lanier says one is dead but one could be on the loose. >> we have one that is deceased. the big concern now is that we potentially have two other shooters that we have not located at this point. >> so at the white house president obama has been briefed several times by his national security team on the rapidly evolving situation. >> another mass shooting and today it happened on a military installation in our nation's capitol. we will honor service to the nation we helped to make great and obviously we're going to be investigating thoroughly what happened as we do so many of these shootings sadly that have happened. >> as we reset this shooting began at about 8:20 this morning when police say gunmen open

fire. a witness at the scene says the gunman appeared to be wearing fatigue and another witnessed described the chaos when the shots first rang out. >> i heard three gunshots, pow pow pow, straight in a row, about three seconds later there were four more gunshots and all of the people in the cafeteria, we all panicked and trying to decide on which way he was going to run out of the people -- the workers in the cafeteria wanted us to stay in and hide but i just ran. >> it was then the s.w.a.t. team and hundreds of officers from local and federal agencies dexrended on the huge naval yard complex located south of capitol hill, two and a half miles from the white house. thousands of employees in the navy yard were told to shelter in place. the immediate area around the naval yard was a total lockdown and temporary ground stop at reagan international airport located across the river from the navy yard and several local schools have been put on

lockdown as a precaution. pete williams joins me now live with new information. i know you've been working sources all day. >> yes, and just got some updated information here. the casualty numbers keep changing. it appears that there are at least 8 dead and 16 wounded. and that number undoubtedly will continue to change. most of the victims were on the third floor -- third and fourth floors of building 197, the building where the scene of this shooting was today, this naval sea systems command. a single gunman got into that building is the best information we have, using the i.d. of an employee at the building to get inside of the gunman in the building was shot and killed. the person whose i.d. he was using is in washington, d.c. police custody, was arrested at

his home and whether he has any involvement in the shooting or not is not at all clear to us at this point. we just don't know. authorities do believe they have now gotten the identification of the person who actually fired the shots and they are just working to confirm that identity right now. as for the possibility of a second shooter, and by the way, the gunman who died in building 197 is the second person that the police chief was describing, we're told so that leaves the possibility of one other person yet to be accounted for, a person who the police chief a couple of hours ago described as a possible second shooter. that person was seen on surveillance video outside building 197 with a hand gun and holster and it's not clear from the video whether this person was responding to the shooting, was some kind of military person

authorized to carry a weapon and responding to the shooting, or was in fact a second shooter that was shooting at victims. that's just unresolved. no hard evidence that there was a second shooter. it's based entirely on this admittedly ambiguous surveillance video that shows something that authorities don't quite understand what's happening there. but it certainly is of concern and that's why we don't have it all clear so many hours after the shooting. and you know, it's -- the picture is beginning to clarify here about who fired the shots. we still don't know why and we don't know precisely how many people were involved when all of the dust settles here, we still don't know it's way too soon to say. >> so the information again with the update, eight dead and 16 wounded, that body count is

coming specifically from on scene, correct, not being updateded from any hospital facilities that lost a patient while being treated? do we know that? >> my information is coming from law enforcement officials who are gathering information from various components, so i believe this to be -- to take into account the full picture. >> full picture. okay, pete, thanks so much. pete williams bringing us up to speed with this new toll count, 8 dead and 16 wounded. our craig melvin has made his way to washington, d.c. he's going to pick up the rest of the hour's coverage from on the scene there. craig? >> reporter: thomas, good afternoon to you. i can tell you first of all, that the drive from reagan national here was fairly uneventful. there's not a heavy active police presence along the route from the airport here. my friend and colleague tom costello also on the scene monitoring the situation on ground here throughout the morning, i want to bring tom in

just a moment. first, i understand there's a news conference we're going to be able to listen in d.c. mayor vince gray with an update. let's listen in. >> we're continuing to try to ascertain how serious this situation is. it doesn't get more serious obviously. we have one of the officers for the metropolitan police department is injured. he appears to be -- is going to be fine as far as we know. we have no known motive at this stage. there were people who asked earlier if this was a terrorist event, we don't have any reason to think that at this stage but we're trying to determine what the motive is. and we also don't know for certain whether there are other shooters that have been reported -- other people in the building at the time. we're continuing to engage in that investigation and we'll have better information on that

later in the afternoon. we will be back here at 4:00 and we'll be back for another press briefing at 4:00, but now let me ask you, to come up and provide detailed information on some of these issues. >> first i want to start off as saying as far as the initial response here this morning, we've heard we have at least one officer with gunshot wounds that is currently being treated but the response by uniformed police officers from both the metropolitan police department and united states park police was absolutely nothing short of heroic. with at least 12 confirmed dead at this point, i think the actions by the police officers without question helped to reduce the numbers of lives lost. our hearts go out to the families of certainly all of the victims here but our gratitude to the front line officers and

also united states park police who ran into danger this morning to try to reduce the number of victims. i'll start from the top and go through quickly. right now we're confirming at least 12 fatalities. we have a few additional folks injured not fatally injured. we have additional officers that were injured, only one injured by gunfire. some other injuries sustained by multiple different police agencies on the large response inside. we are officially now transitioning to an fbi lead. so the fbi will lead the investigation. the entire investigation will be processed and handled as a unified process. with that said, any additional information that anybody might have, if they want to share, you can call 1-800-call-fbi. 1-800-call-fbi. i have a slight update on a

lookout for two additional individuals involved in the shooting. the first is for a white male between 40 and 50 years of age wearing a tan -- white male wearing what appears to be tan military uniform consistent with naval uniform and a beret style hat. we also have a lookout for a black male between the ages of 40 and 50 in an olive military style uniform. he is approximately 5 foot 10, medium complexion with graying side burns. we have no indication of any motive at this time. we are updating and asking for family members, we know a lot of folks have cell phones and can contact family members. but if you're looking for contact within your family members that may have been inside the navy yard today, ncis has established a phone number

now for reunification. that number 202-433-6151. a secondary number 202-433-9713. right now we have an impact to the area, large part of the area is still on lockdown and still asking residents to stay out of the area and remain in your home. we do feel like the area is safe but still do have an active search for suspects right now. again, there's multiple agencies here. we've gotten support from a lot of our counterparts in the region, maryland and virginia as well as the federal agencies here in washington, d.c. there are very, very few questions we can answer at this point. still a lot of information coming. we'll be doing another update in two hours. i think at this point we would take a limited number of questions and ask please for your patience and we'll go from there. >> right here.

we've asked people to stay out of the area around the navy yard. we have sent out text alerts to the residents around the area to ask them to please stay out of the area until we send out additional follow-up. >> chief, why do you believe there were two additional potential shooters? did they engage the officers or were they seen? how did this happen? >> the question is why do we believe there's two additional suspects. right now we have multiple pieces of information that would suggest that we have at least two other individuals that were seen with firearms. we know both of those individuals were wearing military style uniforms. we do not know if they are actually military employees. but these are people that we really are believe that are involved in some way and we're trying to locate those individuals. >> i can't tell you anything at this point or comment on anything related to -- evidence on the scene right now. i'll take two more questions. >> does that come from

eyewitness or video camera footage? >> i'm not going to comment. we have reason to believe they are involved and we need to talk to them. >> were there victims in more than one building or different buildings? >> we're still doing an extensive search. we have multiple agencies and multiple teams the remainder of the search could take another couple of hours. we're not going to comment on the location of evidence or anything like that. in the next two hours, do the next update, next briefing will be at 200 i street for those of you so we're not here in the middle of the street. we want to clear this area. next briefing in 2 hours, 200 i street and we'll try to answer more questions if we can. that's all we can take right now. >> okay, there you have it, d.c. police chief cathy lanier coming up after vince gray. the death toll as you heard jumped gone from 8 to 12 now. 12 confirmed dead and the chief

also saying that they are in fact looking for two other people. one described as a white male between 40 and 50 wearing a uniform and some type of beret and black male about the same age, 5 foot 10, 180 pounds. while they are wearing a uniform the chief also careful to say it's not clear whether they are actually in the military. perhaps you can hear helicopters flying above me here. it's a park police helicopter. during the chief's news conference, we did find out according to politico at least that the senate, united states senate has adjourned until tomorrow morning. and chief lanier saying that they are encouraging people who live in this area to stay inside, to stay in their homes while they continue -- continue to search. tom costello has been on ground throughout the morning and pete williams as well. tom, let me come to you. these numbers, the numbers

continue to change here. >> reporter: yeah and rather dramatic increase in the if a talts coming from the chief of police, up to 12 known fatalities she says. and i think it's also important to note the navy tweeted out a message a short time ago telling people still working at the navy yard who are in the inside the perimeter to continue to shelter in place. so they clearly want to make sure that this crime scene remains secure and to the extent they are searching for, two other individuals, they are keeping all options open. we have seen this helicopter or two of them circling routinely and they've been doing that several hours here. and we haven't seen anymore heavy police apparatus since the rush in several hours ago. we're now up to four or five hours since the incident took place. we're told the nationals

baseball game about a block to my left is supposed to happen this evening. but that will be oblg a big variable if they are still involved in some sort of search for two other individuals as well. clearly here, this has grown in severity hour by hour. back to you, craig. >> chief lanier also saying one of her officers, the metro police officers injured, one of them by gunshot and several other officers had been injured as well. one who was shot apparently being treated at the nearby hospital. i want to bring in pete williams now. you heard the news conference, what do you take away from that? okay, we're going to come back to pete in just a moment, obviously continuing to gather more information there. clint van zandt has been standing by. i understand you were also listening to the news conference there from cathy lanier and

mayor vince gray, clint, at this point in terms of the investigation, what is law enforcement going to be focusing on right now? what's the first order of business? >> well, to me, one of the first things they have to determine is do we have one, two or three shooters? again, we keep hearing this information about this second and third person. pete williams i think rightfully so suggested earlier there may have been a misidentification or they may have counted the same person twice. but now the police chief one more time comes back and tells us the potential of three. so i think law enforcement has got to work very hard with the known shooter and find out who his known associates are, especially the last 24 to 48 hours, see if they can link anything to him or have any physical evidence that suggests there's something more than a first shooter. obviously if there is, we have two more bad guys out there that we need to find.

we've got -- what are we looking at? we've got 8 dead and 16 wounded that we know of at this second. the movements that we see of law enforcement, at least on camera and the potential of two other suspects doesn't seem to jive. of course, it could be we don't know where to look, but the fbi, for example, has 600 agents in washington, d.c. they can control a lot of investigative manpower of this situation and so can other agencies. they need to find out quickly if there are two more shooters or not. >> >> reporter: bill bratton, former lapd chief. bill, you just heard from d.c.'s police chief there, cathy lanier, an active search for two folks they believe might in some way be connected to the shooting. are we talking about going around and knocking on doors in the area?

what more are we talking about? how are they conducting this exhaustive search. >> let me give you a sense of what's happening here. the one the fbi is now taking over the investigation according to her and her agency will be assisting certainly in the continuing search. there was an earlier report that an i.d. card found at the shooting scene based on that card being found, officers obtained search warrants and went to a home the that individual. that individual by coincidence may have been dismissed last week from that facility. and as the ifrs were conducting the search, the individual showed up at the home. this individual i understand bears a very good resemblance too the deceased shooter, that is in building 197. the initial confusion with the id card was that that id card

belonged to the deceased shooter. turns out it apparently did not. now, as to whether this individual that is now in the custody of the police whose i.d. kaz was found, as to whether he has any involvement, that is part of the ongoing investigation. i would emphasize there are multiple investigations going on. one trying to identify the deceased shooter in building 197. information i had received a little while ago from law enforcement sources indicate that that individual may have in fact been a retired u.s. navy officer. that's again preliminary -- and not confirmed at this time. >> commissioner, i want you to get you to stand by. i want to bring in pete williams who may have additional information here. >> i think what former chief brat ton is talking about is based on the fact that the

shooter may have had a -- may have been a former military officer is based on the id. we've been told the same thing, when police found the gunman where the majority of shots were fired and victims were mostly on the third and fourth floors, they found this id that they know was not the gunman's, that the i.d. belonged to someone who was -- had connections with the navy yard. police arrested him at home. he's been questioned by washington, d.c. police to see if he is just a completely innocent victim here or whether he sh some connects to the shooting. why did the gunman have his badge? as for who the gunman is, you know, authorities do have a name. they are checking that name to verify its identity. we're not reporting it until we're confident it is in fact the right person. we believe it's someone who is

34-year-old man from texas. but beyond that we're not going to be very specific at this point. so you still have the search for the other two people, paced on a variety of information, some is surveillance video that shows people in military style uniforms, carrying weapons and drawing them. it isn't clear whether they were responding to the shooting or in fact involved. >> all right. our justice correspondent pete williams who continues to monitor the situation. pete, we trust you'll come back when you've got new information as well. eleanor holmes norton, i understand now the delegate that represents the d.c. area is holding a news conference. let's listen in to that. >> and yet this is a facility that is not -- i hope it won't

be. >> you compared this to 911. why does he compare to 911? >> only in the number of victims. it doesn't compare -- tlsz no indication that this was a terrorist event. i hope we all understand with the guns loose in society it doesn't take a terrorist to do what was done here today, to despoil the reputation of this rising neighborhood that is now surrounded by newly built homes and facilities and i think we'll continue to thrive. i hope the system doesn't take from what has been one of the most security facilities in washington and yet one not closed down to the public. >> what do you think about the letters --? >> i don't take anything away from it. increasingly, i think that's probably the case. i too many withholding judgment

about what happened here. thank you very much. >> you have it there, eleanor holmes norton, the delegate that represents the district of columbia, holding a brief news conference and reaffirming many what are saying, at this point it does not appear to be -- does not appear to be an act of terrorist or anything sinister like that. 12 people dead and 15 people have been shot. two people active search for two folks according to police chief cathy lanier who added there's going to be another updamt at 4:00. the chief also indicating that the fbi will be taking over the investigation. jim cav gnaw is a former agent in charge for the atm. you've been watching these events and listening to these yun fold throughout the course of the morning. an active search here in

washington, d.c. for two people. what is the search going to be looking like, jim? >> there's going to be two things happen. first the tactical teams will try to search the vast complex. when you have a report of two other shooters, that has to be ferreted out. but the commanders have to get to the bottom of that, i've been to them, we could be dealing with plain clothes police, ncis agency and other military people drawing their within or going to their car and getting a long gun to respond to the shoot being. the command post will be reaching out to all agencies involved and showing the surveillance video, is this any of your people, agents, personnel? let's ferret that out right away. i've had it happen on scenes that turns out to be a narcotics detective, all normal but you need to short it out. until they find it out they can't stop the search of the

other buildings. jim, stand by, i want to bring back commissioner britt bratton to the conversation. we'll try to get him back. clint svan zandt is standing by former fbi profilers. let's talk about the washington, d.c. area with folks not familiar with where all this transpired here in southeast d.c. and navy yard as well. when you talk about law enfor enforcement presence, you would be hard prelgsed to find where there are more officers standing at the ready to respond to efforts than washington, d.c. >> i don't think there's any place in the country with more badge carrying, gun carrying law enforcement officers representing different agencies. atf, fbi, local police, food and drug, you name it and there's somebody out there with a badge

and gun capable of responding to a situation like this. so the issue is note getting enough men and women in law enforcement to respond, the issue was using those resources, responsively. there's going to be a lot of leads to cover. there's hundreds of badge carrying men and women out there right now. so somebody has got to take control and the fbi in a very big situation like this has the computer and experience. unfortunately because we have to work these big crimes to work this. so they will will have the logistical, the management responsibility but know that every agency that's contributed to investigators will have some input into where this case is going. but right now you've got to take all of these investigators, throw them in all the leads you have and let's run this thing down and make sure we don't have two more killers on the street that we're not aware of.

>> reporter: clint, you and i both know there's oftentimes as kasm between the information law enforcement has and the information they provide to journalists on the ground. in a situation like this when you have law enforcement actively searching for two people potentially involved in this thing, do you think we're getting all of the information that law enforcement has or do you think this probably a great deal of information they are holding back from us? >> i think law enforcement always has hole backed cards. they have to know more than we do. for example, pete williams indicates we probably determine the identity of the shooting. you haven't seen law enforcement go public yet and the reason is they want to get to people who know the shooter before the media gets to them and starts confusing their story. i think we'll hear things like that but we'll hear it after law enforcement has a chance to resolve it and before there's a

chance for confuse. clint, stand by, luke russert is standing by for us at george washington hospital. again, we just heard from the chief a few moments ago. there are still a number of folks injured, including melt trow police officers. luke, what's the scene like there? >> reporter: well, craig, i'm up to the washington hospital center. not much has changed since earlier today. they took three victims here, two came by helicopter to maryland, state police helicopter, one of those victims was a d.c. police officer, a male and shot in the legs. he's expected to survive. all three viktsz thankfully are expected to survive. their injuries are critical. the other two victims are females and one shot in the head and other in the lower body extremities. i called around to hospitals here in d.c. and no one seemed

to have received victims with the exception of george washington university. they received a victim there but he was in his 60 aegs and deceased upon arrival. quite a heavy police presence behind me when i first arrived. a lot of planes closed and d.c. police officers making sure whoever were on the grounds were spoesed to be there. so far that what we have, the three victims brought here, some by tell komter and d.c. police officer and other two expected to survive these critical injuries, craig. >> some good news there for us from the hospital. thanks so much for that. >> reporter: we just heard from pete williams a few moments ago, at this point we're being very, very careful about releasing the name and identity of the shooter but at this point we believe he is a 34-year-old man from texas. we won't be releasing that name until we're certain. jim, in situations like this, is

the lion's share of the time going to be spent over the next hour or so, desperately trying to track down who this person has been in contact with over the past 24 hours? >> no, you're right, craig, that's absolutely going to be important. what's going to be the most important thing to them is his identity because you will of the leads will go from who he is, an employee of the navy, civilian, military man. is he a man choking on an empty grudge with the navalvy or government? there's indication that he's from texas. did he work for the navy in texas, was he wronged by the government? or completely unrelated and inspired actor of some sort of ill terrorist mindset. we don't know. the first answer that the commander has got to get, who is the guy and from that, everything goes out, just like

you said, who's he in touch with. we don't know right now, did he kill himself? was he killed by the responding police officers or tactical units? does he have a suicide note on his body? is there an i.d. on his body. where is his house, is it book by trapped? >> you remember the house in colorado where a fellow booby trapped the house after the shooting. there are will be messages where he lives, commuter message, hard drives outlining what he was intending. there's a whole lot to unfold today. and also these reports of the other shooters. are they real shooters which they have taken the chance they may be or responding to plains clothes officers. all of those things have to be answer. it's going to be very busy today. you're going to see searches and

identity come out and that's going to give us more of a picture of who he is and why -- it's not going to make sense. listen, it's not going to make sense as to why he did it, not going to clear that up, but maybe show his psychological makeup, we call it a psychological law copy, we try to walk it back and see why he went there. >> jim cav gnaw stand by as well. it's 2:30 on the east coast. we want to reset all of this for viewers. we found out about 30 minutes ago from the police chief in washington, d.c. that the death toll has risen, there were 12 people dead as a result of the shooting that happened before 8:30 this morning at the navy yard here in washington, d.c. at building 197. we're also told at this point the fbi, washington police department and park police, you

name it, there's a good chance they are involved in the search for two other people at this point it is unclear how the two people are connected to what's happened here. what may still be happening here to a certain extent but they are looking for two additional people. there's another news conference set for 2:00. we're told that the nb is heading up this investigation. a police chief saying the two people they are looking for at this point, a white male somewhere between the ages of 40 and 50, also wearing some type of beret and black male of roughly the same age also in some type of military uniform. the chief also being certain to point out just because they are wearing a military uniform does not necessarily mean -- does not necessarily mean that they are a member of the military or even active duty members of the military as well. lots of things happening on the ground here. i can tell you a short time ago

there was another helicopter circling over us here. that's been the case for the last few hours. but i can also tell you that the drive from reagan national airport to here in southeast d.c., was fairly uneventful. there was not a great deal of police presence along the route. we're a black away from nationals park, washington nationals set to take the field against the atlanta braves in a wild card game. at last check the game was still going to happen. that's what's happening on the ground right now. we're working to gather new information. we should tell you according to pete williams, law enforcement telling him that they believe the shooter were told is dead, 34 years old from texas. we're not re-lee s a name or identity until we can absolutely get that confirmed. the fbi at this point also

anyone with digsal information, call 1-800-call-fbi. jim cav gnaw been following this with me throughout the morning and afternoon. let me bring you back into the conference. i'm going to pose the same question to you. you and i both know in situations like this, typically there's a great deal of information that law enforcement holds back from journalists. would it be incorrect to assume in a situation like this when there is an active search on the ground for two people who may be involved, would it be incorrect to assume they are telling us everything that we need to know to pass along to viewers or is there still going to be a kasm between the watt. >> good point. there is a casm as clint pointed out. there won't be in safe format n

formation, what they will speak to is anything that will evolve public safety. they won't hold that back. you're getting information about the two other possible shooters because it involves public safety. they'll put that out quickly. investigative information, the commanders from all of the agencies will hold that and try to work it to try to get to where does this guy live and what's there. who else is in he in concert with. are there other things afoot, did you book by trap something? yes, there is but not as a result of public safety. the tactical teams will be sweeping that facility. it's a large facility. i served in washington twice, not far from the navy yard and it's huge. you can imagine trying to search that for somebody that could be hiding and the various tactical components from all of the agencies, they have to make sure

nobody is in there and operate on the last information they have that there's a possible shooter. it's very methodical, don't go through that with dogs and tactical police officers and they'll secure the buildings. >> and likewise, commanders are going to be trying to go to the agency saying, are these your personnel that run the video? did you have plains clothed officers respond? it's okay, there's nothing wrong with that. if we know, we can eliminate that. i would say that's extremely normal that that happens in this fog of war, chaos, it wouldn't be unusual at all if that were the case. >> our justice correspondent pete williams continuing to follow every angle of the story. pete, we just heard jim kavanaugh, bring us up to speed on precisely what we've been

able to glean from the video so far. >> this is one of the reasons the police chief is saying there could be other shooters involved because you see someone in the military uniform drawing a weapon. and there's other indications on the tape that that person may or ney not have fired a weapon. what's difficult here, you can't tell from the video whether this was a law enforcement person, military police officer responding to the shooting or whether it is in fact someone who was doing shooting himself so i think for that reason it cannot be ruled out and that's why the chief says she wants information for anyone that can explain what police see on the video and what they've heard from witnesses. in terms of witnesses, the fbi and police have a huge task ahead of them now. they are interviewing hundreds of people and may be interviews

as many as 400 witnesses on the scene today where the shooting happened. it's still we believe the shootings happened inside this building, although we can't -- we still keep hearing there were victims outside as well and the shooting may have started out there. that could be because of the surveillance video, we have been told that the victims were all inside building 197, primarily on third and fourth floors. there's only one confirmed gunman and authorities say he's 34-year-old aaron alexis of ft. worth texas, that he had just recently begun working as a civilian contractor for the navy. and that's -- that could be his connection to the facility. but what his motive is is a long way from determined. we know that he entered the building using another man's id card, someone who had been working at the navy yard, but

recently either been demoetded or discharged. police arrested that person whose i.d. he used at his home in the washington area and questioning him. but the initial reports we have is that this is just a coincidence that the id badge he used is someone who had recently been demoted or lost security clearance or no longer had access to the building. that was within a few days ago and the badge was still considered good. it hadn't been deactivated. the person still had the badge but that's a question very much under investigation. the initial word seems to be no. >> reporter: pete, are you hearing anything in terms of whether this shooter may have said anything before he started firing or as he was firing. are you hearing anything about that? >> no, nothing about that. >> also, pete, again,

34-year-old, the name one more time? >> 34-year-old aaron alexis of ft. worth, texas. >> ar roron alix is of ft. wort texas. >> at last check he was a civilian contractor? >> correct. >> the death toll jumped now to 12. any reason to believe that that number would also climb? >> i would just be very careful about these numbers. even the official numbers. frankly, everyone we talk to gives us a different number. that's understandable. it's still all of the pieces are still being put together. they are several different agencies involved. we can't frankly rule out the possibility that the number that the police chief was given to relate this news conference might have involved double acting. we can't say with confidence what the number was of wounded

and dead at this point. >> pete williams keeping us honest for us. we'll come back to you in just a minute. colonel jack jacobs is standing by for me for msnbc military analyst and medal of honor recipient as well. colonel jack, you are quite familiar with washington, d.c. and also somewhat familiar with the navy yard as well. i was talking to a woman on the plane ride down here and her question probably the same question a lot of folks have when you talk about military installations, especially in the nation's capital, there is an assumption that these places are very safe. these places are very secure. what say you to that? >> well, since 9/11, military bases post camps and stations have all instituted increased watchfulness which includes usually the following, you can't get on the post without an i.d. card. if you're coming in on a

vehicle, your vehicle must have a department of defense sticker. you have to register your car on post. if you don't have both of those things, then your vehicle is inspected and underneath you have to open the trunk and give access for the police to look at it. most of the places that don't have military police or sps or air police on the gate, they have contract workers. many of them are off-duty local policeman. and the level of scrutiny that takes place at the gate varies, from post to post and base to base and also varies from time to time. i've gone on to post when it was extremely difficult to get on. they were very vigilant and at other times it's been relatively easy, but by and large, if you

don't have a vehicle with a base sticker on it, parking sticker, which means the vehicle is registered and you don't have a military or d.o.d. civilian i.d., your vehicle is inspected. that means that whatever vehicle this guy came on, entered with, if the card that he had, the security card that he had was stolen, the likelihood is that the vehicle was also stolen. unless he himself had a vehicle registered on post. it's relatively tough to get on, however, it's not impossible to get on. and if the people at the gate are not particularly vigilant, it's relatively easy to get on. it all depends on how vigilant people are. there's no place into which you can't break in. tough enough, smart enough, you plan enough, you can get on to any base anywhere.

>> all right, colonel jack, also stand by for us, sir, as d.c. police and as fbi and number of federal and local law enforcement agencies continue to scour d.c. proper and the surrounding area looking for any additional information, talking to as pete pointed out, hundreds of possible folks who might have some sort of relationship to the gunman as that happens, we're also starting to hear from people who were inside that building this morning when shots rang out. >> i ended up on the back side of the building in an al leeway and evacuated a bunch of people and pushed them in the right direction. there was a individual who came from the building behind us and talking to me and base he canally saying, there was a shooter in your building and i heard two more shots, he went down in front of me and i took off from there. >> the guy you were with? >> the guy i was talking to. >> got shot? >> correct.

>> what was the situation afterwards you just moved -- >> he was shot in the head and did not look like he made it so i ran from there. >> i would say around where the man was laying down there was definitely panic as people were trying to get to work. that was a little more panicked i think when i first saw the man no one was pointing to them, people started to run up to him, maybe they were nurses or doctors and not at work yet or what not. they were did he have in any eventually -- definitely tending to him and it was unfolding right there. >> the gunman is dead, he's been identified as 34-year-old aaron alexis of fortworth texas. he was a civilian contractor who worked there. tom costello has been following the developments on the ground in the shadows of nationals park. according to cathy lanier, this area is on lockdown as they

conduct an exhaustive search for the two people they say may have some sort of connection to what's gone down. we have f we haven't heard the shoppers in a while but you say that's something going on through the morning as well? >> for those that have been here and i've been here since 9:15 this morning. the level of intensity dropped dramatically two hours ago and hasn't picked up. there there is a manhunt on for the two individuals, my hunch is it's in that building, in the navy yard itself. because we have not seep roving s.w.a.t. teams outside here near the perimeter, even close to the perimeter. the helicopters that were circling are for most part gone. we don't see a huge influx of more officers. so my hunch is that if they are looking for somebody, they believe that they are within that perimeter, perhaps of the navy yard itself. that is a very big and complicated complex and been

described to me at times as almost a maze inside the building. we've heard various reports of exactly how this gunman shot the victims, by some accounts, he was shooting down on they were when they were in an atrium or food court or they were in an l analan alleyway. i can tell you also, security in washington, d.c. is always very often anyway, at a very forward leaning extreme heightened type of stature or position and yet there are days you can walk into an official government building and things don't seem quite as intense. today they are in washington and i would assume that they are going to be looking very closely at how the security failed if it did fail, to get -- allow this

man to walk into the navy yard. i want to bring in the former secret service agent, dan, what do we do with that name now? how do we use that going forward? >> right now it's about uncovering networks. was it one person or single shooter or conspiracy, a network of people. that changes everything, motive and that changes what you do in the aftermath if god forbid this was the first of a potential line of attacks. we don't know any of that right now. >> reporter: we should also note for viewers at home, got word that the united states senate has adjourned until tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. we're expecting another news conference at 4:00 eastern. d.c. police turned over authority to the fbi. so the fbi presumably at 4:00

will get our next update from them. but again, this is an area in southeast d.c. in the shadow of the baseball stadium, this is an area that is supposedly on lockdown right now. we're told that investigators are literally going door to door talking to folks some of whom presumably have some sort of connection to the shooter as well. clint van zandt that be standing by. let's pick up right where dan left off. when we talk about moving forward the next phase of the investigati investigation. what does that look like? >> right now there's no evidence we have a conspiracy. of course you have to look at it. the last thing an investigator wants to do is say, it's just a lone nutcy gunman who did this terrible thing, let's just close this thing down.

there's a big investigation that's going to be conducted. if you consider the shooter the bull's-eye on a target and think about the circles that go away from the bull's-eye, that's this investigation. it's going to grow and it's going to grow and grow until investigators have satisfied themselves that they know everybody in his circle of friends and that they either no or don't know the one or two other shooters were involved. that's the critical thing right now. otherwise we've got two guys on the street potentially with guns who may want to continue or follow-up on this morning's activities. >> we should also note here clint that the sergeant at homes, teri gainer is telling nbc news that he is recommends to senate leadership a shelter in place -- shelter in place stance being given as a result of the unfolding events here at the navy yard. we're going to find out what precisely that means at the

capitol. this is from the sergeant at arms, a shelter in place recommendation has been given at the u.s. capitol. clint, again, here's a city -- i lived here for a number of years, unfortunately from time to time used to being on edge for a variety of reasons and used to seeing motorcades and these muscular suvs going down the streets at all times of day. even for washington, d.c., this is -- this is a lot. >> well, this is a lot but as you well know, washington, d.c. can be a very violent place. the good news/bad news is the victims of this terrible thing shooting today. the ones that survived have gone to hospitals that have a lot of experience dealing with gunshot wounds simply because of the firearms violence that taking place in washington as well as other major cities across this country. but know very well, craig, you

and your colleagues know this. law enforcement in the d.c. area is always leaning forward in the saddle. they are always waiting for that next major shoe to drop that indicates some type of attack against this country. and i think the former secret service agent you had on made a very good point. we have to make sure -- we have to be assured this is not a one-two-three type of punch or scenario. if it's one actor who carried this terrible thing out, one more incident, a mass violence in the workplace that we have almost monthly in this country for the lafrt three or four years, we'll deal with him. but if it's something far more sinister, we need to know that quickly and we've got the resources in washington, d.c. to work this. they simply have to have the information that tells them who are they looking at and what's the plot. >> president obama pointing out

at that news conference just a couple of hours ago that once again here we are in this country watching another mass shooting unfold, lots of questions will undoubtedly over the next few days, how was it he came across the guns? did he display any sorts of signs or some sort of predisposition that he displayed that should have been a red flag to folks who knew him? clint, at this point what do we know about the fire power that he took into building 197 this morning? do we know a great deal? >> we know two things. number one, he had a lot of fire power and you and i and just about anybody else can walk into a gun store for example in virginia or any place else and buy semiautomatic ar-15 assault rifle and double barrelled

shotgun and pistol revolver, we can do it. there are 310 million americans, 300 million guns in this country. these are three more of the guns that in the hands of the wrong guy have proved to be a very deadly combination. one last point, craig, this guy had somebody else's i.d. that allowed him to get in. this harkens us back to the adam lanza shooting at sandy hook where initially that young shooter with multiple guns was carrying his brother's i.d. and his brother was wrongfully identified as the shooter. law enforcement knows where this i.d. came from today. how did the shooter get his hands on that? that's a story yet to be resolved. >> clint van zandt, thank you. again, right now in the nation's capitol, an active search for two people who according to the police chief have some of connection to the shooting that

happened here. 12 people are dead, upwards of 15 shot, one of them is recovering right now, police officer here in washington, d.c., several other officers are injured. we're expecting a news conference at 4:00. the fbi taking the lead. we'll continue to monitor things on the ground but for now i'll turn things over to folks at "the cycle." [ phil ] when you e joint pain and stiffness... accomplishing even little things can become major victories. i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer. when i was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, my rheumatologist prescribed enbrel for my pain and stiffness, and to help stop joint damage. [ male announcer ] enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common.

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back now to the investigation, we're learning brand-new details about the two additional people police were searching for. justice correspondent pete williams has been on this since it started. pete, what's the latest? >> the question has been one of the many questions has been whether there was more than one gunman involved in the mass shooting today and it's still pointing toward the possibility that it was just one person. there was surveillance video and eyewitness reports of others. d.c. police have said one of people they were looking for, a white male with a tan navy style uniform and beret has been identified and was responding, was not involved in the shooting. so all indications are that it was just a single gunman identified by many law enforcement officials as 34-year-old aaron alexis of ft. worth, texas, his identity is confirmed through fingerprints, there was