the teacher exited the school immediately. in my opinion, was the most important tactical decision that could have been made, that he knew he was the target and he left that school in an effort to try to encourage the shooter to also leave the school with the focus of safety and security and wellbeing of our students in his mind. when that happened, one student was shot by the shooter. that student was transported immediately by littleton fire rescue and that student is currently in serious condition at a local hospital undergoing surgery. a second victim was shot. that individual suffered a very minor gunshot wound and is being treated at a local hospital. we believe that that individual will be released before the end of the evening. our active shooter protocol was immediately initiated by our school resource officer. the officer went immediately to the threat as he is trained and all of the responding deputies

and police officers also activated our regional active shooter protocol. that is to go to the threat and try to eliminate the threat while keeping students and staff safe. within 20 minutes of the time of the report of the shooting, our deputies found the suspect dead inside the school. currently right now it appears to us that that shooter is dead as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. however, that determination remains under investigation and we will continue to look at those details. at this point in time, we have victims advocates with the families and the victims at the hospital, and we have investigators with the family of the shooter. we are beginning our investigation now as a crime scene. we have evacuated the entire school. the school was evacuated very slowly, deliberately and meticulously. we wanted to ensure that all of our students number one were

safe and secondly, we wanted to ensure that we had no other suspects or individuals that were collaborators with our shooter. although it will remain under investigation, we at this point in time believe the shooter that is deceased is the only individual that was armed in the school today and came here to cause harm to the students and/or faculty of this facility. however, that remains under investigation. we also have assets coming from the colorado bureau of investigation to assist us with our responsibilities to process this crime scene, collect evidence and do the work that we need to do so that we can come to a final conclusion of why this happened and how it happened. at this point in time, we have assets across the south metro area talking with people who either know the suspect or have some association with him and we are trying to collect that information. as i indicated, the school was

evacuated methodically and very deliberately. we initially evacuated students to the shepherd of the hills church which is located about a block south of our current location. very quickly, that facility became overwhelmed with the numbers of students and parents that were trying to reunite and we had to select a second reunification site which is the euclid middle school which is 757 euclid avenue in littleton, colorado. it is a distance from here but it is the most convenient and the largest facility we could come up with quickly in order to do the work that we need to do quickly and efficiently. we are in the process now of reunifying or students and our families. we are in the process now of putting together a crisis intervention team that will be available for staff and students of arapahoe high school as long as that group of crisis

intervention professionals are needed. we will work in collaboration with the school district and we will work in collaboration with our colleagues across the state that provide crisis intervention and mental health assistance to anyone that needs it as a result of this tragic shooting. with that, that is the information i currently have to share. i will be back with you in a few moments with questions but before i answer any questions, i would like superintendent of schools scott murphy to join me and make some comments, please. >> sheriff, can he stand next to you so he can take advantage of your microphone. can you just step up a little closer? thank you. >> our thoughts, our prayers are with all the families, students affected. we are doing everything we can to work with arapahoe county sheriff's department and will do the care that we need to for the families as we go forward. it's a very, very difficult day for arapahoe high school.

>> thank you. with that, governor hickenlooper would also like to make some comments. governor, thank you for joining us. >> i'm not sure what i can add. obviously our hearts go out to the principal, scott murphy, the superintendent, you just heard. this is a good school district and to have this all too familiar sequence where you have gunshots and parents racing to the school and unspeakable horror in a place of learning and in this case, we saw the incredible training and preparation of our first responders. i give sheriff robinson, who announced his retirement today, of all the ironies, they had this training so again, officers from all across the south metro area were trained in how to go in immediately into that school and make sure that the perpetrator, this kid, was -- i mean, the officers went right to

him and got to him within literally minutes. that is a world of change from the way response used to happen and i think it just says volumes about these guys. again, our hearts and prayers are with the entire arapahoe school community and we'll do everything we can to help them get through this. >> thank you, governor. with that, i will try to answer questions. i want to also tell you that there are some questions that clearly, i am not in a position to answer because of the ongoing investigation. but i will certainly as i usually try to tell you when i can and cannot. yes, sir. >> i heard that the suspect's locker was a cause of concern. can you tell us anything about that? >> it's a process of the ongoing investigation. we certainly will look at every aspect and detail that may be associated with the suspect, not only his locker, anyplace he may have frequented in the school and very frankly, his home as well. >> is it locker 444? >> i have no idea. >> you said the teacher left the

school immediately. [ inaudible ] relationship between him and the student? >> still a matter under investigation, the relationship between the shooter and the teacher. we know that the student that was armed with a shotgun, as he entered the west side of arapahoe high school, immediately asked for the location of this specific teacher and asked for that teacher by name. as soon as the teacher realized that, as i indicated in my initial comment, he departed the school. that was a very wise tactical decision. he took himself away from the school with an effort to try to encourage the shooter to go with him. >> can you tell us about the student who was shot? how did that occur? >> don't know the details. still a matter under investigation. we do know that that student suffered a serious gunshot wound. we believe that the student is still in surgery in a local hospital.

we certainly share our thoughts and our prayers with her and her family. >> what can you tell us about explosives or molotov cocktails? >> certainly as part of our protocol, our bomb squad from the sheriff's office responded. initially because of the fact that we never know and we want to be -- err on the side of more assets than fewer. we believe that we have one device in the school. initially it was reported to me it was a molotov cocktail but my bomb squad is working that, trying to identify it. i will have more information the next briefing that we provide. >> what can you tell us about the shooter, age, class, name? >> first ofshf, he's a current student of arapahoe high school. we have identified him. we have investigators that are with his family and with his colleagues. i will not identify him at this point in time. when it is appropriate, i will identify the shooter. >> how about his age? >> again, i won't provide any information relative to the shooter until i am prepared to

do so relative to the ongoing investigation. >> what about the student -- >> you were talking about the west side of the school where the shooter entered. give us a sense, is this an office area, is this one of the exits on the other side? >> the question was the configuration of the school on the west side. the west side of this school is typically made up of the student parking lot. it is an area that has at least two and probably three, if the kids are real innovative, different entrances and exits that can be used. goes into the immediate area of the gymnasium and the pool on the west side so that gives you a bit of a configuration. >> sheriff, who did the student ask for the specific teacher? >> he asked the other students that were in the immediate area, the location of the specific teacher. >> who was it -- how did no teacher or administrator encounter this student first?

>> first off, you have to understand this is a high school. these young men and women that are here to be educated come and go fairly freely. they have down time, they have breaks in their day. so they are moving in and about the school on a regular basis. certainly as the individual entered the school, he asked for the teacher immediately from the students that were in the area. there were no other teachers in the area. >> was the gun visible at that time? >> yeah. the suspect was carrying a pump -- the student that entered the high school was armed with a shotgun. i'm not at liberty, nor will i discuss the details of that weapon at this point. however, it was clear he was armed with a shotgun. he made no effort to hide it or conceal it. he carried it into the school as he entered the school. >> was it the other students that alerted the teacher, then? >> no. the word got around immediately that he was looking for the teacher. >> the active shooter protocol,

is that something started right after columbine or just in the last several years? what's the history about that program? >> clearly, the active shooter protocol has to do with going to the threat. and not waiting. it is a protocol that has been trained across the state of colorado, not just in one or two local agencies, but we not only train in our individual agencies, but then we come together regionally and we train on these particular protocols. i will remind you of training programs that we put together in exercises around operation mountain guardian several months ago that had to do with active shooter. those protocols unfortunately have had to be used far, far, far too many times in colorado and across the united states because of these tragic episodes where people decide they've got to even up the score with a weapon. >> sheriff, can you tell us if there was an sro? >> we had an sro. the sro immediately responded on his own to the area of the

threat. >> what can you tell us about the confrontation? >> initially we were told there was a confrontation between the shooter and the student that was wounded. at this point it appears that is probably not accurate. it appears that the student was simply in the area of the shooter and was shot at the time the shooter came through the school. >> can you describe where this person was shot? >> i will not discuss the wounds or any information around the victims at this point. >> how many shots were fired? >> how was the shooter able to get into the school before we assume he took his own life? >> he went quite a ways into the school because we found his body in the internal portion of the school in a classroom. >> anybody discharge weapons? >> there was no law enforcement weapons discharged in the school. they were armed, certainly if you speak with students and faculty that were in the school, the deputy sheriffs and police officers that responded and reacted to this active shooter were adequately armed. >> how many shots --

>> they were armed with urban street rifles and their service weapons, which is part of our protocol. they entered the facility with the absolute responsibility and purpose of eliminating the threat. they quickly worked the school to try to find that threat and as soon as they found the individual down, they realized what the situation was. >> sheriff, will your folks or the fbi search the home of the shooter looking for any notes or evidence that this might have been seen coming? >> the question was if we will search the home of the shooter. we will conduct a thorough and complete investigation. we will take our time to ensure it's done right. we will not do it quick. part of our protocol will be a thorough investigation which includes a search of the suspect's home, a search of areas where the suspect may have had access to other weapons or material that would have motivated him to do this tragic act and we will search portions of the school that he would have

had individual and immediate access to. >> at this point, is there any indication that this is tied to the anniversary of sandy hook? >> absolutely no indication at all that this would be tied to sandy hook. certainly something that we will look into, always an issue we have to focus our attention on. >> is there a vehicle being searched in the parking lot that he drove here? >> if he brought a vehicle to this school, it will be searched. it will be rendered safe first, then it will be searched. >> how many shots fired and where did the shooting take place? >> shooting happened in the immediate west entry of the school. i don't know how many shots were fired. part of what our investigation -- investigators will be trying to conclude. >> did the suspect actually have a class with this particular teacher? did they know each other? >> they clearly had a relationship. the degree and level of that relationship is yet to be determined. something that we will talk about in days, not hours to come. >> can you identify the teacher? >> i will not. >> this may be one for the school superintendent but how long before classes resume?

>> i certainly would leave that to the school board and the superintendent. i'm sure that's an issue they will discuss in the hours to come and will make a decision. folks, i will take about three more questions. >> sheriff, you said earlier there were no accomplices. have there been any accomplices identified and the second part of it is, there was no threats made to the school prior, not by this person, by another person you perhaps also will investigate? >> the question is if there were other threats. we don't know yet. no threats we are aware of to this school or this teacher but that's part of what we trying to investigate. at my 1:45 briefing i told you it appeared to us that there were no other co-conspirators or collaborators. it continues to appear that the shooter who is deceased was the lone actor in this tragic event but we will continue to try to confirm that and ensure that we have that information accurately taken care of.

>> you said that you are talking to his family and colleagues. what do you mean by colleagues? >> certainly other students, family, friends, anyone that may have been associated with this individual that he may have indicated days or weeks or months ago that this was something on his mind. we will do a thorough and complete investigation. that includes dealing with anyone who may have been associated with our shooter over the last several months or weeks. >> as far as people who live around here, any idea how long everything will be shut down? they need to find a new route? >> i think that's a great question. we will keep this intersection and this immediate area shut down for the remainder of the night. i can't imagine we will open this area until shortly after 10:00 p.m. tonight. so folks that are traveling need to make appropriate arrangements. the fact that we are keeping it closed down is a product of the resources we currently have in the immediate area and the fact that we have an ongoing investigation that will require

our public safety professionals to move back and forth safely. we will keep this closed for a period of time. >> are you retiring? >> no, ma'am. it is not my last day. i simply announced yesterday my retirement but that's not relevant to our situation. >> has everyone been evacuated? >> yes. >> was anyone injured in the evacuation? >> no. >> we have no other schools on lockdown. we initially thought about it but immediately realized this situation was isolated specifically to arapahoe high school. with that, folks, thank you for your time. we will put out another media release but it will be my intention that we are currently at 3:15, pushing 3:20 p.m. mountain standard time. i will give another media brief at 6:00 p.m. and i don't know the location but i can guarantee you it will not be in this intersection. thank you all very much. >> there you have it. from the sheriff, grayson

robinson, arapahoe county, out there in colorado, where there was a shooting at this high school, arapahoe high school today. the shooter, the suspect in this particular case according to the sheriff, shot himself and unfortunately, though, one student is in serious condition right now. a woman, a young girl was shot, another one in very minor condition, a minor wound sustained in this shooting at this high school. these are pictures from earlier when the students were asked to leave the high school with their hands up. they didn't know if there were any others involved and the sheriff now saying once again, does not believe others were involved. joe johns was listening and watching. for our viewers, joe, who are just tuning in to "the situation room" right now, want to get an update on what was going on, update us on what we know. >> there was a lot of new information in that news conference and kudos to the sheriff for putting it out there. what we now know is this shooter goes to the school, he goes to

the west side of the building near a student parking lot, three entrances back there, and he asks for a teacher by name, and where that teacher's location is. he's carrying a shotgun. then he apparently walks into the building, somehow the teacher he's looking for is alerted to the fact that the shooter's coming for him. the teacher exits the building and authorities are giving him credit for that tonight because the whole idea was to get outside the building so that the shooter would get outside of the building so that all the students would be safe. the shooter apparently goes further inside the building and shoots a student and sometime thereafter, actually turns the gun on himself. apparently the shot he took, authorities think, was self-inflicted. now, a couple pieces of information that we hadn't been able to confirm until just now. some type of incendiary device

is believed to be inside that school. the sheriff said possibly a molotov cocktail. so that's one of the things they have to deal with. there's also a lot of concern about what might be in this young student, presumably a male's locker, so they have to check that. there is also talk of going to the house, perhaps even a search warrant to see what might be at his home. and another question is whether he might have driven an automobile to the school, so if he did, they'll want to check that out as well. otherwise, this is pretty much wrapped up there but a very, very scary day at arapahoe high school. >> the student apparently, the suspect was a high school student at that high school, walked in pretty easily with a shotgun, the sheriff said, right? >> that's absolutely right. he walked in with a shot gun and there are a lot of questions about what kind of a shotgun it

was. also, one of the questions that i have as a journalist of course is whether it was a sawed-off shotgun because he apparently turned that weapon on himself and you know the long stock of a shotgun, it's very difficult to turn a shotgun on yourself unless it's sawed-off. but that's one question i would say, the most important and key question here that we all want to know is about the motivation. what was the beef between this young student and the teacher he came to that school to find with the gun. so many questions, of course, that authorities will be asking for days about what was the relationship between the student and the teacher he came looking for. >> i'm sure we will be getting many of those answers fairly soon, a relatively cohesive community there and i know the investigation is only just beginning.

joe, stand by. a senior at the high school is joining us now. summer, are you okay? >> i'm really shaken up. i still feel sick. i don't think my hands have stood still for the past like three hours. >> you're 17 years old. you are a junior or senior? >> sadly, i'm a senior. this is the memory that i get to take away from high school experience. >> tell us what happened, if you don't mind. if it's too painful, i will leave you alone but if you want to walk us through, what happened, where were you when you first heard there was a shooter in the school? >> i was in about two hallways down from the west wing. the shots sounded like they were right outside the classroom. i at first thought it was a chair, like banging against the ground, but then three more shots were fired and my teacher immediately got up, did the lockdown drill, the lights were off and we were in the corner within 30 seconds. that's what probably saved us. >> i just want to point out,

your parents have authorized this interview with us, right? >> yes. that is correct. >> okay. just want to make sure we're not doing anything that would be inappropriate. all right. so you must have been scared. do you have any idea what -- did you have any idea what was going on at that point? >> all i could think was i can't believe this is happening. like we've all heard about columbine, we are all well aware of it. we are well aware of sandy hook. i said not here, this can't be happening here. it seemed like i was in a dream. then when i looked around and saw the girls around me were crying, i just kind of, we all kind of hugged each other and i knew we were all terrified. >> without mentioning the suspect, the shooter's name, do you have any idea who this individual was? >> no. right now, i don't want to know. i just want to know that all my friends and everybody i care about are safe and that the arapahoe student body can get past this. that's all i want to know right now. >> the teacher this shooter was supposedly going after, did you

know who the teacher was? >> no. but i was told he got out of the school to get the shooter away. i'm thankful all the teachers are so well prepared and saved all of us with their quick action. >> we are showing our viewers pictures of the students as they were leaving. i assume you were one of them with their hands up. police came and said everybody leave but raise your hands, is that what was going on? >> i had not been out at that point. we were rushed out by the s.w.a.t. team and we were told to run towards the other side of the street and everybody just started running as fast as they could to get across the street, among the buildings there. >> how -- >> we were taken out fast. >> how were your friends doing, summer? >> i have only heard from a few of them. from my school, they are all shaken up. some of them are still waiting for their parents to come get them. i know my friends, i have been getting tons of calls and

everybody is joining together and trying to get past this and be a community. >> summer, thank you so much for sharing. i know this must be an awful, awful, very painful day for you. good luck. good luck to all the students at the arapahoe high school and your families and friends as well. our hearts go out to all of you. thank you very much. >> yes, thank you. >> i want to listen in, one of our affiliates, kdvr, is speaking to another student. >> yeah, i pray for everybody. i hope nothing happen but i hear two people got shot. i hear she's okay, something like that. thank god. >> reporter: you said you couldn't believe hearing this again in colorado. >> yeah, i couldn't believe it. i thought this would be like a

safe area. but i was very surprised. like wow. >> reporter: were you glad to see your sister? >> yes, very glad to see my sister. >> reporter: did you give her a hug yet? okay. all right. >> thank you. >> reporter: thank you for talking. >> there you have the reunion, that young girl is okay. obviously shaken, totally understandable. you're looking at these pictures of the arapahoe high school in colorado. tom foreman is with us watching what's going on. he used to live over there. you know this area well. >> yeah. we have new news out of there right now. we are being told by swedish hospital, an excellent hospital not far from the high school there, they are now treating two students who are both in good condition and littleton adventist hospital has the student that nis in the most serious condition. up until this point, listening to the sheriff, we thought there were only two students injured. now we are talking about three.

>> two injured not that seriously, but one very seriously. >> one quite seriously. we don't have any more about the condition but there are two different hospitals there not terribly far away. that's the latest we know about that. this would be again, as we talked about, everybody being prepared there and the law enforcement and school community, certainly the medical community, too. having lived through columbine, i assure you there are police officers on the scene and medical experts who are dealing with this today or at least in these institutions where the kids have been taken, there are people there who were there when columbine happened in 1999. so i'm sure they're on hand right now dealing with this and seeing what they can find out. >> so close. sheriff grayson robinson also saying the student who is in serious condition, in surgery right now, is a young girl. we'll watch that and pray for her. >> i want to point out in case anybody missed it, he did note the student who was shot at that point, he said there did not seem to be any sort of targeting. it was simply happenstance.

that student happened to be where the gun man was. one of those details we look at when looking for motive. >> the sheriff says the gunman then shot himself and is dead right now. we will continue on top of this story. another awful shooting at a high school in colorado. much more of our special report after this. i see a world bursting with opportunity, with ideas, with ambition. i'm thinking about china, brazil, india. the world's a big place. i want to be a part of it. ishares international etfs. access to developed markets, emerging markets and single countries. find out why nine out of ten large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. ♪ the more i remember this place, the more i want to go back.

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another shooting at an american high school today in colorado, arapahoe high school not far from denver. you see these pictures. it's a huge high school. the children were asked to walk out with their hands up as law enforcement arrived and they heard gunfire, a shooter went inside, shot -- used a shotgun, was going after a teacher who managed to get out of the building, but three students were injured. one is in serious condition, a young girl who is in the hospital in surgery right now. two others in minor -- suffering minor wounds, minor wounds, but

one in serious condition. cnn's anna cabrera is on the scene for us at the school. anna, this is awful. we just spoke to a young student there. i'm sure it's very painful for everyone involved, not very far from columbine. what was going on there and i know you are getting the latest and have a special guest as well. >> reporter: so many emotions, such a situation that nobody expected to have to address on a day like today. i want to first set the scene. right behind me, you see flashing lights, you see lots of cars. there's a parking lot here full of people. these are still parents, students, teachers, folks who are reuniting and trying to make sense of what has happened here in littleton, colorado this afternoon. it all began around 12:30. as you know, when this student, according to sheriff grayson robinson, the student of the school entered the school with a shotgun.

that shotgun was not concealed. he specifically asked to talk to a teacher and that teacher was notified that the student was looking for him. the teacher left. another student who happened to be in the vicinity at some point when the student opened fire was shot. that student we understand is currently in very serious condition undergoing surgery. the other side of all this is the students who were locked away extremely scared and the parents who were desperate for mow information. we had a chance to talk to one mother about what she's been going through. your student was inside when this happened. how did this all come across to you? >> one of my neighbors called me and asked if i had spoken to my son, and she said that there was a shooting at arapahoe high school and i needed to find out if he was okay, so i basically hung up on her and began texting my son to see if i could get any communication and shortly thereafter, he did text back and say that he was okay.

>> reporter: what he tell you about what he knows of what happened inside there? >> he just said there was a gunman and they were shooting and they were on lockdown right at that time, and -- but he said he was okay at that moment. >> reporter: as a parent, they don't give you a manual, a handbook, on how to handle something like this, right? what do you say to your child, to your son? what's it going to be like when you reunite with him? >> i'm going to hug him like crazy. >> reporter: it makes you think about probably all the things you still want to do with your son and how blessed you are right now. >> it very much brings it to the forefront, yes. >> i want you to stand by. ana cabrera on the scene for us at the arapahoe high school in colorado. joining us now, dr. drew pinski, host of "dr. drew on call." the parents and the children, the students are going through i think it's fair to say a very difficult traumatic situation right now. talk a little bit about what

these young people and their parents are going through and what advice you would give them, dr. drew. >> well, wolf, here we are again. you spoke just in the last block to a very courageous young senior named summer who talked about the experience of what we call acute stress reaction or acute stress disorder as opposed to what we commonly think of as a post-traumatic stress disorder which is a more sustained condition that can come later when they don't deal with the acute stress. for people to shake, have flashbacks, fluctuating moods, all that is completely normal for the next few days both for the students and the parents. but i want to comment just for a second, here you and i are again with another high school. two things concerns me. one is what's going on in colorado. that seems to be ground zero for a lot of these events, for young people. is there something about mental health issues in that state, about the availability of guns, what exactly is going on in colorado to help us understand

how to prevent this sort of thing from happening again, number one. and number two, i think based on what we know so far, we can speculate about the mindset of this shooter. i suspect once again, it's going to be an untreated mental health issue. think about how agitated a young person would have to be to come in, walk in with a shotgun openly in hand, scare, cause other students to scatter, so much so that they quickly got the information throughout the school and to the teacher in question that this kid was looking for him. he randomly shoots, we think, three other kids and then quickly shoots himself. that is a very altered state for him to have been in to be that violent so we are going to hear more about i think the mental state once again of this young person. >> and we don't know how old this shooter was, the shooter then as you point out killed himself, presumably with that shotgun, after shooting at these other students. we know there are three injured,

two minor injuries, one very serious injured, a young girl. >> random tshooting. it's a terribly agitated state. again, he walks in brandishing a shotgun. that's not a kid who is sort of diabolically planning something. that's a kid who is in an altered state and when he can't finds the teacher, turns the gun on himself. there's more to be told here. >> don't go away. mike brooks is joining us, our hln law enforcement analyst. take a look, we got a map. we will show you because drew just raised this whole notion of what's going on in colorado. you see in the bottom of the screen the arapahoe high school, not far away, 8.1 miles to columbine high school, not far away from there, the aurora movie theater. you have been looking into colorado, availability of guns, treatment for young people and mental health. what are you finding out? >> i tell you, i know this area very, very well. you know, guns are available in

the state of colorado much like they are anywhere else. that's going to be part of the investigation that we heard sheriff robinson talking about. what happened, usually there is something, a precipitating event. apparently it was against this teacher, but what happened in the last 24 to 48 hours that set this kid off. where did he get the gun, was it his, did it belong to a relative, his parents, someone else. these are all questions as part of this investigation. dr. drew brings up a very good point. is there a mental health issue dealing with maybe in the schools. the other thing, too, was this shooter, was this kid, was he, you know, exhibiting any characteristics to his friends, associates and parents. that's why you also heard sheriff robinson saying they're talking to them now to try to find out what happened. most likely serving a search warrant.

i can tell you, wolf, the first responder responds to this. you heard it was a regional active shooter response. they, since columbine, they have set in protocols, particularly in this particular area, columbine even though it was a little over eight miles, was in jefferson county. this is arapahoe county. but all across the state of colorado and all across the united states, everything has changed. the paradigm has shifted on active shooter response, because jefferson county sheriff's department, as you recall, they took a lot of heat because they were waiting for the s.w.a.t. team to come there. you heard what the sheriff said. the school resource officer is one of the first responders who was there at the school, assigned to that school. he or she responded to that shooting and then as the officers got there, they usually form in either two, three or four person teams to go in and directly confront the threat. you've seen the change in training, seen the change in weapons that the officers carry, so they are not outgunned

hopefully by a shooter that comes no the school. but it was only 20 minutes, the sheriff said, from the initial call that they got there, from the high school, of shots fired until they found this student who apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. >> stand by for a moment. dr. drew, the student apparently, according to the reports, all the information we're getting from the sheriff grayson robinson and others, walked in with the shot gun, openly showing the shotgun, and not only that, started saying i'm going after and then he named the teacher that he was going -- you can only imagine the rage, what was going on in this young student's mind as he was going in there with a shotgun looking for that teacher for whatever reason, the teacher as we know got out of the building pretty quickly and is okay. but you can only imagine the rage, what was going on. >> that's right. that's right. we may be able to understand in terms of motivation about what it is he had as a bone of contention with that teacher, but that does not explain, i don't care what is going on between him and that teacher,

that does not explain the magnitude of the alteration of his mental state, the magnitude of the agitation that young person would have to manifest in order to walk into his own high school, imagine this, not with a concealed weapon, brandishing a shotgun and then randomly shooting peers and then quickly turning that weapon on himself. that is not a kid in a normal mental state, in my estimation. obviously i'm speculating but you've got to think about mania, got to think about drugs, got to think about other sorts of disorders all of which an unregulated state of agitation can manifest in a young person, and again, what's going on in colorado. i have a concern that there may be difficulty in colorado intervening when there are the kinds of symptoms that suggest somebody is in trouble. i believe that's what we're going to see in aurora. i'm concerned that's what we're going to see here, that people don't intervene with the same

kind of intentionality that they need to. i'm concerned in that state, in order to prevent this sort of thing. it's okay to help someone when they are about to move into a state where they can hurt themselves and other people. you are helping them by doing that, no matter how much they dislike it. i have a concern that there might be, i don't know if it's a cultural issue, legal issue or medical issue, that is preventing that from being carried out in that state. >> we have seen it elsewhere outside of colorado, dr. drew, including in newtown, connecticut, right? >> absolutely. absolutely. but there, at least what you have is a parent in denial who seemingly as we are learning more about this case, that case, did not want to intervene, did not want to admit to herself she had a paranoid, agitated, violent plotting child on her hands. it's difficult to deal with as a parent. no parent wants to deal with that. but it seems like there's a system problem, aurora, the school had been intervening in that kid. i wonder what we will find out

about this child and what this school might have been dealing with with him. >> dr. drew, host of hln's "dr. drew on call" thank you very much. mike brooks, don't go too far away. we will stay on top of this story. new information coming in. we are also following other important news including an american, new information on that american being held supposedly in iran right now. stand by. we'll be right back. twins. i didn't see them coming. i have obligations. cute obligations, but obligations.

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we're following the breaking news. we're now told the president has been briefed on the latest shooting at a high school in colorado. let's go to our senior white house correspondent, brianna keilar. she's getting the details. what do we know on this front, brianna? >> reporter: that's right. we've learned that president

obama was briefed so he is certainly aware of the situation on the ground there and we understand that he first learned of it when he was in a meeting this afternoon with a number of mayors and actually, it was new york city mayor-elect bill de blasio who said president obama was handed a note and he informed the group then this had happened. it was a very somber moment as he described. we are also told by a white house official that the white house is in touch with federal, local and state law enforcement officials and that president obama will continue to monitor the situation. >> brianna, stand by. we will get more from you as well. we are going to get back to the shooting incident in colorado momentarily but there's another breaking news story we're following right now. an american prisoner in iran, we have new information that an american who vanished in iran nearly seven years ago was actually working for the cia. bob levinson's family is coming forward to accuse the u.s. government of failing to do enough to find a man who risked his life to serve his country.

the associated press which first reported this story is calling it one of the biggest scandals in recent cia history. our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto is here in "the situation room" looking what are you finding out? >> the story began as a family tragedy, a father of seven, barely heard from since, but as these details have come out with his ties working for the cia, it's becoming more of an intelligence operation gone too far. >> please help me get home. >> reporter: this is robert levinson pleading with washington for help three years after he disappeared in iran. >> 33 years of service to the united states deserves something. please help me. >> reporter: he hasn't been seen or heard from since. now, new information that when he went missing, his was working undercover for the cia, a point

the agency and the white house have publicly denied for years, and today against refused to confirm. >> bob levinson was not a u.s. government employee when he went missing. >> reporter: how, documents detail the cia's connection to his 2007 trip to kish island. it was a rogue operation, spying on iran's nuclear program and hezbollah under direction from a group. outing him in effect as a spy has heightened concerns for his safety, but after nearly seven years of imprison muppet and interrogation, even he fae concedes it's likely that anyone who else holding him likely knows of his ties. asked about it, president hassan rouhani said he didn't even know his name. >> translator: first you mention a person i have never heard of. mr. levinson we don't know where he is, who he is.

>> reporter: u.s. officials say they continue to raise his case with tehran at every level. >> i personally raised it with the iranians in the course of our discussions, and we will continue to try to seek his release and return to the united states. >> the family has criticized the united states for in effect abandoning him. the statement -- they remain consistently a top story for us. jim, i want you to participate in this next interview. one of the most well-known as clandestine officers, valerie plame was leaked back in 2003, prompting an investigation and huge political scandal. she's for you an author. among other things she has a brand-new book, called "blowback" a thriller with a cia operative. thanks for joining us.

>> twhang you for having me, wolf. >> i want your thoughts on bob levinson. this is jay carney when he was asked about levinson and his connection to the cia and the u.s. government earlier today. >> bob levinson was not a -- i'm not going to fact check every reference in a satire we believe was highly irresponsible to publish and which we strongly urged the outlet not to publish out of concerns for mr. levinson's safety. >> valerie, let's talk about that. he was not a u.s. government employee. if he was a contractor for the cia, if he was a private businessman getting money from the cia to do certain work, would the carney state still be accurate that he was not a government employee? >> i think that statement can be parsed into tiny little pieces. i find this whole case so

astonishing on many levels. what has come out in the reporting from a.p. and other places now is that the director of intelligence, the analysts taking all the information and disseminating it, they running an operation. that should be under the auspices, under the rubric of the director of operations. they are the ones responsible for recruiting foreign pies and providing intelligence. this was so strange, not only apparently this woman, an analyst highly regarded, she knows a lot about russian criminal syndicates, so forth, she was his friend, brought him in on contract, and i think in many ways he was a victim of his own success. they were delighted, his information was good. he had a long career with the fbi and d.e.a. he knew what he was doing on the

ground, but as one of the e-mails surfaced from this analyst that was essentially running him, that they were so pleased that they were able to do this, and basically best the directorate of operation guys, the other guys in the building. what this shows, i think, is an agency that's complete ly since 9/11 has grown too big, too reliant on contractor and no one can get their arm around it. >> is there a realty rivalry between the analysts, those who try to come up with assessments and the clan deathant service, like you used to doened try to recruit foreigners to help the united states? >> i wouldn't use the term a rivalry. they're two very different functions. they're two different types of people. the type of person that goes into the analytical side is completely different from what you would find on the ops side.

as it should be. in most cases they work together very well, but with so much money coming in and contractors, and as we know, since 9/11, the explosion of contractors, i think something like 60% to 70% of the intelligence about ugh is now dedicated to contracto respect. we have snowden and others, that's a whole other conversation, but it shows that the huge money that has come into the intelligence community is not being well spent or well supervis supervised. what i find so discretioning is that it took so long for both agencies to get into gear and deeply investigate this. apparently initially this woman and probably her chain of command stonewalled the investigators. that further put bob levinson into stream jeopardy to the point we don't know, of course, if he is dead or alive today.

>> we don't know, that's what they're saying. do you agree with the white house that the associated press's decision to release this information that he was working on behalf of the cia, was being paid by the cia when he was captured, taken prisoner in iran, that that was, in the words of jay carney, highly irresponsible to publish? >> i respectfully disagree, because at this point in time, it is absolutely clear whoever is holding him. i think the iranians for sure had him, but where he is now, we don't know. somewhere in southwest asia, perhaps, was the last plouffe of life video we had, but it's pretty clear he had connections to the cia. but this is a problem, when you are the analytical side of the house attempting to run operations without proper training, without taking precautions to keep him safe, it's not surprising this is the end result, and it's just really

sad. >> apparently the associated press identified this woman, this cia analyst who was supposingly running levinson. i don't know if you knew her personally, ran across her during your years at the cia. did you you? >> i did not. i know her name. she apparently was either given the choice of being fired or resigned. she resigned, protesting all the way. what we see, it's very clear he had no business doing what she was doing, or again -- her chain of command. he was a victim of his own success. they thought this is good information he's getting, let's keep it going. but what he was doing on kish island, which is fully owned and operated by iranian intelligence without proper backup. she claimed i had no idea he was going to kisa island and so forth. this is no way to run an

operation. >> jim scuitto has a question. >> i agree that it's clear that the iranians after seven years or probably far earlier knew he had these ties, but i've spoke to a number of americans who have been held under false charges. this is a favorite charge, roxanna sentenced to eight year, though he was released. >> the hikers, sure. >> sure. a former u.s. marine being held there now on similar charges, there's a propaganda value here. do you worry they would use this revelation as further ammunition for other americans falsely accused? >> i'm not a hostage negotiator, but i would saying that since 9/11 win overly, both media and the courts, have been overly deferential to anytime someone sells national security, and they back off. too much has happened this time. the family has agreed to allow

this to go ahead and they want him home. >> valley plame, thank you for joining us. we'll continue this conversation. valerie plame, the former officer, and the author of the new book "blowback." and we're following the breaking news. the coverage of the new school shooting in colorado this time. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we're showing you live pictures from the arapaho high school in centennial colorado -- these aren't live. these are taped pictures right now. it's now a crime scene. just a few hours ago a student walked in and opened fire. authorities say he was armed with a shotgun, that he didn't try to hide, and he was planning too targets a specific teacher. that teacher left the building. we're learns also that three people are being treated for injuries. at least two of them are

students wounded in the shooting, one of them is now in surgery. the shooter is dead. he apparently killed himself. students have been evacuated from the school. they're reuniting with their families. this shooting happened not very far from the scenes of other mass akearse, the mac kerrs in columbine and aurora, and this on the eve of the first anniversary of the sandy hook school shooting in newtown, connecticut. we're going to begin with ana cabrera in crennel tenial, colorado. set the scene for viewers who are just tuning in. what happened? >> reporter: the investigation begins to why this student came in and shot a couple other students. just behind me, parents and students are now starting to come together, to find each other, to be able to cry, hug, kiss and thank goodness and

thank god, really, for being okay after everything that's transpired here. i'm going to step out of the way. it is still a very active scene. we're a couple blocks from arapaho. a lot of parents are having to wait for a teacher, an authority to bring them their student. they're lined up, having to give their students' name and those students are coming out. let me walk you back through what has happened since 12:30 this afternoon local time. a student at the school walked into the school with a shotgun, according to the arapahoe county sheriff. he asked for a specific teachers. that teacher apparently got wind and left the school. at some point the student opened fire, hitting at least two other students. one of those students had very serious injuries according to the sheriff, is currently undergoing surgery.

the other injuries were described as minor. at some point, the shooter, the student wo came into the school, took his own life, police believe. not knowing that that had already happened, within minutes of the initial shots fired, we understand the s.w.a.t. team and police were already moving into the school, doing what they call an active shooter protocol, meaning they are going directly to the threat. they are not waiting. the goal here is to eliminate the threat before anybody else could be hurt. by the time they found the student who they believe is the only suspect in this case, he was already dead. we've been talking with people about what happened inside the school. i had a chance to talk to a couple students who described hearing up to three gunshots. all these students have gone through drills. they tell us they've trained to lockout situations where they get as far away from windows, they lock the doors and huddle

down and keep quite. the students very grateful for the training and drills. wolf? >> we're going to hear from they have those student and families. brian todd is joining us here in "the situation room." he's got more on how the shooting actually played out. brian? >> right, wolf, according to the sheriff who spoke to reporters just a short time ago, the gunman entered the building on the west side of the building. this is the west side. entered the building at about 12:33 local time. 2:30 eastern time. this is the west side. the sheriff says there are two, possibly three entrances on the west side. so one here, one here, possibly one here. it looks like to be an entrance here by the gym. so the sheriff says he enters the gym 12:33 p.m. the serve said the shooting occurred in the immediate west section of the building, presumably anywhere in this section is where the shooting occurred, but the sheriff did say the shooter's body was found

well inside the school in one of 70 classrooms, probably in here -- the classrooms are in this body of the school here. 70 classrooms inside the high school here, so a lot of ground for police to cover as they look for the suspect. we are also told parents were told to go meet with their children at shepherd of the hills lutheran church, down south university boulevard this direction. this is the street where the main entrance to the school is, but south university boulevard is down in this direction. that's where parents met with their children. again, as far as the entrance to the school, we're going to show you a picture of that. here is the west entrance to the school right here. this is looking east to contest, so it gives you a visual at ground level of the area of the school where the shooter entered, wolf, so getting a logistical pictures of this high school in centennial, colorado, and where the shooting took

place, to recap, it took place on the immediate west section. >> what's so chilling, is shah shooter walked in with that shotgun, open, making it clear he was looking for a specific teacher as he walked into that school. brian, thanks very much. joining us is kathy noon, the mayor of centennial. may why are, can you share with us any information about this shooter. >> actually, i can't. this is an active investigation, and our professionals are looking into this. >> what about the age? >> i can only rely on the press conference that our sheriff had earlier. >> they don't want to without telling us the young person's

name, have you been briefed on who he is? what his motivation may have been any of those kinds of questions? >> not at this time. the sheriff's investigation is still open and active and they are working on that as we speak. >> how is your community doing? >> well, absolutely devastated that something like this would happen. our thoughts and prayers are with the community as a whole. >> people all over the country are asking, you know, columbine, after the aurora movie theater, knolls this, the arapaho high school, is there anything we should know about this area of colorado that potential could be causing this kind of a problem? >> not at all. this is a wonderful area. the community is a wonderful family community and, you know, bad things happen in good places, and it's unfortunate that it was here. >> you feel the community is doing enough to deal with young people and mental health issues?

>> well, i think this is probably not the time or the play to have that discussion. i'm sure there will be plenty of time for that, either. >> so where do we go from here? what about the kids? will they have school? have you spoken to that specific teacher, for example, who apparently was targeted by this shooter? >> i have not personally. that's left up to the law enforcement officials and the could school system. they will work on the next steps for that school community and on the weekend i'm sure we'll get more information so we can plan for next week. >> there will need to be serious healing, too. i assume people are shaken up by this? >> i'm sure they have and that's what we'll be doing, we'll support our community as a city and school district. >> kathy noon is the mayor of centennial, colorado, our best

wishes for you and the entire community. i knee this is a rough time. thank you for joining us. >> i appreciate your time. thank you. we'll continue the breaking news. also some other stories as well, including an alleged plot to set off explosives at an airport. the fbi has now arrested a suspect. we'll give you the details from an investigator. stand by.

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an alleged terror plot targeting a u.s. airport. federal authorities say they have arrested a suspect who planned to set off explosives on the tarmac. our crime and justice correspondent joe johns is joining us with the latest. what do we know? >> the fbi says this guy got set up by a pair of undercover agents. he thought they was about to detonate a car bomb, but when he tried to enter the airport he was arrested.

this is terry lowen, a practices muslim, working a wichita airport, which authorities say he wanted to blow up, and he's charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, a car bomb, and attempting to buyer material support to terrorism. according to according documents, they say lowen allegedly had an online chat with someone, and he said he wanted to engage in violent jihad on behalf of al qaeda. what he didn't know is he was chatting online with an fbi employ employee. the employee offered to introduce him to someone who would help him, and the documents describe fbi employees number one and number two, who later pretended ton an alleged accomplice as part of a sting operation. they nabbed him when he tried to enter the airport with a security pass. they were not active, because they had been provided by the agents. the so-called aspirational terror cases have been a bit controversial lately, because

the question is whether it makes sense to go after individuals who have terror plans even if not at the fully operational stage. they can be expensive and time-consuming. the fbi has said all along, since 9/11 they have switched to pretrengs of terrorism and this is a case of how far they'll go. >> i read the criminal complaint. he thought he was actually helping al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and engaging a jihad. that's what he wanted to do what he thought he was going to do. obviously all of these allegations contained in this complaint. meanwhile, other news, growing fears about the stability of north korea's strongman kim jong-un and the brutal lengths he'll go to try to keep his grip on power. it's been 24 hours since we reported the shocking execution of his aungle, considered to be the second most powerful man in

the nuclear armed nation. our pentagon correspondent barbara starr is joining us. what are you learning? >> what we have learned, wolf, is the uncle had a unique position inside the regime. now with his death, the question is what will kimdown u.n. do next? the pictures tell it all. he's airbrurd out of existence. the uncle executed after a special military tribunal found him guilty of treatsing of the the state news agency calls him worse than a dog. here he is being removed from his seat in government. here he was besigned kim jong-un at his father's funeral. the swift arrest and killing has left the obama administration wondering what is going on inside the world's most secretive nature.

>> this is another understanding of the extreme brutality. >> watchers say the execution is about more than kim once again consolidating power. the uncle had a unique position. >> he was very good at making money for the regime. one way to think of him is the ceo of north korea incorporated, this collection of trading companies whose specific task was to raise funds for the personal use the of kim familyisms but that power center began to pose a threat to kim. he had to go for kim to maintain a total grip on all power and money. there is concern kim may grow more unpredictable. u.s. intelligence sees no movement yet of north korean military forces, but will he decide to undertake another missile or nuclear test to demonstrate he's in charge? >> they clearly are trying to reconsist attitude their nuclear apparatus, if you're in south

korea or japan or the united states of america, you're very concerned right now about the what el root jet stream may do? this young leader appears to to not be listening to the chinese government. >> as you can well imagine south korean and u.s. forces are maintaining a very high state of readiness, as they always doivities as a precaution. as they like to say at the department of defense, are they moving any ships, aircraft carriers, anything along those lines, given the uncertainly we are seeing in north korea right now? >> not at this time, wolf, but you have to remember, the u.s. military generally has been in fact been increasing its presence out in the pacific, out in asia, china, north korea. just some of the worries out there, some of the reasons you'll see more military force in that region. >> what a story that is. very tense situation right now.

barbara farr reporting for us, thank you very much. there's other startling developments in the controversy surrounding the interpreter at nelson mandela's memorial service. brian todd is joining us now. brian, you're getting new information, and it's pretty shocking. >> it is, world. we're learns from the south african network, a cnn affiliate, the man at the center of the translating problem in south africa, he has faced a multitude the criminal charges in the past, including murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, and rape. now what's month to point out is he was found not guilty of murder and rape when he was charged. the network enca got this information from documents given to them by a senior police source in south africa, but again this man faced charges including murder, attempted murder, kidnapping in south africa a number ofiers. he was acquitted of murder in

2006. the document also reslide he was charged with rape, house breaks, malicious damage and murder between the years of 1994 and 19 -- he was found guilty, important to reach that out. reached by the network on friday, he said he did not deny that he faced the charges, but asked how the reporters came to get that information and was not prepared to comment. so new nuchgs about charges he has faced in the past, including murder and rape for which he was fond not guilty of. he was found guilty of a theft charges in the mid 1990s, wolf. >> hard to believe they allowed him to get this cloud not only to the president of south africa, the president of the united states and all these other dig tears up on that program, given that record. we'll continue to investigate as well.

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breaking news of that school shooting. authorities say there's apparently no link to the shooting in newtown, connecticut, but gun violence still weighs heavily on this nation. let's bring in brianna keilar. >> reporter: hi there, wolf form the president called it the

worst day of his history, but only a year later, they've -- >> newtown was supposed to change everything. >> we can't tolerate this anymore. these tragedies must end. to end them, we must change. >> he addressed a memorial a few days after the shooting. he directed vice president biden to come up with concrete proposals to reduce gun violence, and public sentiment fueled a bipartisan effort. >> the amendment is not agreed to. >> in april it failed to pass even the democratic-controlled senate. >> this was a pretty shameful day for washington. >> reporter: president obama promised to push on. >> this effort is not over. >> reporter: one year after the shooting, those efforts have happened on the margins of the

issue. obama has taken 23 executive actions. vice president biden announced a mental health initiative. a halfful of states have bush but more than a dozen states have loosened laws. >> colin goddard was in the virginia tech sheeting. despite setbacks, they. >> we have an atf director, the first one in. from the cdc studying how people are killed. >> reporter: but colin and other gun control advocates are from us freighted by the inaction. >> we have to start making calculations about saving lives rather than calculations about people's political future. but 90% of people believe in background checks. >> reporter: at the white house

there's no new push, and without congress's cooperation, officials seem resigned. >> in the end there is a limit on what a president can do. other actions require congressional movement. >> reporter: now a ban on undecibel plast ecfirearms, wolf, just recently made it through congress, but when it comes to university background, there's no plans for that. >> the president is frustrated with that lack of action. brianna, thanks very much. because of breaking news today, we weren't able to bring you my interview with will ferrell. we'll have it for you on monday. our coverage of the shoot shooting in colorado continues right now on "crossfire." welcome to "crossfire." i'm stephanie cutter on the

left. >> and i'm s.e. cupp. hospital officials say three are injured, authorities say the gunman, a male student apparently thought and killed himself. our thoughts and prayers are with the family. let's get the latest from anna cabrera in centennial colorado. what do we know? >> reporter: stephanie, this is still a developing investigation, but the shooting itself is over. police do not believe there are any other suspects or other threats. we also know there is a student undergoing surgery. another student who was hospitalized with what the sheriffs describe as fairly minor gunshot injuries. right now, students and parents are still reuniting for the first time since this all began at 12:30 in the afternoon local time, when a student at the school the serve says, walked in with the shotgun, looking for a

specific teacher, never did fin that teacher, but did open fire, again shooting at least two, possibly three students before taking his own life. students immediately went into the lockdown situation at their school as police, s.w.a.t. activated their active shooter protocol, trained to go directly to the threat. we do understand there was a security guard at the school at the time who immediately also took action. what kind of contingency plan did this school have for events like this? >> certainly since columbine, which was back in 1999, and flat canyon, another school shooting here in 2006, there have been extensive training for active shooter