this happened inside the grand theater 16. this happened where the movie "train wreck" was playing. our live coverage continues now with george howell and linda kincaid thmpblts is cnn breaking news. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm george howell. >> hello. i'm linda kincaid. we continue photo follow breaking news out of louisiana. a shooting inside of a movie theater. >> it is an active crime scene at this hour. a mass shooting that happened around 7:30 local time. 8:30 p.m. eastern. in the city of lafayette, louisiana, west of the city of new orleans. police say the shooter is a 58-year-old white male an he acted alone. two were killed and the shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

semp people are wounded, three remain in a critical condition. >> multiple agencies including the federal bureau of investigation are at the scene. one witness described the screams that she heard coming from that theater. no. >> a bunch of girls came out of the movie theater saying someone was shot. >> after that, what did you do? >> we didn't know what happened yet. then the guards or something came and told us to get out so we ran outside and there was a lady in a dress and there was blood everywhere. that's when we realized what was going on. so we ran here and went inside. >> did you see other people running? what did things look like. >> a lot of people running over here. >> witnesses describe that as a chaotic scene after that shooting took place. we are hearing from louisiana's

governor bobby jindal, who rushed to the scene of the shooting. he is asking for prayers for the lafayette community. >> the great thing about america is when any of us suffer, whether one family or community we all suffer. this is a time for us to come together. i know we have been inundated with calls from across the country. what we can do now is pray. we can hug these families, shower them with love, thoughts and prayers. there are families mourning the loss of loved ones tonight. there are families in hospitals hoping their loved ones will make full recoveries. the best thing anyone can do right now is to think of them, pray for them and shower them with your love. that's the most important thing. we will get through this. >> also hearing from a man inside the building and across the hall from the movie theater where the shooting happened. he talked about what he heard. listen. >>. >> we were in a movie and an

alarm came on and told us to evacuate to the nearest exit. when we evacuated i saw a woman laying on the cement shot, waiting on the ambulance to get here. then i spoke to another guy who was actually in the movie theater that the shooting happened. in. what he said was they were sitting down right before the movie starting. it was quiet. no argument, nothing. nothing going on at all and a guy just stood up and opened fire. and everybody scrambled ante guy was just kind of at ease standing there just shooting, never really attempting to leave. >> the movie playing was the blockbuster "trainwreck." the movie star has reacted on twitter. amy schumer said my heart is broken and all of my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in louisiana. >> let's bring in our law enforcement analyst cedric

anderson who is joining us at the desk. thank you for joining us. we know the fbi and local police are at the scene. we know they have looked for explosives and they are combing the area. what will they do in the coming hours? >> let me say my hearts and prayers go out to the innocent victims who were injured or lost their lives tonight. it is early in the investigation. they probably have tactical teams going through the theater inch by inch to make sure there are no victims in there, other suspects inside and they will sweep for ieds. that's an important part. once that completed and then investigators will go inside and start to conduct their investigation. so this is very early on in this unfortunate incident that has occurred here month louisiana. >> we are hearing alsole that law enforcement has dispatched officers to different theaters there in lafayette. is there concern, a worry there could be copycat? >> i think what they maybe doing, it appears, is they are

going to be extra precaution tonight in that community. because it is early in this investigation. we don't know what initiated this attack, whether it was a lone gunman or other people that may have been involved, whether it was planned. we don't know. i'm quite sure it appears, from what you are saying, is they are taking all precaution to make sure people in that community are safe. >> what we do know, so far, is the gunman, the shooter in this case is dead. s he is a 58-year-old white maechl what will they look at to determine his motives? >> it is early. once they make identification, which i'm probably sure they know who he is right now. >> that's right, they do. >> it is a matter of looking at his profile, his history, going to his home, neighborhood, talking to witnesses and others who may have had contact with him such as family members prior to this attack inside the movie theater. i think as the hours and the days evolve, we're going to

understand more and more what created this situation here tonight and what is the cause behind it and the reason for it. >> as lynda mentioned we know he is 58, white male. we do not know the identity. law enforcement not releasing that. when do you expect that law enforcement will release that name and why keep it so close to the vest right now? >> here again, it is early in the investigation and you want to make sure you don't compromise this investigation. we don't know what launched this attack on his behalf. they are being smart and deliberate. and over time as long as we are patient they will get that information to us in terms of who the perpetrator is. it is a matter of being patient right now. >> president obama has spoken quite often in the last few weeks about his frustration with u.s. gun control laws. he was interviewed on the bbc yesterday and said if you look at the number of americans killed by terrorism it is less than 100, if you look at the

number killed by gun violence it is tens of thousands. what do you make of that frustration? >> i think the president has a gd point. certainly he's frustrated and many americans in this country are frustrated by it as well, too. what's going to happen -- here again, the whole issue of gun control will come back in to our lives, and there's going to be further talk about it in washington, on the hill, and across this country. because in some ways we're going to have to understand how do we protect the rights of people who have a right to to own weapons and innocent victims as well, too. and how do we make sure guns don't get in to the wrong hands to the wrong people. it's a complex issue in our society. we all understand that. we are very much frustrated. many of us are just as frustrated as the president of the united states and it's worthy of real concern. what we are beginning to see is these types of activities, this

type of violence appears to be happening week after week after week in this country and we can no longer ignore it. so we have to have some hard, spell gent conversations as to how we are going to confront this issue around gun control and at the same time protecting the rights of those, honest, good citizens who use guns in a proper and correct way. >> we are looking at the situation today. just a short time ago, where we saw a situation where a person went in to a church and shot and killed people n. this case we understand this was a movie patron who was inside the theater when the shooting happened. cedric, stay with us. we will come back to you for more insight on this. we appreciate you being with us, cnn law enforcement analyst, cedric alexander. thank you. the shooting in louisiana has a special resonance in the united states. it comes almost exactly three years after a similar deadly shooting at a movie theater in

aurora, colorado. there 12 died and 70 wounded when a gunman opened fire at a crowded screening of the batman movie "the dark knight rises." it was one of the deadliest mass shootings in u.s. history. >> last week with, a jury found james holmes guilty of first-degree murder in the sentencing phase of his trial began this week and is expected to last a month. >> it is frightening to think of movie theaters as anything other than safe. >> joining us is brian stelter what can you tell us about the reaction from this theater given what happened? >> we have been trying to reach the owner of the theater in lafayette. it is a chain that has theaters across the u.s. based in new orleans. they have no comment on what happened at one of their theaters tonight. whenever something like this

happens at a movie theater, it does affect the industry and creates concern in the industry and questions about security. you were describing aurora three years ago. it has become one of those atrocities where you say it with one word, aurora. it really shocked the conscious of the country three years ago because so many were killed in such a usually happy, entertaining place. i think that is what is so unique about a crime that is committed in a movie theater. people go there implicitly believing they are safe enough to sit in a dark theater with strangers to be entertained. to in some cases see violence on the screen but know they are safe there. i think once again, people will in the coming hours and days wonder if they are safe when they go to the movie theater. the short answer is yes. of course i will for the most part, when we see crimes like this they are obviously the exception, not the rule. certainly in the aftermath of the aurora massacre, we did not

see a big downturn in ticket sales or a dramatic change in people's movie-going habits. there were changes in security in the wake of aurora and maybe we will hear about that again in the wake of this masds shooting in louisiana. for example, there were more guards in some cases, more security checks at theaters, but we have not seen a real change in the way movie theaters operate. many of the security measures that were implemented were implemented quietly. there wasn't a lot of publicity around them. movie theaters didn't want to publicize them. at the moment, i have a feeling we will see the same reaction to this most recent tragedy. >> we hear from some of the people there that were at the theater and we understand that the sounds they heard, many of them thought those sounds were coming from the actual movie. in fact it turned out to be the gunshots fired either in the theater or nearby. >> that gets to that issue, when you are in a theater, when you are in that darkened room, you believe you are safe. you have to believe you are safe

in order to enjoy the drama or the comedy that you are seeing on the screen. i think it you mentioned earlier we have heard from the star of the movie playing "trainwreck" this is a movie by amy schumer , fast-rising star in hollywood. she reached out via twitter and said my heart is broken and my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in louisiana. you can understand why she felt the need to say something when it was her movie that happened to be playing at the time of the shooting. most likely a coincidence but because it was her movie you see her weighing in there. there is not much you can say other than to send thoughts and prayers to the people involved. >> brian, you mentioned in the wake of the shooting in colorado that security measures changed in some theaters. do you know which theaters security -- new security was stepped up? do you think down the track possibly we will see metal detectors in movie theaters like

at festivals, music festivals? >> i think what people so clearly appreciate about this movie-going experience is that you can walk right in. i was making a comment to don lemen about how sometimes you go and sneak in to a second movie. there's that ability and behavior that you see in movie theaters because there's no rigid security, because people are free to go about their days and have fun and have a good time in movie theaters. the idea of walking through metal detectors to walk in to a movie theater would reshape that. you mentioned which theaters made changes, the theater in colorado, in aurora was owned by cinemark, that theater company took extra measures in the wake of the shooting there. they have been involved in lawsuits from some of the victims in 2012 some suing saying there should have been stronger security at the time of the shooting. those cases have been working

their way through the courts. the two big chains in the u.s. are amc and regal and they have also tried to take more security measures in the wake of aurora. they try not to publicize them because they don't want to make people concerned or frightened or potential wrong dor doers to know about the changes. it is noted on their website that they make it clear even if you have a concealed permit and you are allowed to gun in the state you are not allowed to bring it to the movie theater. in the wake of an attack like this we will hear about whether people would have been safer with guns in the theater from law-abiding citizens or without them. >> that will be a debate that will continue. at the end of the day, what do you have here, innocent people who went to a movie theater and found themselves in this situation. >> let's hope we don't see airport screenings where you have to take off your shoes to

go to see a movie. >> metal detectors in theaters. brian brought that up. thank you so much for your insights. we heard earlier from lafayette police chief krim kraft who described what his officer saw when they first entered the theater. listen. >> four officers entered the theater to engage the shooter. they did hear shots fired at that time. what they found upon making entry is that it appears that the shooter has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after discharging his weapon numerous times. what we have so far is that we have confirmed two fatalities, the shooter and a number -- >> let's listen. >> confirmed fatality. >> let's listen now to this news conference from jim craft speaking. >> you guys had to be moved

back. we located the suspect vehicle or what we think is the suspect vehicle. there was a suspicious package inside. as a result of that, we had to stop all processing work and all investigation. we have backed out of the scene. the louisiana state police bomb squad is now in charge of the scene. e and has a robot out and they will deal with that. so for now, our investigation is on hold until we are absolutely sure the scene both inside and outside is safe. i'll turn it over to colonel ed monson regarding the state police responsibility. >> thank you for y'all's coverage tonight a lot of moving parts and a lot of information and misinformation and our job is to get that correct. we want to make sure the families themselves s -- the governor will talk about how he has been at the hospital talking to the families.

we want to get as much accurate information out as a possibility. allow us the opportunity for that. wa you saw with the gentlemen running across the parking lot. they located the car of the allege ed shooter who is deceased at this time. saw some stuff in there. a dog hit on three locations of the car. out of an abundance of caution, we brought in the bomb squad. they are at the car now. they see some stuff in there that looks suspicious. that's all it does is look suspicious. also we want to get in the trunk. what you are going to probably hear -- we move out of an abundance of caution werks moved people out of the area to make sure it is safe. officer safety, people safety, public safety is our up most concern. you could hear a sound that sounds like a muffle shotgun blast. that is powder going off. we will probably explode the windows and trunk because we don't want to open it ourselves. we are going to let a robot open it so we can make sure there is

nothing in there that can cause anyone any harm. that's what you will see taking place over the next hour. after that, we will go in to the theater itself. keep in mind, that's a crime scene. we still have bodies in there. okay? the shooter is still in there. and at least one other person. we need to get back in there, make sure that is completely cleared. there's a couple of objects in there, something dogs hit on earlier. we will go in and check those packages out, and x-ray them and make sure there is nothing that concerns us in there and once we get that cleared, that will take another hour or so to do that. here's the deal, as long as it takes it will take because we want everyone to be safe. we will do that and once we can secure the scene, the next step will be the crime lab in there. a lot of information in there we want to make sure we get accurately and the coroner in there to do the job that his office will need to do. that's going to be the next

couple of hours or so. you heard the chief a few minutes ago, there's information on that people are putting out on the shooter himself. here's the bottom line. why would we want to put the information out on that individual until we get all the things we need from him. we need to check out his place, talk to his friends. if there are other concerns there all you are doing is put somebody else's life pos my in danger. that's why we want to get accurate information to you. we will release it as soon as we can. we will verify, the information we have, verify deceased names. we are trying to talk to the families now. we owe them that respect. tolet talk to the families and let them know what happened and systemically work with the chiefs office and his detectives to find out what happened, what brought the guy in there? why did he go in by himself, why did he go to the theater and decide to pull out a weapon and harm individuals and actually

kill two with individuals? we need to find out it. it's going to take time to do. that allowtous d that. as you can see we have public information officers out here. we'll get information to you and answer questions you might have but keep in mind when we leave here we have a lot of people with a lot of work to do. this is going to be the rest of the night. in to the morning before we can clear the scene from a forensic standpoint and make sure we look at each one of those. a lot of experts are on the scene right now. the right people are here. we ask the public to work with us. there's nothing that we believe that has any other concerns past this point. again, there's no other active shooter out there and we don't believe there's anybody else involved. we want to make sure the public understands that which is why we moved the people out, evacuated an apartment complex and a small area to make sure that we get the car completely cleared out and make sure there are no other concerns. what i want to do is turn it over to governor jindal who has had an opportunity to visit the

families and go by the hospital and deliver the message he has. and he will answer any questions you have. >> i want to thank mike, the chief and all law enforcement, federal, state, local working together here. today is a day that not only angers but saddens all of us. this never happened anywhere but you certainly never imagine it would happen in louisiana, never imagined it would happen in lafayette. this is an awful night that brings us together as a kmuchblt we are a cecil yent community. we ask people for thoughts and prayers and let's us shower these families with love. i had a chance to go to a local hospital and visit a with families. i thank the doctors and nurses who are taking such great care of those injured tonight. i want to share with you a quick story about -- a story of heroism, a example of what happened in the theater. i was visiting with several family members and friends. there were a couple of teachers in that movie theater tonight. both of them were shot.

one released tonight. her friend literally jumped over her and her account actually saved her life. if she hasn't done, that the fellow teacher got shot, she believed it would have hit her in the head. both teachers were shot. the second one, the one whose live was saved she had the presence of mind top pull the fire alarm to help save other lives. as we learn more about the details tonight we will hear about acting of selfless heroism people trying to help each other and save other lives. these are two teachers to watch a movie during the last few days of summer we'll be right back, getting ready for the new semester they never majd their outing would be interrupted by this senseless act of violence. this awful tragedy. say saw family members hoping for the best. they were waiting for information on their loved ones. they believed they would be able to make recoveries. right now they want to know and they are waiting for the doctors to tell them that.

they are praying, fearful, anxious. the best thing we have heard from folks all over the country, literally all over the country, now is a great time to send your thoughts, prayers and love. this is a resilient community, lafayette will come together. i can't name every individual and folks here but we have been joined by federal, state, local folks and i want to close by thanking our law enforcement officials. they ran toward danger, not away from it. the first officers could hear gunshots and still ran toward that theater. they do an amazing job protecting us every day. i'm grateful for their heroism in this. i think we will hear other stories from folks inside the theetsers as those details come out. keep those family members in your thoughts and prayers. i know there is a lot of anxiety in the emergency room and a lot of folks waiting to hear good news about their will haved ones. >> we'd like to thank governor jindal on behalf of our community. joey is catching air travel back to lafayette and should be back around daylight tomorrow

morning. our prayers are certainly with those injured and those who lost loved ones tonight. we need to point out and can't emphasize enough that this is a major crime scene. it's a large crime scene that's along a state highway. tomorrow morning on friday, that roadway is going to be very, very busy. please don't take that way to work, if you can take a different route. please allow and respect what's going on here today. this is just the beginning of a very long process as karl edmonson said. respect the families and their privacy. pray for them and the first responders who got in harm's way and saved many lives this evening. we thank you for your outpouring of love and support and the contact we have had throughout the united states tonight. please again to our local folks, pray for our community but take care of each other and stay away from this crime scene. any questions? >> can we ask you the items

inside the theater? what can you say about them that made us classify them as suspicious. >> there is a backpack in there, several items. the dogs initially hit on. that concerns us. we want to make sure we clear -- once we do that we will let crime scene investigators go in there. their job will take some time. multiple shots fired in there. they have to locate each one of the shells. the gun itself, all of that information that we have to build a case on. even though we have alleged shooter that's deceased, we still have to build a case. i think it's out of fairness, all involved. let's put closure to this. i think we began closure with interviewing all that was in there. i think 100 individuals in the theater. talking to the witnesses that were there. and dealing with the local hospitals an also some of the eyewitnesses that saw it happen. so we will have to look at his history and family. that will be part of it. i think compiling it all

together and bringing closure for this facility for this neighborhood and certainly for this city. like the governor said, the first responders were running in. our ambulances, all of those individuals that were going in there because they wanted to do something to save a life. this was an ordinary evening and it became extraordinary pretty quickly. >> you are not identifying the guns. >> police officers will be going, they probably already have and they are working on that now. we have not received any information back on that. >> any information on the shooter's criminal background? i know you are not releasing his name, sir? >> he has a criminal history. it looks like it's pretty old. nothing recent that we found thus far. one of the things that we have to do is make sure that person we are looking at is positively identified as the person who's identity we found. so that's going to take some time. i know there's a lot of

speculation right now on social media and we ask, please don't put out any information that could put our officers in harm's way. there's a lot of investigation to be done regarding the suspect's background. we certainly don't want to compromise the safety of those officers who may be going to different addresses and locations to learn more about the suspect. >> have any of the victims been released from the hospital? were their conditions upgraded. >> i think one victim was released. >> i personally saw one released. >> one of the teachers? >> yes. >> the injuries range from nonlife-threat ening to critical. we know one victim was in surgery and was not do ing well. so we're getting constant updates from the medical facilities. we do have police officers there to make sure those folks are

protected and we will continue to get updates throughout the night while we work this scene. >> can you give us any -- >> when will people be able to return to their homes in the condominiums? >> that is going to take time. once we clear the car and let the technicians actually work the crime scene itself. probably several hours to get that done. i don't want to put a time limit on it because it is about safety. it won't be open or allowed to go back until they are absolutely safe. that's why you will hear the noise, that is strictly us working and making sure -- i'm not going to put a trooper in there to open that trunk. it's going to take a while but openfully we can do it as quickly and safely as possible. >> the suspect entered was he alone, can you explain how you know that? >> we think he was alone from eyewitness swres interviewed already. no one reported seeing him

sitting with anyone. he appeared to be by himself. >> can you give us any ages of the victims? >> the ages range from the late teens to probably in to the 60s. >> how about those -- >> we're actually talking to a family right now. let's give that family a chance to get the information out there. i think that's important. that's closure for the family. that's horrible situation for something like that to happen. it is important for us to i.d. the bodies in there. we have done that and they are actually talking to the families now. >> we have started to make the death notifications to family members who went to the hospital to check on their loved ones. >> you said 100 people were in the theater, was that the entire theater or just the actual movie theater where the movie was going on? >> we don't know the exact head count inside of that particular

theater itself. i was told when i arrived on the scene we had about 100 people to interview. >> any motive? >> not yet. this stuff leaves you wondering, why would a guy come in to a theater in this city -- we have a relatively safe city. and just randomly start shoot something it is hard to figure out. he's deceased. so we may not know. >> how many weapons did you recover? >> we haven't recovered any yet. >> guys we have to stop this press conference. the next will probably take place once the building is accident occur and cleared. okay. we will let you know when that will take place. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> the bottom of the hour and you are watching live news conference from lafayette, louisiana. let's update our viewers in the u.s. and around the world on what is happening there.

the shooting happened just after 7:30 central time, 8:30 eastern time in the city of lafayette. that's when investigators say a man walked in to a theater, opened fire killing two people and then turning the gun on himself, killing himself. so three dead overall. seven injured. we will continue to follow the story and bring you the latest developments as we learn more here on cnn. stay with us. snoo right back after the break. . if you can't stand the heat, get off the test track. get the mercedes-benz you've been burning for at the summer event, going on now at your authorized mercedes-benz dealer. hurry, before this opportunity cools off. share your summer moments in your mercedes-benz with us. and it comes with thsomething different. ♪

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welcome back to our viewers this the united states and around the world. breaking news out of lafayette, louisiana, a shooting that took place inside of a movie theater there. officials say a gunman walked in to a movie theater as a patron,

then opened fire killing two people and then turning the weapon, the gun on himself, killing himself. at least seven other people injured. this happened just after 7:30 tral time, 8:30 eastern time. the shooting in lafayette, louisiana. at this hour an active crime scene. we understand that investigators located the alleged shooter's vehicle. they noticed a suspicious package inside. and now the bomb squad is in charge of the scene. they are using a robot to go to that vehicle to determine what is inside. until that happens, the crime scene is basically on hold, suspended until they can determine what the case is with that particular car. also important to point out, this is the time where investigators are making death notifications. again, remember two people killed and we understand that the injuries range from critical to nonlife-threatening and one

victim released from the hospital recently. >> we heard from the local governor, bobby jindal who has met with some of the victims in local hospitals there. he spoke about a couple of teachers who he met. he said one actually thought they were going to be shot in the head. another dived across to save that teacher. of course, they were just hoping to go for a casual night at the movies toward the end of their summer break before returning to school. so some stories of heroism coming out of this as we speak. we still understand that there are -- two bodies of the victims inside the theater as well as the body of the gunman. the coroner is on the scene, but as we said, the crime scene is in lockdown at the moment as the bomb squad moves in and assesses this suspicious package in the gunman's car. we are going to go to a witness

who is joining us on the phone. she was in the theater. paige, explain to us what happened. what unfolded as you were there at the movie and i understand "trainwreck," the film was just about to start when this shooting occurred. >> i wasn't in the same theater as that movie. i was in the one next door to it. all i could hear was people screaming. and then alarms set off for us to exit. as we were leaving, everyone was running out and i seen the people who got shot, i seen one lady with a gun wound to the leg and they were taking her to the planes and all i could think is just run for your life. i went to my car and sat there. we got out and left. >> when that fire alarm went off, did everyone start to run out of the theater? >> yes, ma'am, fastly.

we had got word -- we had got word while we were sitting in there there was a shooting because a lady sitting not far from me got a call her friend couldn't come inside because they locked the doors because there was a shooting. she asked if we had a weapon to protect ourselves and i said, no, ma'am, i sure don't. pause i didn't know for sure and we heard the screaming from the theater next door. and we just started running out once we heard the alarm. >> paige, we heard earlier from your governor there, bobby jindal about who set off that alarm apparently. we told the story also but a teacher who apparently -- >> yes. >> -- jumped atop another friend to stop a bullet from reaching her. this woman was shot in the leg. as you mentioned you saw someone shot in this leg. apparently still pulled off the fire alarm to let people know what is happening.

i just have to ask you, so you get out of the theater, and you get a sense of what's happening, what's going through your mind? >> scared. very scared. it was like reality set in real quick. >> yeah. >> did you know immediately what had happened? did you know there was a gunman in the theater next door? >> yes. because like i said the lady sitting not far from me had gotten word there was and right after she said that we heard screaming. so we all just kind of panicked. there were seven or eight of us in the theater and we started running once the alarm went off. >> have law enforcement officers spoken to you? i understand they have interviewed 100 witnesses? >> yes. >> so you have provided details on what you saw? >> yes, ma'am. >> paige, thank you for joining us. >> glad you are okay. >> glad you are safe.

we're going to continue our coverage of this shooting and speak to a law enforcement officer after the break. stay with us. music: etta james "at last" (plays throughout) ♪ sometimes, at last doesn't happen at first. ♪ ♪ your dad just kissed my mom. ♪ turning two worlds into one takes love. ♪ helping protect that world takes state farm. look at us...ert a nation of checkers. missing this moment... to check all of the other moments. really, mom? just one look. they'll never notice. checkers, you can keep failing at trying to sneak a peek. or, you can change the way you check your phone.

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welcome back. covering breaking news of a shooting at a movie theater in louisiana. we will bring in a reporter with the canadian advocate. she's live at the scene. before we get to the details about the shooter, take us through how this unfolded. i understand the movie was just about to start when the kbunman opened fire. we are learning about the details regarding the victims and a press conference has just got underway and they have explained some of the injuries. tell us what you nikne you know. >> nine people are injured, three are dead including the gunman. and a press conference just

ended with governor jindal. one of the injured was in critical condition and under going surgery. other than that, police are processing the scene. they found the shooter's car, what they believe to be the shooter's car and suspicious package within. they are soon going to detonate that. they have escorted the media away from the scene. other than that, we have no new information. >> we heard that, you know, the officers -- we might hear something around that car, given what people heard obviously earlier in the day at that movie theater i'm sure people are a little jittery but officers said we could hear some sort of detonation near that car as they try to determine the nature of this suspicious package. if you could also tell us, you know, what's the situation right now with people who did manage to get out? do you see people still there talking to officers. ?

we understand they will be talking to at least 100 people, witnesses. >> correct. people are still here, inside the theater from what we understand. we don't know how many people are still at the theater. a lot of people at the hospital. i did talk to some people who were in an adjacent theater right as the shooting was happening. a teacher in the theater where the shooting happened according to the governor, a teacher pulled the fire alarm after she had just been saved by her friend who jumped in front of her to stop the bullet from hitting her. >> right. >> a remarkable story. she pulled the fire alarm so everyone evacuated the theater. i talked to three men who when they walked out they saw a woman on the ground covered in blood and police interviewed them. they have interviewed everyone who was at the scene at the time and i believe they are still conducting interviews right now. >> we understand the gunman is a white male, 58 years of age. i understand, according to the

press conference that just happened, his body, along with two of the victims is still in the theater. is that correct? are there people inside the theater as they cleared the scene while the bomb squad gets in to do their work? >> from what i understand, the scene is still as is. they are still processing it. i have no word they have removed the victims from the crime scene. they are still processing it. the coroner is still inside. >> you know, i can only imagine, you know, what the mood is right now, given what happened there. i mean what people are saying, these survivors who were lucky enough to get out of that theater. >> well with, they are in shock, of course. this is an area, metropolitan area, some of it rural, less than 200,000 people. it's shocking to everyone here. there are tons of people in the streets just standing around, trying to get information,

trying to understand what is happening, showing support here in lafayette. >> we appreciate your insights reporting on the scene. stay with us. stay in touch with us and we will get back to you for further updates. >> thank you. we will go to a witness, kiefer sanders, who is joining us on the phone. he was across the hall from the movie theater when the shooting occurred. just take through what you saw and heard when this happened. >> well, we were across the hallway from the movie theater. probably about 11:30, our movie had just gone through the opening credits and maybe five minutes in to the movie when an emergency alarm went off. the screen went black. kind of like a psa announcement went over saying evacuate the building at your nearest exit. that's what we did. we evacuated through the back of the theater. probably around 100 people around the back of the theater,

maybe a little more. we walked to the front. the cops were already arriving. got there pretty quickly. they had a lady who had a gun wound to her leg laying on the sidewalk in front of the movie theater. and then the cops rushed in to, the front door. once they got together. the guy who was actually in the theater of the shooting, he said it was a quiet thing, no arguments, nothing going on and the guy just stood up and in a normal manner started to open fire. >> that's wa we have heard from law enforcement officials that this gunman, per witnesses, was a patron, was a movie patron. was in the theater and then, as you mentioned, just started to open fire. what more can you tell us just about, you know, when you heard that alarm and people started to

rush out, i mean was it a pretty kay ott i don't thinkic scene? i would only imagine it was pretty scary. >> it really wasn't very chaotic scene to be honest with you. whenever the alarm went off, everybody stood up and went through the back door. concerned but nobody was running around or anything. nobody knew what was going on. a few people suspected there was a fire or something small like that. once we got to the front of the movie theater we realized it was a shooting. >> a lot of confusion there at first. kiefer sanders, we appreciate you talking to us tonight. we hope to talk to you soon. thank you very much for your time. >> okay, thank you. >> we're going to take a quick break and be right back with more on this shooting in louisiana. the promise of the cloud is that every organization has unlimited access to information, no matter where they are. the microsoft cloud gives our team the power to instantly

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breaking news out of lafayette, louisiana, a shooting inside of a movie theater. at this hour, still an active scene as investigators now have the bomb squad in place checking on the suspect's vehicle. they found a suspicious package in that vehicle, and we understand they will use a robot

to detonate that suspicious package. let's bring in cnn law enforcement analyst cedric alexander who is now joining us. talk to us about that procedure are. obviously these investigators say until that happens their investigation is on hold until they know it's safe because they found that suspicious package. >> absolutely. they have to move very slowly, methodically. we still have police officers and law enforcement officials out there that have to be protected. if they have located, of course, a suspicious item inside of this vehicle you can pretty much rest assured they are going to be very cautious and take all of the necessary precautions in order to safely detonate that item, whatever it may happen to be. it may turn out to be false. it may turn out to be something real. nevertheless, safety becomes the most important thing here for all of those involved. >> we have learned that the gunman, the 58-year-old white

male, according to witness reports who spoke to police, he was a patron at the movie theater, but he seemed to be alone. what indication does that give you about this person. >> here again, as we learn more in to the night and the morning hours, we will learn more about who this 58-year-old gentleman is and what was his motivation and history, in terms of criminal history and psychiatric history. so a lot is still yet to be determined. it's not unusual for anyone to decide to go to a movie late in the afternoon. >> but if he was alone, it potentially rules out a domestic dispute. >> it very well may. we don't know who he was there to meet, or if an altercation may have taken place. it's way too early to tell. here again, i believe as the hours continue to move forward a lot is going to be unveiled in this investigation pretty rapidly.

>> cedric alexander, we appreciate you being with us. to update our viewers around the world, the shooting that happened in lafayette, louisiana, this is a shooting where two people were shot and killed, we understand from law enforcement, that the gunman turned the gun on himself, shot and killed himself. at least seven or nine, we heard nine from a local reporter were injured. >> we know the victims who are treated in hospital age from teens to their 60s. one person is in a critical condition which has undergone surgery recently. there are fears for his life. we will have more on this story at the top of the hour. thank you very much for joining us.

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welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. we continue to follow breaking news out of the u.s. state of louisiana. i'm george howell. >> hello. i'm lin da kincaid. the shooting took place 7:30 p.m. local time in lafayette, new orleans. two people were killed and the shooter killed himself. seven are