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Multiple Deaths in Shooting Rampage

Aired September 16, 2013 - 12:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The spokesman for the naval district office here in Washington, D.C., Ed Zeigler, director of public affairs, multiple deaths, multiple injuries. Precise numbers hard to come by. Once again, initial information often wrong, so we want to be precise on what we know, what we don't know. We will be getting a lot more information momentarily.

The president of the United States has been getting ready to speak on the financial crisis five years later. What's happened to the U.S. economy over the past five years since the collapse and the deep recession that developed. That has been delayed, at least for now. We'll have live coverage of the president. Maybe he'll speak out about what's happening at the U.S. Navy Yard, this shooting incident.

But let me bring in Jake Tapper right now. He's on the scene.

Jake, we're waiting for a news conference, the D.C. Metropolitan Police chief, the mayor, others, I think they're going to be speaking where you are, is that right?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, they'll be speaking right behind me. There are cameras set up and an immense media throng has assembled here. We see D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray has just arrived. He is huddling with the police chief, Cathy Lanier, right over there. I'm sure they're -- he's getting the latest information.

What we know, Wolf, is that there was a shooting at the naval yard and at least 10 individuals have been -- were shot in that. We're told that one shooter is down by one source. Another source says that it's more than one shooter and both those shooters are down. There's conflicting information.

From Washington Hospital Center, we're told that they have three victims there, one man, the Metropolitan Police Department officer who was shot, and two women. All three of them are -- the prognosis is good. And the medical personnel who are speaking said it appears to have been the wounds of a semi-automatic weapon.

Evan Perez, our CNN reporter at the Justice Department, says that the elite ATF, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms unit, that assisted in apprehending Dzhokhar Tsarnaev after the Boston Marathon terrorist attacks, has been dispatched to the scene earlier today and was trying to get the shooters here as they did so ably in Boston and Cambridge after the Boston Marathon attacks.

But we are waiting here for a press conference in about five or 10 minutes where we're going to get the latest information. And as I've said, I can see the mayor and the police chief and other individuals who are going to be holding this press conference right over there getting all their information together. And as soon as that happens, I'm sure we'll bring it to you live.

BLITZER: Excellent. All right we're going to come back to you in a moment, Jake. Thanks very much.

Tom Fuentes, our CNN law enforcement analyst, the former assistant director of the FBI, is joining us on the phone right now.

You know, it's not unusual, by any means, even almost three and a half hours since this incident occurred, Tom, for there to be so much conflicting information coming in from official sources, shall we say, because the information is pretty fluid right now. So I just want our viewers to be cautious about what they're hearing. Is that right?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (via telephone): That's true, Wolf, and that's why I've even cautioned reporters over time that sometimes information -- what's happening is, it's all a variety of information goes into the command post and it may or may not be true. They have to substantiate whether it's true north. But it gets reported out through other contacts as it's being disseminated to the other agencies. And that's what creates the confusion. The first initial reports, it doesn't mean that that's what the authorities at the command post know to be true, it just means that they've heard a report and they're checking it out.

The report a little while ago about law enforcement hurriedly heading toward the river south from the location, or north from the location, that can be that some bystander or a neighbor looked out the window, saw somebody suspicious running down the street with a gun, that could turn out to be a plain clothes law enforcement officer. So you have all types of reports coming into the command post that need to be checked out.

BLITZER: And as I say, even if they come from official sources, we have to be cautious. Ed Zeigler, the director of public affairs for the naval district of Washington, D.C., even someone in that authority, when he says two shooters are down at the D.C. Navy Yard and that there have been multiple deaths, multiple injuries, the two officers who were wounded are not fatalities. He says the fatalities were people in the building itself. Even that kind of information, Tom, based on your experience, has to be checked and rechecked because this may be information he believes to be accurate, that he's been given, but turns out to be inaccurate. And give us some perspective on that.

FUENTES: He's going by what he's been told and what, you know, has been coming out of the main command post at the scene, which is, you know, really the best source of information. But, again, in these types of situations, we have seen in the past that information comes out that turns out not to be accurate.

And I'm remembering the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting where all kinds of information, including the identity of the so-called shooter at the time, was false. So it does take time to sort out what's real, what isn't at the time. And, unfortunately, in the chain of command, as information is going out to other offices, to other agencies, false information can get sent by accident and, you know, there does have to be a degree of caution in what you report.

BLITZER: Tom, hold on a minute. Brian Todd is on the scene for us over at the U.S. Navy Yard, watching what's going on, getting more information even as we speak.

Brian, are law enforcement authorities moving towards the area, moving away from the area? Because as you pointed out earlier, it was a little confusing. What's going on right now?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There was some confusion, Wolf, and I can say that both of those cases are true, they've been moving towards this area and away from the area. Now, in just the last couple of minutes, we saw a large ambulance heading down that way, again seemingly toward another entrance to the Naval Yard. There are multiple law enforcement vehicles down 11th Street, which is where I'm pointing, this direction here. There is a chopper, a park police chopper, circling nearby. Multiple agency officers down this street and have been coming around these corners all morning along, indicating just a lot of activity.

Now, unclear, we are not - we have not been allowed to actually move any further down 11th Street than we are from this location. Unclear whether that is some kind of a staging area or whether that might be some area where possibly people are being taken out of, either evacuated or maybe some of the wounded being moved away. But there is a lot of activity down this street. An FBI mobile command center moved down this street a short time ago. We saw tactical officers down there in full S.W.A.T. gear down that street. But again, that's got to be the case all over this installation.

This is a fairly large naval installation here. Three thousand people work here. And this is, as Barbara and other - Barbara Starr and other reporters have been saying all morning, it's a very secure location here under normal circumstances. We've got - we've got, again, choppers circling around and reports now of multiple injuries, possibly two shooters, again, getting some more information on that.

The hospital spokeswoman confirmed there have been some fatalities. The numbers, we don't know yet. We have heard one of the hospital officials say that the witnesses and some of the victims who they have treated have indicated that they heard shots in rapid succession, indicating the possible use of semi-automatic weapons, things like that. But again, some of those details we're trying to get confirmation of and we hope to get that soon in this police news conference.

BLITZER: We're going to be standing by for that. We're standing by to hear from the president of the United States.

We did speak with some eyewitnesses on the scene. Listen to what they said about this shooting, coming face to face with a gunman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BRUNDIDGE, WITNESSED SHOOTING: The fire alarm went off first. And I was on the phone and somebody came to 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 backdoor, people -- we noticed he was 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 then 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: He aimed a gun at you?

BRUNDIDGE: Well, he aimed it -- there was a group of us and he aimed a gun and fired our way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you were there too?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looking down the barrel of a gun?

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was going through your mind?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get everyone out of the building right now. Get everyone out of the building because there's someone shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you believe what was going on?

BRUNDIDGE: No, I couldn't believe it. I mean, you know, you just never - you know, you go to work, you never think something like this is going to happen in your building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, what were you all doing at the time? What was going on before this started?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We -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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you think? I mean when you saw this guy aim a gun and then you realize he was shooting at you?

BRUNDIDGE: Just get out of the building as quick as you can. Just get out. I mean everybody going down the stairs. And people were pushing. People were shoving. You know, people were falling down. After we came outside, people were climbing the wall trying to get - you know, trying to get out over the wall to get out of the spaces. It was just crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sounds like it was pandemonium.

BRUNDIDGE: It was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any idea what kind of gun it was?

BRUNDIDGE: I do not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Was it a long gun? Was it -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It appeared to be a rifle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It appeared to be a rifle?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the best we could tell from that distance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, so there you hear some eyewitness accounts.

Let's bring in Lou Palumbo right now, he's joining us from New York, director of Elite Intelligence Protection, retired police officer himself.

This is an unfolding situation, Lou, right now. And preliminary information usually is wrong. There we see the mayor of Washington, D.C. Maybe he's approaching the microphones right now. If he is, Lou, hold on for a moment. I want to hear what the mayor has to say. Here he comes to the microphones right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you all give us a little room in order to get the other law enforcement officials in here where they need to be.

BLITZER: That's the mayor with the police chief, Cathy Lanier, right behind him. Mayor Vincent Gray. So we'll get an update on what's going on.

(BEGIN LIVE FEED)

MAYOR VINCENT GRAY (D), WASHINGTON: All right. Good afternoon.

We obviously have had a horrific tragedy here at the Navy Yard and the immediate area beginning this morning about 8:20 a.m. A shooter entered building 197, which is the Naval Sea Command, and began shooting. Our MPD active shooter team responded immediately there. Launched a search for the shooter and engaged at least one person along the way.

We know that there are four wounded that have been removed from the scene and taken to a hospital. We're still trying to confirm the number of fatalities involved and we'll have to do that later. As far as we know, there is an isolated incident. We don't know of any other installations that are involved in this. We would ask all the residents of this area to please stay out of the area. This is an active investigation that is going on. And, of course, because this involves the military and the federal government, we have been actively and directly and continuously involved with the White House about this incident, confirming what we know at this stage.

I want to call upon our police chief, Cathy Lanier, now to provide additional details. She will be followed by the Park Police chief, Teresa Chambers, and we have other law enforcement officials here with us.

Again, I'm sure you all understand, we're not prepared to answer a lot of questions at this stage because this is a continuing, active investigation. And we will reconvene at some point later this afternoon as more information is available to us.

Chief Lanier.

CHIEF CATHY LANIER, METROPOLITAN D.C. POLICE: So, obviously, at this point, it's still very preliminary. I'll give you what it is that we do have right now and there's still a lot of work to be done. We won't be taking questions right now. We will be doing another briefing within the next two hours. We'll give locations for that briefing.

Right now what I can tell you is our initial call came in for a shooting on the Navy Yard. It came in shortly after 8:15. There was a request for Metropolitan Police Department assistance. Our units were on the scene, active shooter teams were deployed and actually deployed on base within seven minutes of the first call coming in. Multiple active shooter teams from the Metropolitan Police Department, Park Police, U.S. marshals, eventually also FBI have been inside the base since that time.

Right now, and this is very, very preliminary, we have one MPD officer who was shot in engagement with the shooter inside of the Navy Yard. We have one shooter that we believed involved in this that is deceased. We also have other casualties. I will not give a confirmed number at this time, but I'd say we have multiple victims inside that are deceased. We will give updates once we have those numbers confirmed.

The big concern for us right now is, is that we potentially have two other shooters that we have not located at this point. So, right now, all's we have on those potential other shooters, and this is not confirmed. We potentially may have two additional shooters out there, one being a white male who was last seen around 8:35, 8:40 this morning in a khaki tan military uniform, short sleeved, with a beret hat, appeared to be like a naval uniform. That white male was last seen around 8:35 this morning with a handgun.

We also have a lookout potentially for another shooter involved that was a black male approximately 50 years of age who may have been in possession of a long gun. That person was wearing an olive drab colored possible military-style uniform. We have no information to believe that either of those folks are military personnel, but we do have information that those individuals are wearing military-style uniforms. So anybody that has information, that may have seen someone matching those descriptions, we are asking for them to call the Metropolitan Police Department on 202-727-9099.

So in terms of the investigation, it is still very active. We have asked our members of the community to please remain out of the area and in their homes until we finish doing this search. Obviously, we've got a large area here that we're still actively engaged in a search on.

So, with that, I just want to thank all the other agencies that have been here. This is a very active, ongoing, unified investigation at this point. The FBI has been here fully engaged from the very beginning, along with Park Police, Metro Transit Police, DOD Naval Criminal Intelligence. So we've had everybody here along with us all along. As soon as we get additional information, we certainly will push it out. I will let Chief Chambers -- give her an opportunity if she has any comments from park police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the condition of your officer?

LANIER: Our officer is in stable condition right now in surgery.

TERESA CHAMBERS, CHIEF OF POLICE, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: The only thing to add, we were with the MPD very quickly on the scene, and that happens a lot in Washington, D.C.

And, of course, we have our aviation component that is helping with still eyes-in-the-sky as well as Medevac.

And again, we'll be a part of this on going and fluid investigation and we'll be back with you later today.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there any indication this is an act of terrorism?

MAYOR VINCENT GRAY, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: We're really not prepared to answer questions at this stage. We'll be back in a couple of hours as we gather more information.

We certainly don't want to provide information that hasn't been confirmed. Please bear with us as we continue this investigation, and in a couple of hours, I'm sure we'll have more.

Thank you all very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

(END LIVE FEED)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so there you heard from the mayor, Vincent Gray, of Washington, D.C., the D.C. metropolitan police chief Cathy Lanier. Jake Tapper is getting ready to brief us, as well.

Fascinating information, important information, the police chief saying that one suspect, she believes, confirmed dead. Potentially, she says. two other shooters, they are at large right now. They're searching, potentially, Cathy Lanier, the D.C. police chief says, they're looking for two other shooters.

I want to go to Jake in a moment, but Barbara Starr is our Pentagon correspondent.

Barbara, if in fact they are looking, if there are two other shooters on the loose right now, that escalates the shooting incident dramatically with fatalities and injuries.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely, Wolf, it does. It couldn't be more serious if you have got three people conspiring to carry out an attack at a U.S. military installation in the nation's capital.

This is terribly serious, of course, already. It makes it even more difficult.

Let's try and help people understand what may be going on here. We confirmed a short time ago from a senior U.S. Navy official that one shooter was dead.

Rumors have been flying all morning. Some Navy officials saying there's two shooters. Other tweets and unconfirmed reports talking about up to three shooters.

So why the uncertainty about what exactly is happening here? One of the reasons is the major source of information that anybody had as this was unfolding were people inside the building who were calling out, call, making phone calls, trying to communicate what they knew.

And their information, of course, quite understandably sketchy, unclear. They're hearing things going on in the hallways, trying to get the very best information that they could for law enforcement as it was making its way into the building.

So for the first period of time, some uncertainty about all of this. The rumors had persisted all morning that there were multiple shooters and, a short time ago, in fact, a Navy official down at the navy yard publicly confirmed to CNN and other news organizations that there were, indeed, two shooters.

Now, the chief saying possibly a total of three. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, hold on a minute, Barbara.

I want to go to George Washington University Medical Center. They are accepting patients now from the shooting incident. There's a news conference under way.

(BEGIN LIVE FEED) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... our staff operating rooms and physicians stand ready.

In conclusion, please know that our sympathy and prayers go out to the family of this patient and those who is have been affected by these tragic events in our nation's capital. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you tell us military, civilian?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know nothing about the shooter other than what I told you regarding this patient.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said he was a man in his 60s. Was he from the Washington area? Was he in the military?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know anything about the patient other than what I mention.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was it a single gunshot wound?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a single gunshot wound to the head.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't know what type of gun it was?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not know what kind of gun it was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is unknown. We told the fire department we can -- we are able to receive at least four to five critical and at least 20 more noncritical, but how many are inbound, I do not know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you talk about the efforts in the ambulance, I assume, to get him here and to help him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The firefighters did exactly what the standard of care is. They provided excellent CPR on their way in. They had IV- access. They had established an airway. They went out of their way to save this patient's life. Unfortunately, the injury itself was not survivable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You say this was the first victim that was actually shot at the scene, the first victim to be brought to a hospital?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if he was the first victim. He was the first victim to be transported.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What time did he arrive?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What time did he arrive? Around 8:30 or so, I think, or 9:00 a.m.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What time did he pass away?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shortly upon arrival. Within a minute or so of arrival.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's an important time. Within a minute of his arrival, he was pronounced dead?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where was the gunshot to the head?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Temple.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right or left?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you tell how far away the --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not know how far the shooter was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you talk about the injury again and whether this is something he could have survived?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The injury was not survivable by any stretch. The patient was dead on his way to the hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you tell us (inaudible) a semi-automatic weapon (inaudible)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not know what type of weapon this was or the caliber of the bullet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was the bullet still in the head of the victim?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if the bullet is still in the head because we did not obtain an X-ray.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two more questions and then he's done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has the body been removed from the hospital?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The body is with the medical examiner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When do you expect to receive these additional patients?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not know. The operating room and the staff are on standby, but we haven't heard back yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Talk about the --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

(END LIVE FEED)

BLITZER: All right. So there you heard someone, a physician from the George Washington University Medical Center here in the nation's capital, saying that one person died, was pronounced dead at the hospital here on the campus of George Washington University from a gunshot wound to the temple, to the head. So that's a confirmation of one fatality, at G.W.

Jake Tapper is on the scene for us. Jake, I want to be very precise because this information can change, obviously, but when you hear the D.C. police chief, Cathy Lanier, say one suspect is dead.

Potentially they are on the lookout for two other shooters right now, you know, it's unclear what's going on, isn't it?

I don't know if you can hear me. Jake, can you hear me?

TAPPER: Wolf, I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry.

No, it's a very fluid situation. When you have a police chief come out and say there are two potential shooters still at large, although it's unconfirmed, it shows you how little is concretely known about such a situation.

Obviously, the police chief, Cathy Lanier, talking about the shooting earlier today, and she said the first report came in just before 8:15 this morning, Eastern time, and that there were a metropolitan police department response team there within seven minutes.

There are multiple fatalities on the scene, but she didn't want to get into numbers. She said one police officer has been shot. He is in stable condition. And one shooter has been shot and is dead.

But the big news, as you point out, Wolf, is the fact that there are potentially two other shooters out there. She described them, one, a white male last seen around 8:35 this morning here at the Naval Center wearing a tan military uniform with a handgun, short sleeves, wearing a beret. It appeared to be a Navy uniform, but she could not confirm it was an official Navy uniform.

The other shooter, a black male around 50-years-old, wearing olive drab clothing, a possible military uniform, again, in possession of a long gun.

The police chief cautioned that if anybody knew of anybody fitting these locations to call the metropolitan police department at 202-727- 9099.

It's still an active crime scene here, and they are still looking with park police helicopters and other surveillance to find these other two potential shooters, although the police chief said it was still unconfirmed that these two existed.

But, obviously, a very fluid situation. The mayor and the police chief said that, within two hours, they would brief with updated information.

They would not answer questions about the identity of the shooter who has been killed or the identity of the police officer. They said they didn't want to give any information that they had not yet confirmed.

But that is the big news from down here near the Naval Yard.

Wolf?

BLITZER: Very big news indeed.

One suspect, Cathy Lanier, the D.C. police chief, saying is dead, but potentially, there are two other shooters at large right now.

Let's go over to the Pentagon. Barbara Starr is standing by.

Barbara, you're getting more information, including a statement from the press secretary, George Little.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

Our Pentagon producer, Larry Shaughnessey, has just learned that security has been stepped up here at the Pentagon, always a place of very tight security since the day of 9/11, now stepped up even more, more Pentagon police officers patrolling outside the building with their weapons.

This is a place where, again, there is a security perimeter, but people can walk up to it. They're not supposed to be able to get past it, but they can walk up to it.

So if there are indeed two shooters on the loose as potentially suggested, the Pentagon taking no chances, increasing security around the building.

We are seeing that at other military installations, including where there are Marines in downtown Washington, D.C., the military taking no chances, taking a very cautious approach to all of this until it is resolved.

Let me go back on one detail. The chief of naval operations, Admiral Jonathan Greenert, the four-star head of the Navy, he lives at the Navy Yard. He was there this morning. He and his wife were very quickly evacuated from the Navy Yard, Admiral Greenert at this hour in his office here at the Pentagon.

Wolf?

BLITZER: And the statement that we're just getting from George Little, Barbara, among other things, George Little saying the defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, is monitoring, closely following the situation.

But then they go on, George Little, to say this. "While the Pentagon remains open, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency increased its security posture not out of a specific threat but as a proactive precautionary measure."

And then the statement says this. "This is a fluid situation. Navy officials are working closely with law enforcement and emergency management representatives from the FBI and the District of Columbia to secure the scene and begin the investigation. More information will be released from the appropriate agency as it becomes available."

So, Barbara, clearly, the Pentagon acknowledging they've tightened security at the Pentagon right now, not out of some specific threat, but out of an abundance of caution, as they like to say.

What you're saying is you can see and you can feel that heightened security over at the Department of Defense.

STARR: Oh, absolutely, Wolf. It's very visible and that is part of what they do when there are these situations.

They did it in the hours after the Boston bombing attacks. Part of security is to be visible. There's -- they like to say there's the visible and the invisible.

But part of it around the Pentagon is to be very visible, to make sure that the people who work here, 20,000 people come in and out of this building, working here every day, that they feel secure, that they feel safe and also to keep this place very secure, and the visible security is part of that.

I will tell you that there are also, every day, 24/7, a number of not- so-visible security measures, just as there are at the White House, on Capitol Hill. There is very good surveillance around this area. They feel they're in a very good position.

But when things like this happen, like Boston, like other situations, they put extra force out there. They want the public to know that they are looking after things, Wolf.

BLITZER: And the security has really intensified elsewhere in the area, as well, once again, out of an abundance of caution because, as Cathy Lanier, the D.C. police chief just told us, potentially -- potentially -- there are two other shooters at large right now that they're looking for.

We're told the president of the United States is about to begin speaking over there at the White House. Originally he was going to be speaking almost an hour or so ago, but that -- this event at the White House has been delayed, delayed presumably because the president, like so many other officials, monitoring the situation over at the U.S. Navy Yard, over at The Naval Sea Systems Command, where there have been fatalities and injuries as a result of a shooting incident that occurred about four hours ago.

There you see some video of the president walking from the West Wing of the White House next door to the Eisenhower Old Executive Office Building. These are live pictures of the president walking over.

The subject at hand is the financial crisis, five years later, what has gone on with the U.S. economy over these past five years since the near collapse during the Great Recession that occurred in 2008.

So the president's going to be speaking on that, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if he opens his remarks with some words about what's happening across town, about three, three-and-a-half miles away from the White House at the Navy shipyard.

The Navy shipyard is only about a mile and a half away from Capitol Hill, right across the river from Reagan National Airport, right next door, literally, to Washington Nationals Park, the home of the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team.

The president getting ready to be introduced over there at the Old Executive Office Building. It's called the Eisenhower Executive Office Building right now.

But the big news is what Cathy Lanier, the D.C. police chief, told us all just a few moments ago. One shooter, one suspect, deceased, she said.