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Active Shooter at Washington Navy Yard

Aired September 16, 2013 - 10:30   ET

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

MATT MAASDAM, PRESIDENT, MOVE2SAFETY.COM: So I'm sure they didn't come through the gate all armed, looking threatening. They probably came through the gate like they would on a normal day and once they were in they started causing problems.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Ok. Thanks, Matt. I understand Barbara Starr, who is reporting live from the Pentagon, just got the Defense Secretary's feelings on what's happening at the Navy Yard. Barbara what can you tell us?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well let me just -- I just had this a little bit Carol, but we are able to confirm now that Defense Secretary Hagel and General Martin Dempsey Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been informed about this incident just as the President has been informed. The Navy Command Center here in the Pentagon and the Navy officials on site, of course, where this is happening, are all hands on deck trying to deal with this situation assembling the most current information they can because, of course, if there are fatalities and injured, it will be the Navy that will notify the families and help the families deal with whatever they need to deal with about all of this.

So the Navy they're moving very rapidly to try and work with local law enforcement and the FBI. Not just to get the situation resolved but to get some real on the ground information about what is going on; so this now, of course, getting attention at the highest levels across Washington, D.C. And still the question as so many others have said in the last hour and a half, how did a shooter get a weapon inside the Washington Navy Yard? All things are possible. Every security measure probably has a way of being breached if someone wants to do it but this is really by any measure quite an extraordinary situation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, so Barbara standby I want to go back to Tom Fuentes. Barbara keeps saying this is extraordinary that somebody was able to get inside this building with a gun and create such chaos but you know heard what Matt said, if he just looked like a regular guy and work there and he showed his I.D., he could be welcomed in like he is every other day, although we don't know that to be true.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMEN ANALYST: Yes. As you said, you know people show their IDs to get in and drive in. They are able to park inside the facility. So you could have a -- you could have a bazooka in the trunk of your car and not be seen by the guard as you drive in if you work there or have another reason to be there. So if someone had an appointment or they were already allowed access because they work there then certainly they could have whatever equipment they want in their car to unload and then you know begin shooting once they get there.

COSTELLO: Yes we just got word that six elementary schools have been closed because of this incident because, of course, the Navy Yard is pretty much in the middle of a residential area. Brian Todd is standing outside of the U.S. Navy Yard. And we just -- we just saw like a whole bunch of Washington -- I think they were Washington, D.C. police officers walking toward the Yard. Take us through that.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. I would say probably eight to ten Washington Metropolitan police officers just kind of rounded the corner here, very heavily armed with semiautomatics, with pump shotguns with other things kind of rounded the corner of M Street and 11 Street and headed down towards one of the entrances down there.

Again just a massive police presence -- they -- they brought some buses up here. We're not clear why these metro buses have been brought to this location and park at this location but, again, they are controlling this -- this area very, very tightly and we just saw, as you mentioned, some metropolitan Washington police officers not with any urgency at the moment but walking around the corner toward an entrance down there, very heavily armed with some semi-automatics and pump shotguns and the like.

Multiple victims we can report, the disposition of the shooter is not clear at the moment. We're told it is still a very active situation Carol and you can see some of the police vehicles here rounding the corner on 11th and M Street going down 11 street southeast. There was also one of our crew -- crew members saw a -- a rescue chopper open with a basket outside of it with one of the personnel on the chopper kind of hanging from the chopper with a rescue basket. There are several helicopters swarming around here.

So again, just a very fluid, very active situation here with heavy police presence and some officers just moving down the street behind me, very heavily armed.

COSTELLO: All right. We want to go back to Tom Fuentes to try to you know decipher this for us. So more and more police are on the scene right now Tom, and of course emergency personnel are able to evacuate some of the injured from the scene via helicopter. What does that tell you?

FUENTES: Well, I think it pretty much says that they believe that the situation would be contained. I think earlier when they had the ground stop on flights taking off coming in and out of Reagan Airport, that airport is not too far from where that Navy Yard is and so it would be within a flight path depending on the weather. And if they had a shooter on the roof or something you know other shooters out there they would be worried about you know possibly hitting an airplane flying by or other people on the ground. So the (inaudible) the fact that flights has been resumed, that they think they have it contained and, of course, that would then also allow rescue personnel to get nearby and try to take victims from the location to medical facilities.

COSTELLO: I want to go back out to the scene to Todd Sperry because we understand seven schools are on lockdown right now and of course as I said, there's a surrounding neighborhood which complicates things as far as getting this thing under control. Todd Sperry, what are you seeing?

TODD SPERRY, CNN PRODUCER: Well right now we're at an area where the police have just asked us to step back and not be out in the open area and additionally actually I'm being told to go inside right now and so as I step into this -- this little restaurant here I will tell you that I spoke with a construction worker who was in the building. I don't know if in the aerials you could see a construction -- building there under construction. He was there about 8:30 this morning, 8:40. The police came by and deemed it unsafe, told them all to evacuate. They are now down the street and they are all safe.

We are in an area at Fourth and Hill. Which is about midway right on the western side -- western side of the Navy Yard and there are at least -- one, two, three, four -- there's about half a dozen ambulances here just waiting and all of the personnel with those ambulances waiting -- waiting to see what happens, waiting to see if their services are needed.

But at this point it's apparently too unsafe for them to be inside the parameter.

COSTELLO: Yes, we understand there are at least ten people injured, including two police officers. One a Washington, D.C. police officer and one some kind of officer associated with the Navy.

Tom Fuentes, I want to go back to you. As you're watching the scene, we're seeing increased helicopter traffic around here.

FUENTES: Well, the helicopters, obviously, give the authorities -- command and control capability. They are able to look down from above the rooftops and in between the buildings and verify, help maintain a visual surveillance of the building if they think they have the person contained to make sure he doesn't escape out the back door.

COSTELLO: I'm not sure if you heard the description of the suspect, Tom. He's a very tall, African-American man, 6 feet tall, dressed all in black, armed with some kind of rifle. At one point some of the employees inside that building said they spotted him down the hall. He turned towards them and fired seemingly over their heads, they started to run from the building and get some -- and they started getting some of their fellow employees out. Does that say anything to you about the shooter?

FUENTES: Well, if it's true that he shot deliberately over their heads and tried to avoid shooting them directly, it might indicate that he was after one particular person. Maybe he works there and has a boss that he doesn't like and wanted to go after him.

But when you hear of ten people being wounded and possible fatalities, then it just -- it sounds unusual that he would not deliberately shoot everybody he sees in this case.

So I don't know if for sure -- you know, eyewitness accounts of what happened can -- can vary from the actual incident and it may just be that he missed. We just don't know that.

COSTELLO: That's for sure. So this is a very large building. 3,000 people work inside building 197. Some people, some employees are still in there, locked in closets, locked in their offices. Some people managed to escape. The gunman is still inside. So what does it look like inside that building from a police perspective, Tom?

FUENTES: Oh, it's a very difficult situation because if the person is locked in a closet, the police are going to have to go either now or later are going to have to go room-by-room, closet-by-closet, air duct-by-air duct to see if there's anybody, good guy or bad guy hiding within that building.

And again, somebody hearing shots could get -- become afraid and lock themselves in the closet and, you know, the police will have to do a room-by-room search to clear that building eventually.

Right now the main issue is do they have the suspect in a particular room or particular part of the building that they can contain even further and try to evacuate the rest of the building while they -- while they contain the subject.

COSTELLO: And we're going to go to Joe Johns momentarily. But I just want to ask my producers if you could ready these sound bites, as we call them in the business, of the witnesses that spoke just a short time ago because they were so dramatic. So hopefully we can get that tape turned while I talk to Joe Johns -- CNN correspondent who just arrived on the scene. What are you seeing, Joe Johns?

JOE JOHN, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hi Carol, I'm looking down into the Washington Navy Yard from the vantage point that shows just a long line of police cars with their lights on inside the perimeter of the Washington Navy Yard. I've been seeing people moving back and forth. A few appeared to be ducking and I'm also seeing police carrying long guns, appear to be shotguns from this perspective.

Also a little bit more about that helicopter traffic, really just a true indication of all of the law enforcement officials who have sort of come into this thing. United States Park police have been pretty much buzzing the rooftops taking a good, long look. Apparently at the roof of the Navy Yard building where some of this activity apparently has been occurring.

COSTELLO: Joe Johns, I'm not sure if I lost your connection or not. Joe Johns are you still there?

JOHNS: I am still here. I'm sorry. There was a lot of confusion. The gates just opened now and some more law enforcement authorities apparently going in into the Washington Navy Yard. So it's not clear what the status is but we're seeing a number -- several police vehicles, some of those canine and other words units carrying police dogs now beginning to drive inside the perimeter of the Washington Navy Yard while the helicopters buzz overhead.

Certainly some activity and of course the question for all of us would be whether authorities have determined that they do need to go into this building and start doing what would essentially be a room-to- room, office-to-office search of any individual or individuals who might be inside -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes we just got word from the Washington, D.C., Police Department that they are working on a press briefing. So something is going on although we don't know what. Do we have that sound turned now? Not yet. Ok so let's go back to Tom Fuentes.

So we're seeing an increased police presence. We're seeing more birds in the air, so to speak. The Washington police department is about to maybe get a press briefing. Does that tell you anything Tom?

FUENTES: Not really. They just want more resources at the scene or at the -- at the neighborhood of the building to try to maybe firm down the perimeter inside they are little better than they have already. The press briefing is about due. It's time to come out and tell the public what's occurred up until now, what the status is and what they are trying to do, what they're trying to accomplish at the scenes.

So -- so far I think it doesn't indicate a lot --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: All right I'm going to interrupt you, Tom. We have an interview with I believe a Washington, D.C. police officer. Let's listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have a number of suspects right now. Were in the -- this is a huge -- this is a huge piece of land with several buildings. So it's going to take quite a while for us get through there and search and make sure it's safe. Ok? We'll be right back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Thank you.

COSTELLO: All right Tom so what I could glean from that little bit of what I heard is they are searching the entire U.S. Navy Yard to see if there are any more suspects out there. As far as we understand there's one right now in Building 197. But there could be more. You don't know.

FUENTES: Right. There could be. But hoping that it's only one and they know the location of that one -- that will be a little bit better. But you know, to do the entire Navy Yard and every building in it and every room and closet within each building, you're talking about an all-day operation. That will take hours to do that. The building itself that we're talking about that they believe the suspect was in, even after they get that suspect into custody or however they resolve it with him, the rest of that building search is still also going to take probably two or three hours normally. It's usually a very difficult process to go into a building like that and even just to find all of the employees that are in hiding, not knowing if it's safe or not, they are not -- many of them might not have their cell phone with them or the battery will run out, they don't have other media access.

So they would be in a dark closet, let's say, and have no idea what is going on around them, whether it's safe or it's not safe.

COSTELLO: All right. Brian Todd is the correspondent who got that interview with that Washington, D.C., police officer. We only heard a little tiny bit of it, Brian. What else did that police officer tell you?

TODD: Carol -- we're being moved across the street so I'm going to talk to you as we're being moved. My photo journalist Mark Walsh is going to move with me. This was Officer P.J. Newsham saying that Police Chief Cathy Lanier will be either at this location or someplace very to hear very soon to brief us on this situation.

The only thing he can tell us right now is still very fluid -- careful Mark. We've got -- we've got some police vehicles coming through here. You can see them now turning down this street. We've had a lot of activity actually going down this way, Carol in the last few minutes, a lot of chopper activity. There's a chopper coming right above us. Mark is going to take a shot of that.

In one of these choppers we did see a police -- what appeared to be some kind of a police sniper with a scope peering out of the opening in one of these choppers. That was just a short time ago.

But what this officer, P.J. Newsham told us was that the police chief captain will be here very soon hopefully to brief us on the latest in the situation. I did get a couple of questions in about the disposition of the shooter. He didn't really have any answers, just that the situation is still very fluid. Not clear whether they've apprehended the shooter or not.

We do have multiple victims he said. He reiterated there are at least ten victims here, including two law enforcement officers. But a lot of police activity just in this intersection, Carol, over the last few minutes.

COSTELLO: And I don't know how many minutes ago now but there is a description of the suspect. Can you lay that on us right now?

TODD: Well, we were asked by some others to maybe not describe that suspect at this time. We had a description earlier. I think suffice it to say, we have one suspect that has been described to various news agencies and we're going to probably hold off on that for the moment, Carol. But what we can say is that this is still a very active situation. That's what we were just told. We can go down the street here and look at some of the officers in SWAT and riot gear moving up here. This is 11th street southeast and there seems to be some kind of an active scene going down there. We tried a moment ago to get down there. We were moved away by one of the police officers at this intersection here.

But you can see some of the officers coming up here and that looks to be -- I think it looks like an FBI marking on there, on their jackets. So we have some FBI officers coming up here. And we just saw a short time ago some very heavily armed D.C. Police officers moving in that direction with semiautomatics, with pump shotguns and the like.

Some more personnel are coming behind this way as they turn down M Street here, heading towards another entrance with choppers swarming over in this direction. So not clear exactly what is exactly going on down this way. We do know that this was in the Naval Sea Systems Command building -- that's what we're told -- building 197.

This base is home to the chief of naval operations -- so usually a very heavy security presence. Here are some other law enforcement vehicles heading down, looks like, 11th Street in the opposite direction. So we will monitor this activity right here and get back to you with whatever we can tell you that's going on down in this direction -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. All right Brian Todd, you get back to it. And we won't release that description of the suspect per police instructions. It's fine with us. They're still searching for him. We understand that. We understand it's a fluid and dangerous situation.

We do have that eyewitness sound with what happened inside that building around 8:20 Eastern time this morning. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORD: I have two people with me who work inside the Navy Yard -- worked inside building 197 and they were there this morning when the shooting started and you saw the shooter, is that correct?

TODD BRUNDEN, WITNESS: Yes, that's correct.

FORD: Tell us about it.

BRUNDEN: Well, as we were -- the fire alarm went off first and I was on the phone and somebody came on my desk and said, "Hey, this is not a fire alarm." Somebody has been shot in the building. So we went around trying to get people out of building and as we were exiting the back door, we noticed him down the hall. He stepped around the corner we heard shots. And as he came around the corner, he aimed his gun at us and fired at least two or three shots. And we ran down the stairs to get out of the building. And after we left he building, there were still shots in the building.

FORD: He aimed a gun at you?

BRUNDEN: Well he aimed -- it was a group of us. And he aimed the gun and fired our way.

FORD: So you were there, too?

TERRY DURHAM, WITNESS: Yes sir.

FORD: Looking down the barrel of a gun?

DURHAM: He was far enough down the hall that we couldn't see his face but we could see him with the rifle and he raised and aimed at us and fired and he hit high on the wall just as we were trying to leave.

FORD: What was going through your mind?

DURHAM: Get everyone out of the building right now. Get everyone out of the building because there was someone shooting.

FORD: Could you believe what was going on?

BRUNDEN: No. I couldn't believe it, I mean you just never -- you know you go to work and you never think something like this is going to happen in your building.

FORD: What were you all doing at the time? What was going on before this started?

DURHAM: We were just working at our desks and the fire alarm went off. Occasionally there's a practice or there's a fire in the building and immediately there was announcement that there was a fire emergency in the building but our fire wardens came running very quickly yelling for everyone to get out of the building now and that's when we started moving.

FORD: And that's Miss Terry Durham, is who you are and this gentleman here is Mr. Todd Brunden.

BRUNDEN: Yes, that's correct.

FORD: Again, what did you think? When you saw this guy aim a gun and then you realize he was shooting at you?

BRUNDEN: Just get out as quick as you can. Just get out. I mean everybody is going down the stairs, people were pushing, people were shoving, people were falling down. As we came outside, people were climbing the wall and trying to get out over the wall, to get out of the space. It was just crazy.

FORD: Sounds like it was pandemonium.

BRUNDEN: It was.

FORD: do you have any kind of idea what kind of gun it was?

BRUNDEN: I do not. Was it a long gun?

DURHAM: It appeared to be a rifle. That's the best that we could tell from that distance. FORD: Could you describe the guy, what he was dressed like?

DURHAM: He was tall, he appeared to be dark-skinned, he did not have -- I don't think he had a hat on. We were looking but he was down the hall far enough that we couldn't see a face. But we saw him hold the rifle and we saw him raise it and aim it in our direction.

FORD: He appeared to be a black person?

BRUNDEN: A tall black guy.

FORD: He was a tall black guy.

BRUNDEN: A tall black guy, yes.

FORD: Did he say anything?

BRUNDEN: He didn't say a word.

FORD: You just looked at him?

BRUNDEN: It was maybe two or three seconds, we got a look at the guy and as we're going out the door, he turned and he started shooting and we immediately made a left to go down the stairs to get out of the building.

FORD: So you all are lucky today, huh?

BRUNDEN: Yes.

DURHAM: We are.

FORD: Is this someone --

DURHAM: No, sir.

(CROSSTALK)

FORD: Ok. But in any event this happened I guess around 8:20 this morning?

DURHAM: I didn't even look at the clock.

FORD: What we're hearing is around 8:20 this morning.

DURHAM: Yes, sir.

FORD: You're very lucky. Very blessed. I'm glad to see that you all are with us and some people were not as lucky. Thank you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: My old colleague Sam Ford reporting there. Our affiliate WJLA on the phone with me right now is a man named Paul Williams. He works at the Navy Yard in a building I think next door to Building 197, the building in question. Paul, are you on the line? PAUL WILLIAMS, WORKS AT THE NAVY YARD: Yes, ma'am.

COSTELLO: Describe what happened when you went to work today.

WILLIAMS: I was actually walking in to work. I got there around 8:15 a.m. And as I was walking up to my building, it sounded to me -- even though I've been hearing the news, it sounded like four bangs, four gunshot bangs but it's heavy construction in that area. So I thought they had made a recent (inaudible) I conceived the law.

As I could see him walking as I got close to the building. I saw like hundreds of people like running towards me. And I started to run -- I just started running with them not knowing what was going on, what was happening. And as we were running I heard someone say, "There's a shooting. There's a shooting. Go, go, go."

And I was like, ok, I started running. Once we stopped, we went like a block and I asked them, you know, what's going on? What happened? They said a guy came in -- a tall guy came in, he had a gun. He started shooting and we all just -- we all evacuated. I said, oh, I didn't know what was happening.

COSTELLO: Did you see police presence in the Navy Yard at all at that point?

WILLIAMS: At that point it was -- it looked like either a police officer or a security guard and she was -- that was the person that was yelling go, go, go. There's a shooting. Do not come this way. And I couldn't tell if she was police or just security.

COSTELLO: I was just going to ask you, we are all wondering how a man armed with a gun could get into the U.S. Navy Yard and into a building. Do you know?

WILLIAMS: And that's the think. Like it's weird because you have to have a proper like government ID to get in that area so that person -- I mean without putting too much thought into it, they have I guess to work for the government in some capacity in order to get on to that area.

COSTELLO: And nobody that you were running with recognized -- did anyone you were running with see the shooter?

WILLIAMS: No. It sounded like everyone I was talking to kind of heard it from another person. They were saying -- I asked them, do you know what he looked like? Who was this guy? And they were like, I don't know, he was tall, he had a gun, I don't really get to see him. I mean everyone was just telling us to evacuate the building. I was running.

That seemed like the story from everyone. There were people just busy running outside of the area.

COSTELLO: So we hear that ten people have been injured, including two police officers. And as you're watching this unfold on television, as a person who works here, what goes through your mind? WILLIAMS: I was just very afraid and I was so lost. I mean you get to work and -- you know, I just got done (inaudible) my son on his daycare. I'm going to work. It's the scene, listening to Justin Timberlake -- you know a normal Monday work day and here, you know, like someone shooting and people being heard and it was very sad.

COSTELLO: It is. But we're glad you're safe and at home right now. Paul Williams, thank you for so much joining me.

And thank you for joining me. I'm Carol Costello. We continue with breaking news with Wolf Blitzer.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Carol, thanks very much.

An active shooter is inside the Washington Navy Yard right now. We're following the breaking news. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. At least ten people have been injured, including two law enforcement officers. But police at least officially they are not confirming reports of fatalities at this time.

It all started at 8:20 a.m. Eastern when the shooter fired several shots inside the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command. He's still in the building. Let's go to CNN's Brian Todd. He's on the scene for us.

All right. Brian, tell our viewers who are just tuning in right now, update all of us on what we know.

BRIAN TODD: What we know now, Wolf, is that there's still an active shooter in the Navy Yard. The shooting occurred in the Naval Sea Systems Command Building 197 of this complex behind me. This is the Washington Navy Yard about 3,000 people work here.

The shooting occurred, according to authorities, at about 8:20 this morning. At least that's when the first reports of it came. We have multiple injuries, not clear on fatalities. The Navy has tweeted out and reported on its website that there reports of fatalities but we cannot confirm those right now. We have confirmation that there are multiple injuries, at least ten injuries, including two law enforcement officers, one from the Metropolitan Washington Police Department and apparently one from the naval base here.

Our photo journalist Mark Walls is going to kind of pan around with me to the police presence. There is a massive law enforcement presence here in the Navy Yard. We're just in one corner of it but the Navy Yard is a very large complex here.

You see police vehicles down here. There are choppers swarming around. We have seen police walking the perimeter with riot and a SWAT team gear. They are also bringing, as you can see here, busses that are being allowed to come around the corner here -- empty busses not in service. We're not sure exactly why they are being thrust into service to coming around here. It could be for possible evacuations. We don't know.

But what we do know is that this is still an active scene. There is at least one shooter who has described in this Naval Sea Systems command building of the Washington Navy Yard behind. It's inside this complex -- I'm not sure exactly where inside, but it's Building 197 we're told; again multiple injuries -- at least 10 including two law enforcement officers, Wolf.

We are told by one of the police spokesman that the police chief, Cathy Lanier, may be briefing soon on this to give us some more information. That's what we can tell you right now, Wolf.

BLITZER: Brian, the suspect, the shooter in this particular case said there's no indication it's more than one individual who is responsible for this. Is that right?

TODD: Well, there is no indication that we can confirm right now. Right now we know of one active shooter and the disposition of that shooter has not been resolved as of yet -- the last that we have heard from police. And I just talked to one of the D.C. Police officials who came around the corner here and I was able to kind of snag him for a couple of seconds. He's saying this is still a very active situation and some of the information is sketchy at this point but we are told that we may hear soon from the D.C. Police chief, Cathy Lanier.

And we can tell you that there are multiple law enforcement agencies on the scene here. There are choppers swarming. We've seen kind of a rescue official hanging from one of the choppers, or at least peering out of one of the chopper with a basket. In another chopper we've seen what appeared to be a law enforcement sniper peering out with his scope at the ready.

And you've seen these law enforcement officers walking behind me, many of them in full SWAT gear. So that's what we can tell you right now. An active scene -- still a very fluid situation, multiple injuries. There've been reports of at least one fatality but again that's not confirmed right now, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Brian, stand by. I want to go to Todd Sperry, one of our CNN producers who is in the area. He's joining us on the phone right now. We see helicopters flying overhead. Lots of choppers overhead right now.

Todd, just update viewers on the location of the U.S. Navy -- the U.S. Navy -- the Naval Sea Systems Command at the U.S. Navy Yard because it's not far away from Capitol Hill, not far away from Reagan National Airport, not far away from Washington National's baseball park. This is an area that is a pretty lively area right now.

SPERRY: That is correct, Wolf. This is an area that has seen a revitalization in the last five years. The Department of transportation is across the street, their headquarters, there are other government and private sector businesses in this vicinity.

To give the viewers a perspective, it's on Anacostia River which intersects with the Potomac. If you've been to Washington, you know the water ways on the south side of the Navy Yard as the Anacostia River. Right now I am about a block and a half away from Building 197. I've been pushed into a restaurant here or sent into a restaurant here by police on the street. There are other people in here, they are sitting just waiting, kind of looking out the windows.

I spoke with one lady who about two hours and 15 minutes ago she arrived at work at Building 197. When she walked in to the area, it was as normal. Then the fire alarms went off. She continued to go in and at that point heard that there was a shooter and she immediately fled but said she chose to go out the back entrance rather than the main entrance for her own safety.