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Shootings at Washington Navy Shipyard.

Aired September 16, 2013 - 11:30   ET

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

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: 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.

If, in fact, it turns out, as Ed Zeigler says, there are multiple shooters, too, this becomes a very different situation, because then you would have had the elements, frankly, of some sort of conspiracy, to use the word broadly, two people talking about carrying out this event, two people planning together to carry out some sort of an event. So this becomes an even more serious situation for the military and for security officials to understand as rapidly as they can what exactly they are dealing with here.

We do want to repeat, of course, that information is sketchy, rapidly changing situation. We have also confirmed that the chief of naval operations, Admiral Jonathan Greener (ph), was at his residence at the Navy Yard when this unfolded and he was evacuated -- Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I was going to ask you earlier, there are senior naval personnel, admirals who live on the U.S. Navy Yard. That's where their residences are. Do you know how many people live there, Barbara, approximately?

STARR: There are a good handful or more. I don't have an exact number of residences there. And we're also told that, besides Admiral Greener (ph), the four-star head of the U.S. Navy, the three-star admiral who has the Navy Sea Systems Command, this building were this happened, he was evacuated out very quickly. The command center at the Navy Yard, the incident command center was emptied out, evacuated. Its location has been moved.

But also, Wolf, of course, as you know, a number of very junior people, civilians, junior Navy personnel, the whole range of U.S. military and civilian personnel of all ranks come to work at the Navy Yard every day. And this is in the middle of a Washington, D.C., neighborhood -- families, children, schools, all of it. So this has rapidly impacted across the board across Washington, D.C., this morning -- Wolf?

BLITZER: And you heard Barbara quote Ed Zeigler, the director of public affairs for the naval district of Washington, D.C., that two shooters are down at the D.C. Navy Yard but it's unclear what that exactly means. According to Zeigler, there have been multiple deaths at the U.S. Navy Yard. All right. Let me bring in Joe Johns. He's on the scene for us as well.

What else are you picking up, Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it's difficult to assess what is going on but we've seen a very large movement of law enforcement authorities from a variety of different organizations, all moving south on M Street Southwest in the direction of the river, the Potomac River, and taking a left, going further into southwest Washington. So the question is, why these police officers are moving at such a rapid speed with lights and sirens and appear to be headed to perhaps a second location. But certainly it doesn't appear to be, from what I can tell, a second entrance into the Washington Navy Yard. So, you know, our question right now is whether there is a second location that suddenly police have a whole lot of interest in right now -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Joe, hold on a minute.

Our CNN producer, Todd Sperry, is getting some information. He's on the scene for us as well.

Todd, what are you learning?

TODD SPERRY, CNN PRODUCER: Wolf, I'm about a block and a half north of the scene here. And as these vehicles are going to that other scene, we've seen NCIS agents and ATF agents and also Homeland Security Canine Unit. They are actually moving away and are kind of running and the vehicles that were driving by were rapidly changing location. This area right here --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Hold on a minute. Hold on a minute, Todd, because there's a news conference over at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center that's under way. I just want to listen in.

(BEGIN LIVE FEED)

JANIS ORLOWSKI, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, MEDSTAR WASHINGTON HOSPITAL CENTER: -- Individuals who were at the scene. We understand that there are still more victims. And we are not sure as yet how many individuals will be coming to our hospital.

Those that have come to the trauma bay are alert, they are responsive, they are able to talk to us. They do have severe injuries but we've been able to speak with all of them. They have not been able to tell us what happened to them because of the pain and distress that they suffered from this morning.

We'll have more information later but I chose to come out and talk to you at this time so you'd have an opportunity to hear what we know as of right now.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you confirm that there are two police officers, including those wounded, being treated here?

ORLOWSKI: No, sir. There is one Metropolitan Police officer who is here. The other two are civilians who are here. We understand that there is potentially a second Metropolitan Police officer at the scene but we have no confirmation about that.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Would you say that they are in critical condition right now?

ORLOWSKI: They are in critical condition.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you describe their conditions?

ORLOWSKI: In order to maintain privacy, I'm going to be very brief about it. We have a gentleman who is -- who has multiple gunshot wounds to his legs. His injuries involve bones and the blood vessels of his lower legs. We have another individual who was shot in the shoulder and we have a third individual who just arrived who had a gunshot wound to the head and to the hand.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You've got male and females?

(CROSSTALK)

ORLOWSKI: Male, the first one; female, female.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is it fair to say that their chances of survival are pretty good then?

ORLOWSKI: Their chances of survival are very good.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: For all three?

ORLOWSKI: For all three, yes. And again, we have -- as you know we are pretty darn experienced at this. We've got -- right now this morning, we have a number of teams in the trauma bay. We've actually been able to bring in two of our helicopter crews as well. So we have plenty of folks who are here. We are just in the process -- the operating room is ready for these individuals. Because of our trauma status, we always have trauma rooms that are available in the operating room. So I have surgeons, nurses, I have trauma specialists. We've got the blood bank in the operating room, all open, all ready.

We have been in communication with those individuals at the scene and we're telling them that we can take an additional eight to 10 individuals here at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. We are not sure if we will get that many but they have told us that they believe that there will be more victims coming.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did they say what kind --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did the helicopters move from the hospital to the scene? ORLOWSKI: The helicopters that have brought the victims insofar have been Park Police helicopter and a Maryland State Police helicopter. There are other helicopters at the scene right now. We are aware of that. But we're not sure who will be transporting. There's an initial report of individuals who were on the roof. There was an individual taken from the roof. And the others were individuals who were trying to be undercover on the roof. So the original report of the number of injured on the roof is being modified right now. Again, it's a very fluid situation. We really are just going minute by minute right now.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you know what kind of gun was used? A semiautomatic weapon?

ORLOWSKI: I would tell you from the reports of the victims, it was -- it had to be a semiautomatic because they are talking about gunshots that they heard in rapid succession. So I have no more information. We, of course, will get bullet fragments and have more information. And they will at the scene as well. But I don't have any more information right now.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you know if it was a male or female?

ORLOWSKI: The D.C. police officer is a male. And I can't go into any other information right now regarding him. But he is the gentleman who's in the operating room right now.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Could you tell us again the injuries of the women, what are their wounds?

ORLOWSKI: The -- there is a woman who has a gunshot wound to the shoulder and there's a woman who has a gunshot wound to the head and her hand.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Has law enforcement tried to interview them at all?

ORLOWSKI: Yes, we have law enforcement in. They always wait until we tell them but they have had a chance to very briefly talk to the officers. We have been able to speak with their loved ones and they were also able to speak briefly with law officers before they've gone off to the operating room.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have they told you guys anything that you can tell us about what happened?

ORLOWSKI: No.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And you say a woman is ready to go into surgery?

ORLOWSKI: They are on their way to surgery, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Which of the injuries? The shoulder -- ORLOWSKI: The young lady with a gunshot wound to the head we're just assessing right now. Obviously we'll make a triage decision. We'll have to see.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are there any other hospitals where wounded are being taken?

ORLOWSKI: I'm not aware. We have been in contact with our colleagues in the city. We all are standing up in order to receive information who are gunshot victims but I'm not aware if anyone else has received any. So we have three -- so we have -- as I said, we have three individuals and we're told to expect more.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How many? Do you have any idea?

ORLOWSKI: No idea.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

ORLOWSKI: Yes. There's additional security here at the hospital. Whenever we have an incident of this type, we partner with on this campus, the Children's Hospital and the V.A. Hospital and our officers have stood up and we are -- have a much tighter perimeter to our campus right now and that will continue during at least for the next day or so.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We understand you can't give names but we know that the male was a D.C. Metropolitan Police officer. Can you describe the women? Were they employees at the Navy Yard?

ORLOWSKI: You know, sir, I'm not sure what their relationship with the Navy Yard is. So I don't have that information to tell you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you tell us if they were wounded inside the Navy Yard?

ORLOWSKI: They were.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And all of them are alert and speaking?

ORLOWSKI: All of them are alert and speaking at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Those who may be just tuning in, can you give us a summary of the headline?

ORLOWSKI: So tragedy at the Navy Yards. Multiple individuals have been shot. We have a report of individuals who have died at the scene. And we have a transportation of three gunshot victims to our hospital at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How many died at the scene -- did you say died at the scene?

ORLOWSKI: We understand that there are individuals at the scene who will not be transported because they are deceased.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you have any idea of the number?

ORLOWSKI: I don't know the number. I'm not confident of the number in order to say.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Would you be briefing us again?

ORLOWSKI: We will be briefing you again.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you very much.

ORLOWSKI: Sure. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: That officer --

(END LIVE FEED)

BLITZER: Janet Orlowski from the MedStar Washington Hospital Center, saying three individuals have been brought to the MedStar Washington Hospital Center, including one law enforcement officer. They will survive, she says, but in various stages of condition right now. She does confirm there are fatalities. She doesn't say how many fatalities. We're getting that now from multiple sources.

Brian Todd is on the scene for us.

You're getting more information. Brian, we saw a lot of activity just a few moments ago. SWAT teams and others moving quickly towards that area. What are you seeing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. We can tell you exactly where they were moving from and to. They were coming up 11th Street Southeast. We were at the northeast corner of the Navy Yard. These vehicles came up 11th Street and made a swift U-turn onto that ramp of 295 heading south. Multiple police vehicles, at least two ambulances that we saw just streaming south and then heading -- we saw them from a distance heading down south towards another base installation that is south of here. Not sure what all of that means but there's a lot of activity here and multiple vehicles heading from the Navy Yard south on to 95. So a lot of activity here. Again, a very fluid situation. Not sure what many of that means.

But still a very heavy presence here at the Navy Yard. You've got police in tactical gear down here. The FBI mobile command center is set up down the street here. Again, this is heading south towards another entrance of the Navy Yard where we know now there have been multiple victims of the shooting. You heard the hospital spokesperson a short time ago confirm there were fatalities here. Not sure of the number but the shooting took place in the Naval Sea Systems Command Center Building, Building 197, where there was one shooter confirmed. The disposition of that shooter, we are not clear yet. We were told a short time ago that's it is a fluid, active scene. But we can tell you, Wolf, just a short time ago, as the choppers were still swarming around here, multiple police vehicles, tactical and ambulances come from the Navy Yard heading south that way, towards another direction, basically south on Route 295. So not quite sure what that means at this moment.

BLITZER: All right. Brian.

We just got a little statement from George Little, the Pentagon press secretary: "We believe there has been loss of life and several injuries. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved."

The president of the United States getting ready to speak over at the White House. We're going to be monitoring what the president is going to be speaking about. He was supposed to be originally outside but it's been moved inside. The subject at hand, the financial crisis, five years later, referring to the serious collapse of the U.S. economy exactly five years ago today with the collapse of Lehman Brothers among other financial institutions. The president wanted to update all of us five years later where the U.S. economy stands. He may say something presumably about what is going on in Washington. We'll monitor, of course, what the president has to say. We'll take some of his remarks clearly. We'll bring it to you live.

But we want to alert you that the president may be speaking about what's happening not very far away from the White House over at the U.S. Navy Yard, only a few miles away right here in the District of Columbia. Reports of fatalities, reports of several injuries and according to a spokesman for the U.S. Navy here in the D.C., Washington district, Washington, D.C. area, Ed Zeigler saying two shooters, quote, "are down at the D.C. Navy Yard." But he's not able to confirm if they have been taken into custody or killed. The words "are down" is unclear. Zeigler does tells CNN there have been, quote, "multiple deaths at the Navy Yard," and obviously multiple injuries as well.

Let's go back to Brian Todd. He's on the scene for us.

Brian, multiple deaths, multiple injuries. Two shooters, not one, two shooters are down. We don't know what that means, "are down," but I'm assuming you're trying to get more information where you are?

TODD: We are, Wolf. We're trying to get more information and, of course, waiting for a police briefing from D.C. police chief, Cathy Lanier. We're told that could come at any moment.

We have now, at least two shooters, according to the spokesperson you just cited, two shooters down. Here at the Navy Yard, again, I have to reiterate, we have just seen multiple police vehicles circle away with a lot of urgency heading on to 295 south along with ambulances. What that means is not clear. We have seen multiple tactical officers heading down this street with tactical gear on and also coming back up the street and heading down M Street down here. We are at the northeast corner of the Navy Yard right now where there is a lot of police activity. More vehicles are coming in as we speak.

What we can tell you is multiple victims. The hospital spokeswoman just cited multiple victims, multiple injuries, and there are some fatalities here. We're not sure how many. We'll get those numbers as soon as we can.

But this has been a very, very heavy law enforcement presence here.

Mark, I don't know if you can take a shot of that helicopter.

That particular chopper -- I believe that's a Park Police chopper, if I'm not mistaken -- has just been circling fairly low over the Navy Yard and over that one specific location.

Again, we know that the shooting took place in the Naval Sea Systems Command Building 197. That's what officials have told us this morning. I'm not sure if that building is at that particular location where that chopper has been circling.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Hold on, Brian.

TODD: We'll get more information soon -- Wolf?

BLITZER: There's a news conference under way right now. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN LIVE FEED)

GWENDOLYN CRUMP, SPOKESWOMAN: My name is spelled G-W-E-N-D-O-L-Y-N, Crump, C-R-U-M-P. OK. That's all the information I have at this time. Chief Lanier, the major, the deputy mayor and others will give you an update here in 20 minutes. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you.

(END LIVE FEED)

BLITZER: There you heard a spokeswoman for the mayor, the police chief here in Washington. They will update us in about 20 minutes or so. We'll have live coverage. Anxious to hear from authorities, District of Columbia authorities, federal authorities, U.S. military personnel. All of them will presumably be briefing us. We'll have live coverage. That's coming up.

Let's go over to Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

This occurred at the U.S. Naval Yard, the Navy Sea Systems Command Building 197. Multiple fatalities, multiple injuries. What else are you learning, Barbara?

STARR: Wolf, first reports often very sketchy. But now a senior U.S. Navy official tells me that they now believe one shooter at least, one shooter is dead. That is the word that he hears, that he expects law enforcement authorities to make public shortly. So that information appears to have developed in the last few minutes.

As to this question of whether there are multiple shooters, a different Navy official who works at the Navy Yard, Ed Zeigler, he says that they believe that there are two shooters down. He's not saying what that means -- dead or wounded or in custody -- but two shooters down.

Now, let's try and help people understand why there may be this conflicting information. We're here at the Pentagon. Senior Navy officials here at the Pentagon getting the word from law enforcement, from Navy officials at the scene, at the yard, information very difficult to confirm for them. They're being very cautious, very deliberate about what they are telling reporters. They want to make sure they get it right. That is why this one senior officer telling me one shooter is dead. The word about two shooters being down, coming from officials on scene at the yard. We expect, of course, much of this to be resolved when the police department shortly comes out and has their press conference.

Also, several wounded. They believe there are several wounded and several fatalities. Then they will be discussing that in further detail.

But as we see so often in these incidents, people start using a lot of numbers, a lot of statistics. These are families, these are people involved in all of this. Families, of course, watching. We want to be very careful what we say and make sure we're absolutely as precise as we can possibly be. And at this hour, the information still changing, still fluid. Trying to get the facts as fast as we can -- Wolf?

BLITZER: These kinds of shooting incidents, Barbara -- correct me if I'm wrong -- at U.S. military bases across the United States, they're pretty extraordinary. They don't happen very often. Of course, Ft. Hood, Texas, a lot of us remember that incident. But this is pretty extraordinary. Isn't it?

STARR: Well, it is. They do happen, as you say. Not very often, not of this magnitude, and certainly not here in the nation's capital, perhaps a mile or two from the White House, a mile or two from capitol hill. Grabbing the attention of everyone this morning. We are only a few days past is the 9/11 attacks here in Washington, D.C. This is a city that is well trained and well practiced with local law enforcement, FBI, local police departments, the U.S. Military across the city in responding to these kinds of crises.

If there are two shooters, Wolf, if that problems to be correct, it is going to be the most significant fact. It is going to mean that two people conspired to carry out this attack, that they talked about it ahead of time, that they planned it ahead of time, even if it was just a short period ahead of time, that they had a plan to do this. How anybody managed to do this at the Washington Navy Yard is the question to be addressed.

Look, you have to have clearance. You have to have an escort if you don't work for the Navy. If you work for the Navy, you have a sticker in your car that lets you on. I don't think it's a stretch to say that security measures can be gotten around. You could have all the authority in the world to be on the installation, and if you have a weapon in your car, security personnel at the gate might not, probably would not know that. So these are all the issues that will be looked at. How did one gunman, possibly two -- we don't know yet -- get past security into the Navy Yard? But once they got into this building, Wolf, within that building, we are told adamantly, there are multiple layers of security in that building because they carry on a good deal of classified work. If you want to go into certain areas, you have to have a pass. You know, computer, swipe yourself into the area. You have to be authorized. There's security at the doors. So this is -- this is just a very big mystery at the moment. Something that law enforcement and the U.S. military, as well as the FBI is going to want to figure out as quickly as they can -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Obviously, indeed. The situation still unfolding. Details coming in.

Once again, the president was supposed to speak a few minutes ago. He's obviously running a little bit late. He's over at the White House. You see at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen the podium there inside the White House. He wants to speak about the financial crisis here in the United States, five years later. Today marks five years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, other major U.S. financial institutions, the start of that deep, deep recession where the country has moved over these last five years. We're awaiting the president. Maybe he'll open his remarks with some comments about this unfolding drama not very far away from where he is at the U.S. Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.

Jake Tapper is on the scene for us now.

Jake, where are you? What are you seeing? What are you learning?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I'm right at the corner of 3rd and M Southeast right near the Washington Naval Yard. Wolf, we are right outside where there is a scrum of reporters waiting for a briefing. We expect in about 15 minutes or so from the Metropolitan Police Department chief here in Washington, D.C., Cathy Lanier, who we're told will brief in about 15 minutes.

Earlier, we were told by a spokesman for the naval district that there were two shooters. They are down. What that means exactly we're not exactly sure whether they're in custody or killed. But we've been told those two shooters are down. And, of course, we've been told about multiple deaths.

There have been a lot of rumors flying, as I'm sure you know in situations like this. A lot of the early information is wrong, even if it comes from authorities because the situation is so fluid and so chaotic. But one of the things we've been told, there was a rumor going around there was another shooting at another military base. A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Department said that is not true. Do not report that. Do not give that report any credence. So if any viewers have been hearing about another possible shooting, we're told that is a not true story. I'm sure CNN has not reported it.

Right now, the situation as I said, Wolf, is very fluid. A senior official told me earlier, based on the fact that there were bodies outside the building, it seems likely that the shooting began before the shooter or shooters entered the building. But that's all we have right now for you, Wolf. We'll give you more information as soon as we are told in a few minutes here, down at the scene of the shooting earlier today.

BLITZER: We'll stand by for that.

Jake Tapper on the scene for us.

Brian Todd is also on the scene.

Want to remind our viewers we're awaiting the president of the United States, as well. He's supposed to speak on the financial crisis five years later. We'll see if he makes some remarks about what's going on. Not far away where you are over at the U.S. Navy Yard. We're told also he's been watching the situation unfold on television, as well. I'm sure he's getting inside information from law enforcement personnel. What else are you picking up, Brian?

TODD: Wolf, picking up two ambulances that just headed down 11th Street Southeast, joining multiple vehicles at the end of this block. You can see them here. You can see the flashing lights down the block. Two ambulances just headed down there. Again, this kind of accentuates some of the reporting, adds to reporting we've gotten from the hospitals and elsewhere of multiple victims here. Again, multiple vehicles have been swarming around this area for hours now. Several of them headed up that ramp and south on 295 a short time ago. Not sure what that was about.

What we can also tell you is according to the -- one of the hospital spokeswomen here kind of gave a hint as to the kind of weapon that might have been used. She said the witnesses she treated, some of the people she talked to who were victims of the shooting reported shots in multiple succession, indicating it was some kind of semi-automatic weapon or something of that sort. So that's some of the incremental information that we're getting right now.

Again, a heavy presence down here on 11th Street. We're at the northeast corner of the Navy Yard. And again, a chopper, Park Police chopper has been circling fairly low above the Navy Yard for several hours now. Not sure exactly what the purpose of that chopper is, but he's circling right around me now, Wolf. So adding again to the multiple agency presence here. We've got Washington Metropolitan Police, FBI here that we have seen on the scene. We've got base police. Other police jurisdictions have sent their officers here. ATF is here. So very, very, very heavy police presence here on the Navy Yard with multiple injuries that we can report now. And Barbara Starr, as you heard earlier, reporting a Navy official telling her one shooter at least is down.

BLITZER: And it's unclear whether there's one shooter or two shooters because we're getting these conflicting statements coming in from various authorities. Ed Ziegler, director of public affairs for the naval district office, says two shooters are down, but unclear what that means, "are down." Also, he says there are multiple deaths, multiple injuries.

As far as the latest information, Brian, that you are getting, one shooter or two shooters? Do we know precisely yet, or is this still fluid?

TODD: I think the information about the two shooters is coming from this one Navy official. We have to wait and see if that can be confirmed in this briefing we're going to get from the Metropolitan Police. We know, of course, there's at least one shooter. Barbara Starr reporting one shooter is dead. But again, reports of multiple shooters. We just cannot confirm that hard and fast at this moment. As Jake Tapper alluded to earlier, there's been a lot of information flowing this morning, some of it wrong. So we have to be very, very careful. We've gotten descriptions of a gunman. We've had to hold off on that a little bit. We'll try to get harder information from the briefing and set the scene for you.

Down the street here, there's some kind of heavy presence. An FBI mobile command unit went down there a short time ago. You've got that down there. You've got tactical police officers down in that direction and D.C. police officers with automatic weapons have been moving around this block here at M Street and 11th Street Southeast. So this is clearly one of the active perimeters in the Navy Yard right now.

We do know that the shooting took place, according to officials, at the Naval Sea Systems Command Building. That is Building 197. Not sure how far into that base that building is. We'll hopefully get that layout and some of the more minute details and some of the key details in that briefing -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Brian Todd, don't go too far away.

Let me update our viewers on what we know right now. Once again, we want be to welcome viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

Not very far away from where I am right now over at the Navy -- U.S. Navy Yard, maybe about a mile and a half from the U.S. capitol or so, there was a shooting incident at around 8:28 a.m. eastern, about three and a half hours or so ago. And according to authorities on the scene, at least according to the spokesman for the naval district office here in Washington, D.C., Ed Ziegler, director of public affairs, multiple deaths, multiple injuries. Precise numbers hard to come by.