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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Shooting at Newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland; Multiple Injuries and Fatalities in Capital Gazette Shooting. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired June 28, 2018 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:05]

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This reporter describing exactly what happened.

Of course, Jake, as we're seeing these pictures from outside here, this is just one glimpse as to what's happened inside the newsroom. And as we continue to get these reports from law enforcement about multiple wounded, we're hearing from this reporter via Twitter about what it was like inside hearing the gunman shoot, hearing the gunman reload, and talking about what a terrifying scene it was in there -- Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right, Jessica Schneider.

If you're just joining me, sources are telling CNN that there have been multiple injuries and fatalities, a shooting in Annapolis, Maryland. That's the capital of Maryland, about an hour outside of Washington, D.C.

The shooting was at the newspaper there, "The Capital Gazette." Police, law enforcement are saying that one individual is in custody, but they're still saying it is an active shooter situation.

They're making sure that there is no other shooter before they give the all-clear.

I want to bring back CNN's Josh Campbell, the former FBI supervisory special agent.

And, Josh, we have got some very vivid descriptions there from "the Capital Gazette" crime reporter, Phil Davis, talking about what it was like being in the newsroom hiding under his desk after his colleagues had been shot, hearing the shooter reload.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That's right, Jake. We hear from witnesses in these types of incidents. We have heard from them before.

It never is easy to hear the panic, the chaos that ensues. And one thing that is important to remember is, although workplaces will prepare for these types of incidents, we have seen the uptick in the number of active shooter training programs that are being put on, nothing prepares you for that actual moment where something happens and now it's you have that fight-or-flight reaction.

We always talk about the run, fight or hide methodology that's now being used and having to go through that. We are going to hear a lot of those stories. And, again, there's still a lot that we don't know as far as what took place in the newsroom.

The fact that this is a news business means you have people that are collecting information and pushing that out, so that we will hear about it an we will continue to hear those details.

One thing that is also interesting, as we look at the response that's taking place right now, both from witnesses and obviously the police, is there's a lot that goes into this type of training that we don't see.

And these law enforcement agencies will work together, they will train together. We heard -- you mentioned earlier that one of the medical facilities had indicated that they were receiving at least one patient. When these types of incidents go out, medical facilities are now part of this response plan.

They will get that initial word that we have a crisis situation. Be prepared to take casualties, to take patients. And, you know, it appears as though we have one person that was then transported. We will probably see more of that as the injuries or we hear more about them and they're resolved.

And then one thing obviously is when the police actually get to the point where they're ready to brief the press and brief the public, we will learn those additional details. But, right now, I think their focus is on clearing that building. And then we will get additional details about what took place inside.

TAPPER: I want to bring in CNN supervising producer Eric Fiegel. He's on the ground at the scene of the shooting. He joins us by phone.

Eric, tell us what you're seeing.

ERIC FIEGEL, CNN SUPERVISING PRODUCER: Well, Jake, the media presence here is quite impressive.

I just drove here. There's probably 60, 70, 80 law enforcement vehicles in the area. There are helicopters. This is a very, very popular area. This is where the Annapolis Mall is. So, you have a lot of people in this area. It's very popular.

I just talked to Anne Arundel police. And they say they're still securing the building. They won't say anything more than that. They still have several buildings on lockdown. They do not expect this to be a mass casualty incident, which tells us maybe only a few injured, but that's all the details they would give me, Jake.

TAPPER: And tell us about what else you're seeing in terms of individuals from "The Capital Gazette," individuals who worked in the building. The building is not a small building. It houses other businesses besides "The Capital Gazette." If police are still securing the area, as you know, to -- this shooting I believe took place within the last hour, hour-and-a-half, at least based on the tweets that I saw from the "Capital Gazette" intern who was the first one to alert the world of what was going on.

What are individuals telling you about what happened?

FIEGEL: As I said, I just arrived on scene. This area is like a parking garage area to the mall, so it's been totally cordoned off by law enforcement.

So, there's very little activity here besides law enforcement. So, the police say around 2:30-ish they got the initial call of an active shooter. They quickly got to the building. They're in the process of still securing it.

And like I said, they're not telling us much more than that. They have several buildings on lockdown. They're using the mall as a meeting location for families, but other than, that it's a total cordoned-off area with massive law enforcement presence.

TAPPER: All right, Eric, thank you so much. I know you will talk to some other individuals and try to bring us back more information as you can.

[16:05:00]

I want to bring in CNN's media reporter, Brian Stelter. He is on the phone.

Brian, tell us about this newspaper, "The Capital Gazette." I saw a reporter earlier tweeting that he had grown up in the area and one time when he was a little boy he drew a picture of his father and sent it to the newspaper for Father's Day, and they ran it.

It's that kind of community newspaper.

Brian Stelter has dropped out. Let me bring back Josh Campbell.

Josh, obviously, they're cordoning off as many reporters as possible. Annapolis is only an hour away from Washington, D.C., so one assumes a lot of reporters from Washington, D.C. and from Baltimore, two major metropolitan areas in this country, are going to be there.

"The Capital Gazette" owned by "The Baltimore Sun" newspaper.

Multiple individuals have been wounded, and we're told that there are also multiple fatalities. Apparently, the shooter is alive, according to what police seem to be suggesting.

We have only heard of one individual taken to the hospital, though.

CAMPBELL: That's right. And we will continue to wait for those details as far as what the

casualties look like. And, again, as you mentioned at the top, there's a difference between casualties and fatalities. So, we have be careful there as far as determining the extent of what took place here. We will get those details in short order.

One thing that is interesting to point out -- and, Jake, you know, we have talked about this far too often as we sat together covering threat incidents -- is that law enforcement officers now have two audiences, two constituencies, if you will, to get information to.

The first is obviously the public. This is in the public interest. But also to the family members of those who worked in this facility, who were there on that day. We have talked about this before. I remember from incidents like Orlando and San Bernardino talking to family members of those who were impacted.

And this is that tough period of time where they simply do not know what's going on. Was their loved one unfortunately part of this incident? Were they able to get out? This is that period of time that is the most crushing for them as they're trying to determine.

So, it will be incumbent upon law enforcement officers to quickly determine what they're dealing with, to have that family reunification process that goes on. Obviously, the company will be key in determining who should have been inside the building and making accountable everyone who was there and ensure that their safety is paramount.

This is the period of time where they have to do that, and they have to do it quickly, because you have a lot of people out there that are simply wondering, are their loved ones impacted by this?

TAPPER: All right, we're going to -- Josh...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Let's listen in to the police officer.

LT. RYAN FRASHURE, ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT: ... to get people outside of that building, get them to safety. So we're in evacuation mode right now.

So we're trying to secure the building the best we can. Once that building is secure, once we're 100 percent that that building is secure, that's when we will be able to provide more information with the extent of injuries and information on the suspect.

So, at this point, I can confirm that we do have injuries. We did have an active shooter situation inside that building, 888 Bestgate Road in Annapolis. Again, we do have injuries. I can't give the extent of those injuries at that point -- at this point.

We don't expect this, even though it's very early on, to be a very -- or have major casualties or several hundred casualties, so -- but we do have injuries. I can confirm that. I will get you as much information as possible. I just don't want to give you guys inaccurate information at this point. So, that's the only reason that I can't provide more.

So -- yes, once the building is secure, we will give more information whether the suspect is in fact in custody. That building is secure and we will make sure we give everybody a quick briefing on the extent of the injuries and how many injuries.

At this point, one of the main messages that we want to get out to the public is, one, avoid the area. OK? We have a lot of police officers here from our jurisdiction. We are very thankful for other jurisdictions, Annapolis City Police Department, Maryland State Police, Howard County, federal agencies.

Everyone has came here to make sure that we get as many people safe as quickly as possible. So, we're asking family and friends to meet at the Annapolis Mall. If you need to meet up with a friend or a loved one that was inside that building, our reunification center has been set up inside the Lord & Taylor inside Annapolis Mall.

So, we're asking everyone to respond to Lord & Taylor. We have officers there that will assist you meeting up with friends and family.

So that's the biggest message we want to put out right now. We're doing our very best to get the building secure. And we should have information for you very shortly. And as soon as that building is secure we will be able to provide more information.

We appreciate everybody's patience and doing everything we can to get everybody out safe. Thank you.

TAPPER: So, that was from Anne Arundel County Police, Lieutenant Ryan Frashure, talking about the status right now at the shooting at "The Capital Gazette" newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland.

Evan Perez -- oh, he's answering some questions. Let's listen back in.

FRASHURE: Make sure that there's no other people that are suspects or that helped this individual. And we need to make sure that there is no type of bombs or anything inside that building.

[16:10:03]

So, all those things, we have to think about to make sure that people are safe inside that building.

So, again, our number one priority is getting people from that building outside safely and reuniting them with their families. Once that building is secure, we can provide more information and, the investigation will begin and we will be able to get a lot more details.

QUESTION: Lieutenant, you said you have injuries. How many injuries?

FRASHURE: I can't confirm exactly how many injuries. I do know that we do have injuries.

That was first called in. So, again, we don't anticipate this being some type of a mass major casualty with hundreds of injuries. But we do have injuries. And so while -- we're doing our best to make sure that those receive care that need care, and, you know, we are doing our very best to make sure everybody else is evacuated out of there.

So, right now, we're prioritizing.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) newsroom or one of the doctor's offices or what?

FRASHURE: Yes, I can't confirm an exact location inside that building.

But I can tell you it was inside 888 Bestgate Road, which does house several types of businesses. So, I hope to have more information on that very soon.

Again, I just want to make sure that all the information that we pass along is accurate, since it involves such a serious incident, so we want to make sure that that information is accurate that gets out there to the public.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, everybody. Lieutenant Frashure has released everything that he can right now. We will give you an update as soon as we can.

FRASHURE: Thank you, guys.

TAPPER: All right, just to recap, that's Lieutenant Ryan Frashure with Anne Arundel County Police, which is the home county for Annapolis.

"The Capital Gazette," the community newspaper there -- pardon me -- just suffered a shooting. Lieutenant Frashure said that, at this point, they believe that there's one suspect, although right now they are just as a precautionary measure searching the entire building.

Let me bring in Evan Perez, our justice correspondent, reporter.

Lieutenant Frashure said a number of times that they don't expect that this will be a major casualty situation. And he defined major in terms of there being several hundred injuries or casualties.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right.

TAPPER: But that's not to say that there aren't several dozen or even fatalities.

PEREZ: Right, exactly. He was careful to not put any numbers on what exactly he's dealing with there, Jake.

But we are told by sources that there have been multiple injuries and that those include fatalities. So, at this point, obviously, not going to be -- I think what he is talking about is in a lot of shootings we have seen recently -- unfortunately, we have dealt with a lot of these incidents around the country -- we have seen dozens of people being taken out.

Mass casualty is what that is. In this case, it appears to be a much smaller, much more contained situation. As Jessica was reporting earlier, one of the reporters in that newsroom, the crime reporter in that newsroom, is out on Twitter saying that someone shot through the front door of the newsroom, of the newspaper.

And there were people who were shot. So he doesn't know -- according to his Twitter feed, he doesn't know whether anybody died, but he knows that people were shot as a result of the attack there. We do know -- and I think the public information officer with the police there did confirm that there's somebody, at least somebody who is in custody.

What they're trying to make sure -- and this is something that we always underscore -- is they're trying to make sure that nobody else was involved in this, whether there's a second person, whether there's any bombs he left behind in that newsroom or somewhere else in that building as a booby-trap for the police who are there trying to clear the building and trying to keep people safe.

So, at this point, I think we are going to have probably a little while before we have an all-clear in that building, that they know they have gotten every single corner searched, and that they know every single person who was there has been accounted for.

And then they can come out and tell us how many people were injured, whether or not these were fatalities that were suffered as a result of gunshots, or perhaps somebody might have had a heart attack or something else that might have occurred.

But, at this point, according to sources we've talked to, there are multiple people who were wounded who were casualties as a result of this, and there have been fatalities as a result of this.

TAPPER: But fatalities, plural, your sources are saying?

PEREZ: Correct.

TAPPER: And that does not include the shooter, who is in custody.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREZ: Does not include the shooter, we do not believe.

It appears that person is in custody and is being interviewed by the investigators.

TAPPER: So, Lieutenant Ryan Frashure -- that is the public information officer for the Anne Arundel County Police -- just provided that information.

I want to bring Josh Campbell back in.

I would like to ask our producers if we could get Jessica Schneider prepared to read those Phil Davis tweets again in a second for those people tuning in. They're descriptive and haunting and I think are worth sharing, since he's the crime reporter for Anne Arundel County's own "Capital Gazette" newspaper.

Josh Campbell, after hearing Lieutenant Ryan Frashure, it sounds like they just want to take these last few minutes to make sure 100 percent that there are no other casualties, there are no other suspects, and then they're going to have a press briefing and give all the information that they can at the time.

[16:15:07]

CAMPBELL: That's right. And Lieutenant Frashure is doing an animal job. I mean, the role of a public information officer in an emergent active scene is very challenging. On one end, you have to provide time information. On the other, you have to ensure that it is 100 percent accurate

I, you know, stood in his shoes as an FBI agent, as a public information officer, where, you know, the public is asking for information. And again, you have to make sure that it's accurate. So, one thing that was telling right there, he said the building isn't 100 percent cleared yet and we can guarantee that police aren't going to come out and, you know, say anything until they ensure no additional victims, no additional threats, so that is going to take time.

Obviously, you have a number of people out there who want to know what happened, the public, but also the victim family members, those who worked at the facility, all that information needs to get out. It will be ensure -- we can expect law enforcement to be very conservative with the information that they're providing, at least at the outset.

The next phase that we move to is that investigation. Now that we've heard that the person is taken into custody, that will be a wealth of information. That all will be part of that long-term investigation.

TAPPER: All right. We have Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democratic senator from Maryland, standing by on the phone.

Senator, as you listen in, take a listen to Jessica Schneider. She's going to read some tweets from the courts and crime reporter Phil Davis who works for the "Capital Gazette" who's thankfully OK. He tweeted a couple things to describe the scene and I want to get your reaction.

Jessica, if you could read those tweets for us.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Jake.

You know, since we're getting so little information, these are especially chilling tweets. Two tweets from this court and crime reporter at "Capital Gazette," Phil Davis. So, let me read them for you right now. He describes what was happening in the newsroom.

His first tweet says, gunman shot through the glass door to the office, and opened fire on multiple employees. Can't say much more and don't want to declare anyone dead but it's bad.

The next tweet, he reflects a little bit more saying there's nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload.

We're monitoring his Twitter account. We haven't seen anymore tweets, but obviously a chilling and terrifying scene as described by this reporter for the "Capital Gazette" while he was in the newsroom as this gunman opened fire.

So, we are monitoring it to see if anymore tweets come out to give us anymore information as we also wait for more information from law enforcement.

But, Jake, very few words, yet very chilling, as well -- Jake.

TAPPER: Yes, that is haunting. Thank you, Jessica Schneider.

I want to bring Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland in.

Senator, first of all, what can you tell us? Have you been briefed? Do you know anything more about the status of the victims? How are people doing?

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND (via telephone): So, Jake, we have reached out to the law enforcement folks. Understandably, they're on the scene and a very rapidly developing situation. So, we don't have more information, anymore information than you already been reporting.

I do know the reporter, Phil Davis, who's been tweeting. You just cited his tweets. He is a great reporter. He does have the sort of crime beat, as well as many other beats and so, I think that's the most timely information we of course have out of this awful, awful situation.

This is part of an office building. The "Capital Gazette" offices are on the first floor. I have been there. They have the same kind of layout. Many news offices do. Very sort of open setting.

So our hearts and prayers go out to everybody. We've got to find a way to end the violence. Another hopeful tweet from Phil Davis was that the editor of "The Gazette", a fellow by the name of Rick Hudsel (ph) is fine. I can't confirm that. I only know that's what Phil Davis reported, and/or another reporter at "The Gazette" sent out.

So, we are getting our information at this point, from those tweets as we try to confirm the details with law enforcement.

TAPPER: Do you know anything about what manner or firearm was used, Senator?

VAN HOLLEN: I do not. All those kind of details are things we are still waiting on. You know, we had this earlier terrible shooting at a Maryland high school, not in Anne Arundel County, but in St. Mary's, Great Mills High School. And so, you know, Maryland has been really working hard at the state

legislative level and in partnership with all elected officials and community leaders to try to address the issue of gun violence. Let's get the facts here and see exactly what happened. But as we follow this situation, we're going to be reaching out obviously to law enforcement for the authoritative report. I can understand why they don't want to put anything out there until they're confident of the details.

TAPPER: No, obviously that makes sense. Senator, in the last few years, a lot of news organizations and a lot of journalists have had to get extra security as the environment against journalists and journalism has grown hostile.

[16:20:12] Obviously, we don't know anything about the motivations for this individual, for this shooter. But do you happen to know anything about the "Capital Gazette" security? Was it -- you described it as an open office setting. Was there security that you -- that you might encounter at -- if you went to a major metropolitan daily or was it pretty open?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, Jake, I haven't been there in the last year or so, so I don't know what the most up to date security situation is but, look, this was a suburban office building. It's not a place that, you know, has been on high alert. And, you know, my recollection is, you know, it doesn't have a high level of security at the building.

And, you know, once you get into the -- into the offices, of course, it is a very open setting. My understanding from the tweets of Phil Davis is the shots came from outside and again my only information, only source there is the reporting that Phil Davis, who is a very good reporter.

TAPPER: Senator Chris Van Hollen, thank you so much for calling in. We appreciate it. If you get anymore information, we would love to hear it. Obviously, we're concerned about brothers and sisters at the "Capital Gazette" today.

VAN HOLLEN: Yes, indeed. And as you said, Jake, it's an incredibly polarizing environment. We don't know the details here, but it is really important that everybody take safety measures into account.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator. Appreciate it.

VAN HOLLEN: Thank you.

TAPPER: I want to bring in Brian Stelter on the phone for us.

Brian, earlier I read a tweet from somebody, a reporter who grew up in the Annapolis area, who said the "Capital Gazette" is the kind of newspaper he drew a picture of his dad when he was a child and sent it in to "Capital Gazette" and they printed it on Father's Day. That it's that kind of community newspaper.

What can you tell us about the paper? STELTER (via telephone): Yes. I was thinking back to the days of the

state house in Annapolis. Sometimes the only reporter covering a committee meeting or covering an event at the state house is going to be a reporter from this newspaper. This is the kind of newspaper, the local community and the state of Maryland, depends on. There are multiple papers that are printed under the "Capital" and "Gazette" names and then, of course, as you mentioned, "The Baltimore Sun" and its parent owns the whole thing.

But this is really a local paper, with a couple of dozen staffers, editors, reporters and columnists, very well-known to the public. And to your point about security and whether anyone would expect security in the office, this was a location, an address, right by the mall well-known to readers, well, known to the public.

So, people would and could stop by. It's not like a giant paper where you have to go through security and get escorted upstairs. Whether -- no matter what happened here, this is the kind of tragedy that so many journalists have been fearing. Whether or not this was a targeted incident, the kind of thing that newsrooms have been having emergency drills about, and in this case, since the shots rang out in the early afternoon, this was obviously a busy time of day. We don't know exactly how many people were inside but we've been seeing them walking out of the building in these pictures, obviously a busy time of day in the newsroom and absolutely a disturbing scene unfolding.

TAPPER: I want bring in Jonathan Wackrow, who is a CNN law enforcement analyst, former Secret Service agent.

Jonathan, you lived and worked in Annapolis. You prepared active shooter response efforts there. What can you tell us?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (via telephone): Yes, actually, Jake, I've actually been to this building on numerous occasions. I have as a Secret Service agent worked with the Annapolis police, and Anna Arundel PD, Maryland state police on different protective measures at the Naval Academy, which is not too far away from here.

I can tell you that the coordinated response of an active shooter or hostile intruder situation by all these law enforcement agencies is very well-coordinated. They practice it a lot. Just because of the locality, the, you know, high threat environment that some of the buildings in the area are, naval academy, there's -- it's a high threat location so all of these, you know, agencies, you know, work together. They have a unified response to active shooter and hostile shooter situations.

From the medical standpoint, where you are looking at the building right now, there's a couple of considerations here. In the immediacy of the incident, you have people who are following the basic principles of an active shooter response, which is run, hide, fight. Run, get away from the threat as fast as possible. Hide, we saw the reporter hiding under his desk. Thankfully, we didn't have -- or it hasn't reported that anybody had to confront the shooter at all. You know, people who -- in these situations, it was reported that the

individual shot through glass, so you can have a lot of different types of injuries. That may present themselves, which also presents the walking wounded.

[16:25:01] Now, in this case you're literally right across from the street from the Anne Arundel Medical Center, probably a couple of hundred yards from the ER there. For the people that suffered gunshot wounds, you have one of the best in the country in Baltimore shock trauma. Very quick response. You can get victims right away to Baltimore shock trauma, which is a level one trauma center in Maryland, one of the best in the country.

TAPPER: All right. I want to bring back Jessica Schneider.

Jessica, the crime reporter for the "Capital Gazette". Phil Davis, you have been reading his tweets. He's providing very vivid descriptions. He was in the newsroom when the shooter came in, and started shooting, his colleagues. Tell us more about his tweets.

Has he been tweeting anything additional?

SCHNEIDER: Jake, he's been tweeting every few minutes and why we're looking at this is it's really the only first person perspective we are getting is from this particular reporter, a court and crimes reporter for this small community paper. And he's been tweeting several times, so the latest tweets is basically him saying he's OK. And he's talking to police right now so let's read them for you.

He just tweeted just a few minutes ago. He said I'm currently waiting to be interviewed by police so I'm safe and no longer at the office. And then he clarified one of the tweets of previously saying, okay, I was not tweeting from under my desk. I was already safe when I started tweeting. So that tweet just referring to some of the descriptions he had given in previous tweets when he said that he heard multiple people get shot while he was under his desk. He was describing the terrifying moments when he was hearing that gunman reload.

So really, some of these latest tweets clarifying where he was when he was tweeting. He said he wasn't under his desk. He was in fact safe.

But he is not giving anymore indication as to what else he saw. He did say that he saw multiple employees that were -- this gunman opened fire on. He said he couldn't say much more than that. He didn't want to predict whether or not people had been killed.

But this reporter really, Jake, the only person that we're really seeing giving us any first person perspective from inside that newsroom and what must have been a terrifying scene. You get a glimpse of it from these tweets when this reporter Phil Davis talks about the gunman loading, opening fire on multiple employees and then saying that that gunman initially started firing at the glass entryway to this "Capital Gazette" office. So, little by little, we are hearing more of the stories coming out over social media as these people are really just overcome with some of the trauma and the horrific nature of what happened to them.

This particular reporter saying that he's now talking to police. Jake, no doubt, giving them more information as to what exactly he saw so they can begin piecing together the pieces of all of this and then maybe giving out more information about what is transpired here to us in the media and then obviously to those concerned residents who are in that area. A lot of them being directed to go to the nearby mall, that's where police say they should be gathering, in addition to saying just stay away from the area because, obviously, Jake, this all unfolding and these tweets from this reporter giving us a bit of a glimpse how terrifying, chilling it was as this gunman entered this newsroom, opened fire on multiple employees and by this account from this reporter hiding under their desks until some semblance of help came for them -- Jake.

TAPPER: And Phil Davis providing detail at least from his witness point of view that there was only one shooter. One shooter that he saw.

Jessica Schneider, thanks so much.

I want to bring back CNN's Evan Perez.

And, Evan, let's just reset for a second what we know. We know there are fatalities, plural, according to your law enforcement sources, several casualties. We don't know how many that is. We're told that is not hundreds but that doesn't mean it couldn't be 20 or so or any other number.

What do we know about the weapon used?

PEREZ: At this point, again, it is early in the investigation. Jake, but we are told that authorities there believe that he used a shotgun. Now, that may be because they have recovered a shotgun at the scene and they have it in their hands and they believe that this is the weapon that the shooter used. We don't know exactly if he may have put it somewhere else, if he had used something else and hid that weapon somewhere else.

So, again, this is early in the investigation. And we're told at this point they believe that he used a shotgun and if you see Phil Davis the reporter for this newspaper, he describes that a gunman shot through the glass door, the office, and opened fire on multiple employees. You know, that's the scenario he paints and it is sort of lines up with what we're hearing from our sources who said that that is -- the scenario that unfolded.

And then they got these frantic calls from people in the building inside that newsroom reporting that there was an active shooting taking place. At this point, again, they believe the shooter who is in custody, who is now isolated there was using -- used a shotgun to carry out this shooting.