>> dramatic stuff. a gunman shot dead after opening fire at that parliamentary building. a member of parliament tweeted this quote. mom, i'm okay. i'm in hiding. a canadian soldier standing guard at the national war memorial nearby was also shot in the second of those incidents, shots also fired finally at a shopping mall. police confirmed there are multiple suspects at this point. various reports of up to three. working on confirming those. the shooting comes two days after a convert to islam killed one canadian soldier and injured another in a hit-and-run. the prime minister is going to make a statement later today. we'll be watching for that. here at home, president obama's been briefed on the situation in ottawa. the white house official telling nbc news, there's no change to tour security status here at

this point other than that norad update. it is also going to continue to monitor the situation. that's the white house line on this. the official adds that the white house is in contact with canadian partners right now. we should note the u.s. embassy in ottawa has been placed on lockdown as of now. and according to the royal canadian mounted police, they're advising citizens to stay away from downtown. joining me now on the phone is a member of parliament. she, herself, is currently on lockdown in a windowless basement. first of all, are you okay? >> yes, i'm absolutely fine. i did hear those shots you played. i was walking down to the caucus meeting and was then hustled into this windowless basement room by some of the parliamentary security staff. many of them are here with me now. the room they asked me to hide in is sort of their lunchroom. i have about 12 security men and

women around me. and safe as anyone in the house of commons right now. >> well, our thoughts are with everybody there. what's the mood in that room like right now? are people frightened? how are members reacting? >> you know, i think first of all, you mentioned, ronan, the canadian soldier shot by the war memorial. and i think we're thinking of that soldier and thinking of that soldier's family and friends. i also think that, you know, there was another officer who was shot in the leg here at the house of commons seems to be okay. but that's a serious injury. i'm personally grateful to the house of commons security staff. it seems it was the sergeant of arms itself, the chief of the security staff who shot the shooter who was coming into the building. so they acted really ungrateful to them. >> are you hearing anything on the status of either that

soldier? our thoughts are with him, as you said, yours are. or on the shooter who was gunned down? >> we don't know for sure, and i think the remaining anxiety is not 100% clear this is over. right now, the security staff and police are going through the building trying to make sure there's nobody else. so people are going through the building floor by floor. in the center block of the house of commons where the shooter tried to penetrate and they're trying to clear this building and then, you know, move out to other parliamentary buildings and other locations in ottawa that might be under threat. >> and we're just hearing right now some breaking news, the nypd is also dispatching extra security to the canadian consulate right here in new york as well as other canadian consulates. we'll be keeping an eye on that. that's just as a precaution, we should note. there aren't any security threats here in new york. i did want to get a sense of how

this was as it happened in realtime. one of the things we've learned is that you were all in your regular weekly meeting, which suggests, this may have been a coordinated piece of timing. >> well, certainly monday morning is when all the mps meet in their parties. it's our weekly caucus meeting. and so if you are looking to pick a time when you would have the most mps in this building, close to where that doorway is -- yeah, we have no idea whether that was by accident or by design. but there were a lot of mps around. >> about 300 plus, we're hearing. and only a few exits. what was the first sign of something amiss? and how did that evacuation play out? >> it was -- for me, it was really quick. i was just walking towards our caucus meeting. i heard the shots, i recognized them as gun shots. and i ran away from them a couple of the security guys

pointed me in the direction of this windowless room and said hide there and that's what i did. >> and what went through your mind first when you identified those as gun shots? >> well, as you know, ronan, i'm a former journalist. so i had to fight with the instinct to want to cover it. >> right. >> but i realized that was the wrong thing to do and the right thing to do was to hide. i took off my high-heeled shoes and put on my runners in case i had to run. and this is the room where the security staff hang out. so i -- there was a closet that had bulletproof vests, put one of those on just in case something happened. and then, i think, you know my next thought was for what this will mean for my country. the, you know -- we pride ourselves on the openness of the house of commons. and, you know, this is a tragic and historic moment here. >> and are you still -- it is

certainly a sad thing. and i hope that openness doesn't have to change. we'll be watching this very closely. are you still wearing that bulletproof vest? >> no, i took it off when the house of common security people started having their lunch, which they're doing right now. i decided it was a bit excessive for me to be wearing a bulletproof vest, although they are still wearing their own. >> and we are hearing that prime minister harper was there in the building at the time and he's been evacuated safely. anything more on that you've heard on the ground there? >> no, seems to be the case the prime minister was in the building. he was in his caucus meeting. and there is a sort of special, maybe not quite secret. but there's a way to get the prime minister out of the house of commons when you need to that quickly and privately. and they seem to have done that with the prime minister. i'm very glad they did. glad he's safe. >> seems like it was a very rapid, comprehensive security response there.

ottawa police are tweeting to stay away from downtown for the broader population there. what are you hearing from friends and family members there about the atmosphere in ottawa as a whole? >> well, i think people are scared. there was a moment when police and the house of common security people who i am surrounded by right now were saying there were snipers on the rooftops around the house of commons. so that's frightening for the city and the area around the house of commons has now been cleared. i think people are worried. i mean, so far, the casualties seem to have been limited. that's great. and i have am grateful to the first responders who have made that happen. i think the other thing that's really important is for people not to rush to judgment. the focus now has to be on ending this crisis and on immediate operational work and

work hard in concert with our allies to find out exactly what happened. >> and what's next for all of you there trying to stay safe? do you stay there tight for a while? have you been briefed on where to head after this? and their security officers just kind of prowling the halls checking there's no one else here. women have a job to do and it's not briefing mps at the moment. so we're just waiting. >> we're glad you're safe there. the very first footage has emerged. it's pretty dramatic, a reporter from the canadian news outlet managed to capture the exchange of gunfire inside the building. over 30 shots can be heard let's take a listen.

>> thank you, we'll be keeping an eyen on the situation there. and i want to go over to kristen welker now. kristen, i know you're following this. what can you tell us at this point? >> well, ronan, president obama was briefed by his homeland security adviser earlier today. i'm told that officials here at the white house are in close contact with their canadian counterparts right now. at this point, no heightened security in and around the white house, ronan. but obviously they say it's too early to know specifically what is behind this. in terms of what we anticipate throughout the day.

josh ernest will be briefing any moment now. clearly, we will hear more about the white house response. and president obama's going to be meeting with his ebola czar later today. and we expect that we are going to hear a few comments from president obama after that meeting. so it is likely that we will get reaction from president obama a little bit later on today on the developments right now out of canada. we also know that the u.s. embassy in ottawa is on lockdown. and, again, ronan, the white house monitoring this situation quite closely as it develops, ronan. >> thanks for keeping an eye on that, kristen. we'll be looking closely to see when the president speaks out. i want to go now to nbc news counterterrorism analyst michael lighter and senior executive producer richard espisito following this. i'll start with you. what does your reporting tell you? did we lose richard there? we'll work on getting him. but first, michael, i'll start with you. canadian officials have said that they're looking for multiple suspects. and we just heard that the

timing seemed suspiciously appropriate for getting the maximum number of parliamentarians in the building at once. how coordinated does this look? >> ronan, it looks pretty coordinated. but, you know, as you and i both know, so many of these early reports can be wrong. i harken back to the navy yard shooting where for a long period, they were thought to be two shooters and then turned out to be one. so initial reports of multiple shooters going to multiple locatio locations. it may turn out in an hour there were only two shooters or one shooter. so until we know those things for sure, it's hard to say exactly how precise it was. there was a lot of intelligence in canada and the united states about the potential for people being inspired for isis. and it will targeting of government officials, at least the military and parliament

certainly suggests that there's something deeper here. what that is, we just don't know yet. >> michael, you make an important point for the audience right now. there are so many unknowns going on eyewitness accounts that can be very unreliable right now. people have seen chaos on the streets. we're seeing live shots. easy to mistake that for more gunmen. we'll have to see how the facts shake out. some reports of up to three. but we haven't confirmed that. i want to drill down, though, on what you mentioned about this earlier shooting, which may have been inspired by isis. is there any evidence of any kind of connection there? >> well, not. it means on what you mean by connection. >> what happened on monday was the individual who the rcmp, the royal canadian mounted police had previously investigated for -- he was a convert who had become radicalized and they were concerned about him traveling to syria to fight. he was released and then on monday, he drove his car, struck two canadian military members.

and one of those ultimately died. he was pursued by police after the car crashed, he was ultimately killed by canadian police. so i think there's a pretty strong indication from the circumstances of that case this individual was radicalized by isis's and al qaeda's message. i have not seen anything which suggests they directed that attack. but a lot of what isis and al qaeda are trying to do is find individuals susceptible to this message, radicalize them and they are urging them to take the fight into their own hands however they can. and it appears, at least, two days later that's exactly what happened outside montreal on monday. >> and, michael, of course, this all comes days after canada joined the u.s. in attacks against isis. >> you have to remember, the canadians have been deeply

engaged on a lot of the counterterrorism efforts over the past 13 years. they actually lost more soldiers per capita in afghanistan than any nation in the world. they've had other plots in canada before, which have often been disrupted through a combination of u.s. and canadian efforts. so the canadian security intelligence service, and the rcmp work very closely with the u.s. fbi, other u.s. intelligence organizations, and they have been quite concerned over the past several weeks and months that with canadian participation, canadians would, in fact, be influenced to strike. so this is actually something that was really not just a deep thought of theirs, but very much on the radar today and in the past days. this is very tangible to them, and i'm sure, it's what they're looking at now in this case, too. >> thank you so much, michael lighter, obviously still a lot of questions about what motivations may have fed into this. we'll be watching closely.

appreciate your helping us understand. i want to go to david mcginty over there in canada reacting to this situation. do we have the member of parliament on the line? >> yes, i'm here. >> thank you so much, sir. so i understand you saw some sort of a suspicious vehicle earlier, tell us about that. >> well, my district is in the city of ottawa where our parliament buildings are located. so i was coming in this morning to attend our weekly caucus meeting. the parties break up into caucus meetings on wednesday mornings. and as i was driving to parliament hill on wellington street, which is the main street in front of our parliament buildings, our parliament hill. in one lane on the right-hand side on wellington street, i came bumper-to-bumper with a car that looked abandoned, which really struck me because i -- i was -- i was stuck behind it for a few seconds as i was waiting to go around it. and i noticed when i looked at

it it didn't have nip license plates. there was nobody in the vehicle. it's not like the flashers were working. i went around it went went further so i could drive up and attend. i was cut off by rcmp vehicles rushing to the scene and, of course, not allowed to proceed any further. >> i want to pause for a moment and tell our audience we're hearing from two canadian tv stations that the soldier at the war memorial who was, of course, fired upon may have died. nbc news hasn't actually confirmed that at this point. we're keeping an eye going back to your story from this morning. did you notify any security officials about that? >> well, there was no need to because 20 seconds later when i was driving through our check point and security check, i was

prevented from going any further and informed by an officer that there'd been a shooting inside the center block of our parliament hill, which would be like a shooting inside your american u.s. hall of honor. since then, we've been ordered into our offices with our staff and the doors are locked and everything's locked down. we were told an hour ago, lower the shades and not stand near windows. >> and another update, mr. mcginty on that individual soldier who may have been shot and killed, increasing reports he's been killed, including this tweet from jason kenny, a senior minister, saying condolences so the soldier killed and prayers for parliamentary guard wounded. canada will not be terrorized or intimidated.

>> the information is very fluid. there are multiple reports coming out. one of our police officers with the city of ottawa police reported there were three separate shootings. we're not sure how many people were involved. for me, personally, it's reminiscent of a situation i found myself in when i was in washington very difficult. how many people were involved, what was involved. so right now, i think for the thousands and thousands of people locked down in government buildings, in the center block is the one that holds house of

commons and our senate. they are one in the same building. you had a huge concentration, particularly for wednesday morning for the caucus meetings, but tens of thousands on lockdown. >> and obviously that comparison you made to 9/11 is resinating with a lot of americans right now. walk me back through the first moment you noticed something was amiss this morning. >> seeing an abandoned vehicle, what appeared to be an abandoned vehicle right on wellington street without license plates. and i noticed it and took very, very clear mental note of it saying that's very unusual. and then being cut off immediate ly cutting me off and heading

into the precinct. and i was very shocked at this and then coming to the security gate and being told, back out, there's been a shooting, no one's being allowed in and get to your office and stay there until further notice. it's a serious event and this is new for ottawa. this is very, very troubling for all of us and very troubling for canadians and folks everywhere. >> and sir, for our audience, we're expecting the white house to respond to this situation any moment now. tell me you mentioned your constituency there, talking to friends, family members, what's the broadest atmosphere like? are people shaken? afraid? >> deeply shaken. >> very surprised, very upset.

a quiet capital. a lot of hard working public servants in large part the center for our high-tech industries in canada. so this is very surprising and very shocking. >> canadian member of parliament david mcginty, the white house briefing is beginning. we thank you so much for your time. over to josh ernest at the white house responding to this situation. >> the president was briefed by his homeland security adviser lisa monaco. the details about the nature of this event are still sketchy. which is not unusual in a chaotic situation like the one like this one. canada is one of the closest friends and allies of the united states there's a strong

partnership and friendship and alliance between the united states and canada. the united states strongly values that relationship and that relationship makes the citizens of this country safer. officials inside the u.s. government have been in touch with their counterparts to offer assistance. that includes officials here in the white house. we have been in touch with the canadians about arranging a phone call between the president and prime minister harper at the prime minister's earliest convenience. he's obviously dealing with a lot today. but as soon as we can arrange that call, we'll let you know. so -- with that, do you want to get us started with questions? >> yes, thanks for that, josh. and can we talk about the announcement coming out of the cdc that there'll be plenty of monitoring of people coming in from west avenfrican countries? is that a way to try to avoid a travel ban that some have been calling for? >> well, i think what it is, it's to try to put in place the kinds of policies that we

believe will do the most to protect the american people and to protect the health of the american people. the president has been clear in his explanation why he believes a travel ban is not the best policy at this point. he's not philosophically opposed to a travel ban, but it is his view based ed on the guidance h received from medical experts and other scientists that putting in place a travel ban exposes the american people to vulnerability at this point. because the travel lanes are open, we can have some confidence in our ability to detect the individuals who are traveling from west africa or who have traveled recently in west africa as they attempt to enter the united states. and what that -- because of our knowledge about their travel history, we can ensure that the screening measures that are in place in west africa can ensure those individuals are not exhibiting symptoms of ebola. there are dozens of individuals who based on those screening

protocols in place have been denied. >> at the white house briefing the press, reporters turning to ebola there. but him leading with the crisis in canada right now. and the president apparently planning to speak to prime minister harper of canada as soon as that's possible. obviously that prime minister dealing with a lot right now. kristen welker's following this at the white house. kristen, have you heard anything else from white house officials about how they're reacting to this? >> well, obviously, there's a high level of concern. you heard josh ernest underscore the close relationship between the united states and between canada and, of course, as we've been reporting all morning long, canada has joined the united states in terms of the fight against isis. there is a concern about a potential link here. however, white house officials emphasize the fact it's too early to know what the exact motive is. they also stress that security has not yet been increased here in and around the white house. we know that norad is on heightened alert. however, we know that the u.s.

embassy is on lockdown. u.s. officials have been in close contact. i anticipate that's going to happen throughout the day, ronan. whenever there's a developing story like this, a shooting, the white house is very careful before they speak about it. josh ernest, very careful with his words. president obama will meet with his ebola czar later on today. prior to this shooting, we were expecting to hear a few words from the president about that meeting. i would not be surprised if we heard from president obama about this shooting in canada. again, the u.s. and canada have a close and very special relationship. you also heard josh talk about the fact that white house officials here are trying to arrange a call between president obama, prime minister harper as soon as possible for the prime minister and, of course, that phone call hasn't happened yet. we've been asking all morning long when that will take place. i anticipate they want to make that happen as soon as possible. >> all right. we'll be keeping an eye out for that.

kristen, one thing we did hear was the president was briefed specifically by lisa monaco. is there anyone else in play that's likely to be central to these conversations? and any other resources within the government that the president is going to turn to as he responds to this. >> well, look, certainly national security adviser susan rice. she was a part of his daily briefing earlier today when he learned about this. so i anticipate he'll be in close contact with susan rice, lisa monaco. of course, his chief -- typically the people who are informing him, keeping him up to date whenever they are following a developing story like the one that we are seeing right now out of canada. he'll be in very close contact, i am sure, with his cabinet secretaries as well as the nsc. those would be -- the officials who are monitoring this most closely. and of course, the department of defense, as well, ronan. i anticipate there'll be a number of high-level phone calls and communications going on here throughout the day as the president continues to stay abreast of these quickly-moving developments out of canada.

>> thanks for keeping track for us. we'll be watching closely for anything more out of the white house. we're going to take a short break right now. when we come back, we will have everything you need to know about the latest on the ground in canada including interesting voices from the thick of it. stay with us. nprecedented progr that partners businesses with universities across the state. for better access to talent, cutting edge research, and state of the art facilities. and you pay no taxes for ten years. from biotech in brooklyn, to next gen energy in binghamton, to manufacturing in buffalo... startup-ny has new businesses popping up across the state. see how startup-ny can help your business grow at startup.ny.gov woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you --

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welcome back, everybody, we are following breaking news in the capital of canada. three shootings, forced that building into lockdown. take a listen to this dramatic video. we'll bring that to you in a moment. a gunman has reportedly been shot dead. that's the latest that we're hearing after he opened fire at the parliament, member of parliament tweeted that she is safe. we have talked to several members who echoed that. we are still sorting out a lot of these facts, including reports that the guard at the war memorial, which was one of these shooting sites, may also be deceased now.

we're watching that closely. here with me now is michael lighter, nbc news counterterrorism analyst. michael, one thing we heard in the white house briefing is obviously focusing on this in large part is questions about -- still a lot of questions and not many answers at this point. what are you seeing monitoring the online chatter? are there theorys about motives emerging that seem credible yet? >> i'm happy you added that last bit, there are always theorys emerging, most of them end up not being credible. ir i think what officials in the u.s. and ottawa are thinking right now are given a variety of issues, you have to immediately try to rule out terrorism. and here are the reasons why you at least have to look in that direction. one, you do have significant threats coming from organizations like al qaeda and isis in canada and in the united states. so that's a precursor there you're worried about. second, the reports here are that it's relatively sophisticated with multiple

shootings, potentially multiple gunmen, that adds a piece. and third, it's a clear targeting of the government. it's the military officer and also the parliament. those three things combined to at least say we have to seriously look at whether or not this is terrorism. about trying to inspire people in our countries to take matters into their own hands. this is clearly not a spurious thing to discuss. >> and explain the next steps in the u.s. response, norad on high alert right now, we're being told a posture of high alert is the exact language. i understand that's fairly routine. what comes next in terms of u.s. cooperation in this? >> i think we've seen three things already which really are routine. the one is norad and the northern command, which is a joint u.s. canadian command heightening alert. just in case you want to be ready.

that will be a natural reaction. and the third is, you start to get the engagement, the u.s. government officials with their canadian counterparts. very senior levels a the the white house and that's largely checking you in and saying, you know, our thoughts are with you. is there anything at all we can do? we are looking at everything we can try to figure out. but then the more granular level. and that will occur largely between the fbi -- it'll occur between the respective security organizations and intelligence organizations. and the fbi and u.s. officials will look through our holdings of information and informants and intercepts, electronic communications to see whether or not there is credible chatter about what went on there. and that's the sort of information that will be supplied. and in very rare cases with countries advanced and as talented as canada is, there might be a request for specialized report. that would largely go to the

fbi. you might also see a bit of tightening of the border of security with dhs and the canadian organization. i think those are probably the things occurring and most will be invisible to the public. >> take a listen to this. josh ernest was asked in that white house briefing, which is still ongoing about any potential terrorist links. >> josh, back to canada, realizing this is a fluid situation, are you able -- >> i'm not in a position to render a judgment on that at this point. canadian authorities are still responding to the situation. and i'm confident they'll conduct an investigation in which they will consider a range of questions not unlike the one you just asked. >> is there any indication there's a connection? >> there's no conclusion like that i'm able to share with you

at this point. we're obviously in the very early stages of determining what exactly happened here. and as i mentioned, a number of u.s. officials in this government have been in touch with their canadian counterparts. dealing with this tragic situation. >> is there any reason for u.s. government facilities or any other areas in the united states to be on high alert because of what's happening in canada? >> i'm not aware of any decisions that have been made by individual components to change their threat status. but i know there are a number of agencies that are responsible for maintaining that threat status here in the united states, it's the department of homeland security that's responsible for maintaining the terror threat level. there are other agencies like the department of defense that set the threat conditions. i'm not aware of any changes, but i'd refer you to those agencies to confirm that. >> jim cavanaugh is a former atf special agent and nbc news law enforcement analyst. you've also had some experience, i understand, of this particular parliamentary building. we had a floor plan up earlier.

explain the challenges of the moment these shootings broke out. apparently very few exits and a whole lot of parliamentarian. >> it's full of legislators and staff, i've been there with the rmcp on official business. it's a beautiful part of ottawa, but it's open. does not have the level of security that we've enjoyed here or -- i shouldn't say enjoyed, we've maybe been burdened with. thechbt had that same level of threat. and they haven't had that same level of security. and that's telling. into the parliament building and in the hall and get shot by the sergeant at arms. we don't know how many people were involved. if it's just the deceased shooter or if there's others. there's reports of others, they

seem to be firming up. the ottawa police have said there's multiple shooters. they've said that directly on msnbc air. there's been eyewitnesss who said they've seen others. so it's building up stronger evidence that there's more than one shooter there. >> jim, we've talked to -- many of them in windowless rooms, any safe area that security could find there. what's next for them. are they going to try to evacuate this complex? >> yes, they will. first, they'll secure it, ronan. it's a great question. first, they're going to try to isolate any gunmen in there. but i think they feel better and better as the hours progress they've probably done that. and then they're going to secure it and then they'll do a slow evacuation. so for anybody in the building, it's going to be slow. it's going to be boring and slow because tactical teams are going to want to make sure they're not going to be confronting someone they didn't know about. >> canadian police tweeted earlier that the broader population should also stay away from downtown. what's your advice for people in the area any attack like this?

>> yeah, the best thing to do is the shelter in place. stay where you are, being contact on the phone, twitter, computer, television news. don't open the door to somebody you know. if they say it's the police, you know, you'll be able to verify that through having them slide their i.d. under the door or calling 911 and verifying that or hearing their radios and multiple officers. just don't open the door for anybody. wait until it's all secure. it'll be a little boring for a couple of hours, but you'll be safe. >> we've heard that the nypd has scrambled extra security for the canadian consulate here in new york. what kind of resources can the u.s. provide in general in reacting to this? >> i think, ronan, generally, the intelligence that the united states agencies are going to provide. you know, our cia, our whole intelligence apparatus, working with the canadians, it's a very, very close relationship anyway. but they're going to be sharing

everything electronic, human intelligence that they can glean why this attack might have happened if, in fact, if, in fact, it was an internationally inspired or internationally directed terrorist event. we're not sure of that yet, but they're going to be looking for that, sure. >> let's talk about the intel we do have at our disposal right now. the shootings broke out at 10:00 a.m., again, three separate sites, parliamentary complex, war memorial and a shopping mall. potentially multiple shooters, is what we are still hearing. and, of course, all of this timed with big meetings at the parliament and the prime minister being there. how coordinated does this look to you? >> it sounds coordinated. sounds like 2 or 3 people could certainly coordinate an attack like this. and what law enforcement has to do aggressively now is they have to go right to the shooter, the body of that shooter, the person, and get any kind of identifying papers he may have on him. sometimes these guys do. they have a wallet, and all

their i.d.s with them. they have a gun they contract, they have a car left outside they contract. they want to find out who he is. because of who he is, you know, will tell associates, motives, and the rest of the story. so you can't leave that person, even if he's deceased laying there with a sheet over him. you've got to go right to him, search him, you've got to get the identification, get the gun. get this thing, walk it back as fast as you can to see if there's other conspirators, other members of a cell, possibly. >> thank you for helping us understand the emergency response still ongoing right now. we've got a quick update on what the fallout may have been. ottawa hospital, apparently receiving three victims so far from these shootings, two are in stable condition. that is according to the associated press. we'll be keeping an eye out for you. don't go away. after this break, we have more perspectives on the ground on this unfolding situation in ottawa. ♪ in life there are things you want to touch

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right now, we are following breaking news in canada's capital. again, three shootings in ottawa all less than a mile from each other, including at the canadian parliamentary complex, which is now in lockdown. a canadian soldier standing guard at the national war memorial nearby was also shot. cbc and ctv television stations in canada are reporting that soldier has died. nbc news hasn't independently confirmed that. we're keeping an eye. shots also fired today at a shopping mall. and police have confirmed there are multiple suspects. ottawa hospital is saying it's received three victims so far from these ottawa shootings, two in stable condition. the shooting comes several days after a recent convert to islam killed one canadian soldier and injured another in a hit-and-run before being gunned down by police. the prime minister will make a statement later today. we're going to be watching. and this news just in. not from our nbc sources we've confirmed. but ctv reporting the royal canadian mounted police are going to hold a press conference

in the hour ahead. we'll be bringing yoany news that comes out of that. i want to go to the intelligence side of the reaction to this. for that, i'm joined by a former cia counterterrorism analyst and michael lighter, an nbc counterterrorism analyst. thank you, both of you. i'll start -- how does the intelligence community react to this? >> reporter: well, it's actually quite a difficult situation. one of the things we have to look into is to make sure, we have to ascertain the identities of the shooters and see wheth whether -- whether they can -- whether we can tell whether there's any contacts with outside -- the benghazi incidents from 2011. often times, the first intelligence that comes out in the press. in the intelligence communities, often times -- we're still at the very preliminary stages of

this investigation. >> and looking at canada's place in global intelligence right w now, what kind of threats were out there prior to this attack? >> well, canada is part of something called the five eyes. so the english-speaking country, the united states, canada, great brita britain, australia and new zealand. we all share intelligence information. and on counterterrorism issues, the united states and canada working hand in glove. and they are really at the forefront of receiving and disseminating intelligence from the -- our global -- against these extremists. so they're very important in this. >> and i just want to -- we have a live shot there. they'll be filing out shortly. we'll keep an eye on. that's supposedly going to start at 2:00 p.m. but, again, we'll bring you anything that comes out of it that's in about 15 minutes. but first, i want to go back to michael lighter. tell me about the u.s. piece of

the intelligence response. do you think it's likely that the u.s. is scrambling extra resources to try to help canada ascertain what's behind this? >> absolutely. the way i would describe it, ronan, there's a top up and bottom down piece of this. the bottom up piece is identifying who the shooter is, or shooters, taking their information and kind of crunching that against all the data bases, the u.s. and other countries had to see whether or not there are connections to other people. that's the bottom up. then you have the top down. and the top down, that's what the u.s. government is doing right now. and that's folks at the cia, fbi, the national security agency looking at everything they're seeing and saying, hmm, is there something in our intelligence that we're holding, which pointed to something in canada, which prior to this event in ottawa, we didn't quite fully understand or see. so that's the top down. even before you have details from the canadians about what happened, you start relooking at all of your intelligence to see

if there's some needle in that haystack that is more meaningful than it was two hours ago? >> thank you so much. we may come back to you, but i want to go now to hannah thibodeau. she's been on the scene from the start of this story. hannah, thank you for joining us. >> you're quite welcome. >> tell me what the atmosphere is like right now. >> it's a pretty scary scene here. they have pretty much the downtown core in lockdown. i'm standing relatively close to where the shooting happened first thing this morning. >> and hannah, i want to clarify for the audience, that is the war memorial shooting, correct? >> that's correct. so, but everything is really in close proximity to that war memorial. parliament building, the prime minister's office, also even the cdc building is in lockdown. there's a big shopping center close by. this is where everything is taking place.

there's probably a three-block radius that has been put into lockdown. people aren't allowed in or out of those buildings. we're told that there are s.w.a.t. teams now going in and out of the buildings to try to clear them out. there's concern that there still potentially could be a second shooter here in ottawa. the first shooter, the one that was here at the war memorial that shot and now we have learned killed that soldier, he was a reservist at the war memorial, he ran up the parliament hill. he was shot and killed in parliament hill . and there are concerns there could be another shooter out there. and that's why the city is still in lockdown. we will get a further briefing from our cmp in a short time from now. but, everybody is still on edge here in the city. >> and, i just want to bring a

quick update to our audience. we had reported earlier that the president was aiming to speak to prime minister harper. we now hear from the white house that has happened. we're going to keep an eye and see if we can tell you any hea happened. you see a picture of the prime minister being briefed by his own officials right there. >> reporter: absolutely. >> go ahead. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. the prime minister was originally on parliament hill when this event took place. he was quickly taken away from the hill and brought back to his residence. that's where you're seeing that picture. he's being briefed by the national security advisers here at ottawa. we do know he will address the nation a little later today. yes, he did speak with president obama about this earlier as well. >> hannah, we mentioned that cbc is reporting this soldier has been killed, the individual who is standing guard on parliament hill. do you have any information about the status of the shooter

who was also apparently then gunned down himself? >> reporter: yes. let me take a step back. we got to the scene very quickly. we're close to where this happened. one of our producers was walking to work and called us while we were in our morning meeting to tell us there was a shooting. he was a reservist. there are two guards who usually guard the national war memorial here in ottawa. what i was told by people who saw what happened is that the shooter jumped out from behind the war memorial, had a rifle and shot three to five times. when i arrived on the scene, it was very upsetting. you saw the soldier was on the ground. there were about six people working on him, trying to revive him. taking part in cpr. about five minutes after that, the paramedics arrived on the scene. they were performing cpr on him. just a short time ago we had it confirmed that this soldier had

died in hospital. we're told by people on the scene again, the shooter ran toward the parliament buildings, very close to the war memorial. he ran toward the parliament buildings. we were told by one of our cameramen who was in the parliament buildings at that point in time that there were about 50 shots that he could hear. they could smell the gunpowder. and we're told that that shooter was shot and killed in our parliament buildings just close to where the original shooting took place. >> hannah, what is next in the response there? we're showing footage for our audience the site you're describing, the war memorial area there. you mentioned s.w.a.t. teams still going in and out of buildings. is that going to stand down later today or is this going to be a hive of activity for the foreseeable future? >> reporter: right now this remains a hive of activity. i've been speaking with some

police officers on the scene, and they're still acting as if there is another shooter on the loose. high vigilance going on here right now. our cmp officers, you see s.w.a.t. teams coming in and out. they've set up a command center here at the war memorial to do the investigation as well. of course, we will hear a little bit later from the prime minister and from the rcmp. i think that's when it will become more clear as to where everything will stand from here. we know there are s.w.a.t. teams going in and out of the buildings, trying to clear them out, but there are quite a few buildings in the downtown core. i still see people standing on the streets either waiting to get back into their building or to go get their vehicles because there are parking lots as well all in the downtown core. but the streets close to the parliament buildings are silent. there are no cars allowed on them for about a three-block area. and people aren't allowed to go up and down them as well. >> han nashgs we mentioned at

least one u.s. city scrambling extra resources to protect the canadian consulate, the nypd here in new york. we mentioned the president and prime minister harper have spoke. the press briefing they emphasized how closely the relationship is. are you hearing anything about collaboration between the u.s. and canada going forward as this unfolds? >> reporter: well, you know, a lot of this is a concern because of what canada is doing to help out in the fight in iraq. we sent f-16 fighters, 600 personnel over as well to take part in iraq. we're based in kuwait but will be taking part in the air strikes in iraq in a short time. we've heard isis has called on people -- on sympathizers to isis to attack members of the

military, use whatever means possible to do so. and two days ago, i'm not sure if you reported this or not, but this is the second soldier to be killed by someone who has been -- we don't know what the shooter is, but the shooter on monday -- excuse me, the man who ran over a soldier on monday had been radicalized. so, this is the second soldier in the week to be killed by -- in this type of activity. >> hannah thibodeau, thank you for your reporting. your organization has been on top of this and it's helped us in the united states to understand. to recap quickly for people, several shootings in ottawa this day. a chaotic reaction. three different sites involved. potentially up to three gunmen. we're still awaiting confirmation on that. what we can confirm is ottawa police are saying that a member of the canadian forces has died in that shooting. a soldier protecting parliament

hill. the status of one of the shooters who was taken down by security forces is still unknown. we may get an update in the next few minutes, in just ten seconds, as we await a briefing by the royal canadian mounted police. my clooelg colleague joy reid will be carrying that up ahead. we'll take a break ahead of that. i want to thank all of our guests today, especially the members of parliament who are there, still on lockdown. we're glad they're safe. thanks, everybody. joy reid's next.

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police say that win gunman may have been shot and possibly killed. at least one other gunman is still on the loose. >> i hear this pop, pop, pop. >> i thought it was just firecrackers going off. >> i thought it was dynamite -- construction rather than anything else. >> i look across the street and there's a man with a rifle shooting at a bunch of people. >> also, multiple buildings in ottawa, including the u.s. embassy, remain on lockdown at this hour. after multiple gunmen, potentially, opened fire late this morning at the canadian national war memorial, followed by more shots fired at the nearby parliament building. we also know president obama has been briefed and he just spoke with canadian prime minister stephen harper, or he will speak with him shortly. and u.s. military officials have told nbc news the north american aerospace defense command, norad, has gone on high-alert posture. this dramatic video shot b