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>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news -- a deadly shooting in columbia, maryland. three people in the end have been killed. among them, according to police, what they believe to be the lone shooter. shoppers simply couldn't believe their ears when they heard the shots being fired. among them, this employee. >> i never have experienced something like this in my life. i was standing there talking to a customer, and i started hearing all of this banging coming from the food court. i thought maybe they were doing construction or something. we do that a lot around here, and people started running saying somebody's down there and he's got a gun and i heard at least eight to ten gunshots. >> it's been about three hours since that shooting take place,

11:15 eastern time, and there the mall still has not been secured. police say they continue to comb the area, painstakingly, still interviewing a lot of the shoppers and employees who remain inside, but in small groups, police are releasing people from the mall. earlier i spoke with judy hoffman, who at the time was still in her store. this is what she had to say. >> well, when i was in the store, i, all of a sudden, i was waiting on a customer, and i happen to see people running towards nordstrom, which is one of the anchor stores that's close to us, and i said, what's going on? why is everybody running? so i stepped out to the door, and asked one of the girls running, what's going on? she said, there's been a shooting. and at that time, i said, oh, my gosh. i came in. i let my customers know that for their safety, they were alln't allowed to twuk nordstroms or go

out into the hallway because i knew it was in the food court. at that time i contacted the director of sales, let her know what was going on and we in the back room waiting. we turned off our lights and, you know, stayed in the back room to wait for further information while she was on, you know, looking at the tv, trying to find some information out, but the mall did finally contact us approximately about 12:30, quarter to 1:00 to let us know -- >> how? how did they contact you? what do you mean? >> they called -- well, there's a service they have here, and they call and let you know on your phone if the store on your personal phone, but it took a while. i had to find out what was going on before. you know, they called us. >> and what was the message they conveyed to you on your personal phone? >> the message they conveyed to me was that, you are to -- there has been, you know, an incident in the mall. we advise you to close your doors and seek shelter in your

back rooms if possible. >> okay. and you already knew to do that, you're saying, though? by the time you received that, you already had that instruction from your, your store that you're to close the door, seek shelter in a closed room or closet, though, correct? >> oh, absolutely. i mean, that's -- that's the rule of thumb. you know? you close your door. you, you know, get people to safety. i knew it was on the other side of the mall, so i knew it was, you know, okay for us to close the door and, you know, make that phone call. >> okay. and how long -- >> in the meantime i did have to call the police to -- i did call 911 to see if it was true. sometimes you just don't know what goes on. if it's, you know, true or not. because i didn't hear any shots. that's on the other side of the mall. >> yeah. >> so once i called howard county police, they did say, yes, ma'am. please seek shelter, and the mall did call back again, not too long ago, and said they will

be around to escort us out of the mall. >> all right. that was judy hoffman, who was still inside her store, last we spoke. not sure whether she's been able to exit the mall, because, as we say, howard county police say they continue to search the mall. they have not lifted the lockdown. they still consider it a crime scene and they still know there are people in secure areas that they have to ask questions, identify, before allowing them to exit. again, a deadly shooting taking place in the middle of a very busy day on saturday at the mall in columbia, maryland. in the end, three people dead. police believing confidentially among them is a single shooter. much more from the "newsroom" right after this. farmer: hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer. and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes

and raising money for meals on wheels. but we'd really like our truck back, so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what?

howard county police in maryland expect to have another press briefing updating us on the investigation involving a deadly shooting taking place earlier today, roughly about three hours ago at the mall in columbia, maryland. three people were killed. among them, police say confidently they believe the single shooter is also dead. earlier, this is what police chief bill mcmahon had to say. >> we do have three confirmed f fatalities so we want to send our thoughts and prayers to the

family members of the victim, the loved ones of the victims. i want to thank the public of howard county here in columbia for their patience. the folks here at the columbia mall, for their patience. all of the shoppers, the other folks that work here at the mall. this is obviously been a tremendously trying few hours and we've seen a lot of cassi patience. this is an active crime scene. it is going to be an active crime scene for some time and around 4:00 we'll give you more details. thankly i want to thank our brave men and women in law enforcement here in howard count high rushed into the scene immediately. this was an incredibly well-run, thoughtful operation, tactically, with a lot of help from our neighboring agencies.

we've had help on the ground and continue to have help on the ground from virtually every police kept in our region including the state police. and we really appreciate that. now, i want to bring up our police chief bill mcmahon who's been leading this operation on the ground. thank you. >> that, mr. executive. bill mcmahon, i'm the chief of police here in howard county. let me echo a couple thoughts from the county executive before i give you some details. thank you for your patience. you can imagine, this is a very complex and trying scene for everybody that's involved. and i know it's also, causes great concern in the community. so we again, we thank our communities for their patience and their understanding and for our friends in the media, we certainly appreciate your understanding as well. we are giving you an have given you information. as soon as we received it. because we know how much concern there is when something like this happens in such a public

place as the mall. so about 11:15 this morning, our 911 center received a number of calls for shots fired at the columbia mall. we had officers quickly get into the area, and we were able to identify three victims at an upper level store in the columbia mall. one of those victims appears to be the shooter. and at this point and, again, please, bear with me. this is two hours, two hours and fifteen minutes into the incident, there's still a lot of details we need to confirm, but right now we think that one of the deceased is, in fact, the shooter. we do not think there's any -- at this point that there's any more shooters in our around the mall. we are going through process right now and, please, think about this, on a saturday afternoon at the mall, how many people may be in there. when something like this happen, people run in many directions and they also do what actually we have trained people to do, to shelter in place. so right now we have many, many

people still in the mall that have secured themselves inside stores. our s.w.a.t. teams with a lot of support from agencies throughout the state, at the local, state and federal level, frankly, are going through, as we are holding this press conference, they are inside continuing to clear that mall, to make sure there are no more victims. we do not think there are but we want to make sure there are not, and to get those people that have self-sheltered in place out and make sure none of them have any injuries either from the shooting. again, dwoewe don't think there any, but also any injuries in the process of panic when people do shelter. that's what's going on actively behind me in the mall as we are out here. we do not have the identity of the victims yet. we do not have a motive for the shooting. again, this is a two hours and fifteen minutes into the scene. we are still trying to secure the mall, to make sure, again,

there's nobody else injured, and then we are getting our investigators into that crime scene to start doing their work, which will enable knee answer some of those many questions you have that frankly, i just can't answer right now, because i don't have the information. so i'll take a few questions, brut i do -- before i do -- let me again thank the columbia mall, who has been nothing but a fantastic partner. we have a great relationship with them and have actually drilled on this in the past. and that experience has been very beneficial to us. we'd like to thank, again, our public for their patience. we have disrupted a lot of people. i know there's a lot of people at home concerned about the well-being of their family, who may be at the mall. we understand that, and that's why we're working as quickly as we can to identify the victims to give people a peace of are mind. we understand that, and i'd also again like to thank all the support from emergency management, fire democrats, again, local, state and federal

level. i'll take a few questions. >> can you describe -- >> can we -- can you provide the genders at least? >> i cannot provide the genders or the ages. >> when we go to -- >> can you -- police chief, can you describe where this exactly happened in the food court and what types of weapons -- >> i didn't say it was at the food court. i said the upper level of the mall at store. i'm not going to identify what store that is right now. your other question? >> what types of weapons were recovered? >> again, we have not gotten our investigators in there to identify all that yet. >> is there a sense there was domestic issue involved here? >> as i said earlier -- >> it evolved so quickly. >> we don't know a motive yet. i understand your interest in the question. our investigators haven't had a chance to identify people yet to even go a motive. >> you have been speaking to witnesses. do they give an indication of, there was an argument, an altercation? these are people that somehow

knew each other or a random event where somebody pull as gun and starts shooting? >> i don't have that information yet. our investigators are still talking to witnesses and i just don't have the that information yet. we are very confident that it was a single shooter that there's no other shooters in the mall or anything like that. >> was he engaged by -- >> yes, sir. >> did law enforcement fire in this at all? >> we did not. >> and the mall, 11:15, did this shooting wrap there was a lot of people around? we've had people tell us they saw people drop, and -- >> it was in a store in the upper level of the mall. you know how many are in the mall on a saturday afternoon. chaotic scene. yop have particulars where people were when this happened. we'll get that to you as quickly as we can. i understand the importance of those questions and will get them to you as soon as we can. >> how do you think the people in the mall did? well prepared or how did they respond? >> i don't have enough information to know, but i sense that because we have so many

that are shaeeltered in place, they did what we encourage people to do in one of these situations. again, two hours into it, not having talked to some of those people, some are still in there, i don't know. but the fact it's fairly -- we didn't have stampedes and nobody else injured through the whole evacuation process. very helpful. >> are the witnesses in the mall free to go? you are asking them to go to a specific place to be questioned? >> our detectives are talking with the people as they come out of the mall to see what they saw and what they didn't and we'll continue to talk to them. >> is this a situation where someone shot two people then shot him or herself? >> two hours, 15 minutes into that that is what we have reason to believe, but, again, very fluid situation. many people have not been spoken to yet. i can't firm that. that is what it appears to be at this point. >> was this -- >> and i don't know how many shots were fired. >> was it isolated inside -- >> responding officer, did they

find all three dead at that point? the first three in? >> i'm not sure but all found them at about the same kind. all officers. >> nowadays the presumption from the police department is to get in quickly. was it reg letter patrol officers? >> regular patrol officers went in also we had specially trained officers part of our s.w.a.t. team in this area for another assignment. so we were fortunate we were able to have those very well prepared, very well trained officers to support our patrol officers quickly. it was not a situation in which we were waiting to go in there. went in quickly, in idea how long from the first 911 call to the first police officer on the scene? >> i don't know, but i'll make sure we have that at 4:00. >> do you know who called? >> was it isolated into one store? >> to our knowledge, all the activity took place at one time in pun store. >> to clarify what you said before, when the first police found who was hailed the deceased shooter, he was

deceased at that time? nobody talked to him? >> that's what i understand at this point. that's all the kbep again, we'll be back at 4:00. i'm sensitive to the need to get the questions answered. we will do our best to come back at 4:00 and answer more of them for you. thanks for your patience. get the word out to the community. appreciate it. >> howard county police chief, we wanted to replay that for you those just joining us to learn that three people were killed at a shooting at a mall in columbia, maryland, outside of washington, d.c., and also outside of baltimore, maryland. three people dead and you heard the police chief there say that among the dead was the presumed single shooter. however, the mall is not secure. they continue to have shoppers and even employees that continue to be in the mall, and they're going through the process of being located, number one, because many took to shelter in closets and storage rooms, and

investigators once they encounter them have lots of questions for them before they can give them and all-clear and release from that shopping mall. when people do come out of that shopping mall, we have seen in the last hour and a half or so they're being released in small groups. they're walking single file out of the mall. through the parking lot. they are not escorted to their cars. many of them, their carless have to remain there at the shopping mall, until further notice. they're being put on shuttle buses then taken to another location where they have to make a call and get people to come pick them up. again, we understand another press briefing will take place, as you heard, in that taped briefing. a new brief lg take place at 4:00 eastern time. we'll take that live. at least give you the information as we can. we understand that during that briefing we just might hear the identities of the three peoples whose bodies were found there in the shopping mall. you heard the police chief saying it appears as though the shooting tack place in a store. it hasn't been revealed what

store. there are four anchor department stores at that shopping mall. a sizable mall of 200 stores. unclear exactly what store that shooting take place. also unclear whether it was a domestic dispute, whether this was random. still lots of questions, and still lots of answers that we're hoping to get during that 4:00 briefing. we'll bring you up-to-date on that. short break now and back in a moment. [ male announcer ] if you can clear a crowd but not your nasal congestion, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter.

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welcome back. it's a crime scene at the mall in columbia, maryland, where three people were found dead inside the mall after a shooting taking place at about 11:15 eastern time earlier today. police in the last hour and a half said that among the dead is believed to be the single shooter in this incident. unclear whether it was a domestic dispute or random act of violence here, but nonetheless, there are a lot of people in the shopping mall, and in the middle of the day, at this shopping mall in columbia, maryland. a lot of frightened people, and many of the employees and the patrons there just simply took cover, and went to safe places in storage closets and in stores as soon as they heard the gunshots fired at about 11:15

eastern time today. the county executive with howard county, ken ullmyou ulman is wi now. he was at the police chief brief an hour and a half ago commemorating this has ban cooperative effort by so many agencies on the local and state levels, and, ken if you're with me and able to hear me, do you know whether or not this mall has since been secured, about an hour and a half ago, police said they still had some patrons and employees inside the mall and were unable to lift that lockdown. what's the latest now? >> yeah. thank you for having me and thank you for your attention to this. no. our law enforcement folks are still going through the mall, systemically. every, combing every inch of the mall. wanting to check every room and if you can imagine, a very large shopping mall, all of the rooms, dressing rooms, offices,

throughout this mall, to make sure that everyone is safe. there are a number of folks who are still shelters in place. and so they're going through our s.w.a.t. team, tactical teams, with our regional partners from a number of other counties and the state police, from the state of maryland. so it is still an active crime scene, and they're still securing the mall, and the mall will be closed for the rest of the day and night. >> okay. and then from some of the images we've been watching. we've been able to see small groups of people will be escorted out, walking single file through the parking lots. we're told from our reporter there on the ground they're loaded on to shuttle buses and taken to another location. how long will people's vehicles be there in, you know, on the mall property? and is this, you know, fairly customary in your view that people will be removed from the property and need to find their way home through other means? >> if you can imagine a crime scene with thousands of

potential witnesses. that's really what's happening here. it's such a large facility, and everyone in there as they're coming out are, our police department oushs detectives, want to talk to them and see what they saw and so many that you're seeing are being escorted to buses where they're being interviewed by the detectives to make sure that we're capturing all evidence that we can. so it's a very, very large operation, and we really want to make sure we're gathering all the evidence that we can, and, again, i want to thank everyone for your patience. the mall employees. all of the shoppers. the general public. this is right in the center of columbia, maryland. a bustling area. so we know this caused a lot of disruption and really want to thank everyone and i especially want to thank our men and women in law enforcement. it's really unfortunate commentary where our country is, but this is something we've

trained for with our regional partners. we've trained with the mall. we know they're security folks. we know thousand action their cam cameras and surveillance quickly. so we ready for this. our folks rushed in very quickly. again, it's a sad commentary that we have to train and be ready for incidences like this. this day and age in our country. >> right. this is a great suburbia mall. i remember it, ken, you know, as a kid growing up in the washington, d.c. area. going to the columbia mall was something we did, especially to go ice skating. a, you know, that ice skating rink i understand is still there and i understand that this shooting may have happened near that location, or that some evidence was located near that location in the rink? is that true? >> well, there -- it happened in a store on the second level of the mall, and it's kind of a skateboard shop, and you know, a lot of the discussion about the food court makes sense, because it's a store that's essentially

right above the food court. there's a big escalator that goes right up from the food court to where this store is. so the sounds probably appeared to people to be taken place in the food court. if you can imagine, you've been there. it's a large mall that would have been packed at 11:15 on a saturday morning, and it caused a lot of, a very scary incident. >> and at this point, what do you see in terms of trying to, you know, piece together these events and -- doing what you can as a county executive, you know, to ensure people in that area, and other places, you know, how do you make a public place like a shopping mall a safe place? it's presumably one of the places that people of all walks converge and naturally presume that they're going to be safe, and the okay, but when something like this happens, it certainly rocks the core of every potential patron