we deliver you to "cnn newsroom" with the one and only carol costello. happy monday. >> i get a hug and everything. >> michaela, you were here friday and got to meet you in person. it was fabulous. kate and chris i think your invitation is standing. come on down. >> we'll be there. >> my invite was lost in the mail. >> you're one of her favorites, carol. my mom's birthday today. happy birthday. my mom's 39 years old. >> thanks all of you, have a great day. we have to begin with this breaking news this morning. good morning but. i to you. i'm carol costello. shooting at the navy yard in washington, d.c. one report says a male gunman has a large shotgun an the fourth floor of this navy complex. barbara starr joins us now. barbara, tell us more. >> carol i just got off the

phone with a u.s. navy official who says their reports are now that several shots were fired, several people inside the building have been injured. at this point it doesn't look like they've been able to evacuate any of the injured out of the building. he tells me that they are getting actually phone reports at the u.s. navy from people trapped inside while this situation goes on. they say security forces at this hour are entering the building to try to get to this person. let me just explain to people the location that we're talking about. in washington, along the potomac river in the southwest section of the city of the nation's capital, there is the washington navy yard, a very old, historic place, but a highly secure facility. this is a building called the naval sea systems command, several hundred people work inside. they are in charge of all the

programs for building ships and submarines, classified work, highly secure, not at all clear at this hour how anyone with a weapon could have gotten inside. the best information the navy is getting is from people inside the people. they're telling people to shelter in place, trying to evacuate people where they can. this appears to be a situation involving still at this hour an active shooter. carol? >> it's a very early hour in the morning, barbara. how many people do you think are in that building right now? >> well, this is washington and the bureaucracy, the u.s. military starts early. the reports were three shots were fired at 8:20 this morning east coast time, here in washington. at that hour i would say that almost everyone was in the buildi building. you mentioned a news report the fourth floor. we'll try and get more information what exactly is

located on the fourth floor in that building. is this someone moving through the building? is there one looking for a particular spot or office in the building and once again how on earth did they get some totally unauthorized weapon inside the building? there are regular security forces in the building as there are in so many washington, d.c., buildings and across the u.s. military but this situation is very much described active shooter, more than three shots fired, several people injured. the belief is those injured are getting first aid care from oath co-workers inside the building that they're going to try and get people out, but they got to figure out exactly where the shooter is, isolate him, get him taken care of and see, we're told they have to safely evacuate people, of course. they can't tell people just to start running. these situations are very, very difficult. they've got toe if

people are going to start evacuating the building they are as safe as they can make them be. >> a couple questions, one, this is an active navy facility. would people in the building be armed besides the security at door and would there be metal detectors as you go into that building? >> i think it is almost entirely unlikely anyone would have a weapon other than authorized security personnel. here in washington the military does not carry weapons. it is authored security personnel, just like at installations across the nation's capital, very, very strict rules about all of this. metal detectors, i don't know if this particular building. almost all installations, almost all government buildings that myself and i think most reporters go in and out of do have metal detectors.

but the washington navy yard has a secure perimeter to enter the washington navy yard. it is generally not open to the area. there are things for people to see and enjoy but they have to pass through a guard checkpoint essentially to get onto the washington navy yard and especially to go into this building. you can't just drive there, park your car, get out and wander around. so there's going to be a lot of questions to answer here about how someone did this. and you know, carol, as you say, the reports very, very early on. this is, i'm looking at the clock, this is less than an hour ago tragically that the first shots were fired. the navy is getting the security forces on site as fast as they can and trying to get medical care of course to the people who are wounded. we don't know how many.

one navy official told me the initial reports are that several people were injured, and as you show the pictures, again, sad but necessary fact the times here in washington, especially as in so many cities across the country, there is a very fast first responders effort when these crises occur. washington sadly very well practiced at responding to these situations as are so many cities across the country. >> the u.s. navy is tweeting this morning they have confirmed that one person has been injured. there may be more. we don't know but this is just what the u.s. navy is confirming right now. as you said, police and authorities are now surrounding that building at the navy yard and hopefully a more peaceful conclusion will come. of course we're going to keep our eye on this story and take you back to washington, d.c., as soon as we have more information. i know you'll be standing by, barbara starr. thanks so much. >> sure. shades of katrina in

colorado, hundreds still accoto accounted for. keep in mind it is now five days after the floodwaters started rising and a grim real sit setting in, the numbers sobers as many as six people died, 19,000 homes damaged or destroyed, more than 100 miles of roads and many bridges simply washed away. the situation so desperate during the governor's tour the helicopter he was in diverted to rescue seven people. >> i think what we have going on in the last 24 hours is the greatest number of americans rescued by helicopter since hurricane katrina. >> nick valencia joins us from longmont, colorado. good morning, nick. >> reporter: good morning, carol. the helicopters and rescue crews

for the national guard will attempt to reach the hard to reach remote areas. fog could create visibility issues. yesterday the rescue cruise were temporarily grounded because of the rain that created the visibility issues and some of the same national guardsmen in lyons, just north of where we are in longmont, 15 of the 51 national guardsmen remain stranded because of high waters. they were able to get pets out and residents. earlier the mayor of boulder, colorado, spoke to cnn and talked about some of the issues the community is still facing. >> i think there's still going to be a lot of shock and disbelief the amount of destruction, the damage to people's houses, the damage to neighborhoods, the damage to roads, the damage to our much beloved open space. it's pretty significant and as i said, it's extraordinarily widespread. >> and some new information this morning, carol, new information this morning, carol is the staid

eoc says there are under 1,000 people still unaccounted for. at its peak the number around 1,200. the point is the numbers are going to be fluid throughout the next couple of days as cell phone power is restored, electricity restored to some remote areas. we emphasize that number under 1,000 unaccounted for is not missing but people that just haven't been able to get in touch with their families. carol? >> nick valencia reporting live from colorado this morning. let's head back to the navy yard in washington, d.c., there is a situation going on, this is a naval facility and there is an armed gunman inside the building. the gunman has a large shotgun somewhere at last check on the fourth floor of a building on the complex. one person is injured and there may be who are. of course most of the information is coming from people inside that building who are on the phone talking to 911 operators and other emergency

rescue workers, trying to tell people what's going on inside that building. as you might expect and we suspect, that the u.s. navy is trying to handle this along with local officials. let's ask barbara starr, are all the local law enforcement agencies working together in washington to try to control this situation? >> reporter: well, i don't know that we have the specific details. again, this just unfolded about 50 minutes ago. the navy and u.s. military security responding inside the navy yard. in washington like in so many cities across the country, being the nation's capital, there is a response plan when a crisis emerges. everybody from metro police to federal and local law enforcement typically responds. there is very good coordination

between the u.s. military here in washington essentially the military that lives and works here in the nation's capital and local law enforcement. they have the mechanisms to be in communication if the military needs help, they will instantly get it and i can only imagine, this is on a, alongside, one side is the potomac river. on the other side a very busy southwest downtown washington, d.c., so i it only imagine the metropolitan police in washington are probably controlling the security perimeter where the street is, keep traffic away, keep traffic moving so that emergency response vehicles can get through so that everything can be done that needs to be done. that's typically how it works around here, sadly, when these situations arise. >> i'm on the u.s. navy's twitter feed, they're tweeting out bits and pieces, they confirm one injury on the fourth floor, approximately 3,000

people who work in the affected buildings. can you remind us once again what people do in that particular building? >> sure, carol. let me say all of these reports are very preliminary. again the situation just unfolding about 15 minutes ago. several shots fired, people injured. people trying to get out. we don't have a firm count on how many injured. this is something called building 197, it is at the headquarters for the naval sea systems command, a large element of the navy bureaucracy that oversees all shipbuilding, submarine programs, that sort of thing, very technical work, they do the budget, the policy, the engineering, the building. very technical, very classified, most of it. this would be a secure area.

this is a place where you have navy person knell of all ranks from the most junior enlisted to very senior admirals who run this program. very well-known within the navy. it's a place the navy yard is a place many people in washington travel back and forth to many times during the business week. so this is pretty surprising someone was able to get a weapon on this compound and into the building. >> lou palumbo is with us on the line, a retired new york city police officer. i'm reading from the twitter feed a shelter in place order is in for all navy yard personnel. what does that mean, do you think? >> carol, can you repeat that question for me? >> the navy says there's a shelter in place order for navy yard personnel. what does that mean?

>> basically they want everyone to remain in place and seek some form of shelter to make sure they don't become at this point a victim in the shooting incident. >> tell us what the plan might be to resolve this situation. >> the plan going forward is going to be first of all containment in an attempt to identify who is involved in the shooting. in addition to that as we know this is the military installation so other sensitivities that are germane to. you have military intelligence, fire, medical, you have a number of different entities who are now going to work in conjunction to attempt to mitigate these circumstances right now. they want to find out who is involved, how many are involved, where you have victims. it's a hucume laof it effort

moving forward. >> would they enter the building, lou? >> yes, ma'am, absolutely. in these instances you have an active shooter, we learned in past experiences that we don't have the luxury of allowing this to take care of itself. you've got to go in and attempt to locate exactly who the perpetrators of this incident are and be mindful of the fact their thinking of explosive devices or any types of booby traps so to speak that the responders could encounter. >> the man is apparently or the gunman is apparently armed with a shotgun. does that bring to mind any special way to deal with him? >> can you repeat that, please? >> supposedly this man is armed with a shotxwgun. how will police respond to that. >> people don't understand about a shotgun it's an unconventionally harmful weapon

in comparison to a handgun or assault rifle. fending on the kind of ammunition in the shotgun he could inflict an extreme amount of casualties for example by using a slug which goes through one person and through another person and possibly -- >> i think we lost lou's connection. we go to barbara starr with what a shelter in place order means. take it away. >> the washington navy yard is a compound of many buildings, this incident taking place by all accounts at one of them. so what they want to do is keep everybody as safe as they can and make sure that nothing is done jeopardize people's safety further. they're saying stay in your office, stay secure. this will also mean as security forces go through the compound, go through that building, they

will be able to, you know, rule out certain areas where a shooter might be, because they know for example this office is full of people, sheltering in place. so many entrances and exits in all of these buildings. they don't want people to start moving out evacuating in and out of all of these entrances without making sure they can keep them safe. so i think what we are seeing unfold here, it's safe to say the first priority, get to this gunman that they believe is inside the building still, make the situation as secure as possible, and for those who may be injured, of course, top priority, get them out and get them to medical care. i want to say again, we don't have a firm estimate at this point about how many were injured. the initial report was that three shots were fired about 8:20 this morning inside this building, that's just one hour ago. but again, as so often in these

cases, these are the initial reports, more information developing and certainly more throughout the day, as you begin to see some of the security vehicles move into the washington navy yard, certainly getting as many security personnel as they can in there and getting this situation resolved. >> i'm going to let you get more information from the pentagon barbara starr and i want to go to the scene. cnn's paul corson is on the ground at the navy yard. paul, what are you seeing? >> reporter: right now can you can hear me? >> i can hear you now. lou is back. we'll have paul corson on the ground and lou palumbo, we're

seeing more and more police officers arrive at the scene. what does that say to you? >> they're getting as many resources there as they possibly can to create a perimeter around this. to lend itself to containment and they feel there's something going on significant enough that they need to have as many assets in place as they can. >> as many as 3,000 people in the building and a wandering gunman on the fourth floor. you can imagine it's difficult for police to contain the situation. >> we're asupering it's a lone gunman. at this point they're trying to identify what is going on in that building. they're not certain of any dynamics except the fact there san active shooter in the navy yard in washington. i still think what they're trying to do is identify the source of this problem.

>> the only information that we hear at least for right now that they're getting are from people from inside the building, calling emergency workers on the phone. we lost lou again. we're having little technical gremlins this morning. let's listen to wusa. >> 197 the naval sea systems command headquarters, building 197, everyone told to stay in place, shelter in place. there are about 3,000 employees as i mentioned before. i'm seeing right now on the opposite side of the camera here a lot of just residents, folks who live, work in the area whoa are outside of their offices and outside of their homes on their cell phones just trying to figure out what is happening here. obviously there is a lot of buzz on social media as i was coming here, a lot of folks that i know

who may work in the area, heading this way on facebook were discussing what was happening and obviously sending their thoughts and prayers for the folks who were here, 3,000 people told to shelter in place. certainly a chaotic scene and i don't think there's any better way to describe the intense situation here as describing when the officer did come up to us in that bullet proof vest and said how often do you see a lieutenant wearing a bullet proof vest? clearly a dangerous situation so we moved immediately and relocated. >> barbara starr are you still with me? >> i sure am. >> please bring us up to date with what's happening at navy yard in washington, d.c. >> we know about one hour ago

three shots at least were fired by what the military is describing as an active shooter at the washington navy yard, inside a building where several hundred people work. security forces began entering the building at this hour. we have no word whether they were able to take this person into custody. they are awaiting what is happening with the shooter. the navy has told us and says it is okay for us to report this, so i want to be very clear to our viewers that they are getting phone reports from people inside the building, who have been told to shelter in place, to stay there and await help, and those phone rorpds are telling navy officials here at the pentagon that perhaps several people were injured. we were told a few moments ago they are able to evacuate some people. we don't know if that's the injured or the people that were told to shelter in place.

the shelter in place to made to get the shooter. most security personnel will tell you they want to even kooem peep safe, they want to be able for the security personnel to move around and get to a shooter, knowing that other people in the building are safe. this is a compound with several buildings, several security faciliti facilities, lots of entrances and exits. they want to get it under control as fast as they can. the washington navy yard for people who may not be aware, is a very large compound along the potomac river here in the nation's capital, in the southwest section of the city, very historic, but in recent years a lot of navy business has moved there, some of it very classified. this is building 197, the

headquarters for the naval sea systems command which runs programs, shipbuilding programs both surface warships, submarines, a lot of classified work. this is a place where an awful lot of people come and go all day long, hundreds of people work in the building, thousands of people on the washington navy yard. this is a situation that by all accounts one hour later they are still trying to get under control. carol? >>er that' still trying. you stay there at the pentagon. we have our justice correspondent evan perez on the phone right now some more information. evan, as far as we know, according to the u.s. navy, one report of an injury confirmed. there may be more. we don't know what's going on inside that building. do you know anything else? >> reporter: the fbi is now on the scene and they're trying to get into the building to try to secure it. now, this is still an active situation. it doesn't appear as barbara

mentioned that they have apprehended the suspect. there are lots of active officials on the scene so we still don't know whether or not how many more people have been injured in this. it's still developing at this hour. >> okay, stay on the line, evan. we have paul corson on the phone, on the ground at the naval yard. i want to go to him because i really want to know what the scene is like. so tell us, paul. paul, are you there in. >> yes, i am. is that carol? carol, paul corson roughly at the intersection of eighth and l streets. u.s. park police put up a helicopter on reports i'm hearing this guy may have made it to the roof of one of the buildings in the navy yard. the helicopter is looking at low altitude, you can hear it over me, only at about 200 feet and if there's any way to see this guy, they're going to keep track

of him and figure out what to do next. >> he made it to the top of that building. there's a building, i think it's a dark brick building that we've been seeing, the shot's not moving and maybe that's for a reason, police don't want us to do that. >> reporter: i can't see it from here, carol. i'm about a block away where they set off the police cordon. if the guy is on the roof of a building he has a good perch so they're keeping the public pretty far back from the scene. this happened at a building known as number 197, which is near the waterfront in the fairly large navy yard complex and one of the early victims according to a police official who told me here on the sidewalk was shot as this guy came on the way into this building. thatter. is being treated. i haven't been able to reach anyone who has a firm count on the number of people wounded and the status of things at the

moment. >> hopefully we'll get lou palumboen the phone soon. this say whole new ball of wax. evan you said the fbi was trying to get into the building does that mean they can't get in? >> well, no. we're told that the fbi is on the scene and obviously they have a lot of experience in these types of things and would be the lead agency, this say federal facility and they'd be the lead agency in trying to secure it. at this point i think they're still trying to get the situation secure to make sure if there's any more shooting there rnt a'any on the outside or personnel who can get shot and that the fbi agents who would be trying to secure it themselves don't come under fire or get

injured. what i've been told is that they're on the scene, they would probably be the lead agency to try to secure it but at this point there is confusion where the shooter is. the navy says he's still in the building and we're getting reports from people inside. its a matter of trying to figure out how to make sure the people who are in there are out of harm's way before they try to apprehend the suspect. >> back to paul courson, authorities think he is on the roof. is there a surrounding neighborhood around this facility that's close enough where people kr v to take shelter there? paul courson, can you hear me? okay we've lost paul courson

again. it's hard to get cell service when so many are using cell phones at the same time. barbara starr? >> the washington navy yard sits in the middle of the washington, d.c., community in southwest washington. now, let me be clear. there are not houses right next to where this is happening but there are homes, families, people, schools not that far away and that is a good reason as well why they want to get this under control. they would be concerned that a shooter could get to a roof but i have to say if that is happening, that will be quite extraordinary and quite unusual and worth figuring out how that happened because in many buildings in washington roof access would be secured. there's gear on top of roofs, a

place where maintenance people go. that would be something to watch. what appears to be unfolding is to difficult but expected in this day and age, there are procedures in the capital when these incidents happen a place where a shooter is believed to be goes into immediate lockdown, all authorities are called. everyone responds. as my colleague evan perez, was saying, the fbi has a good deal of expertise in getting into buildings safely, moving through them, getting to where they believe a shooter may be and dealing with these situations. ail indications are this is a full security response across washington. the security personnel who regularly work the navy yard, they, too, practice for these types of emergencies, the fbi,

metropolit metropolitan, d.c. police in the neighborhood outside the gate, so this is a situation in this day and age, we have seen before the absolute goal right now, get to the shooter, figure out what exactly is going on here, take whoever it is or if there is more than one, we don't know, into custody, and get medical care to the injured. carol? >> barbara, you stay there. i want to go to mike brooks our cnn law enforcement analyst, he also worked in the d.c. police department, how unusual is this, mike? >> carol i've responded a number of times at the washington navy yard when i was with the metropolitan police and the fbi joint terrorism task force for incidents similar to this. chief of operation ace number of years ago came out there was an attack on the navy yard but it was an admiral who committed suicide it wound up, but what barbara was staying, you do, they practice, they have built-in exercises, table top exercises all the time for

incidents like this in the navy yard, outside the navy yard. across the street from the navy yard there on m street southeast you do have residences so that the metropolitan police first district will be handling all of that. inside d.c. police, fire, ems, you also have the fbi joint terrorism task force, i saw some of them arriving on the scene moments ago along with the washington field office, fbi s.w.a.t. team that's respond there had along with the met toll tan police emergency response team. i saw their little peacekeeper armored vehicle go by a moment ago. to try contain the person and you see the helicopter because there's a possibility he could be on the roof, they want to have 360 coverage and able to contain this person. >> we want to pin down whether this guy is on the road. cnn's todd sperry is there. can you hear me?

>> yes, i can hear you. >> what have you heard about the gunman possibly on the roof? >> we are a couple of blocks north of where the scene is, where the police and the major chaos is shutting down all the activity so i don't have any reporting on that. what we have seen are employees en masse walking north getting out of the area. there is an elementary school two blocks of there, parents are walking out with their kids just to be safe. we've seen vehicles like you'd see at a s.w.a.t. scene, the s.w.a.t. vehicles, rvs, multiple jurisdictions are involved so you see all different sorts of nooib, police, metro police so in general it's pretty chaotic, a major thorough fare and a lot

of residences and schools here. >> paul courson, are you on the line? paul courson? paul, are through? we're still having trouble with his cell phone there. we go to lou palumbo, former new york city police officer. what do you do now the gunman supposedly on the roof? >> you go after him. you have to continue to engage in containment, you have localize where he is and surgically go in and address him. as you may be aware i'm sure they already have the schematics or blueprints of this facility and they're going in surgically zone by zone so to speak and identifying anybody who is injured and evacuating those who aren't who can leave under their own power and at the same time they're going to pinpoint where this individual is.

i think if this individual was on the roof that there would be some type of addressment. i'm not saying through a helicopter rappelling down but they're basically going to dissect this building for however long it takes them to locate. >> let's go back to barbara starr for a moment, how large is this building? she's on the phone sources gathering other information. mike brooks do you know how large this building is? all right, todd sperry, are you on the line? todd sperry? >> yes, i am here. >> todd, tell us how large this building is. do you know? >> yes, well the navy yard

complex and buildings in there it's a mix of historic buildings and a mix of more recent construction. the buildings you're dealing with and i can't see specifically on the scene which building you're talking about but on average none of them are usually more than about four to eight stories and some of the older buildings were smaller than that. there is new construction, the department of transportation, more of your office standard sizes. if he's up on top of one of those buildings he'll have a higher vantage point, a higher level but again i'm not there so i'm two blocks away and they're shutting everything down. >> i understand police are keeping reporters out of the air. barbara starr, sorry i interrupted you on the phone with your sources. did you follow anything out for us? >> carol let me correct myself

first and foremost. the washington navy yard is in southeast washington along the anacostia river. the navy yard is along the anacostia. some people on the scene are reporting there's some photos of people on the ground but this is confusing to us, we don't have a lot of information. one person may be getting medical assistance at this point. as we have been saying for over an hour what everyone is waiting for is the information that the shooter has been dealt with one way or the other, apprehended by security forces or dealt with. this is a very large office building, mull tipping floors hundreds if not thousands of people working here. they keep everyone in the building who can't get out

secure and get to the shooter as fast as they can. you're seeing that helicopter flying overhead, here in washington when there is a security situation that happens very quickly. it's a pretty standard security response, not to say that the shooter is or is not on the roof, we don't really know at this point but to see helicopters flying overhead and we see it in other cities when situations unfold but here in washington that's a very rapid response to try and get that overhead picture, if you will of a large area where people are and need to respond to and the overall situation. this say large compound in southeast washington. many buildings, entrances, exits in all of those buildings and a perimeter of security around the building essentially guard

forces who want to check in and out of it. so this is a very complex but in today's age a very standard response at the moment when they see these types of situations unfold. carol. >> let's go to our justice correspondent evan perez. any more word from the fbi what's going on at the scene? >> no, they're trying to figure out the lay of the land and get their folks in there. we know there are people inside the building where the shooting took place who have been able to move to other buildings but the problem is as brar bra mentioned and the navy said on their twitter feed, there are about 3,000 people who work in this place. it's a very large complex, from the street, from m street you don't quite see how big this complex is. there's several blocks before you get to the river so there are people who are now sheltering in place in other

buildings that are essentially knocked down while the authorities can get in and try to secure the building where the shooter is reported to be. as barbara mentioned, we are seeing pictures that have been confirmed from people who are being treated near the scene. there was a, i'm not sure if that person was necessarily injured in the shooting or if there's something unrelated that happened but it was a couple blocks away, not far from the metro station, and carol, this is a very, very, because there's a military area, there's a lot of security. it's very, it's going to be very interesting to see how exactly this shooter got in here. across the street from the navy yard is a complex of buildings that houses the historic marine barracks, and we have several hundred thousands of marines who

are attached to that base and so you often see people in uniform walking around between the navy yard area and the marines in their housing complex which is just a couple blocks from there. so it will be interesting to see how this shooter was able to make his way in to a secure facility. >> evan as sad as it might seem this person could be an employee of the u.s. navy for all we know. >> right. we have no information on that. it's one of the things at the early stages we can only speculate but at this point we don't know how this person was able to get in through what is a very secure gate. it's a very as a couple folks mentioned it is a historic series of buildings and it's essentially built like a

fortress, tall brick walls surround it. you can't see most of the buildings inside the complex from the street. >> thanks, evan. we're going to to a local affiliate coverage of the event, wjla. let's listen. >> natasha, thank you and also "the washington post" just within the past minute or so reporting that the gunman has barricaded himself in a room. this is why it's important for anybody in the area to pay attention to this order to stay indoors especially if you are working at the navy yard because they are still trying to get this gunman. police on the scene, d.c. police are on the scene, capitol police, park police, military police as well. let's go back out to our john gonzalez. any updates to what you're seeing? >> reporter: just adding to what you're saying, you're absolutely

right that order to stay indoors for people that lockdown situation right now for people to not go in or out of the buildings if they're outside already, you see down the sidewalk here on l street you see the folks obviously folks that are dressed to go to work, they were ready to go to work this morning, they're not being allowed any closer in, and just like every corner around this quadrant of the city right now, it is shut down to vehicular traffic. police have basically stationed themselves at each corner at each city block and we're talking d.c. police being assisted right now by capital police and the atf, if we spin around we've got our media friends over here, everyone is setting up. beyond them you see the police activity, they've basically stationed themselves and just beyond there you see the lights on and you can hear the sirens i'm sure. there's going to be a d.c. police officer coming through here just a lot of controlled chaos is the best way to put it right now, when we were driving

to the area, it was gridlock as you can imagine, 295, 695, all of the exit ramps to get into this section of town were closed off. d.c. police officers standing outside of their vehicles and the marine barracks, which isn't far. the on this side the guards outside armed, stationed outside, they've evacuated that building as a precaution right now. and really the whole area is shut down as a precaution as the active search continues for the gunman at around 8:20 inside. we'll show you the scene live, all the fire trucks and the paramedics, the emergency vehicles, more and more vehicles arriving each moment and they try to stabilize and control the scene, making sure no one gets in or out at this hour. i'll send it back to you for now. >> john, thank you so much.

just within the past minute, the u.s. navy sending out a tweet that they are confirming several injury injuri injuries in this navy yard shooting and more information was to come. earlier about 45 minutes ago the navy said at least one injury. now they are confirming what we've been learning from d.c. police that there have been several injuries in the shooting at the navy yard. within the past five minutes the faa updating there's been a ground stop at reagan national airport because of this. we know there's a heavy police presence in that area. our traffic reporter amanda meadows talked about the roads that are shut down in that area and also talked about the 11th street bridge, major, major commuter connection to get in and out of that area on southeast, southwest is shut down because park police had to land a helicopter in that area. we have multiple crews on the scene. i want to go back out live to sam ford. sam, you're on the phone still.

what kind of update do you have for us? sam, are you able to hear me? okay we'll try to get reconnected with sam ford there on the scene. just for anybody who is tuning in now at 9:45 this morning, it was just about 8:20 when there were shots fired at the navy yard and because of this, and because still the morning rush, a lot of roadways shut down. we'll head back over to wtop, check in with traffic report ear man da meadows for an upindicatupindicatdate. >> we'll jump out of this now. evan perez our justice correspondent is on the phone. the affiliate reported the washington gunman has barricaded himself inside a room. there are many conflicting reports coming out of this scene because as that local reporter so aptly put it, it's kind of a scene full of controlled chaos right at the moment.

he also mentioned or the local affiliate also mentioned that the u.s. navy and i checked the tweets, u.s. navy is now confirming there have been several injuries stemming from this incident. have you found out any new information about somebody who was injured outside the navy yard? >> no, carol. it's not clear whether or not that injury that was, that appeared to have been found outside was someone who was inside or who was near the scene when the shooter got in there. there's a couple pictures that have been making their way around and we're talking about a couple blocks, a few blocks from the front gate but basically about a block or so from the far western end of the navy yard complex. so it could be related, we're not sure. at this point the local firefighters association which operates its own twitter feed separate from the d.c. fire

department has said that they took someone away with some injuries from the scene there at the new jersey and m street, which is about a block away from the far western end of the navy yard. at this point we still are trying to get further information on what the nature of the injuries are, whether these were people inside the building when the shooter started shooting or whether this is someone perhaps on the outside, we're still not sure about that and we're checking that out. >> i'm looking at the incredible police presence right now. this is the latest we have on injury, evan, just so you know and this is from cnn's dan mariga, he says metropolitan police officer, a washington, d.c., police officer, was shot and has been transtransported to a local hospital. apparently the shots came from inside the navy yard. of course this navy yard is still considered an active scene. the helicopter has not been taken into custody yet.

apparently according to "the washington post" he's barricaded himself inside a specific room. as you might imagine, most of the city especially in the southeastern portion of washington, d.c., the city has been shut down. in fact you see there on our banner there that planes have been halted at reagan international airport because of this. what is this picture looks like they're evacking someone to the hospital right now. todd sperry probably can't see a monitor but evan perez you can. what do you suppose it happening? >> yes, carol, that appears to be park police helicopter just lifted what appeared to be someone inside this basket that was hoisted onto this helicopter and now they're making their way away from the scene. i'm not sure whether or not that's someone who was injured or whether there's some other purpose for it but the park

police helicopter was lifting what appeared to be someone inside what is essentially a very large basket that was being . into the helicopter and now they have made their way away from the scene. >> caught in traffic right around the traffic, todd, can you tell me what the people -- how the people in the neighborhood are reacting? you said there's an elementary school. >> reporter: i can tell you, carol, that this is an area used to a police presence but nothing like this. i have now gone around the marine barracks. it's about two blocks, about 300 blocks north of the entrance to the navy yard and they always have guards there. make no mistake, there's an increased presence at this point around there.

marines taking no risk, no chances here. much more fire power on the street corners here. and let me tell you the faces of the people that i see walking around here, there's definitely concern on the faces. i saw one man trying to explain a little bit to his young children what was going on as they were leaving the school. so definitely something that people are trying to get away from. and the shopper put something in the basket and flew right over here. >> so far we know, one washington, d.c., police officer has been hurt. the shots that injured him came from inside the navy yard. the u.s. navy has tweeted out that there were several more injuries although we don't know whether they took place inside the building, outside the building. the gunman has now barricaded

himself in one particular room inside this building. barbara starr, are you getting any more information from your sources? >> well, carol, i just got off the phone with the navy at the pentagon. this is still what they call an active shooter situation. how do they know that? they tell us that they are getting phone reports from inside the building. they are quite comfortable in telling that to journalists. they want people to know that they are getting the best information they can in this very fluid, very fast-changing situation. so the latest that the navy knows is that the shooter still active inside the building. i want to go back to what so many of my colleagues are saying. i've been on the washington navy yard as so many people from cnn have many, many times. but i have to call ahead. i have to get my car cleared. i have to have an appointment. i have to be able to tell the guard at the gate who i am and why i am going on to the

washington navy yard. people who work there have parking passes, have stickers in their cars. so this is not a place in washington where someone can just drive on or walk on. this is a secure area. i got an e-mail a couple of minutes ago from one of our very fantastic producers on "the situation room." she lives in the neighborhood and she wrote to me, the houses are about half a block away plus that elementary school, linda tells us her neighbors can see all of this from their windows and roof decks. so this is a situation that is impacting as the minutes particular on. so many people across the washington, d.c. area, commuters still trying to get in to town, national airport, people who live in the neighborhood impacting the military and really the all-out effort at this hour. get to the gunman and get those

injured people the medical care that they need. carol? >> i want to head back to todd sperry now who is closer to the scene now than you are, barbara. todd, you got as close as the marine barracks at the u.s. navy yard. are people still evacuating? >> you know, there's been less people coming from the south heading north out of the area. i still see construction workers that are just on lookers in the area at this point. the police have drawn their line and nobody is going to get into that area. in fact, some people are trying to cross and the police officer is talking to them but it does appear like they are going a little bit closer into the area than we've seen before. i do know that metro had a station nearby and now it's reopened. so i think it's controlled chaos when they know that the area is clear they are starting to let

people get their lives back a little bit but it's still an active scene. >> you're pretty far away from the actual building where all of this is taking place but talk about the police presence inside the navy yard. >> the police presence? is that what you said? i'm sorry. >> yes, sir, the police presence. >> he will witwell, i tell you amount of vehicles that have come by, including the s.w.a.t.-style vehicles, the mobile command station and all of the -- the metro police department is out in force right now and then the other vehicles that you expect to see in washington, the unmarked cars, the fbi police vehicles all rolling into the scene all trying to get in and the traffic that is causing part of the problem because it's rush hour and this is a major area but it is definitely an area that they have surrounded. >> and just remind people of

where -- i know it's in southeast washington along the anacostia river. is it close to the baseball stadium? >> it is close to the baseball stadium. let me give you a 30,000 foot perspective. and i say this as i see a helicopter circling above here and this is a really restricted air space so when you see the helicopter circling above, you know it's probably military or police or something like this. now, this is an area that is revitalized. it's becoming more popular. it's definitely the department of transportation and other bui buildings that have been built have been built in the last five years. this is a much more busy -- it's a busy area. and then the spark close by. i would say it's half a mile from the navy yard itself. across the river from this

complex is reagan international airport. faa has stopped ground stop of all flights there. it's a very compact, very urban area. and lots of people here. >> barbara starr, i want to ask you what kind of weapon this person supposedly has. todd sperry, we'll go back to you. are you able to talk to police authorities about what exactly they are doing now? >> you know, as soon as i'm clear here, i will definitely work my way in and try to get that information for you. and you know, i was telling you earlier, the marine barracks, the higher fire power that was seen there. we saw gunshots and people had shotguns there. so it's definitely something that i'll try to get back to you on there, carol. >> i'm sorry. i know you're on the air with me

so it's hard to ask people any questions. i know you got a chance to at least talk to some of the people in that neighborhood about their feelings about this incident. what did they tell you? >> well, the people here are definitely used to police presence, motorcades, the lockdowns when there's v.i.p.s in town. this is not something they are used to and it's certainly not something they expected when they were taking children to school on monday morning. so some of the people here were just thankful to be getting out of the area and then others were just too, you know, stressed and pain trying to explain it to their kids. so it's mixed emotion but i can say that overall it's concern. >> okay. so todd sperry, stand by. in case you are just joining us, this is going on in building 197. it's a naval facility where

3,000 people work. somewhere someone is armed with a shotgun. the navy has ordered all people inside that building to take shelter. that means lock yourself in a closet, a shelter, stay put. as far as we know, the authorities are going through this area looking for the gunman. the gunman had barricaded himself in one particular room. cnn cannot confirm those reports but that's what we're hearing right now. i see brian todd standing live at the scene. are you on the phone? i can see you there. what can you tell us? >> reporter: carol, i'm both on the phone and live. i can hear you on my phone. we have a massive police presence all around this area of southeast washington, d.c. this is the navy yard you see behind me, one of the entrances here. we have reports of multiple injuries in this shooting. it took place, according to the authorities at the naval sea system building, building 197. a police officer was reported as

being one of the people injured during the standoff. as you mentioned, the shooter is apparently still barricaded in here. the national d.c. police and capitol police and police jurisdictions with a massive presence circling this navy area. you can't get on here without any kind of i.d. or clearance and it takes just -- it's a heavily secured area of this part of washington, d.c., with walls all around it. so just to give you a lay of the land here, we are on m street and 11th street. we can hear a police chopper circling above here. as far as we know, this is still a very fluid situation. they have evacuated part of the navy yard but there's a shelter in place for part of this security. >> we just got word that president obama has been informed by the homeland security office that this is taking place, the president is keeping up to date about this

and you said that part of the navy yard had been evacuated. what about the neighborhood that you're standing in, brian? >> well, there's a heavy police presence and they are blocking off the roads here in this neighborhood but you can still walk freely in this general area but down the street on m street, that way to my left to, your right, there's a heavy blockade, heavy police presence down there. no traffic getting through. obama some pedestrian traffic and we believe that's going to probably be restricted as well. >> you know, i used to work in washington, live in washington. this seems so unusual to me that a gunman could create this kind of havoc at a u.s. military facility. >> reporter: yes. >> have you ever heard of it happening before, brian? >> reporter: i'm sorry, carol. i missed that question. can you repeat it, please? >> i said it is so unusual

because it's a heavily secured military facility. i've worked in washington for many years and i've never heard of such a thing happening. >> reporter: well, we haven't either in this area, at least in many, many years. of course, you remember the ft. hood shooting in 2009 where that was a member of the service who was convicted eventually of doing that shooting. so, you know, we're not going to speculate as to who the shooter might be but we can only say that this is an area of very heavy security. you have to have a clearance to get in here. you have to have i.d. to get in this facility. i believe your vehicle has to have identification or you're not allowed on it. i have to talk over the helicopter here. this is home to the chief of naval operations, this base. it's a very old base in washington and so because of the level of command that exists in this base, you have to have just heavy -- just high clearance to

get into this base. so again, not speculating as to who this shooter might be but that's something that we're going to be finding out i'm sure in the coming hours. >> brian todd, stand by just to reset things for our viewers just joining us, we continue to follow this breaking news out of washington, d.c., there's an active shooter at the navy yard in washington. several people, including a washington, d.c., police officer, outside or inside the headquarters for the naval sea systems command and the situation is affecting aircraft at reagan international airport. in fact, we've heard that all air traffic has been stopped at reagan at this point. the neighborhood surrounding the navy yard has been partially voluntarily evacuated because, as you know, people are concerned about this. i want to take you live to the pentagon and barbara starr, she's been working her sources. what have you found out, barbara? >> well, carol, you know, in these situations, first reports are often very sketchy, details

do change as more information comes in. it's just about an hour and a half now, 90 minutes since the situation unfolded when at 8:20 this morning it was reported at least three shots fired in this building at the washington navy yard. so we're going to be very cautious in proceeding here. we want to get the right information to our viewers. details sketchy. shots fired, several people injured. the navy says it's still an active shooter situation. they have every reason to believe, based on reports they are getting from inside the building, people calling out, making telephone calls out there that the shooter is still active. but what we don't know, how many shooters, where the shooter is exactly, how many people have been injured. we've seen some effort on camera here to evacuate the wounded out of the building. and this is very rapidly spreading -- the impact across

downtown washington, d.c., reporting that one of the bridges into town, the 11th street bridge, traffic halted so the traffic can move in and out. reports that the marine corps which operates its own facility just a few blocks away, i've just gotten off the phone with the marines, they are not in lockdown but they are under orders that nobody leaves the facility unless they are on essential, official business. the marines determined to keep their part of this very secured and very under control. i think one of the reasons you see so much of this spreading across washington is the pure geography of the nation's capital. everyone knows that it's laid out on a grid. when this happens, it can tend to spread. the security forces come in quickly and lock down the area around it.

this is in the middle of this neighborhood. houses and elementary school, people living very close to the gates of the navy yard. the voluntarily evacuation going on, people very concerned in the neighborhood. the reports are that they are simply leaving their homes at the moment to get away from it until it's resolved. but the pictures that people are seeing, this is washington, d.c., since 9/11. very well practiced, well rehearsed, thankfully not too often used security response across the nation's capital. local police, the metropolitan police, the fbi, federal law enforcement, u.s. military security forces, aviation authorities. command centers are set up, communications go into high gear and they really flood the security zone with as much of a response as they can. they want to get this under

control. they want to get the shooter, they want to get help to the people who have been injured. carol? >> i'm getting a bit of information. i want to welcome in our international viewers. there is a shooting at the naval facility. a man is holed up somewhere inside the building. we understand that there has been injuries. i got an update from the metropolitan police department. the suspect is an adult black male, 6 feet tall, bald, medium complexion, wearing black clothing and black jeans and top. the spokesman, chris kelly, says there have been ten victims. one is a metropolitan police officer and one is a law enforcement officer not associated with the washington, d.c., police. so with that information, we're going to go to lou palumbo. we lost him. okay. todd sperry is on the scene right now. set the scene for us, todd. >> can you hear me, carol?

>> i can. >> since the last time we've spoke i actually tried to move in a little little closer here. there are multiple helicopters. these are not d.c. helicopters. they are police or responding helicopters from agencies and what we see here now is just the cordoned off areas. i see fire trucks from the department here and also the area itself has a handful of onlookers here just kind of dumbfounded as they try to make sense of what is going on here. as i walked in, i live in this area. this neighborhood is usually bustling on a monday morning. it was somewhat of a ghost town as people stay indoors or elsewhere at this point and are not leaving. it's almost a surreal feeling as

you walk in here with what is going on. >> well, that's probably a good thing, todd. you stand by. i want to go to brian todd who has new information from near the navy yard. what can you tell us, brian? >> reporter: carol, the metropolitan police department has told us something now about the suspect. according to the metropolitan police in washington, the suspect is an adult black male, 6 feet tall, bald wearing black clothing, a black top and jeans. according to the police, there are ten victims. ten victims. not clear what their condition is at this time but there are ten victims of this shooting, including one metropolitan police officer from washington and one law enforcement officer who is not affiliated with the metropolitan police but that's the latest that we know now from the metropolitan police department in washington. the suspect is described as an adult black male, 6 feet tall, bald wearing black clothing, black jeans and a black top. there are ten victims associated with this shooting, including

two law enforcement officers, one of them from the mel politan police, carol. >> we saw at least one emergency helicopter taking what we presume is an injured person to the hospital. barbara starr, you were hearing that some of the injured were being treated inside the building? all right. we lost barbara again so let me head back to brian todd. are you still with me, brian? >> reporter: i am, carol. yes, carol, i am hear you. i'm reading a twitter feed from the u.s. navy. confirming several injuries with reports of fatalities. that's according to the u.s. navy twitter feed. several reports of fatalities. i can repeat the information i gave a moment ago. the suspect described as an adult black male, 6 feet tall, bald, wearing dark or black

clothing, dark top and jeans. ten victims associated with the shooting. at least one of them is a metropolitan police officer and another officer not affiliated with the metropolitan police. and according to the twitter feed that i'm reading right now, reports of fatalities. again, we can tell you massive police presence all and us here. this is m street and 11th street southeast in washington. again, this is a secure facility and it's very difficult to get on this base under normal circumstances. massive police presence on m street from my left to your right. helicopters circling around us. still a very fluid situation. again, i'll repeat the information. suspect described as an adult black male, 6 feet tall, bald, wearing black top and black jeans. there are at least ten victims including two law enforcement officers, one of them from the

metropolitan police. >> heartbreaking information. brian todd, you stand by. i want to go back to barbara starr. i thought you said earlier that some of the victims were being treated inside the building or on the scene or near it. what can you tell us? >> well, in the initial moments of this, some of the injured are being treated. that is the information that we had as this unfolded. they, of course, are trying to get these people to medical care. on the question of fatalities, we want to be very cautious here. there is some information emerging that there is or may be a number of fatalities in this incident. the navy is not yet officially confirming it. the navy is very aware. i just got off the phone with them of some twitter reports out there of a particular number of fatalities but this is a very sensitive matter, of course. nobody wants to be wrong.

nobody wants to speculate or guess on fatalities. so we're going to be careful on this other than to say the navy is very aware and believes now at this hour it in fact may have some fatalities in this incident. we will try and confirm the numbers as fast as we can. active situation still by all accounts and by looking at the security presence in the neighborhood they are going to want to make sure they've got this fully resolved, that there are no other potential perpetrators in this incident. this will go on i can only think for some time. how someone got on the navy yard with a weapon is going to be the question. i've been there many times and you have to be cleared. license plate, tags, a contact will meet you and escort you. nobody drives on to this just by themselves with no purpose.

people who work there have that parking pass in their window, very typical these days of government installations. there's only a couple of ways that you can get on to the facility. it is along the anacostia river but there is security there as well. not clear how someone would have gotten on to the compound and through the security in this building. very, very difficult to speculate. >> todd sperry is on the scene. can you see this helicopter, to todd. >> you know, i've seen this helicopter. there's a couple circling around here. i don't know specifically the one you're thinking of but i will tell you this, they are flying very low. they are probably about 100 to 150 feet above the ground and focused in on one area and as

i'm standing here -- to give a point of reference, i'm about five to six blocks east of where brian todd is reporting from and what you see here are just lines of fire trucks, emergency responder vehicles that would go in after the scene is safe, i would assume. they are lined up and ready to go. very nearby the scene is a ghost town. there is nothing going on. there's very few residents looking out the window. it's a very quiet area except for the chaos of the police activity in this vicinity. >> let me interrupt you, todd, because our local affiliate, i think channel 13 out of baltimore may have an

eyewitness. let's listen. >> only thing i've been told is just to sit tight and just wait on further instruction. >> reporter: we've noticed the helicopters hovering for the last one hour and a half. but we also see the atf or fbi. they came in with heavy machinery with what looked like a bomb shield, if you will, very similar to what you would see in a barricade hostage situation and they were in full uniform and bomb gear, armored gear, if you will, moving in closer to the area and you can see some of the fire trucks that have moved out of the area and you have more personnel coming in. that right there is m street. that's basically the main entrance of the navy yard there and just beyond that i would say maybe 200, 300 yards from that point there is where this

building 197 is. that's where the shooting occurred at 8:20 this morning. back to you inside. >> we're going to jump away from wjla's coverage. i apologize for calling it the wrong affiliate. that's wjla in washington. cnn's rena na marsh, what are y seeing? >> one man who i spoke with tells me that he works inside of this building and he heard about four or five gunshots. and after he heard that, he said alarms started going off and they were all ordered to leave. i spoke to another woman who said that she was in the cafeteria. she was getting breakfast. that's when she heard three shots. she said the shots stopped and then she heard another three. these are the witness accounts that we're getting on the ground here, again, from people who say

they were inside of the building. now, these same people tell us that they have undergone training for situations like this so although they were very frightened by the sound of gunshots, there was a plan in place on what to do next. they all knew where to go to seek shelter. we are hearing that there is a ground stop at reagan national airport. we know that from their website. however, again, we know that from the faa's website. however, we don't know if that has anything to do with the situation here. carol, i don't know if you can hear it or not but lots of sirens, lots of police cars. this is still very much an active scene here. we've got a lot of yellow crime scene tape up around the vicinity as well keeps us a ways back because this is an active scene. >> we're getting word in addition to the metro police officer shot, the washington

police officer shot, a second officer was shot. he was a base officer. we don't know exactly where these people sustained their injuries but i'm just giving you information as i'm getting it in. you have a chance to talk to some of those witnesses, renee. how many were -- i know 3,000 could possibly be inside that building because that's how many people work inside building 197. how many people were evacuated and how many people remain inside? is there any way of knowing that? >> these two individuals that i've been speaking to at this point, they are unable to give me those kinds of numbers. so we don't know at this point. at least not from these two individuals. but i can tell you that on the way here i stopped inside a subway that was right by the police line and i spoke to a gentleman who works at the navy yard. he's spending the morning inside of this subway because he cannot

get to work. the scene right here is where a lot of employees cannot get into their office because it's such an active scene. what i'm seeing now is a fire truck. i see several police cars zooming by me here. washington, d.c. police. carol, as we get more information, we'll get back to you. >> okay. stand by, rene. i want to go to brian todd. we're also getting information from the washington, d.c., police department that the gunman has still not been apprehended. the emergency response team is on the scene and they are still trying to clear the building and trying to get to the gunman and despite reports from "the washington post" saying that tt gunman was barricaded inside building 197. what are you hearing? >> reporter: i'm hearing the same thing from the washington metropolitan police that the gunman has not been apprehended. that doesn't mean that he's not barricaded. what it means is that it's still fluid and they are trying to

ascertain what is going on with this gunman. this is a u.s. marshal official here. all of the police in this area are swarming around the base with s.w.a.t. gear and helicopters all over the place. there's a massive police presence with multiple ju jurisdictions. according to the washington police, there are at least ten victims of the shooter, including at least two law enforcement officers. one of them, as you just mentioned, the base police officer and another a metropolitan police officer shot in this incident and we can give you that information now. ten victims including two law enforcement officers. here are more police vehicles circling around towards the scene here. they are not allowing any other traffic in here. this is a marshal service official here in s.w.a.t. gear in this vehicle and they are trying to figure out where to send some of these other law enforcement vehicles. that's what we can tell you

right now. the gunman is still not apprehended at this time. >> all right. brian, thanks so much. stay on the scene. we're going to go back to wjla because they have more eyewitnesses who want to tell their story. let's listen. >> the fire alarm went off first and i was on the phone and someone said hey, this is not a fire alarm. someone has been shot in the building. we went around trying to get people out of the building and as we were exiting the back door, we noticed him down the hall. we heard shots. as he came around the corner, he aimed his gun at us and fired at least two or three shots and we ran out of the building to get out and there were still shots in the building. >> reporter: he aimed a gun at you? >> he aimed the gun at us. >> you were there, too? >> he was far enough down the hall that we couldn't see his face. he hit high on the wall just as we were trying to leave.

>> reporter: what was going on in your mind? >> get everything out of the building because there was a shooting. >> reporter: could you believe what was going on? >> no. you never believe anything like this is going to happen in your building. >> reporter: what were you doing at the time? >> we were just working at our dis disks desks and occasionally there's a drill and then there was an announcement and our fire wardens celled for everyone to get out. >> that's miss terry durham, is who you are now and this is todd. >> correct. >> reporter: again, what did you think? when you saw this guy aim a gun? >> just get out as quick as you can. just get out. i mean, everybody is going down the stairs, people were pushing, shoving, people were falling down. as we came outside, people were

chiming the wall and trying to get out of the spaces. it was just crazy. >> reporter: sounds like it was pandemonium. >> it was. >> reporter: do you have any kind of idea what kind of gun it was? was it a long gun? >> it appeared to be a rifle. that's the best that we could tell from that distance. >> reporter: could you describe the guy, what he was dressed like? >> he was tall, he appeared to be dark-skinned, he did not have -- i don't think he had a hat on. we saw a rifle and we saw him raise it in our direction. >> he appeared to be a black person? >> a tall black guy. >> reporter: did he say anything? >> he didn't say a word. it was maybe two or three seconds, we got a look at the guy and he turned and started shooting and we immediately made a left to get out of the building. >> reporter: so you all are lucky today, huh?

>> we are. >> reporter: is this someone -- >> no, sir. >> reporter: this happened around 8:20 this morning? >> i didn't look at the clock. >> reporter: what we're hearing is around 8:20 this morning. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: you're very lucky. very blessed. i'm glad to see that you all are with us and some people were not as lucky. thank you so much. that's the situation from here. >> you heard those frightening eyewitnesss account. these people were in the hallway, they saw the gunman, the gunman turned and started firing. we have matt, a former navy s.e.a.l. and he has his own security firm and matt, were you able to hear those testimonials? >> i was. and it was really encouraging to hear that people were running away from the threat.

that's exactly what they should be doing. >> i don't know if i would use the word encouraging but i'm sure glad those people were okay. but talk about lucky. the gunman just turned and opened fire on them and, of course, unbelievably their first insuran instinct was to get everyone out of the building which i would call heroic. >> a lot of the people would freeze and that's the last person you should do. what these people did was great. they saw the guy and went immediately to the exit and got out of the building. that's perfect. >> how are police handling this situation? we've got conflicting reports on whether they have him cornered or not. >> they are going to try to lock down the area and confine the guy to a smaller and smaller space and either arrest him or eliminate the threat if he

continues to pose a threat to people. >> does it say anything to you -- i don't know. it seems to be an unusual gunman. here's a guy dressed all in black, armed with some sort of rifle. doesn't seem to be a high-powered weapon at all and we know that there are ten injuries right now, including two police officers. what does that tell you about him? >> typically what happens in these situations is somebody comes in, they have a gripe and they come in to find one specific person and so they will shoot and try to kill that person and then once they start, they just kind of keep going and they just start shooting everybody. and so what you want to do is get away as fast as possible from that situation. move out of the window, out of the emergency exit, get out of the way. when you get outside, keep running. get away from that threat as

fast as you can. >> reagan national has now been reopened. planes are taking off and landing again. they had put a stop on all traffic out of reagan international earlier because of this incident and we understand now that the airport is opened. tom fuentes is on the line, our fbi expert. >> hi, carol. >> so would the fbi be the lead even though it's a military facility? >> yes, it would be fbi jurisdiction in serious crime. >> and what do you suppose is going on right now? i know i'm asking you to speculate but this has been going on for quite some time now, almost two hours. >> well, the main concern for the fbi and the authorities at the scene is, do they have it contained? is it one individual or more? if they have one individual, is he in fact within a building and within a particular location within a building and then, most

importantly, in this situation does he have a hostage? a lot of times people will say, why don't they just go in and blast gas in there and go in there gun blazing and get the guy? we don't know that right now. >> even though he's barricaded in some room by himself, that creates problems of its own, doesn't it. >> well, no, that's a much easier situation. as long as they can verify that there's no hostage involved and they only have the shooter and he's contained within a particular location, you know, they will try to get the person to give up and surrender but at the end of the day that's a much easier tactical situation to resolve if you do not have the threat of an innocent person being nearby and possibly getting killed in the attempt. >> okay. so tom, stand by. matt, i was just informed you worked in this very building. am i correct? >> i worked in the navy yard.

i don't know if it's the building i worked in or not. >> it's called building 197. that's all i know. so we're all wondering how a gunman could get into the facility in the first place. to get into the complex itself, there's heavy security at the front gate. you have to show the i.d. and then check out. >> well, i'm speculating but if the person were -- if they worked on that base, they would be able to show their i.d. and maybe they drove a car on. if the gun was in their car, they could just drive right through the gate and park their car and take out the gun and start doing the bad things. so i'm sure they didn't come through the gate all armed looking threatening. they probably came through the gate like they would on a normal day and once they were in they started causing problems. >> okay. thanks, matt. i understand barbara starr, who is reporting live from the pentagon, just got the defense secretary's feelings from what is happening.

what can you tell us? >> carol, we are able to confirm now that defense secretary hagel and martin dempsey of the joint chiefs of staff have been informed about this incident just as the president has been informed. the navy command center here in the pentagon and the navy officials on site, of course, of where this is happenings, all hands on deck trying to deal with this situation assembling the most current information they can because, of course, if there are fatalities and injured, it will the navy that will notify the families and help them deal with whatever they have to deal with so they are moving very rapidly to try and work with local law enforcement and the fbi. not just to get the situation resolved but to get some real on the ground information about what is going on. so this now, of course, getting attention at the highest levels across washington, d.c.

and still the question is, as so many others have said in the last hour and a half, how did a shooter get a weapon inside the washington navy yard? all things are possible. every security measure probably has a way of being breached if someone wants to do it but this is really by any measure quite an extraordinary situation. >> i want to go back to tom fuentes. barbara is saying that it's quite an unusual situation to be able to get a gun in there. but like matt said, if he works there and showed his i.d., he could be welcomed in like any other day, although we don't know that to be true. >> yes. as you said, people show their i.d.s to get in and drive in. they are able to park inside the facility. so you could have a bcazooka in

the trunk of your car and it wouldn't be seen. if somebody had an appointment or were allowed access because they work there, certainly they could have any equipment in their car to unload and begin shooting once they get there. >> we just got word that six elementary schools have been closed because of this incident because, of course, the navy yard is pretty much in the middle of a residential area. brian todd is standing outside of the u.s. navy yard. we just saw like a whole bunch of washington -- i think they were washington, d.c., police officers walking through the yard. take us through that. >> reporter: that's right, carol. i would say eight to ten police officers walked around the corner very heavily armed with semiautomatics, kind of rounded the corner of m street and 11 street and headed down towards one of the entrances down there. again, a massive police presence. they brought some buses up here. i'm not sure why the buses have

been parked at this location but, again, they are controlling this area very, very tightly and we just saw, as you mentioned, some metropolitan washington police officers not with any urgency at the moment but walking around the corner towards an entrance down there, very heavily armed with automatics and pump shotguns and the like. the disposition of the shooter is not known. this is on 11th and m street going down the street and there was a rescue chopper opened with a basket outside of it with one of the personnel hanging from the chopper with a rescue basket. there are several helicopters swarming around here. again, a very fluid and active situation with heavy police presence and officers moving down the street behind me very

heavily armed. >> all right. we want to go back to tom fuentes to decipher this for us. more and more police officers are on the scene, tom, and of course emergency personnel are able to evacuate some of the injured from the scene via helicopter. what does that tell you? >> reporter: well, i think it tells you that the situation would be contained. i think earlier when they had the ground stop on flights coming in and out of reagan airport, that airport is not too far from where that navy yard is and so it would be within a flight path depending on the weather. if they had other shooters out there it they would be worried about other people on the ground. the fact that the flight has been resumed, they think they have it contained and, of course, that would then allow rescue personnel to get nearby and try to take victims from the location to medical facilities. >> i want to go back out to the

scene to todd sperry because we understand seven schools are on lockdown right now and, as i said, there's a surrounding neighborhood which complicates things as far as getting things under control. todd sperry, what are you seeing? >> we're at an area where the police have asked us to step back and not be out in the open area and additionally i'm being told to go inside right now and so as i step into this little restaurant here i will tell you that i spoke with a construction worker. i don't know if you can see a construction building there under construction. he was there about 8:30, 8:40. the police came by and deemed it unsafe, told them all to evacuate. they are now all down the street and they are all safe. we are in an area at fourth and hill. it's midway on the western side -- western side of the navy

yard and there are at least one, two, three, four -- there's about half a dozen ambulances here just waiting and all of the personnel with those ambulances waiting, waiting to see what happens, waiting to see if their services are needed. but at this point it's apparently too unsafe for them to be inside the parameter. >> yeah, we understand there are at least ten people injured, including two police officers. one is a washington, d.c., police officer and another officer associated with the navy. tom fuentes, i want to go back to you. as you're watching the scene, we're seeing increased helicopter traffic around here. >> well, the helicopters, obviously, give the authorities -- command and control capability. they are able to look down from above the rooftops and in between the buildings and verify, help maintain a verb you'll surveillance of the building if they think they have the person contained to make sure he doesn't escape out the back door.

>> i'm not sure if you heard the description of the suspect, tom. he's a very tall, african-american man, 6 feet tall, dressed all in black, armed with some kind of rifle. at one point an employee said they spotted him down the hall. he turned towards them and fired seemingly over their heads, they started to run from the building and get some -- they started getting some of their fellow employees out. does that say anything to you about the shooter? >> well, if it's true that he shot deliberately over their heads and tried to avoid shooting them directly, it might indicate that he was after one particular person. maybe he works there and has a boss that he doesn't like and wanted to go after him. but when you hear of ten people being wounded and possible fatalities, then it sounds unusual that he would not deliberately shoot everybody he sees in this case. so i don't know if for sure -- you know, eyewitness accounts of what happened can vary from the actual incident and it may just

be that he missed. we don't know that. >> that's for sure. so this is a very large building. 3,000 people work inside building 197. some people, some employees are still in there, locked in closets, locked in their offices. some people managed to escape. the gunman is still inside. so what does it look like inside that building from a police perspective, tom? >> oh, it's a very difficult situation because if the person is locked in a closet, the police are going to have to go either now or later are going to have to go room by room, closet by closet, air duct by air duct to see if there's anybody, good guy or bad guy hiding within that building. again, somebody hearing shots could get -- become afraid and lock themselves in the closet and, you know, the police will have to do a room by room search to clear that building eventually. right now the main issue is do they have the suspect in a particular room or particular part of the building that they can contain even further and try to evacuate the rest of the

building why they contain the subject. >> and we're going to go to joe johns momentarily. i want to ask my producers if you could ready the sound bites, as we call them in the business, that spoke just a short time ago. they were so dramatic. hopefully we can get that tape turned while i talk to joe johns. a cnn correspondent has just arrived on the scene. what are you seeing, joe johns? >> carol, i'm looking down into the washington navy yard from the vantage point that shows just a long line of police cars with their lights on inside the washington navy yard. i've been seeing people moving back and forth. a few seem to be ducking and police carrying long guns, appear to be shotguns. and to talk more about the helicopter traffic, it's a true indication of all of the law enforcement officials that have

come into this thing. united states park police have been buzzing the rooftops taking a good, long look. apparently at the roof where this action is occurring. >> joe johns, are you there? i don't know if i lost you? >> i am still here. the gates appear to be opened. it's not clear what the status is but we're seeing a number -- several police vehicles, some of those canine and units care carrying police dogs inside the perimeter of the washington navy yard while the helicopters buzz overhead.

certainly some activity and the question for all of us would be whether authorities have determined that they need to go into this building and do a room-to-room, office-to-office search of any individual or individuals who may be inside, carol. >> we just got word from the washington, d.c., police department that they are working on a press briefing. so something is going on although we don't know what. do we have that sound turn now? not yet. let's go back to tom fuentes. we're seeing increased police presence. we're seeing more birds in the air, so to speak. the washington police department is maybe getting set to give a police briefing. does that tell you anything, tom? >> not really. they just want more people to help firm down the perimeter than they already have. the press briefing is about do. it's time to tell the public what has occurred up until now, what the status is and what they

are trying to accomplish at the scenes. >> i'm going to interrupt you, tom. we have an interview with a washington, d.c., police officer. let's listen. >> we don't have a number of suspects right now. this is a huge -- this is a huge piece of land with several buildings. so it's going to take quite a while to search and make sure it's safe. okay? we'll be right back. >> thank you. >> tom, what i could gleam, they are searching the entire u.s. navy yard to see if there's any more suspects. there's one right now in building 197. there could be more. you don't know. >> right. there could be. but hoping that it's only one and they know the location of that one, that will be a little bit better. but, you know, to do the entire navy yard and every building in it and every room and closet within each building, you're talking about an all-day operation. that will take hours to do that. the building itself that we're talking about that they believe

the suspect was in, even after they get that suspect into custody or however they resolve it with him, the rest of that building search is going to take probably two or three hours normally. it's usually a very difficult process to go into a building like that and even just to find all of the employees that are in hiding, not knowing if it's safe or not, they are not -- many of them may not have their cell phone with them or the battery will run out, they don't have other media access. so they would be in a dark closet, let's say, and have no idea what is going on around them, whether it's safe or not safe. >> all right. brian todd is the correspondent who got that interview with that washington, d.c., police officer. we only heard a little tiny bit of it, brian. what else did that police officer tell you? >> reporter: carol, we're being moved across the street so i'm going to talk to you as we're being moved. my photo journalist is going to move with me.

this was an officer that said the captain will be at this location or somewhere very soon to broef us on this situation. the only thing he can tell us is that it's still very fluid. careful, mark. we have police vehicles coming through here. we've had a lot of activity going down this way, carol, a lot of chopper activity. there's a chopper coming right above us. mark is going to take a shot of that. one of these choppers we did see a police -- what appeared to be some kind of a police sniper with a scope appearing out of the opening out of one of these choppers. what this officer p.j. newsome told us that the police chief will be here to update us on the situation. i got the disposition of the shooter and he didn't have any answers, just that the situation is still very fluid. not clear whether they've apprehended the shooter or not. we have multiple victims. there are at least ten victims here, including two law

enforcement officers. a lot of police activity just in this intersection over the last few minutes. >> and i don't know how many minutes ago now but there is a description of the suspect. can you lay that on us right now? >> reporter: well, we were asked by some others to maybe not describe that suspect at this time. we had a description earlier. i think suffice it to say, we have one suspect that's been described to various news agencies and we're going to probably hold off on that for the moment, carol. but what we can say is that this is still a very active situation. that's what we were just told. we can go down the street here and look at some of the officers in s.w.a.t. and riot gear moving up here. this is 11th street southeast and there seems to be some kind of an active scene going down there. we tried and we were moved away by one of the police officers. but you can see one of the officers coming up here and that

looks to be -- i think it looks like an fb i'm marking on there, on their jackets. we have some fbi officers coming up here. and we just saw a short time ago some very heavily armed d.c. police officers moving in that direction with semiautomatics, with pump shotguns and the like. some more personnel are coming behind this way as they turn down m street here, heading towards another entrance with choppers swarming over in this direction. so not clear exactly what is going on down this way. we do know that this is in the naval seas system command building. building 197. it's home to the chief of naval operations. so usually a very heavy security presence. here are some other law enforcement vehicles heading down 11th street in the opposite direction. so we will monitor this activity right here and get back to you with whatever we can tell you what is going on in this direction. carol? >> brian todd, you get back

right to it. we won't release the description of the subject per police instructions. it's a fluid situation. we have the eyewitness sound with what happened inside that building around 8:20 eastern time this morning. let's listen. >> i have two people who work inside building 197 and they were there this morning when the shooting started and you saw the shooter, is that correct? >> yes, that's correct. >> tell us about it. >> well, as we were -- the fire alarm went off first and i was on the phone and someone said, hey, this is not a fire alarm. someone has been shot in the building. we went around trying to get people out of the building and as we were exiting the back door, we noticed him down the hall. we heard shots. as he came around the corner, he aimed his gun at us and fired at least two or three shots and we ran out of the building to get out and there were still shots in the building. >> reporter: he aimed a gun at

you? >> he aimed the gun at us. >> you were there, too? >> he was far enough down the hall that we couldn't see his face. he hit high on the wall just as we were trying to leave. >> reporter: what was going on in your mind? >> get everyone out of the building right now. get everyone out of the building because there was a shooting. >> reporter: could you believe what was going on? >> no. you never believe anything like this is going to happen in your building. >> reporter: what were you doing at the time? what was going on before this started? >> we were just working at our desks and the fire alarm went off. occasionally there's a practice or there's a fire in the building and immediately there was want announcement that there was a fire emergency in the building but our fire wardens came yelling very quickly yelling for everyone to get out now and that's when we started moving. >> reporter: and that's miss terry durham, is who you are and this is todd brunden. >> yes, that's correct.

>> reporter: again, what did you think? when you saw this guy aim a gun? >> just get out as quick as you can. just get out. i mean, everybody is going down the stairs, people were pushing, shoving, people were falling down. as we came outside, people were chiming the wall and trying to get out over the wall, to get out of the space. it was just crazy. >> reporter: sounds like it was pandemonium. >> it was. >> reporter: do you have any kind of idea what kind of gun it was? was it a long gun? >> it appeared to be a rifle. that's the best that we could tell from that distance. >> reporter: could you describe the guy, what he was dressed like? >> he was tall, he appeared to be dark-skinned, he did not have -- i don't think he had a hat on. we saw a rifle and we saw him raise it in our direction. >> he appeared to be a black person? >> a tall black guy. >> reporter: did he say anything? >> he didn't say a word.

>> reporter: you just looked at him? >> it was maybe two or three seconds, we got a look at the guy and he turned and started shooting and we immediately made a left to get out of the building. >> reporter: so you all are lucky today, huh? >> we are. >> reporter: is this someone -- >> no, sir. >> reporter: this happened around 8:20 this morning? >> i didn't look at the clock. >> reporter: what we're hearing is around 8:20 this morning. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: you're very lucky. very blessed. i'm glad to see that you all are with us and some people were not as lucky. thank you so much. >> my old colleague sam ford appearing there. on the phone is paul williams. he works at the navy yard in a

building next door to i think 197, the building in question. paul, are you on the line? >> yes, ma'am. >> describe what happened when you went to work today. >> i was walking in, around 8:15 today, and i was walking up to my building, it sounded to me -- even though i've been hearing the news, it sounded like four bc bangs, four bangs a there's a lot of construction and so i thought that's what it was and i saw hundreds of people running towards me. and i started to run -- i just started running with them not knowing what was going on, what was happening. as we were running i heard someone say, there's a shooting. go, go, go. i started running. once we stopped, we went like a

block and i asked them, you know, what's going on? they said a tall guy came in, he had a gun. he started shooting and we all just -- we all evacuated. i said, oh, i didn't know what was happening. >> did you see police presence in the navy yard at all at that point? >> at that point it was -- it looked like either a police officer or a security guard and she was -- that was the person that was yelling go, go, go. do not come this way. and i couldn't tell if she was police or just security. >> i was going to ask you, we are all wondering how a man armed with a gun could get into the u.s. navy yard and into a building. do you know? >> it's weird because you have to have a proper i.d. to get in that area without putting too much thought into it, they have

to work for the government, some capacity to get on to that area. >> and nobody that you were running with recognized -- did anyone you were running with see the shooter? >> no. it sounded like everyone i was talking to kind of heard it from another person. they were saying -- i asked them, do you know what he looked like? who was this guy? and they were saying, i don't know, he was tall, he had a gun, i can't get to see him. i was just running. that seemed like the story from everyone. there were people just running outside of the area. >> so we hear that ten people have been injured, including two police officers. and as you're watching this unfold on television, as a person who works here, what goes through your mind? >> i was just very afraid and i was so lost. and a normal monday work day and

someone shooting and people being heard and it was very sad. >> it is. but we're glad you're safe and at home right now. paul woman yeilliams, thank you joining me. we continue breaking news with wolf blitzer. >> carol, thanks very much. an active shooter is inside the washington navy yard right now. we're following the breaking news. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. at least ten people have been injured, including two law enforcement officers. but police at least officially they are not confirming reports of fatalities at this time. it all started at 8:20 a.m. eastern when the shooter fired several shots inside the headquarters of the naval sea systems command. he's still in the building. let's go to cnn's brian todd. brian, tell our viewers who are just tuning in right now, update all of us on what we know.

>> reporter: what we know now, wolf, there's still an active shooter in the navy yard. it occurred in the naval sea systems command center, building 197. this is the washington navy yard, about 3,000 people work here. the shooting occurred, according to authorities, at about 8:20 this morning. we have multiple injuries, not clear on fatalities. the navy has tweeted out and reported on its website that there reports of fatalities but we cannot confirm those right now. we have confirmation that there are multiple injuries, at least ten injuries, including two law enforcement officers, one from the metropolitan police department and apparently one from the naval base here. our photo journalist mark walls is going to pan around with me to the police presence. there is a massive police presence and we're just in one corner of it but it's a very large complex here. you see police vehicles down here. there are choppers swarming

around. we have seen police walking the perimeter with riot and a s.w.a.t. team gear. they are also bringing, as you can see here, buss that are allowed to come around the corner. empty bus that is not in service. we're not sure why they are coming down here. it could be for possible evacuations. we don't though. but this is still an active scene. there is still at least one shooter that's described in this naval seas and i'm not sure where, it's in building 197 including two law enforcement officers, wolf. we are told by one of the police spokesman that the police chief, cathy lanier, may be briefing us on this situation. that's what we can tell you right now, wolf. >> brian, the suspect, the shooter in this particular case said there's no indication it's more than one individual who is responsible for this.

is that right? >> reporter: well, there is no indication that we can confirm right now. right now we know of one active shooter and the disposition of that shooter has not been resolved as of yet. the last that we have heard from police. i just talked to one of the d.c. police officials who came around the corner here and i was able to snag him for a couple of seconds. he's saying that this is still a very active situation and some of the information is sketchy at this point but i'm hearing that we may hear soon from the d.c. police chief, cathy lanier. there are choppers swarming and we've seen kind of a rescue official hanging from one of the choppers, or at least peering out of the chopper with a basket and we've seen a law enforcement sniper peering out with his scope at the ready. and you've seen these law enforcement officers walking behind me, many of them in full

s.w.a.t. gear. multiple injuries. there's been reports of at least one fatality but that's not confirmed right now, wolf. >> stand by. i want to go to todd sperry, one of our cnn producers who is in the area right now. lots of choppers overhead right now. todd, just update viewers on the location of the u.s. navy -- the u.s. navy -- the naval sea systems command at the u.s. navy yard because it's not far away from capitol hill, not far away from reagan national airport, not far away from washington national's baseball park. this is an area that is a pretty lively area right now. >> that is correct, wolf. this is an area that has seen a revitalization in the last five years. the department of transportation is across the street, their headquarters, there are other government and private sector businesses in this vicinity. to give the viewers a perspective, there is the

anacostia river. right now i am about a block and a half away from building 197. i've been pushed out of the way but there are other people in here and sitting just waiting and kind of looking out the windows. i spoke with one lady who about two hours and 15 minutes ago she arrived at work at building 197. when she walked in to the area, it was as normal. then the fire alarms went off. she continued to go in and at that point heard that there was a shooter and she immediately fled but said she chose to go out the back entrance rather than the main entrance and what's the typical security like in that building on