it s really medieval the food as well, always rotten, i lost 90 pounds there from malnutrition. telling cnn griner has been able to receive letters while in detention from families and friends. are the russians reading them? absolutely. there s nothing private in a russian prison. anything coming to her will have been read presumably by numerous people. reporter: reed and others also worry that widespread homophobia in russia could be working against griner. she is openly guy in a country that is, tortures and kills members of the lgbtq community. it s a terrible situation. conditions are not good. and there s abuse, both for women and men. this is the last place on earth you want to be. reporter: the state department says that griner and
wnba star brittney griner home from russia where she s been held in detention for more than three months. cnn s brian todd on the story for us, what can you tell us? reporter: tonight, some of the nba s top stars in the middle of championship series usic that platform for calm for her freedom, and a man who himself was recently detained by putin s regime. you have to tell them you want them brought home at any cost, you don t care what that cost is. trevor reed, former marine held in russia until a recent swaupt, putting pressure on the biden administration to get release of two other americans, brittney griner. driving up the pressure, high profile figures in the nba and wnba showing solidarity for griner and talking about her case at press conferences. we all, you know, together,
there. reporter: reyes was then shot and said he had to play dead for over an hour, much of that time law enforcement was just outside the door. you re supposed to protect and serve. there is no excuse for their actions. and i will never forgive them. i lost 11 that day. and i to my parents, i m sorry. i tried my best. with what i was told to do. please don t be angry with me. for the survivors, it s going to be a long road to normal. the grandfather of leanne garcia, another young suffer sc shot in the face, he still hears
local police chief, i thought that was important. well, we re grate to feel you, shimon, for pressing. so, so important. anthony, what goes through your mind hearing that truly harrowing account from that survivor, that teacher reyes. can you comprehend how he was forced to play dead for 77 minutes with officers outside? it makes me realize the significance of their failure, how it impacted everyone, those poor children, the teachers, and now the citizens, the community still without answers. so it s it s it was sad to hear him tell that story of officers not doing the job that they re sworn to do. and he pointed out they had bulletproof vests. he didn t. he didn t have anything. right. anthony, this teacher also told abc he heard police officers outside tell the gunman
it was very hard there, she says. there was a lot of shelling. half the village disappeared. her son-in-law and her daughter are taking her away. every day people gather for buses out of slovyansk. the war now into its fourth month has seen millions flee their homes. with no end in sight, a sense of resignation and exhaustion has set in. some who leave may never return. katya s mother and father have come to say goodbye. actually, i didn t plan to leave, but i decided to leave because the situation is getting more and more dangerous. reporter: her parents will stay behind, even as a part of them leaves.