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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Shooting In Midtown Manhattan Contained, Shooter "Neutralized"; NYPD Officer Shot In Back Has Died. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired July 28, 2025 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Within minutes, hundreds of officers were here, and now we wait to hear those stories, and we wait to hear about the victims here and the people inside that building who, like I said, I just cannot -- I can't even begin to think about what was going through their minds. And so many questions for people who are at home right now trying to find out how their loved ones are doing, that is what's certainly on my mind right now.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Absolutely, but the NYPD commissioner, with these crucial headlines. The scene is contained, the shooter is neutralized. Absolutely incredible work in the NYPD in this unfolding situation. Let's pass it off to AC360.
[20:00:40]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Erin, thank you.
John Berman here in for Anderson, looking there at the scene right now outside an office building on Park Avenue in New York's Midtown Manhattan. The story, as best we know it at this moment, at least three people have been shot, including one police officer by a man the police say, who went inside carrying a long rifle. That gunman, multiple law enforcement sources now tell us, is dead -- neutralized according to New York's Police Commissioner.
Again, this happened at a building on Park Avenue and East 52nd street, just blocks away from Grand Central Terminal. The building is headquarters to the National Football League, and the investment firm, Blackstone. A lot of people work right around there.
Joining us now, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller, also former NYPD Chief of Department Ken Corey, CNN Shimon Prokupecz, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and former NYPD Captain John Monaghan.
I want to start with John Miller on everything you are now learning about the situation where we believe the gunman has been neutralized.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So, this started at 6:41 P.M. The first 911 calls came in reporting shots fired outside. That turned into a police officer shot. We now know that because that's -- because he confronted an individual who was walking into the building carrying an assault weapon with which he opened fire. Right now, we are told that that individual continued in the building
up to the elevators, into the floors, into the 32nd and 33rd floor. We don't know exactly what occurred up on those floors, but we do know that there's been a request for some additional medical assistance up there and then we know that he went to a different floor, just one floor away. And apparently in a stairwell or hallway, killed himself, apparently with his own weapon.
So, those are the kind of what we know. What we don't know. We don't know who he is. We don't know what his exact target is. We don't know what brought him to 345 Park Avenue. We know some of the things that are in that building. The NFL, KPMG, the accounting firm, Blackstone, the financial company, a number of top law firms and corporations and basically they've got to kind of go back through his background.
Immediately, what's happening right now and Ken Corey can walk you a little deeper through this and Shimon from the scene is, they are doing clearing of that building. The rooftop team is coming down. The team from the ground floor is coming up. The team that's on the 32nd and 33rd floor are right there at ground zero in the middle, but basically they are rescuing people who have been sheltering in place and barricaded in offices, in conference rooms, in closets and telling them it's safe to come out. Every single officer there has a (AUDIO GAP).
This is this is the individual that that we were talking about. And this is literally at 6:40 P.M. As he's approaching the building, the gun by his side in plain view, wearing what appears to be a windbreaker or a suit jacket, dark pants and sneakers. He walks into the building and apparently an officer who was from a different precinct, who was there on a paid uniform detail providing security for the building, confronted the gunman and that they exchanged shots. The earliest calls to 911, describing that gun battle, talked about seven or eight shots between them.
We don't know who fired how many, except that this was going on, on Park Avenue in New York City. Still no information that has made its way to us about who that man is, why he showed up with that rifle, or what his target was.
BERMAN: Again, this image you're looking at right now is believed to be the suspect walking across that Plaza, again, believed to be the suspect walking across that plaza. And in one of the close up photos there you can see what appears to be a long gun by his side. John, you laid out what we know and what we don't know. I just want to have you reiterate, when the gunman went to the 32nd or 33rd floor, do we know if there might be additional victims on those floors?
[20:05:14]
MILLER: We do not know. What we do know is that medical resources were requested to go up under police guard to that location, to provide some kind of medical care.
Now, John, I've been through many of these. That could be people with difficulty breathing, suffering from stress related things. Somebody who wasn't shot but was hit by flying glass or debris. It could be a gunshot victim, a graze wound, a ricochet, or it could just be people who needed oxygen or other treatment because of, you know, high anxiety, panic attacks, the kinds of things that would be reasonable for anyone in these circumstances. So, that is, as far as we know about that.
BERMAN: All right, John, we'll let you get back to your phone, dig, and find out what more you can. In the meantime, I want to go Shimon Prokupecz who is on the ground now surrounding that area. These blocks have just been shut down pretty much completely for over an hour now. Shimon, why don't you give us a sense of what you're seeing and what the situation is?
PROKUPECZ: Yes, for about 90 minutes or so now, this entire area, I mean, were at 49th Street. This happened just north of us on 52nd Street. So, all of this has been shut down. I got here sometime around 7:00, actually, friends started texting me to say who worked nearby were saying that they were seeing NYPD swarming this building, that there was an active shooter. And I got here just after 7:00 P.M. and the scene out here was just unbelievable, John.
NYPD officers rushing towards the scene. Officers with long guns all in heavy tactical gear, lining up, going into a nearby building to do searches. It was just incredible to watch as they were lined up, one behind the other, entering the building to get upstairs to start looking for the gunman.
When I got here, the gunman was as far as the police knew, was still active. This was still an active shooter scene. And so, what was so eerie to watch is that many of the officers who were responding here weren't even allowed to stand on Park Avenue. They were taking cover on the side streets. They were on the side streets, and they were telling me at one point, you've got to move back, you've got to move back. The man has a high powered rifle, and so they were only allowing officers in tactical gear to come to the front of the building and all of the high NYPD brass were starting to arrive here.
One of the things also that was just so eerie to watch, John, is when I looked up, I was just a block from this building. The Blackstone Building, and I could see people in the windows looking down.
I saw people just looking down, standing around, and then I saw people at other buildings at the windows, because you could see through those windows. You could see the people just trying to figure out what was going on and just how frightening this must have been for them.
And then, in one of the other buildings, I was watching as the NYPD was escorting people out of the building with their hands up, at times asking people for I.D.
This was all happening when I first arrived here, and just a short time ago, we got word that the gunman police believe -- the gunman was dead. But there were hundreds, hundreds of officers. The bomb squad is here. Those Emergency Services officers are here. Almost every NYPD officer in this area in Manhattan was here responding to this scene. The other thing I want to know if the FBI is here, there are other law
enforcement agencies here as well. And most of this, John, I could just show you around here quickly. You can see many of the officers here are standing around. These were extra officers that were brought in. You have FBI task force members, several ambulances were here. The Fire Department brought in their equipment as well, just in case. If were any number of large number of casualties. But for now, what we're seeing is, while the streets are all closed up, there certainly much more relaxed. The officers here right now, we have seen some of the officers with tactical gear leaving.
And right now, as John was saying, the NYPD is going through the building floor by floor, clearing it, making sure there are no other victims, and also to make sure that there are no other suspects here, but this is going to go on for quite some time.
But this is Park Avenue, John, think about this. This is, you know, a major, thoroughfare, like where people drive through here, all of this shut down and traffic all over this area, just completely at a standstill as people have been gathering here to figure out what was going on.
But quite a scene here, and, you know, my heart goes out to those people in this building. And I'm sure for families at home who are, you know, about their loved ones and hopefully they can get some answers here soon, but it's been quite a scene out here.
BERMAN: Quite a scene, and we are waiting for more information from inside the building. What we do know now is that one officer has been shot. Two civilians have been shot. We're waiting for more information about their condition and that the suspect has been neutralized. We believe he is dead inside the building. And we believe he took his own life on the 31st or 32nd floor, somewhere thereabouts. Shimon, thank you very much for that.
[20:10:38]
I want to go now to NYPD -- former NYPD Chief of Department Ken Corey. And we were hearing from John Miller about what likely is happening in the building. Explain to us the process now that has to take place for officers inside.
KENNETH COREY, FORMER CHIEF OF TRAINING, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: Yes, so as John said, I mean, when those officers respond to those initial 911 calls of shots fired, that's going to be patrol officers. In this case, you had an officer there on the scene, a paid detail officer, an officer who was normally off duty working an extra shift there in the building.
Patrol officers are going to respond and their protocol for the last 25 to 27 years, really since Columbine has been get in, engage the shooter, right. You've got to take the fight immediately to the shooter to stop the killing.
So, that's what those officers were going to do. Specialized officers, Emergency Service Unit officers were going to arrive and begin that methodical search of the building that John described, coming up from the bottom down from the top, searching the building, bomb squad on the scene in case any suspicious packages are observed, right. Don't know what the shooters motives are. Don't know if the shooter was acting alone, which again goes to the search of the building. It's -- you know, are we looking for anyone else?
Those early reports, those early 911 calls, is going to be a lot of conflicting information, a lot of hazy information. Callers reporting that they hear shots in different locations at the same time and all of that is going to be checked out, even though right now it appears -- it appears that this was a lone shooter. They're going to continue that methodical search of the building to make sure -- and this is a really large Manhattan office building that's being searched.
John mentioned, you know, the ambulance crews being requested up there to the 32nd, 33rd floor. The additional ambulance crews and going up under police guard. That's a rescue task force. That was something that was created after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, where specially trained EMS workers working with specially trained police officers will enter a scene before its secure. So what they call the warm zone, the first officers have managed to push the shooter back, or in this case, up in the building, and now those ambulance crews can get in and begin immediately start tending to the wounded, even though the shooter may still be in the building, they are completely surrounded by, you know, armed, trained officers to protect them as they render aid.
And then, of course, we have the investigative component. You're going to have detectives in there trying to figure out who is this person. We know that a shooter is down on the 33rd floor, apparently by his own hands. Who is he? What was his motivation? And then all of the things that go with it.
You know, we see the photos of him entering the building there with the gun again. 6:40-ish P.M. late, right, workday typically ends around 5:00. Was he looking for a particular person, maybe, who works later in the day, who was going to be in the building rather than just random targets? And interestingly, and again, to my observation, that rifle that he's carrying looks to be an A.R. style, or an A.R. style rifle, and it looks to have a sound suppressor attached to the end of the barrel.
BERMAN: Chief, stand by for one moment, because we just did get a piece of news in -- tragic news. I'm afraid to say CNN has learned that the NYPD officer who was shot in the back, we've just learned that he has died. So, an officer has been killed in this shooting.
Again, what you're looking at on the screen, pictures of what's believed to be the suspect walking into this building on Park Avenue about 6:40 P.M., a little bit before that, carrying what appears in this picture to be a long rifle, an assault rifle was confronted, we believe, by a law enforcement officer on the ground floor, unclear whether that is the officer who has been killed, but we do now know that there is one law enforcement officer -- an NYPD officer who is now dead. Andy McCabe, former Deputy Director of the FBI, this is obviously
tragic news. It is easy to surmise that this officer who died, saved perhaps countless lives because as we look at this image on the screen here of this man walking into a building, a high-rise building on Park Avenue with a long rifle, it's everyone's nightmare in New York City.
We've all lived through a lot here, Andy, but this is not a sight that that I've seen. I don't remember something like that, where you have an active shooter walking into a high rise office building where there could be hundreds of people inside.
[20:15:10]
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's remarkable, John and those pictures, really -- I mean, this is, you know, it's like they almost speak for the shooter to some extent. Somebody who has the gall, really the nerve to arm themselves with that weapon and display it so boldly and walk across a main plaza off of the corner of West 52nd Street in Park Avenue, New York City at the end of the workday, just strolling across the Plaza without seemingly without a care in the world like that's someone who is going into that building and likely not expecting to ever get back out, someone who is absolutely intent and focused on what they're going to do and that's, of course, bringing a horrific level of violence to a workplace in New York City.
And let's remember, this building is 44 floors, and it has almost two million square feet of rentable space. I think 1,900,000 square feet is the factor I saw online. That's an enormous, enormous piece of real estate to have to now clear. And the chief said, is absolutely right. You know, hopefully there was only one shooter and that shooter, that threat has been resolved.
But the NYPD, cannot take the chance that a single victim is left in a quiet, tucked away, you know, barricaded in an office, sitting in the footwell of a desk. They have got to be sure before this operation is over that every inch of that almost two million square feet of office space has been checked for victims and of course, for the possibility of another threat.
So, we're going to see this law enforcement presence here for quite some time.
BERMAN: Andrew McCabe, thanks, stand by please. John Miller, back with us. John, I understand you've got some new reporting. What have you learned?
MILLER: So, what we have learned is police have tentatively identified the gunman as a 27-year-old man from Las Vegas, Nevada, preliminary checks based on his name, his date of birth don't show any significant criminal background.
Still, an open question as to why he was going to that building and what his particular target was. But now NYPD is on with the FBI. NYPD is on with our friend, Sheriff Kevin McMahill and Las Vegas, with whom NYPD has a very close relationship because of the normal crossover between those two cities and they are going to end up securing that person's residence, preparing search warrants, looking to interview friends and family, and start to build that picture as to who was this individual now that they have a name, and why was he there and what was behind this terrible event?
And of course, the tragedy of this young police officer who, you know, on a police officer's salary, elected to work on his days off, his hours off to get extra money for his family by showing up in uniform and being paid as a private security contractor to secure that building because of who's in that building, major corporations that have been the subject of protests, high profile companies like the National Football League, law firms that have been involved in controversial work, the Blackstone company, which has been the target of protests before having that first line of defense, that uniformed police officer, is the kind of thing that could have avoided routine trouble.
But when you see an individual walking with an assault weapon in plain view, a fully loaded magazine, and when you confront that person, when you know you're outgunned and shots are exchanged, that is the thing that happened that at 6:40 P.M. tonight that led to the terribly tragic events that you described with the passing of that officer.
BERMAN: Again, the news just in, an NYPD police officer has been killed. John, what you're telling me is he was working on his day off security, but uniformed security on the ground floor of this building died from his wounds sustained in an exchange of fire with this gunman. We're looking at a picture of the man we believe to be the gunman walking into the building, who we have now learned is a 27- year-old preliminary report, say, from Las Vegas, but as far as we know, no significant criminal background.
John, before I let you go digging again, anything you can tell us about the slain officer who may have saved countless lives?
[20:20:26]
MILLER: Just to state the obvious, you know, here's an officer who has a semi-automatic nine millimeter pistol who fearlessly went up against a guy who has an assault weapon with the kind of rounds that the United States and other countries take to war, simply for the fact that that gun is designed for killing people. And, you know, he did what he swore he would do when he put that badge on for the very first time, which is he put himself in between that danger and that gunman.
BERMAN: Any sense, John, about the travels of the gunman from Las Vegas, how he got to the plaza that we see him walking across right now?
MILLER: So, they have located a car, they believe is associated with the gunman. I don't know if that car drove him here from Las Vegas, which would be kind of a very determined trip. But on the other hand, he's carrying with -- he's traveling with the kind of weaponry that you could not get onto an airplane and would be, in some measure, difficult to conceal on a bus or a train. But whether he drove here from Las Vegas or they were able to
determine by going through the security video backwards to see before you see that shot of him walking into the building, which way did he come from? Did they trace him to that car is unknown? But they believe that vehicle is associated with him. It was cleared first by the bomb squad for booby traps, and now they are going to freeze that and get a search warrant beyond the exigent search they've already done for the exigent circumstances and see what else is in there that may lead them further.
BERMAN: All right, John Miller, we'll let you get back to your phones to find out more.
With us now, former NYPD Captain John Monaghan, captain, you've been listening along with us. You see the pictures were looking at now, you've learned the terrible news that one NYPD officer has been killed. What questions do you have about all this tonight?
JOHN MONAGHAN, FORMER NYPD CAPTAIN: Well, like what commissioner Miller just touched on. How did he get that gun here? I know he has a Vegas address, but what I'm hearing, he was an employee of that building at one time, and he was terminated and he was disgruntled. We don't know that for a fact, but we have his name. We have his mug shot. A Las Vegas address doesn't mean he came from Las Vegas.
First thing, though, to think of is that cop. That's a Bronx cop, he came down here to work in that building, in his uniform, on his day off to make overtime and God bless him. And I won't say where he's from for the proper notifications get made, but let's think about him for a minute and like the commissioner said, he's got a guy with a machine gun coming at him and he's got a sidearm and yes, what a brave young man, you know, God bless him and all his cohorts and his family. That's a tough thing.
But again, this guy, we don't know where he came from. You got to remember now if that car is related to him, we'll get a lot of information from the car. If it's not, we're going to have to backtrack through the cameras and see. You got to remember, Grand Central Station is just a few blocks away. In fact, just three short blocks away from that shooting is a tunnel that goes down into Grand Central, it starts at 48th Street. There's a lot we need to know, and it is obvious, I'd say. By the way, he sauntered across that plaza, it was a lone gunman.
From what I understand, he did have a purpose related to his past employment in that building. We won't know that for sure yet, but there's a lot of work yet to be done. But God bless that Bronx cop and the lobby of that building for what he just went through and what his family's about to go through, and all his coworkers, it's horrible. It's angering to it really is for a guy to have to go down there on his day off to make an extra shift.
How do you prevent something like this? You know what, is there any intelligence information in the world that would have that would have brought us to this before it happened? I don't know, but where did he get that gun? That's a big gun, like John said, it's not easy to hide that thing. Did he bring it out here from Vegas in that car? I don't know. From what I'm hearing he's not from Vegas currently, but we'll find out more as we go ahead. But there's a lot of work that has to be done in that building --
BERMAN: Yes, no doubt about that.
MONAGHAN: -- going forward, as I said.
BERMAN: No doubt about that, Captain Monaghan, you're right and what a brave young man. Your words describing the officer we now know that has been killed. He was on his day off working in uniform in the lobby of this building when the suspected gunman. You're looking at a picture of who we believe to be the suspected gunman walked in with the long gun, which is not a sight you see on the streets of Manhattan.
This is not something you see with these assault weapons going into office buildings there, which makes that image so frightening.
I want to bring back in Ken Corey, former NYPD Chief of Department. So, there is a vehicle, there is an identity. We do not know the name of this shooter. And I should also say that that Captain Monaghan was talking about possible employment of this man. We haven't verified that yet. Obviously, were digging to find out where we can about what connections this suspect may have had with this building. But all we know at this time is believed to be from Las Vegas, no significant criminal record. What next in the investigation, captain -- Chief, I should say?
[20:25:52]
COREY: Yes, so, as the, you know, initial response begins to wind down, you know, as the clearing of the building, floor by floor wraps up, ensuring that there are no other suspects, that there are no victims. You know, as Andrew pointed out, that nobody's, you know, hiding in a closet, injured, trapped someplace. As that happens, dogs come through. The building is swept. Once that is secure, the investigation now just begins to fully ramp up.
John Miller mentioned that the, you know, the tentative I.D. of the suspect, you know, name and date of birth, nothing came back. He's going to be fingerprinted. That body is going to get fingerprinted. They're going to look to do a more positive identification, ensure that that is really who that they have there, that the that the name matches the name that they believe it is. And then they're going to start backtracking his steps. There's detectives out right now collecting video starting at the scene. That video that you see of him walking across the plaza and they're going to walk that backwards.
Where was he before? Where was he five minutes before that? Where was he an hour ago? Where did he start his day this morning. And they're going to try to account for every moment of his time. If he is, in fact from Las Vegas. When did he arrive in New York City? And they're going to try to account for every minute that he was in New York City. Who did he meet with? Who did he talk to? The gun is certainly going to be traced. I'm sure the ATF is running a
trace on that gun right now. Finding out where did that start out, what gun shop was it -- did it originate in? Who was it sold to? How did it wind up in this individual's hands in Midtown Manhattan at 6:40 P.M. this afternoon, used to take the life of a brave New York City Police officer.
BERMAN: Again, what a brave young man, as Captain Monaghan described, the officer who we now know is dead. And this the suspect also dead.
Chief Corey, thank you. I want to go back to former FBI Deputy Director, Andrew McCabe. Andy, the current FBI Deputy Director, Dan Bongino says the bureau is assisting. What does federal assistance look like at this stage?
MCCABE: Well, John, you have to remember that the FBI works very closely with the NYPD through the Joint Terrorism Task Force. So, those officers and agents who work together every single day are drilling down on this subject now that they have him, no doubt, they have him identified as the Chief mentioned he will undoubtedly, that body has likely already been fingerprinted. So, they have access to whatever records there are online about him, and they are tearing apart his background as that very careful work of going backwards in time through video capture to figure out exactly where he came from and who he interacted with on his way to this location today goes on.
The broader background check is going to is currently underway. So, they're identifying where he currently lives, any of his former residences, places he might have worked. They're identifying family members. They're identifying friends.
They want to of course know if he has any devices -- telephone devices, electronic media on his person or possibly in his vehicle or maybe at a residence and those things will be very thoroughly exploited to shed further light on his associates, his contact points. We want to see what he's been writing. Maybe he's got postings on social media. It is the standard process that we have seen thrown into place in the wake of horrible mass shootings, time and time and time again in this country.
Right now, law enforcement and in this case, it's the -- primarily the NYPD with FBI assistance is going through that same process right now to try to understand everything they can possibly figure out about this guy.
BERMAN: Andy, stand by for a second. I want to go back to Shimon Prokupecz, who's not far from the scene. I'm actually hearing from people I know, friends a few blocks away further than even you are in their buildings are locked down on Park Avenue still. So, what's the situation at this moment?
PROKUPECZ: It's still very much all on lockdown. We're being moved around a lot here by the police, so they've moved us to another side of the street. But everything is -- everything around this area is completely shut down. Certainly you do sense that things have eased quite a bit here. You
know, when I was out here two hours ago, listening and watching as hundreds of officers were rushing into the area, in fact, that's obviously not happening now. We're seeing a lot of officers start to leave. And this is where the investigation here begins, but yes, most of this area remains locked down.
[20:30:46]
We're on 49th and Park, but the lockdown stretches as far north as 54th Street. The building is on around 52nd Street. I could see it here in the distance from where I am. The lights are all still on in that building.
But from what I saw earlier when I was looking at that building, you could see people in the window, you know, just wondering what was going on, certainly probably fearful for their lives. But most of the building looks now, from what I can see, empty, that most of the people that were at those windows are now out. I saw the NYPD as they were emptying out these buildings around here, they had heavily armed officers escorting people out.
People were holding their hands up high as the NYPD was bringing them out. We're not seeing any of that anymore on this side, and things are calming down here. We're really just waiting right now, John, for the NYPD to hold a press conference. But I think things could be a little delayed here because of the death of that police officer.
There's a lot that now has to take place by the NYPD notifying the family, bringing the family to the hospital that this officer is at. The mayor will meet with the family, the NYPD commissioner will meet with the family.
And I think they may wait, probably wait until they have a press conference, because they certainly don't want information getting out there before these families getting that information. So, we may have some delay here from the NYPD on a press conference because of that.
This changes the dynamics here quite a lot, given that, sadly, this police officer was murdered here. All sorts of steps that now need to take place as this investigation continues. And it's going to stretch into, you know, just not New York City, but other parts of the state. And that's where the FBI comes in and other officials.
But right now, it's really all about these families for the NYPD and dealing with those victims and dealing with that officers' families, the mayor will be there, the police commissioner will be there to deal with all of that. And so we wait for that. We wait for more information.
But this is just -- I've lived in this city, you know, my whole life, and watching this unfold. I've, you know, I don't remember when the last time there was an active shooter situation of this magnitude in this city. And just to watch as I got here just 20 minutes after all of this started, the NYPD arriving, the number officers getting here, how quickly they moved in, and even just the concern and the fear for the officers that were standing along Park Avenue was just so remarkable.
Some of them hiding behind vehicles, hiding behind mailboxes because they were afraid that this man would open fire, would turn into a sniper situation. The NYPD moving in heavily. These heavily armed trucks, they're called Bearcats, as guard as cover. And then seeing the bomb squad and those officers and detectives from the bomb squad standing around behind their truck, just waiting on word for what to do.
And then finally, we got the all clear here. As you know, the police officer here continue to work the scene. You know, John, what's so also striking is that I don't know that many of these officers that have been out here now for over two hours even are aware that one of the members of their department has been murdered in this situation.
They've been standing out here dealing with the traffic, dealing with us, dealing with the people who are all streaming here to see what's going on. And many people just standing around waiting to get through some of this area, wanting to go back into their office buildings.
But, yes, like I said earlier, I mean, this was quite a scene when I got here, John, and it continues to unfold. And we're just waiting for some updates.
[20:35:00]
BERMAN: Yes. And as you said, there are still buildings on lockdown in the area several blocks away. Shimon Prokupecz on the ground there with so many officers around you. And as Shimon said, many of those officers may not know the news yet that one NYPD officer has now been killed. Murdered. He was working on his off day in uniform in the lobby of this building when that gunman was walked in with the long gun and they exchanged fire.
It's possible this NYPD officer saved countless lives. The gunman is dead. We've got many more questions, much more information to learn. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:40:05]
BERMAN: All right, the breaking news you're looking at the scene. A lot of police activity still in Midtown Manhattan, 345 Park Avenue, which in the space of the last two hours or so has seen a gunman enter, exchange fire with an off duty police officer, gone inside, shot several others before taking his own life.
We just learned that the NYPD police officer who was working his day off has died. Two civilians at this point hospitalized. Police have tentatively identified the gunman as a 27-year-old from Las Vegas. According to New York's mayor, police right now are conducting a floor by floor search of the building, which is home to, among many other organizations, the NFL, the investment company Blackstone. Back now with our team of correspondents and law enforcement professionals. I want to go first to you, John Miller. We know the gunman has been neutralized. We know a New York police
officer off duty, but working security has been killed. What more are you hearing from your sources?
MILLER: We are waiting to hear about any additional casualties. In the meantime, the police department is trying to develop a more granular, a richer picture of this gunman and to get to the motive and potentially what the target is.
What they have done is they have backtracked that picture you see on the screen by going backwards to the security cameras that are in the directions that he comes from, they trace those back to a car. Why is that important? Of course, because they'll search the car and determine what they can find there.
But more important, in the instant matter, which is now they can see he got out of that car alone and proceeded to the building by himself. That eliminates a lot of their concerns about was he with another individual? Did two people show up? Was he joined by someone in that car? Did they walk together? Did they split up? No.
At this point, it appears he was operating entirely alone. How has the picture developed of him? You know, we know he's a 27-year-old man from Las Vegas. His life story begins in Hawaii where he was apparently grew up and went to school before moving to Las Vegas. He spent some times, it appears, as a licensed private investigator. He's only 27-years-old, so not clear where that business came from or whether he was working for someone else or on his own.
He does have a concealed weapons permit issued in Las Vegas, which gives him the legal ability to carry concealed firearms. That would be handguns. And then of course there's the weapon that we see in this picture, which NYPD right now is working with ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that regulates firearm sales and compliance. And they'll be tracing that serial number to see where that came, where that gun came from and if it was purchased by him and when.
That will be somewhat telling. Did he buy this assault weapon, particularly right before this incident, to carry this out for maximum lethality, or is it something that he had for some time? These are all answers that will fit into that developing picture about this suspect.
BERMAN: Again, the person we believe to be the suspect, walking across that plaza with the gun, an assault weapon in his hands as he walked in, confronted the off duty police officer who we now know is dead, who had just a handgun, a sidearm with him, and after the exchange of fire went further into the building.
We also know two civilians have been injured. We do not know their condition at this moment. Don't know more about their condition at this moment. Waiting to hear on that.
Also a huge unknown at this time if there are other people who may have been hurt inside the building. The gunman we believe took his own Life on the 33rd floor. We do not yet have word if there were other people possibly injured on that floor.
I want to bring in former NYPT -- NYPD chief of department Ken Corey. Chief, thank you so much for being with us. What more can you tell us about what is likely happening right now? And just the awful protocol of maybe having to notify the family of this deceased officer.
COREY: Yes. So, you know, now you add that into wrapping up the search of the building, furthering the investigation. Right. Again, determining when did this person arrive in New York, when did he get the gun? What was his target? What was his motivation? Was anybody else involved in the planning the acquisition? Did somebody know about it?
Now, added to that, the murder of this police officer. So at the hospital right now, that officer's family is being picked up from their residence.
[20:45:02]
So at the hospital right now, that officer's family is being picked up from their residence. They're going to be transported to the hospital, if they haven't already arrived there, you know, where they will meet with Commissioner Tisch and a clergy member and mental health counselors, you know, who will break the terrible news to them that their loved one, that their police officer has been murdered, died heroically. Maybe that will ease some of the sting, knowing that officer died saving countless lives, but died nonetheless.
And then the NYPD begins planning for a funeral for that officer. And no one, you know, unfortunately, there's no law enforcement agency in the country that has more experience in doing that than the NYPD. But in a few days, just as officers carried that officer out today to the hospital trying to save his life, officers will shoulder their brother officer into a house of worship.
Tens of thousands officers will descend on a neighborhood somewhere, coming from certainly all over the region, all over the United States, even internationally, to pay their respects to this fallen hero.
BERMAN: And again, a fallen hero he absolutely appears to be, having confronted this gunman as he walked in the building with that assault weapon. Chief, thank you. Andy McCabe, former FBI deputy Director is with us.
And if this shooter did indeed travel from out of state, and we believe he's an individual, 27 year old, most recently from Las Vegas, traveling from out of state, what does that mean for the FBI role in all this? Andy?
MCCABE: Well, John, the FBI role is pretty straightforward regardless of how he traveled to this location. The FBI has a long history of providing assistance to lead agencies in the aftermath of a critical incident or a mass shooting or a, you know a natural disaster for that matter. So that's the role that they are in right now. They are providing manpower, expertise, tools, resources. Now, let's keep in mind, it is the NYPD we're talking about here. So
they have many of the same assets and more of them in some cases than the FBI does. So they're not a small town police department that needs quite as much help. But nevertheless, nowhere is the practice of counterterrorism more highly refined and done it as a significant level and at a significant volume as it is in New York City.
And that is because of the Joint Terrorism Task Force that is manned mostly by FBI agents and NYPD detectives. So there's a -- the muscle memory is there. These guys work investigations of suspicious people all the way up to well-known foreign terrorists every single day of the week.
And so this is one more name that's been added to that pile now. And a team of agents and analysts are drilling down to try to identify every fact that they can associate with this person to build, as John Miller just said a minute ago, the richest possible picture that we can of this person to understand where they came from, how they got the gun that they used, how they traveled there, how did they acquire the money that was necessary to do those things? Did anyone help them with that?
Train them, plan them, equip them, help them transport themselves, provide funding, whatever that might have been, and also to understand what their motivation was. We want to know who was the target? Was there a specific individual or was it an institution that this person was going after? So all those things can help us understand this person and help us protect people from someone like him in the future.
BERMAN: Andy McCabe, stand by for a minute because we just got an update, some more breaking news.
We now just learned that in addition to the shooter who is dead, the New York police officer who was working off duty in the lobby, who was dead, that three more individuals have been killed in this shooting.
So now, four killed along with the shooter in this mass killing at a high rise office building in midtown Manhattan in the evening. The pictures you're looking at right now, the man believed to be the shooter, a 27-year-old, last believed to be from Las Vegas, walking into the building with an assault weapon.
You're also seeing the very large police presence. There's some video officers rushing into the building, but a very large police presence now on the scene.
And we can understand why with this new information that in addition to an officer who was killed, three other people now confirmed dead. That is according to one law enforcement officer.
[20:50:00]
Obviously we are still waiting to hear more from authorities officially, obviously still, we are still waiting to hear more from authorities officially, obviously still great concern about what may have taken place inside the building. The shooter went up to, we think the 33rd floor, which where he took his own life.
But at this time, we don't know for sure what happened prior to him taking his own life, who may still have been in this building working after 6:40 p.m. which is when the exchange of fire, we believe happened right around on the ground floor when he walked into the building.
So this suspect you're seeing right there on the screen, who was believed to be dead, killed at least four people. Now in this developing situation, very quickly, I want to bring back Chief Corey again. You just learned this news along with us. Give us your brief thoughts on that and how that changes the investigation.
COREY: Yes, I don't know that it changes the investigation at all. Obviously it makes this incident that much more tragic, you know, with more people dead. The focus is going to be who was he there to kill. He wasn't there looking to kill people at random. He could have done that right on the streets of midtown Manhattan with that rifle and taking a lot more lives than three or four, no doubt about it.
So he went there with a purpose. Clearly, he was looking for someone or someone's, you know, maybe more than one person inside that building. So much so that he was, even after being confronted and engaging in a gunfight with the New York City cop, he apparently continues up in the building.
So, you know, he's got a specific, a particular target in mind. He's determined to reach that target. And that's all things that the investigation is going to have to try to determine.
BERMAN: Chief Corey, stand by for us again. Again the breaking news. Four people killed now by this mass shooter. You're looking at a picture of the man we believe to have done it walking in with that assault rifle to a high rise in Manhattan. The shooter dead also. Much more on the breaking news ahead. Stay with us.
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[20:56:13]
BERMAN: All right, this is the scene at this moment in midtown Manhattan. The story that much sadder, that much more tragic since we learned just moments ago that four people have now been murdered, according to a law enforcement official by a 27-year-old gunman believed to be from Las Vegas, who himself is also dead.
The victims do include an NYPD officer who was working security in uniform on his day off. Let's go back to John Miller now who has been working his sources. John, this latest information. Now we now know four People have been killed. What more are you learning?
MILLER: So that's obviously the police officer and the gunman who took his own life, but that leaves three people who were killed in this incident today. And at this point, what we don't know is were those people involved in the initial shootout when he opened fire in or at the lobby, or were they targeted by the gunman on the upper floors of the building?
You would recall earlier they were asking for medical help to go up to the upper floors. That may have been to treat people who needed treatment. That also could have been to pronounce victims dead inside the building.
We don't know that yet, but the story seems to be developing that he -- after the initial shootout at 6:40 p.m. tonight, that he confronted other people in the building and opened fire, taking their lives, in addition to other people who may have been injured in other ways or wounded and not passed away. So we're waiting for that police press conference so we can get a little bit of a clearer picture on what the total victimology is here.
BERMAN: Again, we are awaiting a police press conference. We do not know when that will be. What we do know is the individual we believe you're seeing on the screen there with that assault weapon walked into the lobby of this building, 345 Park Avenue at about 6:40 pm.
And then John, we think exchanged fire in the lobby, which is where the off duty NYPD officer was now we now know, killed. And then we believe the gunman somehow went to the 33rd floor. Any more information on the movements inside the building?
MILLER: The calls that were coming into the NYPD from the 33rd and the 32nd floor were that he had entered a public events space. Now, there's no clarity here. That may have mean -- that may have meant that people barricaded themselves in a public event space like a theater inside the building or a conference area. But that was where police were directed to respond up to.
And then after they got to that location and secured it, they got additional calls from a floor above, presumably the 33rd floor, where they were told, you know, there's a body in the stairwell and it's an individual with a rifle and it appears he is dead from a self- inflicted injury.
BERMAN: And John, we have about 30 seconds left. The vehicle, any more information on the vehicle that this man we believe arrived in?
MILLER: They located the car. They're searching the car first. They cleared the car with the bomb squad for all the obvious reasons. The flip side of that car, which they have contained, is what's going on right now in Las Vegas.
[21:00:01]
Las Vegas, Metro PD the sheriff's department is at the man's address. They are locking that down to see who else is there who may live with him, what family might be there, whether he lives alone while NYPD and or federal authorities, if that's going to be faster, obtain a search warrant for that location. And they go through that very carefully as well.
BERMAN: John Miller, Chief Kenneth Corey, former deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe, thank you one and all. Obviously, the news continues. This breaking news situation continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
