emergency services are attending, there are reports of fatalities. this is bbc world news and we are bringing you reports of a shooting ata bringing you reports of a shooting at a synagogue in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. we can get an update right now. there are multiple casualties that have been confirmed, we do not know the exact number. four is the number the four is the number reported, the local television is reporting seven deaths. police officers are among those wounded. we understand it is an ongoing situation and the gunmen is still on —— still in the synagogue, on the third floor. he is supposed to be shouting to police officers with racist taunts so it is

an ongoing situation and has not been established under control as yet by the police. he said, like all of us, he is watching the events unfold. he says that he is sure that there will be calls for gun control asa there will be calls for gun control as a result of this incident but he said that debate would have to be for another time. he repeated the warning of the police to stay away from the area. he said god bless eve ryo ne from the area. he said god bless everyone in the area. a residential area here in pittsburgh, it is not downtown pittsburgh. it looks like a very calm, residential area. downtown pittsburgh. it looks like a very calm, residentialarea. it downtown pittsburgh. it looks like a very calm, residential area. it must bea very calm, residential area. it must be a shock because the response is extremely comprehensive with security forces. that's right, the first we knew that something was happening was information on social media about a large police presence in the area, swat teams heading towards this synagogue, the tree of life synagogue in the squirrel hill

area of the city. you can see from these recent images now the enormous police presence there. certainly if there is an active shooter still at there is an active shooter still at the scene, you can understand why. as for the shooter himself, we haven't had any official details about him but people have been monitoring the police scanners saying that, according to them, he isa saying that, according to them, he is a heavy—set white male, a light blue shirt, code and jeans. this is when police were asking other units to keep a look out. it hasn't been confirmed by the police but those are some of the reports of the man who is involved in this incident. this, of course, into an environment which is already the bridle in the united states in the run—up to the mid—term elections. united states in the run—up to the mid-term elections. we have just had the arrest yesterday of the 56 old man who has been charged in

connection with sending those parcel bombs to senior democrats. that incident was keeping the attention of the us public for several days. there was the first incident on monday when this explosive device was sent to george soros. the next day there were other devices found at the home of president obama and hillary clinton. then get more devices, cnn of course was on air when it had to be evacuated because a device had been found in their studio. that has been dominating american attention for the last five days but now this breaking news, i'm sure, will settle that aside. the us police forces are very quick to make state m e nts police forces are very quick to make statements and press conferences to update the public as to what is going on. we have already heard from

pittsburgh police. a short time ago, we we re pittsburgh police. a short time ago, we were dispatched to active gunfire at the tree of life synagogue in squirrel hill. right now we have multiple casualties, we are working the situation. it is imperative that people in the community surrounding the tree of life synagogue stay in their houses and stay inside. do not come out of your home right now, it is not safe. do not come out of your home, it is not safe. it was announced that the shooter was still at large. that was a public service message, wasn't it? information to local people that there was an active situation, that there have been casualties. but not too much information about what was actually going on. the incident was still ongoing so it was understandable. we have had no updates since then but there are reports of multiple casualties, up to seven with possibly the gunmen still inside the synagogue, still exchanging possibly

gunfire with police officers. let's ta ke gunfire with police officers. let's take a look at the tweet that was sent by president trump as this was unfolding. he said, "looking at the events unfolding in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, law enforcement on the scene will stop people in squirrel hill area should remain sheltered. looks like multiple photography. beware of active shooter. god bless all." he was right, there are multiple facilities, after? there we re multiple facilities, after? there were initially reports of four dead. cbs is reporting seven. i'm not sure if that has been confirmed by police yet but certainly there are several reports of up to seven fidelity ‘s as well two police officers wounded in exchanges of gunfire with the gunmen who, according to recent reports, is still inside the

synagogue and has yet to be arrested. apparently an ongoing situation according to all of the latest reports we are getting. at the time that the pipe bomb affair was unfolding and the pipe bombs we re was unfolding and the pipe bombs were appearing at various addresses, there was a suggestion by some that donald trump's rhetoric was feeding into an atmosphere of intolerance and might encourage those who are already inclined in that direction to move towards violence. do you think it is possible that this particular incident could reopen that debate? it might reopen that debate but it is a different incident. the mail bomber was somebody who was targeting senior democrats, targeting president trump's political opponents. this is an incident that is completely different in character. we have seen a synagogue targeted for whatever reason. i'm going to interrupt you

because the bbc has been told, in fa ct, because the bbc has been told, in fact, that the shooter is in custody. that is what we understand. the shooter involved in this incident at a synagogue in pittsburgh, multiple vitality is, took a while to contain inside the synagogue is now in custody. obviously that is a huge relief to everybody concerned if he is in custody. that suggests that he didn't kill himself, that he wasn't shot by police officers, that he was arrested. they will be able to interview that man and find out what his motives were. good news, of course, that the incident is over now. police officers will be able to get a ccess now. police officers will be able to get access and the emergency services will be able to get access to the synagogue to find out the situation there. of course, to be

able to treat those who have been wounded, who still inside the synagogue who need emergency treatment. until fairly recently, they of course wouldn't be able to gain access to the synagogue because the gunmen was still in there at large threatening police officers. we understand that the police responded before ioam we understand that the police responded before 10am and by 11:20am, this is local time, the suspect had been taken into custody. there's a lot of pressure on us security police to respond very quickly and very accurately to such incidences. of course there is and there was, as you so, very swift response here. very comprehensive. absolutely, we can see a lot of those officers here. not only armed police officers, routinely armed police officers, routinely armed police officers, routinely armed police officers who would have been on the scene, we can see some of the

other officers here, the swat teams, the heavily armed officers in military style fatigues. a were on the scene very rapidly. i can give you a bit of information about the synagogue itself. it describes itself on its website as a traditional, progressive and he galloped every congregation. certainly images of the synagogue that i have seen seem to be a large building with a fairly large congregation. let's hear from our correspondence in washington. we are picking up some of the same detail but there is an active gunman in the area around the synagogue. it is a residential area in the suburbs of pittsburgh, pennsylvania. the squirrel hill area. we understand that the scene around the tree of life synagogue is now covered in police as they search for this gunman and tried to apprehend him. there are reports that there have been multiple casualties at the synagogue, possibly fatalities as

well. warnings going out to people in that area that this is an ongoing operation and that they should stay indoors because there is a risk, a heavy police presence in that area and a warning to residents in that suburb of pittsburgh that they should keep themselves safe. the synagogue would have been busy, this has happened on a saturday morning when people would have been at the synagogue. so clearly a risk to people who were gathered there. we don't know anything more about exactly why this gunmen picked that asa exactly why this gunmen picked that as a target, what exactly his motivation would have been. this feeds into an already very security conscious atmosphere in the united states as a whole given the arrest ofa states as a whole given the arrest of a suspect in the pipe running parcels. indeed, a tense time in the run—up to the mid—term elections here. everybody on heightened alert a nyway here. everybody on heightened alert anyway and then with those parcel bombs are peering through the

postage in the week, the tension across the country has ratcheted up and big developments yesterday with the arrest of that suspect. nobody complacent that there are threats out there that there are risk to people in this country, especially as we get closer to the mid—term elections next week. whether this has any connection to politics, to the election process, we don't know yet. we still don't know the exact numberof yet. we still don't know the exact number of people who have been involved in this latest incident, never mind what the motivation may have been. certainly a tense time in this country. some suggestion that the political atmosphere, because politics is so divided in the united states, is really fuelling this type of response and that those people who may be already inclined in that direction are being pushed further in exactly that direction. that has beena in exactly that direction. that has been a big concern and a big part of the debate that has gone alongside

the debate that has gone alongside the investigation work that has been carried on this week. how much is the tone of politics here responsible for what some individuals may then be capable of? the president was very strong in pushing back yesterday saying that he didn't think his rhetoric was to blame for what any individuals may have done. at the same time, he called on the media to tone things down and to report with respect and not to attack political figures. there are calls for the tone of politics and for the debate here to be carried out in a more pleasant manner, ina be carried out in a more pleasant manner, in a more sophisticated manner. but also warnings that things can get out of hand and that people can take their cues from what politicians and what the media are saying that can lead to a further extension of that. too early to determine whether that attack falls into that sort of picture or not but certainly it is something that people are aware of. it is a big debate in this country about how politics is actually done here now.

what can you tell us about pittsburgh's? it is not too far from where you are, is it? it is a major city but we understand that this synagogue that has been targeted has the track is in a residential suburb outside of the city centre. it looks like a residential, leafy neighbourhood. people here have been warned by the authorities this morning to stay at home and keep themselves safe away from this area because we see from the pictures that there are lots of police office rs that there are lots of police officers and emergency services now in that area because this is very much an active manhunt trying to find whoever is responsible for this shooting at the synagogue this morning. let's now bring you a member of the localjewish timidity who has been speaking to the media about the congregation. we have done lots of training on things like active shooters and we have looked

at the hardening facilities as much as possible. describe to me how many people would have been inside the synagogue on a saturday morning and what time of people would have been there? i can't tell you exactly how many were in there. it depends whether there was some kind of bar m itzva h whether there was some kind of bar mitzvah or special event which would bring more people. i would guess at tree of life, a typical saturday morning would have our first time tree of life, a typical saturday morning would have ourfirst time in the morning maybe 50 or 60 people, i guess. you talked to the may, what did he pass along to you? he said he will do everything he can and so will do everything he can and so will the city to help out. we really appreciate all the help from our local politicians. we are hearing theirfrom a localjewish local politicians. we are hearing their from a localjewish committee uyghur leader —— we were hearing that from a localjewish community

leader. what sort of picture is forming here? we understand that the man himself is now in custody. there are reports that he has surrendered to the police. earlier there were reports that he was confined to the third floor of this synagogue and that he was shouting taunts, racist remarks againstjewish people. there have been multiple casualties. the cbs affiliate in pittsburgh was reporting seven the fatalities. police officers are said to be amongst the wounded. we have heard that the president has tweeted as saying that he is monitoring events. before the incident was resolved he was urging people to stay inside and he said, "god bless everyone in the area." the concern, i suppose, must be in such incidents that even though the police have contained the situation and the shooter, they can never be sure that the shooter was

acting alone. that is right, that is a lwa ys acting alone. that is right, that is always the concern of the police. we know, of course, the man was sending explosive devices, a single person was arrested but police were very keen to find out if there was anybody working with him. it seems that he was a lone individual in that he was a lone individual in that operation. as far as we know, this person was acting alone, all the reports i have seen talk about a single person involved in this shooting. i heard reports from police, people who were monitoring police, people who were monitoring police scanners talking about a heavy—set white male with a light blue shirt, code and jeans. that hasn't been confirmed but that was the description that was circulating on police scanners. after about an hour and on police scanners. after about an hourand a on police scanners. after about an hour and a half, we believe from the time that police were alerted to the resolution of the situation, police

have got on top of the situation fairly rapidly. it seems nonetheless that there may have been multiple casualties. there are times in these incidents that the shooter point the gun and takes his own life. that is not what has happened here, is it? that is often the case in these multiple shootings. the gunmen at the end takes their own life. it is surprising that he has been apprehended by police officers, especially as he was at some stage hold up in the building and shouting at police officers. it is a surprising resolution to the incident. but it will give police officers a lot of information about what is going on and crucially the fa ct what is going on and crucially the fact that he has been apprehended means that the emergency services can now get full access to the synagogue. it is quite a large building. we were hearing that there may be 50 or 60 people in there. i

was looking at their website and they said they had about 200 family members who regularly go to the synagogue. it is quite a large building with quite a large community. i was talking about reports that police were looking for a heavy—set white male. i am looking at other reports saying that he was reportedly a heavy—set white male with a beard. those are some of the latest report from the scene. president trump has been tweeting. he said he was watching the events unfolding in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. law enforcement on the scene, people in the squirrel hill area should remain sheltered. looks like multiple fatalities, beware of active shooter and god bless all. that was before the incident was resolved. i haven't seen yet but he has tweeted again. we did make a reference also to gun control. we will come back to that in a second. dan, we are getting more details now

that the shooter has been, not only contain also arrested and indeed surrendered. yes, we are hearing that police have successfully brought a suspect into custody. although three police officers have been heard in the process, we understand that they have been shot, wounded but not killed. we are still unclear on the number of people actually involved in this incident, how many of the people attending that synagogue this morning were wounded or killed. we know that there have been fatalities, itjust seems to be confusion about the numbers. no word yet on exactly what this suspect's motivation was. it appears that this has been a targeted attack on the jewish community. a synagogue targeted on a saturday morning when services while going on. this is a residential area on the edge of pittsburgh's which is quite a large jewish community in that area. it does appear that there is some degree of targeting to this

attack. people in the area were warned to stay at home, warned to keep themselves safe because this gunmen or suspect was on the loose for some time as police were hunting to try to find him or her. they have now ta ken to try to find him or her. they have now taken the suspect into custody despite those police officers having been injured doing that. very tragically, all too frequently we have heard of news of attacks on schools. what about synagogues? there have been attacks on places of worship of all kinds. people will public remember the gun attack on a baptist church in texas just less than one year ago. 26 people were killed in that attack. there have also been a rise in this country of anti—semitic attacks over the last year or 18 months. we understand that additional security is being deployed at synagogues, at least in new york city as a result of this attack today. security being taken

more seriously at synagogues and at other places of worship too because it is evidence that even when people are at peace and at prayer in the states, they are not safe from the threat of guns in this country. i'm sure that will be part of the debate that no doubt will follow this attack. right now we are awaiting full details of what has happened, how many people have been involved, and what the motivation was. we understand that there is only one shooter involved, that would be the work of the police very swiftly to work of the police very swiftly to work out the number. yes, the reports at the moment are alljust about a single shooter. one gun man, police haven't confirmed the identity or gender of the suspect that they have taken into custody but it was reported that there were shots fired around this synagogue, the tree of life creation synagogue at about 10am this morning. that would be a time that the synagogue was busy with people attending

services. that was a couple of hours ago when reports first service. initially, it was what police described as an active shooter situation. somebody having fired shots and still on the loose. that is why such a degree of police resources we re sent is why such a degree of police resources were sent to that area, this leafy residential suburb, quite a wealthy area on the edge of pittsburgh's's squirrel hill area. it was covered in police for some time as they tracked down this suspect and apprehended him or her. they have now successfully done that and someone is in custody. no doubt they will start to question that person and it looks like they believe that that is the situation dealt with the now in terms of the immediate risk. they think they have detained the person who has been responsible. still people being warned in that area to take care to stay at home if they can, to stay away from the church because there isa away from the church because there is a lot of investigation work to go on now to establish what has

happened here. family people have lost their lives and been wounded. two point at which this may impact the political debate going on in the usa at the moment, one, donald trump has already debated on the issue of gun control and said that now is not the day to discuss it. and further, of course, this very divisive nature of course, this very divisive nature of politics in the united states at the moment. there is always the question about gun control after every incidents like this in the usa. it is a debate that comes up relatively frequently because the shootings keep happening and very little seems to change. no doubt the question will be raised again about the nature of gun control and whether that should be tightened up. perhaps there will be questions about security and how much can be done to protect sites like this, places of worship. do people really wa nt places of worship. do people really want to have armed guards on patrol at synagogues, churches and other places of worship? no doubt that is

a question that will be asked in the coming days. there is also this bigger question of the tone of political debate here in this country. that is a question that has been thrown around a lot already this week given the incident of bombs being mailed to prominent political figures over the last few days. that's suspect has been brought into custody yesterday, it seems to have ended the immediate risk in that investigation. certainly there are questions about the motivations of that individual, whether he was inspired and encouraged by the sort of political rhetoric that has been around in this country for the last couple of years. the president was very clear yesterday that he wasn't going to ta ke yesterday that he wasn't going to take responsibility for the extreme actions of one individual, even though there were slogans on the side of his van as we saw that being taken side of his van as we saw that being ta ken away by side of his van as we saw that being taken away by the fbi. slogans that repeated some of the lines president

trump has used. there were posters which targeted some of his political opponents. they were the sort of people that were said those bombs. there are questions or the divisive nature of politics in this country now is it encouraging extreme individuals like that to take such drastic action? the president saying he didn't think that the two could be connected, but he felt no result of the city. he turned it back on the media and said that if the media is going to continually attacked political figures like the president, then that was contributing to a lowering of the debate and a more divisive tone. he has called for unity but then carried on some of us divisive language addressing a rally last night where people were calling on the media to be silenced. a lot to think about and a lot to discuss. no doubt there will be a bigger debate after this latest incident. we have got a bit of an early taste

of winter through the rest of the weekend, a northerly wind that is bringing usa weekend, a northerly wind that is bringing us a mix of sunshine and showers which have been falling as snow over the higher ground of northern england and scotland. this is the scene taken by one of our weather watchers. the reason it is so chilly is because the winds are coming from the arctic. the wind streaming across the country. they will to turn a bit more north—easterly through the day on sunday. for this evening, there are still some showers around, particularly for eastern scotland. eastern england is down towards the south—east of england as well and don't forget that during the early hours of sunday, at 2am the clocks will go back one hour. an extra hour in bed if you are lucky. through the second half of the night we still have the showers in the south and the east with clearer skies in the

north and the west weather will be lower temperatures. a frosty start to your sunday morning where ever you are. a similar day what we have seen today, we still have the northerly wind bringing a mix of sunshine and showers. i think there will be fewer showers around on sunday than we had on saturday. most will be in the east. eastern scotland, eastern england and heavy ones in the south of england and towards the channel islands. further west you will be looking at the dry, bright side a but crisp with that wintry sunshine. highs in the region of eight to perhaps 11 celsius on sunday. we will keep the cool theme through sunday night and into monday morning. a cold, frosty start the monday morning like this one. after your cold starts on it will not be a bad day with most places looking dry and bright. still pretty chilly. one or two rogue charlotte for eastern england and scotland. the cloud will

increase from the west. temperatures are still on the cool side for the time of year but not as cold as the weekend going back into double figures. through next week though temperatures will slowly start to creep up to around average for the time of yearand creep up to around average for the time of year and things will turn more unsettled with some rain through midweek onwards. this is bbc news i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at five. a gunman opens fire in a synagogue in the us town of pittsburgh, it's reported there are multiple casualties. this is the scene live, police say the gunman is now in custody, president trump says he's monitoring events closely. i don't know there is a special event, but on the typical somewhere between 16 and 100 people i guess. is now in custody, president trump

says he's monitoring events closely.