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Erin Burnett Outfront

Police: Active Shooter at Planned Parenthood; Planned Parenthood Gunman Captured Alive. Aired 7-8:00p ET

Aired November 27, 2015 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:20] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Here we go. We're staying on it here at CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me on this Friday night.

You're watching CNN's special breaking news coverage of a standoff still underway hours in. We're talking about a standoff here between police and a gunman inside a Planned Parenthood building in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I can tell you now that any moment now, authorities will be giving a news conference so obviously we'll dip into that live to get any new nuggets out of this thing. It's been going on since, you know, around noon. Standoff started around noon local time. Think about it. It's Black Friday.

So, you know, despite the snow and the, you know, temperatures in the teens, dozens of shoppers hours later, they are still on lockdown, ordered to shelter in place. Specifically told by the police to stay away from their windows. I can tell you at this hour, we know at least nine people injured, sent to the hospital, including of that nine, four police officers. Here's what we've also learned. That this suspect has brought bags of unknown items into the building and has using, as been described by the Colorado's spring lieutenants. A long gun. Know more than that. It's a long gun is what we know. And the motives, that is one of the huge unknowns. We also don't know if anyone is currently being held hostage. Police right now are evacuating folks from within this building but the police are still taking fire. So we have a lot of voices to go to at this hour here on CNN.

But Trevor Hughes, let me begin with you. "USA Today" reporter at the scene there in Colorado Springs. Tell me what you know? What you're seeing?

TREVOR HUGHES, "USA TODAY" REPORTER: Well, we've actually just seen two police S.W.A.T. vehicles leave the scene. But it's unclear what is happening at the moment. Like I said, it's been a very fluid situation all evening. It's definitely getting dark. But it does seem like a couple of trucks and police officers have withdrawn from the scene just now.

BALDWIN: And as they were withdrawing, speeding away? Can you describe?

HUGHES: You know, I can't describe that, one pulled away and the second one, it was sort of armored vehicle about this ambulance and it's just parked outside and was down toward the scene and now has comeback. It just sort of parked out by the --

BALDWIN: OK. Listen, as we've been watching this since my show, which was 2:00 Eastern, we have been reporting on massive police presence. Several local jurisdictions, ATF, you know, we saw that major command center vehicle who had arrived as well. Trevor, I want to come back to you.

Pamela Brown on that law enforcement note, let me bring you in, our justice correspondent, who has been on this for hours as well. What more can you share?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we were just learning. I'm just getting off the phone with the Kim Melchor, with the Colorado Spring City and she did confirmed for me, she is speaking on behalf of the Police Department there, that the suspect is now in custody.

BALDWIN: Oh!

BROWN: He has been detained. Big development here after several hours of, you know, of this standoff there and the Planned Parenthood building but we're hearing on the record from the spokeswoman for the Colorado Springs police, Kim Melchor, that the suspect is now in custody. Brooke, of course, the big question now, that he surrender or did the S.W.A.T. teams have to go in and make the arrest? Those details not readily available but we're hearing, Brooke, that very shortly we will be getting an update from authorities there on the ground hoping to get more details there. But that huge development here, Brooke. This was something that has been going on, as you have pointed out, for several hours here. And they were preparing, the law enforcement there, on the ground preparing to be there through the night and into the morning. But now we're learning he has been detained and will likely be questioned very soon if not already -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: That is huge there in Colorado Springs. So, we're again to repeat you're getting word that the suspect is in fact in custody and we're awaiting a news conference to happen momentarily. So hopefully we'll get that update any second now.

Pamela Brown, thank you so much for that really soon big update.

Let me bring Trevor Hughes. Let me just bring you back in because I want you to give this fuller perspective as far of what was really at stake here. I mean, here we are. Black Friday, lots and lots of people out shopping center adjacent to this Planned Parenthood. Again, the unknown is hostages and then the other folks who would have been injured. Nine total, four police officers. Do we know more about what this individual took in this Planned Parenthood center? Do we know anymore beyond what they were calling bags of unknown items?

HUGHES: No. And it's hard to say. I mean, was he carrying a backpack with this magazine. Do they have explosive devices? It's always hard to tell. And the police were being very careful to say if they were items rather than any sort of definitely suspicious device but they did say it was going to take hours, even now that he's in custody, going to take hours to clear the scene for safety purposes.

[19:05:20] BALDWIN: And as far as clearing the scene, every single person -- I mean, earlier today I was talking to a woman in a nail saloon, someone else who was working across the street, folks were in the grocery stores, for hours being told they can't leave. I imagine now you'll start to seeing folks being allowed to go home?

HUGHES: Well, I think a lot depends on how the police officers feel these devices or these items. You know, what danger they could pose. You know, there are folks who are quite a long way away from the scene. But then there are others who may be still very close to the scene. So, it's hard to tell. But I can tell you that the tone and the tenor of this really change you. It's stunning that a log of folks really feel that they're rolling up and the tensions kind of went out of the air there a few minutes ago.

BALDWIN: Oh, I'm am hopefully taking a massive collective deep breath with all of you in Colorado Springs. Here we go. The news conference. Let's listen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: C-a-r-e-y. He's the chief of police for the Colorado Springs Police Department. Chief Carey?

CHIEF PETE CAREY, COLORADO SPRINGS POLICE: So, very, very difficult afternoon in Colorado Springs. My heart goes out to many of the victims here at this point. I have as many questions as you do. We're still trying to figure out exactly what happened, who our victims are and what we need to do from this point forward. I have some hurt police officers. They are at the hospital. That's where I'm headed to next. We'll give you some more information as soon as we know it. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd like to at this time introduce Mayor John Suthers, S-u-t-h-e-r-s. He's the mayor of the city of Colorado Springs.

MAYOR JOHN SUTHERS, COLORADO SPRINGS: The only thing I would add is that the perpetrator is in custody. The situation has been resolved. There's no continuing peril to the citizens of the Colorado Springs but there's a huge crime scene that has to be processed. We have to determine exactly how many victims there are and we'll be reporting on that in the near future.

I might add that there's a lot of agencies that have helped out besides the Colorado Police Department. We have federal authorities here, federal and state resources. And this was, like I said, a very tough afternoon but we had help from everybody in the community and the region and in the state. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd also like to -- hold on one moment. I'd like to, if you guys can step back, Chief Chris Riley, R-i-l-e-y with the Colorado Springs Police Department.

CHIEF CHRIS RILEY, COLORADO SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, good evening, everyone. Just to add to achieve Carey says, it's been a very challenging afternoon. Fire, police resources and law enforcement, public safety, from all different levels throughout the area have worked very well together. We've established unified command early on. Thankfully, the situation at this time has been resolved but our hearts and our prayers go out to the family of the loved ones of the victims that were involved in today's event. And so it's been a very difficult day but our first responders performed very, very well and did an outstanding job. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's your name, sir?

RILEY: Christopher Riley.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have fatalities?

LT. CATHERINE BUCKLEY, COLORADO SPRINGS POLICE: So, at this point, the information that I can tell you is that we have 115 Colorado Springs Police Department resources here on scene in addition to eight victims' advocates that working with us through this situation. We have the El Paso County sheriff's office, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Police Department, the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Bureau, the Colorado Bureau of Investigations and we also have regional explosive units here on scene.

As I stated earlier, the individual brought some items into him, into that building with him. And that we have to work with our EOD units, our explosive ordinance units to make sure that none of those items are a further hazards to the people on scene. At that point then, we are going to have to treat this as a crime scene. We're going to have to go through. We're going to have to identify if there are any individuals on the scene that are injured and have not been transported or individuals on scene that are deceased. We do not have any numbers at this point. The only thing that I can tell you is that there were 11 people that were transported to local hospitals. Of those 11 people, five of them were police officers from various agencies that have responded today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know if there are any of these fatalities?

BUCKLEY: I do not have any confirmation of fatalities at this point. Again, as I said, we're going to have to work through the scene because we're now treating it as a crime scene and investigating it. We did get an individual in custody at 4:52 p.m. in our time zone here. That individual has been transported away from the scene and obviously we're going to start our investigation from there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you --

[19:10:22] BUCKLEY: Okay. I need to -- one question at a time. Steve?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was the suspect shot at all? Is he injured or was he at all --

BUCKLEY: I don't have information that he was shot. Eric? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Walk us through those last few moments.

Because you said earlier there was no communication with the suspect. Talk about --

BUCKLEY: Correct. Earlier there was no communication with the suspect. We did get officers inside of the building at the Planned Parenthood and the officers were able to shout to the suspect and make communication with him and at that point they were able to get him to surrender and he was taken into custody. I do not have an identity on the suspect. As I've explained before, this is going to be a complicated scene that is going to take hours, probably days to process for us here. In addition to that, we are working through the state law that requires the sheriff's office to investigate whenever our officers are involved in a shooting. And since we know that some of our officers did fire shots, they will be investigating that portion of this scene.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now that you know where -- one moment, Steve. This happened at Planned Parenthood. Was the man trying to --

BUCKLEY: We only just have the individual in custody within the last 15 minutes. So, to even speculate on a motive would not be reasonable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many rescues did you guys perform today?

BUCKLEY: I'm sorry, Steve.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many rescues did you guys perform?

BUCKLEY: You know, I don't have the numbers on that. I know that our officers acted with untold valor to make sure that individuals were safely taken out of the Planned Parenthood building. We also had officers that immediately responded to the surrounding businesses and they made sure the people received any type of medical aid and they were safe in those surrounding businesses. This is still very much unfolding for us because we've moved from the active threat to people's life stage and now we are looking at doing our investigation. And those are the type of things that will come out as we do our investigation.

Obviously we do have some concern because this is a criminal investigation. And we will be working with our partners towards some type of prosecution for this. And that means that there are things that we can bring forward and the things that we can't bring forward as we work through the prosecution of this individual for the crimes that he committed today against our community. One moment. Miss Kirby is identified.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much. Have the people in the surrounding businesses been allowed to come out?

BUCKLEY: We are working through the process of allowing those individuals out. Obviously we have to make sure that there is no other items that would possess or -- excuse me, present a threat to them as we remove them from those buildings. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do we know how many people are in these

lockdowns?

BUCKLEY: We don't. That's something that we're going to have to do as part of our after action and part of our report for the -- Jesse?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know how many, you know what kind of weapons or weapon that the suspect was found with that he had? Can you talk about what kind of --

BUCKLEY: The only information I have is that the original information is that he had some type of a long firearm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, the officers have made it into the building and they are now clearing the building?

BUCKLEY: The officers are actively clearing the building.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does that mean that the device has then that you're mentioning have been rendered safe?

BUCKLEY: No, they have not. We don't know whether they're divisive. Those are things that we are currently processing and that we're working through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And those are the things that are in this car in the parking lot?

BUCKLEY: I'm not even sure if he has a car in the parking lot, sir. Those are things that we're working through.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 11 folks who are transported to the hospital, how serious are their injuries?

BUCKLEY: I don't have an update on that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you allow them to finish their questions?

BUCKLEY: Sorry, I don't have an update on the individuals that were transported or their status at this time. Eric?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mayor Suthers, as a former attorney general, as a former county DA and now mayor of Colorado Springs, what would you say to the citizens about this sad day and about how exemplary the officers were?

SUTHERS: I spent a couple of hours in the Command Center watching as the officers were monitoring movement within the building on security cameras and communicating to the officers who were in the building and it was the most incredible work on behalf of officers trying to minimize the number of fatalities and get this guy in custody and I[W71] was just incredibly impressed while it's a terrible, terrible tragedy, the way the police handled this I think minimized or kept it from being even a worse tragedy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you elaborate on some of the things that you thought that really stood out?

[19:15:34] SUTHERS: The fact that they were able to identify where this person was on cameras and communicate to the officers in the building where he was located.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You call it a tragedy. You're not willing to say whether there were fatalities or not?

SUTHERS: No, I am not. We need to figure out exactly what the natures of the victim injuries are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. I would also like to introduce the district attorney for the Fourth Judicial District Dan May and it's M- a-y.

DAN MAY, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT: This is a horrible tragedy for our community. We saw a lot of individual acts of bravery today and actually a lot of bravery as a team. It was amazing how law enforcement and first responders came together today, worked very well and efficiently today but it's still a horrible tragedy. I will not be commenting on any of the facts at this time. The Colorado Springs Police Department is the lead agency so Katherine Buckley will be responding to the facts. As we go through this process, certainly our office will be the lead prosecuting agency and the case will be transferred over to us and we will then be the lead agency and it will be appropriate for us to respond to any factual questions at that time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. May, are you considering prosecuting for terrorism?

MAY: Again, I'm not going to get into the specifics at this time. The Colorado Springs Police Department is the lead agency and all facts and information about the case should go through them. So, the only thing that would be appropriate for me to comment on at this time is just the horrible tragedy for this community and the acts of bravery.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you were, would you bring in the U.S. attorney or would you handle it?

BUCKLEY: I think he already answered that question. Sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What hospital were all of the victims transferred to, Penrose?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hold on. Just a moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You had questions?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are there victims inside the building or has everyone been transferred?

BUCKLEY: We are trying to ascertain whether we still have people inside the building. Once the suspect was taken out of the building, our process is to go through and clear the building room by room and then we turn it into a crime scene and look at it from that standpoint.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone was transported to Penrose, all 11 victims?

BUCKLEY: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many rooms are they having to clear? How big of a building is this?

BUCKLEY: This a clinic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. But how many rooms?

BUCKLEY: I'm not sure of how many actual rooms are inside the clinic. But I mean, you have treatment rooms, you have waiting rooms, you have offices, you have bathrooms. You have all sorts of different rooms. Because it is a medical clinic that provides medical services. So at this point, all further updates will either come from the Colorado Springs Police Department via the PIO office. One of the things that you could follow is at CSPD PIO for any type of updates or information or they will come from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office in regards to this situation.

We appreciate that you guys have been out here and that you have brought this information to the public to let them know to stay away from this scene. The streets are still going to be closed for a while until we make sure that everything has been rendered safe around the building. Thank you.

BALDWIN: So here we go. Just about five hours later, they got him. They got him. They got him at 4:52 local time there. So just about 25 minutes ago. And just to be precise, she said that they, the police, were able to shout with the suspect and got him to surrender. In fact, we have some video and at some point you'll see him handcuffing getting into a patrol car. So, who is he? Why did he do this? We don't know.

Kyung Lah, so many still unknowns. We know that there are -- because of the bag of unknown items that this individual brought into the Planned Parenthood, they are still having to go room by room looking for explosives, looking for victims.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And now comes the difficult part of trying to figure out what motivated this man. And if there is still a threat to the officers who are trying to clear this area. And we should point out the incredible bravery of these officers getting inside.

BALDWIN: Yes.

LAH: Communicating with this man even though they weren't sure if there were any explosive devices in those bags that he had with him. So those officers being able to communicate with him, that was a turning point. That was when they were able to convince him to surrender some five hours later. At the time -- you just heard that press conference, the lieutenant said, we don't have an idea on it. He was arrested 11 minutes ago. This is the part where the investigation picks up. Who is this man, why was he inside that Planned Parenthood building, where did the weapons come from? Are there explosive devices still in that building? Was there anyone killed? So, the very difficult investigation now begins.

[19:20:28] BALDWIN: Yes. They kept calling it a horrible tragedy, which it is anytime you have an officer shot, anyone injured, you know, it's a horrible, horrible tragedy. But, again, such an unknown and as far as they didn't know if anyone had died, how many people they could come across here in this Planned Parenthood center.

Kyung Lah, thank you. Stay close by.

I have Jonathan Gilliam who is seated next to me here in New York and Art Roderick is with us as well. So, Jonathan, let me just turn to you. I mean, first of all, to know that they were able to shout with him. They were to locate him because of the cameras apparently in this building, communicate with one another and then get him to surrender after five hours of this.

JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Right.

BALDWIN: Your reaction to that.

GILLIAM: You know, there's something about this that's telling me that this person had an agenda, and that's the reason why they're still alive and that's the reason why they were actually able to reason with this individual. What bothers me though about this, and I try not to come and criticize when things are still active but the police chief that came on there, part of their duty is to inform the public that we have this individual in custody but we don't know the full spectrum of this investigation yet. They still have to go to this individual's praise of residence, see if there's anybody attached to this. There could be other shooters.

They should not see this time and time again, they cannot drop their guard. You just got back from Paris. They are still up in arms over there because they don't know exactly what is going on. It's the same thing here. Right now is a very critical time for this area because you just don't know, the investigation is starting to expand rapidly and until you decide and know and have confirmation that he is the only person involved with this, the city must remain vigil and I just -- these types of press conferences to me are very dangerous when they come out and don't inform the public in that way.

BALDWIN: They did seem to say that they are keeping folks away in this area, they want you to stay away. They said, I don't think they do fully have the picture. I mean, Art, let me bring you in on that. It sounds like because they are bringing in the explosive ordinance unit, right, they are still having to clear through, to go room by room in this clinic, to fully understand I guess what they were dealing with all those five hours? ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes. Exactly,

Brooke. I mean, Jonathan is right. We still don't know the full extent of what is going on here. They have to get on this individual's social media site and see who he's been talking to, who supplied the weapons, what exactly are in those backpacks which are very disturbing to hear during the earlier press that there was a possibility, there was some propane tanks there. But I mean, right now we're done with the first part of it. It's a huge sigh of relief. And I'm also kind of surprised that there's been no fatalities so far that have been reported.

BALDWIN: Thank goodness. Hopefully that is the case. Again 11 people transported, five of them officers. We don't know, you know, the severity of the injuries. But can you, Art, just explain to us as they are going through room by room, because we don't know what was in his bag, they have to be extraordinarily careful.

RODERICK: Absolutely. I'm sure they've got explosive K-9s in there, they are checking the building, checking out those devices, probably looking for a vehicle in the parking lot, you know, is there some devices also in that vehicle? But this is really the tense part of this type of situation. Once the arrest has been made, okay, now they have to go through and clear that building. They also have to get further intelligence from the individuals that were in there or they were possibly being held hostage to find out where he went in that building.

BALDWIN: Art Roderick, stay with me. Jonathan Gilliam, stay with me as well. When we come back, quick break, we'll talk to someone who has been on lockdown in this area, Colorado Springs for the last five hours. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:27:40] BALDWIN: And we're back live on this Friday. I'm Brooke Baldwin. I want to look to more viewers back here in the United States and all around the world as we have been watching four for five hours this active shooter situation unfolding in Colorado Springs, Colorado on a snowy, snowy cold night there. It's just past 5:30 in the evening there Mountain Time and we can tell you, as we just heard from police there, they got their guy. They got the suspect after now 11 people in this whole shooting situation have been injured and have been taken to local hospitals. We know that they got out alive as well. In fact in some of these pictures, you can see somebody being walked into a patrol car handcuffed.

So, they were able to shout with the suspect apparently who was inside this Planned Parenthood clinic. Got him to surrender. Why he did this, how many people were inside that clinic, all of those details are still unknown. Right now it's still considered a crime scene and so they have these explosive ordinance units who are now going room to room to room to determine, A, what these bags of unknown items were of this individual who by the way they haven't ID'd yet to our understanding. What he brought in and if each room is safe and if there is additional victims, was anyone killed? They didn't say. So, hopefully for everyone's sakes, we're talking injuries and nothing severe.

Jim Lavelle who has been on lockdown who I talked to hours ago inside that nail salon right along this sort of strip mall area of Colorado Springs. And Jill, I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief for you and the nine others who have been holed up in this nail salon with you. Do you get to go home now?

JIM LAVELLE, WITNESS (on the phone): We do, in about ten minutes. A police officer just came in and we all stood up and gave him a standing ovation because they did such a spectacular job not only making sure that we were safe throughout this whole process and checking on us while they are trying to contain that situation that they had and making supers in the hundred and fifty people in there and they just, you know, fantastic job for them.

BALDWIN: All right. I agree. Incredible police work there.

LAVELLE: Yes.

BALDWIN: And just risking, you know, themselves, as we mentioned, five of them have been shot and taken to the hospital.

LAVELLE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Can you tell me, I mean, what the inside of this nail salon has been like, as you guys were told to stay away from the windows, you never really knew what was going on, you were sort of peeking out to try to see what was happening with the S.W.A.T. patrol vehicles?

LAVELLE: Right.

BALDWIN: What were you being told the whole time?

LAVELLE: Well, in the beginning we saw the police cars and realized something was going on and everybody was like, we should lock the doors and then, oh, it was nothing. The police were wonderful at keeping us apprised of what was going on and did say that we need to stay in and stay locked.

And so, yes, very hyperactivity in the salon in the beginning and seeing the SWAT members right outside our glass, swatting behind their shields and their riot gear with their automatic rifles out, you know, that -- they were just outside the glass window so that was -- yes, it was very -- never have I experienced that before. Super hyper, lots of chatting and, oh, what is going on --

BALDWIN: So, five hours.

LAVELLE: Go ahead. I'm sorry.

BALDWIN: No. I was just going to say, five hours. How were you all passing the time? Were you on your phones trying to check in on news sites, trying to figure out what was happening outside your window? LAVELLE: Yes. After a couple hours, everyone -- all the

activity turned to the Planned Parenthood building and so the activity in front of our building, you know, dissipated so then everything kind of calmed down and, yes, we were just texting family and friends and listening to the news.

So, we felt very safe. We really didn't feel like we were in too much danger. There was one woman who needed to leave early on. She was an elderly woman needed to go home and eat and she was suffering, I think, from -- my gosh, they all came, there must have been five police officers, we caught it on our cameras, they all surrounded her with their shields, their riot shields and their gear and they shuffled her to her car, which was pretty amazing. So --

BALDWIN: Oh, bless their hearts.

LAVELLE: Yes. Uh-huh.

BALDWIN: Jill Lavelle --

LAVELLE: They kept very good track of us.

BALDWIN: I want to let you go. I want to get you off CNN so you can go home and squeeze your family, all right, Jill?

LAVELLE: All right. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much. I really appreciate you talking to us over the last couple of hours.

Tom Foreman, let me bring you in. Can you imagine not knowing what's happening outside of your window, seeing the SWAT activity, trying to put the pieces together? You're standing, you can tell me a little bit more about the area and who all these hours was at risk?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, really, I think really this is the thing, there was a lot of confusion up front. Nobody really knew where it had started, where it was going or where it was going to wind up.

And think about this -- the authorities fairly early on closed this road all the way down here. This is the Planned Parenthood center right here. But if you take all of this area roughly around here, you're talking about something like in that basic grid of big places, somewhere around 750, 800 homes in that area alone.

Then you have people like your guests just there who were in shopping districts nearby so you add in -- she said 150 people down here at a grocery store down there. This was a bank right here. This is another piece of a business here, other little businesses on the corner. Down here is a gas station. All of that was about a quarter mile away.

And, Brooke, if you go all the way into the scene itself, now you're talking about a medical facility over here of offices. Here's Planned Parenthood. Over here, you have a facility for older folks. So, even though there's a lot of open ground around here, this is why there were five hours of people being pinned down there and unable to move, because they didn't really know what they had inside this building and until they knew, they had to feel like all those people were potentially in danger.

Indeed, as you know, Brooke, we had people in those parking lots near that nail salon, near that shopping center who said they heard gunfire. One man said a bullet came whizzing past him there. That's why police kept people pinned down all of these hours even though it might have seen excessive. It isn't, because all it takes is one mistake and people from quite a distance away being hurt.

BALDWIN: Yes, on this day after Thanksgiving, on a Black Friday when everyone was out and about, it started around lunchtime -- what an evening for folks in Colorado Springs.

Tom Foreman, thank you so much.

You know, Tom was talking about different people who saw the gunshots. Coming up after this break, we'll actually speak with an eyewitness who heard the gunshots and saw the police swoop in there.

[19:35:03] Bottom line, they got their guy. The suspect surrendered alive in Colorado Springs. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Back with our breaking news, in case you're joining us on this Friday evening, we can now tell you the Colorado Springs police have now got their suspect who led them on this five-hour active shooting scenario. We know multiple jurisdictions all joined to really try to get this guy and that's precisely what they did about 40 minutes ago.

We just got an update from a lieutenant there, a Colorado Springs police, essentially saying this -- that they are treating this whole thing right now as a crime scene because this individual brought in these bags of unknown materials. They don't know if it could be bombs or explosive materials in there, so they are going to have to go room to room to room within this Planned Parenthood to determine if it's safe, and also if there are additional victims.

They have not said whether or not anybody was killed. Again, the latest number we have on injured, 11, five of whom are police officers. They are all in hospitals and we don't know the severity of the injuries as well.

The suspect was using a long gun. That's as much as we know. And they were able to ID him. We don't have an ID as far as who he is or why but they were able to locate him within this Planned Parenthood because of cameras, apparently, inside of this building. So, that's some of what we got from Colorado Springs police moments ago.

I have Eric Singer, who has been there for hours and hours. He's a news anchor and reporter with "The Colorado Springs Gazette". [19:40:00] So, Eric, look at you. All of the snow coming down on

you on this Friday night. I mean, can we just begin with, do you feel the relief in the community?

ERIC SINGER, REPORTER, COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE: Absolutely, Brooke. I think you said it best. It's a sigh of relief here in Colorado Springs as the scene behind me continues to end slowly but surely. Right now, they have the suspect in custody the man has been detained. It ended short before 5:00 Mountain Standard Time.

And as you said, just moments ago, they are searching the Planned Parenthood building right now room by room, trying to make sure that he did not leave anything behind that could injury or God forbid, kill someone.

BALDWIN: Did you find it -- I found it noteworthy that we heard from the mayor and fire chief and police chief, you know, talking about obviously the bravery from law enforcement and kept referring to this as a horrible tragedy, yet we really don't know whether there are any fatalities.

SINGER: Absolutely. At this time, there are 11 casualties but we don't know if there has been, god forbid, a fatality or death, the next of kin has to be notified first, and they don't want somebody to hear about it here first. Five officers.

I mean, every day, they put their lives on the line to make sure the community is safe and, right now, they just want to make sure that they have everything, you know, their ducks in the row so they can make sure if, God forbid, they have to make a call to someone's family, they can make sure that they have the right information to give to them, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Right. And again, you know, you say 11 casualties. It's 11 injured. We don't know the severity of the injured.

Can you just tell me what you're seeing? I mean, do you get a sense at the scene that it's still very much an active crime scene or a lot of people clearing out of where you are after these five long hours?

SINGER: Brooke, it certainly is an active crime scene. As you can see, there are numerous fire trucks, ambulances and other law enforcement personnel who are behind me right now because, once again, they still are combing the area for answers trying to get you and us more information about possibly motives, possibly what was left behind.

But right now, because it is an active crime scene, they have to go room by room, inside the Planned Parenthood building which, by the way, is just over my shoulder. It's about 200 to 300 yards, for folks thinking about it in proportion, that's about three football fields away from us. That's how far we are.

It's a large building, the Planned Parenthood building and there are other medical offices in there as well. So, when the suspect went in roughly before noon, he knew where he was going but we don't know how long he was in the building prior to actually starting the whole situation and continue to unfold -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Eric Singer, fantastic reporting from the "Colorado Springs Gazette", thank you so much for your time tonight. Twenty minutes until 6:00 your time there in Colorado.

You know, we have been hearing from some of the witnesses in the area of this shooting and so I want to play something for you. The following phone interview happened when a woman named Judy called in to CNN affiliate KKTV from her car, and in this sound bite she describes hearing the gunshots and the news anchors are telling her to hang up and call police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CALLER: Well, I'm a courier and when I was leaving this building, which is at 3470 Centennial, I got back in my car and all of a sudden I heard what I thought was gunshots and I kept thinking, is that gunshots? And I was walking over to the Planned Parenthood building and I saw somebody leave and somebody going inside with a bag and I didn't think a whole lot of it.

But then I watched this car and anyhow, it kind of drifted from the driveway over at Planned Parenthood, across that little road in between that and the next building which is the building that I am at and it kind of went up a little hill, kind of drifted bag and I knew from watching it, there was nobody steering that car.

So, it came to a stop, as it rolled backwards, it stop, and a guy got out and actually fell on the ground where you could see all of the gunshots. Oh, my God. He terrified me.

So, I pulled at the back of the parking, I tried to call 911, I couldn't get through. Pulled up to this building and decided to get up and go inside and they said, get back in your car, we want you safe. Get back in your car.

And I've been here ever since and all I've heard the whole time I've been here is gunshots.

TV ANCHOR: How many gunshots have you heard?

CALLER: It varies at different times, and the last I heard was like a machine gun and -- I mean, it has been very scary.

[19:45:02] TV ANCHOR: So, how are you in a safe location if you're still inside your car?

CALLER: Well, I'm down. I'm not, you know, sitting up or anything. I'm just kind of down in the seat where nobody could see if they looked this way.

And I'm telling you, I don't know -- I guess I'm as safe as I can be without being inside because these cops in this building in front of me have actually came out and used one of the pillars here to actually hold guns up and I don't know who they were -- I haven't got it up and then 10 or 15 minutes ago, four of the cops came out and kind of was in the front of my car and a couple of them were by the pillar and one kind of knelt down between my car and the one next to me, which that really scared me because I'm thinking, how close is this guy, and then they went back in the building and since then a couple of times they pointed a gun out the door and that's it.

I don't know. I don't know what's going on. All I know is I'm very scared.

TV ANCHOR: Well, you have to be Judy. Have you been able to see the gunman at all or just --

CALLER: Not at all. Unless the guy that I seen walking in there with that bag on his shoulder was the gunman, I have no idea.

TV ANCHOR: So you were a courier and you were supposed to bring some lab results or take some lab results?

CALLER: Well, now we pick up labs.

TV ANCHOR: So you hadn't gone in to the Planned Parenthood building yet?

CALLER: No, I never went to Planned Parenthood. I go to the building next to Planned Parenthood. And there's a doctor's office on the second floor that I go to.

TV ANCHOR: Gotcha. So there's a multistory building next to it and you saw that car that apparently had a gunshot victim in it driving backwards between those two buildings, between Planned Parenthood and the multistory building.

CALLER: It was like he lost control. Like he no longer had control of the vehicle. So it was kind of rolling on its own.

TV ANCHOR: So you know that person has died or did you see that person against transferred?

CALLER: I don't know. All I know is he got out of the car and fell to the ground full of these what I know was bullet shots because there was blood at different areas on him.

TV ANCHOR: Oh, what a horrible thing to witness, Judy.

So you're in your car right now and you've been in your car for more than four hours now?

CALLER: Yes.

TV ANCHOR: And you've heard both of the shooting scenes, because we're getting confirmation that there was a shootings around 11:38 and then just after 2:00 this afternoon, more gunshots.

CALLER: Actually, I've been here since about 11:15. I came back to my car at 11:19 and there's been gunshots going on since then. TV ANCHOR: 11:19?

CALLER: Yes.

TV ANCHOR: OK. And how recently have you heard more gunshots fired?

CALLER: I would say it's been 20, 30 minutes now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: What a day in Colorado Springs. Again, they got their suspect. He is alive. He is in custody. Why he did this, we do not know yet.

Quick break. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[19:52:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) inside, she called me and she was telling me there was a shooting. I heard the shooting, and, and she couldn't say too much because she was afraid that those guys, you know --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Some of the witnesses here now hearing their stories coming forward after five hours of this active shooting situation in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at this Planned Parenthood Clinic. We now heard from police about 20, 25 minutes ago confirming they were able to apprehend, they were able to shout by communicating with this individual in the clinic and finally coax him out. He surrendered alive.

And now, Pamela Brown, our justice correspondent, let me bring you in, because finally, we have a picture of who appears to be the suspect.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We also have some more information as to the description of the suspect based on the scanner traffic that was taking place as this event was happening.

A lot of people were listening into this and the SWAT teams were saying that this was a man who was wearing a long coat, stocky, had a beard. He was just walking around the building. They were keeping tabs on him, Brooke, and tracking his movements by looking at a remote video feed from the security cameras.

This is coming from the scanner traffic. Also, really fascinating, it talked about the fact that the people that were inside hiding from the gunman were in a safe room that apparently the company had a safe room in the building where people could go if there was a crisis situation like what happened today with this active shooter. We're not exactly sure what that entails. According to the scanner traffic, apparently you have to have an ID to get into the room.

At one point, Brooke, the gunman was close to that safe room and there was a discussion about whether or not to shoot, but there was concern because he was close to the safe room and you could hear the talk on the scanner traffic about, you know, the sniper had eyes on him and whether or not they would shoot. Very, very intense moments there as this all unfolded, and then as we know, after around five hours or so, he surrendered peacefully, it seems, which shocked a lot of the law enforcement officials I've been speaking to, Brooke.

Some of them say this is an individual who came in, who was prepared, had a long rifle, a lot of ammunition to carry this out and shot multiple people and at the end of this he surrendered, when does make you scratch your head now that he was captured alive essentially, they will be interviewing him to try to figure out what the motive is, what was behind this. And also, Brooke, was, is there anyone else who could be conspiring with him.

[19:55:00] I mean, as Jonathan Gilliam said, that's a concern, too.

BALDWIN: Pamela, thank you so much.

And there are other photos I've seen, he's an older gentleman. You can see a beard, not too much else.

Jonathan, let me bring you in as we look at the pictures for the first time and given everything Pamela reported, safe room and whether or not they should take him out at certain points based upon how close he was to other individuals. Your thoughts?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, first off, whoever the manager is of that Planned Parenthood did exactly what they are supposed to do where they did a threat assessment, put a safe room in there. One thing, though, that has to come -- that people need to understand when we talk about terrorism often, we talk about what happened in Paris.

But the reality is terrorism is a tactic. If you use violence to inflict fear so that you can change the ideology of a community, that's terrorism. It's a tactic. So, this actually I would say is probably going to border around terrorism and that's probably what you're going to see.

BALDWIN: How incredibly frightening for these people in this lovely community in Colorado to deal with this because of this one individual.

Jonathan Gilliam thank you.

GILLIAM: Got it.

BALDWIN: Thanks to all of you. But make sure you stay here.

Quick break, but Brianna Keilar is up next continuing this live coverage out of what happened today in Colorado Springs. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)