0 at cnn who played such an important role. by the way, the news and documentary emmy awards will be handed out in new york city october 1st. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. outfront next, missile equipment intercepted on the way from cuba to north korea. we'll tell you what authorities have found on that ship. we have new developments tonight. plus new developments in the death of cory montieth. the coroner revealing tonight what killed the actor. and protests continue across the country in reaction to the george zimmerman verdict. the big question, will the department of justice file new charges? eric holder spoke today. let's go outfront. good tuesday evening to everyone. i'm erin burnett. outfront tonight, new developments on the weapons equipment that was intercepted on the way to north korea. the shipment was discovered late monday after a dramatic and violent confrontation unfolded on a freighter that was headed from cuba through the panama canal. barbara starr is at the pentagon and, bar bara, what happened on this ship was pretty incredible, just the drama of that moment. tell me about that and what they actually found. >> reporter: well, erin, according to panamanians they found hidden weapons equipment. they think it's a missile radar used for missiles to be targeted. it was hidden under bags of sugar from cuba. it doesn't get more dramatic than this because that's only the beginning of it. the crew, when the panamanians tried to stop them, the north korean crew, 35 members of the crew resisted arrest and the captain, first he tried to fake a heart attack and then he tried to commit suicide. it all came to light when the president of panama tweeted a picture of the captured cargo. he went right to the pier and looked at the whole operation. it's really quite extraordinary. cuba and north korea, now the u.s. believes that they were really pairing up, trying to get this radar back to north korea, possibly for an upgrade and then possibly to return it back to cuba. >> it's pretty incredible what you say. also just what happened on that ship. the captain tried to commit suicide and, you know, just how the drama of this went down. but as you say, barbara, obviously panamanian authorities seized the ship, it was in the panama canal, an incredibly narrow artery. but the u.s. military had been tracking it for several days. so how significant is this discovery for the u.s.? i mean this isn't something we hear about really ever. >> reporter: this is a very unusual circumstance. the ship was actually trying to get back into the canal to transit to go home. the panamanians clearly had been tipped off by somebody. they thought maybe there were drugs on board the ship. look, the panama canal, you know better than anybody, erin, is an economic choke point. 14,000 shipping vessels transit the canal every year. billions of dollars in shipping. a huge, huge vital waterway for the u.s. economy. so the panamanians are actually quite strict about security there. they're always worried about a terrorist attack and they do not put up with smuggling, especially of weapons. so this is a plus for panamanian intelligence, that they got the ship. you have to wonder who really tipped them off to it. >> that does seem to be the big question. barbara starr, thank you very much. i want to bring in gordon chang right now, the author of "nuclear showdown, north korea takes on the world" and tim clemente. let me start with you, gordon. you hear barbara talking about what was on the ship, the cargo, the missile radar intercepter. what does this tell you? >> well, it tells us that the north koreans are not only prelif rating to asia and the middle east but also into our hemisphere. this is a country which is just 90 miles away from american shores. now, if they can smuggle missile radar into cuba, you know god knows what else they can put there, because we do not need a replay of the cuban missile crisis. this time with the north koreans with their finger on the triggers rather than the soviets. >> tim, how worried should this country be, should the united states be about these ties between north korea and cuba. gordon laid out a possibly frightening scenario. >> obviously the more that the western world extricates the north koreans and the cubans into a little corner, they're obviously going to conspire together. it's a concern, but what it's going to take is vigilance. this is a great job on the part of panamanians acting on intelligence, which i believe came from america and south korea both. but that kind of vigilance is going to have to be increased because in order to quarantine somebody like raul castro and his brother fidel and kim jong um in north korea, we need to be watching even submersibles. >> gordon, tim is saying it could have been a tip from the united states, which barbara reported was tracking the ship, or from south korea. but what's amazing to me is that 85% of the trade around this planet goes by ship. so there's a lot of ships out there. and it's really hard to find the ones who might be up to no good. the u.s. was tracking it, but should they have been more actively involved? if it was just out in the open sea, what do you do, just track it and let it go where it's going? what are your options? >> well, that's what we have been doing. we've been letting north korean ships go even when we know what's on board and when we think it's dangerous. that's because the security council resolutions do not permit us to board north korean ships without their permission. but we have had right to do this. the north koreans this year and three times before have abrogated the korean war armistice. that means there's no agreement not to use force. which means we could torpedo that ship, we could do that so clearly we have the right to interdict it. because the north koreans have been selling nuclear weapons technology around the world, this is a matter of our security and we shouldn't be outsourcing it to the chinese and the russians on the security council. >> tim, should the u.s. be doing more? gordon says we have the ability to do more. it seems pretty frustrating at the least to think you're just tracking ships that you think may have, maybe in some cases nuclear missile material on board and all you're doing is saying, oh, i think it's there but not stopping it. >> well, i think using a third party like the panamanians was a great ruse. it was a great job on america's part if we were as involved as i believe we were. that gives us plausible deniability and also allows the north koreans not to point the finger at us. when a panamanian customs official says i need to board your ship and the crew goes ballistic, tries to kill everyone, cut the cables, the captain commits hariry cary, that's a great case. >> gordon, about what that, what happened on that ship? does it surprise you the captain faked a heart attack, tried to commit suicide? >> no, no, this is the way the north koreans operate. you know, it's not just us, but that adds emphasis to the north korean actions because we are their enemy in their minds. but it's just the way the north koreans do operate. they do not want anybody on their ships. whether it's carrying melons or nuclear weapons technology, i think the north koreans would act pretty much the same way. they did that with the pong su carrying heroin into australia. this is just standard operating procedure. >> thanks very much to both of you. appreciate it. i wish i was there to see that happen. breaking news in the boston bombing investigation here on outfront. missed clues that could have led authorities to one of the suspects before the attack. our investigation and breaking news. plus the latest from the asiana crash investigation. the passengers ready to file a lawsu lawsuit. the defendant in the suit is not asi asiana. more information about the death of cory montieth. and later, a debate that's raged for years may finally be settled. will the real t-rex please stand up.