where people were mentally unstable and were shot. at the moment, we don't know exactly what has transpired at ft. lauderdale. we don't know the motivations. it would appear from ft. lauderdale airport that operations are on hold for now. >> tom costello for us in washington, d.c. tom, thanks. let's reset here for our viewers and listeners just to bring you up to speed on what you are seeing. just a few moments ago, at least, you saw folks starting to go back into the terminal at ft. lauderdale-hollywood international airport. law enforcement officials say three people are dead. gunman open fire after 1:00 eastern. this is an airport that's roughlily 20 miles north of miami. one suspect, we're told, one suspect is in custody. again, you can see live pictures from the sky. law enforcement personnel on the

tarmac, passengers as well on the tarmac. this has been the scene for at least the last hour or so. again, for folks not familiar with this airport, this is just outside miami. a popular airport used by folks who are going to south beach, going to miami. also very popular because ft. lauderdale known for ports -- known as a popular port with folks going on tour, on cruise ship tours as well. our justice correspondent pete williams standing by for us. pete, what more do we know about the suspect? >> very little at this point. we heard from witnesses it was a young man, maybe in his mid to late 20s wearing a t-shirt with star wars characters. characters from the star wars movie. the witness wasn't sure what kind of a weapon this man was firing.

the witness that we talked to say he began firing and that initially it seemed like there were no law enforcement officials in the area, that he stopped -- the gunman stopped to reload. and then at some point was shot by law enforcement officials. we've been told he's in custody. we don't know what kind of shape he's in or whether they're interviewing him now or will be able to figure out what the motive was here. the number of casualties is still being refined as is typical in situations like this. the latest information we have, and, again, we emphasize these numbers are subject to revision, is 13 people total shot, four dead, nine wounded. but, again, i caution that these numbers are subject to change. we've seen them change already just in the last few minutes. it's been just over an hour since this happened. people are being let back inside the airport, we're told, by security officials. they'll all be rescreened.

this is going to be a slow process of getting the airport going again, while at the same time trying to conduct this investigion. but nobody's given us any insight, craig, about what was behind this shooting. >> pete, stand by, if you can. you gave us some information on the shooter. again, preliminary information. i'm joined by someone who saw the shooting, i'm told. john on the phone. john, first of all, how are you? >> we're in shock. we're just absolutely in shock. >> >> can you tell us what you saw, what you heard? >> we were in baggage area waiting for our luggage to come up. the first bags came up. when i heard the first shot, i wasn't sure what it was at first. i saw the person to my side fall

to the ground. i turned and looked and the gunman was in the center hallway, just outside of -- just next to baggage carousel number one and two, in between there. he was holding a black handgun and he was shooting randomly into the crowd. he was shooting people in the head. there were elderly people that were shot and killed. there were two people to my left and two people to my right that were shot. and several of them died. >> john, as you watch this unfold, could you make out whether this man was saying anything while he open fire? >> when i looked over at him, he said nothing. he said nothing. he was just shooting. and when i -- as i said, i had just pulled the first piece of luggage off the carousel when i

heard the first shot. and as i turned and saw him standing there was the hallway. he didn't say anything. he just was firing. he did have time to reload his gun before he started firing the second time. >> did he appear to be acting alone? was he by himself? >> as far as i could see, yes, he was by himself. >> how were you able to get out of there? >> instinctively, i think -- it was a delta flight that had just landed in ft. lauderdale. and everyone fell to the ground as soon as it started happening. so, we stayed -- my wife and my mother-in-law are traveling with me. we stayed down on the ground until the shooting stopped. i immediately, when i saw -- i

called 911 just seconds after the first shot was fired. called and let them know what was going on. >> he walked over and was right in our area, feet from us, shooting people. i didn't know if i'd be shot, if my wife or my mother-in-law would either. >> john, to be clear here, everyone that was with you, your wife, your mother-in-law, they're fine? >> they're fine. my wife actually administered aid to one of the gentleman who was shot in the head. and he told her he was on coumadin and she applied pressure to him. my mother-in-law used her sweater to -- [ inaudible ] on the man next to him. and he was gone already. >> john, to the best of your

ability, can you describe what the shooter looked like for us? >> i glanced and i probably saw the gun more than i saw the shooter. but he was a slender man. i think he had a blue star wars t-shirt on. and he was holding the gun, aiming and firing directly at us. he had dark hair. and beyond that, i really don't know. i didn't see facial features or anything. and as i said, i put my head down and prayed. >> how did you know the situation was over or that the situation was at least under control? >> well, we stayed down and the shots stopped -- i don't know how many shots were fired all

together. he did reload his gun and started firing a whole batch of shots at people. you know, at one point in time i saw something by my head. how we knew it was over, we stayed down. people stayed down for an extended period of time. finally, when the police came in, that's when we got up. >> 13 people shot, four people dead, nine people wounded. again, this is according to our sources. this is a number that as our justice correspondent pete williams told us moments ago. these are numbers we expect, that we expect will change over the course of the afternoon and into the night. we're talking right now to john. john schicher is on the phone with me. john, where are you in

relationship to terminal two and is that where all of this unfolded, as we've been reporting? >> honestly, i couldn't tell you what terminal we're in. we're at the baggage claim area in delta. all the luggage is still down there. it was baggage carousel number three. >> john, again, i know this is -- this is all traumatizing, but to the best of your ability, when the man started to open fire inside the terminal there, did it seem as if he was targeting someone or did it seem as if he was just looking to shoot anyone? >> that's what was terrifying. it was clear he was just shooting anyone. that's when i realized it could

be me. then when he shot people on either side of me, he wasn't tar getting anyone specifically, just randomly shooting at people. >> john schlicher -- >> that was on that flight -- >> john, we're losing you a bit, sir. i'm going to let you go and be with your wife and mother-in-law. good luck to you, sir. >> thank you. and thank you. >> mark lee, mark lee also apparently saw all of this go down at florida hollywood international airport. mark, craig melvin here, msnbc. do you have me? can you hear me okay? >> yep, i can hear you just fine. >> can you walk me through where you were and what you saw?

>> yeah. i was down by door five of baggage claim. and heard what sounded like firecrackers going off and a quick three-round burst. and then what happened after that was the -- also we realized it was actually someone shooting. and people started screaming and getting out any door they could or hide under the chairs as he continued coming in, randomly shooting just as people, no rhyme, no reason to it. >> could you see the shooter? >> oh, yeah. he was probably within a -- he was within 50, 75 yards of me. >> what did he look like? what did he say? >> he didn't say anything. he was just -- he was quiet the whole time. he didn't yell at people. did nothing. he just started shooting. he was about 5'7", i would say 165, from that point, so he just, like i say, started randomly shooting people. getting up on the carousel to

shoot people who were hiding. had a 9-millimeter and went through three magazines because after he got done shooting, went to door two, threw his gun down and spread eagle until the first officer came, about a minute later. >> he fully expected to get caught? >> oh, yeah. he didn't run out of the building. he threw the gun down, spread eagle on the ground until the officer came up to him. >> one gun? >> single shooter. one gun, one shooter. >> folks running, folks getting down on the ground. the folks that were with you, are they all okay? >> yep. the people -- like i say, we just landed on that delta flight that came from minneapolis. my wife and i are fine. she ran out of the building. you know, basic kaeshlgs i started helping people get out, all the people tripping over each other as they're frantically trying to get out. i got a bunch of people out of the building. i actually ran into the building and trying to get more people safe from cover, you know, from

that perspective. like i say, after he got some other people dourngs he had run out of ammunition by that time. like i say, i was probably within 50 feet of him. i saw him basically had a blue polo shirt on. he threw the gun down on the ground, laid down on the ground spread eaglele and one of the broward county officers came up behind me, gun drawn, came up behind him until he got up to him and secured the scene and everything else. >> could you tell whether the suspect had been shot at all -- >> nope, he was not shot, not wounded, not anything. basically, he was done shooting and was lying spread eagle on the ground before the first officer got to him. they did not have to command him. >> where are you right now? >> i'm in -- i'm within ten feet of the gun right now. >> you can see the gun? >> oh, yeah. i got pictures of it. we can see all the cones from

the shells and everything else. you can still see where people are still in the terminal over by baggage claim three. they're about 100 yards from me right now. >> the shells -- >> i had one lady from council bluffs, iowa, that took a shot to the neck. her husband was on the other side of the head and instantly killed. she watched her husband basicallily three feet from her dead and they were getting ready to leave on a cruise today. sad. people are just -- like i say, very tense. you know, there's lots of officers, special forces here. they got all the wounded people out here. many of them -- from that witness basically is here trying to give a statement. nothing's going on down in baggage claim. going in or out so we're stuck here. >> mark, in terms of the folks who were shot, wounded, killed,

elderly, women, children, what more can you tell us about that? >> yeah. i mean, there was one gentleman that was there from his -- he had his two boys from him. he got shot in the wrist. one lady i was with from council bluffs took a shot through the neck. mid-60s. the gentlemen shot in their face or head were in their upper 60s. various people -- one of the ladies behind the information koir counter down here, she was shot the shoulder. various differen people. i went around to the people to see who was shot, who was hurt, who needed consoling or help from there. the shooter was down and out of ammunition. >> so, to be clear here, mark, from your vantage point, it appeared as if the shooter only stopped shooting because he ran out of bullets? >> that is correct. >> and after that -- >> looks like about three

magazines. >> and after that, he went -- dropped to the ground and waited on the cops to come and pick him up? >> yes. yep, yep, the cop came up. he was already down on the ground for 10, 15 seconds bit time the sheriff got up to him. >> and, again -- >> he had no intention of escaping. >> to be clear, at no point did you see him say anything? did you hear him -- >> nope, he did not. i did not hear him. nope, i did not see his mouth moving. he did not yell. did not say anything. did not shout out anything or -- nothing. he was quiet the whole time. randomly shooting up and down the baggage claim carousels. >> could you tell where he entered the airport? >> yeah. yep, he came in door two. >> he walked right -- i know exactly where you're talking about. i've been to this -- >> right by the starbucks coffee. >> i know exactly where you are. he walked right into that door. >> right into that door and

started shooting. he basically walked in that door, walked to the right and made that first shot within 50 feet of the door. >> have all of the injured been taken to the hospital, to your knowledge -- >> yep, yep, all the injured have all been taken away to the hospital for treatment. just the deceased ones are the ones still here. >> my goodness. mark lea for us there. mark, good luck. be well. take care of yourself, sir. you okay? >> all right, thank you. doing fine. it will probably sink in later today. like i said, we're headed out on a cruise tomorrow. it will sink in later. >> you are a lucky man, sir. mark lea. >> thank you. thank you for your time there, mark lea. >> yep, yep. >> eyewitness to the shooting there at the ft. lauderdale-hollywood international airport as we

continue to watch this scene unfold. just to recap, we just heard from two eyewitnesss, both of whom were just feet away from at this point what appears to be a lone gunman. our justice correspondent, pete williams telling us roughly 20 minutes ago, 15 minutes ago, according to his sources, this was a guy, young man, maybe late 20s wearing some sort of star wars t-shirt. literally three minutes later an eyewitness confirming that report that a young man that he saw was, in fa, wearing same t-shirt, open fire, walked inside terminal two baggage claim area, lower level, feet away from the starbucks. i know that because i've been to that starbucks in that airport on a number of occasions. he had one handgun. according to mark lea, the man we just spoke to there, the only reason he stopped shooting was because he ran out of bullets. at that point, he went over and

he lowered himself and waited on the police to show up. at no point, according to the two eyewitnesss we talked to, at no point uttering anything. saying absolutely nothing. at this point it would seem as if that suspect is in custody. the eyewitnesss saying it did not appear as if he had been shot. it also looks like that he acted alone at this point, according to the eyewitnesss we spoke to. four people dead. nine wounded. it would seem as if the wounded have been taken to the area hospital there in broward county. what you're looking at right now is the mobile crime scene command center there. a number of folks still on the tarmac. this is an airport that has been effectively shut down. senator bill nelson of florida joins me now. we just lost senator bill nelson from florida. we'll see if we can get him back. we know he just talked to the

director of the airport there. tom costello, though, is still with us in washington, d.c. tom, one of the things that you and i have been talking about is what this does to security at other airports around the country. what do we know about that part of the story? >> i have that for you, craig. can i ask the producer very quickly, let's confirm, are we looking at a live image? the faa has put a ground stop in effect -- >> this is live. >> if we're looking at live images it's interesting to see that plane taxiing. this is confirmed as live. we have so many people out on the ramp. you can see, standing right there, below those terminal gates at terminal two. and yet a plane taxiing. there is a ground stop in effect now at the airport, which you would expect, given the ongoing security situation. but the tsa is now telling us, as you would expect, that the local sheriff's department has the lead on this investigation. the broward county sheriff's

tru department. this did occur in a public area, not secured area. the terminal now being repopulated and all passengers will be rescreened. you've got all those folks standing out on the ramp. you can imagine the tsa and/or police are going to make sure they are also secure. so, this is with an faa ground stop in effect, this is going to take some time. we can also tell you, miami international airport and l.a.x. out in los angeles have told us they are now stepping up their security posture with their armed police officers in those terminals. you and i discussed a short time ago, craig, that, in fact, when you have an incident like this, you've got to be concerned there may be some -- some intention to serve as a distraction. maybe not only for another attack at that airport or for other airports. so, you would expect major airports around the country, from new york to miami to l.a., denver, chicago, to ramp up security and make sure that

those police officers that are in the terminal are very visible and very much on their game at this moment. so, that is the latest i can give you at this point. faa ground stop in effect. they're going to have to rescreen everybody there. can you see the traffic jam outside the airport. meanwhile, miami, l.a., new york have said they're also going to be ensuring their police officers at the airports are in a forward-leaning posture. craig? >> tom costello, our man on aviation there in washington. we do have the new -- we do have senator bill nelson joining us from capitol hill. i understand you just talked to tsa administrator and director of the airport as well there at ft. lauderdale-hollywood. what can you tell us? what did they tell you? >> five people are dead, according to admiral. the shooter's name is esteban

santiago. he was carrying a military i.d. what that indicates, it could be somebody else's, it could be not a current one. so, that we don't know. and what you've been reporting, you've basically got the facts. nine people that were shot and five of them are dead. and this, of course, brings all the more the reason of why in these areas of airports, either at ticket counters or in this case the baggage claim area, where people bunch up to get their baggage, it's for someone trying to do harm, it's a lot of people in a concentrated area. you saw this done with a shooter in germany. now it's been done to us here in

ft. lauderdale. one of the things we did in the faa bill we passed last year was we doubled the number of dog teams. these are the dogs that go through and sniff for any kind of explosives. they also act as a deterrent for anyone that is there to do things. but you can't have a dog in front of every crowd all the time. and so, that's the extent of the information that we have. >> senator, i -- i want to go -- i want to come back to the suspect here. again, according to folks that you talked to, his name is esteban santiago. he was carrying a military i.d. we just talked to a few eyewitnesss a few moments ago who describe a young man, maybe 20s opening fire there in the

terminal. only stopping because he ran out of bullets. not uttering a single word as he shot these people dead. are your sources telling you anything more about this suspect, possibly a motive. >> we have no motive. of course, that's one of the first questions i asked. was he known to law enforcement, this man at all, or do we know at this point? >> we don't know. but they have him in custody, so we will find out. unfortunately, it could be someone who was mentally deranged or it could be -- >> senator, i need to cut you off quickly here. we have some sort of live scene, active scene. let's listen in to our nbc affiliate wtvj. >> we understand there are several vso investigators right now in the baggage claim of terminal two trying to figure out how this shooting developed,

how it all unfolded about a couple of hours ago. so, that was the initial, obviously, investigation we've been talking about for the last couple of hours. again, right here -- >> marissa, i'm going to interrupt you right now. i'm going to stop you right now because what we're seeing is a live picture right now of the calm we have seen before is gone. people are running, it looks like, for their lives across the tarmac. we see buses still moving. we see emergency vehicles moving on the tarmac as well from chopper 6. the live picture we're seeing is those same people we saw earlier just kind of huddled, moving slowly and the calm are now running. we're still seeing a lot of investigators, a lot of police, they're running with guns drawn as well. so, perceivably there's still some kind of threat at the airport. even though they have the one gunman in custody and the eyewitnesss have said there was only one shooter, something is going on at that airport that

has officials there and also basic passengers -- they're evacuating terminal one i'm told from our assignment desk and producers. that everybody is being told to get out of terminal one right away. >> get out of terminal one right away. >> and so, right now the calm that we thought we were getting at the airport -- let's go back to marissa because she's on the ground and see if she can gather any more. what's going on there? >> yeah, we were just showing you terminal one. now we're looking at terminal two where you can see for yourself, we're watching dozens and dozens of people walking out of terminal one. this would be kind of the northwest side of the terminal. where all of a sudden we're hearing alarms going off at terminal one and then people pouring outside. we don't know if this is an official evacuation, but, obviously, people leaving the terminal. you can see some of them running, being told to get out. what don't know what's going on --

>> hold your picture. stay with us. stay with us. marissa -- >> there's a situation going on there in terminal one while there's also something going on in the parking garage we were just telling you. we have just confirmed, the latest information, five people confirmed dead in this incident here at ft. lauderdale-hollywood international airport. we don't know if there is further threat or another incident unfolding here at terminal one. again, we're wating people. you're watching it live on our air, people apparently evacuating terminal one by the dozens, possibly already 100 now with their luggage, trying get out of the terminal. again, we're not sure what's going on. here in terminal one, what's going on at the parking garage. i'm not sure if you have any newer information. again, clearly, this is a developing situation, possibly another threat inside terminal one here at the airport. we did just see a plane take off about a minute ago from this --

from the airport here. clearly, that's still happening. that might be the last plane to take off. we're not sure if they're going to be stalling the planes. again, people continuing to arrive here. steve, i don't know if you can turn around to show the parking garage again. still a police officer guarding the entrance to that parking garage here, which appears to be the third floor. you can see those same cars still stopped here at the departures level outside of terminal two, which is -- which is a delta terminal. again, several emergency officials and vehicles showing up here. clearly, a developing story happening to our east and to our west as people are evacuating terminal one. police continue to be handling some sort of active scene at the parking garage. i will definitely let you know when we have any more information or if we have more visuals to show you.

you're seeing this as we're finding out. i'm just trying to describe to you what we're seeing. all of us in the press area here a little on edge. not sure what's going on. we'll definitely try to bring you the latest information as soon as we have it. >> thank you. we're getting some reports that alarms are going on in terminal one in that parking garage. and we also have one of our staff in that parking garage hiding in his car because of all the s.w.a.t. units and police and sheriff's officers who have moved in there. he's hiding in his car. as soon as we can try to get him on the phone, if that's possible, we'll talk to him and see exactly what he's seeing. things have slowed down a little bit, but at first we were seeing maybe a half hour ago people going into the airport. now people are being pushed out of the airport again. okay, we're going to go to one of our editors at nbc 6 and he's hiding in his car in parking lot one where you started to see all

the police and s.w.a.t. teams running around and running to. pedro, what are you seeing? and how are you? >> hey, i'm okay. i'm actually hiding in somebody else's car. they were kind enough to let me jump in when they were -- all the people started screaming and running around. the first thing i thought about was, you know, getting into my car, get into safety, but there was too much going on. like i said, i jumped into a car with somebody else. we're here hiding. a police officer walked by and asked us to show him our hands and told us to stay put. that's really what's going on. >> i'm just taking in some more information while i was listening to you the phone. right now you're okay? >> yes, that's correct. >> per senator bill nelson, our

senator from florida, we have just gotten information that the shooter's name is esteban santiago. the person who walked in terminal two today at ft. lauderdale-hollywood international airport and killed four people, injured as many as 13 -- pardon me. killed five people. that's the latest update. injured as many as 13 more is esteban santiago. march 6th, 1990 he was born. we have no idea of a motive. this is coming from senior senator bill nelson. esteban santiago, born march 16, 1990, is the shooter, who walked into the airport, killed five people, injured as many as 13 others. we are told that it was just a random shooting. he shot at anybody who was there. pedro, are you still in the car and are you seeing any other activity? is he still in -- >> not from where i am.

i don't see any more movement, really. >> all right. so, until we get pedro or -- okay. let's go to jamie in a few seconds at the hospital and see what he has. jamie is on the scene, but as soon as we can get him up and ready, we'll talk to you. right now let's just focus in on what's going on on the tarmac. if you just joined us -- >> we have been listening into our affiliate there in miami. that's wtvj. we've been listening to some of their live reporting. one of their editors appears to be huddled inside a car in the garage. we've also just gotten this tweet in from the president-elect donald trump tweeting about the situation unfolding there at the airport. monitoring the terrible situation in florida. just spoke to governor scott, rick scott. thoughts and prayers for all. stay safe. again, that coming from donald trump, who, again, at last check was also receiving that security

briefing from top intelligence officials. left side of your screen, law enforcement appears to be making their way up the stairs. helmet-clad, armed with assault rifles, making their way up the stairs of this parking garage. we do not know which parking garage this is. there are a number of parking garages there in front of that airport. it appeared as if we were going floor to floor, perhaps trying to clear each level of that parking garage. control room s this a live scene? this is live? this is live. so, this is the tarmac at the airport. what had been an orderly scene appears to be changing a bit. you see a number of people running. from this vantage point, i can't tell where they're running from

and in which direction they're headed. people running on the tarmac at the airport, ft. lauderdale-hollywood. at one point we saw folks going back into that airport. we saw a number of folks -- in fact, one of the eyewitnesss to the shooting told us they were being led back into the airport. now, the folks, hundreds of them, if not more than 1,000 who had been huddled on that tarmac, some appear to be running. now, it seems as if they've gotten farther from the actual terminal. they appear to be walking now. a bit more calmly. you can see some of the folks are clearly children making their way across this tarmac. this is an airport that has been effectively shut down. we were told a few moments ago, we were talking to senator bill nelson, who had been having conversations with officials on a federal level. senator nelson telling us the suspect who is in custody is a man named esteban santiago.

senator nelson also telling us he had a military i.d. on him at the time. but that's about all we got from the senator. bob foster is on the tarmac there. we talked to bob a few moments ago. he saw the shooting unfold. as we're having this conversation with you, left side of your screen, you can see people huddled behind cars. tough to tell precisely where this is. this is outside of the -- as these people are getting down, you see law enforcement behind them with guns drawn, as they're taking cover outside of the airport. this still very much appears to be an active scene. ft. lauderdale-hollywood international airport. folks huddled behind cars. we see one officer with his gun drawn. now we see more people running. we are seeing more people

running on the tarmac there. presumably passengers who, again, just moments ago these folks were heading back inside the terminal. appeared to be heading back inside the terminal. bob, are you still with me? >> i certainly am, yes. >> bob, where are you? what's the scene like there? is it chaotic? >> not totally chaotic. it was a few moments ago. apparently -- i don't know whether someone assumed or thought they saw someone with a gun. so, it was kind of chaotic. people started running to the exit, so to speak. i don't think that was entirely true. they're making everyone sit down here at the gate. security has come by and assured us that all the security doors are closed. there's no getting in and there's no getting out. from the window at gate b-2, we do see a lot of police vehicles

with lights flashing on the -- in the garage area. apparently, again, this is all secondhand, apparently there were gunshots heard. i guess they responded to that. >> to be clear here, bob, in terms of what you're hearing, you haven't heard anything that sounded like additional gunshots, correct? >> i have not heard anything, no. >> law enforcement presence where you are, are guns drawn? are they standing around guarding -- like, what's happening in terms of law enforcement where you are? >> well, right now it's relatively quiet. a few people -- i guess when someone thought they saw someone with a gun, a couple of uniformed police officers with rifles drawn ran down on the other side of the terminal. that's the last i saw of them. there's a tsa presence, but

certainly not a police presence with guns drawn or holstered. we are being told if we do leave, we're going to be -- everybody is going to have to do it before they get on the plane, baggage clearance with the s.w.a.t. team before we get on the plane. so, hence, you know, they're taking all security measures. i think everyone feels a little bit better that we were assured by security that all doors have been secured and no one is getting in and no one is getting out from our area. >> okay. bob foster, bob on the tarmac, ft. lauderdale. bob also an eyewitness to the shooting that happened just after 1:00 eastern at ft. lauderdale airport. bob, thanks. i want to come back to you in a bit if i can. do stay safe. doug kass also on the tarmac. we talked to doug a short time ago. doug also saw this deadly shooting unfold from about 75

yards away. doug, as i understand it, you also just heard some additional shots fired, is that right? >> okay. from our virgin airlines flight on terminal one the baggage claim right to the right of our plane, people being evacuated from -- [ inaudible ] we were walking back towards baggage claim in terminal one about 15 minutes ago. police and tsa running away from the area saying there had been shots fired. i'm not aware whether they were shots or loud noises, demanding everyone in terminal one to evacuate the terminal. and the entire terminal now is on the tarmac on the runway. >> the entire terminal, all of terminal one has been evacuated

and is on the runway, is that right, doug? >> i'm actually on an active runway. >> what are they telling you on the runway? >> they are not telling us anything. all i can -- we're walking down towards where the roads are to enter -- to enter the airport. you can see probably 30 firetrucks, maybe 25 ambulance and, i don't know, 50 or 70 police cars. nothing has been explained. people panic and the entire terminal one fled. i don't know -- again, i don't know if it was a shooting or a loud sound. resulted in the evacuation of terminal one. i do not know the answer. >> okay. doug kass -- >> now, i'm on an active runway

with all of terminal one, i would say, 3,000 people that were in terminal one. >> and, doug, at this point the folks who are on that runway -- we're having some -- obviously, that's just wind. he's on an active runway. doug k you hear me okay? >> i can hear you. can you hear me? >> yeah. we're just getting the wind from the background but, you know, obviously that's going to happen. you're on an active runway. the folks who are there, what are they doing? are they just -- are they standing around or -- >> lingering. you can hear -- now you can hear the police cars in the background. they're starting to come on the tarmac with the fire truck. i'm not aware of what's happening. [ inaudible ] i -- i already see one in the direction we're walking. if you can tell your truck if they look over to terminal one

from the road, i can see msnbc's truck. what's happening on the runway. these are all people evacuated from terminal one because of a possible shooter. >> doug kass there, a ft. lauderdale airport passenger on the phone from the tarmac. as we were having that conversation, again, on the left side of your screen, you can see the folks. to be clear here, we don't have control over these cameras. tom costello is in d.c. for us. tom, i know you've been listening and -- listening and watching all of us unfold as well. >> yeah. krashgs let's make the point. i understand what he's saying. he's out on the runway. it is not active, though. let's make that clear. there are no flights moving in and out of ft. lauderdale right now. they have essentially ceased all operations. and if they hadn't already, you know, we thought we saw a plane taxiing. when you have 1,000 people

running across an open runway and grass and then onto the other side of the ramp, everything is shut down. so, whether you're coming in or going out at this point, you are not going to be moving in or -- you have all of those people crouching behind cars with the possibility of -- >> tom -- >> yeah, go ahead. >> tom, i want to see if our control room can pull up the most recent tweet from the tsa. guys, if we can get that on the screen. tom, the tsa saying that this is still an active shooter situation at the airport. do we have the tweet? there it is right there. this is from the transportation safety ainistration. this posted a few moments o. active shooter at ft. lauderdale. shelter in place. airport closed. tsa telling folks to shelter in place. tom, what does that mean? >> i think it's -- you know, they're just out of an abundance of caution, they don't know whether they've got another active shooter situation or

whether people are so hypersensitive following the first incident that when you start to hear a car backfire or a door slam or whatever, and then suddenly panic spreads. we've seen that many times in the past, as you know. so the police have to take all of that very seriously. let's remind everybody the tsa is not in charge of this operation. the local police are in charge. the tsa mans those checkpoints and they may or may not have air marshals on board planes. that's the extend of it. when you come to an actual police operation at an airport, that is the local police jurisdiction. in this case, broward county sheriff's department, which i think was recognized as one of the top sheriff's departments in the country. we would make the point other airports around the country are also stepping up their security and police presence, including l.a.x., as well as we have the same word coming out of miami. we've heard that from new york.

i would suspect you'll see is that at every major airport in the country. everybody in the country, keep in mind, if you walk through an airport and you see those television screens on and all those bars and all of those seating areas, everybody in the country is watching this right now. you don't even need an order, necessarily, from washington. those police jurisdictions are obviously going to take this very seriously at this moment. >> commissioner bill bratten is here in the studio. commissioner ran the police department here in new york, also los angeles, boston as well. commissioner, as we're watching these scenes unfold, left side of your screen we saw what appeared to be heavily armed law enforcement going floor to floor of that parking garage. right side of your screen a few moments ago we saw hundreds of people, presumably passengers, on the runway, arms up p.. some of them running. what are we witnessing here?

i know it's very early. >> what you're witnessing yourself, myself, your viewers, always attaches itself to this type of scenario and how incredibly complex it is to sort out what's happening. we've been at it at the studio for the last hour, two hours, trying to sort out what's happening. quite apparent at the moment that there appears to be concern that there may be another shooter. whether that's reality or as you just referenced possibly heightened anxiety and reporting of noises that people think are gunshots. i think what this is going to end up reinforcing like at the new york city, which turned out to be glass breaking, the technology at airport in public places has to get much better. cameras, the acoustic technology, to help clarify more

quickly, one, where is an incident occurring, if you think you hear shots, where are they happening? two, are they, in fact, shots? are they some other type of noise? this would be helpful to law enforcement to get more accurate information out to y more quickly. one of the things that's not happening here right now, really not much information coming out. tsa, the announcement, active shooter. are they referring to the earlier one? are they referring to a more recent one? that wasn't a clear message, shelter in place. same thing they've been putting out for the last couple of hours. this is really a phenomenal story because it really highlights what we're increasingly going to be up against in this country and around the world. are you going to see more and more of these incidents. the pace of them is picking up. and we're going to have to get much -- get much better at responding to them and getting information out much more quickly. >> commissioner, do stand by, if you can for me, sir. mark lea. mark lea joining me now. mark lea is on the phone. he is where police are searching

terminal two. mark, i understand that they have been making some announcements as well inside that terminal. what are officials there telling you and the other passengers? >> well, about ten minutes ago there was probably a couple dozen officers ran frantically out of the building now. it appears to be towards terminal one with guns drawn. they have basically been told to lock the rest of this building down here, no one in, no one out. all the remaining officers inside the baggage area here in terminal two had guns drawn, hiding behind either the block walls or desks or anything of that nature, opposed to the front glass, to protect themselves. they told all the passengers still here that were witness to the shooting, they told us all to lay down on the ground, get really low to the ground and get as low as we could. just kind of doing that right now. they're going through and they just got done completing a frisk search of all the passengers left here in the terminal that

were a witness to the shooting. just to further secure the area. >> it sounds as if they've told you guys to shelter in place, essentially? >> say that again. >> it sounds as if officials have essentially told you and the rest of the passengers inside terminal two to shelter in place? >> yes. we're in between door one and door two. another group of people down by door five. >> mark, there had been some reports a few moments ago of additional gunfire. did you hear anything that sounded like it could be more gunshots? >> i did not hear anything, but from just what i'm hearing in the background chatter of the officers, they're kind of saying they're running towards -- something going on in terminal one, another active shooter or something over there. >> and folks who are around you right now, what are they saying? fellow passengers. >> no one is saying a whole lot. they're fairly calm. okay, now they're -- they're

telling us to do something here. >> to be clear, you're inside terminal two. >> yeah, inside terminal two, between door one and door two. >> and this is in relationship to where the shooting happened. this is -- >> all right. i am 20 feet away from where the gun is. >> still, in that same spot when we -- >> same spot. haven't moved. nope, haven't moved. haven't moved. >> forgive me, but you sound exceptionally calm right now. >> yeah. >> is that the case for your fellow passengers who are around you as well? >> i think most of them are fairly calm right now. it's calmed down a lot. you know, when i say calmed down quite a bit, but it was obviously quite frantic before from there. it's much calmer. now looks like they're taking

women out of the passenger area here. i don't know what they're doing. going to the bathroom. oh, never mind. bathroom call. >> they're going to the rest room. mark, stand by for me, if you can. we just got some video in from inside terminal two. my assumption confirms this is video we have watched in its entirety to make sure it's okay to run here on the area. again, this is -- this is video from inside terminal two. is that ready for us? okay, let's go ahead and take a look and listen. >> flying all around us. >> cal perry is standing by. pete williams, also there in

washington, d.c., our justice correspondent, with some new information on the suspect. pete, what can you tell us? what more do we know at this point? >> reporter: you may have heard earlier, craig, on msnbc, bill nelson from florida gave a name, which we are reluctant to use ourselves until we confirmed it with federal and local authorities and several authorities are now confirmed that is the name. the name of the suspect who's been arrested is esteban santiago, born march 16th of 1990, mrliving in florida, we believe naples, florida, and had served in the u.s. military. i don't know what the details of the military service are. we're checking on that now. authorities have yet to tell us anything about the suspected motive. now, one sign this is considered an act of terrorism would be if the fbi takes over this case, but that hasn't happened yet. it's way too soon. we don't know whether santiago, who was not -- we're told not

wounded in the shooting when he was arrested, we don't know if he is talking to authorities. if he isn't, it's going to take some time to search his residence. they'll have to get a search warrant to do that. remember, this whole incident now is just about two hours old. we're just before 3:00 eastern time here. it started right around 1:00 eastern time just around then in the lunch hour. so, it's very, very early on. but that's the next course of what the authorities would be doing is to get a search warrant to search his residence, to try to talk to people who knew him or know him, his family members, look at social media. that all takes time. if he's not talking at this point or if they don't find anything on him that would indicate why he was doing this, then it's going to take a long time to figure that out. they just don't know at this point what the motive is. you know, we've seen these

shootings in the past inspired by terrorist rhetoric, but we've also seen them be inspired by personal grievances or people with mental problems. there's a whole host of possible explanations here. the authorities have yet to settle on any of them. >> commissioner? >> other things going on, searching the residence, trying to quickly determine, how did he get to the airport? did he go by vehicle, public transportation? they'll be seeking to very quickly see if he has a vehicle registered to his name. the idea of locating that vehicle at the airport. there's a lot of moving parts. so, there's other concerns that -- in terms of the investigation as it goes forward. but that's an area to be focused on how did he get to the airport? was he driven by public transportation? is his vehicle possibly still there? they need to check that vehicle out and from an explosives standpoint. so many moving parts to these

investigations. >> esteban santiago, 26 years old. at this point, again, no known motive according to our justice correspondent, pete williams. multiple sources say he had a military i.d. on him at the time of his arrest. pete, are you still with me there in washington? >> i want to say one other thing here. and that is about the possibility that we've seen people running out of the airport, that there was a possible second gunman at the airport. we've seen no confirmation of that from the authorities we've been talking to. again, it's not unusual in situations when there is an active shooting that people understandably become very alarmed and report anybody they see with guns. sometimes that's law enforcement people in plain clothes, but despite the early evacuation -- evacuation of that second area at the airport, we've seen no confirmation that there is anything other than one person involved in today's shooting. >> at this point, according to

sources, at this point, again, it appears to have been a lone gunman. pete williams there in washington. pete, thank you so much for that. do i still have mark lea on the phone with me or no? okay. mark lea, again, inside terminal two. we do not have him on the phone. but he was, again, an eyewitness to this shooting roughly 60, 75 feet away from the scene. that upper right-hand portion of your screen, video we got in. this is moments after the shooting. we have taken great care to blur the faces of the wounded there. at this point we can tell you five people are dead, eight people injured so far. again, all of this happening just after 1:00 eastern at the ft. lauderdale-hollywood international airport. not far from miami. a number of people use this airport who are going to miami. this is also a very popular

airport that's used by folks taking cruises from ft. lauderdale as well. commissioner bill bratton, former commissioner of new york police department, los angeles as well. commissioner, we continue to see scenes like this unfold. law enforcement, guns drawn. these are live pictures. you can see the heavy law enforcement presence, if you will. your assessment of this situation is that this is not something we should be overly alarmed about at this point, is that right? >> in response to these type of incidents, not only does the entity with primary jurisdiction, in this case the broward county sheriff's department respond, but you get these sources coming in from a myriad of other locations. federal, state and local. so, one of the things they'll quickly set up will be incident command post to get people to report there, assignments. takes a while to get your arms

around something this complex. it doesn't get much more complex than an airport. the airport is huge with all these moving parts, as evidenced by the video you've been showing. similarly, we haven't seen graphics of what the airport looks like when referencing different terminal numbers. it references when something is happening in terminal one versus terminal to. from a law enforcement standpoint you have to get a sense of what are we dealing with -- >> commissioner, right now, again, these are live images of law enforcement -- >> s.w.a.t. >> s.w.a.t. team. they appear -- are they taking cover? do they -- walk me through what you're seeing. >> what you see here, at this juncture, i would not say they're taking cover, per se. i think they're taking a position. for what purpose -- that looks like fbi arm bands. >> make sure we're on delay,

guys. >> this looks like we're on perimeter. you see guns at the ready, shoulder-height. something going on, apparently n that particular area where those law enforcement officers are on the left side of the screen. that's not just perimeter control. looks like they're moving in on something. >> it appears from your vantage point they have their eyes on something. >> you see this vehicle, the bear cats, as they call them, the camera to the left, looked like another squad of officers moving up what looked to be an underpass wall with weapons at the ready, versus these officers here in a much more casual posture at this particular location. gerngs a lot gain, a lot of mov parts. airports are huge. i'm not even sure where these personnel are at the airport. >> based on what we're seeing here, commissioner, does this appear to be an active scene? >> this is quite obviously a very