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Shooting at Washington Navy Yard

Aired September 16, 2013 - 11:00   ET

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

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

And I will say that I asked her, what's the typical security like in that building on that complex?

And she compared it to airport-style security, which in the post-9/11 world, I'm sure that many of the viewers across the country are used to experiencing at their own workplaces, X-ray machines for bags, and they also do metal detectors when they arrive.

So she said it's a very secure premises with multiple layers of security.

Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Todd Sperry, stand by. I know you're on the scene for us. Be careful.

Once again, At least 10 people have been injured, including two law enforcement officers. Police are not confirming reports of fatalities at this time at this shooting incident at the U.S. Navy Yard here in Washington, D.C.

Barbara Starr is our Pentagon correspondent. Barbara, you're getting more information. What are you picking up?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I want to get back to what Todd was saying about layers of security in this building and at the navy yard.

A U.S. Navy person who deals with this building regularly just explained to me that inside this building there are multiple layers of security.

Because of the work that they do, the classified work they do, there are multiple areas where you need a security pass to swipe into the area. There are security people throughout the building.

He is calling his friends, he tells me, who are on the upper floors of the building, talking to them, make sure they're safe. The military becomes a small family in these situations.

His friends are safe, but they are reporting that security people are throughout the building now, trying to ensure the safety of the people who are still there beyond these layers of security that are always there, Wolf.

And this is going to be the question. We've talked about it. Yes, a person can bring a weapon into an area and find a way to get it past security, but there's going to be an awful lot of questions about how this happened and how someone might have been able to move through such a building, armed and able to carry this act out, Wolf.

BLITZER: A lot of us have been to the U.S. Navy Yard, but the specific building, 197, inside the Naval Sea Systems Command, what do we know about the Naval Sea Systems Command?

What is that all about, Barbara?

STARR: Sure, Wolf. The Naval Sea Systems Command, you know, to many people, it might be a nameless, faceless bureaucracy, but it's a crucial part of the United States Navy.

These are the people that work on design, engineering, budgeting, financing of U.S. Navy warships, those ships that -- the surface warships, the submarines, the weapons, all of that.

This is really a crucial part of the U.S. naval presence around the world, so it's not really the operations, you know, putting those navy warships out in the Med right now for potential action against Syria.

These are people who have been working for years and years on the design and technology that the navy has to carry out its missions around the world.

Much of it is very classified and that, of course, is why you see this notion that there are multiple layers of security in the building.

This building sits right on the Washington Navy Yard. You and I have both been there. Multiple buildings on the Navy Yard, very historic, but very tight security.

There's a lot of high-level navy personnel that go in and out of there every day. There's a lot of navy sailors that go in and out of there every day.

There's a considerable effort always to keep everyone safe and, of course, it sits right in the middle of this Washington , D.C., neighborhood with homes and families and schools, so this incident in just three hours or so has rippled as a security incident across the nation's capital until they get it resolved, Wolf.

BLITZER: Obviously very, very disturbing information coming in. Barbara, stand by.

Joe Johns is on the scene for us. Where are you, Joe, and what are you picking up? JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. I'm about two blocks from one of the entrances to the Washington Navy Yard right now.

Just a few minutes ago we spoke with a woman who was inside when all of this started this morning inside the Washington Navy Yard. She said that at the very beginning she heard three shots, very distinct.

And at that time, a security guard came out and advised people who were in the area around the cafeteria to get moving, run as fast as you can, the security guard said, she said.

After that, she said she heard another series of shots, four shots at that time, a total of seven shots and then she left the building. She said she saw what essentially was pandemonium inside there.

She said she saw one woman who was in physical distress. She thought that woman might have been having a heart attack and the most important thing, of course, was just to get out of the building.

So a little bit more detail there on what it must have been like when all of this jumped off, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Joe, hold on a minute because we have some eyewitnesses who saw the shooting suspect. Let me play this clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire alarm went off first, and I was on the phone, and somebody came by my desk and said, hey, this is not a fire alarm. Somebody has been shot in the building.

So we went around, trying to get people out of the building, and as we were exiting the back door, we noticed him down the hall.

He stepped around the corner. We heard shots, and as he came around the corner, he aimed his gun at us and he fired at least two or three shots.

And we ran down the stairs to get out of the building. And after we left the building, there were still shots in the building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were having a business meeting. It was about twenty-after-eight, and we heard three sounds. It sounded like a table collapsing on the ground.

And we came out of the office and said, what was that, and about a minute later, we heard a very loud pop, which couldn't have been more that -- we estimated about a hundred feet away.

When that happened, everyone said, this is no drill. Go, go, go, emergency exits now. Go, go, go, go.

And a whole bunch of us were able to make it to the emergency exits and we heard several more shots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you were just having a meeting?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then we heard sounds, pops, but it sounded like a table. Nobody knew what it was. It sounded like a table just dropping onto the ground.

And the fourth shot, it was absolutely unmistakable. It was a loud gunshot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were just working at our desks, and the fire alarm went off, which, you know, occasionally there's a practice or there's a fire in the building.

And immediately there was an announcement that there was a fire emergency in the building, but our fire wardens came running very quickly, yelling for everyone to get out of the building now, and that's when we started moving.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And the Washington, D.C., metropolitan police spokesman Chris Kelly describes the suspect as an adult male, about six-feet-tall with a bald head, medium complexion dressed in a black top and black jeans.

We're awaiting, momentarily now, a news conference. The D.C. metro police department are about to brief all of us on what they can right now.

At least 10 people have been shot, including two law enforcement officers. But as you know, there are reports of fatalities as well. We have not yet completely confirmed those reports, so stand by.

We expect to get all of the latest information momentarily from the D.C. metro police department news conference.

I expect Cathy Lanier, the police chief here in Washington, D.C., to be briefing reporters. We'll have live coverage of that in a few moments.

Joe Johns is standing by. Joe, what else do we know, if anything, about this suspect, the shooter?

JOHNS: Very little. The repeated descriptions from eyewitnesses -- of course, eyewitnesses can be wrong -- is that this individual was tall, apparently in total black and carrying firearms and that's about it.

There was a report of a long gun, and we don't know what type --

BLITZER: Joe, hold on a second because I think that D.C. metro police department -- actually, never mind.

Once again, we're getting conflicting information over here, Joe, so go ahead. Finish your thought.

JOHNS: All right, no, that was about it.

If you were looking at the camera here at the staging area, the person who was at the microphone a moment ago was a pastor from a church which is just across the way here, encouraging people to pray for the victims.

But, yes, we're waiting for that news conference from the police to try to get some detail from the authority about the state of play over there because there's so many questions about just what are the locations that are secure, Wolf.

BLITZER: And set the scene for us, Joe. The area, you're about a block or a block-and-a-half away from one of the entrances to the U.S. Navy Yard here in Washington, D.C.

Set the scene for us. How intense is the police presence?

JOHNS: It's tremendous, in fact, Wolf, a variety of law enforcement helicopters in the air. We've seen tons of police vehicles on the ground. U.S. Park Police is here.

Inside the perimeter, I got a pretty good view over the -- just a while ago, a huge police presence inside, a number of police cars with lights, people moving back and forth.

Not too long ago I saw people who appeared to be ducking as they were moving outside the building.

You also could see authorities with long guns inside the perimeter and probably the most interesting thing I saw was a number of SUVs, sports utility vehicles, with police markings on them, pulling into the gate, and some of those police markings indicated that there were police dogs inside the vehicle.

So, of course, the question would be whether the authorities had any reason to actually try to go from office to office or door to door and dogs could be a part of that, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, stand by, Joe. Evan Perez, our CNN justice reporter, also is on the scene for us.

Evan, tell us what you are learning.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Hi, Wolf. We're told that the ATF has sent in their SRT, which is their special response team, the same one that helped take down the Boston bomber, the surviving Boston bomber, at the scene there in the boat, if you recall.

That same team has been sent down to try to help with the FBI, with the metropolitan police and with the navy officials that are all trying to secure this scene. As I think we've already reported, you know, there is still a very fluid scene. They are trying to secure people. They're trying to get people outside of those -- of the buildings.

I've been communicating with someone who's in a building nearby inside the navy yard and has basically told me that they are all locked in. They've been -- they've got everyone is away from the windows. They are being told to just stay put until the police are able to secure everything.

BLITZER: So as far as you know, Evan, and you've been checking with all of your sources, the shooter is still holed up someplace in one of those buildings around Building 197 at the Naval Sea Systems Command at the U.S. Navy Yard here in Washington, D.C.

But there's a multiple -- there's a multitude, shall we say, of law enforcement agencies on the scene. You mentioned the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms. I assume the FBI. I assume the U.S. military police, D.C. metropolitan police. It looks like everybody has moved into this area, Evan.

PEREZ: Yes, that's right, Wolf. I think, there's a very -- this is an area in Washington because of obviously of all of the different threats that are faced with the federal government and the military facilities in this area, they are very well practiced on this stuff.

The D.C. police, for instance, does a lot of drills. They roll out on multiple reports of bags that are left unguarded or unattended near metro stations or in -- outside of public buildings.

I mean, multiple times a day these guys roll out to try to secure scenes, so this is something that they are well practiced in.

The joint terrorism task force is part of this as well. They -- this is a grouping of the federal agencies and the local police of this entire area and they are all well practiced in trying to secure places like this.

Now, obviously with 3,000 people in this facility, it's a lot more difficult because you want to make sure you protect people, keep them locked down and then get people from the building that is where this shooter is reported to be.

BLITZER: Evan Perez, all right, stand by. Brian Todd is also on the scene for us.

Brian, what are you learning?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we can report that six local schools in this general area are on lockdown as well as one school administrative building.

And to reiterate what Evan said, it's just a very, very heavy police presence. We -- if our photojournalist Mark Walls (ph) can pan to his left a little bit, we can see some of these squad cars around here. We've just seen metropolitan police reinforcements kind of come in this way. There's a camera crew here, but you can shoot past that. We've seen metropolitan police here. We've seen FBI here.

Evan just reported the presence of ATF officers, military police, as you mentioned. Capitol Hill police have been in the area as well. So extremely heavy law enforcement presence here at the Washington Navy Yard.

Again, some detail that we can give viewers is that the shooting apparently occurred in the Naval Sea Systems Command building, Building 197 of this complex, the Washington Navy Yard.

About 3,000 people work here. We can take a shot of this chopper right here, if we can. This apparently is a -- some kind of a rescue chopper, and we've seen kind of a rescue basket or something either hanging from it or just along the side of the entrance there.

That chopper has been circling very, very close to the scene, close to the ground but not really -- has not really descended at all. He's -- that's about as low as we've seen him go, so that is kind of an interesting development with that.

That particular chopper has been circling around, but we've also seen a chopper with a police sniper, apparently, with his scope at the ready.

Again, multiple law enforcement agencies, Wolf, we're told, again, as you've been mentioning, that we're going to hear from metropolitan police chief, Cathy Lanier, any time now regarding potential casualties.

We know that there are at least 10 people injured, including at least two law enforcement officers, one of them from the metropolitan police, possibly the other one a base police officer.

But again, some of these details we're trying to get confirmed, Wolf, as far as the injuries. But at least 10 we're told of at this time.

BLITZER: Brian, hold on a minute because momentarily, as you point out, we're expecting to get this news conference from the D.C. metropolitan police department. We assume it will be the police chief Cathy Lanier, who will be briefing us. We know that some of the injured have already been moved to the hospitals in the D.C. area. We're getting those reports coming in. We'll stand by and for the live news conference. We'll get information. At least ten people have been injured, including two law enforcement officers. There are reports of fatalities. We have not reported that yet. We'll stand by for that as well.

Tom Fuentes, our CNN law enforcement analyst is on the phone joining us right now. Tom, there seems to be every federal -- I shouldn't say state. Every federal and local police jurisdiction on the scene, including the FBI where you used to be the assistant FBI director, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms. I'm sure U.S. military police officers from the Navy and other agencies, presumably there as well. Who takes charge of a shooting incident like this on the base, the U.S. Navy yard, the naval sea systems command building?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, in this case, Wolf, it's probably the FBI would take the lead but it's kind of -- you know, it's kind of a group effort anyway. You're going to have a command post set up. It's going to have, you know, the heads of the metro police department, FBI, ATF, military law enforcement assets. So, they are all going to be working together there, trying to resolve the issue. But as far as the who is in charge or who would prosecute the case, that usually isn't the main issue at this point. Who's in charge part is kind of an issue because you do have to have command and control of a scene but as far as all of the agencies, they all would be working together to try to secure the perimeters and then even after the incident appears to be resolved you're going to have a massive undertaking to search all of those buildings, every room, every closet to see if employees who heard the shots locked themselves in a closet and aren't coming out and don't know what is happening outside.

BLITZER: We've just been told, Tom, that D.C. police are saying families can reunite with their loved ones who may have been inside the U.S. Navy yard. They can walk over. It's not very far away over to Washington Nationals Park where the major league baseball teams play. They set up special facilities in parking lot B over at Washington Nationals Park a few blocks away from the U.S. Navy Yard. So they can go over there and reunite with their loved ones. The fact that this individual is described as someone dressed in a black top, black jeans, what does that say, if anything, about a possible motive or whatever? Can we begin to draw any initial conclusions? I want to alert our viewers, sometimes these initial conclusions can obviously be very, very wrong.

FUENTES: I don't think it says much at this point. That could just be someone in casual clothes and they dressed that way, happened to wear a black shirt, black jeans to work that day, if it's an employee or other people that might be on that base. It could be some type of a maybe a tactical uniform of some sort. We don't know. Again, eyewitness accounts are going to be very uncertain at this point when they are looking down the hallway at someone pointing a gun at them and then that person starts shooting at them. So we don't have a real clear description that's been confirmed of exactly what the shooter looked like or what they were wearing, but we have a general idea from what the witnesses have said. But again, witness accounts are not reliable, especially when you're being shot at.

BLITZER: Obviously. You heard Evan Perez, our justice reporter, tell us that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, ad Firearms has already sent a team of about 20 special agents to help authorities as they work to contain this shooting at the Washington Navy yard. This is the same team that helped apprehend the Boston marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. It happened at the nation's capital. They have all of these agencies there, so immediately they in effect flood the zone. Is that right, Tom?

FUENTES: That's true. You'd have no shortage of bosses, commanders, executives, as well as the actual tactical teams involved from ATF's team, the U.S. marshals, the metro police, the FBI's hostage rescue team is based in Quantico, just about 40 miles south of Washington, and had plenty of time to arrive at the scene, as well as the FBI's Washington field office.

So the number of assets that would be able to be brought to bear here would be a lot. They can bring in a lot of people, and in that kind of a complex, you would need them because, again, they have to make sure not just that one building, building 197, is secure eventually or at least contained to that building but they are going to have to check every building in the whole Navy yard before this day is over.

BLITZER: Tom Fuentes is the former FBI assistant director, now a CNN legal -- law enforcement analyst. Tom, hold on a minute. I want to go to CNN's Rene Marsh. She's on the scene for us at the U.S. navy yard.

Rene, tell us where you are. I understand you have someone who heard what was going on at 8:20 a.m. eastern when shots were fired?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, that's right, Wolf. We're standing here right now here with Patricia Ward. She was inside that very building when shots broke out and I want to talk to you a little bit. Tell me about what you heard and what happened after the shots rang out.

PATRICIA WARD, WITNESSED SHOOTING: Okay. It was about 8:20 in the morning. I was going to the cafeteria to get something to eat and I heard three shots, pow, pow, pow. Thirty seconds later I heard four more shots and a couple of us in the cafeteria knew they were shots and started panicking and then we was trying to decide which way we were going to run out.

MARSH: Were the shots rapid shots? Can you describe the speed of them and what happened after you heard the shots?

WARD: The first three was like pow, pow, pow and then a few seconds later, it was like pow, pow, pow. I heard a total of seven shots. It might have been much more than that. (INAUDIBLE)

MARSH: (INAUDIBLE) And then everyone started to run. You were pretty frantic at the time you heard the shots?

WARD: Right. We knew it wasn't something that had fallen on the floor. It was all too clear. Everyone that was in the cafeteria was trying to run in the back. The workers in the cafeteria told us to get in the back. I refused. I wanted to get out of the building. We ran on the side of the building where security was and she was outside and she told us to run as far as we could and she had a gun drawn. Someone had pulled the fire alarm and the next thing I heard was police sirens. It happened so fast.

MARSH: Was it an organized evacuation?

WARD: From my perspective, the ones in the cafeteria, were able to handle it. We got out safely. Like I said, a lot of people were just panicking and there were no screams because we were in shock. MARSH: So, I can tell you, Wolf, you can see that there's a wide, wide circle of media here as we await a police briefing on what they know, what they still do not know. It's still very much an active scene. You heard a chopper passing over our head a second ago. So, of course, once this presser begins we'll get that to you as soon as possible. Back to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Rene, you're there. We expect the D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier to show up where you are?

I don't think she can hear me.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Yeah, Rene, I don't know if you can hear me, but Cathy Lanier, the D.C. police chief, will she be reporting -- answering reporters' questions at the news conference we expect fairly soon?

MARSH: Well, what we know, Wolf, we haven't gotten word exactly who will be speaking to us and briefing us here. We also don't have a time frame. We've been asking how long it will take before they can actually come and brief us. Again, no timeline on that. We will sit and wait. As soon as we get that, we will pop up those pictures live.

BLITZER: Rene Marsh, thanks very much. We'll of course have live coverage of that news conference from D.C. metro police as soon as it begins. You can see all of the police officers, local police from the Distinct of Columbia, certainly from the FBI, certainly from the U.S. military.

If you're just following, if you're just following the breaking news, just tuning in, let me update you on what's going on right now. An active shooter is inside the Washington Navy yard right here in the nation's capital. At least ten people have been injured, including two law enforcement officers. It all began around 8:20 a.m. eastern, about three hours or so ago when the shooter fired several shots inside the headquarters for what's called the naval sea systems command. He's still in the building.

So that's what we have for you. All of the latest information there. It's obviously an ongoing situation, a very tense situation and we are trying to get as much information for you as possible. We're checking with our sources from the U.S. Navy over at the Pentagon, certainly with the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms as well as the D.C. metropolitan police department.

Tom Fuentes, our CNN law enforcement analyst has been helping us, and we have a team of reporters on the scene. And just to update you, if you're not familiar with this area of the Washington -- in the Washington, D.C., area, the U.S. Navy yard is right in the district of Columbia. It's not very far away from Capitol Hill. You can see the Navy yard at the bottom of your screen.

Capitol Hill, the U.S. capital, not very far away, certainly not the -- the White House not very far away either. It's very close. It's literally right next door to Washington Nationals Park, the home of the Washington Nationals baseball team and right across the street from the Reagan International Airport here in Washington, D.C.

All of the area has been basically shut down around the Navy yard. So we're trying to get all of the latest information for you right now.

Let's bring in David Katz. He's joining us from New York. He's a security expert. When you see what's going on, David, what goes through your mind?

DAVID KATZ, FOUNDER AND CEO GLOBAL SECURITY GROUP, INC: Well, this is going to be an extremely chaotic situation for certain. You have a multiple number of agencies, both federal and local and there is a concept called unified command but it does take a little while until all of the bosses to get together and make a plan of action. The basic idea right now is to keep people locked down. You don't want them moving around and evacuating just yet until you at least identify where the bad guy is, have him pinned down so you can evacuate people safely. So, right now, it's a matter of containment and trying to deny him more victims and try to get as much information as they possibly can before they act.

BLITZER: Would they presumably, David, start some negotiation with the shooter?

KATZ: Well, they would try that. It's possible. At this point now, I see reports that he has barricaded someplace. Have they made contact with him? Does he have any demands, or is he just a wanton killer? That's up in the air. Is there one shooter? Are there multiple shooters? How is he armed? There's little bit of - there's a lack of information and typically that would be a tactic if he's willing to talk but right now it seems that he's on the move and quite a danger. And by the way, I think I would agree with Mr. Fuentes that the FBI is probably going to take a lead. The FBI hostage rescue team is based out of Quantico Virginia. It's only 45 minutes by car real fast. They have helicopters, so I imagine you'll be seeing them. Either they're on the scene now, or they are gearing up and will be here shortly.

BLITZER: Out of abundance of caution, they presumably shut down the entire area. The Department of Transportation is next door. All of the schools in the area, they have all been put down on lockdown. There you can see Brian Todd. I want to come to Brian right now. What are you learning?

TODD: Well, Wolf, we've just seen a lot of activity down this street. This is down 11th street. You can see a couple of officers rushing down the street toward those flashing lights. That's the FBI's mobile command center. You can see officers rushing down there. We saw at least four S.W.A.T. team members with helmets on and what appeared to be night vision goggles with full tactical gear on, down there and then they kind of disappeared I believe over to our right where the Navy yard perimeter exists right there.

You can see those officers rushing down there. And then to my left, to your right you see some Washington, D.C. police officers with some tactical gear and some semiautomatic weapons. These are I think the same officers that came down this area before now heading back towards the main entrance of the Navy yard. So that's what we can tell you right now.

A little bit of a buzz here, activity here. Not sure exactly what that means but, again, we know that this is a very fluid situation with one shooter at least, and the disposition of that shooter is not clear at this point. We're expected to hear from the D.C. Police chief Cathy Lanier very soon. One of the officers just told us that she is going to be briefing soon. We've seen some tactical vehicles moving around here, some officers with tactical gear on. Full S.W.A.T team gear, some night vision. Our photojournalist Mark saw them with his camera lens down this street.

This is now blocked by the fire truck but that's the direction that we saw this. I couldn't see it with my naked eye but Mark saw it with his lens.

And again, just a massive police presence here with helicopters swarming all over the place as well. We can tell you that six local schools and one administrative building are on lockdown.

Again, the situation's still very fluid situation. and that could be a reason why the police chief has not come out and briefed just yet. But again, down here is where we just saw the FBI's mobile command center move down 11th street down towards this possible entrance of the Navy yard, towards that area of the perimeter. A very active situation here, Wolf. A U.S. marshal is coming over here with riot gear on. He's heading down that way. So a real swarm of activity here, Wolf, as the situation remains very, very active.

BLITZER: Obviously. Brian, stand by. Barbara Starr is our Pentagon correspondent. She's getting more information. What are you picking up, Barbara?

STARR: Wolf, a named Ed Zeigler, who is a chief spokesman at the Navy yard has told CNN, and I want to be very careful with the wording here, that two shooters are down. That's the word from this spokesman for the Navy yard. Pardon me.

What that means, we're still trying to determine. We don't know if they are killed, in custody, wounded. But he says two shooters, two suspects, down. He is also saying now that there are multiple deaths, but that our understanding is that it does not involve the D.C. metropolitan police officer who appears to have been shot in this incident.