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tv   The Five  FOX News  September 16, 2013 2:00pm-3:01pm PDT

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this is a fox news alert. continuing coverage of the shootings in our nation's capital. here is what we know. law enforcement officials wrapped up a press conference, at least 13 people are dead, a dozen or so more wounded after the shootings at the washington navy base, the fbi confirmed one suspect is dead and he is 34-year-old aaron alexis from fort worth. they aren't sure if a second gunman is on the loose but they are looking for someone that may have involvement. we have reaction from the president and more. we start with rick leventhal at the press conference which i hear just wrapped up. go ahead, rick, what did we
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learn? >> reporter: eric, minutes ago, the mayor of the city, the police chief and special agent in charge of the fbi office in washington, d.c. giving us details. he went over some of the headlines. we confirmed the identity of the shooter as aaron alexis. they wouldn't give us much information about him, but jennifer griffin at the pentagon confirms he was in fact an enlisted member of the u.s. navy. apparently he no longer is, and we're trying to confirm, find out how he got on the base. we do now have a total of 13 dead, including the shooter, and at least a dozen hurt. some of them wounded, some just hurt in the chaos that unfolded at the washington navy yard earlier today. there are, there were two other possible suspects, one cleared by authorities, the other they're still looking for. a black male in his 50s in an olive drab uniform standing 5'10". armed and seen on surveillance video, but as one source, federal agency told me, these mass shootings are chaotic situations and often people see
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things they think are suspect and wind up being ordinary events. in this case, it would be extraordinary, but someone with a weaponry spondi responding ra being part of it. there were multiple engagements with the shooter during the event. police officers responded to the scene within minutes. local police officers, some on routine patrol, other mass shooting teams coming from other agencies, including u.s. park police and the fbi were on scene, and there were multiple engagements with the suspect that traded gunfire. it was one of those gun battles that led to him being killed. here is more from the fbi on the suspect. >> we can confirm the deceased shooter from this morning has been identified as 34-year-old aaron alexis of fort worth, texas. we have posted photographs of mr. alexis on our website, fbi.gov, and ask anyone with information about him to contact us at 1-800-callfbi.
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>> reporter: the d.c. mayor says his heart goes out to the victims and families. this is the worst incident he can recall happening here, we have seen it other places but never in the nation's capital. the next briefing is in a half hour. >> we heard the senate was on lockdown, neighborhoods and schools were on lockdown. have kids been allowed to leave and go home? nationals game postponed, what's the latest on that stuff? >> reporter: i know people are urged to shelter in place. we were told the house of representatives was not locked down but the senate building was, a number of additional schools had been locked down. it is unclear to me at this hour if the kids have been cleared to go home. >> rick, it is dana. i wonder if you have background or information about what happened when the fbi took over, how was that decision made that the fbi would take over the investigation? >> reporter: this happened on a military base, it is federal property. this becomes the fbi's
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jurisdiction, and there's still questions whether or not it is a terrorism related event. if it was a terrorism investigation, the fbi would in fact be the lead agency and we heard here this evening that they haven't ruled it in and haven't ruled it out. they have to find out who this guy may have been talking to, what his influences might have been, what his motivation might have been. they have given no insight into the motive of the shooter. the fbi takes control, it is on federal land, a federal investigation, may be terrorism related. we just don't know yet. >> rick, bob beckel. was he shooting from a place into a crowded area? 12 people being killed is a lot of people for a single gunman, if it was a single gunman. was he shooting into a cafeteria, a common lounge? where? >> reporter: from witness reports not from authorities here we have been told he may have been shooting down from a third or fourth floor balcony towards a lunchroom, towards a cafeteria area, they also have
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been shooting other victims in a hallway. again, there was a lot of confusion at the scene, a lot of people responding with weapons and multiple engagements with the suspect apparently in different areas of the building. what we understand is some of the victims were shot in a hallway, some were shot in a lunch area and responding officers according to the police chief here said it was the worse thing they'd ever seen. it was a horrific aftermath inside this navy yard building. >> rick, i have a question. one of the reasons why the theory is there could be multiple or additional shooter was not only the video surveillance but witness accounts and also the forensic evidentiary covered at the scene in terms of the ballistics, and initially those reports suggest more than one person was involved? >> reporter: well, you know, that's going to be -- i would think that would take time, the ballistics test to determine every victim, how they were shot and by whom, what kind of weapons were used. this is again something they're not sharing with us here. they won't go into any
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investigative details, it is still an open investigation. but also as you probably know eyewitness accounts can be very unreliable at the scene of a crime. you may have ten people that see something, every one of them will tell you a different series of events that unfolded in front of them. that's why they have to investigate, why they have to piece this together. with the fbi in charge, their evidence response team on scene, this will be an exhaustive piece by piece investigation. they'll photograph every inch of that building and to our understanding clearing other buildings on the site to make sure they haven't missed anything. >> rick, it is gutfeld. i don't want to get into conjecture, but i am curious. did the shooter have any relationship with the man who owned the stolen badge, do we know that? >> reporter: i couldn't tell you. i am hearing a lot of this the first time from authorities here. i don't know how he got on the base, i don't know what identification he might have used. they may have some sense of that
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but haven't shared it with us publicly yet. >> we are going to leave it there, rick leventhal on scene, thank you very much. let's go to national security correspondent jennifer griffin at the scene. do you have more information on the gentleman that was killed, the suspect, shouldn't call him a gentleman, the suspect that was killed, aaron alexis? >> reporter: hi, eric, yes. i just got off the phone with u.s. navy officials. it seems aaron alexis was an active duty reservist, that means he was full-time working as an aviation specialist out at fort worth at the naval air station there until 2011. the navy at this point doesn't know why he left the navy at that point. he did not deploy overseas or serve in combat, did not serve in the war zone. he was working as a simple electrician at the naval air station until 2011. he was in the navy about five years. now, we also are receiving some reports from fort worth, texas, from people that knew him in fort worth, texas, that said he
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was a buddhist and recently just traveled to thailand and served as a delivery man at one point at a thai restaurant in fort worth known as the happy bowl. there are interviews with people at the happy bowl that say they can't believe this is the aaron alexis that they knew. he served as a waiter there at times. he told them that he got out of the navy, according to the report in the fort worth newspaper, he told them that he got out of the navy because he didn't like getting up early in the morning. from what we know from eyewitness accounts, he made his way into the base behind me into the navy yard behind me, a little after 8:00 a.m. this morning, shots rang out, about three shots, he was firing from the fourth floor of that building, 197, into the cafeteria area. eric? >> jennifer, this is bob beckel. i know that area, i used to live near the navy yard.
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it is a very secure, this area where they do weapons, they have weapons development in that building, how in the world do they think somebody could get into that building with an automatic weapon and get through security and get in there and shoot? >> reporter: well, bob, i think what we're hearing and we can't confirm these reports, but the fbi has been out at the home of a man whose id was found on aaron alexis when he was shot dead in building 197 that id appears to have been stolen. that individual does not appear to be a person of interest or a suspect at this point. he has been interviewed down in his home in stafford, virginia. our chad perfect gren has been outside his house, they now left his house. he may have used a stolen id to get on the base. some of the vehicles that come on the base only do spot-checks, they don't check every vehicle coming on base. it is possible that's how he got the rifle, the ar-15 rifle we
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heard about onto the base and into the building. it must have been disguised in some way to allow him. we also know at least one guard was shot, so it is not clear if he shot him on the way into the building before he started wreaking havoc on the cafeteria area. >> it is dana. i want to ask about the victims. there are 12 confirmed dead, many others wounded. we haven't seen any photographs or have any names and there's probably a mix of people, civilians or local law enforcement like the washington, d.c. police officer and then possibly some military. do you know when we will start finding out about the people who were the victims in this tragedy? >> reporter: well, dana, i think the reason we're not learning more about the victims is they're still trying to locate their families. they have a place near the baseball stadium behind me where the families are being brought and being counseled and they're
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trying to not release the identities at this time. we do know some of the metropolitan police were injured in the shooting. there may even be one fatality according to the d.c. police chief, but what we do know is that inside that building 197 here at the navy yard there were a number of civilian navy staff who work on the very, very high tech navy systems. where they design, procure, build the ships and submarines and other weapon systems used by the navy. there was a mix of civilians, contractors and navy personnel, and then of course first responders that went in. kathy lanier, d.c. police chief, says they were on the scene in two to three minutes, her d.c. police and inside the building going towards the gunman within seven minutes, dana.
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>> jennifer, what's the latest you're hearing about there being another shooter. i was discussing earlier with rick about surveillance and the fact that officials were saying some weapons weren't accounted for. that's based on some casings found from the discharged weapons that were around the victims, perhaps there were other weapons not found with the shooter's body, the deceased, they wonder if others left with another suspect? >> reporter: well, i think what we know is that originally they were looking for suspects, they had physical descriptions the d.c. police chief put out. they cleared one, found him, identified him, and cleared him. the second person we know from the most recent press conference is an african-american mail between 40 and 50 who is also in military garb, not necessarily
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official military garb, and he is still on the loose. at the press conference moments ago, mayor gray said they saw the man with a long rifle in the video cameras that were at the entrance to the navy base, so that's why they're looking for this person of that description but there's no evidence at that point in time there was necessarily more than one shooter that caused those 13 deaths at this point. >> i was just wondering, jennifer, is it possible that the people that are investigating are actually investigating themselves because they may have been seen out there and find out later it was just another officer? >> reporter: look, anything is possible, you know how fluid these situations are, we saw it with the boston marathon bombing how, you know, they turn out to be okay later. it is out of abundance of caution they're looking for the other suspect, if you will. they're not saying that suspect was necessarily a shooter.
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at that point in time most of the reports indicate there was a single gunman, single shooter. we have a little more information about aaron alexis, we're getting this from a fort worth newspaper that interviewed some friends of aaron alexis. we understand that he actually was charged in 2010 with the unlawful release of -- he fired a weapon in his apartment and the weapon, apparently the gunshot went through the ceiling of his apartment and narrowly missed his neighbor downstairs. she's interviewed by a fort worth newspaper reporter saying back in 2010, in fact, she filed a report with the police and lived below aaron alexis. he often complained about noise and then lo and behold she was sitting in a chair one evening and a bullet came through her ceiling. >> jennifer, i found it interesting 13 people are confirmed dead so far, exact same number as fort hood.
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we also heard, maybe you can confirm it, 9:22, an hour and two minutes after the initial reports of shots fired at the navy yard, department of homeland security came out, made a statement, statement or e-mail, not sure, saying there's no connection to terror. did you hear that, do you think they jumped the gun on that? >> reporter: what we did hear, we heard d.c. mayor vincent gray say in press conferences today that in the beginning or as of now, excuse me, as of now there is no indication of any terrorist links. now, they aren't ruling it out. they're still investigating it. but even just, you know, it is very difficult. under the circumstances it is so sensitive. of course there's still the open wound of the fort hood shooting where they called it workplace violence, even up until the day of the trial in which it was very clear that major nidal
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hasan was motivated out of his desire to do a jihadist attack. we have no idea what the motive of aaron alexis, this person that left the navy in 2011, is. >> we will leave it there. thank you, jennifer griffin. stay with fox news for live continuing coverage of the shooting through the evening. plenty more ahead on "the five." ed henry is monitoring the situation from the white house, greta van susteren is on the scene and we will have an update on the wounded. be right back. >> are you guys okay? okay. i love you, too. bye. >> is that who you were looking for? >> yeah, that's my husband. he's okay. they just got out of the building safely. they heard gunshots all morning. got out safely. they're being debriefed, he is trying to come meet me now. >> must have been nerve wracking for you all morning. >> yes, it was the worst morning imaginable. i want to find him safely now, give him a hug, tell him i love
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yet another mass shooting, and today it happened on a military installation in our nation's capital. as this investigation moves forward, we will do everything in our power to make sure
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whoever carried out this cowardly act is held responsible. obviously we're going to be investigating thoroughly what happened as we do so many of these shootings sadly that have happened and do everything we can to try to prevent them. >> that was president obama earlier today reacting to today's shooting and ed henry is in the swaituation room from th white house. can you tell us about the developments from the white house point of view? >> reporter: good to see you, dana. bottom line, the president was briefed by top aids, particularly homeland security aides, to be getting on top of the situation, one of the most important things they try to do in any situation like this, mass shooting, make sure local law enforcement works seamlessly with the federal government, since this is an active crime scene. local officials say there could
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be another shooter or more at large in washington right now. so that's the first part. the second part is the president had an event that was supposed to be another pivot back to the economy, shifting from syria to say he is focused on domestic events. at this event today he made another pivot, which was to attack republicans over the budget. but before he got to that, he did pay tribute and honor to the victims. take a listen. >> they know the dangers of serving abroad, but today they face the unimaginable violence that they wouldn't have expected here at home. so we offer our gratitude to the navy and local law enforcement, federal authorities, and the doctors who responded with skill and bravery. >> bottom line is that -- i pressed jay carney on the tone of this. later on after saying that, the president charged there's an extreme wing of the republican
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party that in his words wants to tank the entire economy. i asked carney whether or not that was appropriate while the manhunt was going on. he said they did not think about cancelling the speech, that there's a lot of pressing budget issues now, and as much as he wanted to honor victims, he wanted to make sure and keep pressure on republicans to get the budget crisis solved as well, so he obviously is juggling a little of both. >> certainly considered a curious choice, but bob, you have a question. >> it is bob beckel. we were asked to not have you speculate on anything, let me ask you to speculate tonight whether there will be a white house event scheduled for tonight. is that still going to be on? >> reporter: they're having an event scheduled with the first lady and the president honoring latin music. every indication is that that's moving forward, it is not speculation to say they're planning to do that. >> good. you saved me from being outspeculated. >> we are going to eric now. >> more of an observation, maybe i can bring in dana on this.
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this shooting happens, there's a speech that was written, and clearly the second half of the speech attacks the house republicans for not playing ball with the president on some things that are economic. dana, is there any way the president pivots from that speech and says i am going to discard that, let's go with a more, i don't know, bipartisan discussion of the economy? >> always a judgment call when things are unfolding. i think my advice would have been to go ahead and cancel it. maybe people suggested in the white house that they cancel it but they went forward with it. at the time he was giving the remarks, we didn't know 12 people had been killed. maybe the white house knew, but i think it was a judgment call, i would have gone the other way, but they don't typically call for the advice i provide. kimberly, do you have a question for ed? >> i do in terms of white house reaction to this. so far we haven't seen them label it as a specific incident like domestic terrorism or workplace violence, and then the other cause for concern is we saw this happen at fort hood,
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now our naval base, what are they thinking they should be doing about securing our bases and securing the navy yard, why wasn't this more secure in light of what happened at fort hood? >> reporter: on the last point here, that's a major issue. the fact a military base someone was able to get on, early reports are that perhaps the suspect stole someone else's id and that led to confusion as to who he actually was, his identity and what not. having been on andrews air force base, dana has a lot, with brush, i go there a lot with president obama. it is extremely hard to get on a base without going through several checks. that's eye opening. this is an installation i believe, not a base, but it is still shocking that it could still happen. there's going to be a heavy investigation of that. the other question about fort hood, jay carney got the question whether there was any indication of terrorism in his daily briefing. he said he didn't want to speculate. it seems wise today since nobody has all of the information.
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you're right, there's still on-going controversy with fort hood, but the administration classified that as workplace violence, even though there are other signs in that case that suggest it is terror. >> and greg. >> who is armed and not armed in places like these? are there a lot of people that are packing or just a few people? >> reporter: i'll give you the example of andrews air force base when we go and fly somewhere with president obama. there are a significant number of military personnel there who are armed, and thankfully i've never seen an incident anywhere close to this at a place like andrews. we travel with the president around the country and around the world to u.s. military installations. i have always seen them to have a heavy security presence, so how he was able to get through what i would anticipate would be more than just one checkpoint is something that's going to be looked at closely. >> all right. that's all the time for you. thanks for being with us. directly ahead, greta van susteren is on scene at the washington navy yard and she's
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going to join us. >> i was on the fourth floor when the shooting started. we saw, heard sounds that kind of sounds like a muffled gunshot, didn't know what it was. had people running in the hall ways, telling everybody to evacuate. then the fire alarm went off which is the way to get everybody outside. we picked up radios in the sections where they helped evacuate and get people out. once we got people outside to the back of the building, evacuated up to one area that was closed off, we have gates for the base, moved them the other way, then i was outside there when another person was shot in the alleyway. yo, yo, yo. aflac. wow. [ under his breath ] that was horrible. pays you cash when you're sick or hurt? [ japanese accent ] aflac. love it. [ undehis breath ] hate it. helps you focus on getting back to normal? [ as a southern belle ] aflac. [ as a cowboy ] aflac. [ sassily ] aflac. uh huh.
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panic, trying to decide which way we were going to run out, the workers in the cafeteria wanted us to stay in there and hide, but i just ran, a few of us ran out the side
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exit. there we saw the security guard, she told us to run to shelter, keep running, she had her gun drawn. someone had pulled the fire alarm, that's when i heard police, mps, everybody coming out. >> what did the shots sound like? >> like pow, pow, pow. we just ran. >> welcome back to "the five." continuing coverage of the breaking news, a mass shooting in our nation's capital. greta van susteren is on scene and joins us now. what have you learned? >> reporter: first of all, greg, i have been here since early this morning, peter doocy was here about an hour and a half ahead of me, it has been a day of absolute hell here. i have covered a lot of these, i was in newtown, aurora, virginia tech, i covered all of them, they're pretty much the same. they're all just a horrible nightmare. you have citizens that just went off to work, in this instance
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12, 11 americans thought they were going out for a busy day at the naval yard behind us. this naval yard has incredible history. it was built in 1799 and it is a beautiful naval yard. it is on the coast of the potomac river across from reagan national airport, and suddenly about 8:20 in the morning, the most horrible thing happened. some man we now know his name, he has been identified, somehow he got inside this military installation, and the rest of us are sort of scratching our heads, how in the world did he get in? we are often times in washington trying to get to military installations when doing our ve stopped. you go to andrews air force base, it is incredible to get into. how he managed to get in there is beyond us. he went apparently to the fourth floor, fired in the cafeteria, started killing people, on the third floor did the same, people were hiding under the desk, in different rooms, most have been held all day today in buildings surrounding us because they were looking for what they thought
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were two other gunmen. now i think they're looking for a gunman. helicopters are overhead, the media assembled, and we're waiting and waiting. about an hour and a half ago, they started to let people leave the building. in so many instances, they leave the building, walk past the media, we say do you want to talk to us, no, they don't want to talk to us, they look shell shocked, they don't want to talk about what happened. i spoke to a captain, he knew someone killed this morning. unfortunately, there seems to be a blueprint for these that the people start their days in a very ordinary fashion and then some very horrible things happen and here we are now, greg, and the gunman is dead, we don't know why. we are going to continue to dig for more information. >> hi, greta, it is kimberly. i wanted to talk to you about the immediate aftermath of the shooting and investigation. as you and i know from covering so many of these unfortunate shootings that you have to really secure the crime scene because evidence, weapons or
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potential accomplices can exit before you have a chance to secure it. i know they had the opportunity to talk to some people. one individual in particular that they decided was not involved was released. what can you tell us about that? >> i don't know much about him. it was really a mad house here. we had a number of police agencies responding to the scene. i might add, kimberly, i don't think all of the bodies have been removed from the building behind me because it is as you say an investigation. every time there's a forensic investigation, they don't want to disturb it until everything is determined, which means coming to the scene, photographing, identifying. we can't get inside the building but i suspect forensics experts are in there trying to figure out what went on there, where each shot was fired from. they're essentially reengineering the crime to figure out what could have happened. and it is a possibility, it seems almost unheard of. by the way, you may see the
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activity behind me, and the noise of siren, i suppose that's secretary of the navy that arrived at the scene, because there's not a lot of activity. the helicopters have stopped. it was unbelievable, all of the helicopters that were circling, trying to figure out if there were two others involved in the shooting, and looking for them, there was a lockdown here, that has pretty much stopped, so that has changed. but so many unanswered questions right now, and even who is this guy? why would he do this? what was his beef? i hope by the end of the evening we'll have a lot more answers. >> greta, this is bob. i lived in the washington area a number of years. these facilities are very, very secure. excuse me. how in the world do they think this guy got in there with that kind of weaponry and not be stopped? i still find that mind boggling. >> reporter: well, there's a suspicion, i underline, that he
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had help. maybe he got the weapons from someone he shot, maybe he got it from someone in security, not help but someone he overpowered. what i am told it is a turnstile, even i can jump one of those. it may have happened so quickly that nobody knew what hit him when he came through the front door. you know, we get complacent, we get used to things not going wrong, and we expect people are going to show and flash badges and go into the buildings and you don't expect something like this to happen. i suspect it took everyone by surprise and unfortunately he was very well powered, had lots of weapons and he did the unthinkable before anybody had a chance to stop him. >> greta, it is eric. trying to figure out, this is called building 197, i believe. trying to figure out why he chose this. seems there may be a lot of people in the building. is there any indication he knows that from the inside? was he there, did he spend time
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there, knowing that's a building he may have opportunity to have a lot of victims? >> reporter: he is a reservist. as i understand it, his reserve duty, when he is active navy, he wasn't here, and as reservist, he was in texas. what i don't know and i think that's why the story, we're just getting pieced together as time marches on, whether or not as a naval contractor he had more information. i underline the fact that we're really sort of flying blind at this point because this caught us all by surprise, who this guy is, why in the world he would want to do the unthinkable, so i can't give you that information. i suspect as the hours go on, we're going to get a lot more information about him. i've actually seen videos from in texas where he lived of some friends that have given us a little more information about him. it is always the same picture, he was a nice guy, et cetera, et cetera, isn't that nice a guy, he came in and murdered all of these people. but we're starting to get more information on him, and it will take hours before we can answer questions like that.
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>> greta, i know we're running out of time. i wanted to ask. do you think there will be video or photographic evidence that may help tell the story or understand how he got into the complex? >> reporter: i expect there to be a movie of everything he did, a movie of when he came in, a movie when he fired his gun, a movie of when he shot the people. government buildings in d.c. are loaded with cameras. i expect it is all caught on camera. i don't know if we'll ever see it, i don't know if you want to see it, but i suspect it is there. >> thank you, greta, good job. coming up, an update from the hospital where many of the wounded have been treated today. later, fox has new information on the suspect involved in today's shooting. stay with us.
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. .
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the navy family today suffered a terrific attack, and we are a family. the civilians that worked in navy and do the critical work
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that has to be done suffered just a stunning and horrific blow today. >> that was ray may, secretary of the navy on the tragedy in washington today. we want to get an update on the victims. we go to mike emanuel live at med star washington hospital. >> reporter: three victims are being treated here, two women that were civilian employees of the navy and a metropolitan police department police officer. all indications are they are most concerned about the police officer that suffered substantial wounds to his legs, to his bones and arteries. one of the women was also in surgery, she was shot in the shoulder and then the final victim, a woman, shot in the head and hand, and her story is nothing short of a miracle. >> third individual will not have surgery. she is a very, very lucky young lady. she actually has injury to her
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hand and to her head, but the bullet actually did not penetrate the skull, she will recover without surgery. >> reporter: the last update we had all three were upgraded from critical to stable. they seemed surprised they didn't see more surviving victims here, and we are told all three were asking about their colleagues there at the navy yard. kimberly? >> all right, mike emanuel, thank you for that update. we will have more updates on the victims later in the program. let's bring in from the d.c. bureau the former commanding officer of the uss cole. commander, thanks for joining us this evening. we understand you talked to people inside the building and you also have plenty of experience having spent time in that facility as well. tell us about it. >> i did. i was texting the two former ship mates of the naval academy classmate as the attack was on-going, then i spoke with two officers who were actually on board uss cole with me when we were attacked that managed to
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escape the shooter today. >> tell us a little about their stories, i am sure they were harrowing, they were experiencing it in real time and transmitting it to you. >> well, the building the way it is designed is like a large square multiple story with atrium in the middle. as you go up, a lot of steel beams. as the rounds started going off, it was echoing, they couldn't tell where shots were from, they knew it was bad, ordered people get out of the building and go down or shelter in place. >> commander as a service member at the facility, are you allowed to carry a firearm? >> no, you're not. they have security and armed people at the gate, they have patrols around the base itself, as you go into the building they have armed security there, and for every indication that we have, he shot his way into the building and then began to access the different floors. >> commander, bob beckel. just on that point, this is the most secure as i understand it, the most secure part of the
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naval facility. it is where some weapons systems are developed. how is it possible, how is it possible for somebody to get into that building with a high powered rifle like that or rifles and a handgun, maybe a shotgun, and get away with something like this. does it tell you that security is just lousy? >> well, the biggest thing, bob, is when it is secure, it is secure for classified information. he had to shoot his way in and shoot his way up the stairs to get to the third floor and begin his rampage. >> dana has a question. >> commander, i wonder if you could tell us if you heard about the moment when the suspect, aaron alexis, was killed, if you know anything about how that came to be? >> i have not heard anything about how he came to be and i think only an investigation is going to really tell us how and why he did what he did and how he was eventually taken down by the police. >> quick question, commander, before we have to let you go, about the surveillance videos, how much information is
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available to investigators, perhaps that's why the theory about another person being involved is coming from? >> i think greta is absolutely right. when you come in the gate, you're on videotape, approach the building, you're on videotape, you eniter the main atrium area, you're on tape. there are multiple players of surveillance video that show how he came in, where he parked, who got out of the car with him, what weapons he pulled, how he gained access into the building shooting. >> thank you for joining us, former commanding officer of the uss cole. be sure to stay with fox news through the night, "special report" and fox report in their usual spots. hannity at 8:00, greta is back at 9:00 with a two hour on the record. stay with us. that's why there'e to help replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. ocuvite. help protect your eye health. ♪ unh
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right now, the shooting at the u.s. navy yard in washington, 12 people dead, 13 including the shooter. the fbi's taken over the investigation. tell us why that's important. >> it's significant for two reasons. if i was going to break i.t. down, number one, it's the resource question, by putting it under the auspices of the fbi, they have about 600 agents connected with the washington
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field office here in the city. if they're looking at this third suspect they want to question and they have to cross state lines, that's easier under the auspices of an fbi investigation or a federal investigation. number three, a short time ago, u spoke to a former member of one of the joint terrorism task forces in one of the larger american cities. by putting it under the auspices of the fbi, that was another data point that terrorism has not been ruled out in this case because if it had simply been concluded to be a disgruntled worker at d.o.d., they could have left it under the auspices of ncis rather than making that shift. >> you have a question? >> that's the significance, that piece of information. are we getting any more information about the shooter? so far we've heard some conflicting information. they recently converted to buddhism, not aware of terrorists that are buddhists as well. and why wasn't the id deactivated if it was stolen and
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are they investigating that individual? >> the information we have is his name is now being run at this hour through the databases for homeland security as well as the national counterterrorism center to essentially scrub his background to see if there are any links. there was no connection to terrorism but that's ongoing. they're looking to see whether he operated under any other aliases that would include as a standard operating procedure where where he had a convert name. >> much more to come. ♪
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shooting in washington, d.c. very quickly, the shortest time ever recorded were between when the shootings were announced and the liberals blamed the conservatives. expect full-throated defense of that. >> i hope they do a full and thorough investigation and classify this terrible tragedy unlike what they did in ft. hood. >> since 9/11, the patriot act, washington is the most heavily defended city in the world. it's got more intelligence on top of intelligence used. is it worth it? is it worth the hundreds of billions of dollars we spend on it? i think the answer is no. >> we spent a lot of time talking about aaron alexis. we don't have any names of the
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victims. and i expect that to unfold tonight. and we should say a special prayer for them and their families because they'll be going through hell. >> worst place to read about things like this? twitter. why do people feel the urge to wax political? who cares? anyway, there needs to be a withhold judgment pill that you take. >> very good. we'll have to leave it there. keep it right here -- >> by the way, we didn't say that -- >> i said i plan a full-throated defense -- >> how do you know you're going to have -- >> thanks for watching. stay tuned to fox news for continuing coverage. check out the white house flag flown at half staff.
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pow, pow, pow. a few seconds, it stopped and then, pow, pow, pow, pow. >> there was a man in full fatigues with a long gun running from this sidewalk that way. >> we can confirm that the deceased shooter from this morning has been identified as 34-year-old aaron alexis of ft. worth, texas. >> we saw him raise the rifle and aim in it our direction. >> we were pushing, shoving. people were falling down. it was crazy. >> this is a fox news alert. i'm bret baier in washington.

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