Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

At Least 12 Dead in Navy Yard Shooting

Aired September 16, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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

VINCENT GRAY (D), MAYOR OF WASHINGTON, D.C.: We're continuing to try to ascertain how serious the situation is.

It doesn't get much more serious than that, obviously. One of the officers for the Metropolitan Police Department was injured. We have no known motive at this stage. There people who asked earlier if this was a terrorist event. We don't have any reason to think that at this stage.

We will continue that investigation to try to determine (OFF-MIKE) motive was. We also don't know for certain there's other shooters, reported other people in the building at the time. We're continuing to engage in that investigation. And we will have that information later in the afternoon.

We will be back here at 4:00. We will be back to have the press briefing at 4:00.

But now, let me ask Chief Lanier if she will come up and provide some more details.

CATHY T. LANIER, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA POLICE CHIEF: I just want to first start off by saying, as far as the initial response here this morning, we have heard we have at least one officer with gunshot wounds that is currently being treated, but the response by uniformed police officers from both Metropolitan Police Department and United States Park Police was absolutely nothing short of heroic.

With at least 12 confirmed dead at this point, I think the actions by the police officers without question helped to reduce the number of lives lost. So our hearts go out to the families of certainly all the victims here, but our gratitude to the front-line officers from the Metropolitan Police Department and also the United States Park Police, who ran into danger this morning to try to reduce the number of victims.

I will start from the top and go through quickly. Right now, we're confirming at least 12 fatalities. We had a few additional folks that were injured. They were not fatally injured. We have additional officers that were injured, only one injured by gunfire at this point, some other injuries sustained by multiple different police agencies on the large response inside.

We are officially now transitioning to an FBI lead. The FBI will lead the investigation. The entire investigation will be processed and handled as a unified process. But with that said, any additional information that anybody might have that they want to share with the investigation, you can call 1-800-CALL-FBI, 1-800-CALL-FBI.

I have a slight update on the lookout for potentially two additional individuals involved in the shooting. The first is for a white male between 40 and 50 years of age wearing a tan -- I'm sorry -- a white male wearing a tan what appears to be a military uniform consistent with naval uniform and a beret-style hat. We also have a lookout for a black male between the ages of 40 and 50 and an olive military-style uniform.

He is approximately 5'10'', 180 pounds, medium complexion with gray sideburns, graying sideburns. We have no indication of any motive at this time. We are updating and asking for family members. We know a lot of folks have cell phones and can contact family members, but if you're looking for contact with your family members that may have been inside of the Navy Yard today, NCIS has established a phone number now for reunification. That number is 202-433-6151. A secondary number, 202-433-9713.

Right now, we have an impasse in the area. Obviously, a large part of the area is still in lockdown. We're still asking residents to stay out of the area, remain in your home. We do feel like the area is safe. We do still have an active search for -- potentially there are some suspects right now. We're asking people to please remain in their homes and stay out of the area.

Again, there are multiple agencies here. We have gotten support from a lot of our counterparts in the region, Maryland and Virginia as well as all the federal agencies here in Washington, D.C. There are very, very few questions that we can answer at this point.

Still a lot of information coming. We will be doing another update in two hours. I think, at this point, we would take a limited amount of questions. We would ask please for your patients and then we will go from there.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier, breaking the tragic news, 12 dead here, including the shooter there at the Washington Navy Yard from this mass shooting early this morning.

But we already have an update on something she said, talking specifically about those two potential other shooters.

I want to go to the Washington Navy Yard just outside this crime scene. Brian Todd has been working this.

Brian, what's the update? Because she mentioned specifically a white male and an African-American male as possible additional shooters. What have you learned?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, we have just learned from the Washington Metropolitan Police Department that you can eliminate one of those potential shooters, the D.C. police tweeting out a short time ago -- quote -- "The white male in the tan outfit has been identified and is not a suspect or person of interest."

So the potential two shooters that Chief Lanier talked about in that news conference almost an hour ago, there's now only potentially one shooter, the white male being eliminated by the D.C. Police. Whoever that person was has been accounted for and is now not identified as a suspect.

But that leaves one potential shooter, according to the police. And the chief described that person as a black male between 40 and 50 years of age, wearing some kind of an olive military-style outfit with a medium complexion, gray sideburns. She described him as 5'10''', 180 pounds.

But, again, Brooke, we have to stress, the chief said this is just a potential shooter, and a short time ago, they had two potential shooters. Now they have only one, this information very, very fluid, as you know. They're working to secure this area. We're just outside the perimeter of it. FBI and other law enforcement teams going building by building, trying to clear them, trying to secure them, making sure everyone is -- there are no other people wounded or just, you know, moving about in these buildings.

And that is a big job. And it may take several more hours. This is a fairly large base and 3,000 people work here. One other very important nugget that the police chief mentioned, as of now, and again it's still very early, there is no known motive for this shooting, 12 people dead, including at least one shooter.

We have descriptions from witnesses, Brooke, who have reported at the hospitals that they heard shots in multiple succession, in quick succession, indicating it might be some kind of semiautomatic weapon was used, at least one of them.

The African-American suspect or the potential shooter that was identified was also said by the police chief to be carrying a long gun, some kind of a rifle or something like that. So, not a lot of detail on that, but, again, witnesses have described some kind of semiautomatic, possible semiautomatic weapon being used because shots were fired in multiple succession.

BALDWIN: Right. And that was from specifically the doctor at the Washington Hospital Center.

Let me just remind our viewers we're still awaiting another news conference because as of a couple hours ago, the doctor was detailing the injuries of three people, one gentlemen and two women, all in critical condition, but she said they all should survive. Stand by for that.

Brian Todd, do me a favor and stand by because I want to come back to you and just also talk about who the people are, the 3,000 employees at the Washington Navy Yard.

But, Barbara Starr, to you at the Pentagon, here is my question number one, watching all of our coverage, and this is what has confused me, hearing differing accounts, if you will, of the security specifically in this building, Building 197, because you hear from Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, saying this is a secure, the securest building in the most secure compound, yet I have heard from other eyewitnesses saying there are no metal detectors. Which is it?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's security and there's security, isn't there, Brooke? I think everyone can agree these days if there is someone who wants to commit a terrible crime, they can pretty much find a way around most security measures. We know this.

At this facility where I have been many times as well as other CNN journalists, here's what security looks like. If you are an employee and you have a business reason to be here, you will have a sticker on your car. They will have already run a check on you. You will be able to get through the gate. You will probably have to show your military I.D. Let's start there. Could you steal a military I.D.? Or if you're a contractor or a civilian employee, sure, somebody could steal an I.D. Somebody could put a weapon in the trunk of their car inside a gym bag, get out, the weapon would be hidden. Get into a building.

Typically, in government buildings in Washington, if you have regular access, you don't always go through a metal detector. It would slow down the reality of business in Washington a good deal. But you might. I mean, there's random checks, and that's what they rely on.

If you're a visitor, you have to have a reason to be there. You have to have an appointment. You have to be cleared in. Someone will escort you. So all of this, I think, is fair to say, is really one of the real things they're going to look at. Is there ever enough security? Probably not. If you had ironclad security, most experts will tell you, very difficult to function -- Wolf.

Brooke. I'm sorry.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: I know. So many of us, I know. Barbara Starr, we appreciate you. Thank you very much. We will come back to you.

I want to bring in Matt Maasdam, former Navy SEAL, worked at the Washington Navy Yard.

Matt, let me just begin with, you worked there. The lay of the land.

Guys, let's roll this Google Street View. It's amazing the things you can find on Google. Let me be entirely transparent and say we don't know when this was actually shot. But here you have the main gate, as it begins to zoom in. That red building there, that is Building 197. The main gate to the Navy Yard, the one that appears to be heavily secured, is on M Street Southeast.

If you look for the red line here which you will see in a minute, that's how we traced the Street View car. It apparently entered the grounds of the Navy Yard, you see it here, and drove right up to the building, Building 197, without a single security stop.

There does appear to be, and you will see it here in a minute, but some kind of gate on the other side of this building, but that building appears to be fairly easily accessible. There's the Ryder truck. Beyond the Ryder truck is the gate we're talking about.

Has security improved since these images were taken?

Matt, to you. Do you remember this area being easily passable if you're not a card-carrying employee of the Washington Navy Yard?

MATT MAASDAM, FORMER NAVY SEAL: I live right down there. So the area is very familiar to me. But I don't know how old these pictures are, and I don't go in that gate. I went in the gate on M Street, so -- when I worked there. And it was as secure as any other military facility where if you have a reason to be there, like Barbara said, they check your I.D. and they let you go. So that's true if you're in a car. That's true if you're on foot. It's true if you have a bag or not. They don't check your bag generally.

So you could get in with something that you shouldn't have, like a gun. You could have a big gun and break it into a couple pieces and put it together once you get through the door, if you're walking in on foot. All of that is possible.

BALDWIN: What about -- I'm being told there is maybe some sort of construction site. I don't know if this is current construction, but is that, still, the Navy Yard, a secured area independent of a construction site, let's say?

MAASDAM: There is construction right alongside the yard, but, I mean, if somebody wanted to jump the fence, they might be able to do it from the construction site. But that's pure speculation. That has no basis in anything I have heard.

So, as Barbara said, if you want to get in, you can get in. That's not particularly hard. And if you're armed and you get in, I mean, there's not a lot of people that are going to try to stop you until the police encounter you.

BALDWIN: Yes, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton saying this is one of the last remaining massive military organizations where still a lot of civilians can enter and work.

Matt, thank you very much for joining me from Washington, as we try to understand the lay of the land here of the Washington Navy Yard.

Coming up as more details to eke out as we're learning about the tragedy, 12 dead, including the shooter. We're in hour eight of what is still an active crime scene. Coming up, I will talk to an eyewitness who saw things, who heard things, very early this morning. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And we continue to get new information here in our breaking news into what has become an incredibly tragic day, tragic morning for many people in Washington, D.C., as we have learned that 12 people have been killed because of this early-morning shooting at the Washington Navy Yard. And the bit of information that we have now learned, let me be specific, from a government official with detailed knowledge of this shooting, that the dead shooting suspect has been fingerprinted and has been identified. That's as far as this source is going. The dead shooting suspect has been fingerprinted and identified.

And we have also learned specifically from the next-door neighbor of this Washington Navy Yard, that is the Washington Nationals stadium, and they were supposed to have a baseball game tonight against the Atlanta Braves. That has been put off for now. Specifically, they're saying, decided to postpone tonight's game. Safety of our fans is of the utmost priority.

And I want to go just outside of the stadium, because this is being considered, this is being used at a massive staging area for family members. Imagine you have a loved one who works at the Washington Navy Yard, and you don't know where he or she is. This is where you go.

That is where we have our correspondent, Rene Marsh, standing by someone who I imagine -- hopefully she has good news, Rene. Tell me where you are.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brooke. We're at N street and Half Street here. That's right at the corner. You can see the Navy -- the Nationals' stadium right behind me.

This is a staging area for family members who want to reunite, who are looking to reunite with their loved ones who were on campus at the time of the shooting.

I am joined here now by Miriam Rogal.

You were waiting for your husband. When I first met you a couple hours ago, you drove up to the scene and you were essentially in tears. Tell me what the waiting period has been like for you.

MIRIAM ROGAL, WAITING FOR FAMILY MEMBER: It's a long, involved process. We have been fortunate, though, to know he's OK, and my heart goes out to the people who have lost family members today. It's very grueling and very sad.

MARSH: This morning when I saw you, I saw the anxiety on your face.

ROGAL: We have been through so much personally that it just was overwhelming. It was just hard to focus and hard to concentrate. Yes.

MARSH: Your number one question, I assume, when you drove up here, is where is my husband? That's what you said to me. Where is my husband? I just want to see him. I would imagine when you see the images on television, all you want to do is just give him a big hug. That's what you're waiting to do here.

ROGAL: Big hug. I'm going to jump on him and knock him down. Yes, every time a bus pulls up, I get more and more excited that he's going to walk off and we're going to see him. But I'm also concerned for the other people that were in that building that are his co-workers that they're OK and safe.

MARSH: Thank you so much, Miriam.

Now, Brooke, I want to have you take a look behind me here. This is what the scene looks like. I'm going to back up so that you can get a full feel of what we're seeing here. Just a few minutes ago, we had about three buses pull up. There were who we believe to be employees get off of those buses and walk out of this area.

However, we're expecting that perhaps more buses will be coming to this very area here to drop off even more people who happen to be on campus. What we understand is happening at this point is detectives essentially want to interview these people. They want to find out what did they see, what did they hear.

So the information we have is that the debrief is happening now with investigators and as soon as they have all of their questions answered, those people will be placed on the buses, brought here to Nationals stadium, and then people like Miriam will be able to reunite with their loved ones. You can imagine that that will be quite emotional -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: I can't imagine. And just to think there are 3,000 employees at the Washington Navy Yard. Just imagine the families, the wives and husbands and the dads and the moms, you know, waiting to see their loved ones A-OK. Rene Marsh for us at the Washington Nationals stadium next door to this Navy Yard where this horrendous, horrendous shooting took place right around 8:15 this morning, 12 dead, and we're continuing to learn new information as far as what people saw, what people heard.

Coming up next, we will talk to an eyewitness who worked just next door.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I'm Brooke Baldwin.

You're watching live breaking news here hour eight as we continue the get new information as far as what happened on this tragic Monday in Washington, D.C., here in our nation's capital.

We heard now from the police chief of D.C.'s Metropolitan Police. At least 12 are dead because of this massive shooting in Building 197 of the Washington Navy Yard. We heard from the president today. He spoke., had a planned address speaking about the state of the economy, but spoke, made comments off the top of this, calling this a cowardly act. We heard from the mayor of the district of Columbia, Vincent Gray, saying thus far the motive is unknown. We know according to the police chief, one gunman is dead.

And CNN has confirmed a government official with detailed knowledge of the shooting said the dead shooting suspect has been fingerprinted and I.D.ed and a second possible attacker, possible shooter, is still being sought.

And as we get more information, are beginning to hear from those who were inside this Navy Yard and just outside. I want to bring in my next guest. He's Paul Williams.

He has been working, from what I understand, Paul, all of two weeks not too far away here from the Washington Navy Yard at Casa, where you help displaced families and kids.

Paul, first, let me just ask you out of the gate, how are you doing?

PAUL WILLIAMS, EYEWITNESS: I'm actually doing pretty well now. Once we -- the area was evacuated, we actually got to go home. So, I actually feel a little better after being at home, getting my mind and myself situated.

BALDWIN: I'm glad you feel better. I have to just ask, take me back to this morning. Tell me where you were around 8:15 when apparently the gunshots began going off.

WILLIAMS: I was actually walking from my car, going into the office. I usually get to work around 8:30. I happened to actually get there at 8:15 this morning. So as I'm walking to the office, I'm actually listening to music, kind of just getting yourself ready for the Monday morning workday.

Walking to the office, I hear -- I have been hearing on the news it's been three bangs. I actually heard four loud bangs. But in that area, there's ongoing construction, so I didn't think anything of it. I just continued walking, thinking maybe it's just construction area or whatever. As I walk, maybe another 10, 20 seconds go by and I see like 100 people running toward me.

At that point, obviously I'm not going to continue walking in that direction. So, I just started to run with them, not knowing exactly what was going on. I just started running with them in the opposite direction. Kind of wondering why we were running, but I actually had no idea. I actually turned around.

As I'm running, I heard maybe a police officer or a security officer, and she was yelling out, it's a shooting, it's a shooting. Everyone, continue, go, move, run, run. Once we got a block away and we finally stopped running, we, as in the other hundred people that were there, I asked what was going on, what had happened. One of the people informed me there was a shooting in a building. A man came in. He had a gun, and next thing you know, we were all evacuated.

BALDWIN: Wow. So here you are, you don't know why you're running. But when you see 100 people running, you're running with them the other way. And as they're yelling there has been a shooting, did you get a chance once everyone, I presume, eventually started to slow down, did you get a chance to really talk to any of those people who worked presumably at the Navy Yard and ask them more details, what they saw?

WILLIAMS: That's the thing. Since I don't actually work there, and I'm not -- still not having a good grasp of what was actually happening, I kind of was just listening and kind of overhearing conversations that were going on, just trying to stay in the loop of information.

I overheard a lot of people talking to their families and just letting their wives and husbands and family know they're OK. But no one had any idea who this person was. Everyone just said it was a tall guy with a gun, and they had no idea what was going on. And they were just -- it almost seemed like everyone was lost and running, like I was running. Just, OK, people are moving, and evacuating, so let's all just go.

As more people came out of that area, that building, you could tell like more people were maybe directly or closer involved because they were coming out in tears. They were shaking and distraught.

BALDWIN: Did you see anyone injured themselves?

WILLIAMS: No, I did not. I just saw, like, just as the day and the time actually period started moving along, once the one minute became five and five became 10, I just saw more people just upset and just more distraught emotionally.

BALDWIN: Then, Paul, what happened next? Because you said -- were you held? I know there was a shelter in place for quite a while today and perhaps even still is on parts of the campus, part of the Washington Navy Yard. But were you and this crowd kept in one place? If so, for how long?

WILLIAMS: That's the crazy thing about it.

Once I realized that it kind of -- well I know now, after hearing the new said and knowing the time slot of when things happened, that we were like, we as in me and those group of people were like the first people to know what was actually happening.

So everyone was everyone at that point was still confused. But once I guess that time period had elapsed, we heard actually another shooting, some more shots being fired. And that's when they told us to go -- they as in the authorities, police officers and whatnot, told us to continue going up the block and move away from the area.

Everyone was gathered in one area just kind of talking to each other and just basically, are you OK? Did so-and-so come out? Have you seen them yet? Everyone was just more so concerned of people that were still there.

BALDWIN: So I'm curious because you said two things. You said you heard one round of shots. I think this is when you were listening to your headphones and trying to not think about the Monday morning work blues, right, and then at some point later, you heard that this other set of shots. I'm curious, was that two minutes apart, 20 minutes apart?

WILLIAMS: I would say two to three minutes apart from the run. I wouldn't say from the initial shooting or bangs, but from the run, as I'm -- we are all standing there and sitting and kind of like gathering our thoughts, then that's when we heard another pair of shots and then people were like, you need to keep moving. Go up the road, go up the road. You know, stay together. And that's what we did.

We just kept moving, moving right along. But, with the situation, there was really nowhere else to go because there was no way to get to your car or get to the metro. Everything just started shutting down at that point. So, you really couldn't -- could go only but so far.