lampshade. >> stunning details about the american who vanished years ago. there are now reports he was on an unauthorized cia mission. his family is calling on the white house to step up and take care of one of his own. >> mike tyson is stopping by "the cycle" right here at the table. he's been in a lot of rings but i can tell you, never one like this. >> 3:00 here in new york, 90 miles from the mass elementary shooting. >> there were several fatalities at the scene, both students and staff. >> they have their entire lives ahead of them, birthdays and graduations and weddings. >> seeing faces on the other

side of the scene and the emotion on those faces was difficult to see. >> everybody knows that we've got to do something about this and need to have a big dialogue. a lot of my friends and myself, we're all trying to find ways to just come up with some sort of solution. ♪ >> we will not stand idly by and let this massacre be forgotten. >> my role in life is to make change to ensure everyone in all communities are safe. i will not be silent. >> i will remember. >> we will remember. >> we knew that god is involved in every detail of the events. we take great encouragement of the prayers of christians around the nation. >> the lights of this cathedral we see the faces of those we

loved. >> one year ago tomorrow, america's spirit was shattered as we've learned in the days since newtown that spirit was not broken. we're honored to have rob cox at the table. he founded sandy hook promise, a non-profit organization started in the wake of the tragedy, now more than a quarter of a million people strong. rob recently wrote an essay about newtown's wish to mark this anniversary privately, but he also said that they will soon be ready to embrace a country that wants nothing more than to see newtown come back even stronger. rob, friend of the show, welcome back. you're in and around newtown and know these people. how are they doing? >> it's been a really tough year. every single thing that's happened, whether a birthday, birthday of one of the 26 who are killed a year ago, a something as simple as a new budget referendum, all of these things are so weighty and so much significance to it. it's quite difficult. the one year mark has really

been the big ka hun na of things we need to get past. there's been an appeal by town leaders for the media to give everybody a private day tomorrow. many, many media outlets are doing that, it's not because they don't like the media or there may be folks who think it's sort of vulture media, i saw some sign on rachel maddow show the other day. people need to come together and do it without cameras on their faces and trucks clogging the streets. all of that brings up the horrific week that no community should have to suffer through. >> to that point i wanted to read a quote from newtown, the community is choosing to remember and honor those who lost their lives in ways that are quiet and personal and respectful and centered on themes of kindness and love and service to others. talk a little bit more about

what the next year coming up is going to look like for the folks from newtown. are they going to be welcoming the media back? are they going to be wanting to continue the conversation? what are their hopes for the upcoming year? >> i think for people who lost so much on december 14th of last year, this is going to take many, many years to heal, to kind of as my friend dave wheeler who lost his son ben, he has a hole in his heart the size of a 6-year-old boy. there are so many people that i've been so honored to work with and privileged to work with, david wheeler and his wife francis, and nicole hockley, they are basically dedicating their lives to make sure no other family has to suffer through the kinds of things he suffered through and no communication around this nation should have to go through something like this. they are looking at common sense, holistic solutions,

whether mental health front, it's on parenting. obviously that is a big elephant in this room. and of course on guns. so this is -- the way -- a lot of folks look at it is this cliche that you are in a marathon, not a sprint. this is just mile one. so if anyone is ever run -- i've never run a marathon but run a 5k, that's enough. when you get past the first mile and someone hands you a cup of water, i've got to do more. these folks are dedicated to doing 24 or 25 more of these. >> there's been a debate around the country how to cover the first year anniversary of newtown. should media have released the 911 calls and how much coverage should we give it when emotions are still so raw? how does the town feel about the debate and the coverage has been leading up to the anniversary? >> most people believe the coverage has been incredibly respectful, from major and local media outlets.

it has been. i'm in the journalism business myself, it's odd. i'm somewhat conflicted. but i can see -- everybody i talk to says whether it's an anchor, producer, writer, this is the worst story they ever had to cover. i think that has been reflected in the world they've done, very sympathetic towards the community and family. i do think that most people get that. you know what it is? you see the satellite trucks and remember that week when it was satellite truck satellite truck, hearse, hearse, and i think it just brings back that raw memory. and i'm not going -- i don't think people are angry -- well, people of course are angry because they don't have -- it's not like 9/11 where you can say let's bomb a country. to be totally frank, you don't have any -- you don't have any recourse. there is no ka thar sis.

>> i think everybody will be fined and people will be gathering in the churches and be with their families and i'll be taking a hike with 30 or 40 friends and having silent time and quiet time and thinking about these folks. and i think the media is going to be pretty respectful. >> you mentioned public policy and guns and if you have an explosion or arson or have a bomb go off or shooting at an airport, we have conversations about what is the policies that allow this to happen and could we be doing more. and the area of guns is so controversial because on the one hand people have gun rights under the constitution and that is the law whether you like it or not. on the other hand, a lot of people, myself included, look at this incident and said, there is something wrong with the baseline rules when this kind of person can take this kind of weapon and get into a school to murder children. one of the responses i believe

is that we need more checks on the guns themselves, offensive versus defensive weapons and more checks on the access to weaponry. where does that fit into this and you know it well from being up there? >> that is going to take time. this is a regular tri argument when you break it down. smith and wesson had gross profit margins higher than apple's, they enjoy extraordinary protection, like the court system, consumer product liability, all of those things extremely important to making companies behave better. they've done a very good job with the nra and other folks, nnsf based in newtown, they've done a great job of masking the argument of ideology rather than regulation. banking industry has had a complete reform of its regulation over the last few years because we were -- we found it unacceptable that the losses were socialized by

taxpayers. nobody got killed but we did feel it was unacceptable so we completely changed the rules. >> interestingly haven't done that with the gun industry but it will take time. you have to change people's minds and they have to start thinking about this -- not in idealogical terms but community safety and safety of their children. >> thank you very much, rob. >> pleasure. >> msnbc.com reporter spoke with community members still trying to make sense of this tragedy. check it out on our website. a bipartisan budget deal. watch out for hidden lumps of coal. it's friday the 13th, that means anything can happen. announcer: where can an investor be a name and not a number? scottrade. ron: i'm never alone with scottrade. i can always call or stop by my local office. they're nearby and ready to help. so when i have questions,

i can talk to someone who knows exactly how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. that's why i'm with scottrade. announcer: ranked highest in investor satisfaction with self-directed services by j.d. power and associates.

[ camera shutter clicks ] now, that's cardworthy. [ man ] all right. here we go. ♪ cardworthy. [ female announcer ] this holiday season, visit shutterfly.com for all your cardworthy moments. hi boys! i've made you campbell's chunky new england clam chowder. wow! this is incredible! i know. and now it has more clams! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. what? [ male announcer ] it fills you up right.

♪ all night long >> up all night, it is not just an nbc sitcom that was canceled far before its time but last night in the u.s. senate an all night session wrapped up about an hour ago, during that time you saw a number of votes to confirm the judicial nominees which up until now had been held up in average of 140 days. next comes a floor vote on the bipartisan budget deal and a bipartisan budget deal that passed -- what. >> the house. how is that for holiday cheer? not everybody is in the spirit. shocker. >> senator, why as a conservative do you believe this

isn't -- >> not just as conservative as an american. washington promises future reductions in spending never seem to come true. >> right now there are a least four firm nos in the senate and ten who are leaning no or not yet made up their minds. where are those votes coming from? joining us aizaac chopener of the new republic. >> thanks for having me. >> look forward to the budget vote in the senate. what is the breakdown of votes going to look like? >> well, i think the vast majority of votes will come from democrats, there are several democrats who have compressed some excepticism about the deal because they don't like the cuts. they are not happy unemployment insurance and extension of unemployment insurance is not being included. but the vast, vast majority of democrats will vote for this. the question is whether they can get enough republicans to get to 60 votes. >> izaac, washington, d.c. has officially become the most

bizarre and unpredictable place, you have the house that easily passed this budget deal, boehner, speaker boehner now looked at as a hero and finally pushing back against the absurd and nonsensical conservative groups, i'm thrilled that's finally happened but now you have the senate normally the adults in the room making things a little bit difficult, certain members that usually are negotiators are pushing back on this. help us understand this dynamic. why is this going on? >> i think it's a little much to call boehner a hero. he is pushing back against some of these conservative groups, but it took a long time for him to do this. >> but that's why i'm calling him a hero. that is a big step. >> he's not a hero. >> slow down. slow down. >> i mean, you know it's good he's finally doing this. but as i said it's a long time coming. you have a strange situation in the senate where if you're a republican senator from god knows where, you probably like this deal and think it's the best you're going to get.

a lot of senators are facing primary challenges like mitch mcconnell who will probably vote against the deal. >> seven of them. >> seven are facing primary challenges and the rest there's that much in it for them. that's why i think you'll see trouble rounding up the votes. eventually they are going to get them. >> some extraordinary moments yesterday, let's look at them. >> frankly, i think they are misleading their followers and pushing members in places where they don't want to be and frankly, i think that they lost all credibility. >> some real history going on here, politico notes for the first time since they took the house, a strong majority of republicans have rejected the political absolutism, encouraged by the professional right that marred congress into gridlock and the shutdown. it seems there may be a break-up going on between boehner and the

majority of the republicans in the house and the professional right, the heritage sort of folks. do you think that's happening? and why is that happening now? >> the question of why now is an interesting one. it could be because the staekz are lower and boehner felt he couldn't go against these major lobbying organizations on a big issue like the debt ceiling or something like that. he felt he couldn't push back against them. really is a lot of nger up on the hill if you talk to republicans and republican staffers about these groups like freedom works and heritage action and primary challenges. i think this is a long time coming in that sense. >> one of the credible mess earnings, you have the leadership and outside group. is there a glenn beck or other people to referee this thing? >> glenn beck? >> i don't know he's the man to referee it. >> from their perspective?

>> i don't think so. that's part of the trouble you see, there isn't anyone to referee. i don't think glenn beck is the person or it's hard to think of anyone. >> you don't like glenn beck. >> are you a glenn beck fan? i'm surprised. >> i'm not personally a fan but i think he holds a lot of sway. and i think one of the problems krystal, i don't know we might agree about this, one of the problems for this party is that they don't have anyone outside of heritage -- >> they have no leadership, which i think people are hoping that maybe possibly john boehner is starting to step back. >> heritage is the leadership. >> but we have important business we have to get to with you, izaac, before we let you go, we want to congratulate for winning last saturday's edition of "up against the clock." it was a rare fete as you correctly answered the final

question winning some hot dogs. >> way before an article of politico pressuring the national congressional committee not to financially support republican candidates who are what -- >> women. >> no. >> gay is correct. >> izaac has tied the all time record. >> izaac, i've got to ask, have you cashed in that gift certificate yet? >> i have not. i'm glad i wore a different suit today though. >> that was a good call. hot dogs are delicious and thank you, again. this saturday our man, steve, will be replaced by a special guest host. >> who. >> and that will be -- that would be me. i'll be the host this weekend. among the contestants will be ari from seattle, that ari.

promises to be special. and we'll be back with the cold hard facts of getting ready for winter right after this. need a spoon, dear? not anymore. ladies... kitchen counselor. it's likely your detergent. cascade platinum's triple cleaning formula delivers brilliant shine finish gel can't beat. it even helps keep your dishwasher sparkling. cascade platinum is cascade's best.

in the nation, what's precious to you is precious to us. ♪ love is strange

so when coverage really counts, count on nationwide insurance. we put members first. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪

breaking news, there are reports of an active shooting situation in a colorado high school. local affiliate kusa two people -- their conditions are unknown. police are on the scene. no one is in custody at this time. let's listen in. >> just standing out here today in a group. it looks like they weren't allowed to bring anything except basically clothes they were wearing as they come out here. of course a lot of anxious parents looking in through the fences hoping they can see their

child which from our vantage point is more than a football field way. >> it is a terrifying moment for anybody particularly a parent when you hear that's happening and your child is inside. we have been hearing from parents who have been getting texts from students inside the building who don't know what's happening either. encouraging that big group of kids you're describing is getting out but imagining those parents waiting on the perimeter, that can't physically get to their kids and find their child has got to be one of the most difficult things that's happening right now. >> i think it is. you see so many worried faces here because even as they know their child is physically safe, of course, this is a tremendous traumatic experience for them to be involved in. and just because we only see 100 or here comes another group of students again, students filing slowly out on the practice field

on the other side of the building here. as these kids come out, the police are here and trying to secure the building and doing the things that we -- so many times talked about as far training, go through the hallway and rooms to find the children to make sure they are okay. that if some cases they may bring them out and some cases they may not bring them out. depending whether they feel it's safe to bring the kids out as they get to them. >> we know that -- please stand by. we have also now have on the line -- >> jack, a student inside the school says he's in a safe place. >> across the street now. >> he's gotten out of the school. jack, i'm so glad you're okay. tell us what you experienced and what you see now. jack, are you there? can you hear us?

>> he may be on his cell phone which could be -- jack, this is mark -- can you hear us now? hello, jack. all right. >> we're going to get connected to him because he'll have a very interesting perspective. again, he was inside the school and was able to get out of the school, now safely across the street. a lot of kids have been able to get out. melissa watched two different groups as she described at least 100 students coming out in an orderly fashion because our guess is that police and fire that were inside helped get them out safely. they have not grabbed back packs and not bringing anything with them but getting outside the school and parents out there, you can imagine, for the parents that have been able to come to the school, they are kind of being kept away at the perimeter and just watching the kids come out, scanning the crowd hoping

to find that familiar face. >> one thing you don't see in the pictures that we're showing you, this large practice filed. there's a very large soccer/football complex on the north side or back side of the school, which faces dry creek and borders university there. and what we're hearing is that this is where all of the students as they are tak taken of the building as they watch for anyone who might trying to blend in with the school population. that athletic field is beginning to fill up with students. we don't know what the next step is but it is common practice they would pick another evacuation area, particularly buses arrive and pick up large groups of students. we're guessing that effort might be being mobile iszed as we speak. there's going to be an area for parents to gather as is also typical in these situations so they can reconnect with the kids. more often than not in the past that has been a nearby school

trying to think -- west middle is close to this school. also, there's cherry creek school close to this school. high lands ranch probably too far away. they might stage this and we have no information of that in the moment but if parents are listening and wondering, we're guessing that's something that will be passed along very quickly and melissa might be able to tell us when that effort and information is released. melissa, if you're still with us, we have not heard any directives as to how this evacuation is going to proceed. >> i have not heard any directives from my vantage point. we, again, are on the northwest side of the school at franklin there where parents have just come to look and text and talk to their students. i saw one parent try to wave her arm. i think she was trying to figure out if her child in the field

could see her or not out here to identify herself. i can tell you a little bit, that they are just starting now to rope off the school with crime scene tape on the area that i am, in part because of control of the crowd and make sure that the parents don't wonder too far in and down. the officers here that are on scene do have their long guns out as they stand here and monitor what's going on. >> melissa, we want to reset for anyone who is just joining us. we're seeing pictures from arapaho high school, on the corner of dry creek and university. they have confirmed an active shooting situation there. we know there are two victims. many students have been able to get out. but as melissa is describing and as you see in pictures, there are law enforcement from a number of jurisdictions who have come in to help. we're waiting to get more

information about a gun person, male or female. i can tell you we just heard from the sheriff, there will be a briefing at 1:45. we expect to get a lot more information in the next 15 minutes. let's go to brian willy. there at the scene, what can you see from your vantage point? you're on the air. can you hear us? >> brian -- i know he's trying to gather information. this is cheryl and mark in the studio. >> before we go to brian, we apologize, sky 9 is over the school. we see those images coming in and out. but they are the same and they are of students who are coming out of the school. you'll notice they don't have back packs and not carrying anything with them, obviousry law enforcement trying to get every student out as fast as they possibly can and get them out safely. sky 9 is over. you can imagine the thousands of

people who con greg gated on that corner and communication is very difficult and that's tough. everyone wants to get a hold of a loved one right about now. >> the potential staging areas for parents and again, we're just guessing, having seen so many of these now and knowing how they work, they know more than likely after all of these kids up in buses and we'll get our sky 9 picture here, they will gather them up and transport them to another large public area just like homestead, dry creek, a lot of schools in the willow creek area. >> will continue to monitor our local affiliate out there. i want to bring in tom costello who knows the school. he attended school there. tell us about this school and what you know about the situation. >> i've been monitoring the the fire and police traffic. i did go to high school there and graduated many years ago.

this is in a very suburban area of denver and about as the crow flies maybe 10 or 12 miles from columbine high school, the scene of the atrocity in 1999. the local police, fire departments and sheriff's department have really dramatically addressed the issue of an active shooter in a school. they have plans to respond to something like that. what you're seeing is the arapaho police department and colorado state patrol, douglas county sheriff's department, riltown fire rescue. as the traffic i've been listening to, they are the fire rescue apparatus and sheriff's officers inside this school still have been going room to room looking for a potential shooter or second shooter. they want to make sure they know exactly how many potential suspects they are dealing with on the ground here. i have good friends who work for the police department in that

area and just had a conversation with a couple of them a couple of weeks ago about how their active duty training dramatically changed after columbine. they are very proactive and aggressive now on this. but i can tell you at the moment, this is -- you talk about a community on edge for any short of shooting. aaurora shooting scene is probably another 10 or 20 miles from the high school. this community, the denver metro community is very, very aware of the threats posed by individuals and weapons and guns and you name it. >> thank you very much. tom costello, who happened to go to is a rapaho high school. two are injured. let's go back to local affiliate kusa for more. >> you see each one has a cell phone to their ear trying desperately to get a hold of their kids. >> we think we have jack back on the line. this is a young man who goes to

arapaho high school. we see the kids marching out and all being told to march out and many arms above their head. one of those very important safety measures we have learned in this process. they don't want anyone with a gun or weapon looking to do harm blending in with the crowd. are you still on the line with us? hello, jack, this is mark and cheryl. >> he said this is all unconfirmed -- >> this is obviously such an unsettling scene for anyone who lived in colorado for any length of time because it brings back very difficult memories for our state and community. but the good news of what you're seeing right now, each of the students is safe and none of those kids are hurt. >> all hands up. >> just as a precaution. this is procedure and protocol that students and administrators work day in and day out to teach kids, hoping they never have to use it. but when they do, it is to keep them safe and to make sure that it can go as well as it can

under extraordinarily difficult situations. >> let's try for jack again who is on the line. jack, can you hear us. we don't have jack again. this is the youngster away from the building and safe and hope to get him on the line. now you see on the athletic fields they are lining up large crowds of these kids to make sure poonl potentially to make sure someone isn't -- >> this is what we were hearing, trying to get as many kids out as they could into one area, when you talk about a school that has more than 2,000 students and want to account for every single student to make sure they are okay. >> we're going to go now to pete williams. we hear you have new information. >> the law enforcement officials i've been talking to say this appears to be over, whatever it was. it's going to take ace while to figure out what exactly happened here. what you're seeing is the police following the standard

procedures for what happens in a case like this. our understanding is that two people were injured as well as whoever it was that started all of this. i'm reluctant to call this person a gunman because nobody confirmed that this was a school shooting. we know that there was some kind of weapon involved. we don't yet know if it was a gun or something else -- actually now i guess we do. we've been told a hospital has reported that one of the victims has a gunshot wound. i guess we can say for sure it was a shooting. two people were injured and as well as the suspect. but we don't know whether the two include the suspect or whether the suspect is a third person. but the main point is that our understanding is that this is over.

so i guess they are still technically treating it as an active shooter situation until they go and confirm every single room has been cleared and the entire school has been cleared and all of the parking lots have been cleared. but there don't appear to be anything that would endanger students still going on. i think that's the point. now the slow process will play itself out of clearing the school, getting the students to a safe place and trying to figure out whatever happened. whatever it was, whatever the danger appears to have passed. >> all right, that at least is good news. pete williams thank you. we'll dip into kusa now. >> inside this emergency room here behind me. when we drove up here i saw an officer, we were driving up south on broadway from 9 news, we saw ab officer all of a sudden turn on his lights and speed and turn that way towards

the school. you can hear the sirens over here. one of those things we're very close to the high school, a couple of miles away. here is what officials are telling me right now. one unidentified patient, a 15 to 16-year-old with a gunshot wound. they do not know the gender of this patient. they do not know the condition of this patient. i asked is this patient in the emergency room right now? i can only assume so at this time. here's what they are going to do. on the other side of the building, they are allowing media, sending media to a conference room on the other side where they will meet us and hopefully get us more information. but first call i made to them, they told me, you know, we're trying to figure out if any patients have come to littletown hospital. i did receive a call back from the hospital confirming they have that little 15 to 16-year-old patient here again, no word on the condition. >> as you fill us in, we appreciate the update on the

information, we want to reiterate, this is a live picture from sky 9. as you see these lines of kids, this is a new line of kids. this is another group of students walking out of the hospital in single file line going to the track where they are going student by student just checking each of them, putting them all together to be accounted for. just wanted to clear that up. this is a live picture you're watching. this is another group of students and i think that is good news. the more kids we see walk safely out of the high school, the better obviously. and i know there are a lot of people in our community right now watching this with a pit in their stomach because it reminds them of things our state has been through in the past. the protocols put in place because of other school shootings like columbine are being put into practice right now by police. we know there are police from every jurisdiction in the close vicinity are there to help. there's another group walking

across the snow now all heading to that same location around the track. we're talking about arapahoe high school. this is a school of about 2100 students. an active shooting situation that we learned about just about 11:30. two victims we know of still at the hospital there. do you see parents there? what else do you see around you? has anyone else come around the hospital or are most people still there right at the high school? >> yeah, i believe that most people are at the high school. we pulled into the emergency room parking lot and got out and looked around. i did at that point notice a police officer or littletown police officer or sheriff's car, very quick look. i did notice there was some kind of official here. that car has since left. we got out of the car immediately and approached by a security guard who said you can't be in this location at this time.

i did see a car with two people pull up but it hasn't been a large amount of people. i asked a woman right here at the bus stop next to me if she saw anything. she said, no, i didn't see anything. what are you talking about? what happened? >> all so far here at the hospital very quiet. we just arrived. we had a chance to get basic information and take a quick look around. as we talked to you a moment ago another security guard came up and nervous about us being here. we moved back the live shot. we're in an area where they told us to go. however, again, just news that one patient is confirmed here. we're going to be going into that conference room in a couple of minutes and hopefully we'll be able to meet with a public information officer and she'll be able to provide us some information. my phone is ringing and that could be her giving us a call back. in situations like this it's constantly unfolding and updating. >> we'll let you get that latest

information. we appreciate that as we are looking at sky 9 images of a growing group of arapahoe high school students meeting on the track. this was the friday before final exams, starting on 17th and holiday break was to start on the 20th. that is a really striking image as you see, a group of hundreds of students and you can imagine what they have been through in the last hour or two as they are on the track. >> just to orient you, thgs the massive athletic complex, if you're familiar with the area, there's a massive athletic complex on the badge back side or north side of the high school. this goes around one of the various mul purpose fields. here's dry creek and university boulevard. that's an incredibly busy interaction there of dry creek and university boulevard. all day long there are kids racing to go to the various stores and restaurants. there's a burger place across

the street and grocery store. what you're seeing now if you look to the top left, you'll see an oval track there on the back side of the school and again, if this goes according to pattern, what typically happens is they will continue to move these kids out of this building and what sheryl is very correctly described is a very practiced patterned evacuation. very, very experienced, unfortunately are with this process. they will move all of those kids to one area and begin to evacuate them off the property. that's what you're seeing here in a very orderly and good thing we see with kids coming out of the building. >> let's go to melissa on the ground. tell us what you see and what you've learned there, melissa. >> i'm on the northwest side, not far from where the kids are in gathering in the fields who have been evacuated from the school. there are at least a couple of hundred more coming out all the

time here from the building onto the athletic fields on the north side of the building as they are coming out, they are walking slowly, in twos aej threes. some of them are coming out with their hands up above their heads. also, here outside of the school fence, are dozens and dozens, at least a hundred parents who have come to see what is going on. many of them have already talked to their children on the cell phones or through texting, knowing that they are okay, but still, such a scary, scary experience for them that they just have come here to be closer to where their kids are. they are awaiting formal word of where they will be able to go to reunite with her children. also, we saw up to a dozen, six to a dozen actual kids at the school. at one point, police did call for anybody who was a student at arapahoe to come on the side

closer to the school from the police tape, it appears they are just trying to make sure they account for and interview every student possible to make sure that everyone is accounted for here. >> mark, cheryl. thank you. >> we continue to see this ever growing crowd of students again. we still do not have any confirmed information about the current situation involving the shooter. we have one patient, 15 to 16 years old with a gunshot wound. their condition not known. initially there were reports of two, but we have only information about the one. >> i have to tell you, mark, i just saw two girls run towards each other and give each other a big hug. we're talking about 14 and 15 and 16 and 17-year-old kids. kids who had an active shooting situation at their school as they are maybe reuniting for the first time too knowing that

their parents are somewhere close by they hope. most of these kids have a cell phone and we can only imagine a lot of them have been trying to text each other, text siblings and moms and dads and try to find out what's going on. a lot of kids won't have known the specifics either. you can really feel for them as you watch these moments unfold on a high school track. a couple of weeks until christmas for heaven's sakes and we do know one patient at littleton high school has a gunshot wound. all of littleton public schools are on lockdown as a precaution. just confirmed that cherry creek high school is also on lockdown. no students are being allowed out of the building, as far as we are told that is just a precaution. just a precaution because of the events you're seeing now. the reason the kids have their hands on their head is just protocol, procedure. each one will be checked by law enforcement officer to make sure

that they don't know who they are dealing with and don't know who has the gun. >> don't want anyone to blend in with the population. we should also tell you this is a littleton school but cherry creek share common borders and school lines cross common boundaries, there's a great deal of precaution taken, again, another part of a very practiced protocol for these types of situations because they don't want anyone who may have been involved in this escaping to another school and blending into another population. again, we don't have any information that that's happened but we can tell you that is the practice now for the school shootings which we have far too much experience now with in colorado. this is just the process you see, there are officers at the head of each of these lines. all of these kids are being searched to make sure nothing is planted or there isn't an active shooter blending in with the population. all of the law enforcement towards away from this particular area towards the front and side of arapahoe high

school have long rifles at the ready, many of them have weapons drawn and so we know this is still a situation where they are taking extreme precaution. exercising every amount of special protocol that they have been trained for to prevent the situation from escalating further. we have no indications that that's about to happen. but you should know that is the process and protocol for all law enforcement involved here. >> let's go over the time line as we watch the students on the high school track. it's ten until 2:00 now. we first heard about this right around 11 -- 12:30, 12:15, 12:30. it's taken close to an hour and and a half to get as many kids out as you've seen now. part of the procedure is to go classroom by classroom to make sure as they move kids it is a safe situation to move them through a building or move them

out of a building in some situations better to stay put. the law enforcement officers inside the school made a determination that these kids you've seen now are in a position that they could bring them out of the school safely. we have seen jefferson county sheriff's deputies there and douglas county deputies and littleton police and this gives you a good perspective of what we're dealing with. you see the track on the upper left hand corner. smack dab in the middle of your screen at dry creek and university is where the parents are at this point with a group of police officers as they try to find a way to connect the kids to their parents. right now a briefing is starting we understand so we'll be getting more information. we've got crews waiting for them to come out. we expect to have some specifics here very, very soon, maybe in the next 10 or 15 minutes. obviously we'll bring it to you the moment we have it. >> law enforcement is treating this as an active scene.

they are not taking any chances and all of these kids -- i should say this, we are very fortunate that we have the temperatures that we have today. >> absolutely. >> all of these kids would be standing out in freezing weathee told to stand and leave all their possessions, everything they could carry, they are being told to leave those items at their desk or at their lockers or at their lunch table, wherever they were when this began. so all of them are sans coats and any other of their school paraphernalia and personal belongings they might have. this gives a good look. i was talking about the retail pad across the street. you can see in the upper right-hand side of your picture. a lot of parents. the parking lot almost full. just to the south, that large parking pad and cody will give us a good look now. you can see parents still waiting curbside. a lot of officers, as well. everyone looking for word. and a lot of photographers covering this. but they have closed that very busy intersection down, dry quick creek and university.

they are taking every particular precaution they can. they are securing the area as best they can. and my guess is, there is another staging area of students, a lot of s.w.a.t. vehicles in the area. there's another staging area for students that i don't think we've seen, cheryl, because as you mentioned, 2,100 kids in this school, we have seen maybe 4 or 500 back on the athletic track. so we're wondering at this point, and as we probably learn in the briefing where the rest might be going. >> it goes without saying, the big question i know a lot of people are thinking about is who has the gun. and what is the situation now. and those are questions that we're asking. but obviously, law enforcement's first priority is to take care of that. and then they'll communicate the information. we have not heard anything confirmed about that person with a gun. or people with a gun. and you might be seeing a lot on twitter at this moment. but there is a lot of unconfirmed information floating around out there right now. >> exactly. they're trying to control these parking lots at the moment.

as you can see, i'm guessing those are a lot of parents. perhaps a lot of onlookers now right there near the chase bank just across the street. kind of watching this, and monitoring it. and they're trying to control the parking lots as best they can. >> i want to share some breaking information from pete williams, nbc, has some law enforcement sources that have told him the danger is over. that law enforcement has the suspect. that suspect is wounded or down, as they described it. again, this is a huge relief. the danger is over indeside the school. the person with the gun, we were just talking about that, is in the hands of law enforcement. that person has been wounded. we don't know if it's a male or female. we don't know if it's a student or an adult. we will get that information in the moments to come, in the minutes to come. and certainly more information, what will end up in the days -- i'm just so happy we can relay that information. we don't know yet about a number of victims beyond the two that

have been confirmed. one of them being a 15 or 16-year-old with a gunshot wound at littleton hospital. we have not been given any information about the second victim that we know is out there. >> pete usually has very reliable information. that's the best possible news at this point. and all they're doing now then, they're essentially mopping up. they're going to make sure the building is empty, number one. that all the kids are safe. number two. and then they are going to go room -- >> we believe to be the suspect and active shooter. that individual is credible currently deceased and he apparently killed himself. that will be part of the investigation. we know the identity of the suspect. i am not going to release it at this time. i want to again repeat to you, the suspect has been found inside the school, and he has deceased, as a result of what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. we are slowly and methodically clearing the school and ensuring that all of our students are

safe. they were safer inside their locked school room classes than they would have been had we allowed them to exit. and that was part of our strategy and protocol. we are now slowly but methodically allowing students to leave the school in groups. we are bringing them to a location that's directly east of where we're standing. they will be boarded on school buses and transported from there to a church just south of here, called shepard of the hills. that shepard of the hills is where we will reunite families with their students. we have now directed all families to go to the shepard of the hills church so that they can be reunited with their families -- or with their students within the next half hour to 45 minutes. i will also tell you that the response protocols around active shooters were put into place immediately. the first deputy sheriffs and police officers that were on-scene immediately entered the school to engage the shooter if

they could locate that individual. and also keep the students absolutely safe. before i'll take any brief questions, and they will be very brief, i will tell you, i will do another very detailed brief at 3:00 p.m., and i'm not sure of the location, but we will put out an all-media release and let you know exactly what that -- where that 3:00 p.m. brief will happen. again, at 3:00 p.m., i will give you additional details, and i will let you know where our investigation stands. from this point, i will tell you that i will allow media trucks, media representatives, to place themselves in the westbound dry creek road just east of university. in order to accommodate your needs, if you want to put your trucks and vehicles on -- in the turn lanes, westbound dry creek just east of university, that's where we will set up for you to enter your vehicles.

[ inaudible question ] >> at this point, it's a precautionary measure. we know the suspect was a student at arapaho high school. we are in contact with his family. [ inaudible question ] >> the student was transported by littleton fire rescue in serious condition. steve? [ inaudible question ] we had a pio and he immediately initiated the active shooter protocols on his own and didn't wait for assistance. he immediately implemented and went after the threat. [ inaudible question ] don't have any details at this point. i'll share that at 3:00. [ inaudible question ] >> the second injured student was found while we were clearing the school. that had been locked down. and, again, the -- that individual is suffering a minor wound, and we very frankly are not sure that it's a gunshot wound. >> where did the shooting take

place? >> can't talk about it right now. more detail at 3:00. >> how long until you found the suspect? >> it happened quickly. the time of call on this was 12:33 p.m. today. we had information on the radio that my deputies believe they had the shooter down inside -- [ no audio ] again, we have one student transported in serious condition with a gunshot wound. i can't go into any further detail on that. we have a second -- [ no audio ] don't know if it was a gunshot wound or exactly what this is. i'll have that information for you at my 3:00 news briefing. [ inaudible question ] >> at this point in time, we have not been able to locate a second suspect. but that's part of our ongoing investigation. that's why we are dealing with family, and colleagues of the suspect to identify any other potential suspects. we will assume other suspects until we know differently.

and that was certainly the focus of the deputies and police officers that entered this school to alleviate the threat. >> were any other weapons found? >> no weapons found other than the one weapon used in the shooting. >> how many shots? >> won't go into that at this it point? [ inaudible question ] >> that's something that will be part of our investigation. the student identified a specific teacher at arap poe high school he was interested in confronting and that teacher was informed and exited the school quickly. >> how did he name that teacher? is. >> i won't go that that right now. >> any other threats made to the school earlier this week? >> no threats, no issues that we had concern with at this school. this week or in the -- immediate past/future. i'll take two more questions and then i'll close, please. [ inaudible question ] >> most important message right now is that we have the shooter is dead. and that's as a result of a

self-inflicted gunshot wound. no other threats at this time. we have one student, sadly, injured. we are trying our very best to ensure that we have immediately notified the family of that student. all of the families who have students at arapaho high school will be reunified with their students at the shepard of the hills -- located -- [ inaudible ] [ audio cutting out ] thank you all. we'll see you at 3:00. we will notify you. >> and you have been listening to a news conference there. law enforcement news conference there in colorado. you heard the highlight that at this point the suspect is dead. the sheriff saying that at this point it appears to be the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. the sheriff, jeff grayson, also saying they are going through arapaho high school. they are methodically clearing that school, slowly and methodically clearing the

school, his words there. and at this point, it appears as if the situation there is over. again, breaking news right now in colorado. a shooting at a high school. reportedly leaving at least two people injured. the gunman dead. all of this going down at arapaho high school. that's at scentennial, colorado south of denver, not far from columbine high school. we have been watching footage from kusa, showing students evacuated from that high school. we have been seeing the images there of students with their hands raised, students being patted down by police. we should point out, all of this, of course, taking place about eight miles east of columbine high school. also in that same area, of course, you know, aurora, colorado, not far from here, either of the nbc's pete williams has been watching all of this very closely. pete joins me live now with more. pete, what more can you tell us? >> reporter: the main point, i think, is the one you just