Nine Killed In South Carolina Church Shooting; Prison Worker Warned Husband About Murder Plot; Pope Francis Addresses Climate Change; Police Release Enhanced Mugshots Of Prison Escapees
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.</s>ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Errol Barnett. Thanks so much for joining us.</s>CHURCH: We are following breaking news in the U.S. from South Carolina where several police agencies are searching for a gunman who opened fire at a church in Charleston.</s>BARNETT: Now the police chief says the white suspect believed to be in his early 20s shot several people at the historic African-American church on Wednesday night. At this hour, nine people have died from this incident. Earlier Charleston officials held a news conference asking for unity as they continue their investigation.</s>GREGORY G. MULLEN, CHARLESTON SOUTH CAROLINA POLICE CHIEF: What we need right now is we need everybody to come together and pray for these families and we need them to come together and help us find this person so nobody else is hurt. And what we need is for the community to look at this and say we have had enough of this violence and if we stand up together we can stop this violence and that is what we need the community to do.</s>JOSEPH P. RILEY JR., MAYOR OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: We are all in this together in this community to help those who have lost a loved one get through this time and give them our love and support and encouragement as we bring this awful person to justice as soon as humanly possible.</s>BARNETT: And it's certainly understandable why people in Charleston will be so full of fear at this hour as law enforcement responded to the chaotic scene of the deadly shooting, people did this. They gathered nearby to pray. Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest black church of its kind in the southern U.S. People in the community say they are outraged that this violent act can happen in a house of worship.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You tell people to go to work, do right, go to church. These people were in church -- and they violated the sanctity of that. The ramifications are way beyond just what happened tonight. This is just unacceptable. This is unacceptable.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are communities trying to live and survive. Why do we have to live like this? We don't need more. We need peace. We ask you in the community to stand behind that.</s>CHURCH: Looking for peace there. And South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has voiced her condolences with the statement on Facebook, and here's part of her message. She says, "While we do not yet know all of the details, we do know that we will never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another."</s>BARNETT: Now CNN producer, Ashley Killough, is on the scene there in Charleston and can join us I believe over the phone with some of the latest information. Ashleigh, we have been talking to you all night as we have been getting updates from the police officials there. What new information have you been able to pull together?</s>ASHLEY KILLOUGH, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): We have not seen the police for the last couple hours. We hope to get an update in the coming hours, possibly at 7:00 a.m., is what we are most recently hearing. There are a lot of details that we still need to know. But most importantly the suspect is still at large. They are urging caution. They haven't given specifics into what -- where people should go and not go. There is still a lot of information needed on that.</s>CHURCH: Ashley, that is the problem, there are so many gaps here, aren't there? We thought that we would hear from police this hour in fact. Now they delayed it for perhaps another four hours or so. But earlier when they were describing the suspect, they were specific in his age, 21 rather than early 20s, very specific. Talk to us about what we're supposed to make of that, whether they have any idea of who this young man is.</s>KILLOUGH: Correct. We don't know why they know or how they know that detail. They didn't want to comment too much on the investigation, but they are thinking about offering a reward and asking the community to help find this person. So we don't know how they know that information, but hopefully they can get some more details to us on that.</s>BARNETT: And while we await into tomorrow, what will likely be happening there when the sun comes up and when tomorrow arrives? Do you feel that the streets around the church will still be closed? I know there is some kind of prayer vigil planned for the larger community as well.</s>KILLOUGH: Right, there is a vigil planned. Some of the activities here have died down. There were a few dozen people who gathered to pray in large prayer circles. They were singing worship songs asking for peace and calm. A lot of them have left now. But we expect there will be more of a sense of community tomorrow. We might see more of that especially as they are waiting to hear if the suspect has been caught yet or if he is still out there.</s>BARNETT: Yes, everyone seems to agree this was an outrageous act and it's concerning that the suspect is still at large at this hour. Our CNN producer, Ashley Killough, live for us there in Charleston, South Carolina. We'll continue to talk to you throughout the morning. Thank you.</s>CHURCH: Yes, and we do want to add this, Republican presidential candidate, Jeb Bush, has cancelled a planned event in Charleston today, we should say. Thursday is now upon us. His campaign says his thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and families affected by this tragedy.</s>BARNETT: And of course, we will have more on this breaking story throughout the hour. And a reminder, you can always when you are away from your television check CNN.com for the latest developments on this and other big stories around the world.</s>CHURCH: For now, though, we want to turn to upstate New York for the latest on the manhunt of those two escaped killers. Authorities admit that Richard Matt and David Sweat could be anywhere after more than 12 days on the run.</s>BARNETT: Certainly a scary thought. The police have said that they have more than 1,400 leads and are shifting their search area now for these fugitives across the U.S. border into Canada. Jason Carroll has more.</s>JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wanted posters of the two escaped killers are now being handed out along the Canadian and Mexican borders. This as the search is expanding and shifting to other areas surrounding the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. Officials admitting today the hunt for Richard Matt and David Sweat, at least, at this point is not promising.</s>CAPT. ROBERT LAFOUNTAIN, NEW YORK STATE POLICE: I can tell you right now as well that we have no information that they have been able to leave the area. That being said, it doesn't mean that they haven't been able to escape this area, but we have no information.</s>CARROLL: But there is new information about the woman who allegedly helped them escape. Joyce Mitchell, the 51-year-old prison employee warned her husband, Lyle, also a prison employee, that the two inmates had planned to kill him. Joyce Mitchell's attorney telling me his client knew of the plot, but was not be part of it herself saying, quote, "Just because she heard something does not mean she was going to act on it." While Lyle knew about the plot to kill, his lawyer says, he was apparently unaware his wife was having a sexual relationship with at least one of the inmates. A source tells CNN Mitchell had sex with Matt in the same tailor shop where Mitchell and her husband worked. The Clinton County sheriff talked about her demeanor now that she is behind bars.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's probably a little bit early for that. There's an awful lot going on around her just with the media attention. I think she is still consuming that and absorbing that to be able to express too many feelings.</s>CARROLL: Mitchell's attorney says he has only had one opportunity to speak to his client face to face since her arrest and that was on Monday, the day of her court appearance. As for her husband, there are questions whether he knew about the escape plan.</s>ANREW WYLIE, CLINTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: As of today, we have no information whatsoever that he had prior knowledge of the escape or that he participated or actively assisted in the escape of the two inmates.</s>CARROLL: Those two inmates still very much on the run. Every lead being followed, searchers waiting for the one that leads to them. Jason Carroll, CNN, Dannemora, New York.</s>CHURCH: And NBC News anchor, Brian Williams' future has been in question for months.</s>BARNETT: Now he was suspended in February after admitting he incorrectly claimed to be on a helicopter that was shot down in Iraq. Things seemed to just unravelled from there. Now there is word that Williams and NBC have reached a tentative agreement. He will stay on at the network after his suspension ends in August, but not as anchor of "The Nightly News." Sources indicate he will have a role at the cable channel,</s>MSNBC. CHURCH: Pope Francis is weighing on climate change. In just a few hours from now, the Catholic leader will release a long awaited and highly controversial public letter called an encyclical. But what exactly is this document and why is it so significant?</s>BARNETT: For answers, we cross to our Vatican correspondent, Delia Gallagher.</s>DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's called praised be on the care of our common home. Pope Francis' encyclical on the moral aspects of climate change and protecting the environment. Church leaders say that this is the first time the release of a papal encyclical has been so anticipated. A Brazilian climate change group even created an epic theatrical trailer for the pope's words.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we destroy creation, creation will destroy us, time to take out the trash.</s>ANNOUNCER: A pontiff fighting for God's creation.</s>GALLAGHER: But what exactly is an encyclical? It's the most authoritative teaching document a pope can issue and signifies a high priority issue for the pope. It is usually written for Catholic clergy and lay people although Pope Francis have said that his encyclical is addressed to everyone, religious or not. Encyclicals are not infallible, but they are not just the pope's opinion either. And Catholics are called to take them seriously. Pope Francis is not the first pope to express concern about the environment. Pope Paul VI back in 1971 talked about the exploitation and degradation of nature by man. John Paul II and Pope Benedict have added their voices to the topic. But Francis is the first pope ever to dedicate an entire encyclical to ecological concerns.</s>JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't get economic policy from my bishops or my cardinals or from my pope.</s>GALLAGHER: A move which has worried conservatives who feared it will be seen as an endorsement of a liberal agenda on climate change and population control and be bad news for big business and oil. As the first pope from the developing world, Pope Francis' emphasis is on the connection between the destruction of the earth's resources and its impact on the poor. The timing of the document's release is also significant coming the same year as the United Nations climate change conference in Paris this December. With the pope's popularity, this encyclical will be a milestone that places the Roman Catholic Church at the forefront of one of the major scientific and moral issues of our times.</s>CHURCH: Delia Gallagher reporting there. We'll take a very short break. But still to come, a historic Charleston Church comes under attack and a stunned community responds with prayer. We will have the very latest details coming up.</s>BARNETT: And also Greece, the country on the brink of financial disaster, what may happen next if the country fails to strike a deal with creditors by the end of this month.