>> this is aljazeera america, live from new york city. mass shooting. more than a dozen dead after a gunman opens fire on a college campus. >> if it looks like a terrorist, walks like a terrorist, fights like a terrorist, it's a terrorist, right. >> targeting terrorists, russia defends it's airstrikes on syria if. >> and moments of silence.

israel's prime minister criticizes the united nations over the iran nuclear deal. and hurricane joaquin, we're tracking the category 4 storm. breaking news tonight out of roseburg, oregon. according to the state attorney general, and people are dead after a shooting at umpqua community college. the shooter has been identified as a 20-year-old male. he was killed at the scene. and the attack began just after 10:30 this morning, pacific time. the officials have not released information about a motive in the shooting. roseburg is a small community in southwest oregon. it's about 70 miles south of eugene, 180 miles south of portland. the students were bussed from the umpqua campus to the douglas county fairgrounds where they're meeting family members, and that's where allen

schauffler is tonight. >> reporter: it's a heartbreaking scene, randall. we have talked to some of the folks here, who have gotten clearly bad news from inside of this building where people were brought from the campus. and a lot of tearing shed here as people reflect on what happened here. here's a look back on the nuts and bolts of a terrible day. shortly after 10:00 thursday morning, the first 9-1-1 call came n. >> somebody is outside of one of the doors shooting through the door. >> reports of a shooter in umpqua community college in roseburg, oregon. the police got there in about four minutes. >> officers from around the county immediately responded to the college, and upon arriving there, they located the shooter in one of the buildings. officers engaged that suspect, there was an exchange of

gunfire. the shooter threat was neutralized, and officers continued to sweep the campus, looking for other threats. >> reporter: officials say a gunman opened fire in a classroom, killing many and injuring dozens. students are running everywhere, holy god, wrote a bystander on twitter. students and staff were bussed off campus to a facility where councilors were called in. at a staging area, people brought food and water as parents reunited with their children. little is known about the shooter at this point, only that he was male, 20 years old and is now dead. no motive is yesterday to be determined. gabby giffords who suffered a mass shooting in 2011, wrote on her plane, a shooter in oregon, a community's heart has been tested but will not be broken. there were more than 40 smooters in the u.s. this year,

and while umpqua is a small college with a little more than 3,000 students, the tragedy will propel the school into the spotlight as america faces yet another mass shooting. >> our number one priority now is to make sure that the scene is secure, the victims are treated and to make sure that we have a complete crime scene, and that we continue to make sure that there are no additional threats. >> reporter: no officers, of all of people who responded to the incident, were harmed in any way in the shooting. the governor of oregon, kate brown, has ordered all flags at public buildings to be flown at half-staff, at least through tomorrow. randall? >> that's allen schauffler on the scene, and joining me now, olsen, retired from the community college in june.

and let me extend on behalf of aljazeera america, our sympathies to you on behalf of trends and students, and i'm sure that you probably know everyone on campus, and unfortunately, you probably know some of the victims as well. tell me, what have you learned about what happened there? any idea what may have motivated this horrible act? >> well, you know what? i don't think that we can ever anticipate what someone might do. and no matter how much we may train or prepare, if someone chooses to do this on their own, they are going to do it. the unfortunate thing is that we don't have -- we can't say to the victims of the families that we didn't try our best.

and i think that in any organization, in any country, we try our best. >> we have asked authorities, and now we'll ask you, do you know what the connection was between the shooter and the campus? was he a student perhaps? >> well, you know, at this point in time we don't know. and i don't speak on behalf of the college, or the sheriff's department, or the board of trustees. we just don't know, it's too early for me to make any comments. >> earlier you told one of my colleagues at aljazeera that the college has had three training exercises with local law enforcement ages in the past two years, and some of the consultants that we spoke to earlier indicated that

training, obviously trying to prepare for the worst, is something that is necessary. can you speak to us about the training that was initiated apparently under your administration. >> well, what we prepared for was an active shooter. and the problem with an active shooter is that by the first time that your first responder gets there, the active shooter has already conducted his or her damage. so having a swat team come? really after the fact. >> we understand that that was the responding officers, and not the tactical team who confronted the shooter and engaged him, and resulted in killing him. now, tell me about the security status of the campus. how many guards do you have on what we understand is a site

with 17 buildings, encompassing some 100 acres of property. >> we are a very small community college. we happen to think that we're one of the safest community colleges on the west coast, and we happen to believe that we're one of the most esthetically pleasing campuses on the west coast. but we have one security officer on duty. duty during the day. who is unarmed. >> do you know where that security officer was in relationship to the snyder science hall, which is where we're told the shootings occurred? no, i don't. >> do you think, given what happened today, that there perhaps needs to be armed security, and more than one person?

>> . >> you know, that's a difficult question, and that's something that we had town has during the last year. should we have more security? should we have armed security? and the campus was pretty much split 50/50 about whether or not there should be either. again, to repeat myself, we're very safe. and this is rural oregon. we like to think that we will protect ourselves, not by means of armed security, but just by means of acting appropriately. >> in the final seconds before we lose you, would you like to share with us any thoughts that perhaps might help some other college administrator somewhere

else in america as they're looking at this scene, trying to prepare for the worst? >> you know, that's a really, really difficult question, and i know that we only have a few seconds left. but do we want to divert more resources from supporting students and helping them succeed to armed security or something like that? because what i believe, and what i think most of my colleagues would believe is that our focus is on helping students succeed. and taking resources away from student tutoring, or student mentoring, or something like that, to put into security is a

risky choice, because we know that students will succeed if we help them. we can't prevent what happened at umpqua today. and i'm so sorry to say that we can't predict what someone is unpredictable about. >> joel olsen, the former president of the umpqua community college. thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, and our sympathies to you and the umpqua family. since the shooting in december of 2012, there have been 34 fatal shootings in america. after the shooting in connecticut, the obama offered a resolution to reduce gun violence, but no new measures were adopted in congress. just a short time ago, president obama addressed the tragedy in oregon. >> as i said just a few months

ago, and i said a few months before that, and i say each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough. it's not enough. it does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. and it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in america. next week, or a couple of months from now. we don't yet know why this individual did what he did. and it's fair to say that anybody who does this has a sickness in their minds. regardless of what they think

their motivations may be. we talked about this after columbine and plattsburg and tucson, after new town, after aurora, after charleston. it can not be this easy for someone who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun. >> and today, hilliary clinton reacted to the shooting, saying that she supports gun measures. >> it's just beyond my comprehension that we're seeing these mass murders happen again and again and again. and as i have said, we have got to get the political will to do everything we can to keep people safe. you know, i know there is a way to have sensible gun control measures that help to prevent violence, prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands and save lives, and i'm

committed to doing everything i can for that. >> and jeb bush said that he was praying for the family at umpqua and the families affected by this tragedy. >> . >> now to syria, where the russians carried out a second day of airstrikes. the u.s. once again accused moscow of targeting anti-government targets instead of fighters. to rule out any confrontation between russia and coalition aircraft. jamie mcentire joins us, and what do we know about the russians and syria? >> the pentagon said 50 russian airplanes carried out 30 airstrikes, and they returned to their air base in syria, and it appears that maybe one isil stronghold was hit. but for the second day, it appeared that most of the strikes were centered in areas

where isil isn't. the latest strikes against a number of groups in syria with varying ideologies, including the army of conquest, a coalition of fighters who oppose isil, including the al qaeda front. at the united nations, russia's foreign minister, lavrov, said that russia and united states are fighting a common enemy. >> if it walks like a terrorist and fights like a terrorist, it's a terrorist, right? i will recall that we always were saying that we are going to fight isil and other terrorist groups, this is the same position that we are taking, and the representatives of the coalition are saying that their targets are isil and

other terrorist groups, and this is our position as well. >> the u.s. says it has no evidence that russia has struck any isil forces. and as it conducted it's first direct talks with moscow over deconfliction, sending out which radio frequencies and which language will be used when russia and coalition pilots talk to each other in the air. in one sense, the russian pilots are already decon flicked with them going t -- the u.s. going to the east. and russia to the west. and the u.s. says despite conducting only a handful of strikes in syria in the recent days, the russian campaign is having no effect on coalition efforts. >> it's only because these are dynamic targeting processes. so we are continuing, and we have not atured operations in

syria to accommodate new players on the battlefield. >> reporter: senate armed services committee chairman, john mccain said that the decommission talks are offering nothing, but bashar al-assad's brutalization of his people. in a statement, mccain says, are we trying to conflict with russian operations that tart rebels and kill innocent civilians or to keep bashar al-assad in power? he made clear that the u.s. has a responsibility to protect rebel fighters it has trained and sent into wait a minute. >> we definitely acknowledged that we have unnobles to their safety. >> u.s. did bomb the el nusra front to protect the first group of fighters, but now with russia allegedly targeting u.s.-supported groups, the

pentagon won't make that same pledge. >> there were circumstances when that was discussed previously. and i'm not going to get into a situation of talking about hype themselves and what might happen in the future. >> as for the future, russia is leaving open the door to expanding their airstrikes into neighboring iran. >> we have asked. and we are a polite people, and we don't come when not invited. >> that on the day when iraq's leader expressed dissatisfaction with the u.s. support and seemed to be issuing an invitation. >> [ unintelligible ]. >> and the u.s. strategy, the ground part, after days of denying that it's much -criticized program to train and equipped syrian rebels is suspended, the program is paused. and some syrians are still being trained outside of the country, but none are being sent into battle until the

pentagon can figure out how well the pacly unsuccessful program can be made to work. randall? >> so jamie, the question of whether or not the russians are telling the truth, we saw them in ukraine and crimea insisting that they weren't doing something, and they were, and they annexed it in eastern ukraine, and their insignia had been removed. and are we lynning to the rugs saying one thing and doing another in syria? >> well, that's certainly the view of the pentagon. one of the briefs today, they said that we have seen this before. not out right accusing the rugs much lying, i would say that there's a high degree of skepticism, and it's a really question of what they will be able to accomplish in the so-called deconfliction caulks. the united states w. a few ideas of what might be able to

be done, and they're going to talk in the future. but given russia's past, the pentagon is looking on the statements with a high degree of skepticism. >> thank you very much, jamie, and now, pj crowley, who served in public affairs from 2009 to 2011, and now he's a professor at george washington university. thank you for joining us on aljazeera. let's talk about what is at stake for the u.s. as russia is in syria. what are the russians up to? >> well, the russians have significant interest in syria, and it's their last bastion in the area, and they have lost a lot over the years, and it's very important to russia. they have bases there that they can use to project power in the

mediterranean, and obviously, vladimir putin has insinuated himself into the middle of this mix, so that whatever happens going forward, russia will be in the position to influence a solution and protect the national interest. so far, so good. but however, there's a profound interest over defining what a terrorist is, as the clip of serg a lav rov showed. and the legitimate opponents of bashar al-assad, and so they have to conclude that they know what they believe. and he needs protection and can be salvaged as the leader of syria. >> and that puts them in confliction of what the u.s. says. how far will they go to protect assad? >> they protect the territory, and one of the reasons that the

russians are trying to create a fire break around him, because he was losing a lot of ground in recent months. there has no come a tipping point for russia and iran, where they can project and foresee a future syria without bashar at the top. but we're not anywhere near that point yet. >> with war, do you see the possibility of inadvertent action with this spinning out of control with the u.s. and other forces versus russia militarily? >> that certainly is always a risk. i think that with both sides, with the talks that have begun, will go to great lengths to make sure that there's not a con flick between the coalition forces and russian forces, and

we don't yet have an agreement as to what the conflict is about, but what the solution is about. and in the u.s. standpoint, there's a recognition at some point in time, assad as had a go, and he cannot survive. and unfortunately, russia and iran to prop him up, we push the political solution further forward. and then the introduction inside of syria continues, and then you have to make a larger question. can syria survive as a sovereign state, given all of conflict going on. and all of the introduction, and the hemorrhage of people, and three or four camping controlled by different groups. that's going to be hard to put syria back together again. >> do you envision a situation where the u.s. and russia can somehow cooperate over the issue of syria? >> i think that inevitably

there has to be that level of corporation. ban ki-moon in the general assembly said that there are five countries here, saudi arabia, turkey, united states, iran, they hold the keys, maybe not on the same pain, but the same chapter or better, and then you have the prospect of a real political solution, and unfortunately, we're far from that point. >> anchor: w.j. crowley, thank you for your insight on aljazeera america. >> pleasure. >> we're keeping our eyes on breaking news at this hour. a community in mourning after a gunman opens fire at a small college, killing up to 13 people. we'll have a live report in roseburg, oregon in a few minutes, and plus, the east coast on the alert to see where a major hurricane heads next.

i just had a horrible nightmare. my company's entire network went down, and i was home in bed, unaware. but that would never happen. comcast business monitors my company's network 24 hours a day and calls and e-mails me if something, like this scary storm, takes it offline. so i can rest easy. what. you don't have a desk bed? don't be left in the dark. get proactive alerts 24/7. comcast business. built for business.

>> hurricane joaquin is pummeling into the bahamas today after making landfall just after dawn. eave rainfall, 132 mile-per-hour winds are hitting the islands, and the residents are bracing for as many as 13 inches of rain before the storm is expected to turn to the north. kevin corriveau has more. >> reporter: we're talking about a category 4 hurricane, which happened today. but yesterday, we went from a

category 1 to category 3 in just 6 hours. we're looking at a well-defined eye right here, and this island in the bahamas is called long island. and it's pushing over the southern part right now, smack dab in the center of the bahamas. if you're in freeport, you're seeing the rain come in, but not the full effect of the storm right now. we're waiting for -- which has not yet happened. here we're looking at the hurricane warnings. that will say in effect at least through the next 24, possibly 478 hours. and so this is what the national hurricane center has said at 5:00 p.m. category 4, 132 miles per hour. still moving to the southwest. and that is the big problem with this storm. and that is why we do not have a very good track as it makes its way to the north. because we need it to start moving to the north to figure out what's going to be

happening as it makes its bay up parts of the eastern seaboard. over the past couple of days, we have seen it change quite a bit. on tuesday, it was red out to the east. and tuesday, yellow, out to the west. and today, you say that the track is pretty much split between the two of them, but the other big factor later on, we're going to be having exceptional coastal flooding along the eastern seaboard even if we're not talking about landfall. we'll have coastal flooding. >> returning now to roseburg, oregon, where there are reports of 13 people dead, according to the state attorney general, after a shooting at umpqua community college. the shooter has been identified as a 20-year-old male. and he was killed at the scene. the attack began just after 10:30 pacific time this morning. the officials have not yet released fox about a motive in the shooting.

roseburg is a small community in roseburg, oregon, south of eugene. and the students were bussed to the umpqua campus to the fairgrounds where they're meeting family members, and allen schauffler is there tonight. have you had an opportunity to speak to any of the family members? >> yes, we did. we talked to a woman who had been waiting all day long for a connection from her daughter, and she had not gotten it, and when we spoke with her had not gotten any direct information about her daughter from law enforcement. as i was speaking to her, someone came out of building where they gave her information, which led her to tears, and she went inside of the building. a lot of the people here, clearly not getting the news they hoped to get when they came here where the survivors were bussed.

it's a terrible day in this community. a small town of a little more than 20,000. and umpqua community college is the only college in this immediate area. people here are absolutely heartbroken. and here's the president of the college, and what she had to say about the event earlier today. >> today was the saddest day in the history of the college. the college just celebrated it's 50th anniversary recently. and this is a tragedy. our hearts and prayers go out to the families and to the staff. and to the students who witnessed this atrocity. this is a real crisis situation. we're still sorting through and trying to reunify students with their families, and that's the highest priority right now. and a very rapid response to that campus today when the shooting broke out. we understand from the roseburg police, it was a matter of 4 minutes or so from when the first 9-1-1 reports came in,

that they had police on campus. a huge concentration of officers, and they engaged in a shootout of some kind with the lone suspect. he was shot, died either at the scene or at the hospital. and we don't have those details yet. don't have a name. and obviously don't have a motive of any kind at this point. the governor of oregon has ordered flags in public buildings to be flown half-staff at this point, and we don't know how long that will last. but we'll hear from the governor today or tomorrow. >> allen, i'm noticing behind you some crosses and i wonder if those are memorials constructed either from this morning or if they were already there, and also, what's happening on campus at this hour? >> what you're seeing is crosses that are actually light posts, which would have been here anyway, and not part of the memorials, which will be growing that we see so often at

shootings like this. and people who came to help, brought water and food, who had to come out and help. one woman who drove 45 minutes, i asked why she was here, and she said that she just came to pray at the spot where the families were. the campus is completely locked down now, and there's no access to it. there's only one road into it. and none of us are getting anywhere near it. we were told that about 70 police officers, federal officers as well were there during the day working on this investigation, and it's going to be a lot of work, with many people, as expected, are dead at the scene, and we expect the investigation to continue into and possibly through the night. >> aljazeera, we'll be checking in with you later this evening. prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, was one of the dozens of leaders who spoke today at the united nations general assembly. he criticized the iran nuclear

deal and palestinian president, mahmoud abbas. now, randall has the speech. >> many people kind of felt they heard it before. because prime minister netanyahu had three things he tore into the u.n. for what he called a shameful routine bashing of israel. and he called on mahmoud abbas to in his words not walk away from peace. and he used political theater for a face-off with delegates in the chamber. speaking before the united nations general assembly, israeli prime, benjamin prime m, benjamin netanyahu, blasted the nuclear agreement with iran [ audio difficulties ] >> i begin my speech today by

saying, ladies and gentlemen, check your enthusiasm at the door. >> he once again condemned the lifting of sanctions w. which could be billions of unfrozen dollars going to iran. >> you think hundreds of thousands of dollars in fat contracts will turn the rapacious tiger into a kitten? >> the israeli leader, along with u.s. lawmakers opposed to the deal, failed to keep it from going forward. and said that it would only increase the threat to israel by an atomic iran years down the road. >> that will make an islamic terror regime. an entire arsenal of nuclear bombs.

>> reporter: netanyahu, who further placed his opposition over the deal by saying the threat to israel. and further, standing in silence and is staring out at the general assembly for nearly a minute, but his 40-minute speech was not just arrived for attacks on iran. he said that he's ready to get back to o'the negotiating table with palestine. abbas said that he is no longer going to honor accords. >> i am immediately ready to presume direct negotiations with the palestinian authority without any preconditions whatsoever. >> a tough sell to some palestinian politicians. they continue to criticize israel, as they continue to construct homes for israelis in

the west bank. >> israel is refusing to abide by international law, and then it turns around and blames the palestinians, who are it's victims. >> he said nothing about ending the building of israeli settlements in the west bank and jerusalem, and he demanded that the palestinians -- on a collision course with its key ally sponsor in the region, the united states. >> thank you, john terrett. an emotional response from president obama after another mass shooting, and plus, afghanistan to syria and iraq, the strategy behind the obama administration's foreign policy. is it working?

>> a minute ago our colleague, john terrett, just did a report about benjamin netanyahu's impassioned speech at the united nations, and at one point, going into a minute of silence as he talked about the world seven years ago during the nazi era when 6 million

jews were killed, and the silence of today, when iran is threatening to wipe israel off the face of the earth. let's bring in guy to talk about netanyahu's presentation, and what made him make the decision to focus on the iran deal and the accusation that he was making against the world body for in effect not carrying about israel? >> well, netanyahu wanted to challenge the u.n. on moral grounds. he pointed out that there have been 20 resolutions against israel in the last year, just one about the slaughter in syria, and he pointed out that the nations of the u.n. why silent in the wake of iran's threats against israel. so clearly what he was trying to demonstrate is that his nation, the israeli people are living in a very dangerous

neighborhood. and today, there was an unfortunate tragedy, six israeli children are orphaned. their parents were killed in a drive-by shooting in the west bank. so the threats that he talked about were very real, and not imagined. the problem that i have in the speech, netanyahu did what he does best. fear morning. pointing out only the dangers and the negatives without offering any practically solution, and without offering any vision for a better future. >> netanyahu did say that israel is ready to resume face-to-face direct negotiations with palestinians without preconceived conditions. on the other hand, habas is saying that he's walking away from the oslo accords, and do you think that netanyahu is serious? >> i think that netanyahu is serious about ruling peace talks. i'm not sure that he's serious

about reaching a solution. we have seen from net net, [ audio difficulties ] on both sides. habas' speech yesterday was no more helpful than netanyahu's speech was today. and when he threatens to walk away from oslo, i'm not sure what that means. walking away from oslo means dismantling the palestinian authority, and i don't see him doing that any time soon, and walking away from oslo means stopping the coordination with israel and it's not going to be soon. >> john kerry might give the peace talks a go, and we might see him with diplomacy

specifically between tel aviv and the palestinian torts and back to washington and do you think that he might try that in the remaining months of the obama administration? >> i don't know if he's planning to tra try or not, buti know in the absence of the relationship, the situation is tense, and the spirit of the palestinians is at an all-time high, and there's a deep mistrust on both sides, and a leadership vacuum that says that the situation will get out of control. so i think thats is absolutely necessary for the united states to remain more engaged and become mortgaged and remain engaged at a sustained level and at the highest level of government so. i would like to see kerry doing that, and i think that president obama has shown in the past year that he is not willing to be a lame duck president, and he's willing to pursue bold political -- take

bold political steps that typically we don't see from a second-term president who is finishing up his presidency. so i would like to see it happen. and i think that it's important that it happens, and i have to tell that you its important that israelis and palestinians really need to step away from the status quo which threatens both of them. >> thank you very much for your pass tonight. he's the president of american university and author of "why hawks become detectives." become doves." >> russian airstrikes in syria, and the u.s. once again accused moscow of targeting anti-government fighters and not isil. lavrov said that russia and the united states-led coalition see eye to eye on targets.

>> if it walks like a terrorist and fights like a terrorist, it's a terrorist, right? i will recall that we all said that we are going to fight isil and other terrorist groups. this is the same position which the americans are taking, the representatives of the coalition command have always been saying that the targets are isil and other terrorist groups, and this is our position as well. >> lavrov said that the jets targeted isille targets, and russia is denying that civilians were killed in the strikes. >> it's what do you call the people who are in support and fighting against the assad government, they turned terrorists, so that has allowed, i think, the russian

direction on these people, to be more widespread than just an operation against isil. but it does appear that not everyone is talking on the same page here. we had sergei, the putin chief of staff yesterday saying that the attacks appear to be solely against isil. and then we have had other information that the russian intelligence units are briefing syria's army on the location of all of the opponents, with the information that they're getting on drones. so i think that it's a deliberately confused situation. victory over the taliban today. afghanistan troops managed to recapture the center of the northern it city of kunduz. that's three days after losing

the city 43 people are wounded. the conflict in syria is one of the many foreign policy challenges that the united states is facing right now, and the obama administration is being sharply criticized for how it's handling those challenges. mike viqueira has more from washington >> reporter: the question for president obama's spokesman, how do you respond to critics, who says that vladimir putin is pushing president obama around, as if they were two kids on a playground. >> that's not at all what's happening. the fact is, russia is responding to a situation inside of the middle east from the position of weakness. >> reporter: but in the wake of putin's unexpected military move, calls for mr. obama to punch back. one senate conservative calling for a red line for russian forces. >> we should establish no-fly zones in syria, and make it

clear that any aircraft entering that will be shot down. >> mr. obama missed his chance four years ago, when he didn't step in when bashar al-assad with the backing of iran, began a brutal campaign against opponents. >> when we saw that the u.s. had no reaction, they considered it a carte blanche to go ahead and proceed with that strategy. which has led to hundreds of thousands of people dead and millions displaced. >> assad has attacked his own people with chemical weapons, crossing the red line drawn by president obama, and after launching, mr. obama backed away. >> i will seek authorization for the use of force from the american people's representatives in congress. >> congress didn't act, but russia did. brokering a deal for assad to give up it's chemical weapon stockpiles, and all talks of

airstrikes quickly went away. now russia has flexed it's military muscle, informing the u.s. and it's allies only at the last minute before launching airstrikes. >> the reality is that russia is effectively going to put a bubble over the part of western syria and really protecting assad. there are a couple of motivations behind this. and one is that putin really wants to demonstrate that russia is back in the mainstream again. >> we are breaking in now to go to roseburg, oregon. -- portland, oregon where the sheriff is going to be giving us an update on the shoot being at the community college compass. to roseburg, oregon. >> the strategic events that unfolded today at umpqua community college. these sort of tragedies aren't supposed to happen here. but they did, and it leaves tons of questions in our minds.

and so as this is a very active investigation, and the investigation continues, there are a few questions that i can answer for you, but there will be more to come. it's very early in this event. and we are still trying to confirm a great amount of information that is floating around, and a great amount of information that we need to confirm. i want to say first and foremost, that our victims and families of our victims are our priority. everything that we do from here on will be for them. at this time, we are reporting and can confirm ten fatalities in the shooting, seven

additional injuries, those that were injured were initially transported to our local hospital, and three of those that were critically injured were transferred to a hospital up in the eugene area. we know there are conflicting reports of the numbers of casualties. and i can tell you that this number is the best, most accurate information that we have at this time. the fbi has established a toll-free number for tips and families. and that number is 1-(800)-222-5324. also, it can be remembered as 1-(800)--call-fbi. when you do this, you choose option 7. again, this number is to help reunite and provide information

to the families of the victims. this event has been deemed a mass casualty event. which brings with it hundreds of resources to this small community. along with those resources and the fact that this is a mass casualty incident, brings specific protocols that we must follow. that includes specific processes by which the state medical examiner's office may manage identification. and because of these protocols, the need to notify each family, we don't anticipate releasing the names of the fatalities for 24-48 hours. the law enforcement investigation into the shooter and into his motivation is ongoing. we are not ready at this time to make any comments about him.

reunification continues at the douglas county fairgrounds. family and students should gather there. there are councilors at the fairgrounds, providing assistance to all of the folks that are down there. at this time, i would like to have my public information officer, corporal hudson address some other issues, thank you. >> so we're going to continue to use the hashtag ucc shooting on our twitter account, which is douglas coso. further written updates will be posted to our social media accounts, to our website and flash alert eugene.net. we have a number of agencies that have provided a lot of resources to this incident.

and at a future briefing, we'll walk through what those are, and what that looks like. we also anticipate having another briefing later this evening, and we'll notify you via our social media account and flash alert. i have a couple of administrative things to discuss, and that's all the information i have. right now. i'm not taking any questions. >> we have been listening to a news conference in roseburg, oregon, held by douglas county sheriff, john hamblin, who is saying that he is counting ten

fatalities. allen schauffler, bring us up to speed. >> reporter: yeah, that's what we're hearing. that number ten. don't know whether that's going to waver or not. i spoke very briefly to a senior law enforcement officer at the scene. and he couldn't tell us how many families are still waiting, and ave ailing themselves of counseling, and when he was asked if there were more buss and more people expected from the school, he said that he didn't have that information, so we don't know at this point if there might be more people coming off of the campus or whether that's done for the day. we just saw another group of 12 or 15 or so, moving between buildings here in each other's arms in tears, obviously a very, very bad day here, and the city of roseburg is grappling with a situation with ten dead, seven injured. and another three critically injured and taken up to the hospital in the eugene ramirez,

springfield area. >> and the sheriff describing this as a mass casualty event, which has a lot to do with the kind of resources that will be made available to the victims and the families of the victims, which he says right now of course will be the focus of law enforcement and everyone else there. i was interested to know that you had spoken to one of the families earlier tonight, a very tragic time for all of them there. we will be checking back. >> extremely tragic times. and it's reflected in the faces of the people that we have met here. one young lady who said she was in the room right next door to where the shooting happened. and it's a day that she'll never forget and it will stay with her forever, and the city suffered a great deal and then said we're going to be okay. so strength as well. >> that wraps up this hour of coverage, and i'm randall pinkston, and thank you for watching, and adam may will

pick things up at the top of the hour. we leave you now with images from a tragic day in roseburg, oregon. >> i think we're into something that's bigger than us >> that's the pain your mother feels when you disrespect her son... >> me being here is defying all odds >> they were patriots, they wanted their country back

>> al jazeera america presents the passion.. >> onward! pain... >> it's too much though... >> and triumph... >> inspirational real life stories... >> all these labels the world throws at you, that's what drives me to push... >> of ordinary people >> i tasted the american dream. i liked it... >> living extraordinary lives... >> if we could multiply this program, we could change the world... >> from the best filmmakers of our time, >> i give al jazeera tremendous credit, because it's not traditionally what broadcast journalism does... >> the new home for original documentaries al jazeera america presents only on al jazeera america al jazeera america gives you the total news experience anytime, anywhere. more on every screen. digital, mobile, social. visit aljazeera.com. follow @ajam on twitter. and like aljazeera america on

facebook for more stories, more access, more conversations. so you don't just stay on top of the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. al jazeera america. good evening. this is and welcome back to al jazeera america live from new york. good evening, everyone. i'm adam