the situation into -- victims were transported to the hospital. we're not going to get into any details in terms of the investigation. this is very early on. we will -- i want to thank the alexandria police, the sheriff's office, and the alexandria fire department for their rapid response to the request for assistance and the 911 calls. appreciate their rapid response and certainly it saved lives. at this point, we're going to gather the investigators together and look at what we have and put this incident together. again, it's very early on. and there's a lot of witnesses to be interviewed. once we have more information, we will certainly pass on whatever information we can to make sure that you have the information you need for your work. thank you very much. i'm going to turn it back over to the alexandria chief. >> thank you, chief. we're not going to -- folks,

we're not going to answer any questions at this point because as the chief pointed out, this is an active, ongoing investigation. we call the crime scene hot because we're collecting information and evidence and it would be premature for us to respond any further. in an hour and a half, we will come back together and give you an update on what we can speak to and perhaps answer some questions. we're done right now. this is a stable situation at this point. there's no additional threat. we consider this incident to be a closed incident under investigation. thank you very much. we'll be back in an hour and a half. thank you. >> all right, that was michael brown there. he is the police chief in alexandria, virginia, giving us a few more details, telling us that all of this unfolded just after 7:00. he said they got the call at 7:09 of an active shooter. his officers arrived roughly three minutes later. they exchanged gunfire. five people were taken to the hospital, according to chief brown there. at this point, no word on their

conditions, but the highlight there at the end, telling us that this is a situation, in his words, stable. a stable situation. but the investigation continues. >> and we're starting to see some of the aftermath, obviously, bullet holes. there's a ymca that's right next to this baseball field, and we can see some of the shattered glass there and we've heard some of these harrowing accounts this morning from bystanders, from members of congress who have described such a horrific scene of a man said to be a white male, middle age, coming in with at least one weapon, firing up to 50 shots according to one member of congress, perhaps more. many members of congress have said this was someone who seemed to know what he was doing. one member of congress telling nbc news that the shooter was there to shoot as many republican members of congress as possible. >> congressman brad wenstrop, a

republican of ohio, saying that he believes that the shooter actually ran out of ammunition for his shotgun and grabbed a pistol and was then firing shots from his pistol before being stopped by police. tom costello standing by for us there still in alexandria, virginia, and tom, again, according to chief brown there, this is a stable situation. they appear to have it contained but it's an investigation that now includes the fbi and capitol police, correct? >> i think that was the headline for the people who live in this neighborhood and who are on lockdown, especially the people in the local school who want to make sure that the kids are safe. so, it would appear that this situation is contained and there is no active threat to the community and that the individual shooter we've been told now from multiple sources has, in fact, been taken into custody. we also have reports that he himself was wounded in the exchange of gunfire with police.

we believe it was capitol hill police that first engaged this suspect and then alexandria police quickly arrived on the scene. capitol hill police would have been here because this was an event with members of congress, and of course the gop whip was here as well. and him being in the leadership of the house, as you would expect, he does get a little bit more security than typical members of congress. so we would expect an update, probably, in another 90 minutes or so, but at this moment, we have no reports of any fatalities. we have reports of five people shot, including the shooter and the scene, if you're just joining us, we're going to ask you to essentially look down the street and maybe we need to pivot over here to the left. joe is my photographer. if you are not familiar with the alexandria neighborhood, if you were to go down that street, to the left is the ballpark and then if you were to keep going down the street, you'd eventually hit the river, the potomac river and across the river is washington, d.c. so this is very, very close to the d.c. city limits and as we've said, this is a place where many people who live on

capitol hill or work in the government -- pardon me, who work on capitol hill or the government, who are members of congress or who are members of the media or the government workforce, many of them live in the greater alexandria area, and this ballpark literally just, i would say, 500 yards from route 1, from u.s. route 1. if you're familiar with the d.c. area, that runs all the way down to mt. vernon. that is essentially where this occurred to give you a little bit of a map, if you will, of where this has happened. back to you. >> okay, tom, and i know you'll keep reporting there. we're going to go to casey hunt on capitol hill, collecting information there. hi, casey, what can you tell us. >> reporter: hi, savannah. so this is kind of a developing scene here on capitol hill as people filter in for the day. it's very quiet, typically, here at this time of the morning and there is much heightened capitol police activity. they seem to have moved away now but there were extra officers

stationed outside of the speaker's office. you can hear on the radios the extra security that's being fanned out around the perimeter here and i think people are just very surprised and shocked, in part because this is one of those events that is really designed to transcend what is the day-to-day partisan politicking on capitol hill. clearly, it's a very divided time for the country, and this is an event that's designed to, while, yes, officially pit democrats and republicans against each other on the baseball field, actually be one of those rare instances where members come together, are interacting in a social way, get to know one another's families. one of the other things that congressman costello told me after we spoke to him here was that joe barton, he's another member of the team, a republican congressman from texas, had his son at practice yesterday and i know there are others who have said that potentially family members were attending the practice that happened today. this is, of course, the day before the game was scheduled to

happen, so people's families are coming in from out of town to come together and to watch this game. so, i think that has really shaken up members of congress here and you can feel the mood on capitol hill is one that is very, very somber. >> absolutely. and we've heard reports of many, many members of congress who were there. members of staff and as you mentioned, there has been a report that at least one member's son was there, a 10-year-old, who witnessed this and was -- we're starting to see some video come in. i'm not sure what we're seeing. perhaps this was earlier in the day before these terrible events. >> we should note here, again, this was a baseball practice that was happening around 6:00 a.m. the republicans all practice together for this game at this particular field. meanwhile, at roughly the same time, democrats also practicing as well. not far from where we're looking at here in alexandria.

peter alexander standing by for us at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. we've heard from president trump via official statement, also from twitter as well. we should note here, president trump responding here on his birthday as well, peter. >> yeah, 71 years young today was the day he was hoping to celebrate as one celebrates the age of 71, but instead, of course, he and many members of the washington community and frankly of the nation right now are mourning, even if no loss of life, just an awful day that took place across the river in alexandria, virginia. we are hearing now from the vice president, mike pence, who has put out a statement via twitter. he writes, karen, referring to his wife, karen and i are praying for steve scalise, the capitol police and all hurt for a speedy recovery. our hearts are with them and their loved ones. we're hearing from the vice president's office he was scheduled to speak to the national association of home builders this morning. that was scheduled for 10:00, so less than an hour from now that that speech has now been

canceled. instead, the vice president will head here directly to the white house on this day. at that event this morning where other lawmakers, many of them republican lawmakers had gathered at about 8:30 this morning, they held a moment of silence after it was communicated to the audience what has taken place today. e you were talking to casey. here it appears that lafayette park, the park just in front of the white house, is open to the public but pennsylvania avenue remains largely closed at this time. we have seen what appears at least to me to be additional security, though. the secret service hasn't communicated that there's any change in its posture right now, but we have certainly seen some law enforcement officers, members of the secret service with their weapons in their hands as they patrol outside the gates of the white house right now. no indication that there is any wider threat today. >> thank you, peter. let's stand by there and go over to casey hunt. i believe she has a member of

congress with her. >> reporter: this is -- we're talking to congressman dave brad of virginia. congressman, you were watching these events unfold with your colleagues this morning. what happened? >> yeah, we're in the weight room, and all of a sudden i'm right next to the bike, one of my democrat colleagues, and he points up and scalise shot and from there, the events unfold. we're just told roger williams might have been shot. a couple staffers, a couple officers. and so i mean, it takes a day like this, we just need to wake up. we've got 50 guys without basic protection, and some of the guys, you get up early and love baseball, so they kind of romanticize the thing and they bike off to practice, but then we don't reflect, hey, it's a dangerous world out there. but it was great in the weight room. the part that never gets reported is the -- we get along across party lines. we're all in there. the democrats are showing concern. the republicans, right, everybody's on the same team on a day like this.

there's -- we all get along. so when it comes to the policy and politics, you see us divide or whatever, but just -- it takes a day like this to wake us all up to, you know, look a little higher in life. >> reporter: what should the next steps be? have you spoken with leadership? have you spoken with colleagues who were at this practice? >> well, it's just obvious. if scalise wasn't there, we would have been in real trouble. this guy probably, i think he had an ar-15 or something and he was ready to go. and we couldn't respond in minutes. so we just need to wake up and have, you know, standard protocols in place. and then town halls, it just brings up all sorts. i got 30 sectitexts in like ten minutes from people back home. you okay? so it's a new world right now and we just got to slow it down a little bit, calm it down. >> reporter: a very difficult time. congressman referring to fact that there were capitol police offers on the scene there because steve scalise, a member

of leadership, had they not been there, this may have been much worse than it already is. >> justice correspondent pete williams working his sources. pete, you've got some new information, we understand. >> reporter: there's a little bit of confusion here still on how many people were actually shot. and what their situation is. we know that at least two capitol police offers were among those who were wounded in the shooting today. could have been three. we know of at least two and of those two, we're told by officials that their injuries are not serious, that they're going to be okay. then congressman scalise, and a member of the congressman's staff, and we believe the gunman was also shot and we're told that gunman has been taken to a hospital, but we don't have any information yet on identification information or what the motive was. nor do we know specifically what kind of weapon he was using. everyone who's been an eye-witness who's been talked to has said it was a long gun, a rifle, and it appears that he

fired a large number of rounds, but what the weapon was, what the motive was, is still a mystery to those people that we've been talking to. i don't think, timotat this poit doesn't seem like anybody has the answer to this. normally what you have in a situation like this, when you have a suspect identified, the police or the fbi or the capitol police or whoever takes the lead here, and i suspect many law enforcement organizations will be involved, will immediately go to that person's residence, get a search warrant, conduct a search, look in the car, try to figure out what they can about the back story here and what led to this. but we're many steps before that at this point. >> pete, you mentioned that the gunman was shot and taken to the hospital. any word on the gunman's condition? >> no. no. we don't -- we just don't know very much about the gunman at this point. >> we don't. just what witnesses are talking about and describing, which is a middle aged white man who came upon this scene as pete said many witnesses have described it as a long gun, some kind of

rifle. i think it was senator paul who thought it was something perhaps an ar-15. i'm sure time will tell and we'll have a better indication of that as police have said, this is very much an active scene, a live scene, where they are looking for evidence, though the shooter himself has been detained and reportedly was shot by police. >> pete just mentioned, again, it's early to discern a motive. no stated motive at this point. nothing coming from officials. but we are starting to hear from lawmakers who were on the scene this morning, jeff duncan, who represents the third district in south carolina told a reporter that he talked to someone there shortly before the shooting started. he believes, according to the congressman, he believes he was talking to the shooter and the man asked, quote, is this a team of republicans or democrats practicing? again, that coming from one lawmaker. a similar account coming from another lawmaker as well. >> exactly. and we're hearing from several

of them who were there. i saw one quote that made perhaps up to 25 lawmakers there and a lot of them are coming out and telling their stories this morning. and it appeared to them as they tell it that this was someone who was very deliberate. one member of congress saying this was a person who definitely knew what they were doing. congressman mo brooks, who has given very detailed account of what happened, including using his belt as a tourniquet for congressman steve scalise said there was no doubt in his mind that it was a deliberate targeting of individuals, and we've got tom costello, who's been on the scene from the very early hours of the morning as we watch this video. looks like people practicing. >> this was shortly after it all went down. this is some of the lawmakers and staffers leaving the scene. just after 7:00 a.m. tom, we moved from michael

brown, the chief of police there, short time ago, we were expecting another update, i would imagine, he said some time in the next hour, two hours or so. >> reporter: well, i think the main headlines for us on the ground here are that, number one, the situation is contained. it's still active in terms of an investigation, but there is no active shooter. the lone gunman is in custody after they believe that he was shot. also we have at least one, maybe two, to reiterate what pete said, two capitol police offers who were also wounded in this exchange of gunfire with the gunman, and then we believe, of course, that there may be another in addition to congressman scalise that there may be one other staffer who was shot. five total. if you're wondering why in the heck are members of congress playing softball or baseball just after 7:00 a.m. on a wednesday, because they have this charity event that they're preparing for. that's tomorrow. this baseball game that is an

annual rite of passage between republicans and democrats, and this was a really just kind of a practice run, an early morning practice run, before it gets too hot here and it's already pretty hot here in washington, d.c., already pushing 90 degrees. also of interest and that is that the entire neighborhood was still going about a normal day here. we had little kids, i passed them as i was coming into the scene, in their t-shirts and shorts and backpacks all going to school for one of the last school days of the year. the police quickly locked down that local school and as you can see, this area here is locked down as well. we have not seen any movement in terms of the police and fire and ems response to the scene. the ballpark is just up there to the left. you see that plane going over the top. that's a good landmark for you guys. that's how close we are to reagan national airport. we are just literally probably a mile -- i was at reagan airport doing a live shot for "the today show" this morning when this happened. and that's why i got here so quickly. we're about a mile and a half, two miles away from reagan

airport and so that's the potomac river right over that rise, if you will, on the horizon. >> not far from the pentagon either. >> from the locates' perspective -- exactly. thank you for that. the good news from the locals' perspective is that the scene is secure as they continue to investigate ask we are looking for updates on all those individuals who were shot and most specifically, not only congressman scalise, but we believe two capitol police officers who were wounded in the exchange of gunfire with this suspect. >> and we have a statement from congressman roger williams, a republican of texas. he says that one of his staffers was shot and is receiving medical attention. the congressman himself said he was not shot. he is fine, but he was there. a staffer shot. so i think it's just -- we're in the early hours here. i mean, i noticed the words that the chief of police used where he said, five people were medically transported, which is different than saying five people were shot. i think we just have to have patience and wait for the authorities to tell us what exactly has transpired here.

>> a lot of the earlier information we were getting came from alabama republican mo brooks who was there on the scene. he's part of this baseball team. at one point, it was congressman brooks who described seeing steve scalise there at second base, get shot, manage to drag himself, his bloodied body, into the outfield where he was lying there, and it was congressman brooks who said that he had to use his belt as a tourniquet. again, this is all coming from the alabama congressman. peter alexander's been standing by for us at the white house throughout the morning. peter, what are you learning? >> reporter: craig, we are now hearing for the first time from the governor of louisiana. of course, that's the home state of steve scalise. governor john bell edwards putting out a statement. he writes, this appears to be an outrageous, cowardly attack on one of our own, steve scalise is a friend, colleague and fighter for the people of louisiana.

that statement from john bell edwards, the governor of louisiana. it's worth noting, of steve scalise and about tomorrow's congressional baseball game, this is one of the great celebrated events here in washington, a deeply divided city that comes together at least one night each year for this ball game. steve scalise a couple years ago tweeted about it, asking his followers to help pick the uniform that he would wear for this game. he's been a participant in it numerous times. i just tweeted this @peteralexander. you can see the shots of him and his family over the course of the past few years but this is something that he celebrated. that's why there were at least 15 lawmakers outs there this morning. senator jeff flake saying he saw as many as 25 over the course of the morning. some of them, frm, for their sakes, left before the shooting took place today but one of the questions that remains to be answered is whether this game will go on tomorrow night. already you're hearing rumbles from some individuals saying that the team should no longer

be broken up, democrats versus republicans, they should mix it up some way so that everybody plays together. >> speaker ryan, paul ryan has tweeted this morning. he said, the morning, the hearts of the whole house are with steve scalise, the brave capitol police, staff, and all those who were in harm's way. that's just from speaker ryan just a matter of moments ago on twitter. >> nbc news law enforcement analyst jim cavanaugh is back with us, and jim, we heard from the police chief in alexandria a short time ago tell us that they are conducting this investigation. this is still an active scene. it's a stable situation, but he described it as an active scene and they are interviewing witnesses. jim, what are they hoping to find out from these witnesses on the scene? >> reporter: well, they're going to put all that together, craig. they want to know exactly when the gunman was first spotted by a witness. everything they saw him do. they're going to recreate everything that's gone on there. they're going to clearly try to determine his motive. they'll be searching his vehicle if it's nearby, and his

residence for sure. they'll be tracing the two guns reportedly he had, reportedly it was an ar-15 and a handgun. those are currently, i'm sure, under an urgent trace but atf. they're going know where he acquired those guns within hours f they don't already know. so they're going to be locking down everything about this guy. and they're going to get into motive. they're going to get into method. they're going to get into planning. they're going to do a, you know, a psychological autopsy as clint and his crew down at behavioral analysis used to say on everything this guy's done in the last three months before. who is he, why is he there, what's motivating him and of course the key is there's going to be a criminal prosecution. if shooter's alive. that's all got to be kept for evidence. the alexandria police will have the assault ticket. we don't know of my fatalities, the assault ticket and of course fbi will have a ticket for the assault on the congress and the

capitol police. everybody's playing a big role here, but it shows you that even with a security detail, when you don't have the whole facility secured like the secret service would do for the president, anybody can get in and walk up. but the capitol police acquitted themselves tremendously today. bravery. they stopped a disaster. and as well, the alexandria police with a quick response. >> yes, three minutes, according to the police chief. and senator rand paul who was there saying that he believes the capitol hill police stopped what he called would have been a massacre. jim,stand by there. a little earlier, tom costello spoke with a witness by the name of katie at the scene and we wanted to play a little bit of that interview. >> reporter: i'm speaking with a witness right now. could i ask your name? >> katie. >> reporter: and what happened? what did you see? >> i was getting out of the car with my dogs to go to the dog park and i heard really, really loud popping sounds. and i knew a baseball team was practicing at the baseball field. and everybody started screaming, hit the ground, hit the ground,

and a bunch of the players ran behind the big trees but i was in the middle of the field so i just lay flat in the field. and the sounds were getting louder. like they were coming -- he was walking across the field towards all of us. >> the gunman was. >> and i was screaming, can someone help me, i have my dogs and i can't get behind anything but they couldn't because nobody could do anything and the special agent pulled out a handgun and tried to shoot back and was screaming, drop your weapon and shot her and she fell on the ground. >> reporter: wait t shooting suspect was a woman? >> no, no, no, no. >> reporter: oh the agent was a woman. >> the suspect, i'm not sure. what the gender. i think the agent was a woman. i'm not sure of that either. but he or she fell on the ground, and we were all just trying to lay as flat as we could and then i called -- i finally crawled, dragging my dogs to a car and i shoved them under a car and i layed as close as i could under the car, to

hide from the person and then the police or s.w.a.t., whoever came and seemed to get it under control. >> reporter: did you notice members -- anybody who was shot? in other words, beyond the offering, did you notice anybody else shot? >> there are a couple of people injured that they took out on stretchers. the person who was the security guard, they took out with a helicopter. other than that, i'm not sure who was who. i didn't even know it was -- until the investigators just told me five minutes ago. >> reporter: and the gunman was also shot, you believe? >> i don't know. they said that they captured him. >> reporter: let me just tell the anchors in new york that you are very -- you're shaking. it's hard for you to control right now because you've seen something very traumatic. and i would imagine you're just grateful that you got out alive. >> it was -- you never think something like that's going to happen to you, and it was terrifying, and also it was even scarier that i had my dog children with me.

so i'm very glad that all of us are okay. >> that was tom costello's conversation a little bit earlier with a young woman who was there and witnessed many of the events that have transpired. as we've mentioned, many members of congress are now telling what they saw. by our nbc news count, there were at least 13 members of congress. i've seen other reports up to 25 lawmakers that were there. senator rand paul said that they, this group, have been practicing there for the last couple of months and so that seems to be one of the storylines that's unfolding this morning. many members of congress reporting that they felt this was quite intentional, that perhaps members of congress had been targeted and even one member of congress telling reporters that the gunman had asked before, are those republicans or democrats practice teg field. so some disturbing details coming out this morning. >> we know that the suspect is in custody. at this point. that's about all we know about the suspect, other than that

he's the middle aged, he's a white guy, but we do not know if this is a man or woman who was known to police. nor do we know anything more about his digital footprint. this is -- and i believe we've got pete williams standing by for us with some new information. pete, what do you have? >> reporter: well, craig, just to be clear, everyone i've talked to says the suspect is, in fact, a man. now, in terms of those people that are wounded, as you can well understand, we're still trying to get clear information about the victims here. we now know that a staffer for congressman roger williams of texas was among those wounded. whether this was the only congressional staffer -- we had been told earlier that it was congressman scalise and a member of his staff, but perhaps the staffer is the person who worked for congressman williams. two police officers we know of, capitol police officers, congressman scalise, this staffer for roger williams of texas, and we believe the gunman

himself was also shot. we were told the gunman was taken to the hospital. we don't know the gunman's condition, how many times he was wounded but it's clear from the eye-witnesses, remember, the capitol police had people there, although they had only as far as we know, only handguns with them. that they were carrying with them. so that when the shots began, they returned fire. so, we don't know how many times the gunman was wounded, what the condition is. and of course there's still no information here about why this happened. >> okay. >> pete, thank you very much. senator jeff flake was among the lawmakers who was at the practice this morning. and has given an account of what he saw. let's take a listen. >> we were doing batting practice, and all of a sudden we heard shots, and it was clear pretty quickly that there was a shooter there with a high-powered rifle, and we -- many of us dove in the dugout. steve scalise, one of the members, the majority whip, in

the house, he was hit in the hip. and dragged himself off to the infield, to the field, and he was down the whole time. most of us got into -- about 12 of us got into the dugout and then there was returned fire from behind our dugout from the capitol police who were here as part of steve scalise's detail. and it went on for about ten minutes. a lot -- dozens and dozens and dozens of shots were fired. and just going overhead. i got a look at the shooter. he came over behind the backstop that he had a clear sight into the dugout so we couldn't stay up for long, and when we heard an all-clear, that the shooter was down, we ran out to steve to put pressure on the wound. >> where was he shot? >> in the left hip. he was coherent.

and he was asking for water. he was obviously -- he laid out there on his own for ten minutes. and we -- we cut away the jersey and put pressure on it. it was bleeding quite a bit. >> who else was out there? >> i got out there first, and then brad, a member from ohio, came out. he's a doctor. so we got some shirt and put it on there and then as far as the other members -- steve was the only member shot. there were two of the capitol police were shot. one staffer dove into the dugout with a leg wound, and we got somebody's belt and put it around there to stop the bleeding, so we were tending to him as well as trying to keep down away from the shooter. so -- and then somebody was shot in the chest as well. so, i think six total, including the shooter.

i believe his name was matt. he works for tyson foods. he helps out with the game. i don't know if any specific members were targeted, but it's hard to imagine he didn't know what he was doing. >> telling line right there from arizona senator jeff flake a few moments ago. he, of course, was there, and i want to read a tweet that has just been sent by the first lady of the united states, melania trump. she writes, thank you to the first responders who rushed in to help protect those who were hurt in alexandria, virginia. my thoughts and prayers to everyone. tweet from the first lady this morning. let's go back to tom costello. he's at the scene in alexandria. what more have you learned, tom? >> i'm talking to our local nbc affiliate reporter from wrc who tells me her police sources are telling her the suspect is alive. the suspect who was shot is alive. that coming from wrc, our nbc-owned station here in washington, d.c., and beyond that, the situation on the

ground is one that -- in which we are starting to see emergency vehicles clear the scene. some of those fire trucks have now cleared. some of the original paramedic ems ambulances that were on the scene have also cleared the scene now and this is very much an active criminal investigation involving not only the alexandria police department but of course the secret service. you can imagine that we would also have the fbi involved in this investigation as well as atf. alcohol, tobacco, and firearm. so this will be a multijurisdictional response in terms of the investigation here. with five people shot, including the gunman, and again, from our local affiliate, hearing that that gunman from police sources, hearing the gunman is alive at this point. >> all right, tom. thank you very much. >> going back to that conversation with arizona senator jeff flake, he went on to say that it was him that ultimately reached out to steve scalise's wife so that she did not have to hear about what had happened to her husband on the

news. it was senator flake that called his wife. he also went on to say that he and 12 others took cover in a dugout. the shooting went on for roughly ten minutes before he was able to get out to his bleeding colleague who had managed to, again, steve scalise plays second base for the team, he had been shot and somehow managed to get himself into the outfield. he was trying to get away from the shooter, according to naua number of eye-witnesses there, but it was steve scale who managed to get to him. mo brooks talked about using his belt as a tourniquet but again senator flake describing congressman scalise as coherent, said that he was asking for water and that was apparent that he had been shot in his left hip but we're waiting on some sort of official update on the congressman's condition. >> and just to add to that, senator rand paul's account of what congressman scalise went through is also quite dramatic. he said he was shot but moving and tried to drag himself through the dirt out into the

outfield, and apparently, according to president trump who tweeted congressman scalise is going to be okay. but obviously, suffering a gunshot wound, at least one this morning. let's go to peter alexander at the white house. hi, peter. >> reporter: good morning to you. we are here at the white house where we know that white house officials are monitoring that situation taking place in alexandria, virginia. we have now heard not just from the president but the vice president and the first lady on this morning. the marine guard is not standing out front of the west wing right now, which would indicate that the president is not in the oval office right now. we don't know any specifics about how his day may be affected in any way by what has taken place in alexandria. he was, according to his public schedule, supposed to have an event at the labor department that was scheduled for this afternoon this week for his desire for the white house's desire, was intended to focus on workforce development. it's why he was out of town yesterday in wisconsin alongside his daughter, ivanka trump. we do know that the vice president's speech, as it was

scheduled at the national association of home builders has been cancelled. that was supposed to again just a short time from now at 10:00. we're told that the vice president instead would be heading to the white house on is this day. security at the white house is certainly a little bit different than we see on other days. pennsylvania avenue remains closed. we've seen additional security, law enforcement outside over much of the morning, carrying their long arms, their long guns, as they walk around, although at this point there was no indication that this was anything more than an isolated event, specifically targeting individuals, republican lawmakers among others taking place in that practice earlier today in alexandria. >> all right, peter alexander for us this morning. 1600 pennsylvania avenue. continuing to update us on the situation there. peter, thank you again. please stand by for us if you can and again as details continue to unfold here, savannah, and to be sure, what has happened here is obviously a tragedy. five people shot.

a member of congress among them still waiting to find out an update on the condition of a number of these folks. but based on what we've heard from folks who were there on the scene, a gunman who was armed with the rifle, it sounds like it's a semiautomatic rifle, perhaps had a pistol as well, hard to believe that this is a situation that had it not been for capitol police, a situation that would not have been far, far worse. >> and we should mention, i think we learned from the alexandria police that among those shot and injured were members of law enforcement. we'll wait to hear what their condition may be. we had a witness earlier describe seeing three gurneys there. we know there was a medical helicopter there that medivac'd someone at the scene and senator rand paul earlier was on msnbc talking about what he saw earlier this morning. we want to play a bit of that. >> so at one point, it appeared the gunman was -- i think he

continued to reload. i probably heard 50, 60 shots. and then finally, we heard a response, you know, from the capitol hill police and we're actually very lucky they were there. they do a great job. these are, you know, brave men and women and we were really lucky they were there. >> and did you see anything happen between the capitol hill police or the security detail and the perpetrator? did you see the perpetrator at all? >> i could see way in the distance and everybody was saying he has a blue shirt on but i could not see. the gun sounded like an ar-15 to most of us and we couldn't see the gun but it was a rifle. one of the things that's really fortunate and probably why not everybody probably would have died except for the fact that the capitol hill police were there and the only reason they were there is because we had a member of leadership on our team. if scalise wouldn't have been on the team, unfortunately, he was hit, and i hope he does well, but also by him being there, he probably saved everybody else's

life because if you don't have a leadership person there, this would have been no security there. >> picking up on what you were just talking about, senator paul definitely feeling that -- the presence of the capitol police who were there because congressman scalise happens to be in the house leadership. possibly prevented an even worse tragedy today. >> jim cavanaugh, nbc news law enforcement analyst, still standing by for us. jim, in cases like this, and i'm reluctant to use that phrase because there haven't been too many cases like this, but is the gunman typically someone who is known to law enforcement? >> you know, the capitol police keep a big file on threats, people that write letters and threaten congressmen. i've gone to that file many times over the years when we were investigating, you know, people with guns that make threats, ask thnd they keep a f just like the secret service does on people who threaten their protected persons. so sometimes people are known to

the protected -- the agencies who protect these leaders. so that's one possibility. the other possibility is, you know, you have a man that's in some kind of mental distress that's come across law enforcement before or some kind of political radical, craig, you know, some motive of just a political radical who's just full if you wanting and it's not a secret to anyone around him. >> i just want our viewers to know what they're watching. this is live picture. our capitol hill reporter telling us that a bus with members returning from the baseball practice to the capitol has just arrived and now it is here we're seeing some of the folks, members of congress but also staff. i think that's what we're seeing. i see the steps of the capitol. we see people in baseball gear and we have this report from our capitol hill producer about this bus that has returned with some members of congress, and staff members, people who were there this morning. >> jim, continue your thought.

>> well, you know, craig, i got a text from a retired atf special agent in charge, assistant director, actually, he's retired, lives near the scene, and just within the last 30 minutes, you know, he texted me and said he just talked to a witness there, this agent is mark potter, he just talked to a witness there, a female, and she said she saw the man walking toward the ball field with a rifle and of course this was before the shooting and she was very upset about that. she turned and ran into the ymca and dialed 911. so, she described him to the agent as an older male, white male, with a white beard. now, that could account for why alexandria police were so fast there. and i would not be surprised to see that alexandria police might have shot the gunman as well or maybe just them, you know, capitol police might have done it. it could have been a combination. but patrol officers routinely carry rifles. kind of a s.w.a.t. lite and capitol police may only have had

handguns and they may have been able to keep this guy engaged and at bay so he couldn't kill the people on the ball field. >> hold that thought if you would, jim. good to get your perspective but we want to go to pete williams who i understand has received a statement from the congressman's office. pete, what can you tell us? >> reporter: right. so let me read it to you if i may. it says, this morning at a practice for the congressional baseball game, whip scalise was shot in the hip. so that's confirmed what the injury was. he was transported to med star washington hospital center that's here in the district of columbia, where he is currently undergoing surgery. he is in stable condition. the statement goes on to say, before entering surgery, he was in good spirits and talked to his wife by telephone. he's grateful for the brave actions of the u.s. capitol police first responders and colleagues, and the rest of the statement simply says, we ask you to keep him and others harmed in this incident in your thoughts and prayers. >> that's an interesting -- as

you said, confirmed that he was shot in the hip but obviously had to undergo some kind of surgery. >> stable condition as well. >> able to speak to his wife. that's good news there, pete. absolutely. so, we're -- for those of us who were just tuning in, it's been quite an extraordinary morning this morning. a baseball practice for members of congress, staff, lawmakers unfolding in alexandria, virginia, right across the river from washington, d.c. a gunman walks in, opens fire, congressman steve scalise, republican member of the house leadership, shot in the hip. he has been in surgery this morning. but is in good spirits as we just learned. several other people were shot as we understand it. we do not have word on their condition. the suspect himself was incapacitated by police. it's been reported that he was shot. he is alive, according to our local affiliate, wrc, in washington, d.c. their police source is telling their reporter that the suspect is alive and in custody and the

police have said that the scene is stable in the sense that the threat no longer exists but it's very much an active scene. >> these are live pictures, by the way, as these lawmakers who were at practice this morning return to work on capitol hill. those are the live pictures there a few moments ago. this scene outside that baseball park in alexandria, virginia. again, just over the bridge from washington, d.c. a number of lawmakers, a number of their staffers, live in this part of northern virginia because of its proximity to the hill, because of its proximity to a number of government offices as well. >> we have a piece of video to show you. this comes from our colleagues over at cbs, and it's reportedly a picture of steve scalise, the congressman, being carried away moments after that shooting. as we understand it, he was shot in the hip. the colleagues of his were able to use a belt as a tourniquet and stop the bleeding. he was alert and awake before

entering surgery this morning. he's at med star hospital in the washington, d.c., area and said to be in stable condition and able to speak to his wife, but that's a shot that comes to us just now, just into our news room of congressman scalise who was shot in the hip. and administered aid by his colleagues there, including, i believe, we had a -- senator jeff flake and other members of congress who had military experience were also there, thankfully, and able to step in and provide aid. >> senator flake said, as he made his way to him or after he made his way to him, again, the congressman apparently shot at second base, near second base, he goes down, and somehow manages to get himself into the outfield, according to a number of eye-witnesses, he was trying to get away from the gunman, and by the time senator flake made his way to him, he said that he was coherent and asked for water. so, again, we know, according to

our pete williams, who just read that statement from this office, we know that the congressman was in stable condition. he is presumably in surgery as we speak. >> and we have a guest with us who was a former secret service agent and of course we're just starting to put the pieces together. but many witnesses have discussed a man who came in quite deliberately who, according to one witness, knew what he was doing and we've even had a member of congress tell one of our reporters that this was a person who came to shoot as many republicans as possible. starting to get a picture, perhaps, of quite a disturbed individual. >> so from what we understand and what we see in a lot of these scenarios and we see with this scenario, he had a rifle, semiautomatic is what we're hearing so this person is coming with the intent to not kill one person but many people and from what we know is he did shoot multiple rounds out into the public, not just the representatives, but everybody. he also came with a lot of ammo. again, very, very typical of what we see in these shootings.

they come with these weapons, not just a pistol, but these large weapons, these weapons that can fire lots of rounds, military-grade weapons and ammo and had he not been shot by police, he would have likely done more damage. >> for folks who aren't familiar with weapons the way that you are, and again, from eye-witnesses, it sounds like he was able to get off at least 50 rounds. does it sound like the gunman likely had to reload or do we know at this point. >> it depends on the weapon but there is a point where we listened to some of the interviews with are representatives, one of them said there was a pause, a moment and he was able to leave where he was exposed and run away so that might have been a reload. a pistol can fire one round at a time. pop, pop, pop, which is what the capitol police were carrying. this individual had a rifle, semiautomatic means that you can switch it to a point where it fires pop pop pop pop pop, multiple rounds. >> some of the lawmakers thought they heard 50 to 60 shots. who knows, you're a witness,

you're hearing, but that's what it sounded like to them. >> and it's very likely that's the type of weapon that he is using. that is the type of weapon that we see in these mass shooting attacks. and i have to say, it's pretty remarkable that the police were able to talk to him with their -- from what we're hearing, their pistols. >> stand by for me if you can. we want to go back to casey hunt, standing by for us on capitol hill. casey, what do you have for us? >> well, craig, i can tell you that the outside perimeter of the capitol was locked down for a period of time because a bus carrying members of congress who were at this baseball practice has now arrived at the capitol complex and for a while, they didn't want anybody else coming or going from the building. so, i'm being told from our producers who are outside, they just spoke to two members of congress, congressman conaway and congressman wenstrop who both said they helped care for the majority whip, steve scale,

after he was shot in the hip. we have that formal statement saying that mr. scalise was on his way to surgery, that he was in good spirits, that he spoke to his wife and that he's grateful for the capitol police. so, business here on capitol hill looks to be postponed today. this is obviously an event that's deeply shaken everyone that has come up here so far. this is a place that doesn't really get into the full swing of business until about this time in the morning. so, it has been kind of a quiet trickling in of people and of course the mood here very dramatically different so as we learn more from those congressmen who were at that practice, we'll bring it straight to you. >> casey, you spend a lot of time there on the hill for us. you presumably know the congressman from louisiana fairly well. what can you tell us about steve scalise, the man? >> reporter: steve scalise, you know, i was at a meeting with him, the contents of which were off the record not that long ago, and he is somebody who, you know, he's a louisiana guy.

he is somebody who cares a lot about his home state if you want to try to engage him on -- all things new orleans, he would be, you know, more than happy to chat with you about it. he's had one of the tougher jobs in the house, this job of whip. it basically means that he's in charge of wrangling all of the members to get the place where the leadership wants them to be an complicated bills, you know, the health care law that was recently passed in the house is the -- probably the best example, and that's something where, you know, you have a lot of disagreement among conservatives, among more moderate members, and scalise's job is to try to know exactly what everybody thinks about it and then figure out a way to get them on the same page. so, from that perspective, he has to be somebody with a lot of connections who knows, basically, everybody in the conference, and it's really a job that is a jumping off point for bigger things in the house of representatives, so scalise is somebody who has ambition to

potentially, you know, move up the leadership ranks of the house. he is somebody who's conservative. he still can speak to that segment of the republican caucus up here but he's generally well liked here as well. i think there is a, you know, a lot of goodwill and concern right now from people on both sides of the aisle because this is somebody who, you know, has had long-standing relationships for quite some time. >> absolutely. in a moment like this, there is no aisle and everyone is rooting for him as well as the two capitol hill police officers who we understand were shot. pete williams reporting they are expected to survive. we know a staff member of congressman roger williams was shot. we don't have word on that person's condition yet. little bit earlier, we have some tapes from earlier. it's audio from the police radio calls that happened just as this was unfolding. we want to play those for you. >> we got a suspect.

225, give me your exact location. >> by the baseball field by the ymca. there's also a victim down in the baseball field. >> that was a police scanner traffic. it was a radio that police use in the moments after an emergency. this unfolded, started at 7:09 in the morning. apparently, this practice goes on starting in the 6:00 hour and senator rand paul said that this group had been practicing there at this time of day for the last couple of months. so, presumably, as i turn to the u.s. secret service agent we have here, former u.s. secret service agent, that's a telling detail, that they've been there, there's a pattern in practice, that potentially somebody who wants to do harm knows exactly when and where to show up. >> that's exactly it. they do their homework. these aren't random attacks. you do your homework, you set a plan and if they're going every morning at this specific time and you know members of congress, political officials will be there, i mean, this is a

very simple attack to carry out. you know where they're going to do so you have to do a lot of advance work. one of the issues is not all members of congress are going to have level of protection. from what we understand, the two capitol police that were there at the incident were part of the detail for representative scalise, and so that was fortunate enough that there were able to prevent this and the fact that this individual was able to come in there, access this environment, you know, and this is where we -- when you're in the work of security, this is where you get really, really uncomfortable when you go to these open public spaces where anybody can walk in so not everybody has the luxury of having a presidential detail. >> stand by there. we have an interview just coming into our news room now. congressman brad wenstrop of ohio just talked to the reporters at the capitol. let's listen. >> he was conscious. he was very brave, and he's under care right now. i assume he's in surgery right now. but he was aware of where he was

and what was going on. >> and so you actually watched him get shot? >> i saw that he was down. and then i went out to him after they had subdued the shooter. >> what was the mood like today at this event? did you ever expect something like this to happen? >> no, we were upbeat, getting ready for a game and something like this happens, and you can't believe it. fortunately there was the security detail there or we all would have been vulnerable without fire, with return fire, so i'm sure they saved who knows how many lives. but let's pray for those that did get hit today. >> congressman brad wenstrup of ohio, pete williams telling us that those two capitol hill police officers who were shot are expected to survive. but congressman wenstrup echoing the sentiment we've heard time and time again, those lawmakers and their staff were essentially sitting ducks and had it not been for that security detail, this would have been far, far

worse. evooe, in situations like this, the gunman, again, we don't have a lot of details about him, other than he's a middle aged white guy, but beyond that, what's the likelihood that he left some sort of digital footprint, that there may have been some sort of indication that something like this was going to happen? >> you know, there's been a lot of studies done. >> evie -- >> he shot at trent kelly, our third baseman, he shot at steve scalise, our second baseman. he hit steve scalise. scalise's security detail and the capitol hill police immediately began to return fire. and alexandria police also immediately came and began to return fire. shot the shooter, and i think the security detail saved a lot of lives because they attacked the shooter. so the heroes are the capitol hill police, the alexandria

police, and steve scalise's security detail. and he was a middle-aged man, blue jeans and a blue shirt. i think he was anglo, and he had a rifle and i think he had an automatic pistol, but i wouldn't swear to that. >> what was it like in this idyllic setting to suddenly is have this. >> there's going to be all kinds of -- i'm the manager of the team. several people -- the security people were hit. one of our staffers were hit. scalise was hit. i talked to the speaker, i talked to the capitol hill police. i'm sure there will be some sort of general statement later on, but luckily, no one appeared to be killed, and again, i just want to thank the security detail, because they saved our

lives. >> mr. barton, how long did it last? >> about ten minutes. five to ten minutes. there were dozens if not hundreds of shots fired. it was scary. >> did you take cover. >> of course we did. we got -- some of us were in the dugout. some of us were on the ground. i was behind my dugout. my son jack got under an suv and he was very brave. my other son brad was in the batting cage and he also was very brave. thank you guys. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> can you imagine, there's congressman joe barton who was there with his two little boys, and they just discussed how they ran for cover. he heard dozens of shots, he thought. >> five to ten minutes. >> he believes that those who were shot were not shot critically. in other words, that they will survive. but what an absolutely horrendous situation to find oneself in this morning. congressman joe barton just returning to the capitol,

describing what went on today. >> with his son, jack. he referenced his son, jack, who was with him and giving us a little bit more detail about the gunman as well. said that he was wearing blue jeans, a blue shirt. said that he had a rifle confirming what we've heard from a number of folks now. also said that the gunman had a pistol as well. he thought the pistol was a semiautomatic pistol, but joe barton, republican from texas, also pointing out through the course of that interview that he is the manager of the republican team as well. tom costello still standing by there for us in alexandria with some new information. tom, what do you have? >> reporter: couple things. first of all, virginia governor terry mccaw live, we are expecting to come to the scene and be at the news conference shortly and we're also hearing from government sources that we could have -- excuse me, i'm looking at a witness who's coming by and pardon me for being distracted momentarily. government sources within virginia are telling us that, in fact, when they originally got the call, this came out as

what's called three reds and two yellows. and in ems talk, that tells you the significance of an injury. if it's a code black, that would mean there's a fatality. code red is very serious. code yellow, less serious. code green would be minimal injury. so they came out with an original call of three reds and two yellows here at the scene in alexandria. we expect more information from the governor when he arrives here within the hour or so. along with that briefing from the police chief of alexandria and presumably the capitol hill police chief will also be speaking as we believe two of his officers were involved in this shooting and were shot. having exchanged gunfire with the officers. guys, back to you. pardon me. with the suspect. having exchanged gunfire with the suspect. >> and it's our understanding that the suspect himself was shot. so we don't know -- when you talk about the three reds and the two columbusyellows, the den of those injuries, what we don't

know is if the suspect was among those listed there. >> that's correct. and we should also reiterate that our affiliate here in wachl, news 4, wrc, their sources are saying that suspect is still alive. >> we can also let our viewers and listeners know, we're getting this in from the george washington university hospital there, it's level 4 trauma hospital there in washington, d.c. they've received two individuals, both are currently in critical condition, and due patient privacy laws, they're not releasing any more information at this time. but now starting to get some information on the condition of some of those shot. we know that congressman scalise is in surgery right now. we were told, according to his office, he's in stable condition and now we also know that two of the other individuals who were shot are in critical condition at george washington university hospital. >> that's right. and we're watching this scene, the baseball field that was a scene of joy a few hours ago and

then turning into just an absolute horror as a man walks in and opens fire on members of congress and their staff. let us pause just a moment at the top of the hour. good morning, everybody. this is nbc news special report. 7:00 a.m. on the west coast and there has been a terrible tragedy happening outside washington, d.c., this morning at a baseball field in alexandria, virginia, right across the river from the u.s. capitol where members of congress and their staffs were practicing for a big baseball game tomorrow. a man walked in, opened fire, witnesses say up to 50, 60 shots were heard. member of congress, congressman steve scalise, the republican whip, member of the house leadership, was shot in the hip. he is in surgery at this hour. we understand able to speak and in good spirits. two police officers were shot. a staff member for one -- one member of congress was shot and we understand that the gunman was also shot and is in custody. >> the gunman and