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School Shooting with Injuries in Marysville, Washington

Aired October 24, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And they're likely trying to somehow communicate, often via text message or email, to parents of these students to go to X location. As soon as we get that information for you, parents, we'll pass it to you.

But, Steve, again, the priority of the law enforcement, as we saw them walking back and forth, they're trying, potentially, to find the shooter.

STEVE KARDIAN, FORMER NEW YORK POLICE DETECTIVE (voice-over): Yeah, Brooke. It's a priority at this point. We already have two injured and certainly they don't want any more casualties so they'll be very meticulous. And if they have him secured or separated or additional information we don't know of, their priority is to remove those students and ensure their safety.

BALDWIN: How are these police officers, how are they approaching this tactically within the school if, in fact, the shooter has not been located?

KARDIAN: Without getting into specific detail, the shooter is active. We're going directly to him to neutralize his activity. If not, if we don't have him active at the time we're going -- we go through that school, lock it down, clear it down, remove those that we know we can without further injury but they'll do in the a very safe and slow meticulous manner.

BALDWIN: Steve, let me read you -- we have a little more if you're joining us here, and we're reporting on this school shooting in this high school north of Seattle. And we have a -- this is according to phone calls we have been making -- a school, inside Marysville- Pilchuck High School is telling CNN a shooting happened. This is a second corroboration. Happening inside the cafeteria. Initially, the students thought it was a fire drill until teachers told everyone to run into the classrooms because of an active shooting. This school is currently on lockdown inside of a classroom with other students and all of these students are unharmed. You can see a number of students outside the school but, for some students, they are on lockdown in individual classrooms. The student says at least one victim has been airlifted via helicopter. We saw it was two students. This is way too early to know concretely how many, to be honest. But according to this one student, she saw one student airlifted via helicopter to a hospital. She believes multiple people have been shot.

I have Steve Kardian on the line with me, a former New York police detective. Alexandra Field, do you have anything?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, I'm just looking with you at people leaving the school. It seems like we see them out there walking. Incredibly tense moments for anyone watching this and may know someone, a student, a teacher, a parent inside that school.

What's interesting is that we've seen people -- well, you see them running now. For la a while we saw larger groups walking, didn't seem to be running. But we are under the impression from our affiliates, from KOMO? Seattle that this is an active situation so it would make sense to see people running. You can see more people there on the side of the screen. Obviously, we know in these situations that the first thing they want to do is evacuate anyone they're able to evacuate but given what the student is reporting to us we know there are people still locked down inside this school. You've been on the scene with these kinds of shootings as have I and we know this is a process that can take hours. First of all, in an active shooter situation you have to find and subdue the shooter even when it appears that a shooter has been subdued we know law enforcement has to guard against the possibility of whether or not this student was working somewhere someone else and we've seen them time, after time, devastatingly having to take hours sweeping the school going room to room looking in closets and classrooms. You have to picture kids inside the classrooms right now. You know so many of them have their cell phones on them, very likely they might be trying to reach their parents right now, send emails, text messages. And there are teachers, authorities in that building who are doing everything in the interest of their safety to help them not identify their location. We don't know. It's a fluid situation.

BALDWIN: Let me jump in as we look at these pictures and welcoming our viewers in the United States and around the world.

We are dealing with an active shooter situation, according to the most recent reports, an active shooting situation at a high school just north of Seattle, Washington, multiple students shot according to a student? Lockdown in one of these classrooms, though you can see a number of students being evacuated to get to safety away from the school and according to these reports it was a shooter, we don't know if it was a male, female, a student not affiliated with the school. This is all happening, this is all fluid and I don't want to get ahead of myself but this happened inside of the cafeteria.

Braydon Uhler attended this high school in Marysville, Washington. He lives just around the corner.

Can you hear me? This is Brooke. You're live on CNN.

BRAYDON UHLER, MARYSVILLE RESIDENT (voice-over): Yeah, I can hear you.

BALDWIN: Braydon, I understand you actually -- tell me how close you are to the school right now.

UHLER: I'm about probably like 10 houses away. BALDWIN: 10 houses away.

UHLER: Yeah.

BALDWIN: So close enough to -- you actually heard the shooting?

UHLER: I didn't hear any shots but I went out into my backyard and I saw a bunch of kids running away from the school and I heard somebody yell, "Get away from campus."

BALDWIN: Can you tell me a little bit about the school? Here we have the school buses picking up students who have been evacuated, Braydon. How big is this high school?

UHLER: This high school is pretty big. It's a pretty large campus. If they are evacuating people it's going to be kind of hard.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: When we say "pretty big" several hundred students per class?

UHLER: No, not several hundred per class but probably 40. It's really large campus.

BALDWIN: And, you know, in the wake of what happened in Newtown and even really shootings before then we all, of course, go back to Columbine, so much has changed as far as school security, the way you can enter a school after a certain time in the morning.

How recently did you graduate, Braydon?

UHLER: I graduated this past June but I didn't go to Pilchuck. I went to another school.

BALDWIN: I'm sorry. I was told you went to this school. So you would not know, I am assuming, the security -- the security precautions one would take to enter or exit this school? Not familiar with that, I assume?

UHLER: No, I don't know them. But in my neighborhood, there is a gate that leads right into the school. That's not locked or anything. You can basically just walk onto campus. It's so big that there's a lot of ways you can enter it. And honestly, people wouldn't really know.

BALDWIN: Are you still seeing students from where you are Braydon?

UHLER: I can go check.

No, I don't see students anymore but I see a school bus, actually.

BALDWIN: You do?

UHLER: Yeah. There's a bus. I think kids are getting on it.

BALDWIN: Braydon, stay with me. Tom Fuentes, let me bring you in, law enforcement analyst, former FBI.

Talking to Braydon, he sees a school bus. We're looking at affiliate pictures. I'm looking at three school buses. In situations like these when it's an active situation, I don't know if the shooter is still active, if they have located the shooter or anything like that. You know they are trying to get students to safety as quickly but as carefully as possible.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (voice-over): That's right, Brooke. They have to learn as quickly as possible if there's one shooter, more than one. What are the weapons involved police will be facing? How many people are in the school and need to be evacuated and given medical attention. So there's a lot of questions that have to be -- the other neighboring buildings need to be locked down. Try to evacuate that campus as quickly and efficiently as they can. So there's a lot going on right now and a lot that the authorities don't know and therefore a lot that that we don't know.

BALDWIN: If you are a member of law enforcement -- and we saw some pictures just a little bit ago of police officers walking presumably, perhaps, I should say, I can't assume anything at this point, but perhaps trying to locate this individual. If we know, tom, according to these reports this was an active shooting situation in the cafeteria, what are members of law enforcement doing right now?

FUENTES: Well, the first thing you're trying to do is ensure the safety of every student that may still be in that building and need to be evacuated, everybody that's wounded and needs to be evacuated and given medical attention. Once they've accomplished that, they have to search every nook and cranny of that building. That could take hours. Make sure they have everybody that might have been involved in this shooting.

Often times, the shooter kills himself before the police get there, so even finding one person with a self-inflicted wound doesn't mean that there aren't more running around or hiding.

Plus, you have students that may have gone into hiding if they heard shots fired, hiding in a closet or boiler room or in the gymnasium. There's all kinds of places that people would go and bunker down in place. And they need to be located and taken to safety.

BALDWIN: Exactly right. Now make a good point. I think it's worth reiterating not only what's happening at this school, which, by the way, 2,500 students. 2,500. So a sizable high school here north of Seattle in Marysville, Washington, grades nine through 12.

Given the fact that this is happening now, we don't know, we can't say if this is one individual with a gun, multiple individuals with guns so is it fair to say, tom, that not only are police in the school but in the surrounding area, maybe creating a perimeter around the area in case someone tries to run?

FUENTES: Well, that's true also, but the problem with the perimeter is that a person could have fired these shots and left the building and be out somewhere else in the neighborhood a long way away going out the back door before the police arrive and come in the front door. So it will be difficult for them to determine whether or not they've contained the active-shooting premises there that building. And as your last guest mentioned, if there's opening gates that lead to neighboring buildings, this won't be one single building search. They'll have a massive effort to go through every building and clear it, then you have to possibility that the shooter could have broken into a house and be holding hostages or carjacked somebody and has left the area. There are so many possibilities, many of which are not good in a situation like this.

BALDWIN: So security around the area and that's obviously an issue as we were discussing.

Hang with me Tom Fuentes.

Alexandra Field, do you have something?

FIELD: We want to bring you a statement from the school district we're getting in now from the Marysville school district. They are saying "The Marysville-Pilchuck High School is in lock down. Police and emergency services have responded. The Marysville school district lockdown procedures will remain in effect at Marysville-Pilchuck. We will continue in cooperation with law enforcement."

So this is the first that we're hearing from the school district. Obviously, trying to get this message out to parents, the emergency situation which we're seeing unfold here.

11,000 students in the school district, 2,000 students in this high school. So they're trying to get this communication out there. Some of our affiliates have also been reporting. They're sharing that statement. They're also letting us know that they were first getting tweets indicating that the shooting happened at 10:45 pacific time. Just about an hour, a little less than that. A mother who spoke to one of our affiliates, KIRO, confirming early reports we heard. She's being told the shooter may have opened fire near the cafeteria. That's something we're hearing from affiliate KOMO that the shootings may have taken place in the cafeteria. KOMO reporting two students shot, another affiliate of ours now suggesting that the number of injured is higher than that. They are saying as many as six people may be injured.

We want to be really clear at this point, Brooke, these are early preliminary reports, unconfirmed independently by CNN. This is what we're hearing from our affiliates on the ground. They are trying to get their arms around this situation, get a clear understanding of what is going on in that school, what's very much being called an active situation.

BALDWIN: Let me tell you, sis you were looking at that law enforcement officer, perhaps with a gun drawn, we're not looking at live pictures, for obvious reasons but we are looking at different pictures from moments ago from different affiliates covering this in the area. Again, Marysville-Pilchuck High School. We saw a number of school buses. Those school buses -- here's a heads

up. If you are in the area, if you have children at the school, this is according to KOMO they have -- let's see here. Students are being evacuated from the school, taken by bus to a church at 51st Avenue and Grove Street. 51st Avenue and Grove Street.

A lot of questions at this hour. If you're just joining us, it is just about 11:45 in Washington State. as we are reporting, on an active high school shooting situation Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Marysville, Washington. What we know is not entirely clear at this point because this is a fluid situation, an active situation. But according to multiple reports, there is at least one shooter who had a gun in the cafeteria and just started shooting. Different people reporting different numbers as far as those injured. Hearing anything from one to six. We know at least one, perhaps two of those students were airlifted to a hospital in Seattle. We don't know the conditions of any injured students but that's the latest we're hearing here.

We have been watching what appears to be different classes, different groups of students walking across the lawns and parking lots to then get on the school buses. Those who were able to get out safely because you know safe city the priority number-one for these students to get them out and safe to their parents.

We have also been hearing, specifically from one student who is in lockdown in one of these classrooms. Let me pull that out. This is, again, according to a student currently sitting in a classroom inside of this high school telling CNN that, in fact, a shooting happened in the cafeteria and initially students thought it was a fire drill. They thought it was a fire drill until they realized it wasn't until teachers told them run into their classrooms because it was an active shooting and, again, that student is currently inside of a classroom with other students, all unharmed, but she says at least one victim has been airlifted to a hospital. I don't know if she saw the helicopter through the classroom window or what exactly she saw.

We're working hard to get more people on the phone to talk to us as far as what is happening. Is the shooter still in the school? Active? Has the shooter been taken down? These are all questions we simply don't have answers to.

I have Tom Fuentes on the phone with me, a law enforcement analyst at CNN, former FBI.

Tom, as we reset and continue telling our viewers what's happening, as we see these students, those who can leave, leave what what's happening inside the classes when the students are on lockdown.

FUENTES: Right now, the police inside are still trying to look for the shooter make sure they have that person or persons, and in order to verify that, even if they find one person that maybe killed himself after shooting at other people, that doesn't mean there isn't other shooters. Of course, the lesson of Columbine is that there could be more than one and it could still be a very dangerous situation. And, as you mentioned, you'll have students who are going to be still hiding in their classrooms all over that building or in closets or the boiler room or anywhere they can hide and may not come out until a uniformed police officer says it's safe, please come with me. So that will go on and on. I would think that takes hours.

BALDWIN: Tom, I'm with you. I'm just checking to see if I have anything new to pass along. Stay with me.

Again, this is from KOMO news. We're attributing to a lot of affiliates in the area in the Seattle area reporting us and helping us in this coverage. Again they are saying -- they're still reporting that two students injured with this active shooting situation inside the cafeteria. Again, no immediate word on conditions. Several shots were fired. Some witnesses reported hearing anything from four to six shots, so that's new for us right now. Four the six shots.

You have police cars. You have ambulances on the scene. Students are being evacuated. We've seen multiple school buses taking these students. According to KOMO to a church at 51st Avenue and Grove Street. In situations like this, you know that the school district is trying to communicate with these parents. Sometimes it's text message, sometimes it's email, trying to let them know their children are OK. But obviously, there a number of students still inside of the school on lockdown.

Evan Perez, one of our justice correspondents. He is joining me now.

You're talking to your sources. What are you hear?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, in these times you have the federal officials rushing to the scene to try to help the local authorities. I'm not hearing anything yet of what they are finding this is obviously still a developing situation. We know the FBI did a recent study on these active shootings and they find they're happening more frequently. It's not just our imagination. This is happening more frequently and, frankly, it's because people see the way how these have an impact and you have kids who spend their time online studying these shootings and they found that it's a remarkable relationship between what these kids are studying online and what they end up doing. We don't know who the shooter is right now. I think there is a student in there who told us it's believed to be another student but it's very early the process. And that's one of the things they're probably looking at right now.

BALDWIN: Evan, stay with me.

This is a tweet from a head coach: "Thoughts and prayers go out to Marysville-Pilchuck High School and all affected by this tragedy."

So, again, if you're just joining me, Evan Perez is with me, one of our justice correspondents. Alexandra Field is with me.

Just passing along any new information we have. We are only going on what we know and that is it. This is an active situation and we will presume it is until told otherwise. There was a shot shooter, according to multiple reports, who opened fire inside of the school's cafeteria just before lunchtime today. Multiple students have been shot. Two students, according to KOMO news out of Seattle, have been airlifted to a hospital in Seattle.

Alexandra Field, do you have anything?

FIELD: At this point, the district trying to communicate with the parents. You've seen students leaving the school. The students are being taken to a community church. We're being told from there buses will take the students home. The district is also asking parents not to come to the high school campus. That is the initial inclination you're going to have if you know your child is inside the building. The district is directing parents to being to that church location, the Schultz Community Church. That's where they want parents to go. They can locate their child and check them out with a law enforcement officer.

The schools have the procedures put in place for an event like this. It's something you don't want to imagine will happen. So many districts across the country have these contingency plans now. The priority, get as many students out as safely as possible. You've soon some of them walking out of the building, some of them running out of the building, and getting them to a safe location and, in this case, it's a church where they can regroup and parents can make contact with their children. Again, this is a campus with 2500 students. We have a number of parents who are concerned and trying to reach their children. It's a huge number. Got to get them away from the presumably active situation and reunite the kids with their parents, the goal right now.

BALDWIN: Tom Fuentes, let's talk about security, school security, safety. Certainly, it has changed. It has evolved since we talked about Columbine, but in the wake of Newtown, you know, for someone to have to get into school, if someone were to carry a weapon into a school. Feel free to get into my ear if there are metal detectors in this school, perhaps not, what is -- what are the steps typically?

FUENTES: The problem, Brooke, even if you had metal detectors at the front door, a high school or any major school, especially one with 2500 students, it will have side doors, doors that lead from the gymnasium, practice field. A student earlier said there's a gate between that building and the next door building, and it's unlocked. So you have multiple access. None of these schools have the resources -- if you've got two or three big buildings and each one has five to 10 entrances, they don't have the facilities to have magnetometers. You have to house a small airport to do that. They don't have that level of security. If you have somebody show up with an assault rifle, even if you have two or three police officers with a magnetometer machine, they are no match. They will be out gunned.

BALDWIN: You're so right.

Tom Fuentes, thank you so much.

Again, I apologize. We don't have a lot of information. I don't want to tell you anything we cannot confirm.

So, again, multiple reports of an active shooting situation on the campus, huge high school, north of Seattle area, Mary school Washington, grades nine through 12.

We've been on this for the last 20 minutes or so. The pictures showing us larger groups of students, as calm as they possibly can, leaving the schools, getting on school buses. You see a law enforcement officer running ahead of them. Waiting outside of the school, waiting for the school buses to arrive to take them to the locations as assigned by the school and the school district.

If you go to the website, parents, if you go to the website of the Marysville school, they are clear that the school is in lockdown, as we can see with our own eyes, watching this video, law enforcement is there. Ambulances have arrived. According to multiple reports, there have been several students who have been shot, two of whom, at least two, according to reports, were air lifted to a hospital in the Seattle area.

But the big question is, has this shooter -- and I say shooter. It could be more than one. We just don't know -- has the shooter been taken down?

Alexandra?

ALEXANDRA: Reports from our affiliates. They're talking to parents in the district, reporting what they've been told by their children. We have our affiliate CAIRO (ph), saying they spoke to the mother of a boy at the high school. She tells our affiliate that her son said that a boy opened fire near the cafeteria. Again, these are unconfirmed reports. This is what a mother is reporting. That a boy opened fire. Her son was supposed to be in the cafeteria. Stopped to chat with someone, didn't go in. We're also hearing from parents who have talked to our affiliates, said another student said she was hiding in another classroom with students, all unharmed.

A lot of people trying to reach out and have more understanding.

Again, we can't stress enough, we'll be hearing a lot of different reports early on. Some of this may sound conflicting. None of it can be confirmed by us. It'll take law enforcement officers to do their job, to talk to the kids inside the building, to review the videos to really know what's happening here. But this is anecdotally. At least one report we're getting through our affiliate that a boy, a junior at this hospital, reports seeing a boy opening fire.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Alexander, thank you.

Tom Fuentes, as we're locking at groups of students, something I noticed as we saw the pictures of these school buses, they're obviously waiting to take these young people, who were safe enough to get out of the school, away so they could be reunited with their parents, but I have yet to see any of these school buses roll out. Do you think there's a reason for that?

FUENTES: They'll need to be escorted by the police. One of the concerns would be also the shooter could throw down his gun and then mingle in with other students and just, you know, be driven from the site that way. They have to be cautious that the person could be on their way out of there on a bus with students. That's another possibility. Another concern in a case like this, oftentimes as soon as gunfire begins in school, the kids run out every open window and door they can and often flee out into the neighborhood. Neighbors will report seeing kids running through their backyard. We had that at Sandy Hook where you had five-year-old kids running through people's backyards, and that makes it very difficult to find them because they may go into hiding in a neighbor's garden shed or something. They have to find them and bring them back because the parents will be gathering at the school looking for their child, in this case, at that church. And if the child's not there, they may jump to the conclusion that their child is a victim inside that school. It may not be the case. So there is going to be so much difficulty in trying to track down all 2500 students, how many were there that day, how many teachers, where are they now, did they go out, are they getting on buses? Have they run into the neighborhoods? Did they have their own cars in the lot and drive away in fear? All these things make it all the more difficult for the authorities to figure out who's who and where are they.

BALDWIN: You're exactly right. I think in situations like these we've seen in the past, this will take hours. It will take hours and hours given the sheer size of this particular high school in Marysville, Washington.

They've switched over pictures. This is a local church, so this is a location. I can't tell you. your guess is as good as mine as we're looking at this together, whether these are parents waiting at the church, waiting for the arrival of their students once the students are escorted on school buses and taken to safety or not. Presumably, this could be one location where students and parents are united.

The question right now, where is the shooter? Where is the shooter that apparently opened fire in or near this cafeteria in Washington State? The bigger question is why, but we can't even begin to do that right now. It's where is the shooter? What's the status of the shooter? Is there more than one? Did this individual have help according to the student which Alexander Field was speaking, that individual who had the gun was described as a boy? Is that individual a student? We don't know. We can't confirm.

This is all happening as you are joining us on CNN, breaking news of this active school shooting situation at the Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Marysville, Washington. We do know multiple students have been shot as we're all looking at these pictures here as these students are being taken to safety. Multiple students have been shot according to KOMO. Two of the students were air lifted to a hospital in Washington State. Trying to get some information on their conditions, but knowing that they were air lifted -- you know.

Just listening to my executive producer in my ear.

We're going to dip in. This is KING. Let's take a listen to their live air. UNIDENTIFIED KING 5 ANCHOR: This could be the church, the community

church at 116th and 54th Avenue northeast, a couple of blocks away from the school where the parents are being told to meet. Parents, do not go to the high school. Go instead to this church where the students will be brought and this is where you'll be able to meet up with them.

Let's check in with Cindy Wise. She works at KING 5 on the assignment desk.

Cindy, I know you're from that area in Marysville. Where are you and what are you seeing?

CINDY WISE, KING 5 CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I'm actually right in front of the high school. They've allowed parents to go to the fire station that's on 61st near the high school. Still parents are gathering near the entrance to the school and are trying to console one another. They're not getting any news from inside, just rumors, and they don't want to believe the rumors.