Dallas field office is being told this is their top priority. They're going through this subject's social media. Questions I would have, obviously, is to get to motivation. Did he signal in advance his intentions to attack this target? Were there people that were in his orbit that may have known about him? A lot of questions for law enforcement and we can be assured that they worked throughout the night and this investigation will be continuing.
[Berman:] You say that this looks like what law enforcement might consider an injustice collector. What do you mean by that?
[Campbell:] Yes, exactly. So when you think about what the subject could have done and again, it's chilling to think about, but he was well-armed a high-powered rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition on his waistband that we saw in these photos and these images. He could have caused mass loss of life if his goal was to indiscriminately kill people. There's a lot we don't know at this point but I think one thing that we can take away is that his goal wasn't just to cause mass loss of life because you wouldn't go after a federal building. Think about what this institution represents power, authority. Sure, law enforcement in this country enforces the law, but it's in these courthouses where justice is ultimately handed down. So, I think what we're probably going to learn with this subject is he had some kind of grievance with law enforcement. Again, a lot of that will come from his background, looking into details of his life. But there was something that motivated him to come after this and we've seen those instances in the past where someone feels slighted, they collected these injustices, and sadly, some of them actually act on them with violence.
[Berman:] But this is a hard target. As you say, this is a federal courthouse here. This person had to know it would be heavily guarded. And even if he had 150 rounds of ammunition and wanted to make a lot of noise, he wasn't going to get very far.
[Campbell:] Yes, exactly. Anyone who has been in these federal buildings, they know that they're highly protected. There are armed guards in and around the building. I don't think that there's any way again, we can't get into the mind
[Berman:] Right.
[Campbell:] of the shooter, but there's no way he would have made his way past these layers of security, up the elevators, into a judge's chamber or courtroom, for example. And so, again, his main grievance may have been just to attack this institution to attack this building. We know the FBI is currently working with the Department of Defense, again, to go back through his life. He's a 22-year-old former Army infantryman. So there will be a lot of possible clues that they'll be able to develop as far as what happened in this person's past. Did he have run-ins with law enforcement
[Berman:] Yes.
[Campbell:] or some type of authority figures? Again, all of that will be part of this investigation.
[Berman:] Very quickly, you bring up this man's military history. He was an infantryman in the Army from 2015 to 2017. So what kind of information would the military be able to provide here?
[Campbell:] So, inside the military, they do these analyses of members of personnel, fitness reports. There are supervisors, again, who will file reports about their observations of these people. So again, they want to talk to his superior to try to figure out was he someone who was in trouble? We know that he served two years, which isn't a lot of time, so I would want to know what caused him to be discharged. And again, all of that will come from talking to his last employer, which would have been the Department of Defense and again, to gather those clues. What was this person like? What how did he act around others, around authority figures? Again, to get to that motive. Why did he decide to conduct an attack on the U.S. government?
[Berman:] An important thing I think you say today is to give thanks to the Federal Protective Services, preventing what might have been a massacre there. Terrifying images. Josh Campbell, thank you so much for being with us.
[Campbell:] Thanks, John.
[Berman:] Alisyn
[Camerota:] OK, John. As you know, all morning we've been pressing the White House to give us some response to the president's latest threat via Twitter to deport a million well, actually, millions, he said, undocumented immigrants. So we have some answers now. Let's get to it. All right, good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, June 18th, 8:00 now in the East, and we begin with the breaking news. Overnight, President Trump announced a major new operation targeting undocumented immigrants. He tweeted that ICE will begin deporting millions of people living in the U.S. illegally, beginning next week, but it is unclear if any actual plans are in place. The president returning to his signature anti-immigrant rhetoric just hours before he kicks off his 2020 reelection campaign at a big rally in Florida.
[Berman:] There are huge developments overseas as well. The United States is sending an additional 1,000 troops to the Middle East after Iran backed off some of its commitments in the Iran nuclear deal. Russia's deputy foreign minister has responded just a little while ago this morning. END