>> reporter: exactly. and the president likes to be his own chief of staff and communications director and press secretary. it's a maddening job for whoever goes into any of these positions but mulvaney is seen as somebody who keeps the trains running on time. that might be what the president needs. >> yes. thank you to all of you for joining us. anderson starts now. good evening, thanks for joining us. the breaking news tonight in america is once again heart breaking. at least five people dead. multiple wounded in a shooting at a news room. the news room at the "capital gazette" in annapolis, maryland. a suspect is in custody. a white male. over the next hour we'll have the latest on the investigation and what we're learning as details emerge. the shooting did just happen about five hours ago. the investigation is in the very early stages. police officials are expected to give an update, a press conference any moment. we'll bring it to you live as it happens. stay tuned for that. tragically the shootings happen so often there's a dangerous of becoming numb.

in the last hour i spoke to two journalists who lived through the mignightmare. i want to play you some of what they told me when they didn't know if they would all live at all. >> where were you, and did you -- what did you first hear? >> so i sit pretty close to phil, and we sit in about the same area, but i don't know what i was -- i mean, i remember i was working at my desk when i heard the shots. and it took a couple of them for me to realize what was happening. and i looked at anthony, the intern, and i said i'm getting out of here, and i grabbed my purse, and i went to the back door which i was only a couple steps away from, and it was locked. and i said it's locked. at that point it was me, anthony, and then john, and

rachel. i'm not sure exactly in the next couple of seconds what happened, but then i know that john was standing up. i heard the footsteps. and he -- john got shot. it was very close. i saw him get shot, but i didn't see the gunman or anything. he fell down, and he never came to our side, but i did hear footsteps very closely, and then we were trying to call 9-1-1, but i'm sure you know the rest of the story. >> we'll have more from both of them in a moment. let's listen to the press conference. >> i want to first start off by saying that we have deescalated the scene. as i mentioned before, our tactical people are out of the building. our investigative people have entered the building and have started their investigation. as we already stated, we have

one person, a white male in his late 30s in custody. and our criminal investigation division, investigators are interviewing him now. he entered the building. this was a targeted attack on the "capital gazette" that is located at 888 best gate road on the first floor. he entered the building with a shotgun, and he looked for his victims as he walked through the lower level. we have secured the building. we are in the process of notifying the next of kin. we have five confirmed fatales and two injuries. the injuries to my understanding are superficial, possibly from glass from the shotgun blast.

we are working on now securing his residence. he does live in the state of maryland. we are in the process of securing that residence and preparing for search warrants. so this is the next phase of this scene, and that is the investigative phase. this is the part that takes the most time. as i would assume many of you have already heard from many other police agencies in the state of maryland and across the country, the investigative process is very difficult. we must be thorough. that's why you will not get the information from social media or from us unless it's been confirmed. we have allowed our investigators to do their job. they are there now, and we are going to continue to provide you with information. i want to to share something with you that i think is

important. we mentioned before about the improvised explosive device. that is not an ied. it was actually canisters of smoke grenades that he used inside of the building when he entered the establishment. this person was prepared today to come in. this person was prepared to shoot people. his intent was to cause harm, and as i stated before, the investigative part of this is going to be thorough, and it's going to take some time. as you can see behind us, we opened up bestgate road. we thought that we may need to secure that roadway for a long period of time. and as we get further into the investigation, we realized that we don't need that roadway. but the building, 888 bestgate

will be secured for some time. i do not have a time frame on that yet. we'll be inside there for quite a bit, until this investigation is complete. when i have more confirmed information, i will share that confirmed information with you. >> you said he targeted specifically this newspaper. what was his beef with the newspaper? >> that's what we're investigating now. >> but there are already reports he had a history with the newspaper a couple years ago. >> that's what i'm hearing, but before we confirm that, i need our investigators to look into that and make sure that's correct. >> does he live in annapolis? >> was there difficulty identifying the man? >> i can't share that with you. it's the first time i've heard facial recognition. >> is he being cooperative and answering questions?

>> i can't answer that. he is at our criminal investigation division. our detectors are down there with him. i've not interrupted them to ask if he's beingcooperative. >> is this somebody who was known to you? >> can you confirm if the suspect had a connection? >> the only connection i can tell you about right now is possibly, possibly through social media. i have no other confirmation. >> as anybody in your department or other departments had issues with this guy. >> i cannot confirm if our department has come in contact with him. we'll have that at a later time as well. >> any comment from my family members? >> is he a resident of maryland? >> he's a resident of maryland. >> you said he was walking and looking for -- >> that's going to be part of the investigation. i can't confirm for you whether or not he knew employees or just targeted the business in

general. >> can you tell us where in maryland he's a resident? >> no. >> when are you able to confirm his identity? >> very soon. very soon. >> was this a sporting shotgun, a tactical shotgun, and can you provide information about the smoke grenades, if there were commercially available or -- >> i don't have that information. they were shot on the first floor. >> deputy chief, there's talk about the gunman trying to hide his identity in certain ways, maybe with his fingerprints burned off and things. can you confirm any of that? >> i cannot. it's the first i heard facial recognition and the first i've heard anything about fingerprints. we have no verification on either. >> were there any threats on social media or directly sent to -- >> we know there were threats

sent to the "capital gazette" over social media. we're trying to confirm what account it was and who sent them. >> when were the threats sent? >> i'm sorry, what? how long ago -- to my knowledge, the threats were as early as today. >> were there broken windows on the fourth floor? >> i can't answer that. the broken windows on the fourth floor, as i mentioned before, we have a two-phase approach. one is tactical. one is investigative. the fourth floor, i'm almost positive they came from our tactical guys. >> were all the five fatalities employees of the "capital gazette"? >> i can't confirm that. >> have you had a chance to see the videos yet? >> we have not. in fact we're pulling them as we

speak. we have property managers here and everybody that's associated with that building. here's the interesting part. governor hogan and mr. shoe, our county executive mention third down numerous times. if you see this gentleman behind me from the red cross, we've had so much support from around this state not only law enforcement but both private and public sector, and this gentleman is one of them from the red cross that has come and just asked what they can do. and that's important for us. we have to take care of a lot of people in a scene like this, not only police officers but our victims, our victim's families, and then we have to get everybody back to normal. right? that's our job. so that's why we have these people here. >> chief, can you tell us anything about how -- >> i can't -- that's part of the investigation. and when i'm able to give that information to you, i will. >> was there any security in place given the fact that they had threats?

>> how about his age? >> late 30s. >> that's part of the investigation. we're looking into that as well. based on the threats, not to my knowledge, no. >> was there any kind of response to a threat? >> if they have, i'm not aware of that personally, but we will look into that, because of the threats an we'll get back to you on that information. >> chief, were you able to take his fingerprints? >> were we able to take his fingerprints? that will be part of the booking process, yes, eventually his fingerprints will be taken. >> there were reports of -- >> i want to be really clear about this, guys. we have no information about facial recognition or anything about his fingerprints. if i had that information, i would give it to you, but we don't have that. >> you guys are trying to verify the social media account. can you talk about the

specificity of the threat? can you talk about the threat? what kind of threats were made? >> what i can share with you know is they were general threats toward the capital as a media outlet. >> was it saying i want to kill somebody? was it harm they were threatening or just saying i'm never going to buy your paper again? >> that's a good question. when i have a information available to you, i'll be more specific on the threats. >> can you say they were violent threats? >> were they involving a specific story? >> no. >> were they violent threats? >> they indicated violence. >> was he targeting -- >> we do not have any -- we have no knowledge at all that he was targeting anyone specific at "the capital". >> was anyone at the capital talk about recently threats. had they personally talked to you? >> no. look, i want to be clear about

another point. the capital newspaper is our local newspaper. we interact with the capital newspaper daily. lieutenant frazier is our public information officer. we have friends at the capital newspaper. we speak with these men and women on a daily basis to get stories out that are important to the citizens of this county. so we're here. we're invested. we're going to get this investigation right. and we're going to come back and we're going to give you credible, confirmed information to answer all your questions. >> when will we have a name on the suspect? >> soon. >> was there a boosted police presence of any kind after the threats were issued? >> no. >> last one. >> i can't answer that. we have two individuals and we have one at another place.

one more. that's it. >> was there any tactical train? >> we don't know that yet. >> will you release the name tonight? just to update you guys, with the next briefing. we don't anticipate further information until tomorrow morning with releasing the suspect's name. there's a lot of investigation that's going on right now. we don't want to jeopardize any of that. again, we just from the police department, we interact with these reporters every day like we do a lot of you guys that are local reporters. i think sometimes in the major events, that gets lost. our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and the victims' families and to friends. these are people that we knew personally. >> if you're just joining us, we heard the latest information from authorities. there were social media threats made. that's the only kind of threats they're confirms ing at this point. one of the threats was made as early as today, earlier today.

the person who is accused of this, they say is in their late 30s. they've not given out a name. they say this was a targeted attack on the "capital gazette." this person looked for his victims. five fatalities. two superficial injuries from broken glass or trying to escape from the shooter. they are in the process of getting search warrants. they have secure third down person's house. they haven't entered the house. they're getting search warrants first. this person had smoke grenades which they used which showed a level of preparation according to law enforcement. in a moment we're going to have my complete interview with two reporters who were there when all of this happened who hid under their desks. their accounts are chilling. we go into a lot of detail with them. we're going to bring you that interview in a moment. i want to bring in our law enforcement analyst, our former fbi supervisory agent, and also

a former fbi agent, and a retired fbi supervisory specialist. police are saying a targeted attack. this is early hours. what stands out to you based on what we just learned? >> that statement was a main take away for me. the question always starts with why did this person do this? what was the motive? was there a connection or was it random? that was the question we've been looking to answer. was it targeted? as my colleague evan perez and others have reported along with talking to some of our sources, there was a connection, and as we've learned police are on the verge of entering an residence while they continue to gather information. that answers that question. the one remaining factor for me is we look at some of the evidence that we've heard, the devices, and obviously the vng who was there walking on the first floor and seeking to take

life. it will be interesting to see whornt t whether or not the conclusion that this was targeted was based on that evidence alone or if the subject is cooperating with authorities. we've talked to sources. we've learned at within point he wasn't cooperative. that can change at any time if law enforcement convinced him it's in his best interest to talk. a lot of unanswered questions. we have this issue of social media. that's something the law enforcement officers will look at anyway in a situation trying to determine what are the means someone uses to communicate. the medium may also have been used as a threat will be of interest to law enforcement officials as this long-term investigation continues. >> james, the shooter was not carrying i.d. according to sources and based on sources that he reportedly wasn't cooperative. there was also a report he had somehow altered his fingerpri s fingerprints. the chief of police would not confirm that. for you, what is all of this saying about the level of preparation? the smoke canisters as well?

>> first, in crisis incidence, inaccurate information is always a problem that we have to sift through. so the chief of clear there. he said we're going to be careful. anything we put out is going to be very accurate. we don't want to put out anything erroneous. we heard reports maybe fingerprints were altered. >> earlier reports also said potential ieds. he corrected that saying it was smoke cannons. >> exactly. i think sometimes for civilians they might think a smoke canister is an ied. it causes fire and smoke. what those things are used for from a military perspective, you use them to signal and to obscure. now, using them in this kind of situation, did he use that as a distraction? did he use it as something that was going to cause fear and pan sni ic? he used a shotgun. the chief didn't say whether it was buck shot or bird shot or a

slug. a slug round is a dangerous round. they're less accurate because it's a scatter gun type device. obviously a lot of people have shotguns for home defense. so probably didn't raise any suspicions that he purchased this. but not the kind of weapon we've seen generally speaking in these types of incidence. >> motive is always important. not yet determined. we don't know why this news room was perhaps targeted. even if the shooter knew any of the victims or editors at the paper. the two people who lived through this who i'll talk to, reporters, distinctly describe the path the gunman took through the news room and where people were and who it was that he seemed to, in their opinion, be looking for. but, again, we don't know yet motive. some threats were made over social media. at this point what do investigators do to try to

determine motive? obviously there's the interview process. whether or not he's being cooperative is unknown at this point. >> right. well, obviously speaking directly with the shooter. she's still alive. -- he's still alive. he'll be able to give them the best information. i think they'll want to confirm this is what it sounds like, but they're going to want to know was he doing this alone? or was this in coordination with anybody or did anybody know about this? and a lot of clues about motive might come from the people around him. friends and family. if he was doing this alone, you know, lone wolf shooters are very difficult to identify and prevent ahead of time, because usually the people who are seeing signs of it are the people closest to this person. and just to relate this back to kind of a bigger conversation that we've had this week about civility and rhetoric, lone wolf actors are often alienated individuals who are looking to displace their anger and frustration onto some kind of

outside entity or enemy, and i think it's worth pointing out that we've had a constant rhetoric coming even from the president that the press is the enemy of the people, that's been repeated constantly, and i think it's worth noting if there is a link, the publication was being targeted that kind of rhetoric can be very dangerous in these times. >> and again, we don't know the history. if this person does have some sort of history with this newspaper, how far back it goes. the police chief was talking about what happens it was years but there was a social media threat made today. joining me is lieutenant frazier. at this stage can you stay whether or not the shooter is cooperating with authorities? >> at this point we're not saying whether he is cooperative or not, but we do have him down at our criminal investigation division. he's being interviewed by our detectives and they're trying to find out as much information as

possible. it's still very early on in the investigation. as you know, unfortunately since we've seen these things happen across the nation, this is the invest ga investigative part. it takes a long time. we have several investigators assigned to this. they're interviewing him and witnesses. we had approximately 170 people inside that building that we were able to get out safely that are all central witnesses. ov our detectives are interviewing them and collecting surveillance from the building and surrounding buildings. we have a lot of leg work to do. it's the tip of the iceberg. we're up to the task and will make sure we get justice for these people who have lost o-- their lives. it's interesting from a pio standpoint. this is our local newspaper. these are people i had personal close relationships with. many of the people in our department have it hits close to home when it's people you know. it's unfortunate, and our

thoughts and prayers go out to them. >> pio is public information officer for our viewers. you talk about a search warrant. you're getting a search warrant right now in order to be able to enter the property. how long a process is that to get a search warrant? >> it kind of depends on the case. at this point we don't have -- we're in the process of that. that's one of the many things that our detectives will continue to do throughout the night into tomorrow. once we're able to identify locations that we believe we have probable cause to go in and get search warrants for, those will be served. >> but you can secure the area around this person's house. is that right? the house or apartment? >> that i can't confirm. i don't have that information. it certainly is part of the process. i don't know if we're there at this moment. but again, certainly part of the process. that's one of the steps, one of the procedures when we obtain a search warrant for an address. >> i talked to two of the reporters who lived through

this. this office was on the ground floor. how easy was it to somewhere enter the building and how close was the news room to the entrance of the building? >> yes. when you enter the build, the news room is on the first floor. it's accessible building. when you walk into the building, there are several other businesses and places of employment. doctor's offices and other businesses. to get in, it's easy, open access. it would have been easy for him to get inside the building. to what extent he knew about the building, we're not sure. we do know at this point this appears to be a targeted event. it's pretty clear from the evidence that's left behind, and with the damage that was done, that he had -- he went into that building to kill people. there's no doubt in our mind with that. he went in there with a purpose. he was engaged very quickly. i believe we were there within a minute and engaged and protected a lot of people in there.

>> yeah. a minute is -- >> we're proud of our officers that got there. >> a minute is an extraordinary response time. just you talk about this as being a targeted attack. and that he went there to kill individuals. to your knowledge, was he targeting individuals? did he know specific people that he was wanting to do harm to, or was it not so directed just targeted against the paper in general? do you know at this stage? >> yeah. i understand. that's a great question. to my knowledge, i don't have specifics of any individual or reporter that he targeted. it is my understanding that he had some type of conflict with the paper in general. so we don't have any information at this point that he was targeting one individual reporter or anything like that. it just seems like he was upset with the paper as a whole. >> can you confirm if the

shooter said something, yelled something, when he was being taken into custody, and if so, what that was? >> yeah. to my knowledge, i don't know of anything that he has said. detectives are continuing to try to get information from him. there's been a lot of information on social media. social media can be a good or bad thing. at this point, it seems like a lot of information, a lot of rumors spreading. has he obliterated his fingers? that's not true. that stuff has kind of spun out of control. we have him in custody. we're talking to him and doing everything we can to try to find out a motive. how long this was planned. there's a lot of questions we need answers to, and we're going to stay at it all night into tomorrow. we anticipate a briefing tomorrow morning with the suspect's name and further informin information. we know it's important to get it to the public. we're a tight community. this was our local paper. we had a lot of good

relationships with them. our hearts and prayers go to the victims and the families. >> you said it's not true about the fingerprints and the chief had said that was the first he was hearing about it. he didn't say it wasn't true. for clarification's sake, you're saying there was no attempt or something to do with fingerprints, altering of fingerprints? >> not to my knowledge. we saw that on social media, and spoke to detectives down at our criminal investigation division. they had no idea where that information came from. that's not true. >> good clarifiation. lieutenant, appreciate it. i know you have a busy night ahead of you. we'll hear more of my conversation with two staff writers at "capital gazette." i want you to hear what they had to say to describe what they saw hiding under their desks. what they saw and heard, that's next.

before nexium 24hr mark could only imagine... a peaceful night sleep without frequent heartburn waking him up. now that dream is a reality. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? let with one a day women's. a complete multivitamin specially formulated with key nutrients plus vitamin d for bone health support. your one a day is showing. look for new one a day women's with nature's medley. join t-mobile. and get netflix included for the whole family. so you can get lost in space in your own backyard... or get pumped up for your grand entrance. only t-mobile lets you watch your favorite movies and shows in more places, without paying more. get an unlimited family plan with netflix on us. and right now at t-mobile, buy one samsung galaxy s9 and get one free.

you always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed?m let's get someone to say it with a really low voice. carl? lowest price guaranteed. what about the world's lowest limbo stick? how low can you go? nice one, carl. hey i've got an idea. just say, badda book. badda boom. badda book. badda boom. nice. always the lowest price, guaranteed. book now at choicehotels.com

♪ ♪ build your next big thing to run in more places, without recoding. the ibm cloud. the cloud for smarter business. the ibm cloud. come hok., babe. nasty nighttime heartburn? try new alka-seltzer pm gummies. the only fast, powerful heartburn relief plus melatonin so you can fall asleep quickly. ♪ oh, what a relief it is! the "capital gazette" is a local newspaper. some of the staff members tweeted earlier tonight it's not a big news room. they're close and family and devastated. one staff writer wrote a tweet and said there's nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload. just before air i spoke with phil davis and another staff

writer. understandably, some of their descriptions are emotional, and there is some strong language. >> i'm so glad you're both safe. i'm so sorry for all that's gone on, phil, if you can, walk us through what you saw, what you heard. i know you tweeted that the gunman shoot through the glass door to the office. >> yeah. so the timeline is -- i'm struggling exactly to remember when it happened. i'm sure police described it, but one gunman shot through the glass door to our office. we are in a shared office building. we're in one of the suites. and started opening fire on several of the employees inside. once he got entry. >> what floor are you on? >> we're on the first floor. and we're relatively close to the main entrance, and as we're a suite that's right near the main entrance. there's a list in the front of the building that shows where

each office is in the building. >> you said he shot through the front door. did you see him, or did you hear that? >> i did not see him do it, but i did see the door shatter. essentially he shot through the front door. the glass shattered. i turned around to see it. once i started to realize that something was up, i didn't know what it was, i just assumed the worst, and kind of hid you should my desk -- under my desk and didn't see anything after that until he was apprehended. >> and phil, you said the initial shot, that you saw the shattering. how quickly after that were there further shots? >> i mean, it seemed pretty instantaneous. he was going down our news room, starting from the front, and yeah. just continually shooting people. at one point i'm pretty sure i heard him reload while i was

still under my desk where he was only a few feet away from him, and i impleerngs it wasn't -- it was not a long event. it certainly felt like an eternity. i'm sure anyone else who went through something like this would say the same thing, but in all honesty, it was probably all of two two three minutes. >> selene, where were you and what did you first hear? >> i sit pretty close to phil. i remember i was working at my desk when i heard the shots. and it took a couple of them for me to realize what was happening. and i looked at anthony, the intern. and i said i'm getting out of here. i grabbed my purse and went to the back door which i was only a couple steps away from, and it was locked. and i said it's locked. and at that point it was me,

anthony, and then john and rachel, and anthony and i got under the desk. rachel went to the door, but she tripped, and i think that's how she ended up getting hurt. and i think she got behind a filing cabinet, and i think john was still trying to get out the door. i'm not sure what -- i'm not sure exactly in the next couple seconds what happened, but then i know that john was standing up. i heard the footsteps, and he -- john got shot. it was very close. i saw him get shot, but i didn't see the gunman or anything. he fell down. i mean, i heard footsteps a couple times. my purse was on the floor just

away from the desk, and my sunglasses were on the floor. and i'm sure i was breathing really loud, and i was trying not to, but i just -- i couldn't be quiet, and he never came to our side, but i did hear footsteps very closely, and then we were trying to call 9-1-1, but i'm sure you know the rest of the story. >> yeah. >> and i know as phil said, selen, time is difficult to tell in a situation like this. was anybody saying anything? was the gunman saying anything? were people being quiet? do you remember the sounds? >> i just remember the shots. i just remember -- i don't remember if it was before or after the shot john said what the fuck, and those are the only

words i can remember. i don't know. i didn't hear anybody yelling. we just from the sounds we knew what was happening. but i didn't hear anything else besides the shots. >> yeah. i would say that's accurate. i think as soon as everyone found out, everyone tried to hide under their desks, but it was clear that he went after some people that were -- >> and phil, i mean, i know you're a crime reporter. i mean, you covered this kind of stuff professionally. obviously it's a different thing when it's you underneath the desk. can you just describe what was going through your mind? >> i mean, i'll tell you when it first started to happen, i mean, you just immediately go into panic mode. you don't know why they're there, who they're going after, if it's random, if it's not family or a domestic dispute or what have you.

you just try to get yourself out of it, and then once i started hearing that he was kind of making his way up the hall, or up the alley way or whatever you want to call it that runs through the pit of desks in our office, just trying to stay quiet, hoping that the glow of my computer screen didn't point out the fact that i was hiding under my desk, hoping that the various buzzings on my phone wouldn't put out my position to him and ultimately try to get -- him try to find out where he was. you know, at some point when i was listening to him reload, it's -- you know, are we all going to die? it's not necessarily is he done. it's is he not going to leave until everyone in here is dead? >> yeah. that was about the same for me. >> and had you, selene, your colleagues doesn't any active shooter training drills, or any

even fire escape kind of drills? >> no. we've just -- no. we cover the drills that happen at the schools. but, like, we've never had one, and -- >> there have been some talks. there have been some talks. we're part of the baltimore sun media group that i know of. i'm not trying to attribute it to anyone, but simply a heightened sense of awareness when it comes to news rooms as to protect their own and the likes. there were some talks before, but we never went -- underwent any of that sort of training. >> phil, had you or any of your colleagues seen the shooter before? >> no. well, i don't want to speak for everyone. we're not all here on this call. i know at least one other person that wasn't in the office, and i imagine others at all were questioned because they were with me at the police department. but when the police showed me

the photo of the guy, i didn't see him until after they brought me into the department. he didn't stand out to me as someone we would have or should have known. >> was anybody aware of any threats made at all to the office? obviously you news rooms are sometimes receive threats. >> not recently. you know what? i've been there for about two years. i don't think we'd ever -- correct me if i'm wrong, se selene -- never any sort of real threats or anything came across our desks to our knowledge. no. >> and -- >> um. >> go ahead. >> i'm sorry. i just -- yeah. i just -- we'd had maybe, like, an incident where somebody was

trying to track our boss, but it was basically blown off as, like, oh, this is just a crazy person. and i mean we went to the police about it. they know about that, and that is not this person. and i have to say that what happened here was very calculated. but not personal enough, i think. i think that this person was going after editors, and i could be wrong. i don't know anything, but that's what happened here. editors died. but -- >> you think that might have been intentional or is that based on where people were sitting? >> i mean, i don't know for sure. it's just the facts. editors died, and that's all i

know. >> the path that he took, and i don't know about selene, i have not connected with some of the advertising people in the front during the time it was happen, but the path that he took, i don't know, john was trying to get out. maybe it was just an opportunistic shot. i know two of the editors that he went after were in a similar position to the other reporters where they were at their desks. >> can you say what he looked like, phil? >> i can -- yeah. police showed us a photo of him once they brought us into the department. he was kind of a maybe late 20s, early 30s. white male. maybe 5'7", 5'10" in height. long black hair. it was kind of unkempt. not a very descript face.

no distinguishing features on the face that would make him stand out in a lineup outside of his hair, really. >> and selene, how are you holding up? >> i watched someone die, so not super great. i was under the desk with anthony, and i think we had a lot of support with each other. i could be definitely, obviously, doing worse, but it's hard for me to think past the next 30 minutes right now in my life. 30 minutes is a long time, and i just -- the answer is not good. right? but i'm here and i'm talking to you. and i know that a lot of people are listening. i have heard that president trump sent his prayers.

i'm not trying to make this political. all right? but we need more than prayers. i appreciate the prayers. i was praying the entire time i was under that desk. i want your prayers, but i want something else. >> yeah. no. it's -- and many people that don't know what it's like and certainly i would never hope anyone to go through a situation like we just went through. it makes you feel powerless. it makes you feel helpless. it removes all control from every facet of your life within only a few seconds once you understand what's happening. this is a situation where these are people that were working in an office doing their job who had no reason, at least to the best of our knowledge to think someone would have a motive, and come down and gun down employees just doing their job that day

who had no seeming motive to hate this man, and were -- to her point about prayers, you know, you're right. i was praying when he started reloading that shotgun that there weren't going to be more bodies. and you know what? if we're going to have a position in our society where all we offer each other is prayers, then where are we? where are we as a society? people die and that's the end of that story. >> this is going to be a story for how many days? less than a week. people will forget about us after a week unless we keep tweeting. i don't really care about tweet right now. people are -- this is -- i honestly didn't even expect to be talking with anderson cooper today. i thought people would get,

like, an apple news notification, and they would just blow it off like what happens to everybody. i reported on pulse when pulse happened. i went to school in florida, and i remember being so upset hearing about the victims who were texting their families and there i was, sitting under a desk texting my parents, telling them i loved them, and i just -- i just don't know what i want right now. right? but i'm going to need more than a couple days of news coverage and some thoughts and prayers, because it's our whole lives have been shattered. and so thanks for your prayers, but i couldn't give a fuck about them if there's nothing else. >> selene and phil, again, i'm

sorry it's under these circumstances, but i appreciate the strength of you post talking. thank you. >> thank you. >> we'll have more on what happened ahead. we'll be right back. mine's way better. this one's below market price and has bluetooth. same here, but this one has leather seats! use the cars.com app to compare price, features and value.

so let's promote our summer travel deal on choicehotels.com like this. surfs up. earn a $50 gift card when you stay just twice this summer. or, badda book. badda boom. book now at choicehotels.com

again, our breaking news, police say at least five people are dead and two wounded at the shooting of a maryland newspaper. other stories happening today. president trump proved again today that the russia investigation is far from his mind. in a tweet he wrote russia continues to say they had nothing to do with meddling in our election. there's the dnc server? why didn't they exam it? why isn't hillary/russia being looked at. the russia investigation was backdroped to an often contentious here on capitol hill today. conservatives squared off against rod rosenstein. it was remarkable on a lot of fronts. we have the details. >> i am the deputy attorney general of the united states.

okay? i'm not the person doing the redacting. >> you're the boss, mr. rosenstein. did you threaten staffers on the house intelligence committee? media reports indicate you did. >> media reports are mistake snchblt. >> who are we supposed to believe? staff members who have never misled us, or you guys who we've caught hiding information and tell a witness not to answer our questions? who are we supposed to believe? >> thank you for making clear it's not personal, mr. jordan. >> reporter: tonight republicans lashing out at the trump apoint appointed republicans who lead the fbi and justice. >> you have received requests that you haven't complied with subpoenas and you got seven days to get your act together. >> reporter: rod rosenstein responding in a rare display of frustration. >> if you're interested in the truth, the truth is we have a team of folks. they're trump appointees and career folks doing their best to produce the documents.

>> reporter: the fbi director christopher wray said hundreds of thousands of pages have been provided to the hill including documents related to criminal investigations. >> for months we've been working with your committees to answer questions and produce or make available to you and your staff over now 880,000 pages. in just the past week, for example, we've had approximately 100 employees working day and night dedicated to this project. >> i didn't think i was going to be spending the first ten months of my job staring down the barrel of a contempt citation. >> reporter: the answers didn't seem to -- trey gowdy spent more than two years investigating the 2012 attacks in benghazi said it was time to end the mueller investigation that's been running for 15 months. >> we are being divided. we've seen the bias.

we've seen the bias. we need to see the evidence. if you have evidence of wrong doing by any member of the trump campaign, present it to the damn grand jury, whatever you got. finish it the hell up. this country is being torn apart. >> republicans also continued to seize on the anti-trump text messages between two fbi officials voinvolved in the initial stages of the probe. >> for them it was an investigation to stop donald trump. >> reporter: democrats argue republicans are only making document requests for sensitive materials now to give the president a pretext for firing rosenstein who oversees the mueller probe. >> they want to impeach you and indict you and get rid of you. they want to undermine this investigation. mr. rosenstein, good luck. we're in the minority. >> jessica joins us now.

there was another exchange between congressman jordan and rosenstein. >> that's right. congressman jordan asked rosenstein, did you threaten house intelligence committee staffers? what jordan was referring to right there was a fox news report saying that rod rosenstein had threatened to subpoena phone and e-mail records of committee staffers during a january meeting. now, the fox report cited staffer's e-mails and anonymous sources. the doj and rosenstein and jeff sessions have repeatedly said rosenstein never threatened anyone. and today at the hearing rosenstein reiterated the fox report was wrong and when jordan pressed again and he asked rosenstein, did you threat ton subpoena phone calls, well, rosenstein responded saying, well, it's not even possible to subpoena calls themselves. that sent the room into a bit of muted laughter, but rosenstein was firm and even said it was wrong for jordan to personally attack him.

so very fiery exchanges, for sure. >> jessica, thank you. coming up, first lady visiting a detention center for migrant children. this is hhs refuses to answer simple questions about the children separated from their families. details on that next. coppertone sport. proven to protect street skaters and freestylers. stops up to 97% uv. lasts through heat. through sweat. coppertone. proven to protect.

we've been looking for answers about the children still separated from their parents along the border. sunlen serfaty joins us now. you asked questions today. what kind of answers, if any, did you get?

where are >> reporter: we don't have many answers. we have no answers as of tonight. we have asked hhs are you still receiving children who have been separated from their parents. they haven't answered that. we asked for a full accounting for the numb number of children reunified with a parent or guardian. and we've asked what are the ages of the children still being held. they have not answered those questions. today we got a new at the same time from an official at hhs. they said only that they are currently holding 11,869 kids. now, that is not something that we asked. that's something that we already knew. that includes this broader number that includes the minors that showed up at the border unaccompanied without an adult in addition to the kids separated from their families. that provides less than we knew a few days ago by grouping those groups together.

earlier today on capitol hill a hand full of senators were briefed by dhs, hhs and the doj about this and senator durbin left that briefing frustrated. he called it sad and embarrassing the level of information they received. here's how he recalled that briefing. >> how many children have we separated from their parents and have in our custody in our government? they said we don't know. how many are under the age of five? because the court order out of san diego two days ago said within 14 days they have to be reunited with their parents. we don't know. well, how many parents can you identify that have given up their children into our government? they said ten. ten. under i.c.e. in custody. where are the rest of them? those are parents of kids under the age of five. we don't know. >> reporter: now, we did receive some new information of the location of the kids.

this was a map i want to show you. this was put together by the dhs, but it was obtained by cnn through a government source. now, this shows where those children who are still separated from their families currently are. you'll see them across 16 states. most of them no surprise there, in texas with 944 kids, and arizona 379. new york 327. a little bit more information, but still by far not a cull accounting of what's going on exactly with the reunifications. >> thank you very much. that's all the time we have. thank you for watching. time to hand it over to chris who has the latest on the newspaper shooting. >> thank you, anderson. i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time". we have breaking news on the mass murder at a small local newspaper in annapolis, maryland, the "capital gazette" paper. the suspect in custody. we have new information and an interview with reporters inside during the shooter. we're live at