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Active Shooter at Washington Navy Yard; Hundreds Still Trapped in Colorado

Aired September 16, 2013 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Male gunman has a large shotgun and he's on the fourth floor of this building on the Navy complex.

Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now.

Barbara, tell us more.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I just got off the phone with a U.S. Navy official who says their reports are now that several shots were fired, several people inside the building have been injured. At this point it doesn't look like they've been able to evacuate any of the injured out of the building.

He tells me that they are getting actually phone reports at the U.S. Navy from people trapped inside while this situation goes on. They do say they have what they call an active shooter inside the building and that security forces at this hour are entering the building to try to get to this person.

Let me just explain to people the location that we're talking about. In Washington, along the Potomac River in the southwest section of the city of the nation's capital, there is the Washington Navy Yard, a very old, historic place, but a highly secure facility. This is a building called the Naval Sea Systems Command, several hundred people work inside. They are in charge of all the programs for building ships and submarines, classified work, highly secure.

Not at all clear at this hour how anyone with a weapon could have gotten inside there. At this point the best information the Navy says they are getting is from people trapped inside the people. They are telling people to shelter in place, they're trying to evacuate people where they can. But right now this appears to be a situation involving still at this hour an active shooter -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's a very early hour in the morning, Barbara. How many people do you think are in that building right now?

STARR: Well, this is Washington and the bureaucracy, especially the U.S. Military, starts works very early. The reports were that three shots were fired at 8:20 this morning East Coast Time, here in Washington. At that hour I would say that almost everyone was in the building.

Now I know you mentioned a moment ago, a news report, the fourth floor. We're going to try and get more information about what exactly is located on the fourth floor in that building, whether this is someone -- you know, we just don't know. Is this someone moving through the building? Is this someone looking for a particular spot or office in the building?

And how -- once again how on earth did they get some totally unauthorized weapon inside the building? There are regular security forces in the building that -- as there are in so many Washington, D.C., buildings and across the U.S. military but this situation is very much described active shooter, more than three shots fired, several people injured.

The belief at this point is those injured are getting first aid care from other co-workers inside the building that they're going to try and get people out, but they got to figure out exactly where the shooter is, isolate him, get him taken care of and see if they -- we're told they have to safely evacuate people, of course.

They can't tell people just to start running. You know, these situations are very, very difficult. They've got to make sure if people are going to start evacuating out of the building that they are --

COSTELLO: OK. So --

STARR: -- as safe as they can make them be.

COSTELLO: So just a couple of questions, one, is that this is an active Navy facility. So would people in the building be armed besides the security at door? And number two, would there be metal detectors as you go into that building?

STARR: I think it is almost entirely unlikely that anyone would have a weapon other than authorized security personnel. Here in Washington, you know, the military does not carry weapons. It is authorized security personnel, just like here at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill, at the White House, at installations across the nation's capital. Very, very strict rules about all of this.

Metal detectors, I don't know in this -- I'm going to say I don't know in this particular building. Almost all installations, almost all government buildings that myself and I think most reporters go in and out of do have metal detectors. But the Washington Navy Yard also has a secure perimeter. To enter the Washington Navy Yard, it is generally not open to the public.

There's a museum in that Reed area. There's a lot of things for people to go and see and enjoy, but they have to pass through a guard checkpoint essentially to get on to the Washington Navy Yard and especially to go into this building. You can't just drive there, park your car, get out and wander around. So there's going to be a lot of questions to answer here about how someone did this.

And you know, Carol, as you say, the reports very, very early on. I mean, this is -- I'm looking at the clock. This is less than an hour ago tragically that the first shots were fired. So the Navy is getting as much information as they can, getting those security forces on site as fast as they can and trying to get medical care, of course, to the people who are wounded.

We don't know how many. One U.S. Navy official just a few moments ago told me the initial reports are that several people were injured, and as you show these pictures, I just want to say, again, you know, sad but necessary fact that the times here in Washington, especially as in so many cities across the country, there is a very fast first responders effort when these crises occur.

Washington sadly very well practiced at responding to these types of situations as are so many cities across the country.

COSTELLO: Yes. And the U.S. Navy, by the way, is tweeting this morning. They have confirmed that one person has been injured. There may be more. We don't know but this is just what the U.S. Navy is confirming right now. As you said, police and authorities are now surrounding that building at the Navy Yard and hopefully a more peaceful conclusion will come.

Of course we're going to keep our eye on this story and take you back to Washington, D.C., as soon as we have more information.

I know you'll be standing by, Barbara Starr. Thanks so much.

STARR: Sure.

COSTELLO: Shades of Katrina in Colorado, hundreds still accounted for and nearly 1,000 others still waiting to be rescued. The stranded have to use flares, sheets of mirrors to get the attention of rescuers and helicopters.

Keep in mind it is now five days after the floodwaters started rising and a grim reality is setting in. The numbers are sobering. As many as six people have died, 19,000 homes damaged or destroyed, more than 100 miles of roads and many bridges simply washed away.

The situation so desperate that during the governor's aerial tour this weekend, the helicopter he was in diverted to rescue seven people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. MITCH UTTERBACK, COLORADO NATIONAL GUARD: I think what we have going on here in the last 24 hours is the greatest number of Americans rescued by helicopter since Hurricane Katrina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Nick Valencia joins us now from Longmont, Colorado.

Good morning, Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The helicopters and rescue crews for the National Guard are going to attempt to fly this morning to get to those hard-to-reach remote areas. There is a low ceiling of fog and that could create some visibility issues. Yesterday those rescue crews were temporarily grounded because of the rain that created those visibility issues and in fact some of those very same National Guardsmen in Lyons, just north of where we are here in Longmont, 15 of the 51 National Guardsmen remain stranded this morning because of high waters.

They were able to get some pets out and some residents. But they are still stuck there this morning. Earlier the mayor of Boulder, Colorado, spoke to CNN and he talked about some of the issues that the community here is still facing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MATTHEW APPELBAUM, BOULDER, COLORADO: I think there's still going to be a lot of shock and disbelief the amount of destruction, the damage to people's houses, the damage to neighborhoods, the damage to roads, the damage to our much beloved open space. It's pretty significant and as I said, it's extraordinarily widespread.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: And some new information this morning, Carol. Some new information this morning, Carol, is the state EOC is saying that there are under -- 1,000 people that are still unaccounted for. At its peak we saw that number around 1200.

The point of all that is that those numbers are going to be fluid throughout the next couple of days as cell phone power is restored, electricity is restored to some of these remote areas. But we want to stress and emphasize that that number, that under 1,000 unaccounted for, it's not missing but people that just haven't been able to get in touch with their families -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nick Valencia reporting live from Colorado this morning.

Let's head back to the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. There is a situation going on. This is a naval facility and there is an armed gunman inside that building. Apparently this gunman has a large shotgun. He is somewhere, at last check, on the fourth floor of a building on the complex.

The U.S. Navy has confirmed that one person is injured and there may be more. Of course most of the information is coming from people inside that building who are on the phone talking to 911 operators and other emergency rescue workers. They're trying to tell people what's going on inside that building.

As you might expect and we suspect, that the U.S. Navy is trying to handle this along with local officials. But let's ask Barbara Starr that very question.

Are all the local law enforcement agencies working together in Washington to try to control this situation?

STARR: Well, Carol, I don't know that we have the specific details. Again, this just unfolded about 50 minutes ago. The Navy and U.S. military security certainly responding inside the Navy Yard. As we were talking about a couple of minutes ago, in Washington, like in so many cities across the country, but especially being the nation's capital, there is a response plan when a crisis emerges. Everybody from metro police to federal and local law enforcement typically does respond.

There is very good coordination between the U.S. Military here in Washington, essentially the military that lives and works here in the nation's capital and local law enforcement. So they have the mechanisms to be in communication if the military needs any help, they will instantly get it. And I can only imagine, this is on a -- alongside, on one side there's the river, the Potomac River.

On the other side a very busy southwest downtown Washington, D.C., so I can only imagine that the Metropolitan Police here in Washington are probably controlling the security perimeter where the street is, keep traffic away, keep traffic moving so that emergency response vehicles can get through so that everything can be done that needs to be done.

That's typically how it works around here, sadly, when these situations arise -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I'm on the U.S. Navy's Twitter feed, they're tweeting out bits and pieces of information. They do confirm that there is one injury. It's on the fourth floor. There's approximately 3,000 people who work in the affected building.

Can you remind us once again what people do in that particular building?

STARR: Sure, Carol. And let me also say all of these reports are very preliminary. Of course, again the situation just unfolding about 15 minutes ago. We know several shots fired, we know people injured. People there trying to get out. We don't have a firm count yet on how many injured.

This is something called Building 197. It is at the Washington Navy Yard. It is the headquarters, we are told, for the Naval Sea Systems Command, a very large element of the Navy bureaucracy that oversees all shipbuilding, submarine programs, that sort of thing, very technical work, they do the budget, the policy, the engineering, the building.

Very technical, very classified, most of it. So this would be a secure area. This is a place where you have Navy personnel of all ranks, from the most junior enlisted to very senior admirals who run this program. Very well-known within the Navy. It's a place -- the Navy Yard is a place that many people in the navy here in Washington travel back and forth to many times during the business week.

So this is pretty surprising that someone was able to get a weapon on this compound and into this building -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes. Lou Palumbo is on the line with us now. He's a retired New York City Police officer. And again, I'm reading that the Twitter feed from the U.S. Navy, it says, Lou, that a shelter in place order is in for all Navy Yard personnel.

What does that mean, do you think?

LOU PALUMBO, FORMER NYPD OFFICER (via phone): Carol, can you just repeat that question for me?

COSTELLO: The Navy says there's a shelter in place order for Navy Yard personnel. What does that mean?

PALUMBO: Well, that's basically saying they want everyone to remain in place and seek some form of shelter to make sure that they don't become at this point a victim in the shooting incident.

COSTELLO: And tell us what the plan might be to resolve this situation.

PALUMBO: Well, the plan going forward is going to be first of all containment and attempt to identify exactly who's involved in the shooting. In addition to that as we know this is a military installation so there are other sensitivities that are germane to.

We're going to have our FBI responding, joint terrorist task force clearly. You have military naval intelligence, you have fire, you have medical, you have a number of different entities who are now going to work in conjunction to attempt to mitigate these circumstances right now.

What they want to do is find out who is involved, how many are involved, where you have victims. It's a cumulative effort where there are cumulative products moving forward on this.

COSTELLO: Would they enter the building, Lou?

PALUMBO: Yes, ma'am, absolutely. In these instances you have an active shooter, we learned in past experiences that we don't have the luxury of allowing this being the kind of -- take care of itself. So you've got to go in and attempt to locate exactly who the perpetrators of this incident are and be mindful of the fact that their thinking right now of explosive devices or any types of booby traps so to speak that the responders could encounter.

COSTELLO: The man is apparently -- or the gunman is apparently armed with a shotgun. Does that bring to mind any special way to deal with him?

PALUMBO: Can you -- can you repeat that, please?

COSTELLO: Supposedly this man is armed with a shotgun. How will police react to that?

PALUMBO: Well, the same where they would any firearm. I mean, clearly, you know, what people don't understand about a shotgun is that it's a very, very unconventionally harmful weapon in comparison to a handgun, for example, or an assault rifle. Depending on the type of ammunition for example that he might have in that shotgun, he could inflict an extreme amount of casualties, for example, by using a slug which will go through one person and through another person and possibly --

COSTELLO: All right. I think we lost Lou's connection. So, we'll go back to Barbara Starr who has more information on exactly what a shelter in place order means.

Barbara, take it away.

STARR: Yes, Carol.

The Washington Navy yard is a compound of many buildings, this incident taking place by all accounts at one of them. So, what they want to do is keep everybody as safe as they can and make sure that nothing is done that would jeopardize people's safety even further. So, they're saying stay in your office, stay secure.

This will also mean that as security forces go through the compound, go through that building, they will be able to, you know, rule out certain areas where a shooter might be, because they know for example this office is full of people, sheltering in place. So many entrances and exits in all of these buildings. They don't want people to start moving out evacuating in and out of all of these entrances without making sure they can keep them safe.

So I think what we are seeing unfold here, it's safe to say the first priority, get to this gunman that they believe is inside the building still, make the situation as secure as possible, and for those who may be injured, of course, top priority, get them out and get them to medical care. I want to say again, we don't have a firm estimate at this point about how many were injured. The initial report was that three shots were fired about 8:20 this morning inside this building, that's just one hour ago.

But again, as so often in these cases, these are the initial reports, more information developing and certainly more throughout the day, as you begin to see some of the security vehicles move into the Washington Navy yard, certainly getting as many security personnel as they can in there and getting this situation resolved.

COSTELLO: All right. So, I'm going to let you get more information from the Pentagon, Barbara Starr.

And I want to go to the actual scene. CNN's Paul Corson is on the ground at the Navy yard.

Paul, what are you seeing? Are you with me, Paul?

PALUMBO: -- right now if you can hear me?

COSTELLO: I can hear you now. Take it away, Paul. What are you seeing?

Oh, Lou is back. So, we're going to wait -- we're going to get Paul Corson on the ground. He is actually on the ground there. And as you might, it's a chaotic scene right now.

So, we're going to have Paul Corson back on the line. He's on the ground.

Lou Palumbo, retired New York City police officer, on the phone with us right.

We're seeing more and more police officers arrive at the scene, Lou. What does that say to you?

PALUMBO: They're getting as many resources there as they possibly can to create a perimeter around this, to lend itself to containment and they feel there's something going on significant enough that they need to have as many assets in place as they possibly can.

COSTELLO: We see helicopters flying overhead. This is a very large building, 3,000 people work in this building, and you have a lone gunman wandering around supposedly on the fourth floor. You can imagine why that would be very difficult for police to contain the situation.

PALUMBO: Well, we're assuming it's a lone gunman. You see, at this point, they're trying to identify what is going on in that building. They're not -- they're not certain of any dynamics except the fact there is a shooter, an active shooter in the Navy yard in Washington.

So, I still think what they're trying to do is identify the source of this problem.

COSTELLO: And the only information that we hear at least for right now that they're getting are from people from inside the building, calling emergency workers on the phone.

We lost Lou again. We're having little technical gremlins this morning unfortunately.

OK. Now, we're going to go to our affiliate, WUSA. They have a reporter on the scene. Let's listen.

WUSA REPORTTER: One-ninety-seven, the naval sea systems command headquarters, building 197, everyone told to stay in place, shelter in place. There are about 3,000 employees as I mentioned before.

I'm seeing right now on the opposite side of the camera here a lot of just residents, folks who live, work in the area who are outside of their offices, outside of their homes, on their cell phones, just trying to figure out what is happening here. Obviously, there was a lot of buzz on social media, as I was coming here, a lot of folks who may work in the area, we're heading this way, on Facebook were discussing what was happening and obviously sending their thoughts and prayers for the folks who were here, 3,000 people told to shelter in place.

Certainly a chaotic scene and I don't think there's any better way to describe the intense situation here as describing when the officer did come up to us in that bullet proof vest and he said how often do you see a lieutenant wearing a bullet proof vest? Clearly, a dangerous situation, and, of course, we want to share the news and bring the news to you and be as safe as possible. So we moved immediately and relocated.

COSTELLO: All right. Barbara Starr, are you still with me?

STARR: I sure am, Carol.

COSTELLO: For our viewers just tuning, please bring us up to date with what's happening at the Navy yard in Washington, D.C.

STARR: Carol, what we know at this hour is about one hour ago, three shots at least were fired by what the military is describing as an active shooter at the Washington Navy yard, inside a building where several hundred people work. Security forces began entering the building at this hour. We have no word that they have managed to get to the shooter and take this person into custody. We are still awaiting what is happening with the shooter.

The Navy has told us and says it is OK for us to report this, so I want to be very clear to our viewers that they are getting phone reports from people inside the building, who have been told to shelter in place, to stay there and await help, and those phone reports are telling Navy officials here at the pentagon that perhaps several people were injured. We were also told just a few moments ago they are able to evacuating some people. We don't know if that's the injured or the people that were told to shelter in place.

The shelter in place order went into effect just people could remain in the secure area until they could get the shooter. Very typical in these types of situations, I think, most security personnel will tell you they want to keep people safe, they want to be able for the security personnel to move around and get to a shooter, knowing that other people in the building are safe.

This is a compound with several buildings, several security facilities, lots of entrances and exits. So, they want to get it under control as fast as they can.

The Washington Navy yard for people who may not be aware, is a very large compound along the Potomac River here in the nation's capital, in the southwest section of the city, very historic. But in recent years a lot of Navy business has moved there, some of it very classified. This is building 197, the headquarters for the Naval Sea Systems Command which runs programs, shipbuilding programs both surface warships, submarines, a lot of classified work.

This is a place where an awful lot of people come and go all day long, hundreds of people work in the building, thousands of people on the Washington navy yard. This is a situation that by all accounts one hour later they are still trying to get under control -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, they're trying. You stay there at the Pentagon.

We have our justice correspondent Evan Perez on the phone right now with some more information.

Evan, as far as we know, according to the U.S. Navy, one report of an injury confirmed. There may be more. We don't know what's going on inside that building. Do you know anything else?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER (via telephone): The FBI is now on the scene and they're trying to get into the building to try to secure it. Now, this is still an active situation. It doesn't appear as Barbara mentioned that they have apprehended the suspect. There are lots of active officials on the scene, so we still don't know whether or not how many more people have been injured in this. It's still developing at this hour.

COSTELLO: OK, stay on the line, Evan.

We have Paul Corson on the phone, on the ground at the naval yard. I want to go to him because I really want to know what the scene is like.

So tell us, Paul.

Paul, are you there?

PAUL CORSON, CNN PRODUCER AT SCENE OF SHOOTING (via telephone): Yes, I am. Carol, is that you?

COSTELLO: Yes, that is me. Please tell us what the scene is like.

CORSON: Yes, Carol, Paul Corson here. I'm roughly at the intersection of Eighth and L Streets, in the middle of a pretty heavy police presence. U.S. Park Police have put up a helicopter on reports that I'm hearing this guy may have made it to the roof of one of the buildings in the navy yard.

The helicopter is looking at low altitude, you can hear it over me, only at about 200 feet and if there's any way to see this guy, they're going to keep track of him and figure out what to do next.

COSTELLO: He made it to the top of that building. There's a building, I think it's a dark brick building that we've been seeing, the shot's not moving and maybe that's for a reason, police don't want us to do that.

But how many stories this building that this gunman is supposedly on top of right now?

CORSON: It's hard. I can't see it from here, Carol. I'm about a block away where they set off the police cordon. Obviously, if the guy is on the roof of a building he's going to have a pretty good perch. So they're keeping the public pretty far back from the scene.

This all happened at a building known as number 197, which is near the waterfront in the fairly large navy yard complex and one of the early victims according to a police official who told me here on the sidewalk was shot as this guy came on the way into this building. And that person, I don't know if it's male or female, was later taken out by emergency personnel and is being treated.

I haven't been able to reach anyone who has a firm count on the number of casualties, a number of people wounded and the status of things at the moment.

COSTELLO: OK. Hopefully, we'll get Lou Palumbo back on the phone soon, because this is a whole new ball of wax.

I want to go back to Evan Perez for just a second.

Evan, you said the FBI was trying to get into the building. What does that mean? It means they can't get in? They're already --

PEREZ: Well --

COSTELLO: Go ahead.

PEREZ: No. We're told -- I'm sorry about that -- we're told that the FBI is on the scene and obviously they have a lot of experience in these types of things and would be the lead agency, this say federal facility and they'd be the lead agency in trying to secure it.

At this point, I think they're still trying to get the situation secure to make sure if there's any more shooting going on, that there are no personnel on the outside and the emergency personnel who can get shot, and also that the FBI agents who would be trying to secure it themselves don't come under fire or don't get injured.

So, at this point, what I've been told is that they're on the scene, they would probably be the lead agency to try to secure it but at this point there is confusion as to how many people were injured, where exactly is the shooter. The Navy says the shooter is still in the building and they're getting reports from people inside.

So, its a matter of trying to figure out how to make sure the people who are in there are out of harm's way before they try to apprehend the suspect.

COSTELLO: OK. So, now, back to Paul Corson, authorities think this guy is on the roof. But we're not quite sure. Now, I know that this is a large facility, but is there surrounding neighborhood around this facility that's close enough where people have to take shelter there?

Paul Corson, can you hear me?

OK. So, we've lost Paul Corson again. You know, it's really chaotic out there. It's hard to get cell service when so many are using cell phones at the same time.

So, Barbara Starr, do you know the answer to that question?

STARR: Well, indeed, Carol, the Washington Navy yard does sit in the middle of the Washington, D.C., community in southwest Washington.

Now, let me be clear. There are not houses right next to where this is happening, but there are homes, families, people, schools not that far away and, you know, that is a good reason as well why they want to get this under control. They would be concerned that a shooter could get to a roof but I have to say if that is happening, that will be quite extraordinary and quite unusual and worth figuring out how that happened because in many buildings in Washington roof access would be secured.

There's gear on top of roofs, a place where maintenance people go. That would be something to watch. What appears to be unfolding is, again, so difficult but so expected in this day and age, very typical security procedures in the nation's capital when these incidents happen a place where a shooter is believed to be goes into very immediate lockdown, all authorities are called. Everyone responds.

As my colleague Evan Perez, was saying, the FBI has a good deal of expertise in getting into buildings safely, moving through them, getting to where they believe a shooter may be and dealing with these situations.

All indications are: this is a full security response across Washington.