Dallas Vigil Underway For Fallen Officers
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. Thanks very much for joining us. Two main threads of the hour. Tonight, remembering the fallen police officers in Dallas. You see a very vigil just beginning outside the city hall. And protesters back on the streets again and major cities across the country just as they were in Dallas, raising voices against the killings of African- Americans had counteract with police. Demonstrations tonight in Chicago, Sacramento, California, as well as Atlanta. Joining us by phone is Charlie De Mar of our Chicago Affiliate WBBM. Charlie, what's the scene in Chicago? Charlie, can you hear? It's Anderson. You're on the air. What's the scene in Chicago?</s>CHARLIE DE MAR, WBBM REPORTER: Hi Anderson, good evening. Yes. About 8:00 local time here and these marchers are going on about their 5th hour marching the streets of Chicago. Shortly after I checked in with you last hour that the marchers regrouped, they took a little break, came up with a game plan. It was a couple thousand marchers at that point. Now the crowd has dwindled down to about a couple hundred and they mostly stayed on the sidewalk, but it's still a very busy part of Chicago. We just saw the crowd actually move from the sidewalk rushing the street and I saw a woman get detained. It's the first person to be put in handcuffs today. I saw the tail end of it. All I saw was this woman pushed a cop, but again, I didn't see what led up to that. But this crowd is much smaller, but much more rambunctious than we saw in the earlier hours.</s>COOPER: All right, Charlie De Mar, thanks very much. These pictures are from a short time ago, not live images. Now to Atlanta, CNN'S Polo Sandoval is there. Polo, it looks like from the advantage point, the overhead shot we're seeing right now, not as large a protest as it was in Chicago earlier. Do you have a sense of numbers overall in Atlanta?</s>POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Anderson, we've seen hundreds of people. Just to bring things into perspective or add some context here, we did hear from Atlanta's mayor earlier this morning saying that today would be day five of demonstrations and they have seen an estimated 15,000 people over those last five days take to the streets and only 25 arrests until today, Anderson. I have to tell you, we've been walking with these demonstrators and really speaking to them and today was the first day that I actually witnessed some of these officers eventually go into the crowd and begin to pluck out certain individuals. We've seen at least 12 arrests or so. However, the crowd here continues on the sidewalk because we have heard from authorities here in Atlanta over and over again saying people are free to protest and to hold these demonstrations and marches, as long as they stay off public roads because that is now a public safety issue. So as a result here now we're now seeing people on the sidewalk here making their way through this to the Buckhead region which is essentially. If you're familiar with the Atlanta area, it's basically an upscale shopping, dining area here in Atlanta. And that's one of the reasons why the mayor has increased security. And one of several reasons why they are now on the streets and we're seeing police here on the ground as they continue to make sure that at least people stay off the sidewalk. But you talk to people here and ask them if they know where they're going and at this point, many of them, Anderson, will tell you that they're just following that drumbeat, following that very familiar cry for justice, Anderson.</s>COOPER: All right, Polo Sandoval. Polo thanks. President Obama, Vice President Biden, Former President George W. Bush and hundreds of members of local law enforcement will gather tomorrow afternoon at a concert hall in Dallas to remember the five fallen officers and help the city heal. Right now as you saw briefly at the top of the hour in city hall plaza, people are gathered for a Dallas strong candlelight vigil. Martin Savidge is there for us now. Martin, what's been going on?</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I have been trying to gauge the mood of the people here, watching them for a long time. Certainly there's sadness. It's very somber. There are also people coming together. You see a lot of officers in uniform hugging, hugging the public. This is a chance for, again, the community to come together and grieve, but also to share in the pain that they're going through and that's happening right now. There are family members that are here of the officers. There is also a huge representation of the public and it's a very wide representation of people from all walks of life and it's only just now getting under way, Anderson.</s>COOPER: Martin, let's just take a look at this. They're obviously showing the images of the five fallen. Let's just watch and listen. And Martin, how long is this vigil tonight and what do we expect to happen over the course of it?</s>SAVIDGE: Well, there's going to be a number of speakers and each person that speaks will represent one of the fallen officers. So in some ways, you could say it's almost like eulogies that will be delivered. And then on top of that we also expect to hear from the chief of police, David Brown. You know, he's a man who you would have to say today has got to be running almost on empty when it comes to both his level of energy and his emotions. And he has an incredibly difficult week ahead. The funerals of five officers would tear out the heart of just about any police chief. And yet, that's what he has to go through. Of course, the whole community has to go through that, but he's the man in charge. Again, it will be very, very hard.</s>COOPER: Let's listen in again.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The heroes weren't just outstanding police officers. They were fathers, sons and, husbands. They were neighbors, coaches, and church members. Officer Brent Thompson was described as super nice and a friend to everyone. He was a person you would ask for help and he would have your back. He was married two weeks ago to D.A.R.T. Officer Emily and was the father of six children. Officer Patricio Zamarripa was a navy veteran and served three tours in Iraq. He was an avid sports fan. He loved the cowboys and the Texas rangers and WWE wrestling. He was a proud son and a loving father of two children. Officer Michael Krol was from Michigan, who loved and talked a lot about his mom. He enjoyed fishing with his father. He never caring if he caught anything, as long as he was spending time with him. He was described as a loving guy with a big heart who liked country music, the Detroit lions and the Detroit tigers. Senior Corporal Lorne Ahrens was a former college football player and was described as a lovable giant who was always laughing. He was also known for always being there to have your back. Lorne was married to DPD Detective Katrina and had two children. Sergeant Michael Smith was a good person who was always trying to help others. He was nearing retirement, but continued to serve the citizens of Dallas like it was his first day on the job. He was married to his loving wife Heidi for 17 years and had two children. To our country, I pray we can pause and take a step back. When everything is negative and full of hate and anger, there can be no solutions. We must listen to each other rather than simply talking at one another. We will not let the cowardly hate-filled acts of one man divide our city and our country. I believe in our police department and I believe in our country and its citizens. I also believe we can rise and face these challenges together. If we are to hope for a better life, for our cities and communities, our nation must unite behind law enforcement. To my fellow officers, I ask that you honor the legacy of our fallen brothers by continuing in their footsteps and protecting and serving the citizens of Dallas with the same honor and integrity exhibited by these five heroes. To the families, we want you to know you will always be there for you. You will always be part of the family in blue. Your loved ones will never be forgotten and their sacrifice will long be remembered. I would now like to introduce Dallas Police Chief David Brown, who has done an outstanding job in this crisis.</s>DAVID BROWN, DALLAS CHIEF POLICE: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look, it's a train. It's a plane. No, it's superman. As a young child I ran home from school to hear that, so that I could see the reruns of the television series "Superman". I love super heroes because they're now like what I aspired to be when I grew up. They're like cops. They're like police officers. Super heroes and cops are mission-focused. Give us a job to do we'll focus on accomplishing the mission. So what's our mission today? It's helping these families understand how to conquer this tragedy. What do we tell you all? Well, being a person of faith, I always refer back to the good book, the Bible. And we have an example of how to conquer this tragedy. When the good Lord was crucified and rose on the third day, alive, he say it, oh death, where is your sting? Oh, grave, where is your victory? Families, we love you. We love you with everything we have. We are now your surrogate family members. We're your brothers and your sisters. When you need us, you call because we'll not only be loving you today, we'll be loving you always, always until the end of time. We'll be loving you until you are me and I am you, always. Always faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look, it's a train. It's a plane. No, it's Patricio Zamarripa. Look, it's Brent Thompson. Look, it's Michael Krol. Look, its Lorne Ahrens. Look, it's Michael Smith. God speed. God bless you. God bless the Dallas police department. Thank you.</s>COOPER: That was Dallas Police Chief David Brown. Just ahead, two men remember one of those officers who Chief Brown just named. He was their brother, the first officer in the history of the Dallas transit police force to be killed in the line of duty. Later, new developments in one of the police shootings that ignited such protests. Protest still going on tonight. Details ahead.