Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room 20150427

Seen Police Responding with tear gas, and pepper spray. They also face what they call a credible threat of violence from the citys gangs. The latest demonstrations started shortly after todays emotional funeral for freddie gray. The 25yearold man who was fatally injured this month while in Police Custody. Our correspondentses and experts are standing by. Theyre following todays breaking news. Lets begin in baltimore on the streets of baltimore where its major, major tension thats erupted. Cnns Miguel Marquez is there for us. Me miguel updates viewers here in the United States and around the world on whats going on. Reporter i just came from freddie grays funeral. It is pandemonium on the streets. Everybody thought it would be a day of reflection and remembering freddie gray. This is gwenns falls parkway. You see Police Moving in. Moving down ricerstown road. Look down the street a police car burning a short time ago. Right down that is the area very close to the area where mr. Gray was arrested two weeks ago in the gillmore homes section of west baltimore. Police have been clashing with dozens if not hundreds of individuals in this area. I can tell you we drove up from up ricerstown road from north avenue where marchers have been marching in the neighborhood for many days and it was a frightening scene. Young people male and female holding rocks, bricks bottles, sticks very very angry todriving in a rental car, not africanamerican american and very very threatening to us. That said, severalindividuals helped us get to the area we are at now. I can tell you along the side streets and throughout this area there are large groups of individuals ready to fight with police. Police trying to get ahold of this but, look this is this is the corner here. This is ricerstown road. If you look then in this direction, police are holding the line here. If you look up towards the mall in this direction, you can see the Large Police Presence up in that direction, and then down to where athena jones is where theyve just made arrests down at north monroe, look, were a half mile from where freddie grays funeral was today. This is happening here, that this is happening now, is is a shock, given the violence over the weekend and how upset the people of the neighborhood and in freddie grays neighborhood were that it happened, and that it sets a very sets off a very bad chain of events for baltimore. Wolf . Were looking at live pictures of a cvs pharmacy effectively looted. A crowd going in and out of that pharmacy. Live pictures of a Police Vehicle on fire right now. Police officers theyre holding their lines but i dont see them getting directly involved in trying to prevent whats going on at that it pharmacy. Maybe getting reinforcements on the scene. Stand by. I want to bring in athena. Where are you, athena jones . I know youre watch aring the protests pretty close to all of this as well. Reporter hi wolf. I am. Im right behind the police line here and miguel brought this up but we are on north monroe street. The same street of the church where freddie gray was funeralized earlier today. Were not far away. This is taking place, a very close dasistance. It started outside of a high school. High School Students were doing what they calmed a purge. A protest to freddie grays death, but it became violent when they started throwing all kinds of things shells boards we have begun to see more an more Police Officers putting on gas masks. We were warned about two hours ago they could end up deploying tear gas to try to disburse this crowd. Thats when we saw a Police Chopper flying lower than ive ever seen one, three, four stories in the air, warning the crowd to disburse saying it was an unlawful gathering. That did not happen all that time ago. Now weve begun to see many of the people doing that throwing of objects pushed back. Many more arrests, but right now i can tell you, wolf it looks calm but it will stay calm a few minutes and then a few minutes later well start seeing more bricks and rocks and other objects thrown and more people arrests. So its still very very unstable. We are watch aring and waiting to see what happens here. I want to go back to Miguel Marquez. Miguel i saw you walking in. Whats going on where you are now . Reporter Pastor Jamal Bryant who has been instrumental in all of this in dealing with the gray family in helping them, has just arrived on the scene. He was given he came walking down Gwynns Falls Parkway, through the area of the protestors. The police then allowed him through the lines, which i can tell you, it was not easy to get through police lines. And now hes moving over towards the north monroe area. Were not sure why hes here or what hes doing, but certainly to ask for a more peaceful situation, and for people to stop with the violence that theyre doing right now. This is a major American City. Baltimore one of the largest cities in the United States. Basically a riot erupted on the streets of ballottimore on this day of the funeral for freddie gray and viewers watching around the country and the world, baltimore is only about 50 miles from the Nations Capital from washington, d. C. Supposed to be a Major League Baseball game later today. 7 05 p. M. Eastern. Look whats going on. Pharmacy looted police cars on fire smashed, Police Officers wounded in this incident. The pastor involved in all of this trying to calm things down jamal, i want to listen in. This is not what baltimore stands for. Im out here today and have men coming from the Christian Church and from the mosque to try and pull them back. How do you put it back in the bottle . Bring these young people together to realize we are in a code red crisis that im asking everybody to go home and clear the streets, and tomorrow everybodys going to meet at the church so we can figure out, so we dont lose focus what it is were supposed to be doing. Reporter has his surprised you . Its disappointing. Just hours after the funeral. The family hours after putting their son to rest, to come a few blocks away from where services were and its disappointings hoping to bring people back into calm and focus on what wee were were focused on before. Today of all days the family was clear this was a day of sacred closure in the funeral. So for us to come out of the burial and walk into this is absolutely inexcusable. Im asking every young person to go back home. Tomorrow night well have a Community Meeting for us to really recalibrate, because peace is the call and the order of the day. You knissthink this is frustration and anger or much more . Frustration, anger and disrespect to the family. The family was very clear. Weve been saying it all along today. There was absolutely no protests, no demonstrations that we go back on the street into tomorrow. Pastor what are you hearing . Were hearing its not just in this area . No. Reporter but north avenue and probably downtown . We have a group of men going to north avenue now to pull back those young people who are absolutely out of control so we can bring order. Nissa Peaceful Movement and we plan on maintaining that order. Reporter a discussion about moving downtown again . Yes. A line from the gentlemen of islam building a human wall as well as men from the Christian Church making that human wall to let the men know that theyve got to send these children back. Reporter where is has happening . Downtown ill say. Reporter across downtown . From north avenue to downtown those hot spots pulling everybody back to have calm and order. Violence is not the answer for justice. You say this is a peaceful protest, weve soonage date ageitators what happened this afternoon is not peaceful and does not reflect the spirit and heart of this movement. This is a movement of peace. Were calling for justice. Not for vengeance and not for violence. This does not represent the gray family nor does it represent the last seven days of peaceful protests and so were asking all of those who are participating to go back home. Tomorrow we start afresh and anew and stay focused on justice for this family and justice for baltimore. I have not spoken to the mayor. Reporter and well where do you go from here . So youre getting your my focus is not the mayor. My focus is not the Police Commissioner. My focus is these black children on the streets. I dont want them arrested wounded or tear gassed. I want them all to go back home. Very powerful message today at the eulogy. How does wham youre seeing on the streets square with that . It doesnt. A complete disconnect from what weve sooner the last couple of days. Weve had a weak week of peacefully protests. We believe that the peace has to have balance and order. Breaking glass and windows is not reflective of justice, and what it is were calling for. Reporter on the street now walking. Where are you walking to . Im walking to wherever these young people are. Thats my responsibility. Thats my assignment. Not even looking for you all but looking for our young people to go back into their homes and a call for peace and order. Reporter what can just ordinary people do like me . Im from baltimore, love the city. Get on twitter, on facebook instagram, tell everybody to go back home in a call to peace so all of us are in one accord and tomorrow have all your friends meet me at the temple at 7 30 tomorrow night. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Reporter Pastor Jamal Bryant. What a day. He gave a heck of a sermon today as aeulogy for mr. Gray and now here trying to calm the residents of baltimore, hes calling out all supporters he has to build a human chain, a um whoen wall between this area and north avenue just a few blocks down from here, where freddie gray was arrested, to try to keep them from moving downtown and to keep the chaos that were seeing in baltimore today in one area of the city and then hopefully begin to rebuild. Wolf . Miguel i want you to stand by because on the left part of the screen youre seeing what looks like a cab, a taxicab. Its been attacked by rioters on the streets. You saw them smashing the window. I dont know if the driver is inside. If there are passengers inside. But they are clearly destroying that one taxi. Weve seen this now several times. Police vehicles smashed, burned and destroyed by these protestors. These rioters. Its getting very very ugly in a major American City. And it looks like it could get worse, despite the eggloquent statement by jamal bryant the pastor in thefrom the freddie gray funeral. Presumably theyll be arresting a lot of these protestors if they can find them. An awful, awful situation now for the past hour or so at this demonstration turned very very violent. Miguel let me go back to you. Youre there, a lot closer to the scene. What are you seeing now . Reporter well we are seeing Police Reinforcements come into this area of gwynns falls and ricerstown road. Thats Gwynns Falls Parkway in front of us. That is one area we found ourselves in. Throughout the neighborhoods here if we can get up to ricerstown road here in a second throughout the neighborhood you are seeing dozens if not hundreds of individuals carrying rocks and bricks waiting for an opportunity to throw something at the police. When they do and if they are in range of Police Police are shooting either pepper bullets or they are marking them with paint, and im looking down riserstown road and you can see the smoke at the end of the road. Right near north avenue and pennsylvania avenue very close to the location where freddie gray was arrested and there is thats where the cvs is thats being looted, and thats also where a police car is being burned. You can see the black smoke now really picking up. I dont know if other structures or cars down there are burning but the smoke be has gotten worse in the last few minutes. There seems to be a lull in activity at this point. Police now in a purely defensive position. They cant get to the police car or the cvs. They can only protect themselves and break up these groups of demonstrators. Who have now splintered throughout the city and are promising to go downtown are in the area where freddie gray was arrested, and the Western District Police Station, that has become sort of the focal point for a lot of the protests over the past week. At that station they were increasing the security barrier, the perimeter, around that Police Station today for the first time. We saw them move cement barriers farther out from the the one block that they had previously. So they clearly are concerned. That was happening following the reports that the gang member the crips, the bloods and the black the black another africanamerican group, had all gotten together and said that they were going to target Police Officers. This smoke down here if you can see this wolf is getting very very heavy. Its not clear whats burning. I dont know if you have a Helicopter Shot up and can see what that is but it seems to have picked up quite a bit in recent minutes. Just in the last five or six minutes and i dont even think they can get fire engines to these places right now because its too dangerous. You go through the streets and it is is a very very hofrtal alhostile populace you are greeted with. We came up in middle of many individuals carrying rocks, sticks, bricks and Everything Else that they were and it was not a place where either police or Fire Department or any sort of Public Services would feel they could operate freely. It sounds like in this area just hearing from what police are saying here they may be moving some of the forces perhaps down to that area or other areas where protestors are starting to splinter off, but its going to be very difficult. Jamal bryant saying they are going to form a wall, a um who a human wall along pennsylvania avenue to try to detain the individuals to keep the violence of today from getting any worse. Were looking at the number of Police Officers. They are backing out now. Police are moving from this area. Theyll probably leave some Police Officers here, but others, you can see them, some more heavily armed than others and their gear more heavy than others. Those more heavily armored groups are going to start moving out. Wolf . Stand by. Because i want to update for viewers who may just be tuning in whats going on. A major American City baltimore, maryland, at least a chunk of it now under attack by violent protestors demonstrators. They have gone after police at least seven Police Officers we are now told have been injured. Some seriously in these attacks. We know also some of the journalists have come under attack including one d. C. Based photographer who works for us was under attack has been taken to a hospital. These protestors are angry, because of the death of freddie gray. The 25yearold individual that was arrested and died in Police Custody almost two weeks or so ago. You see looting thats been going on in this area. Theyve gn going into a cvs pharmacy running in there and taking whatever they want out. Its happening right now. These are live pictures youre seeing coming in to us from our affiliates in baltimore right now. Tom fuentes, former assistant director of the fbi and our cnn Law Enforcement analyst. Tom, ive got to say, im sure viewers watching here in the United States and around the world are asking a basic question what wheres the police force . Where is the National Guard . Why is this happening . In the city of baltimore . They advertised hours ago that these protestors were going to take vile lntviolent action. Whats going on . Back to Ferguson Police were criticized if they come out in force, wearing military gary, looking mean. Baltimore made a deliberate attempt to keep that down. Keep that militarization look down and they were out there the other night in street shirts with no helmets and i was criticizing that as being unsafe. So i think now theyre finally realizing that when you have gangs on the streets threatening the police the time for being nice and not putting on protective gear is over. Its time to protect nobel yourself not only yourself but the community. These are businesses. People need their personal property and persons protected and thats not happening. Think could get a lot worse. Stand by. I want to bring in the captain, spokesman for the Baltimore Police department. Captain what is going on in your city right now . Its hard to believe youre only 40 miles from the Nations Capital, washington, d. C. Where we are. Good afternoon, wolf. So right now, saturday we saw a group of protestors come out and peacefully voice their concern. A group of outside agitators in there that caused acts of violence and you saw remarkable restraint from the our Police Officers. This is an entirely different situation. This is not protestors. Its lawless people with no regard for the safety of the community theyre in engage aring in violent acts against our Police Officers and these very destructive acts against the community. Our officers are going to do everything they can not only to protect themselves but the community, the businesses the people that live in that area youre going to see appropriate measures taken by the Police Department. Weve always deployed gas. May use other crowdcontrol techniques in order to restore order into the area. Were sending in additional resources, and were also ensuring we have police observecoverage throughout the remainder of the city so the citizens have police services. Been a half hour at least, captain, since that cvs came under attack. Looters going in stealing stuff, taking it out. These are live pictures were seeing from the cvs pharmacy there. Look whats i dont know if you can see our cnn coverage right now but theyre just running in there and stealing stuff. Where are the police . Yeah. Im not in a position to see your coverage now. I can tell you our First Priority is protection of life and that includes the life of our officers and the life of the people in that community. So were going to do what we can to make sure that our officers are safe that residents in that area are safe and as soon as were able to ensure everyones safety well move in and do what we need to do to protect property as well. Again, this is about having a reverence for life and protecting the lives of our officers and the citizens who live in that area. You need reinforcements captain . The National Guard . You need police from neighboring communities . From washington, d. C. To come in and help . Weve been fortunate that we reached out several days ago to our Law Enforcement partners in the area and asked for assistances. Something we do for a lot of other largescale events as well. Its routine for the Police Department to work with our surrounding partners. Weve done that in this situation here as well. Were thankful for think assistance and will continue to ask for their assistance. What about tear gas . You said youre using that because clearly if you go in to this one area showing live pictures of the looters going in and out of that cvs pharmacy if you go in there with a show of force, with Armored Vehicles or whatever presumably theyll run away . Right . Again, its an ensureing the safety of people. I dont want to speculate. We know we have an obligation to protect lives. Well take appropriate measures and steps to protect our officers. Seven officers earlier that were injured pretty seriously. Weve had broken bones, large bricks thrown at us. Well make sure our officers are safe that the people that live in the community are safe and thats got to be our First Priority. Just give us a little per perspective on how big an area is under attack right now . Just a few blocks . A bigger area . How close, for example, to downtown baltimore . How close is it to the Johns Hopkins university . I dont know i want to use the word attack, wolf. What were seeing a group of people with no regard to other peoples safety or the laws in the city. Its a fairly decent sized area of the city. Its several blocks but we have our officers deployed into were shifting resources to make sure the officers are supported and again our primary mission is ensuring the sifrty ysafety of our officers and the people in the area to make sure no one else is injured. Talking injured. How many Police Officers have been injured . Seven officers were seriously injured. I can tell you thats incredibly frustrating for us. We saw on sard saturday a largely peaceful demonstrations. Thats what baltimoreis i believe i heard waiting to come on someone saying there was a um whoen wall of baltimoreans formed to stop the violence. Thats what our city is. We have had a long history of peaceful protests. This level of violence is outrageous. The attacks on our Police Officers unprovoked attacks on Police Officers is simply unacceptable, and were gorge to continue to shift and move resources to make sure we protect our officers and the people in that community and i just cant plaintiffemphasize that point enough. Our highest priority preservation and protection of life. Will you keep can the Major League Baseball game on tonight . 7 05 p. M. Eastern . I havent been a part of that decision. This is a fastmoving, dynamic situation with a lot of information coming in being processed, and ive been talking to reporters. We want to get the message out about protecting peoples safety and the steps were doing to take a look at that. And thats again we cant emphasize enough how important it is for us that our officers are safe are and the people that reside in that area that are traveling through that area remain safer as well. How many Police Vehicles have been destroyed . We saw several burnt and trashed literally stoned with bricks or whatever . Yeah. Unfortunately i dont have a count for you. Again, this is a pretty dynamic situation thats unfolding. And right now the concern for us is taking care of our injured officers and deploying resources into that community so we can protect the people that live there. And we know at least one photojournalist has been severely injured and in the local hospital right now. Have other civilians other members of the news media been injured as far as you know . Im walking into a briefing shortly to get more information on this situation. Well continue to try to put information out as quickly and frequently as we can. Our social media sites twitter, to live stream people go to baltimorepolice putting out information every two to three minutes so people can get frequent information as were able to put out. Thats the best way we can keep people apriced and will do briefings throughout the night. We want people too know whats happening in the city as well. A assume youll want to arrest the rioters, the ones that committed these crimes . Absolutely. We put out this morning, did a media release. Theres a pretty infamous photo now of a gentleman wearing a blue hoodie standing on ton of one of our cars. He was arrested this morning. We will conduct appropriate investigations and take the people responsible for either physical attacks on individuals on our officers or other crimes investigated we will take them into custody. Closed circuit cameras there, cameras from overhead and presumably will have evidence to go after these individuals. Captain, if you dont mind i know you have to get to the that meeting. If you could join us in a little while afterwards wed like to resume this interview and get the latest information for viewers in the United States and around the world. Be happy to call in as soon as i can. Thank you, Eric Kowalczyk for the Baltimore Police department. Live pictures from the streets of baltimore. Hard to believe this is going on in a major American City now. This has been well advertised that some of these rioters, these demonstrators were to get violent. Clearly the Police Wanted to play it down to begin with didnt want to xaser bate the er baitxacerbate the situation. Now its extremely, extremely ugly. I cant believe the statement that when it comes to protecting property and people its suddenly an either or proposition. Its a proposition you protect both. They knew this was going to be a bad day. The day of the funeral is always an emotional day flay. Theyve intelligence throughout the morning and afternoon, about the gangs threatening to attack police. Its both. You have to protect the whole community, property and people and not decide one against the other. Hold on one second. This is active looting going on now. You see them now disbursing. Maybe the police are getting closer but you see theyve been i assume thats cvs pharmacy basically trashed. For the last 45 minutes or so theyve been running in or out. Hard to believe this is going on as i keep say income a a major American City. Jeffrey toobin is with us our legal analyst. This group called the black it guerrilla family. A longstanding prison gang actually started in california but they took over the boston city Correctional Center. The bcdc the local jail and ran it for a period of about a year. Many of the guards and many of the prisoners have since been arrested. Its indicative of a serious gang problem in baltimoresome time. The crips and bloods active but the black guerrilla family is the group that ran the jail. If i could emphasize something tom said. The idea that officer kowalcyzk that the Baltimore Police are doing their job simply disappears when stores are being looted that is not my idea or my understanding, of how the police are supposed to work and no one there is a demonstrator. No one there is is a protestors. These are criminals, looters, and i think that distinction is not just semantics. These are criminals preying on this city and the police should be out there doing something about it. I know that pamela bruin is with pamela brown is with us. Justice correspondent. What are they doing to preevltvent this from several blocks being trashed . Loretta lynch, just sworn in today, attorney general, and called in for a meeting with the president and the situation unfolding now in baltimore will be part of that discussion. Im told she has been monitoring the situation there. In is really her first major challenge since being sworn in as the attorney general, as the nations top Law Enforcement officer, just hours ago. The white house doj and in close coordination with ferguson, Loretta Lynchs president setter went to ferguson you know to calm the situation. He believed his presence there actually helped calm the mayhem. It will be trefrtding ingteresting to see what Loretta Lynch does if she goes to baltimore, comes out to hold a press conference . Well wait and see. Im told the white house may be issuing a statement as well. Did you say the new attorney general was sworn in today is now at the white house for this emergency meeting . I dont know if its an emergency meeting, or if it was already planned, her first day on the job or a lastminute emergency meeting but im told yes, shes at the white house meeting with the president s and that the situation unfolding now in baltimore is part of the discussion. You can imagine that the department of justice and the white house are trying to figure out how to respond, how to calm the mayhem there in baltimore. Let me bring joey jackson into this conversation. Our hln little analyst and criminal defense attorney. Hard to believe what were seeing 40 50 miles away from washington, d. C. . It is wolf an understatement and heart breaking. And, look the reality is this its very difficult to advance the message of justice wolf when you have people engageing in acts of mass injustice. I know these are agitators, but what the family has called for, this completely contradicts that. In the event and i get and i understand that theres bottled up frustration. I get and i understand that this is you know systemic. Longstanding mistrust between police but there are ways to resolve things legally, properly and ways not to do things and it flies into the face of the message of bridge aring the gap between the community. Building trust with the community and speaks to the larger issue in the inner cities and this is a message not only that resinates in baltimore but throughout the country. Yes, there have been a number of instances that cause mass concern, wolf but there has to be some way to bring faith leaders together to bring elected officials together to Bring Community leaders together to bring young people together to advance the cause of peace in a constructive way. When you see this destructiveness its heartbreaking and heart wrenching. Look at this. We saw a cvs pharmacy trashed. Now these protestors rioters, going after rite aid. Obviously they want to try to break in there and potentially loot this place as well. Looks like thats pretty well shut down and those rioters are returning away from there. I keep asking you, where are the police in baltimore right now . They seem to be invisible, at least at some of these areas that are under attack. I used that word deliberately under attack right now. Miguel marquez, youre there right in the middle of all of this. You attended the funeral of freddie gray earlier today. Why youre wearing a suit and tie right now. We see these vehicles that are being burned. Police vehicles civilian vehicles. What are you seeing now . Reporter the air is acrid. I it tell you. This is yet another fire. Smells like a car, certainly looks like it might be another car burning. Very very hard to breathe in this area now. If you look southeast here down ricerstown road you see the smoke, where the other police cars were being burned. Several other vehicles and that cvs was being looted. The police you noted, completely in defensive mode. Just holding on to neighborhoods like this and breaking up protestors. Show you whats happening here. Theyre bringing it appears, they are starting to hopefully, maybe, get the upper hand here. Trying to get these vans ss loaded up with other officers trying to move them to areas they know looting is happening and protestors are are bottle there. And the protestors are not even protestors at this point, jut looters and rioters are basically having at it. Look down ricerstown road. You see a number of individuals who seem to be ready for police to come down this road. I suspect, as these vans filled with officers head down that way its not going to be a particularly good ride for them. But probably trying to get down to north avenue just a few blocks away where that cvs is. Hold on miguel. These are live pictures. Thats a Police Vehicle right in the middle of that crowd. You see people jumping on top of that vehicle. Smashing winds. I dont know if Anyone Police office are inside that vehicle or what. But these rioters, they dont seem to be concerned about getting arrested because theyre out there in full force. Maybe some of them dont know there are a lot of closed circuit cameras there. Theres going to be videotape. Police say these people eventually will face justice for breaking the law, for looting, for breaking vehicles for going after individuals. You see that cvs pharmacy. I suspect most of that pharmacy by now the left part of your screen has already been looted. People are still going in and out. Theyre returning in there, taking stuff. Who knows what theyre doing inside. We saw also earlier a rightaid pharmacy not far away that was being looted but they were trying to get in but security was a little tougher there. Vehicles on fire in the streets of baltimore. This right now. Pamela brown what else are you learning . Reporter baltimorepolice are asking for parents to find their children and bring them home. Find their children and bring them home. I know earlier today the mayor there in baltimore had said that the afterschool activities would go on as normal. Now were hearing from Baltimore Police the situation is is simply too dangerous too chaotic and theyre asking for parents to bring their Children Home. The Baltimore Police wolf have been actively tweeting throughout this unfolding situation trying to keep the community up to date. This is the latest plea to the community to bring their Children Home from school. Also wolf we know the Baltimore Police have issued this this threat against Law Enforcement with these three gangs justifiry toobin talked about. The groups. Speaking to officials who prosecuted some of these gang members and say its extraordinary the gangs are uniting, coming together to target police. These are gangs normally fighting over the turf. They usually dont like each other. The fact theyre coming together to target Law Enforcement reflects the amount of frustration there on the ground. Whats so frustrating, tom fuentes it was advertised hours and hours ago the demonstration would turn vileant and potentially even bloody. This is not a huge secret but what i hear you saying is that the police deliberately made a decision to keep a low profile, to not exacerbate what clearly was already a very tense situation . Its pretty clear. In any attempt for police to arrest somebody that means handson wrestling match, have to use force and all, completely agitate everybody and be the whole mayhem all over again, but id like to go back to one statement. The mayor made recently over the weekend, lets give them space to destroy. So maybe this is what were seeing. Mayor stephanie rawlingsblake. What did she mean by that . I have no idea. Maybe this is what she meant. Im sure she didnt. I know her. Im sure she did not want to see this unfold in her city. That gets out publicly what does that say . People read this stuff. Were not seeing a police response. Maybe its unrelated but the police made a decision not to take on the groups the way they should 0 and prevented this looting. Clearly m. I. A. In key locations, the police. They should be there. Protecting not only property but life as well. But so far we dont see them at these various locations. We see several police cars being burnt and destroyed and we see looters going in and carrying stolen goods out of that cvs pharmacy. Pamela brown, you want to make a statement . You look at this scene. Reminds you of ferguson. You got to compares two. We saw rioting, the mayhem understand folding there as well. Interesting you point out we dont see police there. Makes you wonder if theyre being timid in the wake of what weve seen in other situations. Jeffrey toobin, look at this. A picture of a cvs pharmacy and casually peek lyly people are going in walking, not running, stealing whatever the hell they want to steal and leaving and i dont see any police there. Where are the police . I have no idea and baltimore will spend a long time explaining where they are. But lets just be clear. These are not employee testprotestors or demonstrators. These are criminals stealing things out of there, and the idea its also remember you know this is not just property. People work in the cvs. There are employees who work in all of their stores. Who is protecting them . The absence of a Police Presence in so shocking and i just hope take a look at this. Look whats going on over here. Checks cashed. You see another store. People are running in. Maybe stealing money from this this business where people can go and get debit cards, pay their bills and get their checks cashed. People are just running in there. Why did the police tom fuentes, retreat in the a situation like this . You see that atm machine going through the window right now and presumably theyre going to come out with some cash. I dont know whats going on over there, but i dont remember seeing anything like this in the United States of america in a long time. Its been a long time and i think we were under the impression the state police were nearby staging behindthescenes so it didnt look like a huge Police Presence and held back on wearing the protective equipment and the armor cars and now it doesnt take six hours to go from a staging area to the area of these lootings like were seeing now. So something is amiss here as far as the police who are always supposed to prepare for the worst, but hope for the best. And were not seeing the best. Were seeing that the worst actually is playing out, and theres no preparation to dealjoey jackson, you see this particular business looted by rioters going in there presumably thinking they can steel money or debit cards, go in there and running in. Trashed the whole place presumably by now. What goes through your mind . Not good things wolf. Its horrible and its just it just really contravenes the entire message of a movement which is meant to get people together to have them work cooperatively with Law Enforcement. Law enforcement needs the community, the Community Needs them. And i get and understand that if theres a military presence then certainly it could escalate the situation. But having nothing there, no protection for business. No protection for people and allowing members of the community to go in and to destroy businesses it just is not the answer and to jeff toobins point, indeed these are not protestorss these are not the people who have been out there ins for expressing a moefg of message of peace and unity. A message to say, listen cool it down and ramp up dialogue and down the rhetoric. These are just people engaging in criminal acts and using this as an excuse to go in there and to do these things so the businesses it really is disgusting and deplorable and needs to stop and i hope it stops with the members of the community and the reverend working with the Police Department to restore order to what is a very tense and viletile situation. Were just getting word that the Maryland State Police is sending in 42 state troopers to baltimore to help out. Another 40 troopers are presumably also on the way according to a statement just put out by Maryland State Police that sounds like not very many. They do say since last thursday more than 280 state troopers have provided assistance in baltimore, but theyre going to need a lot more than 40 additional state troopers to help. You see it at that particular business this store provides cash. Bags presumably money, credit cards or debit cards or whatever. These are live pictures of state trooper, now arriving on the scene. Youre going to need more than 40 though to deal with this crisis in this major American City. Miguel markquez what else do you have . Reporter yeah. The troopers just left this location and i can see lots of the Baltimore Police now getting into these vans. They are moving down to that north avenue location to try to restore order there. Well move out of their way as their loading up. The fire on the north end seems to have stopped. The police pretty much cleared out and people are starting to come down this way as well and this is what baltimore looks like tonight. The number of riot police who are trying to restore order in this city as the police are starting to pull out of here you can, citizens are starting to move back up into this area. They think that it is now safe for them to move out of here. So that theyre going to try that. I have just spoken to reverend owens, who was at the Church Service today, at the funeral for freddie gray and he says at 6 30 right now they are gathering at the same church new shiloh about a half mile from here and all of those minister going to get together and they are trying to work out a route with police that ministers and anyone they were bring to bear will walk a route with police trying to get people back into their homes, and to stop this sort of violence they see right now. Very chaotic scene here as police begin to pull out of here. We saw the state troopers pull out. Several different suvs and vans they were in and now Baltimore Police are loading into every available vehicle that they have right here and they are going to move presumably down to north avenue where youve seen that cvs being looted. You saw a Police Car Set on fire and several other cars set on fire there. The thick acrid smoke here just of in the streets, and just really making for an unpleasant atmosphere all around. Its a almost like a physical sign of the fear that baltimore is feeling tonight, wolf. Yeah. Theyve got their their helmets. They got their shields. Their batons and presumably weapons as well getting into the vehicle and presumably going to make a move to try to stop whats going on. Well over an hour that cvs was looted. I dont know whats taking them so long to get there. Im sure a lot of people watching this right now are wondering whats taking so long . For Baltimore Police to get the job done and bring some order to this community . Its still continuing. Go ahead, miguel. Reporter they have been in defensive mode the entire time that i have been here. They have tried to stand back and tried to lower the heat and lower this keep this exact thing from happening and it has failed. An saturday we saw small groups of officer unprepared for the large number of protestors who came in and encircumstance manied them at point. All the cars were left in the open. The officers unready for them at camden yards. They just dont seem to be in a in a forwardleaning position as much as they should be. Literally, about half if not more than half of the contingent of officers here at this location that was under such attack earlier are now leaving in every single vehicle they have excuse me every single vehicle they have available. The smoke is starting to get heavier in this neighborhood as well. There may be another car burning up north of where we are. There was one burning heavily there a short time ago, and you can see all of the cars now. Im going to step out into the street. Hold on miguel i want to tell viewers were seeing live pictures. This vehicle, i dont know if it was a Police Vehicle or civilian vehicle, clearly its destroyed. One of many are kas that have been torched by these rioters who have gone and its hard to believe as i keep saying this is happening in the city of baltimore. I want to go to the white house. Michelle kaczynski is standing by. What are you learning michelle . Reporter here of course only 40 miles ay way from where this is going on now. The white house has been quite it on the situation. Weve been asking for the last i guess, more than an hour now if theyll put out a statement . Anything to say on this . We know theyre monitoring the situation, looking at the same pictures were seeing, at least in the press office. Its possible we will hear an official statement from the president or from the press secretary later on. Just unclear at this point. The president , of course we know is meeting with a new attorney general, just just confirmed, and sworn in this morning. Loretta lynch. This meeting was not called because of whats going on right now in baltimore, but that this would be one of the topics. Thats what were told. A reporter reporters other than still cameras werent allowed into that meeting for any part of it. We didnt get any information out of what they were saying. The president nor the new attorney general made any kind of statement to the press that was in there. So right now were waiting to see if there will be an official statement. Were told that its unlikely that the president will deliver a statement himself. You know such as in the briefing room. But it remains to the seen. What the white house has been saying over the course of the last several days since this happened to freddie gray there, as this is something they take seriously. Theyre watching the situation. The white house always refers to this task force on 21st century policing. That they created, because of this. And even what they said today in the briefing room. The press second emphasizing that these problems that have come up around the country are strongly local issues. That they require local leadership first and foremost and then that in conjunction with the state and federal governments. The white house has been trying to project a real commitment to improving race relations. Especially relations between Police Departments and communities around the country. So far in this situation, we havent heard anything on the events at hand wolf. Yeah. And i just want to be precise. That meeting the president s having with the new attorney general, Loretta Lynch, was that prevently scheduled or an emergency meeting as a walt of the rioting going on in baltimore . Reporter were told not an emergency meeting. She was sworn in this morning, its possible they wanted a first meeting a congratulations. Its taken on 0 a different tone now that this is happening as we speak. Its possible we will hear from the white house, even an urgings calm. We were asking if they would put out Something Like that. It was unclear at the time but i think its likely when this meeting ends between the president and the attorney general, 23if theyre going to put something out its likely well hear something then. Something were watching. Well stay in close touch. Michelle kaczynski. Happening in the ski of baltimore. A major American City, one of the largest in the United States. Only 40 miles or so from washington, d. C. And for the last hour and a half or so maybe two hours, there were havent violence violent demonstrations, violent rioting going on. Stores looted cars destroyed. Police officers injured, swilling injured. Including some journalists, photojournalists who have been injured. Luring looking at Police Beginning slowly i guess to get to those areas. This was a cvs but basically trashed. Some Police Vehicles have now arrived and presumably some of those violent demonstrators, rioters are going to start leaving because theres going to be a lot of arrests down the road. But a lot of people are wondering where is the mayor of baltimore . Where is the Police Commissioner . Where are city leaders right now . Whats going on . How could this happen when all of this was so widely anticipated for hours earlier and today some of these violent gang groups and Jeffrey Toobin has covered some of them in baltimore over the years including the crips and the bloods and black guerrilla family advertising for hours, this was going to happen and yet it did happen and the police were sort of in a defensive possible. And remain invisible in the key locations. That i think remains the most astonishing thing to me. We have active looting going on and no police there. As you were saying i covered a story in the Baltimore City Correctional Center which is the Detention Center which is the local jail and the black guerrilla family was so strong there they had basically complete control of the jail. The guards were largely female many of the guards were romantically involved with the inmates. Many of them were pregnant and had children with the inmates and it was indicative of just how powerful the look at this. A Police Vehicle now getting through this area and the shot from the helicopter that cop car is going very fast right now and presumably i dont know where its going but thats a dangerous situation in an urban area look what is going on tom. Is this the appropriate behavior for a lot of vehicles on the road . I dont know where that car is going or why the high rate of speed. Looks like that Police Vehicle is escorting someone important in the black vehicle, the van, behind that Police Vehicle. I dont know who it is. But its clearly a dangerous situation thats under way, and you know what is so frustrating. Joey jackson, i want to get your thoughts people are watching this all over the country, indeed all over the world and theyre asking themselves what is happening in baltimore . And thats the larger problem and i understand and i get this stems from a large sense of loss a large sense of frustration but it cant be rationalized or justified. Its criminality and so the protesters who are maseful should continue with the message to build forward relationships with the community, with the police with the clergy so things can get better but people to use as an excuse just you know going into stores and looting businesses theres no justification at all. Now, the police i know are faced with a very difficult task. Do we move in . Do we make it more military terrorized and injure more people. At the same time the police are there to restore order, restore peace but until we get to the root of the problem, which is the historic distrust until we get to the root of people having some sense of you know what we have to trust the police we have to trust investigation, well see this over and over and over again. We cant and this cant be justified by any measure but we have to take constructive steps to make it better not steps of violence to make it worse and thats the problem because people are watching this wolf in this country and as you say around the world. Yeah this is baltimore. Home of the Baltimore Orioles. Theyre supposed to have a game at 7 05 p. M. Eastern time camden yards not very far away from this community, the rioting, the burning, the looting has been going on baltimore home of the Johns Hopkins university. Its a beautiful city the Baltimore Harbor and its hard to believe if you take a look whats going on in baltimore right now this could happen we saw in ferguson tom, we saw looting, violence demonstration. But i think this is its hard to believe this is happening in baltimore. Definitely is but id like to add to it. Theres more than just the community upset about freddie gray. January 2014 commissioner batts was discussing the fact they had 333 murders which attributed most to gangs fighting over turf and the black guerrilla family so this battle between police and criminals and gangsters had been ongoing for a long time and 95 of the murder victims were black and that the ages range from 18 to 34 so this is something that this gang in particular the black guerrilla family and bloods and crips are preying on the black community. Freddie gray had just as many chance of getting killed by them as any Police Officer and these 333 murders were not outside agitators, baltimore gang members. This is still going on. Hard to believe its approaching 6 p. M. On the east coast, 6 p. M. In baltimore and looters are still running around run Nothing Stores theyre stealing whatever they can and theyre destroying and torching vehicles. Its hard to believe this is still going on at least two hours now since it erupted on the streets of baltimore and still dont see a significant Police Presence. We see potentially gang members and others who are going and there are some Police Officers Police Vehicles coming in right now and well see what happens, but this is really really a serious, serious blemish on all of baltimore right now that this could happen under these circumstances and i wonder jeffrey, where is the mayor, where is the Police Commissioner why arent we hearing from them . They are invisible as are the police. Look at these live pictures. The other point to keep in mind here is that it is now 5 56 in baltimore. Its going to get dark soon. And as dangerous as this situation is now, it will get exponentially more dangerous if all of this disorder is happening and all of these people not protesters criminals are running wild in the dark so unless order can be restored in the next hour or so when i think thats about another hour of daylight i think baltimore could be looking at a long night. Look at that Police Vehicle right now, tom. Look at how that vehicle has been trashed and there are people still there, look at this. This guy is taking a picture of somebody in front of that Police Vehicle on the side of that Police Vehicle having a fun time. Theyre taking selfies and taking pictures. Its like a trophy you know for them so theyre enjoying the day, enjoying the destruction of Police Property but to jeffs point about it getting dark later, i think right now you probably just have general hooligans on the treat doing the looting. After dark you know if the black guerrilla family and bloods and crips show up they may outgun the police. Normal battleground and we could have a serious situation. Look at this live situation. Police are gearing up to move in. Theyve got their reinforcements and need a lot more than that given the anger thats going on in the city of baltimore right now. Pamela brown, youre getting more information . Yeah wolf so were following Baltimore Police twitterer feed and, in fact they say we are continuing to deploy resources across the city to respond to reports of violence. Looking at the shots weve been looking at the past ten minutes thats hard to believe but we did see a show of force and Maryland State Police wolf have brought in an additional 40 troopers to help with this situation. But as we keep pointing out, this is not only serious because of rioters on the streets right now, there is this gang threat that we know theyre investigating this gang threat against police and you have three major gangs uniting which im told is pretty remarkable to have these three gangs normally fighting for turf and normally hate each other and come to this agreement to target Law Enforcement. Are they going to be able to jeffrey, find these looters, rioters, police destroying Police Vehicle, taxicabs gone into these store, looted the stores and destroyed for all practical intents and purpose, will the police be able to make those kinds of arrest . I think its unlikely they will arrest them now. Fortunately there are videos of whats gone on and be able to probably identify some of them. Thats what happened in ferguson. There were after the fact some identifications through the use of video. But i think at this point what Baltimore Police could and should be doing is simply to establish a safe situation so the people who live in these neighborhoods are not facing the kind of danger that theyre facing now because, you know theyre the ones who are really in jeopardy. You see crowds still there out of the streets. You would think by now these people would want to go back to their homes, get inside before it gets really really ugly. Its been very very bad so far but it could get as it gets darker increasingly more dangerous for whats going on in the city of baltimore. This is the scene that a lot of us never anticipated seeing in a city like baltimore. An africanamerican mayor, africanamerican police chief but its happened and were watching it unfold. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Were following the breaking news. Rioting, violent rioting under way in baltimore. Once again we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world and its hard for us to believe happening in an American City right now. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. If youre joining us were watching picture, the live picture, the looting and lawlessness, one of the largest cities in the United States. The Police Commissioner reportedly is bringing in a thousand more Police Officers were told. Theyre going to need them as this violence unfolds and 40 more maryland state troopers also being called in but thats certainly not enough. Officers are responding to what police say are unprovoked attacks by criminals. Theyve thrown bottles, rocks, smashed and burned patrol cars and other civilian vehicles. As of right now, at least seven Police Officers are injured. One of them said to be unconscious. The unrest erupting just hours after the funeral of freddie gray the suspect whose death in Police Custody has ignited outrage over these past couple weeks. Cnn athena jones is right in the middle of whats going on joining us on the phone. Tell us what you see and know. Reporter hi wolf. I can tell you we moved from the location near the high school where all of this happened around 3 00 this afternoon. We are now moving to another location many of the state troopers pulled out of the location where we were just a few blocks away and come to a new location where the police seem to have moved to a big crowd of people. We are just now arriving here on this i should tell you this all began around 3 00. We got word that high School Students were walking out and planning to demonstrate and so when we arrived on the scene, we saw several people throwing all kinds of projectiles at the police rock pieces of concrete billicks pieces of wood sticks they were setting trash cancer on fire throwing trash cans in the air. Seen several arrests in the last several hours and weve also witnessed, you mentioned those search Police Officers who have been injured. Well we saw at least three of them ourselves. One of them badly bloodied. Another one who appeared to be unresponsive on the ground. Theres no way for us to know if that is whats being reported unresponsive to this moment but its been a hectic and unstable scene. Some point arrested. Bystanders saying they had done nothing. To know what was going on. Weve seen Police Chasing young people so its been a very unstable scene. Now were arriving at this new location and tell you more as we get out and know whats going on. I just want to very quickly, athena advertised hours earlier this was going to happen yet police deliberately wanted to deescalate and take that defensive posture. Is that right . Reporter im not sure what is the reason for the Police Tactics here. I do know that they there was a lot of talk on saturday about how much restraint the Police Showed so as not to exacerbate the situation. Im not sure what is causing them to mostly hold the line in these situations. We were outside that high school for at least id say more than an hour and a half. This was before we began to witness and the arrests so there does seem to be an attitude of trying to limit the confrontation but, of course when you had these people throwing rock throwing stones throwing parts of bricks, large pieces of con kreechlt i saw a black part of a metal pipe being thrown that of course is a confrontation that requires a response by police. But you are correct in saying wolf that we were alerted first several hours ago by a posting on the university of maryland and baltimores website saying they were shutting down early ending classes early stopping the Shuttle Service they provide to students because they had heard from police about this planned event happening around 3 00. I spoke with a woman who was in the neighborhood who had been working downtown at a Company Called city financial. They were let go at 2 30 p. M. Because they had learned from Baltimore Police that something could be in the works. So there was certainly a level of awareness and spoke with a bystander several hours ago who was warned over facebook to stay away near the high school because of expected unrest. So it is something that is certainly percolating for awhile now and one thing i should tell you there are some moments of calm calm. Just a few minutes later youll see three or four being arrested. We are being circled by helicopters as i speak. Some flying low but even way back 3 15 or 3 30 you had a helicopter flying lower than ive ever seen telling the crowd to disperse. But those warnings were not heeded. Right now these young people going in stealing stuff and theyre coming out and running away away. Grocery store. Pamela brown, getting new information. A lot of questions about where is the leadership where is the coordination . Just learned the Emergency Operation center in baltimore has been activated by the mayor in baltimore to coordinate the response and learned from affiliates 1,000 additional officers are being brought in to baltimore, officers from surrounding counties including Montgomery County police help calm the situation and in addition to that we know 40 more state troopers are brought in additional to the 280. This is no surprise. There was a warning this was going to happen hours ago. Now were learning the Emergency Operation center has been activated by the mayor. Also there has been a Statement Released by the Baltimore City schools on the current unrest. The statement says at this time of tension and anxiety regarding the events surrounding mr. Freddie gray we have a heightened responsibility to our student, families and school communities, first the safety of our staff and students is our top concern. It goes on to talk about how crisis counselors and Mental Health professionals are on hand to help students and Baltimore Police tweeted not too long ago that within the past hour asking for parents to locate their children and bring them home to safety saying many of look at this. You see a police an Armored Vehicle is being attacked by some of the rioters throwing rocks and bricks at that Armored Vehicle going by and it is just continuing they wont have much of an impact but need a lot more Armored Vehicles and as weve been reporting hours ago, Baltimore Police did put out a statement saying there were Credible Threats of attacks against police as a result the university of maryland baltimore campus shut down hours ago yet we see still three, four hours later its still going on in this major, major American City. Brian todd is joining us on the phone right now. Tell us where you are and what youve learned. Reporter wolf were at the corner of retreat street and pennsylvania avenue and heard some explosions could be flash bangs from the police. We also saw a fire being ignited from the street a block away. Not sure how that fire got started but its still burning about a block and a half from where we are. We are not being allowed to go towards that area. Two corps donees of police barry kays where we are. Of course youve been reporting not far from us a cvs and Check Cashing place and activity down the street and smoke but were not allowed to get any closer than we are and well try to make our way closer to that location. But just a real sense of unease and danger on the streets of baltimore tonight at least in this section of baltimore where all this activity is going on. We did report earlier at least seven officers were hurt. One was unconscious and the spokesman for the police told these people outrageous criminals when he spoke to us a short time ago and were trying to move around the area right now where some of this activity is going on and get a little closer wolf. And we can see now this store, this corner store on Live Television Helicopter Shot from up above, its being looted and its going on and on and on and this is just one store being looted. Weve seen several so far and once again were waiting for the police to show up but its been hours now and still no presence no Police Presence there. These people feel emboldened to go in this store and steal other peoples property and take it and leave and been going on and on and Miguel Marquez tell our viewers where you are and what youre seeing. Reporter well coincidentally enough were at pennsylvania and retreat street with a very very heavy Police Presence. They have several lines of Police Officers here and beyond them light that you see beyond us is north avenue. We were just down there at north and fulton. I can say that every shop every store along there that i could see was being looted as we went down there. There was a car that had crashed and was disabled in the middle of the intersection of fulton and north avenue. I have been to wars and this looks like a war. It was as bad as it gets. There was absolute pandemonium on the streets. The police in defensive mode. What is concerning here wolf is that you can see is that a lot of these Police Officers dont have shields. They dont have the bigger shields. Theyve been bringing in much larger shields and they also dont have proper protective gear on them. Theyre looking down this way, this is what theyre concerned about and i can tell thaw when we were just around the corner the other way there was a very very large crowd of individuals who i did not want to get in the middle of. Its a very frightening situation. There is worse than a mob and what we saw on saturday was certainly sporadic violence. What we see today is an absolute riot in baltimore. Wolf. Yeah, these stores are being looted and live pictures seeing the looting going on. People going into the stores privately owned businesses presumably people Small Business owners their stores are being destroyed right now by whats going on and i dont see any significant any Police Presence whatsoever. I just see a bunch of looters going on. Joining us now is Justin Benton a Baltimore Sun crime reporter. Justin you had some terrifying experiences. Tell us what happened. I was able to get into the middle of where all the rioting or excuse me the looting was taking place right across from the Check Cashing store referenced earlier across from the cvs and a group of people instinctively pulled me aside. They had blue bandannas and selfidentified themselves as cryps members and said they would keep me safe. I did wander away from them to take pictures at which point a man with a hoodie pulled over his face ran up to me with mace and i retreated to that area and one business not being looted. One that has an offduty officer with a shotgun in the vestibule. Thats the mood out here. I can also tell you that these police cars were speeding through north avenue for reasons i cant understand north avenue the main thoroughfare where this is all taking place was not shut down so regular folks were driving through, they were getting stopped and police tried to come through and people just picked up anything they could find and were just pelting and pelting, pelting these cars as they came through. One unmarked car almost lost control. It fishtailed spinning around and he was somehow able to pull through and go wherever he was going so its tense times out here. Have you ever seen anything like this in baltimore . Live picture, justin showing our viewers a Variety Store including a store that sells cell phones is being trashed right now, is being looted. People are just waiting in line to go in there and steal stuff as much as they can. Its hard to believe this is going on in your city. Yeah it is. And people i was talking to were saying its really just a situation of opportunity. People see other people doing it and they think, well, i can jump in there and at one point there was a Check Cashing store broken into and it had been sufficiently ransacked and it seemed like no one was there and i guess word must have gotten out through the city because a huge throng of people at one point just came rushing and all jumped inside. Very intense. I know these are live pictures showing our viewers. Police vehicles going through. Theyre being hit by rocks and stones from people on the sidewalks. There it is. You just saw that. People are very emboldened. Not afraid of the police. What were showing our viewers, this is video that you shot a little while ago. Police vehicles just driving through and theyre being pelted. I mean in my view theres other theres regular civilians driving through that intersection and officers came through. People are not afraid of the police and feel emboldened in charge and they are showing it. I want you to stand by. Once again you see whats going on at this store over here. I guess it was effectively looted but now some people are standing there and theyre trying to prevent more looters, maybe theyre trying to prevent more looters from going in. Well watch all the live feeds come in. Joining us is billy murphy an attorney for freddie grays family. Freddie gray the 25yearold individual who died in Police Custody, a severed neck spinal cord and his funeral was only today. Billy, tell us tell us whats going on in baltimore. Well depends on what part of the city youre in. Right now, the violence is confined to id say an average age group of 16 17 years of age. Kids who are disconnected from the Overall Group of people in baltimore who are productive in society. These kids have had bad experiences in school. They frequently are harassed by the police. They are unemployed because theres no summer jobs and so this is what you would expect in a tense time like this. Thats not a justification, though. Because what theyre doing is wrong and we need to stop them and those of us who are more mature in baltimore, black and white together we need to have a demonstration that shows them the right way to do it rather than permitting them to go without leadership the way that theyre going now. Were showing, freddie, live pictures of the liquor store being looted by a lot of people. It looks like a whole lot of people who see ang opportunity to get inside that store age start stealing liquor and its an ugly scene. We saw a Check Cashing store being looted and a cvs farmly and Grocery Store going on for several city blocks and this is not what the freddie gray family wanted, is it . No absolutely not and what they also dont want it to do is spread and the news media has to be extraordinarily careful that by constantly showing these small pockets of violence theyre not unintentionally encouraging other kids to join in. These kids are bored. They have nothing to do. They have few recreational facilities. The Education System has failed them. Many of them come from homes that are more than broken so we dont want to give them a negative example by constantly parading this violence on National Television in a way that will encourage them to join into it. But you would think, billy, if were showing these pictures these individuals, these young people whether theyre crips or bloods or black guerrilla family they know eventually the police will get there and start making huge numbers of arrests. Well on the other hand these are the most immature young adults in our society and they traditionally have not made correct calculations when left alone about what the best thing in life is to do. And so now they have an opportunity and we dont want to make them even more tefrp tempted to do things by spreading the picture. Dont overestimate the crips and the bloods. Theyre not out on the streets. These are just regular kids with little or nothing to do at night. Who find a level of excitement thats not appropriate. And we need to as adults step in and show them the way by making a presence in this city on these streets by having the kinds of democrat stations that will make them see the alternative to what theyre doing. The live picture were showing, billy, on the right hand upper right hand part are police who have gathered outside of camden yard the home of the Baltimore Orioles, the Major League Baseball team. Theyre supposed to be a game in about an hour in less than an hour from now, 7 05. As of right now that game is still Going Forward as scheduled. Lets see what happens over the next 45 minutes or so but these police theyve just gathered there with clubs, theyve got their helmets, theyre ready to deal with these rioters, these demonstrators, protesters whatever you want to call them. If they get anywhere near camden yards. Camden yards is not all that far away from these violent demonstrations that have taken place. Billy, before i let you go how is the family of how is the family dealing with all of this right now when they see these pictures the freddie gray family . How are they dealing with this . Earlier today they were very encouraged by the warmth of the support and the extent of the support they were getting from the larger community. Today, this evening, hes discourage the by what they see. Theyre upset about it. It is not what the family wants. It is not what the family needs. It isnt this family and so theyre begging everyone to show restraint. Stop the looting, get back home. Dont get involved in this negative behavior. And by the way, wolf for what its worth as you all train in and i understand why you do it on the hot spots, i was touring the rest of west baltimore around that area and the streets are extraordinarily quiet and i hope that again, that were not inadvertently encouraging these kids to come out and join their friends in what seems to be 16 and 17 and 15 and 14yearold kids acting out inappropriately. All right, billy murphy thank you very much. Billy murphy is an attorney representing the family of freddie gray. This is camden yards. I dont know what this means. Theyve shut the gates over there at camden yards. I dont know if it means theyll call off the game or not. It looks like theyre locking it over there at least for now shutting it down. Well get word on whether this Major League Baseball game will take place in 45 minutes as scheduled or not but you saw them shut that gate right there. Lets stay on top of that story as well. Pamela brown, youre getting more information. The governor of maryland larry hogan released a statement saying that the maryland National Guard has now been put on standby in the wakes of the violence in baltimore in this statement that he released he says todays looting and acts of violence will not be tolerated and in response i put the maryland National Guard on alert so they can be in position to deploy rapidly as needed. There is a significant difference between protesting and violence and those committing these acts will be prosecuted under the fullest extent of the law. The governor says the Maryland State Police have been dispatched in a support role and other resources and equipment from various state agencies being deployed there and know the Emergency Operation center has been activated wolf so that will coordinate the response from Law Enforcement. But i can tell you there is great concern in Law Enforcement across the board that nightfall is around the corner and the fact that we have the rioters on the streets and the threat from the gangs. Three major gangs, the crips, bloods and black guerrilla the fbi is investigating as gang threats to police in baltimore. Thats another significant development. The federal government now involved the National Guard being put on standby to come into this major American City. Joe johns, i take it youre over at camden yards where the Baltimore Orioles are supposed to be playing a baseball game in about 45 minutes or so. Thats right, wolf. Just about 45 minutes from now. Theyre supposed to play the Chicago White sox. We do see some Police Officers out front here. They were accompanied by even more just a little while ago but the officers were moved to a different location to help the police apparently reinforce the people they have on the streets. Weve seen people walking in. It doesnt look like the stadium is filling up very quickly. Theyre trying to make it look like you know a normal day. Down the street not far from here were at the intersection of camden and utah streets. We have seen armored Police Vehicles a lot of sirens hey, joe, i just i just want to interrupt joe hold on for a moment. Weve just learned based on the Baltimore Orioles twitter account theyve decided now to postpone the game. I dont know if that means postpone it for a few hours or for another day. But the game at least is not going to begin at 7 05 p. M. Eastern. That just coming in, joe. Okay then that makes a lot of sense and its just as well because quite frankly weve seen very few people walking in here and we see a lot of people Milling Around on the other side of the gate but out of an abundance of caution, obviously, the team owners and such have decided to go ahead and think about postponing or do whatever theyre going to do because its a fluid situation here. As i said we havent seen any rioters or demonstrators or what have you. We do see the armored Police Vehicle that just pulled up in front of us while ive been talking, so police are on alert for this area. We dont see a huge crowd that is certainly good news for baltimore and were just watching this see what happen wolf. A serious situation. And the twitter the orioles twitter account said after consultation tonights game between the orioles and white sox at oriole park has been postponed. That just in. Youre seeing live pictures. Police officers are standing with their clubs and helmets outside of camden yards, Baltimore Oriole park and getting ready for something, hopefully itll be quiet over there but now know the orioles white sox game postponed. Miguel youre getting more information right in the middle of the ago. What what are you learning . North avenue and pennsylvania. These were the cars burning just a short time ago. It is hard to tell what either of them are, although im looking at these and clearly these are ticket books, so one of these at least was a Police Vehicle of some sort. The cvs that oh this actually now that i realize it this was the police car actually. Can you see what was used to be lights on top of that police car at one point completely destroyed and the van behind it and you can see that its just been completely vandalized and destroyed. This if you turn around here is the is the cvs, back just that orange Building Back here is the cvs thats been badly looted here and want to turn around over here to pennsylvania and north avenues. This is just a few blocks from here is where mr. Gray was arrested two weeks ago this. Is the area that we spent the last week this is the area that has been very welcoming to us all week and continues to be at the moment. I can tell you there is a large contingent of police just up pennsylvania avenue and i understand that most of the protesters or most of the people who are doing the damage in the city right now are moving toward downtown wolf. We see that line of police in the lower righthand part of our screen. These are all live pictures coming in right now. Stand by miguel. I want to bring in congressman Elijah Cummings a democrat from maryland. But he grew up in this neighborhood in baltimore. Congressman, you and i have had some serious discussions on whats going on. Did you ever in your worst moments think it would come down to this in your community . No, i did not, wolf but i think people are just very very upset. They are upset about certainly mr. Grays death. And i think, you know when they were told that he was arrested without incident of force congressman, congressman, i want i want to interrupt for a moment because were just getting this live picture. Look at this. I dont know if you can see it congressman, but this is the cvs farmly thats looted. Its destroyed and looks like its now on fire. The whole area is under smoke right now and i dont see any firefighters. I dont see any police. I just see individuals taking pictures. There you see some Police Coming . Theres a huge it looks like that cvs just looted is now on fire. Miguel youre there, right . Reporter we are right here next to it we can see the Police Coming down the way toward us here wolf. This is the cvs thats been looted and see the police trying to restore order to this area of pennsylvania and north avenue. The opposite direction is downtown from where these police are. Most of the protesters have moved in that direction toward downtown. We are with security right now. You can see the number fof journalists who are also getting pictures of these police but look at this cvs. We saw people just moments ago walking out of that cvs with goods from it and then somebody clearly set fire to it within the last few minutes and this neighborhood that we have spent the last week in thats been so welcoming to us all week has turned into an absolute war zone. We are telling security i think he would like us to back up out of here. I think that well i think more concern something that when the police start to move in hold on a moment. I think i just lost our connection with you, miguel. But these are live pictures coming in from a helicopter hovering overhead. This cvs pharmacy is now its now being destroyed. You see the smoke coming out. Elijah cummings i dont know if you can see this where you are. You are the congressman. You represent this district. We sigh a whole phalanx of Police Officers outside and see no firefighters but this pharmacy is being burnt to the ground. Yeah. Its very unfortunate. No i did not think it would come to this. We had the funeral today. The family of mr. Gray had requested that there be no protest whatsoever today and things seem to be going well. The funeral was a celebration of his life and then right after the funeral things kind of broke up. And so what ive gotten a rumor that there might be something happening as i was leaving the funeral but not we never expected anything like this. And what theyre really afraid of, congressman, as you well know and we see the smoke coming out of this cvs its already been looted for all practical purposes but we see whats going on inside you know its hard to believe that it could get a whole lot worse as it gets dark in your community. Yeah. Nightfall. Theres a lot of concern. Weve heard from Law Enforcement that this is going to get even worse. Yeah. I have been urging people to make sure that they have relatives that this downtown to make sure that they urge them to get into come home and use twitter and whatever they have to use to do that. But clearly were going to you know as it gets dark things get much more difficult. Its hard to and the police have the police have shown a lot of restraint and some are saying way too much restraint in a defensive posture. This has been going on now for three hours and people who are watching this live coverage here in the United States and indeed around the world are wondering what happened to the Baltimore Police department. Well again, i think that the way the this incident came down with the Police Department saying that initially he was arresting mr. Gray was arrested without force or without incident and then the public finding out that he had a broken neck a crushed lahr eded larynx and died a week later, i mean that really kind of upset people and so there are a lot of answers that still have to come forward but i think the Police Commissioner has tried to put out as much information as he possibly can without jeopardizing a case in the event that the Police Officers are indicted. Were getting these live picture, congressman. This is the cvs pharmacy looted and now being burnt and got a statement from cvs were cooperating with Police Monitoring other stores to ensure the safety of customers and employees and due to protest activity weve closed some stores in baltimore. No customers or employees have been harmed as of at least right now. Is this the work Elijah Cummings you know the community. The work of a bunch of gangs whether the socalled crips or bloods or black guerrilla family or just more widespread . Im not sure wolf. I think there are different elements here. I think you have some people who are generally very upset about what happened to mr. Gray and they were protesting then i think you have another group that may just want to take advantage of what can has become a chaotic situation that the police are trying to keep under control. So you dont know what the intentions of people are. But certainly when you see people going in and looting, as ive said to them when you do those kind of things you only distract from finding solutions to the problems and so im asking people not to get involved in that kind of activity. And were now hearing well continue to do that all night. Were hearing, congressman, as fire engines are trying to get closer to these scenes they are being pelted with rocks and bricks as they drive by. Who would believe this could be happening in baltimore. Yeah yeah well again, were going to get control over this situation. Weve got about 150 ministers meeting in a few minutes. Ill join them and trying to get more and more people who want to make sure that we keep a peaceful situation together to see what we can do and, of course working with the mayor and our Police Commissioner. I assume you agree with me congressman, that if police had been in these areas outside the cvs, a, it wouldnt be looted and b, forecast it wouldnt be burned right now. Weve got different problems going on in different places all over the city the problem. And theyre kind of spread out quite a bit here and so its hard to im sure theyre doing the very best they can with the personnel that they have. Personnel from state troopers certainly we have some National Guard folks here so you know i believe that they are slowly but surely getting control of the situation but, again, this is something that we did not expect to get to this point at this time. Yeah we just are getting in a statement, congressman, from the white house, saying the president did meet with the new attorney general Loretta Lynch. She was sworn in today. They discussed several issues including whats going on in baltimore following the death of freddie gray the department of justice as you know is investigating freddie grays death. She assured the president according to this white house statement she would continue to monitor events in baltimore, that the department of justice stands ready to provide any assistance that may be helpful there. Do you believe the National Guard needs to come in now. I leave that up to the Police Department department wolf. I cant judge that but i will say that i got a call within the last half an hour from Valerie Jarrett letting us know letting me know that whatever they whatever we needed in baltimore, the white house was ready to help out and offering to send key people from the department of justice to reaffirm the fact that the Baltimore City Police Department is going to be looked at very carefully by the justice department. Congressman, if you could stand by i want to go to our own brian todd right near that cvs now on fire and see the smoke coming out. Brian, how close are you . Reporter wolf were just a few feet from the back of the cvs. Smoke is just billowing out of that entrance. Were told that everybody did get out okay but clearly they still have an active situation here. Some fire trucks just pulled up to the front of the building. Some other officers are moving toward it in their riot gear. Is this is a phalanx of officers guarding the back entrance not letting us get any closerment choppers circling overhead. People were throwing bricks at police cars with Police Officers still in them. So this situation here around the area of pennsylvania avenue and north avenue still very very dangerous. Very fluid as you see smoke just billowing out of the back of the cvs pharmacy right there. I want you to be safe over there, so maybe get out of the way over there if that smoke gets too close and who knows if there could be explosions as a result of whats going on now. Its an extremely dangerous situation under way in the city of baltimore right now. Miguel marquez, youre not too far away. Tell us where you are. Reporter my god, wolf. Im at the corner of west north and pennsylvania avenue and it is it just gets worse if that is possible. You have a fire a major fire in a very busy area of the city. You have people throwing things at the police as they try to clear the area. It is a very very serious situation. Police are finally trying to establish some sort of control in this area of north avenue. You can see the firefighters have finally arrived on the scene here at the cvs and they are trying to theyre just now getting hoses on it. It has been burning for quite some time. The cars which are right down the way here have been burning for over an hour. The krchltcvs just started burning and pennsylvania avenue and the majority of the people up here causing the mischief has now moved toward downtown and they are going after pennsylvania avenue and moving toward downtown. The same route they took on saturday as they were as they were protesting. And you can see a lot of the protesters a lot of the individuals here, this is no longer a protest. Just pandemonium and riot i should say and see the police check this out. The police trying to encircle the fire engines literally people throwing things at the police and at the firefighters as theyre trying to put out this fire in this area. The smoke is absolutely horrendous. Its actually cleared out a lot of the individuals in the area because it is so bad. Police using pepper spray on some of these individuals along the way. Here comes another swing around this way. You can see more firefighters showing up and a lot this is pennsylvania avenue. What did you say . Use pepper stray and on top theyve destroyed a cop car right there. Completely destroyed it and drawing the line and behind this building right here behind this building theyve been setting up but all day the point of pennsylvania and west north has been completely chaos. Youre with a. J. Plus ive seen you out here all week. All week. Can you believe whats happen the. Its like dr. Jamal brian, a peaceful six days until the last day saturday night we had a very very nice funeral day for freddie gray and this is not about what freddie gray is about. Its completely and total chaos, disgusting. A lot of the individuals said they are going to move down pennsylvania avenue toward downtown toward the areason that the baltimore arena and possibly toward camden yards where they went after on saturday. The young people out here are angry and angry about something and something needs to change. Thats real. Theyre clearly angry and clearly are not going to stop. All right, miguel hole on for a moment. I want you to be careful i want you to be careful. Dont get too close to that smoke. It looks like thats a situation that could increasingly get more ugly. Miguel be careful. Well get back to you. Shortly brian todd is not that far away from the cvs pharmacy now in flames. This smoke is coming out billowing. Firefighters trying to get to the area. You see a cordon of police that are trying to protect the firefighters right now. Brian, where are you and what are you seeing . Reporter wolf were at the side of the cvs building. We just saw a firefighter go in through some kind of opening in the roof and trying to let smoke out and a lot is billowing out blowing toward where we are and enveloping the riot clad Police Officers that are right around this building. As you mentioned trying to protect the firefighters. Another fire truck just pulled in to this alleyway to try to give support to the firefighters who went in but definitely saw a moment ago one firefighter going right through the roof as the smoke was billowing out. Our photojournalist can pan to his left here. We see another fire truck arriving right now. The police making way for that vehicle to get in. Clearly this situation here at the cvs, this fire is not out. A lot of dangerous smoke pouring out. None of their employees were injured in this situation. Still clearly i think a dangerous situation as the firefighters try to get this contained. I want you to be a safe distance from that location brian. Be careful over there. Miguel youre getting more information . All move back. Move back. Move back. Looks like the police are moving in. These protesters theyre moving backwards. The police are moving forward trying to clear this area so firefighters can try to contain the smoke and the flames thats going on but its an ugly situation as we can all see. Miguel marquez, are you there . Can you hear me . I dont think i think weve lost connection temporarily with miguel. Have brian todd. Cedric alexander is the president of the National Association of black Law Enforcement executives. Cedric these are so disturbing to see whats going on. Your thoughts tell us what youve seen this disaster unfold in a major American City. Hard to believe this could happen. Well ive been watching this the last hour along with you and americans across the country and so sad, its unfortunate and i think what you have out here quite frankly, are a number of young people who really are not respecting the wishes of the family whatsoever. I certainly agree with the congressman Elijah Cummings earlier that this is not acceptable. It should not be happening and there should be respect and there should be respect given to that family at this point. But are you hearing of anybody whats going to continue to be important for us to watch here is how to how the local police is going to respond to this crowd because its a very sensitive situation and im quite sure they moving into this location moving towards this crowd very carefully because they dont want to create a problem if they dont have to but im more certain than confident when they need to take some real action they are going to do so so this is a very sad, unfortunate scene on the american streets in this country but were going to move through this but this is going to be a process that is certainly were all going to watch throughout the evening and hopefully no one else gets all right. Cedric hold on for a moment. Miguel marquez is right there on the scene for us. Miguel tell our viewers whats going on. It looks like police are trying to form a line. Are you okay miguel . Reporter i am fine. Its a little smoky and its a bit disgusting. Were having a tough time breathing. Poor adrian there. But police have pushed protesters to the far corner of pennsylvania and north avenue. That is thats not smoke. That is either pepper spray or some sort of tearing agent that im getting in my face right now. There are several individuals who are being overcome by it at the moment. Some of the folks that ive seen in the neighborhood the last week or so are out here as well. I just saw one of them sort of go down. A lot of the protesters and a lot well i call them protesters ive been saying that for the last week but its no longer protesters random violence they are moving down pennsylvania avenue further toward downtown and it is not clear what if if there is any plan at all i know that the pastors are meeting right now but they are getting out on the street. We just saw a contingent of nation of islam that are well respected in this neighborhood and they are trying to get their people out on the street to stop what is happening here to get literally calling young people pulling them aside and getting them out of here. Theres bottles just thrown at police by an individual but you can see this is exactly this is look at this wolf. This is what happens. This is what happens. They throw a bottle and individuals like this come out and trying to stop it. There are factions within this neighborhood. Those that are angry enough at police that they will throw that bottle and others who are trying to stop them and this is this is shawn who come here, shawn. I want to talk to you. We did this earlier. This is the young man last tuesday who tried to grab the mike out of my hand and on saturday night i saw you between the police lines and the protesters and you were trying to stop the protesters this. Is your neighborhood. What is this become . This i told you guys from the jump this would happen. This happened as a result of the way the situation was carried. This did not happen as a result of that young mans death. This happened as a result of the way the situation was handled. But you said today i mean this is is this what you expected . Do you think this should be happening . I do not think there should be happening. Di expect this . I knew my city was capable of this is nothing, okay. This is a small percentage of what these people are capable theyre standing here. Everyone is still here. No one is moving out. This is not organized. This is just just spontaneous basically. Reporter a week ago you were trying to grab the mike from me yelling f this f that on the tv. I know you apologized and took a selfie later on but now your neighborhood your town your neighborhood is on fire and burning. You realize today over the weekend that this was not the way. I knew it wasnt. But, see, the politician the people involved allowed this to happen. They knew this like no no no they allowed this to happen. Reporter had is the frustration in the neighborhood. It is yes, sir. A prime example. Before they hit ccs the s. W. A. T. Team stood up there and watch them go into cvs. They allowed it to happen. They could have moved down here and stop it. Reporter this is precisely what you were saying earlier, wolf. They werent in an aggressive policing mode. They were trying they were trying to stand back and allow everything to be you know to control the crowds without actually taking on the crowds. You can see police now pulling their lines across to this other side. Lets get out of here. Come on, guys, this way. Ow. That way. That way. That way. All right. Miguel i want you to be careful over there. Police are now blocking us in. Well go around the block, i think yeah. To vehicles here. Miguel i want you to be careful over there, miguel. Obviously its a dangerous situation. What theyre doing is controlling this entire area. And you can see them having look at this. Back up watch yourself. You can see them having a tough time trying to keep control of their own lines. These Police Officers have not been in this situation before. They are nervous and they excuse me. And they are not well coordinated from what i can tell. On saturday it was particularly bad where small, small groups of Police Officers getting caught in with the protesters completely unaware and now Police Officers are trying to move down the street because firefighters right here you can see them they are furiously trying to get that hose hooked up so that they can get the water in good enough amounts on on that on that fire at cvs. It is very interesting to be here because i feel ive been here for a week and i know about everybody in this neighborhood. Watch these firefighters work. By the time they get that firefighter that those hoses working, that cvs will be toast. Watch out. Reporter they are desperate to get that water flowing. As far as i can tell they have not been able to get much water, if any, on that theyve not been able to get watch yourselves. Watch yourselves. Thats a lot of water. Thats a lot of pressure. There we go. Now they got the line going. Holy hell, wolf. I got to tell you ive covered a lot of things nothing as dramatic and as chaotic as this. This is you, again, how are you, my friend . Are you surviveing . Im surviving, yes, i am. We are survivors in baltimore. Reporter i take it you are not happy with what is happening in your neighborhood. Not just the neighborhood. Im not happy as a whole because the people in my city are not happy. How far will this how far is this going to go . As far as they take us. As far as they take us. Whats behind me now, see see . Did you see that . Wolf, if you just saw that, they just, while we were talking there, they just cut the hose with a knife, trying to and then ran, trying to thwart the efforts of the authorities to actually turn out this fire. People in this neighborhood blaming police for what has happened here. Residents are trying to bring control to this situation. Can i speak to you for a second . Yeah. You seemed upset by this. Individuals who are here from this neighborhood are very upset by what theyre seeing right now. But there are others who are thwarting the authorities at every turn. Even just another one. I just saw that guy cut the hose as well. The person in the gas mask. With a gas mask. Thats how it go. Thats how it go. You would rather have your neighborhood burn . Thats not the situation the situation is what youre seeing here. My neighborhood not burnt right now. What youre getting an example of what is really inside of everybody for about 20 years. Im 41. I witnessed atrocities that build up and build up. And me, i talk to city hall. I told them repeatedly around the tyrone west situation, the bottom was gone too far out. Pfk boom you see about my city. They dirty, man. They know what is going on. This is longstanding anger. Longstanding, baby. Thank you very much. Yes, sir. I want you to be really careful over there, because it looks, miguel, like the police are moving closer and closer. Theyre moving in. This could get even more ugly. Trying to get control of that of those hoses so that they can continue to get water on that fire. But it is this is a city that is out of control. It certainly is right now. And it looks like its going to potentially get even worse. You think youre taking control . Were taking control . No, its not even the fact that were taking control. Were taking back what is ours. Youre trying to take away what is ours right now. We want answers. You come into our neighborhoods. People striving for greatness, you know . Im striving for success right now. And now im being judged based on a lot going on in here. There is anger to go around in this neighborhood on both sides of the issue. You have people who are trying to protect their neighborhood right now and people who are trying to tear it apart, to send a very strong signal that they are unhappy. And clearly they have done, that wolf. But in that neighborhood do they want that cvs to burn down . Is that what they want . This is this is the problem. Everybody says look they have no Grocery Store in this neighborhood. They have no place to buy stuff. That was a newer store. That was one of the Newest Stores i had seen in this neighborhood. Everything else sort of small mom and pop stores along the way where they have to buy the few things that they can to eat. There is very few fresh fruits fresh vegetables. I saw fresh fruit carts in this neighborhood that are horsedrawn. This is not a typical neighborhood. It is shocking to me that we live in new york and in washington and in nice areas of baltimore and in this pocket its just its another world. Its literally like another country in this neighborhood. And the people here with their hands up, keeping their hands up because why are you here . Why you keeping your hands up . Because what people think is reactionary. What is going on is a reactionary situation. We need to be organized when we do things. This is reaction what do you mean by that . Your neighborhood is burning. My neighborhood burned in 1968 too. And they had to reorganize it again. People are doing things because they really dont know. People are doing out of their gut. Theyre not thinking. You have people in here that dont even belong in here like who stabbed that you think those people arent from your neighborhood . Everybody is not from the neighborhood. Everybody is not from the neighborhood you see doing things. They are not from this neighborhood. Some of the people not even from baltimore. These people these was children early today who just came home from school. They had their School Uniforms on. They just came home from school. And thats what theyre all about. The parents should have come out. I saw the parents coming out pulling their kids. Is this going to be 68 again . Is it going get that bad . Where is it going . These people are not local, not sob 1968. These are reactionary people. There will never be another 1968. Where is jamal brown . Where is the mayor . Where are the people down here . Where are them . The people if you are leadership, where are the leaders . A little bunch of people right here what do you tell americans who are watching baltimore tonight, what is this city . That this could have been their city. The death of killing black men in this country is going to go to this. Its going to be their city because its a reactionary situation. People are doing things. Theyre feeling right now. You can only put so much into a Pressure Cooker before it pop. And what has happened now, people are reacting about the conditions theyre under. This could have been new york. Its been ferguson. Its going to travel. We need to stop the police brutality. Thats number one. We need to stop the police brutality. Once we stop that, this will stop. We need to have ten days, ten days of investigation. Ten days of investigation, is that real . The man is ten days of investigation. I wish you the best. I know. And i hear you. I wish you the best. Because its not about me. Its about the United States. Where are the people in Baltimore City in their suits to be on tv and talking about what they need to do where. Is jamal brown . He needs to get some of this tear gas in his face. He needs to get some of this fear. Babies out here earlier, standing up to do something. Their parents werent here. The leadership arent here. They left them out here by themselves. And this is the aftermath. Im going to educate. Now people are upset. They left our babies to do this. I wish you the best of luck. They locked down my sons school today. They locked down my sons school today. And i had to get my niece to get my son. They locked it down because of the fear that is going on. Our babies is looking at this. We need to set clear examples for our children. You know this neighborhood. Is this going to stop tonight . We dont know. And im not going to predict it. When is it going to stop be just us and justice . This is reactionary. This is a reactionary thing. Thank you very much. Its a lovely city. I love baltimore. Where are you from . From new york. Wolf, a little bit of the sense of what is happening here. Here are the police. They have established control over that hose there, and theyre finally getting water on that cvs. But as you can see, it is absolute chaos here in west baltimore tonight. Wolf . Yeah, i never thought i would see firefighters arrive to deal with a fire in a cvs pharmacy in baltimore. They hook up the hose and individuals take knives and start cutting holes in that hose. They want that cvs to burn to the ground and stop that. And clearly, the anger unfolding. You know Jeffrey Toobin we none of us anticipated anything like this. No, its really bad. And it is it does not seem to be over. And, you know i just think we have to draw a distinction between protesters and criminals. There is a long and honorable history in our country of people protesting and there does seem to be a lot to protest in baltimore. But burning down a cvs is not a protest. Thats a crime. And we have to look forward to an evening and a night where i hope its peaceful. And i assume cities all over the country are going to be looking at what happened and what didnt happen as far as the Police Department. The leadership of baltimore is concerned and drawing some lessons. Thats true. But i would like to hear some Community Leadership concern about the people that just lost their jobs that work in that cvs and the other stores up and down that street that have been looted. Theyre unemployed now. Yeah. Miguel, i just want to go back to you. You really did a wonderful, amazing bit of journalism for us reporting on what is going on. I want to thank you and thank i saw alec, our producer, our photographers. You guys are right in the middle of the action. I want you to stay careful. Youre going to be with us throughout the night. But just be careful of what is going on over there. And dont do anything overly dangerous, because its an important story. We want to make sure you get back to new york safe and sound. I want to thank you on behalf of all of us, miguel. Give us a final thought. The final thought is i dont know where this goes. Ive been here for a week now covering this. It has been an exceptionally interesting week. Ive always loved baltimore. I didnt know what a tough and diversity it is. And to have neighborhoods like you see here, i am not sure where this is going tonight. We didnt have much warning that this was going to happen. We thought saturday was the worst. The neighborhood here that i spent the last six days in, seven days, seemed to be over it. And now it is we just dont know. Wolf . All right, miguel thanks very, very much. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. Cnns live coverage of this disaster unfolding in the streets of baltimore continues right now with erin burnett outfront. Thank you very much. We have our continuing coverage of this breaking news story tonight. Baltimore erupting. We have riots in baltimore right now out on the streets tonight. It was peaceful. It has turned ugly and violent. Youre looking at live pictures. Stores have been looted and destroyed, now even lit on fire by rioters there is a massive fire and fear that it could get worse as darkness falls tonight. The angry rioters today overtook a police car. They smashed the roof and the window with bats metal rods and rocks. Others set a police car on fire that fire spread to a second patrol car. Rioters then set a third car alight. Seven officers have now been injured. Some of them have broken bones