it is 2:00 p.m., and we have a selloff on the street. but not as much of a selloff as we had before. we are calling it the boehner bounce. real or not? we don't know yet. but this is how things stand right now p. the dow dipped below 15,000 for the first time in 3 1/2 weeks. it's back above it now. the s&p had the worst week before shaving its losses. here behind me, it's bleeding red for the week. the fear gains as well, the vix is at a 3 1/2-month high.

you've also got dr. copper, down big time and even run-for-cover gold. it is down as well. it's a special edition of "street signs." hello, i'm maggie drury. brian sullivan is live in los angeles. hello to you, brian. >> mandy, thank you very much. we're here for two big ones. we wanted to see how it is 3,000 miles away from washington, d.c., and shockingly, things going on as normal. also a meeting tonight with the ceo of blackrock. we're going to air some of that for you here on "street signs" tomorrow. what better insight to get than a guy like larry fink that runs $4 trillion, $4 trillion with a "t" about their reaction to the government, also to the risk really of a debt default. that's tonight. we'll have it tomorrow. mandy, i know you've had a flurry of activity the last couple of hours, especially coming from john boehner. that has dominated the headlines here. kind of feels good to be so far away from d.c. i feel a little cleaner. >> absolutely.

we're going to get the markets taking all of that from just a -- in a moment's time from bob and also rick. first of all i would like to get to eamon javers because on the political side of things, does boehner even have the power in his own party to make such a comment? >> well, he definitely can make any comment he wants. to brian's point, i feel perfectly clean being here in washington, d.c., by the way. it's great here. you should come down and visit any time. the weather's not as nice as l.a. "the new york times" broke this story at the top of the last hour. that started this market rally we started to see as people digested the implications of the comments in which boehner said -- reported by "the new york times" as a source to one anonymous house member that he would not let the united states default. and that, in fact, he would ahow something to come to the floor that would use democratic and republican votes to pass it. so that would seem to be the indication that we are not going to default as a country, if even the speaker of the house is saying that's the case. we asked the speaker's office

whether that story was true or not. they did not deny it. instead they gave us this statement. let me read it to you. "speaker boehner has always said that the united states will not default on its debt, but if we're going to raise the debt limit, we need to deal with the drivers of our debt and deficits. that's why we need a bill with cuts and reforms to get our economy moving again." so the speaker of the house here not denying "the new york times" story but saying there are certain conditions they'dli lik to see here in the final bill. >> okay, eamon, thank you very much. yesterday president obama told our john harwood that the markets should be more concerned. and today it appears they really did listen to him. let's get to rick as well. bob, i am not sure that it is helpful for the president, with all due respect, to say that the markets should be right -- i'm not even sure it's very helpful for the treasury department to use language about a debt default that was nothing short of apocalyptic. >> it was delivered from the treasury department. a lot of talk about this

commentary from the treasury department about what happened if there was a default or even if we got close to it, because they used terms like "catastrophic" twice in this report. it was an economics study. they called it unprecedented. they said it would be a self-inflicted wound. the u.s. economy could plunge into a recession worse than the great depression. and finally, the consequences of the default could last for more than a generation. what are you supposed to make of this? some of this economic analysis, some of it's political commentary. put up the dow and i'll show you we've come off the lows here. this is the "new york times" story eamon was referencing, representative boehner said he wouldn't let the default actually happen. i think the important thing here, mandy, is the discussion is shifting now from let's figure out a way to kill obama care or negotiate around that to the idea that deficit reduction talks can happen. and that's something that you can definitely have a deal on. although the devil is in the details. >> it always is. thank you very much for that,

bob pisani. rick santelli, we had the bond king himself, bill gross, on the show yesterday. quote, a million to one, maybe even a billion to one. i sure hope he is right. >> wow. well, i don't even know how to answer that, but i'll try. after listening to gene spurling and the president today, i would have to say that i think they want to finish the job off that the irs started. and i think that the judgment of salomon moment would be the fiscal conservatives blinking. there's no doubt -- zero doubt in my mind that they will blink. and i do think it will be their judgment of salomon moment, in my opinion. that's the way i would proceed with regard to how i would trade treasuries. >> okay. rick santelli, thank you very much. over to you, brian. all right. thank you very much. let's get some more smart money take on this. joining me, president of bianco research.

two smart guys. also in chicago, so out of the d.c. halo. jim, i'm going to ask, and listen, every day, we get a little closer. remember "thelma & louise"? you're driving toward that cliff. every day we get closer to this october 17th date or whatever it might be, you're going to start to see people get a little more nervous. at what point if at all do we start to run for the hills? >> you're right, they are going to get more nervous, but i don't think we have to run for the hills because i don't think there will be a default even if we slide past october 17th. i think you heard it from bill gross yesterday. you might have heard it from warren buffett today. the treasury takes in $150 billion a month in taxes. $25 billion a $30 billion a month is all you need for debt service. they can prioritize payments and pay it. the treasury will tell you they cannot do it because they don't have the computer systems or the authority, but they do. they can find the will, they can find the way. that's why the bond market has been very sanguine over the last few days. it doesn't believe we're going to have a default even if we

slide past the 17th. i know the treasury secretary's been saying otherwise. >> yeah, the 17th was the day before they stopped spending money. you've got to assume they're not spending as much during the shutdown. so the 17th day has got to probably wiped off the calendar and moved back a few days. you've also been agreeing with bill gross if i'm hearing you right that the odds of default are this much. it's a goose egg. it's zero. >> yes. and if the odds of a default are zero or very close to zero, then what you've got is a situation where the shutdown, all this talk could hurt the economy, could actually get the fed to push the taper off or maybe even think about doing something more if it turns worse. very bullish for bonds. what we have is a very bullish scenario potentially brewing for the bond market right now. >> and this is potentially the silver lining, right? just for bullish for bonds. the fact that the taper may be pushed well into 2014 as i'm increasingly hearing. from a stock market perspective, though, jack, do we take the president at face value?

should we be worried or not? >> well, i can look at history and look at the budget battle of 2011. i'll tell you, there was a lot of volatility. we had three days in excess of 400 points. i think it was 460, 560, and i think there was even a 600-point day mixed in there. and at the same time, that whole ordeal which wasn't a government shutdown certainly resulted in a downgrade took roughly 1% out of gdp. so i am worried about an incipient recovery. already the market is trading off liquidity. it's not trading off fundamental values. and anything that, you know, throws a stumbling block in the way of earnings, in the way of revenue growth is just going to widen that spread between where we are today off liquidity and that kind of what i'll call safety net of fundamental value. right now i'm calling fundamental value at around 1570 or so, but it could drop if we see a pullback in the economy. >> you know, because bill gross

tweeted that out again today here. a lot of gross references, probably because i'm going to meet with him tonight, jack. he said don't run for the hills because of the shutdown. basically run for the hills because the economy is slowing down on its own. but yet the other day we had a great ism number. we've had a number of good pieces of economic data. and there's a story out there today, i think it's in "the journal" that basically says the economy is much stronger than even the fed will admit. how do we know how strong or weak the economy really is? >> well, especially now that we're not getting economic data, it's going to be even worse. but i think you're right. >> is it? >> we have a lot of momentum. >> why not just roll the dice? >> yeah. here, keep in mind, brian. the fact is that stock markets recovery. so that certainly argues for that we endure. whatever valley but the fact is that if you do get a pullback on the economy, that's going to leave a mark. and that's a mark that, you know, it's not easily rebounding it the way, say, the s&p would. so, you know, we do have to be careful about an extended period

of shutdown. the fact that, you know, permits won't be issued, things aren't going to happen. in fact, you look at ceo sentiment, it's down now three months in a row, largely on uncertainty. and i can't imagine government shutdowns adding to any clarity here. >> we always hate uncertainty. and in fact, the williams said an extended shutdown will deprive the fed of much needed data. jim, i want to ask you, the ratings agencies are watching out, i'm sure, closely what's going on. they've got their knives, scissors, whatever sharp instruments, ready to cut. will they cut our ratings like we saw back in august 2011? >> at this point, i don't think they will. they've already come out and said that negotiations are not going to cause them to give a cut. i think if anything, if we don't address the fiscal situation, if we just say, let's just raise this debt ceiling, let's just pass some continuing resolutions, get everything open and not deal with it, that would make them more likely to cut us then. i think they understand that this is going to be --

>> but would it even matter? obviously, the august 2011 cut by s&p eventually did not matter. it still bought our debt. >> it's a technical thing. there's three rating agencies that rate the u.s. treasury. you need two of them to downgrade the u.s. treasury for it not to be aaa. so technically it is still a aaa security. so the s&p got a freebie, but the next one could matter a lot more than the first one. >> you know, jack, and i'm not saying the downgrade didn't matter. it did. it was a huge headline. it was sort of a moment of international disgrace in a way for the united states. but if you bought the stock market on the downgrade, you made about 40% on the dow. if we keep falling because of this, is this just an increasing buying opportunity like it was in 2011, people who let themselves be paralyzed with fear because of these headlines are going to miss out on gains? >> yeah. well, just in response to s&p, the only one that was affected by the s&p got downgraded ultimately was s&p, given the

government's, you know, aggressive nature and pursuing that company. you know, the president had -- the president of the company had to step down. of course, they're in litigation now. but the fact is that you're right. longer term, this is a buying opportunity. you know, crises create opportunities and contrived crises are even better because we know that, you know, look. if we're going to have a crisis, i'd much rather have a contrived crisis where we know we can release the valve and, you know, reduce the pressure than something that, you know, a meteor coming from outer space where we don't have any way to get out of the way. >> and i'm going to jump in. i'm reading a book on the plane coming out here, i was reading about the bankers panic of 1907 where jpmorgan basically had to step in. and it reminds yourself, we've had panics and crises before, problems before. you know what? and long term, those are probably the times when you should be thinking about buying. >> you think strengthen your stomach and step in in a time of crisis if you can take it. thank you very much. brian, back to you in just a

second. still ahead, the united states of energy. how the u.s. oil and gas boom could and should be a huge threat to our frenemy, russia. oddly, tesla not bouncing back after yesterday's fire sale. we have an analyst who says that is the wrong move. she's still bullish, and she's got some really interesting data to back up why. it's coming up when a bicoastal "street signs" returns from new jersey and los angeles. winner, sullivan. we're back after this. (announcer) at scottrade, our clients trade and invest exactly how they want. with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade-proud to be ranked "best overall client experience."

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i want to show you how the commodities are doing today. while there's uncertainty of the shutdown and the impact potentially on the economy here. as you with see, energy and metals all trading lower today. copper, one of the many economic indicators that we do look at, right? in particular is a big loser, down about 1.5% right now. brian, over to you. >> mandy, thank you. if you saw the front page of "the wall street journal" today, you read this headline. "u.s. rises to number one energy producer." yeah. america overtaking russia as the largest oil and gas producer. saudi arabia still the top oil producer on its own. it's a nice headline. it makes us feel good. but does it mean that we are finally really, truly energy independent? joining us is john hoffmeister, citizens for affordable energy, also former president of shell oil company. john, is the u.s., in its own way, truly energy independent?

i don't think so. >> i don't think so either. i think we've got a long way to go. and it's not that we don't have enough energy in the ground to be independent. we could certainly use more natural gas to make transportation fuel instead of relying on oil. we could produce more oil than we're currently producing by opening up more offshore opportunities, more federal land opportunities. the u.s. has a bounty of natural resources. the big question has been for the last 40 years, why don't we develop it? well, in the case of the shale formations on state lands and with private landowner permission, we've developed quite a lot of new energy. and that's very good news. and we have pockets of prosperity growing all over the country because of it. >> and we've got trillions of cubic feet of natural gas that we can get to. the problem is all the cars here on the 405 in l.a., they don't run on natural gas. they run on petroleum. they run on gasoline refined

from oil. so do you see any situation, john, in the next decade, 20 years, whatever, where we are going to be oil independent and not subserve yeient to opec who whoever else wants to provide us with oil? >> believe it or not, i do. i spent the weekend in orange county, california, at the fuel freedom foundation annual meeting. and our plan, fuel freedom's plan, is to eliminate about 5 million barrels a day of imported oil by switching to natural gas as a transportation fuel for methanol in flex fuel vehicles with cng, lng, gtl, the whole combination of natural gas fuels, we could eliminate 5 more million barrels of imports, getting us to the equivalent of 15 million barrels a day in a country that uses 18 million barrels a day. and 3 million comes from mexico and canada. so literally, where north

america independent and the only thing holding us back, we need more flex fuel cars. that's a matter for detroit. >> right. >> and we need to make methanol a legal fuel. >> methanol is illegal. john, methanol is illegal. it's illegal. >> well, it's illegal currently because the epa hasn't approved it. and you can't put anything that's not epa approved in your vehicle. >> and john, just reminding our viewers of how this segment was sparked with that headline in "the wall street journal" as the u.s. overtaking russia as the world's largest oil producer, i would also like to ask you whether the u.s.'s progress is partly by default because russia just can't really get its act together. it can't harness the technology that we have. it's not a very friendly business environment or investment climate. so essentially are they shooting themselves in the foot? >> well, russia has some serious internal problems and some big decisions to make about whether they want to rise to be an

investment ha investment-grade country for oil and gas development. there are so many big players that have been burned by the lack of law and order in russia or by the arbitrary treatment and inability to adjudicate disputes that many are just -- they have reservations about going there. and if they don't go there, russia's not going to get the benefit of their advanced technology. and russian companies have not been on the forefront of technology when it comes to oil and gas production. that's mainly been driven by north american companies. and so if they do not settle down and operate like responsible players in the marketplace and give people a fair shake with a chance to return on investment, they're never going to get this technology. >> john hoffmeister, it's well said. thank you very much for joining us. we'll talk more about this methanol idea. i sat on a panel about it. that's why i was a little aggressive with you. we'll talk more about it soon. thank you very much. still ahead, the reviews are in, and it's not looking pretty for what was expected to be one

of the year's hottest tech toys. what may become a bust ahead, mandy. also, rollback thursday. in what year saw "aladdin" number one at the box office, bill clinton jamming out and "baby got back" up the charts. all those answers when "street signs" returns. the ocean gets warmer. the peruvian anchovy harvest suffers.

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okay. let me show you how the markets are reacting. it certainly seems they're taking the uncertainty on board. we've got the dow sitting just above the 15,000 mark. we did drop below 15,000 earlier on today. and there as i'm speaking -- and i've got nothing to do with this, folks, i'm merely the commentator -- we're sitting at 14,987. speaker boehner said he would not let the nation default. that's what we're looking at. >> mandy, we have scary breaking news coming from washington, d. krmplg c. just getting word sha shots have been fired at or near the u.s.

capitol building. we understand there was an extremely -- there we go. we've got the picture up. thank you. you can see police presence. we understand the capitol building is now on lockdown. again, the news -- and it is just coming in right now, folks. is that there have been shots fires at the capitol building. you can see an exceptionally heavy police presence. the capitol building, we understand it, is indeed on lockdown at this moment. so this all just happening right now, coming in the shadow of the federal government shutdown. and as we've talked about, many of the monuments, many of the parks that are in that area have also been closed. not sure if the police presence has been reduced at all, but you can see from that video that there is an exceptionally heavy police presence right around the capitol building. so, again, just getting in, shots fired from washington, d.c. obviously, we've got full team coverage. eamon javers in washington, d.c., all the resources of nbc universal news, msnbc as well. on a day where the discussion

has been on cnbc, where the market is going to go, what is the resk of derisk of debt defa there are other risks and some of them may involve guns, bullets and people. let's go to eamon. have you heard anything else? >> reporter: here's what we have from nbc news. the u.s. capitol has been locked down after reports of shots fired on the west front of the capitol. now, we have just reports of these shots fired, but obviously you can see from that police activity, there sais a pretty major police response going on right now here on capitol hill. we see varying reports now from varying news organizations of this incident that has apparently just happened at the u.s. capitol building. what we're going to go with right now, though, is that there are reports of shots fired at the west front of the capitol building. and we're looking at the picture right here. this is constitution & 2nd streets. this is capitol hill. and so what we're looking at is an intersection that is very,

very close to the united states capitol building. but this is not the capitol complex itself. this is constitution & 2nd streets. so this is nearby. but this might be the closest possible shot that we have because as you know, brian, we have cameras on the capitol complex at all times. >> yeah. >> and we're up in various balconies shooting toward the capitol building. that's what you're seeing now, a major police response to an incident that's just happened. >> and our news bureau is effectively across the street from the capitol building. i know you're also physically very close. talk to us about security. what we're seeing in the video right now is washington, d.c., police officers, i assume, because i can see the backs of the cars. we know that's a separate issue from the federal government shutdown. how has the shutdown, if at all, impacted security on capitol hill? >> reporter: well, we've been told that the shutdown would not impact security, that capitol police would be able to carry on as usual. remember, we've got a couple of jurisdictions of police officers that would respond to an

incident, if you're looking at 2nd & constitution streets, that would be right in the bailiwick of the united states capitol police. the congress has its own police force. they're very talented. they have very robust s.w.a.t. teams and anti-terrorism training and also the d.c. metropolitan police. they would respond to an incident at this location as well. and they are very used to working together very closely. they train together. they are trained to respond to major incidents all the time. and so this would be a situation where you would see a response from both police forces at the same time here, brian. and so what i can't tell from this shot is whether or not we're seeing capitol police or d.c. police. clearly you're seeing major police activity, and they're already getting up some police tape and cordoning off the area. but what we do know, to repeat is that the u.s. capitol has been locked down after those reports of shots fired on the west front of the capitol. now, remember, the west front obviously the side of the capitol building that faces to the west, the west front is the

side that faces the national mall. and a lot of people who are tourists will be familiar with that side of the capitol building because that's where you see major events in united states history such as inauguration of a president, et cetera, brian. >> right. and we're certainly hearing as well from the fbi that at this phase they are just checking on those reports of the shots outside of the u.s. capitol building. and by the way, in terms of what the markets are doing, i just mentioned we're sitting around 14,914 right now, so not unduly fazed. the nasdaq and s&p also to the down side. again, not reacting particularly negative so far. we'll keep a close eye on any further market reactions. we're going to go for a quick break here on "street signs." much more to come. brian, of course, is in l.a. in a special bicoastal edition of "street signs." (vo) you are a business pro.

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and welcome back to cnbc. i'm brian sullivan. just to recap the breaking news, the u.s. capitol, in fact, most federal office buildings right now are on lockdown. there have been reports of shots fired at or near the u.s. capitol building. you can see there is an immense police presence right on the corner of constitution avenue on the western side of the capitol building. you understand the capitol is on lockdown, and washington, d.c., has issued what they call a shelter in place rule which effectively means nobody is to move. if you are in an office building, a federal office building or otherwise, you are effectively being ordered to stay put. eamon javers in our bureau effectively across the street from where this is occurring has left his location. he is en route to the scene. we'll bring you all the latest news, folks. mandy, it is a very serious and tense situation in washington, d.c.

suddenly the focus has gone from shutdown to lockdown. >> yeah, absolutely. just to add a couple of details here, i'm reading some reports from a.p. coming in saying that people standing outside the supreme court across the street from congress were hurrying to the court building by authorities. and also u.s. capitol police have received the reports of gunshots and one police officer has been injured. as i said, this is a report and, of course, as eamon is heading to the location, we'll get more confirmation on all of this. in the meantime, i'd really like to show you what's happening with the markets. the dow is sitting at 15,013. we are down across the board here, but keep in mind even before these reports coming out of washington occurred, the market was already significantly to the down side. so not unduly affected as far as we can quantify by this latest report. but nonetheless, we do need to keep an eye on what is happening out there in the markets. >> let us bring in representative peter king, congressman from new york. he is also the homeland security council.

congressman king, we understand you are currently in your office joining us by phone. you are on lockdown. what can you tell us about the situation? >> basically all i can tell you is about ten minutes ago i just walked across from the capitol, walked into my office and suddenly sirens and loudspeakers started going off. and there was an emergency alert to shelter in place, which means go in your office, lock all the doors and stay away from windows and the doors. and then we're hearing reports from other people that there were a series of shots fired and that one police officer may have been wounded. now, that was just hearing, you know, rumors. but certainly i can tell you there's been loudspeakers going off, the public address system warning everyone to stay in place and to lock the doors and stay away from windows. >> did you hear any of the original alleged gunshot, congressman? >> no, i didn't. i would have been -- i mean, what i'm hearing is that the shots were on the west side. i had been walking along the

east side back to my office. i didn't hear anything. when i came into the office, it was right around the time, i guess about ten minutes ago, that, you know, the loudspeakers started going off. >> have you spoken to anyone else on the scene? have you spoken to anyone else about how everyone's feeling about this and what kind of mood is on the ground? >> no, i have not other than to tell you that when you look out the window, which i'm not supposed to be doing, because there is a lot of activity. there are emergency vehicles and obviously, you know, police are moving very quickly. >> yeah. and congressman, so tell our viewers and listeners what a shelter in place rule is. we understand that you are effectively barred from leaving your office. how long does it generally last? how do they alert you? how do they let you know that it is clear? >> well, it lasts until the situation is over. that's up to the police. the capitol police decide whether the situation is under control. and when it's safe for people to come out. it's about getting in the way, basically the police want the scene as clear as possible so they can address what has to be

done as quickly as they can. >> have you noticed, congressman, a reduction in capitol hill security? as our eamon javers noted, you've got the washington, d.c. police, capitol police, you've got many different types of law enforcement in and around your office buildings and the u.s. capitol. have you noticed any reduction with the shutdown in any of the security in or around where you are? >> no, i really haven't. in fact, as far as i know, there has not been a reduction in police or in security. certainly it wouldn't affect -- i believe it affects the washington police. i have not seen any decrease in capitol police security. again, it could be. i have not noticed it. i've been back and forth all day for the last several days since the shutdown began, and i have not seen any noticeable differences. >> obviously at this stage, it's still very early days, and we can't possibly speculate on who might have done this and what the motivation might have been.

nonetheless, would you have any add ought who might want to fire outside the capitol? >> you know, it's really too early to speculate. this is obviously a serious matter. i think it would be irresponsible of me. there's any number of possibilities it could be. you're talking about shots being fired, it's important. >> congressman, i actually would like to follow up on mandy's point as we await new information about this because i think she brings up an important point. i know some staffers there. it's been a very difficult time for the u.s. people, the u.s. economy for the last four or five years, congressman. the anger at the federal government on both sides, across both parties, has been high. i've talked to some staffers, and they say there's a lot of nastiness out there. i'm just going to ask you point blank -- and you may not be allowed legally to answer this question, which is this -- have you noticed an increase in threats to you or your office? because i'm sure you and everybody else on capitol hill gets them. >> i've gotten serious threats over the years but not over

this. i've gotten investigations conducted. i have not heard of an increase in threats. and i really don't want to be speculating because, again, you hear shots fired, it's very serious. the worst thing any of us can do is try to speculate about what it may be. i assume we'll find out soon enough. >> okay. we're just getting some more details on this. i just want to break in. so thank you very much for joining us, congressman. just stay right there. i just want to say there were shots that were fired. that has been confirmed. and we also have heard that there are some officers that are injured. the number of the officers injured has not been confirmed. again, we've got a camera heading to the location. we've also got eamon javers on the job. hopefully he will be able to confirm some of the things we're hearing. to quickly recap if you're just joining us, police are saying that the u.s. capitol has been put on a security lockdown amid

possible shots. now we know they have confirmed shots fired outside of the building. and also u.s. capitol police have been advising everyone to close -- to lock and stay away from external doors and windows, that there's a shelter in place order in effect as well. and brian, i believe you've got more details. >> well, we do. and just to recap what you gave because we'll bring in robert costa of "the national review." just to recap, it has been confirmed, as mandy said, shots were fired. capitol hill police officers were hit. we don't know the number who have been injured. but it sounds like by the way the headlines are coming out, it may be more than one. let's bring in robert costa, cnbc contributor with "the national review." he just happens to be inside the u.s. capitol building right now on lockdown. and he has been listening to police scanner traffic. robert, obviously first off, your safety. do you feel that you are in a safe and secure place, and then tell us what you know. >> i do feel i'm in a safe and secured place. here's what happened.

i was outside at the house of representatives. there were votes happening -- >> hello, robert, are you with us? okay. >> all right. it looks like, mandy, we lost robert. well, it may be a technical problem or it may not be. having been there many times, the security systems at the capitol building are second to none. it may be a technical issue. we might be able to get him back up. okay. but we also know that when there is a threat, when there is an emergency like this, the shelter in place rule's been affected. the u.s. government can do a lot of things which might also be able to shut off wireless technology. peter king, sounds like yours at least may not have been shut off, if that is the case. you heard the tragic headlines there. u.s. capitol police officers, we don't know how many, have been shot. that has been confirmed. we are waiting on confirmation of that number. what will be the capitol hill federal and d.c. police response to this?

>> reporter: shots were fired behind the hart senate office building. we don't know -- >> okay, what we're watching here live is wrc. we're hearing that there have been some people who have obviously been running away from the scene. you see police in the area. and whether or not they heard the shots is another thing. but nonetheless, we have been watching pictures of people run ago way from the scene. pennsylvania avenue itself has been closed. in light of those gunshots. and we're just trying to confirm as well how many of those officers have been injured. police have been seen swarming outside of the capitol building as well. let's listen in right now to wrc and find out more about what's happening on the ground. >> reporter: tom sherwood joins me in the studio. tom, you just got off the phone with eleanor holmes norton's office or the congresswoman herself? >> the first thing i checked, to see if she is there. they said it was a short time ago they heard a loudspeaker announcement saying shots have been fired.

this is a practice. they usually go right in and shut the doors, not to leave out into the hallways, not to go anywhere until they get the all-clear notice. they say they're all just now waiting to find out, just as we are, exactly what happened. now, they're on the south side of the capitol. the senate is on the north side. and so they're a good distance away. but when shots are fired, no one knows what's going to happen next. >> did they mention anything about getting text alerts? we had heard, too, that the cannon office building, for example, the alarm sounded. they were told to shelter in place. are they reading information? >> there's a text alert system on the hill. they did not say they got them, but i'm certain they did. i tried to see if i could speak to ms. norton, but she was not able to come to the phone at that moment. >> as pat joins nuss the studio here, too, the message that went out from u.s. capitol police, gunshots have been reported on capitol hill requiring all documents and all house office buildings to shelter in place. closed, being loed, stay away from external windows and doors.

get your go kits ready. and they want to move the innermost part to the innermost part of the office away from those doors and windows. so if you're not in an office, take shelter in the nearest office. check with your supervisors. again, no reports of injuries other than this officer who we understand was injured in a crash. >> okay. we've been listening into wrc's live coverage of these gunshots in the capitol. we would like now to get to cnbc's hampton pearson who is on the mall. hampton, what have you been hearing? what can you see? >> reporter: well, look behind me. we're on the west front of the capitol on the mall on fourth street. i don't know how well you can see it, but there is a helicopter on the ground behind that tour bus, if you will. it's been there for the last several minutes. we, like you, have heard those reports of, number one, shots fired, confirmed by the capitol hill police, essentially the house in shelter in place and lockdown, house office buildings

as well. in the minutes since we've been pulling up here, there's been a steady barrage of police cars, fire engines, emergency vehicles. also on the bizarre side of all this, tour buss have been continuing up and down the streets here. they've stopped, gotten out, some have gone down to take a look, and in a bizarre way, even take pictures of what all was going on. we just lost a group of chinese tourists, ironically, pulled up and whatever. but again, back to the most important picture that we can show you right now of this ongoing situation, on the west front of the capitol, that helicopter has been on the ground for quite a few minutes. and also there's at least one emergency vehicle van there in place. we, like you, heard the same reports, shots fired inside the capitol. we don't know about the numbers of injuries. and there may have been other locations in and around the capitol area as well. back to you. >> okay, hampton, thanks very

much. we'll check in with you. i believe we have robert costa, "national review" back online. we lost phone connections to a couple different folks. robert, i just saw a tweet, you said you're being let outside. give us the latest, but more importantly, give us what you were able to discern and hear from the police scanner traffic. >> here's what i was able to discern. right after votes around 1:30, 2:30, you had a lot of members of congress outside, a lot of members had just voted. right when i walked inside, the entire capitol was on lockdown. shots fired on the west front of the capitol. that's toward the senate side. and that's the entire capitol on lockdown. now a report, the situation seems to be a little more under control. >> robert, unfortunately, the sound isn't very clean. i'm just going to jump in. this is live wrc. and for those of you listening on the radio, we've got a number of personnel taking someone away on a stretcher. we do know that some officers have been injured in this situation. we do not know how many of those officers have been injured.

but nonetheless, we clearly saw someone being led away on a stretcher. so that is clearly one of the injured there. we'll keep on finding out more about this as soon as any information becomes available. robert? >> i have a better connection here. >> okay, got a better connection. sorry, keep on going, sir. we cut you off there. >> no worries. you still want me -- i have a land line here if you want to call me. >> no, that's okay. we're on live tv. we'll see what we can do. >> okay. >> all right. robert, we're asking you to stay on the line from a wireless point of view, if we lose you, we'll get the land line number. our producer will call it back. we'll figure that out. okay. sit tight, robert, just for a second. do not hang up, please. eamon javers has gone from our bureau which is effectively across the street from where the scene is unfolding. he is now in a camera position and ready. i know you've been racing to the site. he's on the phone. i know you've been racing to get to the site. have you learned anything from capitol hill police or d.c. police about this situation and

whether or not the shooter or shooters has been arrested? >> reporter: brian, we do not dough that. capitol police officers we are talking to standing at 3rd & pennsylvania on the west front capitol have said they themselves do not know what's going on. we're standing a block away from the helicopter that's landed on the west front of the capitol near the reflecting base on the capitol grounds. they've just loaded a person or persons into that helicopter. emergency personnel just shut the hatch of the helicopter door. and it looks like they are getting ready to take off to bring that person somewhere very, very quickly. i can also tell you that in running over to this position on the west front of the capitol building, i saw a car accident involving a capitol police car on constitution avenue and the capitol building. there is a capitol police vehicle that is pretty significantly damaged on the front left quadrant of the vehicle. it appears to be some injuries there as well because medical

personnel were surrounding the vehicle. there's several fire trucks and police trucks at that location as well. that's about a block from the capitol building, about two blocks from where we're standing now. and now we see the helicopter is taking off here from the west front of the capitol. i don't know if you can see our shot or not, but that is not something you see every day, a helicopter landing on the national mall, brian. >> yeah. and to set the scene, and sue is going to wrap up all the headlines for us in a second. our bureau uniquely positioned because it's basically maybe a quarter mile at best from our bureau to where you're seeing the helicopter take off right now. it's also very close to union station, the train station, folks. we should say there's basically a triangle between union station, capitol hill and where our bureau is that's maybe just a couple hundred yards on either side. and so this is a very tightly compact area. and the more important point of that, there are people everywhere because of the train station. it's a metro hub. and you've also got the capitol building and most of the senate and house of representative office buildings. it is an exceptionally crowded,

small section of space in washington, d.c. all right. we have had an exceptionally crowded number of headlines over the last 30 minutes since this all began. sue herera back at hq. you've been aggregating everything that we do. can you wrap it up for us of what we have so far. >> sure, brian. as you and mandy have been saying and our reporters on the scene, the u.s. capitol has been put on a security lockdown. possible injuries by those police officers. although they cannot confirm the numbers. again, it is plural. we are waiting for confirmation of how many people and/or officers have been hurt. we just saw the footage, the live shot of that officer being lifted into the helicopter. he's going to be air lifted out. the capitol has been put into a shelter in place order which basically means move into the interior part of your office. stay away from external doors and windows. shelter in place until you are given the all clear. at this point, we're still trying to get confirmation as to

whether or not the fbi is on the scene. nbc's pete williams reporting that the fbi is on its way to the site. however, nbc does not have a con m fir mags as to whether or not they are on site as of yet. still a very fluid situation, brian, an exceptional amount of security forces congregating at second and constitution. that's the basic wrapup right now. we're once again waiting for confirmation as to whether or not the fbi has arrived on site and how many actual injuries there have been. we obviously saw one offer being lifted into the helicopter. he is among the injured. we don't know how many more there are, mandy. >> this all comes just a couple weeks after that deadly shooting at the nearby navy yard as well. it's quite devastating. in terms of the markets, and obviously it's as by distasteful to be talking about the markets at a time like this. nonetheless, we are cnbc. they've actually been coming a little bit off their lows since all this happened. once again to reiterate, not unduly concerned by what is

going on live on the ground in washington. eamon javers, i want to get to you. i believe there was a warning sound that was sounded and the house abruptly went into a recess. lawmakers left the chamber floor when these gunshots were heard because the house had just finished approving legislation ironically partly aimed at lifting the -- do you know a little more about this? we were talking a moment ago about how you can understand there would be a lot of people out there who could really be quite angry about what is going on with the shutdown. might be furloughed and who are obviously worried about the consequences. >> yeah, mandy, we can't even begin to speculate now on who would have caused this or what they were upset about. i can tell you that we are standing about a half a block from the position where we just saw the helicopter evacsomebody out of this position. i don't know if it was an officer or not. we saw them loading the stretcher. we couldn't make out who exactly that was. i can tell you on our way over here we heard loud speakers that were broadcasting to the entire

public area and we're being told now to move here by the capitol police. i'm going to walk as we talk. we were walking over here, running over here, and we heard the loud speakers that are in the public areas outside the capitol building offices. those include all of the streets around the immediate vicinity of the capitol. broadcasting that there was a lockdown in place. that everyone should shelter in place. this is one of the post-september 11th security processes they put in place. loud speakers to the general public. >> eamon? >> yes, brian? >> eamon, sorry to jump in on there like that. i want to ask about what we know. because there is an assumption that this was a shooting directed at the capitol hill and potentially capitol hill police officers. is it possible, have you heard any talk, speculation, whatever, that this could have been something more domestic? perhaps a traffic stop gone wrong? that just happened to end outside the u.s. capitol? do we know it was directed necessarily to the capitol? >> we don't know.

i can tell you that i'm standing on third street northwest. which is the first major public street in front of the capitol building. it's between the reflecting pool that's in front of the capitol building and the beginning of the bulk of the national mall. that's where they're evacuating somebody in the helicopter. they appear to have brought that stretcher from the far side of 3rd street. i wouldn't want to begin to speculate as to where that person was actually injured, though. they might have brought him to the nearest or her to the nearest possible landing site for that helicopter. as to motive, no idea. i can tell you there's a tactical unit from the u.s. capitol police now deploys here. we've got several -- a variety of u.s. capitol forces out here with machine guns at the ready. motorcycle police. they're coroning off the entire area. very robust response here. officers running as well to get into position. this is still going on right now. it's a little bit too early to think about what the motive might have been. i think the officers we've talked to so far don't really

have any idea what's going on here. they're just deploying in a typical security pattern to prevent anybody getting access. >> eamon, thank you very much for those details. of course, this is a developing story. what we're also hearing, that pete williams of nbc is reporting, is that this whole incident began at the white house. outside of the white house. potentially with a gate ramming before the individual or individuals, we're not sure at this stage, then headed over to capitol hill. we'll keep on following exactly what is going on and what reports we're getting to keep everybody updated. in the meantime i would also like to get to congressman matt cartwright of pennsylvania joining us now on the phone. sir, thank you very much for joining us. can you quickly tell us where you are, what you heard and what your thoughts are on what is exactly happening? >> right. well, we had just finished the first series of votes in the house. there is a balcony on the south side of the second floor of the

capitol. that is right off of the speakers lobby. it's a place where members of congress can go and sit and chat. and i was doing just that with congressman jerry connolly from northern virginia. we were having a quiet chat. when all of the sudden it was -- oh, i would say on the order of seven or eight rapid fire gunshots that went off. and i did -- it did sound like gunshots. to me, it sounded like kind of the first of a 21 gun salute where they shoot off seven guns. except it was more ragged than that. they were not all at once. that's what it put me in mind of at first. i also thought if you've ever

heard guns going off, i don't consider myself a ballistics expert, but it was clearly not a .22 which makes it sound like a pop. this was more like booms. this was a high powered ammunition in my estimation. >> sorry, mandy, to jump in. congressman, i want to get your comment on this. nbc news pete williams as mandy just said reported that this began at the white house. now, for the uninitiated in d.c. geography, the white house to capitol hill is at least three if not more miles. this would be a chase through a large section of very populated, even with the shutdown, very tourist heavy washington, d.c. have you heard -- okay. hold on for a second. we're going to bring in hampton pearson with maybe some more details on that. hampton, are you hearing also this may have begun at the white house? because that would have been a chase through a very long part of washington, d.c., to get to

the capitol. >> reporter: well, absolutely right. what's really bizarre is since that helicopter lifted off a few minutes ago, how relatively calm it is on this section of the mall where we are. a block away from the west front of the portico. we've had tourists up and down the mall on both sides throughout all of this. there are people all the way up to -- as close as they can get right now to the capitol with no security presence of any type except at that street pushing them back. otherwise it's been tourists and tourist groups up and down the mall ever since that helicopter lifted off. back to your point, the idea of an incident beginning at the white house and ending up here on the capitol grounds, very, very bizarre. >> it is very bizarre. we've actually just been watching you there, hampton pearson, as some bikers have been going past. whether or not they're tourists, i don't know. it feels like considering what is going on that the security is not exactly in a panic situation. >> reporter: yeah. we had a very surreal moment

even during the time that that helicopter was on the ground and still hovering to take away the injured party or parties. tour buses were pulling up. people were getting out, doing what tourists do. walking down and taking pictures. then coming back. you know, as i said, right now it is very eerie in the sense of the degree of calm it is right here where we are. where we know no matter what, we've still got a situation where it's still in progress. it's still being investigated. you've got shelter in place inside the capitol and inside congressional office buildings. as you can see behind me, here we are, almost another day on the mall. >> indeed. reuters saying that the capitol police say the u.s. capitol in washington is no longer in lockdown despite the fact that we do have confirmation that shots were fired. we're just trying to work out exactly who and why all of this has happened. a lot of questions that need to be answered. maybe the closing bell will be able to uncover some of those questions and answers for us.

bill griffith, we're going to be handing over to you in a minute's time for the closing bell. you join us now. it certainly seems like we need to know a lot more about what exactly is going on right now. >> we'll be trying to figure that out, mandy, of course. the markets have been trying to figure it out here on wall street. initially around 2:30 eastern time, when word got out about the shots being fired -- >> thank you, guys. nice job. >> and the shelter in place at the capitol, you saw an immediate selloff among the major averages on wall street. below where we'd been from that point. then when it became clear at least initially the nmagnitude f what we were talking about, it wasn't a city wide problem but maybe more isolated to the capitol area, the markets did come back somewhat. we are still down about 120 points on a day when we were all focusing on the government shutdown. at this point, we're just now getting this word through some of the wire services that maybe the capitol lockdown