breaking news at the top of the hour, the most definitive answer yet to the greatest aviation mystery of our time. investigators moments ago confirming that wreckage found on a island is from mh-370. >> translator: and based upon what the experts have announced, we can tell you today that we can very strongly presume that the wing flap found on one of the beaches in the reunion belonged to a 777 boeing from malaysia airlines that disappeared in march 2014. >> nbc's bill neely is outside the high-tech lab in the south

of france that's analyzing this piece of wing. bill, this is a huge development. take us through it. what did we learn specifically today? >> reporter: it is, luke, a huge development. as you say, this is the greatest airline mystery of our time and while it's not solved we have now got the first definite clue. mh-370, that plane part that was oonlized here at the defense scientific lab near toulouse in france, it has been shown that that part from mh-370. there were slight nuances in the three announcements we have had so far. it was the malaysian prime minister who first said and i'll read what he said. today, 515 days since the plane disappeared it's with a heavy heart that i must tell you an international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on reunion island is indeed from mh-370.

now, that is very strong conclusively confirmed. what you have just heard is paris prosecutor saying we very strongly presume the debris belongs to a boeing 777 from malaysia airlines. no great contradiction there but, you know, a little bit of nuanced difference and we have just had a statement of malaysia airlines saying family members of the 239 passengers and crew have already been informed of this news and we extend our deepest sympathies to those affected. that statement just issued literally in the last two or three minutes so the experts arrived here from malaysia, france, australia. boeing officials, officials from china, too. starting the work about 3:00 in the afternoon local time and analyzing that piece of wing flap for a couple of hours at least and they reached their conclusion after that. now, what we didn't hear, from

not here and the paris prosecutor, what allowed them to reach the conclusion that the part is from mh-370. there were ways they could do that, for example, they could look for a part number or a serial number that only malaysian airlines uses. they could look for paint fragments that might still be on that flap. that only malaysian airlines might use because every airline uses a unique kind of paint. they didn't -- whatever it was that led them to that conclusion, they didn't tell us here or in paris. but they have reached out very, very firm conclusion. now, that is only one conclusion, luke. the big thing is and they'll continue their analysis here, the second big question is, is there anything on that aircraft part that can tell us how or why or where mh-370 crashed? that is the big question that we still don't have an answer to. luke?

>> bill, we should mention you are in france. four of the 239d who perished we believe to have perished were from france. you have malaysia, china involved in that search and china. this is going to take a large-scale international effort to move this forward. >> reporter: yes, it will, luke. i mean, the reason the french were involved, first of all, four french citizens own the plane. that aircraft debris found on french territory reunion island in the western indian ocean and this lab is one of the top three in the world. they investigated the airbus that crashed from rio to paris so they have a great deal of expertise and history here but as you say it is an international effort. the australians are leading the search on the seabed off the west coast of australia. that's a 24/7 search involving 2

boats. they're dragging sonar and dragging things across the bed of the ocean and an average of about 10 miles a day trying to find out where the wreckage from this plane is. the malaysians, obviously, are in a sense in the lead in the search because the plane took off from malaysia's capital. the chinese are involved. more than half the passengers were chinese. boeing because it was a boeing 777. the u.s. is involved because one of the passengers was, in fact, an american. as you say, a multi-national effort. there are also as well as scientists, there are oceanographers tracing the ocean currents, marine buy ol jitss because on this part in the building behind me, barnacles, shells from those living things, they might be able to tell the temperature of the water through which that part passed and the

chemical composition of the water. now, that might, for example, to give you one analogy, they say the search zone is size of texas. using that marine biology, in it might be possible to pinpoint, corpus christi, there is or houston in that huge map and take weeks or months of the surgery and each one of the tiny little things, a barnacle, a shell, a rip, a tear in that debris behind me might be able to tell them what speed the aircraft hit the water, you know, where the debris came from, what waters it passed through. all of them clues to tell us to solve this great mystery. how on earth did this plane crash and where did it crash and why? >> clues that will take an international effort to totally put together and solve. bill, thank you so much for taking the time. we appreciate it live from france. take care. joini ining us now is mikey kay

alongside him jeff wise author of "fatal descent" and on the phone former ntsb investigator greg feith. greg, we just heard there from bill neely that the officials did not definitively say what it was about this flapperon, about this part from the plane allowing them to identify it as being from mh-370. can you speculate what you think they saw there except for one missing 777 in the world? >> luke, they probably used not only that number that's been publicized for the last week, the 657bb, because there are four parts or four panels to that one flapperon. and they're numbered. 657bb, cc, dd and ee. that's unique to boeing and

building 0 of that section and probably used that. there are rivet patterns, there are structural patterns that they could match to their build diagrams for that particular part. and then, of course, if there was an i.d. tag or a data plate as we call it with any kind of number, a serial number they can match back to the entire ship serial number, they would have used all of those kind of things to positively identify not only from a boeing 777 but, of course, from mh-370. >> greg, stay with us. jeff, it seems beyond a reasonable doubt that this plane did go down in the indian ocean and that it went off course it seems and part lends itself to that theory. do you think it quiets conspiracy theorists to some degree or questions of what happened regarding the flight path of mh-370? >> i think, unfortunately, there's been a huge gap between

the language of the australian -- i'm sorry, the malaysian and the french prosecutor in this case. and i think there's going to be a lot read into that. we have assumed strongly presumed as the french prosecutor said this is mh-370 and boeing confirmed it came from a 77. we were waiting for 100% verification of mh-370 specifically. the prime minister said it is. the french prosecutor said he strongly presumes and if you're a relative of one of the people on flight this board, that is a crushing difference because, you know, we knew coming in strongly presumed and still strongly presumed and sounds like they didn't find a serial number to link it. >> and, mikey, in terms of further evidence, you can obviously wait for things to wash up on shore but given the time that's lapsed, over 500

days, we have to assume that those sonars that they were looking for, sort of pings, that's all gone away. what does it mean for the search going forward? >> well, i think the positive here, luke, if both jeff and i covered this story for months and months and the key piece we were looking for, you have to remember, in the search area, the aircraft, the maritime, the search vessels, all trying to listen -- >> a whole army. >> all time sensitive because the pings had a battery live and the pings allow you to get to the black box effectively the eureka moment and the way that these things play out is you find a little bit of debris and takes you to the big field and then to the black boxes. whether this piece of debris leads to the black box is another question because the terrain under the water of the initial search area like evest upside down and under water and difficult. it's an important factor to look

at now versus analyzing 16 months ago and that's german wings. the conspiracy theories, did the captain, the crew deliberately fly into the ground. now, i've been in the aviation for 20 years and i found it really hard to get around that. crews -- really hard to get my mind around it. after german wings, not so. it leads credence to the fact it's final resting place and why it happened. >> interesting that theory obviously speculated upon when it first happened and then that terrible tragedy with german wings happened. jeff, in terms of going forward from where we are, it seems that the best case might be studying of the barnacles, especially calling in the marine biologists for ocean currents, composition of the water and that's i would assume that's not a short

process, a long, pain staking process. what are we looking at there? >> well, i don't think -- i don't know how long it takes to identify the species of barnacle but looking at the currents in the indian ocean and wind the tape backwards to see where the piece most likely drifted from and the scan of the seabed going very poorly. they scanned a huge area and not found the plane where they predicted it went. >> greg, still on the phone with us, we want to go back to you. you obviously just heard there from jeff that the search is in somewhat of a crisis and two boats off of australia that have done this for the duration since the boat went down. what more do you think can be done from your perspective in terms of the new information we learned today in terms of definitive search? is this now sort of a catalyst to put more resources and

efforts in that part of the ocean for this plane? >> a couple of parts to this, luke. one, we have to be very careful with terminology because we keep intermixing, you know, that this airplane crashed. we don't have an evidence that this plane crashed. and it could have been intentionally ditched. that's why -- debris. so, i mean, when you look at it, we have the now look for where this debris may be on the bottom of the ocean. the problem is this one part even with the drift patterns isn't going to take us to the main wreckage, i believe. >> thank you so much for joining us there on the phone. mikey and jeff, thank you for making the time. i feel as the mystery will continue to go on. we have a little bit of a clue today but it's certainly not over. breaking news closer to home out of tennessee, there are reports of a shooting situation, movie theater near nashville. according to a local affiliate,

a person saw a police return fire at the shooter and now nashville police fweeting out that the suspect is dead. let's listen in to local coverage of this developing story. >> he could not confirm and said that the s.w.a.t. team going inside the building. >> we know from what you're being told is it did happen inside the movie theater. where we think it may have originated? >> from what witnesses are telling me, that's what it sounds to be. >> and the gentleman is a uber driver. taking someone to the movies offer the area? >> yes. dropping them off when all this happens. >> heather, walk us through -- >> and did not let that person inside. >> sure. walk us through what you're seeing, a play by play there. looks like that the bomb squad truck is there. >> yeah. so -- yes. looks like blocking off more of this area. you can see so many different crews around this entire

theater. the parking lot seems to be pretty much empty except for the police officers inside. see them guarding the outside of the building here. there is about a three-block stretch and just lined with police cars, several unmarked ones. a very active scene but like you were saying earlier, there's not a lot of urgency right now. it's somewhat calm for a situation like this. that just happened. >> we just saw it, thank you for that, heather. we just saw don aaron. he is presumably talking to officers to update us. let's go through the timeline again of what happened. 1:30, calls began coming in to our newsroom and shots had been fired. about ten, 15 minutes later, we find out from someone at o charlie's a woman walked in, has blood on her. seems to be a victim of this.

and then we find out not, you know, too long ago really that the suspect had been shot and killed. but we still don't know a whole lot of information. >> sure. we want to talk to now, ronnie who manages the sprint store that is nearby. ronnie, can you hear me? ronnie, wanted to see if you can hear us. >> i think that we have lost him. >> we have but we have touched base with a manager of a sprint store there that we have touching base. >> i wonder if that's one of the victims that's inside. >> i don't know if it's -- not sure. looking to see what his shirt says. it looks like -- >> alabama. >> i thought he was -- obviously, this gentleman seems to be okay and we can only hope that that is the situation and i don't know if he was at all impacted at all by what happened or may have just been upset by what he was seeing. but all right. we are going to go back now to see if we have on the phone with us ronnie of sprint.

are you there? >> lanny is here. >> okay. great. sir, tell me again your first name. >> lanny. >> great, lanny, thank you so much. >> i think -- let's pause for a second. >> i believe that don aaron is set to speak in a moment. but, lanny, please stay with us because we want to hear what you had to say. >> sure. >> there is a report that one person may have suffered a wound from that hatchet. that's still being sorted out by the fire department now trying to take a look at the injuries we may have here. the reresponse from the south precinct is swift. mad max was showing on the theater. the officer started at the projection room and started clearing down. he encountered the gunman. the gunman opened fire on the south predict officer. that officer returned his fire. and then backed away out of the theater.

the s.w.a.t. team responded. the s.w.a.t. team engaged this gunman. some minutes later. there was a gun fire and the gunman is deceased. just inside the movie theater. so we believe the imminent threat has been ended. however, the gunman had two backpack type bags with him. one on him, another that was left. we want to make sure that there is no danger with those backpacks. so officers are working now from hazardous devices to clear those backpacks. that's all i can give you at the moment. we'll have more later. that's a quick summary of an active situation that's still going on with the clearing of these backpacks. >> could you repeat the projector room part? >> mad max was the movie theater. >> okay. >> and you have just been listening to a press conference by an official right outside of nashville, tennessee, regarding

a movie theater shooting. what that official essentially said was during a showing of "mad max" police encountered a gunman who was in the theater. he had two bags, one on him. one that was left down. the police officer engaged in fire with this individual and that individual is now deceased. we are getting conflicting reports of injuries of others in that theater. we don't know what happened to them. that information comes in, we'll update you. to give you a reset here, outside of nashville, tennessee, you see some live pictures there of lifrpolice officers. there was a shooting inside the showing of the movie "mad max." it is unknown what sparked this. why this individual went into the movie theater with a gun and if there are any injuries and if so what the severity of the injuries are. i want to bring in jim cavanaugh, a retired atf special

agent in charge and joins us on the phone. jim, you know the nashville area quite well. and i just want to sort of get your thoughts from what you've heard so far. it almost seems as though this gunman was inside the theater with a gun but we do not know if that gun was discharged on victims. we don't know if there's injuries or severity and the s.w.a.t. team did go into that theater. what do you make of the situation from what you have heard? >> sounds from what don aaron said, the public information officer for the nashville police, with that south patrol officers and the precinct is not far away and heavily patrolled area, that theater area, right off i-24 in south nashville. always a lot of patrol cars there and south precinct officer got in quick and encountered the gunman and looked like they

might have exchanged some rounds and then the patrol officer backed away and metropolitan s.w.a.t. came in and killed him. they have a very, very good professional s.w.a.t. team there and the patrol is quick on it. we haven't heard a count on victims. hopefully they put an end to it quick. i heard they say something about a hatchet. i wasn't clear on that. >> yeah. it seems that the gunman went the the there, armed with two bags, a gun and a hatchet an unclear if they were used on innocent people within the theater and trying to get more information on that. but it does seem that in terms of speed, jim, this was a pretty quick response. obviously, if you look at the pictures coming in, plethora of law enforcement personnel there on the scene. more likely than not the call went out rather quickly and the

response pretty quick, too. >> they have a first-rate police force there in nashville. they have guys on top of it. they keep the force up. patrol men right on it apparently and the s.w.a.t. team is excellent and they'll take the backpacks and render them safe with the robots, check them out and see and then the thing to come back, who is this guy and what was going on with -- >> right. >> what kind of attack was this? all kinds of motives. >> jim, regarding motives, look, we obviously now in the penalty phase of that horrific shooting in colorado back in 2012. during what screening of "batman." there is a shooting in louisiana. a few weeks back during a screening of the amy schumer film. and now you have this. is it fair to say that this is -- movie theaters becoming a target? >> a well, you got a copycat

effect. you really do. when people may have a mental issue or terrorist types whether they be haters or, you know, internationally inspired people, they get a copycat effect and go back to it. it really behooves us to step up security at places that we might think are kind of, you know, in the news or in the killing area right then. you know? >> yeah. jim, we'll dip in here to local news. they're interviewing somebody from an adjoining store. let's go to wsmv down there in nashville. >> where? >> it was in the back of the theater. from my store, i could walk out my back door and see all the commotion. >> so the shots were exchanged out there on the pavement? >> well, actually, it's a grassy area before you get to the street and that's where the officers were. so, you know, fairly close to the building.

but couldn't tell that there was any gun fire, you know, from the theater. sounded like everything was shot at the theater. >> did you see an individual that seemed to be the person they were looking for? >> no, ma'am. i did not. >> all right. how many -- do you have an idea, lanny, how many police officers were shooting in the direction of the perhaps the back of the building where that gunman was? >> as i could see, i would say probably approximately anywhere from five to six officers with weapons drawn may have been actually firing. >> so what was going through your mind? you're hearing, you know, you're there at work and then you hear something chaos start erupting. >> not sure. we just trying to get some information and then, you know, finally after they put it on lockdown and told us that, you know, what was going on, now we have an officer just having us go back inside the building. >> how busy was it, lanny? did you have a lot of customers

in the place? >> one customer, actually. but that's -- they would not let anybody in. they were, you know, they locked down all the entrances and everything so there was nobody coming in. >> okay. we certainly appreciate your information. thank you, lanny. glad you're safe and we appreciate you sharing information with us here on channel 4. >> and we are watching some local news coverage of wsym in nashville. recent shooting taking place at a theater. information slowly trickling in. we do know that there was one gunman. he was armed with a firearm as well as a hatchet. had two bags, one attached to him and one that was left in the proximity of the theater. jim cavanaugh, in terms of crime issues on with me now, jim, i think we are sort of trying to figure out if this is affiliate trying to figure out what happened here. whether or not the shooting was inside of the theater directly, which it seems to be and then

spilled out. we have no information in terms of victims. but from your listening of the situation, what have you sort of figured out so far? >> yeah, well, i agree. it is hard to tell. if the person went to the theater bent on attacking patrons at the theater. hard to tell with the backpacks and the hatchet and then reportedly from metro police said he engaged the patrol officer in gun fire. what is going on here? an attack on the theater? robbery outside? still unclear, luke, i think, at this point. they have to give us more data once they themselves, the police bomb squad renders the backpacks to be safe an give us more information. >> that's what happens right now. the gunman had two backpacks. one left in the theater or

vicinity of the theater. they're making hur thesure ther threat in the immediate area. jim, we were talking a little bit about this before. but 2012, the aurora, colorado, movie theater shooting, tragedy. we are in the penalty phase of that right now. you had a few weeks ago, the shooting in lafayette, louisiana. at a movie theater. is this the sort of modern american phenomenon now that movie theaters are targets? we have heard the story of yelling fire in a crowded movie theater and incites panic. but are these theaters public targets? >> well, i think we're seeing a copycat effect, luke. when things are in the news, you know, within so many weeks or months, we see similar other attacks. we have seen it in other things and schools and businesses. you know? for years. we have seen those kind of

things go on. right now we seem to be, a third incidents at a theater and pays operators to think about enhancing the security because this is a time when people seem to be copycatting the behavior and puts them at a little bit of risk. we live in a nation now, luke, as you know, we are like one giant city and something that happens in nashville is news in seattle, news in boston. and so, it's like you turn on the news at night an you see what happens everywhere. and people copycat that behavior because we're such a fluid society and the fast moving information and the social networks and we know what all of our lives are about and because of the technology it plays to people to copy behavior like that. we're not isolated anymore i guess is what i'm saying in small pockets or cities and somebody wouldn't hear about the shooting. except for maybe a few days

later if at all. it is right in people's face and some people act out or want to carry out their mission and could be, you know, inspired by terrorism or hate or mental illness. it could be robbery. we don't know when's going on there or even a domestic situation. you know, sometimes we have those happen. and somebody goes there to get somebody they're mad at from a domestic situation and want to kill them and then all of a sudden it's shots fired and police respond and person is killed. too early to tell when's going on exactly but i think the venue is giving us all the pause right now. >> indeed. >> and the guy engaging with officers. >> indeed. jim cavanaugh, stay with us. just to sort of reset if you're just tuning in, we are getting reports of a gunman entering a theater outside of nashville, tennessee. it was during a showing of the film "mad max." this gunman did engage in a fire

fight with police officers. the gunman is now deceased. it is unclear if there were any casualties as a result of this fire fight. if anyone was hurt, we do not know at this time. of course, when that information becomes available to us, we'll update you. as of right now, the bomb squad of this police department is there on the scene because the gunman was armed with a firearm and a hatchet. two bags with him. one on him and one left in the theater or dose to the theater and trying to qufigure out if there's explosives in the bags to be problematic for law enforcement and civilians in the area. so we'll dip back into the local coverage. wsmv for the latest on the incident. stay with us here on msnbc. we have national correspondents looking into this and as soon as we get more information we'll update you with what we have. let's take a listen to the local

affiliate there in nashville. >> the response from the south precinct was swift. an officer entered the theater where "mad max" was showing. the officer started at the projection room and started clearing down. he encountered the gunman. the gunman opened fire on the south precinct officer. that officer returned his fire and then backed away out of the theater. the s.w.a.t. team responded. the s.w.a.t. team engaged this gunman. some minutes later. there was a gun fire and the gunman is deceased. just inside the movie theater. so we believe the imminent threat has been ended. however, the gunman had two backpack type bags with him. one on one him, another that was left. we want to make sure that there's no danger with those backpacks so officers are working now from hazardous

devices to clear those backpacks. >> so that gives you more information as to how that all went down and i know you were talking about what may have happened in the back parking lot versus the theater and as don aaron said, that started in the projection room as far as the officer confronting the suspect and when that suspect offered fire and the officer returning that fire. those two backpacks inspected right now. we do know that that movie, that "mad max" movie started at 1:15. the very time that witnesses reported gun fire and those calls were made to 911. metro police responding to that. still no word of vanderbilt medical center of anyone taken there and eyewitness reports of one american covered in blood and one person was hurt by that suspect wielding the hatchet. in addition to that gun. so we certainly want to clear

that up and see the state of health as far as that other victim who may have been injured in all of this and continuing to follow this and of course as you mentioned it is the first day of school here in davidson county. most of those schools having half days. so we'll continue to cover. we have all hands on deck as far as all of our folks out in the scene. we have drews all over town and continuing to bring you the latest information. >> all right. thank you so much. >> let's go back to heather. she is actually on the scene on the ground there at the movie theater. heather, what kind of update do you have for us? >> well, still very active scene as you can imagine. lots of police. lots of ambulances. the last we did is talk to don aaron saying they're focusing on those two backpacks that the suspect left inside trying to figure out what might be inside of them. past 30 minutes or so, trying to

track down witnesses that may have seen what happened. i am told by a police officer that they have the witnesses in a separate area. that's where all of them are right now. all of the other people around here are kind of just watching trying to figure out what exactly happened. but, you know, nothing really has slows down here in the last hour. >> heather, here's a question. comes to mind right now of just looking at where you are and what's happening and that would be, i'm sure police are trying to figure out how he got to the movie theater, the vehicle driving. that's going to help them determine his identify and is there a concern about what they might find in a vehicle if, in fact, he parked something in the parking lot or nearby? >> you know what? it didn't seem like they're that concerned about a vehicle. didn't mention anything about a vehicle but you can see the s.w.a.t. team behind me and not sure if they're locking at the vehicle but what they really are focused on right now is what's

inside those backpacks and that he did leave inside the theater so that seems to be where the focus is as of right now. >> heather, do we know how quickly the s.w.a.t. -- >> sorry. we do see a bomb dog checking cars right now since you mentioned cars. >> we know that a south precinct officer first on the scene there. do we know how quickly they followed? we are looking at the bomb dog right now. >> yeah. they mobilized very quickly. apparently that police officer was the first one to come in contact with the shooter. he, that's officer returned fire. and then stepped back and apparently that's when, you know, the s.w.a.t. team came in and then also exchanged fire. >> you're just watching a little bit of wsmv there in nashville and to recap what has happened today, during a filming or showing of the film "mad max" it

appears a gunman entered that film and was, in fact, engaged in gun fire with police officers. i want to read an update from the nashville police department. this is from their pio. april weatherly, quote, the gunman went into the theater playing the "mad max" movie and fired at an officer. the officer returned fire. he the shooter retreated back into the theater. the shooter is deceased at this time. no numbers on injuries or fatalities. we can also report from our local affiliate that three paramedic ems units went to the scene. a spokesman for the vanderbilt university medical center does not know if the hospital received patients a the this time. we have no further information about injuries or possible fatalities. so once that information is given to us, we'll bring that to you. but to recap, a gunman entered a

theater today in the middle of the day right outside of nashville, tennessee. engaged in a fire fight with police. s.w.a.t. team was called. that gunman appears to be deceased and the police engaging in two things. trying to investigate whether or not the backpacks that this gunman had may have explosives or dangerous. that is why the scene is sort of cornered off right now. they called in the bomb-sniffing dogs and trying to get to the bottom of that. other information from affili e affiliate, the first day of school in that part of tennessee. a lot of schools with half days and obviously another element here which poses some threat in the sense that a lot of anxious patie parents around that area. we'll have the most up to date information and right back here on msnbc for the latest on this movie theater shooting right

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welcome back to msnbc live. i'm luke russert. the story we're following at this hour, a shooting at movie theater right outside of nashville, tennessee. here's what we know so far. around 1:15 p.m. today central time, a gunman entered a screening of the film "mad max." it is unclear if there are any injuries or fatalities at this time. we can tell you that the gunman did engage with police officers who responded to the incident. the police officers telling us that they, in fact, killed the gunman in that shootout and we have to stress we have no information regarding any injuries or fatalities. we do know per our local affiliate wsmv three paramedics, ambulances called to that theater. we have gotten no information from local hospitals as to

whether any patients were received. we are in the dark of that and what happened within that theater with the gunman aside from the fact that the gunman is deceased and armed with a firearm and hatchet and two bags on him and told the pio with a press conference about 20 moneys ago that the area is still coronered off because they're investigating what was inside those bags. the threat of possible explosionives. there is a bomb squad on the scene to make sure the bags are safe and personnel can enter that theater and be around that theater and there's no threat to anybody in the immediate area. we should also mention that this was the first day of school in this part of tennessee. davison county. a lot of schools engaged in half days and beginning and right around the same time that school was letting out and reports that some schools were on lock down due to this incident.

of course, update you on that once we get more. i want to bring in jim cavanaugh. jim, from everything we have heard, we have to caution this again. no word on if there's any injuries or fatalities. it does seem, though, the gunman was inside of the theater. something prompted the authorities to respond to we resume a 911 call or something of that nature and the officers then moved in on this individual killing him. and there is -- i would say if there's a gray area is we don't know what happened inside of that theater prior to the aufrtss being called. is that what you followed so far? >> yeah. no. exactly right. metro nashville police said the guy started shooting inside the theater. of course, 911 calls come in and metro police south precinct

which is nearby officers responded. it's a heavily patrolled area near that theater, luke. right off interstate 24. very commercialized. car dealers, shopping. there's a whole lot of stuff right there. so there's always patrol cars around there and a quick response. it sounds like the patrol officer entered -- >> jim, we will have to cut you off. we have a new press conference. here's the very latest. >> we believe that the pepper spray came from the asill lant. one of those three treated also examined for what we have described as a wound that could have been caused by a hatchet. but at this point, nobody is transported. there have been no trauma injuries at this point. and we're very thankful for that at this point. >> what about the gunman? >> the police will have information on that. >> how many people were in the theater at the time? >> i don't have that information. >> the three people injured a

ten people with the hatchet -- >> no. three people were injured with exposure to pepper spray aside from the assailant. >> the assailant is deceased. is that correct? ? >> i don't know. >> the person injured by the hatchet, do you know that type of injury? >> it was -- like i said, we described it as superficial. not much more than a bad bruise. >> where on the person? >> i believe the shoulder or arm. >> a person bruise and the shoulder or arm and most serious injury in this whole thing outside of -- >> i'm sure the folks with the epper spray exposure weren't happy, as well. >> they're all okay? >> they're all okay. we don't anticipate transferring anybody to the hospital. that's good news for anybody. >> can you give us a run down of what happened? how he came in, what interaction he had? >> the police department will have those details. and they did a darn good job on this. >> brian, of the three people injured with the pepper spray, one of them injured with the ax?

>> one of the three who was exposed to the pepper spray with the wound from what could be the hatchet. >> moviegoers or police officers? >> we don't have reports of police or fire officials injured. >> male or female? >> i don't have that information. >> no police or fire? >> none that we know of. >> are your guys on scene? in case somebody -- >> we're going to stay here as long as we need to, to make sure it's completely safe and clear. >> update on the backpack? >> no. i have no idea what the bomb squad is doing with that. >> chasing -- >> i don't have information on how many were in the theater. all right. >> did they evacuate out the back? >> i don't have the details on that. thank you very much. we'll try to get you as much as we can as quickly as we get it. >> you were listening there to brian haas of the nashville police department and some very important details coming in regarding this developing situation.

most importantly, we can report now from mr. h a as no serious injuries related to this incident with a gunman inside of a theater right outside of nashville. it was, of course, at the 1:15 screening of "mad max" the film. what we heard from this individual mr. haas is injuries, none traumatic. an individual got a, quote, superficial wound caused by a hatchet. the gunman was armed with a firearm and a hatchet. and that a few others were treated because of exposure to pepper spray. unclear by the police moving in on the situation or whether that was pepper spray by the asill lant. this is most important and something we breathe a collective sigh of relief is no serious injuries from the incident and something that's now at the forefront of the american psyche. it is gunmen in movie theaters after what happened in lafayette, louisiana, what happened in 2012 in aurora.

scary situation and everybody got on to the edge understandably. one other thing we should say is that per our local affiliate, hospitals in this area prepared for a mass casualty event. nobody came in and we are all certainly thankful for that. i want to bring in msnbc analyst jim cavanaugh. that was a briefing from the fire department. in terms of the casualties here. none of them serious, thankfully. the injuries, i should say. none of them serious. but we did sort of get an idea that it seems that the gunman was in the theater with the hatchet, with the firearm, did not necessarily move on anybody in the theater with the exception of perhaps with the hatchet and police were able to get there in time. it seems that we got lucky here, that police made in it time to stop what potentially could have been a horrific incident.

>> exactly. you know, luke, we might be seeing that someone scuffled with the asill lant and someone with injuries of of a hatchet, it might have been some sort of scuffle, you know, trying to avoid the hatchet, fighting the guy, you know, maybe that he pulled out some pepper spray. unlikely police officers deploy pepper spray responding with an active shooter. you are coming in with the rifle if you have one, a shotgun and your sidearm at the very least. so the asill lant might have had pepper spray and then a gun and might have been just enough time and officer close enough. we have seen this from the united states law enforcement officers very positively the last few months, garland, texas, on the scene when the attack happens. attack on a dallas police headquarters a few weeks ago and

killing the guy. we see the response in lafaye e lafayette, louisiana. the guy went back in the theater seeing the officers time and te quick response is there or the police are there and they can put a stop to these is and save lives. i don't think there is doubt they did that today. >> and just to recap what we have learned, is that there is a gunmen, entered the showing of the film "mad max." and thankfully no wounds reported except for some superficial wounds caused by a hatchet. and there might have been a scuffle there due to the nature of the injuries that is time with a rash of the movie theater

shootings here in the united states. and i want to go back to this point we were just talking about, the speed to which law enforcement responded, they were able i think it's fair to say to prevent something truly awful from happening. the s.w.a.t. team was there quickly. patrol officer in the area. we have reports started from the projection area of the theater and moved down and was able to engage this gunman and end this standoff. in situations like this, it is fair to say the quicker law enforcement is on the scene the better chance of a more positive ending. >> there is no question. uniformed patrol officers are action-oriented people. they move quickly. when they get a call for shots fired, they are moving quickly all across that patrol beat area. there is a lot oaf cars that patrol around that area. i know it very well. there are beats that overlap right there. the south precinct, metropolitan

police station is not far. they are there quick. not only that, they are activating the metro police s.w.a.t. the guy comes, he engages with the guy and the lets s.w.a.t. come in and of course the guy is going to lose with s.w.a.t. they are going to be able to deal with him and stop him from doing whatever it is they were doing. and we're really lucky a lot of people were not killed here. just that fact aslolone is a serious enough event. and what is he bent on? what is this all about. we have a lot of the answers to come after the afternoon unfolds. who is he? what is he trying to do? and i suspect investigators will all be searching his apartment house this afternoon, searching his vehicle, going back

throughout his life to find out who he is, what he was about and what's this all about. >> and we should mention we have no clue as to what the motive was behind this incident. we also have no identity of the gunman. all we know about him is he is in fact deceased. we should also mention this is still an active situation. an active situation because the gunman had two backpacks on him. one of those was within the theater. and police are there as a precautionary measure with the bomb squad to make sure there is nothing in that backpack that could prove harmful to law enforcement as they investigate the situation. but to recap, if there is good news that is derived from there incident, it is that there are no serious injuries. hospitals prepared for a mass casualty event. thankfully they did not have too act on that. all fwhoe is a superficial wound from a hatchet.

a few treated from exposure to pepper spray. and jim you speculated on this and the more we learn it seems to make sense it. does lend itself that perhaps there was some sort of scuffle going on into that theater that gave law enforcement time to respond. we don't presume there was a law enforcement official in the theater for the duration of this incident. seemed like there may have been something there that allowed the officers time to respond. and in this case perhaps saved a lot of lives. >> yeah. it is a great point, luke. and i think it is exactly right. we could have a situation where, you know, a guy pulls out a hatchet and tries to attack someone, maybe the injured person. there is a scuffle. other patrons could have pulled out pepper spray. a lot of people carry it for self defense. and it is likely one of the south precinct patrol cars was just right in the area of the theater, in the shopping center

right there. it is a very heavily commercialized area where the beats overlap. and they could be really literally less than a minute away and pull in and get right up into the projector area and come down, engage the guy and stop him from killing everybody. >> jim kavanagh from msnbc. thanks for all your help. mark potter i want to bring in from nbc news. a in this case thankfully no major injuries reported. everybody who went to that theater is going home safely. >> that is correct. according to brian haas the public information officer for the national fire department, no one is being transported. nobody was seriously injured. he said they treated three patients who had suffered, as you were talking about from pepper spray exposure. one of those three also had what

appeared to be a superficial -- at first he said "wound" and then he later said bruise on a shoulder. and maybe from the hatchet. but he was not sure about that. how that occurred. but what he could say was that they looked at a few people but they are not taking anyone out of here. no one is going to the hospital. and so that is the good news from this scene according to the fire department. >> mark potter live on the scene. of course check out nbc nightly news for the latest. as well as here on msnbc. we'll have continuing coverage of this incident in a movie theater outside of the nashville, tennessee. we should say once again in the united states a gunman entered a movie theater with nefarious movies. we'll be right back here. and ayman mohyeldin takes over for my colleagues in nashville. the promise of the cloud is that every organization

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we want to take you live now outside of nashville where police are updating media about the shooting taking place in the theater. >> that sergeant encountered three citizen, one man and two women. the man had a superficial injury, a cut to his shoulder, evidently being hit by the hatchet. the women were doused with the pepper spray. their faces. back to the inside the theater of "mad max." the gunman apparently unleashed this pepper spray throughout the

theater. as additional officer, the s.w.a.t. team entered that theater it was very thick with chemical spray with irritant. gas masks were brought into those officers as they attempted to get this person into custody. other officers had set up at the back of the theater. ultimately the suspect, who is -- i'm told was wearing a surgical mask came out of the back door of the theater. metro police officers at the back of the theater outside engaged him. he was shot, fatally wounded and has been pronounced deceased here at the scene. this person has been tentatively identified as a 51-year-old local man. his identity has not been confirmed. we are working to do that now. the actions of that first officer who went in the theater to engage this individual may well have saved multiple indivis