thank you for watching. a.m. joy is up next saturday. alex, a tough day for news. >> it is. i want to thank you for what you said. it was almost like being in church listening to you preach. we're a nation that's been traumatized by gun violence whether as individuals we have it or we have fear that one day we may be affected by it. that and 180 miles per hour winds bearing down on the bahamas. it's a lot. but thank you very much for what you were saying. >> thank you. i'm glad you're here. you're just the person i want to listen to to get through the news. you're a trusted voice. >> thank you. >> take it from here. >> i've got it. here we go. a good day from world head quarters in new york. welcome, everyone, to weekends with alex. the two big breaking stories this hour. monster storm. hurricane dorian a category 5 sweeping developments this hour that targets the bahamas. a look at the devastation and

what it might still do to florida. new information on saturday's mass shooting in texas and we expect to learn even more in the next hour. that's when officials will hold a news conference plus new reaction. >> he was there, and he was pointing his gun at our vehicle and my window. i shot through the gap between the two cars and right as i did that, there were three more shots fired. and i believe they were fired at us. >> you heard it there. a dramatic and terrifying account. in minutes i'm going to speak to that witness who essentially came face to face with the shooter. that's ahead. we begin with the breaking news on hurricane dorian. once again, it is a catastrophic category 5 storm. it is bearing down on the bahamas. it has sustained winds of up to 180 miles per hour. wind gusts in excess of 200 miles per hour. and everyone in the northwest bahamas is being advised to take shelter. we're covering this massive

storm on all fronts for you. let's first go to our meteorologist, michelle grossman. okay. it is a category 5. what does that mean? how dangerous is it? put it in perspective for us. >> alex, this is a dangerous and dire and scary situation for the northwestern bahamas right now. now making almost as land fall. winds of 170 miles per hours. gusting near 200 miles per hour. hoping and praying that residents and tourists have taken shelter there. le let's look at this. you note how powerful this is. look at this eye. it is perfect. textbook perfect. looking at the cloud tops, the thunderstorms or other thunderstorms bearing down on the islands. they're going to have a rough go over the next 46 hours. we're looking at a dangerous situation. here's the location right. affecting it right now. 180 miles per hour winds. gusting higher. there was only one other

hurricane in history with winds higher than that. we're moving at 7 miles per hour. slow, and moving very, very, very slow. way too slow in just about 24 hours. let's look at dorian's watches and warnings. we're focusing on the bahamas. this is where the dire need is. we're looking at hurricane warnings in the red. the category 5 right over them. we have a hurricane watch to the south. u.s. coast, we're talking about that. a little more time to prepare. we want to focus on that's happening in the bahamas. i storm surge and heavy rainfall over the next 46 hours. look at this graphic. when we think of hurricanes, causes of death from the hurricane atlantic hurricanes, 49% from storm surge. it is literally a wall of water that's shoved onto land. we're looking at water that will be two feet in some spots. certainly watching that. rain 27%. we're looking at rain falling for 36 hours. we could see 24 inches or

30 inches of rain. let's look at the rain. you can see where it is. we're approaching the bahamas islands. this is grand bahamas. they are already getting the part of it right now. they're going to get the brunt over the next 36 hours. winds, catastrophic winds. when you look at the wind field, you see the red. that's extending about 30 miles. tropical storm force wins. 105 miles. that's the yellow. the red, we're impacting part of the great an coast islands, hoping and praying everyone is safe. we're looking at impacts, the colors, the red, that's in the high. you can see all the northwestern bahamas. closer to the coasts, we'll focus on the north in a bit. in terms of heavy rains, it's almost hard to wrap your mind around how much rain they're going to be getting in the next 36 hours. we're going to slow this hurricane down to 2 miles per hour. that is a slow walk.

it's just going to sit and spin like that little thing you used to use when you were little, and it will cause heavy flooding rains. 12 to 24 inches. could see up to 30 inches of rain in some spots. that's scary. life threatening flash flooding. take shelter if you haven't. keep in shelter over the next 46 36 hours. let's focus on the track. we want to talk about the u.s. coast along florida. also south carolina into north carolina. category 5 by monday. 8:00, we keep it as a five through the bahamas. closer to the u.s. coast is a category 4 storm. it hugs the coasts. the models are keeping it offshore. closer toward the north carolina coast. we'll watch it minute by minute and we're getting hourly updates over the next day or two. >> keeping you busy. thank you for that. let's go to someone else busy at indian harbor beach in florida. you've been going up and down

the coasts there in florida. now there's a hurricane watch, a storm surge that's in effect all along the coast there. and yet you see as we watch in michelle's report, dorian is not getting to florida for days if it ever makes land fall there. but we know it has been upgraded to a category 5. what's the reaction to that? >> in the last hour there's been a change in tone here. some of the folks that i've been speaking to, a change in the urgency. i want my cameraman to show you these pictures behind me here. this is a barrier island. you can just see how the waves are starting to pick up. that water is starting to come in, and even though it's a beautiful day on a holiday weekend, there are families that are onlookers here. locals are saying this isn't usual on any given day. they know the storm is coming. officials here telling me evacuations are fluid. right now they're set for

8:00 a.m. tomorrow, but that may change. they are, in fact, in a meeting right now reevaluating everything because of the intensity of the storm picking up. alex, when you're talking about 170 wind, that immediately does grabs people's attention. i'd say that people are sort of -- they let their guard down the past day or so, and just in the past hour everyone has just started talking more about preparations and even if we're still a couple days away, things can change rather quickly. you want to make sure you and your loved ones have everything you need to either hunker down or even consider evacuations if things get worse in the coming days. >> let's just hope everyone continues to prepare and doesn't just let up thinking they've got more time. all right. thank you very much for the report. let's go to the day's other big breaking news story. a gunman going on a shooting rampage in west texas killing at least seven people.

we're expecting to learn more about the terrifying chain of events. right now we know it ended in a movie theater parking lot, the gunman shot and killed by police. >> oh, my god. are you down? i don't know. i don't know. i can't see. >> pretty frightening to hear the rapid gunfire. the gunman shot at innocent people and even at one point hijacking a postal service truck. it was chaos while police raced to catch the suspect. all of this starting after the suspect opened fire on state troopers during a traffic stop before then speeding away. police have identified the gunman as a white man in his mid 30s. they have not yet revealed anymore details surrounding the specifics of who he is or his motive. let's go to vaughn hillyard joining us live from odessa,

texas. you've been watching this unfold. there have been a few more people who have passed away because of injuries. what can we expect from the police update? >> that police update is coming at the top of the hour. over the course of this morning, there's still a lot of question marks. we now know according to odessa police department that there are now seven victims. seven deaths in this shooting. the eighth one being the gunman. those were two more deaths than what we originally thought overnight. that would leave to our understanding about five still in critical condition. there would be 19 injured overall. we know that one of those deaths includes an odessa high school student. we're awaiting a name. we're awaiting an understanding more about who those seven victims are at this time. we do know that one of those injured was a 17 month old. a 17 month old. she was transported yesterday to lubbock, medical center.

her family posted online overnight that shrapnel from a bullet entered not only through her chest but through her lip, tongue and knocked out the bottom set of her teeth. these are the sorts of details that are unfortunate and we'll likely continue to get a better understanding of over the course of the day. yesterday it was frantic around this part. i want to give you an idea in west texas you're talking about two sister cities. odessa and midland. about 28 0,000 people. it's the largest met poropolita area in west texas. there were many questions yesterday. there was an initial traffic stop off the i-20 at 3:13 in the afternoon. at that point that's when the g gunman shoot two departments and shot about 30 other individuals over the course of the next time period. ten miles is where we are right now from where the initial traffic stop happened.

behind this is where it came to an end after he hijacked a u.s. postal van and ultimately came across here. i want to let you hear from one of the witnesses we caught up with this morning who was here during that event as the gunshots went off yesterday afternoon. >> well, i was standing in the corner. that's when i heard the gunshots. i put my son in front of me and held him against the wall. i was fine at home, at my brother's house. i stayed there. being here is horrible. seeing everything. >> reporter: is your son okay? >> he's fine. thank god, he's fine. >> reporter: alex, we just got back from a church service down the road over at mid city's community church where i talked to a pastor this morning about

what the message for this community would be coming out of church this morning. he said it was one of hope in reminding people the light shines much brighter than any darkness ever could on any particular day. obviously this is not a high moment for the cities of odessa and midland. when you talk to folks, it's reminding them of what their community is and what their community represents. >> that is a good message, but a hard one to believe some days, particularly a day like this. thank you so much vaughn. to the white house now. hans nickels, we have the president who made his on camera remarks on camera. what's he saying? >> reporter: the president is at the white house. he's going to fema in a little bit. he seems to be saying two different things. one, he's in touch with a lot of senators both before and after the shooting. it's unclear which senator he's spoken to after the shooting. he says there's a comprehensive package all inclusive that's likely to get passed through

congress. it has republican and democratic support. the president also repeated his support for background checks but he also added it with a heavy kavanaucaveat. listen to what the president said. >> background checks, i'll say for the most part, sadly, if you look at the last four or five going back even five or six or seven years, for the most part, as strong as you make your background checks, they would not have stopped any of it. so it's a big problem. it's a mental problem. >> so now even though the president did say he was for background checks, he's waffled on that, we'll have to see what background checks means. it's different definitions in different pieces of legislation. it could be an indication he's not willing to fight to keep them in. we'll see how it shakes out. these are the initial comments.

he said there's a heavy caveat. he doesn't think background checks are effective. >> the background checks he said he was before was in the fake of el paso and dayton and then he flipped. and the hurricane, what is the president saying about this? >> reporter: he continues to warn residents of a variety of state, even alabama that might not be affected saying this is a big hurricane. he's going to give us more comments on the hurricane when he heads down to fema in about 30 minutes. he says he'll do a whole press conference. the white house has done enough hurricanes, they seem to have it down. they'll make a lot of statements. they'll do disaster declarations, and the president is very keen to have the appearance that he's on top of it. so keen that he cancelled the trip to poland to stay back here and monitor the hurricane. >> indeed. okay. hans, thank you for that. we have reaction from both sides of the aisle after the texas mass shooting. democrats are renewing their pressure on mitch mcconnell to

vote on the two gun control bills the white house has passed. >> yes, this is -- >> profanity is not the f-bomb. who is profane is a 7-month-old baby being shot in the face. this idea that a good guy with a gun is going to stop a bad guy with a gun, it doesn't work that way. >> let's start with the easy stuff, universal background checks, red flags, closing the charleston loophole. the acting homeland security chief acknowledging mass shootings cause a domestic terrorism threat. rick scott echoing the president by connecting gun violence to mental illness. >> should we consider the shootings a homeland security threat? >> they are a homeland security threat. in our counterterrorism strategy and approach domestic terrorism has taken a front line focus for us. >> i've talked to the president, the white house, mitch mcconnell, and others. i think they ought to look at what we did in florida after

parkland. i believe in the second amendment. i want to focus on the people with mental illness. there's too many people that have mental illnesses that we're somehow not addressing, and they have access to weapons and they shouldn't. the administration is defending the move to redirect $271 million from fema and other homeland security agencies to pay for border detention beds and asylum hearing locations. >> no money has been moved yet. we have to do a notification to congress in advance. it will not impact our ability to respond. >> no operational impact. no preparedness impact for you? >> none whatsoever. i can say that unequivocally. >> moving money has some risk. we assess it to have minimal risk on our oempting operations from 2017 and 2018 and our preparation for this season, 2019. we assess that all the time. but right now we are ready. we have all the funds we need.

>> all right. a survivor of yesterday's rampage in texas joins me to talk about how she barely escaped with her life. and grave concerns in the bahamas with hurricane dorian approaching. we'll stay on top of where this monster storm is headed. ♪ play it cool and escape heartburn fast with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. ♪ tum tum tum tums

hurricane dorian is intensifying as it hits the an abaco island in the bahamas.

going 1180 miles per hour, it's the strongest hurricane to hit that region. it's called a life threatening situation. they're urging people to take shelter immediately. it has wind gusts of over 200 miles per hour and a storm surge up to 23 feet above normal tide levels. the national weather service says it will cause extreme destruction before moving west toward the southeast u.s. on monday. let's go to texas and the deadly shooting in odessa. one eyewitness is showing terrifying moments barely escaping the bullets. shawna was running errands on saturday afternoon with her husband and grandson when she realized the shooter was right behind her. first, shawna, how are you today? >> hi, alex. i'll like i'm a little more emotionally down than i was

yesterday. still, it's really hard. let's get through this saturday. tell me what you experienced yesterday. walk us through it. >> so we had been to my girlfriend's husband. we were running errands. we were heading north. there's a stoplight just to the north of i-20. and we -- we were at that light, and the light had turned green. we were proceeding -- the cars were just rolling --. we heard a bam, bam, bam. it was very close. i thought it might have been a car in front of me backfiring, and there -- and my husband was confused and he's like that on his account, he said he didn't think it was that. and then i was just -- we were just rolling along, and i

happened to look over my left shoulder, and he was pulling up to the side of our car, and at this point he was still in the gold sedan, and he -- he was raising his gun to my window, and i was very close to him, and i saw. i saw him doing that. and i didn't really understand the situation. i thought it was just somebody that i maybe made mad or something on the road. i'm sorry my voice is breaking. >> you're fine. >> i said there's a gun. there's a gun. he's got a gun. he's got a gun. and i just immediately just started -- i had to get out of there. that's all i knew. i started being a little bit aggressive with my car. i was honking, laying on the horn like crazy. i think it startled maybe the

people around me. they parted just a little, and i took off right between the two cars that were in front of me. and i was -- i was driving, and right, right when i stepped on the gas and took that aggressive evasive maneuver, there were three more shots, and -- >> yeah. >> i'm pretty sure they were for me. but he missed. he missed us entirely. we weren't touched. >> thank god he did. thank god your evasive driving --. >>. >> yeah. >> i am so impressed with the way you take something that seems absolutely out of this world like you're in shock. you see someone driving next to you pointing a gun at you, and how you even think someone is shooting at me for no reason, i mean, it's remarkable that you had the wherewithal to focus and get the hell out of there, but i know you have a two-year-old

grandson, and that little boy, i presume was in the back of your car? >> he was in my car. i am so heart broken for our little one who is in lubbock right now. she's not my little one. i'm speaking as a community. it could have been me. it could have been my grandson. >> yeah. >> and he -- yeah. all i could think -- i know i was freaking out in my car. i was yelling, and i was confusing my husband like crazy, but we started driving fast. that's all i could think to do. i had to get away from that gold car, and he followed us. that's why i thought it was a road rage or something. he followed us through the cars and off down the road, and he only followed us for about a mile. it wasn't the whole time, but at one point he was pulling up to the side of my car, he was

reattaching himself to our vehicle, and when i saw him do that in the mirror, i sped. i floored it hard. i was -- i was a danger to society at that moment, when i was driving fast. and we got to a stoplight and there was no way i was going to stop at that stoplight, so i turned immediately to the right and went in to a neighborhood because i thought if it was a road rage then he would have a harder time hitting my car if i was turning and making turns, and making things hard to aim. i didn't know, but it turns out that he stayed at that light. and then my next thought that went through my head was just all the people that were there and i couldn't warn them. i couldn't tell them. >> did you -- so he followed you for a mile? that's a long way to be followed by something so terrifying.

did you hear any gunshots. do you know if he was shooting at the time? >> i didn't hear anything else. i heard the first three that i believe we were last in line by that light. i know that the first three were probably meant for us. and then the second three, i'm pretty sure were meant for me as well, and after that, i didn't hear anymore shots. >> so -- >> it was just those six shots. >> six too much. so when you got off the road and you use basically evasive tactics to get out of his line of sight, what happened to you after that? did you pull into a driveway? did you keep driving on? what did you do? >> yes. i continued driving until we arrived at home. >> yeah. >> so you saw his face? >> but all -- >> yeah. i did. i saw his face. and he was looking at me and

looking at his gun and looking at me and looking at his gun. i knew -- i knew. he's like that -- it's like that gut feeling. i knew he was going to shoot me. i knew it. i knew it. >> what did he look like? >> it was that little voice in your head. he looked crazy. his mind -- he looked crazed. excited. not excited in a happy or good way, just amped up, maybe is a better word, and he wasn't right. he wasn't right. his hair was all disshelved. he was looking at the gun and looking at me and then the gun came up. i saw the gun coming up out of the bottom of the car, and it was a big gun. it was a very large gun. and then we also when we were doing that in the midst of all this, my husband is like trying

to make sense of it. he got on the phone and dialled 9-1-1. >> yeah. >> right when it was happening, and we were trying to get ahold of 9-1-1 and let them know we had just been shot at. there's somebody crazy, and i don't know. we just -- i just drove home. i didn't stop. i just drove straight home. >> of course. you wanted to just get home and get to safety. how did you guys sleep last night? >> i took a couple of z-quill, and then i woke up about 3:00. it didn't last very long. it's been hard. i keep running scenarios in my head, and i -- i feel so luc lucky -- i feel so lucky that i was not hurt, and i'm so -- i'm so sad inside because i knew

what was coming toward people, and i couldn't help them. >> yeah. >> i couldn't tell anybody at that stoplight drive away, drive away, drive away. it was terrible. i'm sorry. >> no. it's okay. okay. shawna, god bless you and your family. you take care of yourself. it's a hell of a story. you did good mom, and grandma. >> thank you. please pray for all the people suffering. >> we do that a lot, unfortunately, but we do. >> thank you so much, we're going to let you get back to your family. thank you so much. we'll be thinking of you. you did great. you did a great interview. good for you. >> all right, everybody. let's go to the breaking news we have to talk about, hurricane dorian. that one is a mess as well this day. inching closer to the u.s.

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all right, everyone. the president made his way to fema. let's take a listen to what he's saying. >> we have to come in from the outside, i guess, but this looks monstrous. i want to thank the job they did in florida, texas and puerto rico was incredible. this is would could be bigger tl of them in terms of the power. it's one of the largest we've seen. hundreds of miles or more from the eye of the storm, and long before potential it makes land fall. hundreds of miles.

we expect that much of the eastern seaboard will be ultimately impacted and some of it very, very severely. my administration is coordinating closely with state and local authorities. today we're joined on the phone by some great people that have been working very, very hard. the governor of florida. thank you, ron. governor brian camp of georgia. brian, thank you very much. governor henry mcmaster of south carolina. thank you, henry, and governor roy cooper of north carolina. thank you very much, roy. the federal government stands ready to assist the readiness response and recovery operations. it may get a little piece of a great place called alabama, and alabama could even be in for at least some very strong winds. this just came up, unfortunately. it's the size of the storm that

we're talking about. so for alabama, please be careful also. i ask everyone in hurricane dorian's path to heed all warnings and evacuation orders from the local authorities. it looks like it will have to be giving them, unfortunately, and i wish you'd watch. it's been working. it's just been building out there and moving very slowly. it's a bad thing, not a good thing. the slower it is, the bigger it is and the bigger it gets. we want to realize the risk to the public and our brave first responders. i've been working with the governor on getting fuel brought in. they've never seen anything like it. the coast guard and the army and marines have been incredible. we've gotten tremendous amounts of gasoline brought in quickly. americans are strong, determined and resilient, and we're support each other, and we will work

very hard to minimize whatever the effect of what's coming at us. we don't even know what's coming at us. we know it's possibly the biggest. i'm not sure i've heard of a category 5. i knew it existed and i've seen some category 4s. you don't even see them that much, but a category 5 is something i don't know i've heard the term other than i know it's there. it's the ultimate, and that's what we have, unfortunately. with that i'd like to maybe ask governor, if you'd like to say a few words and we'll go around. if anyone has any suggestions or questions, we'll be able to take them. >> thank you very much, mr. president, for con seening veni us. thank you also to our cabinet partners and state governors for joining us for the briefing today. i think what you'll see and hear from our conversation is outstanding teamwork across the

federal government and also with partners supporting the state and local level to be ready for this massive storm. for our briefing today, we'll start with an update on the forecast from ken, the director of the national hurricane center. we're going to continue monitoring what's going on at that fema press conference. we've heard the president speak and there's the acting dhs sec tory. joining me right you former press secretary for the department of homeland security. we had a lot of time to chat today. we're doing it today. dorian could hit the bahamas has a category 5 storm. can you put in perspective the kind of devastation that might bring? >> it's important for the folks in the possibly affected areas to listen to their state and local officials, the emergency managers on the ground and not to pay too much attention to the track that it might take, but to be prepared. there's still time to put a plan

in place. know whether you're in an evacuation zone. make sure you have supplies ready for at least a week. watch the fema. fema has a great app that folks should download and pay attention to. but we don't know yet what any slight push this could take. what we need to be prepared for are the storm surge, the high levels of water. the wind force, and torrential rainfall that could take time. it piemight be a slow-moving hurricane right now but the recovery effort might take a longer time. >> as we hear about the kind of storm surge, i think bahamas hawas looking at 24 feet, and we heard a potential for 30 feet higher than the norm, how do you begin to prepare for that? we saw people sandbagging yesterday trying to do their best to put them in front of their doors and garages and anything else. but, i mean, how do you prepare

that for kind of water? >> fema and the state and local folks have supplies and boat rescue ready in the waiting. they are all prepositioning themselves to get ready for those sorts of rescues, and that sort of thing. but they have to wait until the rainfall dies down so they don't put themselves in danger. the other problem we have here is that florida is a peninsula. so there aren't too many places -- it makes it a little harder to preposition the assets. they are preparing for boat, water rescues. all of those sorts of things. >> yeah. hang on just a moment. i understand we're going back to the press conference the president is holding. we have senator rick scott of florida. >> center line where that is. focus on the cone because that's based on our average error over the last five years.

the center could be anywhere inside that cone. that allows for solutions where small changes could put it along the coast. we could see land fall north. that's why we tell people to pay attention and be ready with time, and we're going to be dealing with this hurricane all week. look at the time frames here. this is 8:00 a.m. monday. 8:00 a.m. tuesday. devastating for the bahamas since this is slow. wednesday, thursday, and friday. we're going to see impacts in florida, georgia, and also the carolinas with time. and the rainfall is something we want to talk about. we'll have storm surge impacts. we'll also have some rain into the winds. and some of this rain, this is a message that we're keying with the general public. we see the values of 6 to 8 inches in some places more. little tiny changes in that track could bring higher values on shore. right now we're thankful most of those are offshore, but a small change, not -- small changes in the forecast, a little wobble can cause the change, can bring

high levels on shore. we're doing interviews and talking to emergency managers. i can't explain what tight relationship noaa has with the governors and local emergency managers. they're our partners and we're all in this together. that concludes my briefing. >> two days ago we were given a really comprehensive briefing, and they seemed to think almost every prediction was that it was going to go right through florida and into the gulf. actually, right across florida. does that not have a chance of happening now, or what do you think? everything you see now says north. what are the chances it goes directly straight as the original predictions were? >> it's well inside the cone. it gets to the variability. once it slowed down the forecast

had to nudge to the north. now it has an influence. tiny changes can make a big difference in the eventual movement of the storms. thousands of parameters that we're trying to measure and put into models to get the tracks. a small wobble or change can cause that forecast track to nudge a little bit. that's why there's so much uncertainty. we spent a lot of time talking about the actual cone. you look at the last five years and that's the forecast error possible with that tract. we try to communicate these uncertainties and it does possible, especially when you're measuring thousands of parameters trying to get it into the models. you can have small changes. >> how certain are you that it's going to go north? >> every computer model we have is pulling this north, but the big question is about where the center is going to go. that's why we're trying to communicate the edge of the cone. the land fall could be anywhere on the coast in florida or the carolinas. we could see a land fall too soon where there's damage along the coast.

even if it's offshore, look at the size. how big the storm is. even if it's offshore, that could bring devastating impacts on the coast. we're trying to communicate the size and focus people on the large system and not just the center. >> great job. thank you very much. >> mr. president, we are joined today by governors from florida, georgia, north carolina, and south carolina. we begin first with the governor from the state of florida. >> thank you, and thank you, mr. president for all you've done for florida. you've done a lot for the michael aftermath. those folks are still rebuilding. now we have dorian. to put dorian in perspective, this is significantly stronger than hurricane andrew -- >> okay. okay, everybody. we had a little bit of an audio mishap and camera movement. we've been listening to rick scott, the senator from florida and immediately as we tuned you in to what we were hearing, that

was a really terrific briefing from the meteorologist at the national hurricane center. you heard the president questioning whether any sort of wobble, any uncertainty still lay there for this storm, this massive category 5 hurricane dorian to barrel across the state of florida and into the gulf of mexico. it might be somewhat reassuring to have heard the response from that weather forecaster who said it looks like all the models project dorian to run up the eastern seaboard and veer up to the north and eventually by the models that we were showing you, it should head back out to sea. then again, you see the cone of uncertainty. there's certainly a wide swath of land up and down the eastern seaboard. florida, georgia, south carolina and north carolina all of which may become involved. the president is continuing to get the briefing. we're going to continue to listen to all of that for you here. i'm joined once again by marsha

catron catrone. the president brought up the point of the slow moving pace. if you think about rescue attempts or attempts to move people out in advance of that storm, you've got time in the front of things, but once you're in that storm, that spells trouble. >> right. and the president was asking questions on where the storm was moving, but it's important to remember that any tiny little shift can knock this in one direction or the other. just in the past couple hours we've seen this increase category size. it's important for folks to listen to their local and state responders. and then the public has a role in this, too. if you're ordered to evacuate, it's important to listen and get out of there. you know, it makes it harder to have search and rescue teams go in to people that recuse to

leave that should have taken the time to leave. we're watching this storm as it moves through. so you've got time to plan, prepare, put an evacuation order. or rather, know if you're in evacuation route or not. and listen to those real energy managers that are there on the ground. >> yeah. what is it from this storm that you fear the most in terms of the coastline? let's forget the bahamas at this point, but the coastline of the united states? is it water? is it wind? or can you not really separate the two? >> it's all three things. it's this storm surge, the rise in waters, the high winds, and the torrential rainfall. so look back in 2012 when hurricane sandy, that was an extra tropical storm. it's what it was called. and even then we saw catastrophic damage to homes, to people, to the environment, so we even though it looks like the storm may not make land fall, we're still watching out for

those other three things that could be really difficult. >> yeah. and you talk about the difficulties of preplacement, particularly with the state of florida. do those concerns exist in georgia own south and north carolina? >> not as much so. florida is a peninsula. that makes it a little more difficult, but folks on the ground in these other states, they are there county by county. each county knows what they need to respond to this situation. they know how many people are low risk population they have, and they know how long an evacuation would take. that's why it's important to listen to the local and state responders and do what they say. take heed, take warning. make a plan. let overs know about your plan. and if once again, if you're ordered to evacuate, please evacuate. don't take that gamble with yourself or your family. >> you know, marsha, though, i listen to what you are saying, and there are always those holdouts. we're looking at -- it's a

relatively nice day there in jacksonville beach, florida. high surf, certainly, but how concerned are you about a sense of apathy for folks there because they start hearing well, this storm is turning they make landfall. they hear about it and hear about it and then sort of let down their guard. >> that is a huge concern. you have folks that really just do not want to leave their homes or their pets or they may not be able to afford gas for their car or plane ticket to get out of there. it is a huge concern. if you're in an evacuation area, maybe check around with your neighbors or the elderly that you may know to see if you can help them out to get them out of there. you don't have to go very far to find a shelter. it doesn't have to be miles and

miles. county by county we'll set up these shelters as a place for the vulnerable population to go. look out for your friends. look out for your neighbors. have plan. don't gamble with your lives. >> absolutely. very wise words there. thank you so much for getting us through this news conference with the president and we will continue following what's going on there at fema headquarters in washington as the president gets briefed. we have the other big story. this effect of the lenient gun laws that have gone into effect in texas just hours after a gunman killed seven people. these laws were designed to ease restrictions on carrying firearms in public places by removing a limit on how many school marshals can carry guns allowing residents to carry guns without a license if evacuating from a local emergency. allowing gun owners to carry their weapons in places of worship unless there's a sign that indicates otherwise. joining me now is chris brown.

chris is the president of brady. that's a gun control advocacy group. we talked in the wake of the el paso and dayton shootings. we didn't know we would have to do this begin so quickly. let's talk about the texas laws that have been loosened up this morning add midnight. this was voted for in june. the timing seems ironic given yesterday's shooting. what are your thoughts? >> it's ironic for a lot of different reasons. the texas legislature and the governor had an opportunity after santa fe to examine gun laws in texas which has some of the weakest laws on the books and determine actions to be taken. right now in texas, background checks do not apply to all gun sales. having extreme risk laws in place. removing asasault weapons from this streets. they didn't do any of those things. they talked to the gun industry and put together a wish list

package that substantially weakened state law and puts texans at risk. we see the results of this every day. we have 51 mass shoot thaings t happened in august alone. texas is among the worst of the states in terms of its laws. we really need to move forward to strengthen state laws and our federal laws. brady has the solutions. we need to enact them. >> there are a couple of things as i look at the gun laws that have been amended as of today. license gun owners can store guns and ammunition in locked places inside their vehicles even if it's on a school campus as long as it's out of sight. they are literally right there many the parking lot should someone want to get them. also landlords can no longer prohibit tenants from having guns and owning them. that's one a lot of second amendment advocates will say

people have a right to have a gun in their home. talk about how brady approaches that one. we have litigated in the courts about appropriate safety. things like a s like assault we bans, extreme risk laws. all thoeof those have been held constitutional by every court that looked at the issue. more guns in more public places do not make us safer. we have to ensure that we decoupled a trigger of someone who is angry, experiencing road rage and not have that person licensed and allowed to carry around an assault weapon. i think we saw in texas just yesterday what happens when you have that alchemy. there has to be room for appropriate public policy that

places of worship who don't want people come in with gun vs ts h the opportunity to stop that. that's what texas said they can't do anymore. we think that's inappropriate. we know what the solutions are. we have to move forward with them. >> i have a few other sage voices i want to bring into the conversation we're having. the polls consistently show that americans are in favor of stricter background checks and yet you have what's happening in texas. it seems to have something of a deaf ear of what's happened in that state alone. your state victoria, talk about your thoughts of the loosening up of the texas laws in the wake of el paso and just yesterday midland, odessa. >> we were coming off the santa

fe high school shooting going into the legislative session where the bills were passed and went into effect last night. what we're seeing here is also a disconnect between texas and the rest of the country. even though we see a majority of folks wanting more restrictions, tighter gun laws, in texas the last u.t. texas tribune poll showed that only 49% of texans so a minority of texans want stricter gun controls. there's this notion and let me give you a soechbs where this comes fro comes from. they say it's not the guns fault. it's the people who use the gun. we have one gentleman running for state senate seat whose own dour was killed in the sutherland springs shooting, he said it's not the gun. it's the person. while we scratch our heads of how can the legislature do this x i want to invite you into the mind set of many texans and this

is where they are coming at the issue. >> how does the brady group combat that when they say it's not the guns, it's the people that kill people. it's the people that pull the triggers. exactly what victoria was talking about. how do you combat that? >> you can't decouple any of what we're seeing in the united states from the guns itself. if that logic were true then the united states would not be significanting more gun violence than any other industrialized country. we are. the fact of the matter is we have far too easy access to guns because we haven't closed basic loopholes. not just at the state level but also at the federal level to ensure that dangerous people don't have easy access to guns and there are simple solutions that quite frankly have absolutely nothing to do with the second amendment. we know this because we have won

in court after court after court. law enforcecement and family members who have evidence that an individual wants to do harm to himself or others to actually remove the guns. 17 states in the district of columbia have passed those kinds of laws. i think people who say it's not about the guns, what they're willing to accept is a level of carnage in this country. that means we will lose 100 people today, tomorrow and the next day. what brady says is that is unacceptable. let's move forward with obvious solutions that can save lives. >> let's talk about the blame on mental illness. i'm going to pose this to you because we do not know the full story behind this shooting. i'm just getting word from tom winter and this is our nbc producer and also our reporter that apparently the texas

shooter had recently been fired from his job. they are getting this information from law enforcement officials. these nra talking points, are they losing effectiveness with americans who are fed up with these tragedies and fearing the next one? >> they may be losing effectiveness with americans but they aren't losing effectiveness with politicians. specifically folks on my side, meaning republicans. when you look at actual data, a significant percentage of gun owners believe we should have strengthening background checks. they do believe we should make it a little more challenging for people to own guns. as someone who is a gun owner myself, i shoot regularly. i used to shoot competitively. i'm toughall for making it toug for random people to own guns.

these massacres are becoming common place. those who would like to see more of this will have to figure out ways to build coalitions with gun owners to put pressure on republican members of congress to attempt to try to bring forth some type of comprehensive change. >> what type of pressure do you think mitch mcconnell will receive when congress gets back in session in the wake of everything that's happened. i believe 54 people, maybe up to 56, i'm citing a report from today, have been killed by t gunfire in month of august. we had two more people die recently in the last few hours in midland-odessa. there will be an onslaught, a pressuring of him to pass these two laws that were passed by the house, the alllower part of congress. >> i think like everything so far, it really comes down to the

president. we saw the be first said one thing and contradicted himself. talked to the nra and walked away from the idea he wanted anything done on gun reform. two weeks from now when congress comes back or next week, so much happens in this news cycle that these massacres become forgotten after seven days. look at everything that will happen this month alone in september. we're going to have the aftermath of this hurricane. we'll have the third democratic debate. does anybody think mitch mcconnell will care about what happened a few weeks ago? all the evidence says nothing will happen. all the evidence tells us that mitch mcconnell isn't going to move on gun reform and the republican party continues to hold itself hostage to nra. i don't think anything will change that. kids being shot up at schools,

people shot at concert, people being murdered just walki iningn the street, that hasn't gotten them to move. why do we think that this will? >> the the wake of shanna sexton trying to get away from a gunman on the street while driving with her husband and 2-year-old grandson in the back. it's all extraordinary. all four of you, if you don't mind sticking around. we'll continue this conversation. for all you have it's the top of the hour here on msnbc. you're watching weekends with alex witt. any moment police in texas will be giving an update. it's killed at least seven people. there are other people right now fighting for their lives. we do know right now this terrifying chain of events ended right there in the movie theater parking lot where the gunman was shot and killed by police. before that standoff that suspect drove through the cities of odess and midland randomly shooting at people and even

hijacking a u.s. postal service truck. shanna recounted being caught amid the chaos. this is tough to listen to but let's take a listen. >> we're just rolling along and i happen to look over my left shoulder he was in the gold sedan. he was raising his gun to my window. i was very close to him and i saw him doing that. i said there's a gun. there's a gun. he's got a gun. he's got a gun. i had to get out of there. that's all i knew. i saw his face. he was looking at me and looking at his gun and looking at his

gun. i knew. it's like that gut feeling. i knew he was going to shoot me. i knew it. >> it didn't start with shanna. it happened after the suspect opened fire on a state trooper. he's a white man in his mid-30s. they have not released any details surrounding motive. we got word via tom winter that we know he was fired recently from his job. this is from midland-odessa. let's go to nbc vaughn who is joining us live. is that something we have just learned, the fact we got there? is it something we expect to hear more about in this news conference? >> reporter: it's been a long ape waited press conference. we have not heard from law enforcement since last night other than the update just about

an hour ago. there were seven dead, eight if you include the gunman. local law enforcement from midla midland-odessa. the governor will be at this press conference. we want to receive a lot more details. i know the other part that is tough for everybody hear on scene, you just heard from the woman who had the gunpointed as she was driving along the freeway. i was standing along next to her husband. on the ground a lot of it is about the humanity. it's about the emotion. it's about talking to sanchez who was here at the theater oud wi outside with her 7-year-old as they heard the rounds of gunfire. these are people. we do not know most of their names. there are seven people dead, one of them including a high school student. there's about 280,000 people

that live here between the metropolitan area of midland and odessa. this is west texas. we are awaiting those names and stories. there's more details that will be coming out about the gunman. there's about two hours across this community from the time in which that initial traffic stop took place at 3:13. two deputies in between midland and odessa. they stopped that vehicle on the side of i-20 and it was that point the gunman opened up his first shots. nbc news is understanding both of those officers are in stable condition. three officers overall. you've seen that video, that cell phone video that folks took from outside this theater in which that postal van ran into the police car and it's when the officers put their own lives on the line and engaged in gunfire. three officer, all in stable condition but there's seven dead overall. we have had those conversations. we went to church this morning and it's tough when just a couple of weeks ago in early

august there were 22 kills in el paso. one year ago at santa fe high school outside of houston there were ten dead, eight students and two teachers. there were 28 individuals killed at a church service. i was here on friday. here on msnbc, we were here because we were previewing what was come to on sunday. not this conversation but about new gun measures passed into law and signed by republican governor greg abbott. they were gun loosening restrictions. there were a lot of conversations about red flag laws. the governor has not backed those. about universal background checks in the state. those were passed and introduced in the state legislature but they were not passed by this republican legislature or signed in by governor greg abbott. these are the types of conversations taking place on this sunday, the first day of september. >> a very sobering day.

thank you so much. i want to let everybody know we're giving you a look. the camera moving. we're still getting set up for what we expect to be the news conference by police officers there. the police department in midland odessa set for 1:00. running a bit late. we have another huge story we're watching today. it's all the news on the hurricane dorian. breaking news. it's become the strongest hurricane in modern records to hit the bahamas and it's still making its way to the south eastern part of the united states. we're covering the storm from all angles. we'll start with michelle grossman. michelle, the concern is not just with more powerful winds but this storm also is moving, the phrase slow as molasses. what kind of problems does that add to the recipe here? >> oh, my gosh. this is a dire, dire situation right now. it did make landfall a few

moments ago. winds gusting higher than that. we're looking at a dangerous and i've heard it described as a nightmare situation. we're looking at video where we're seeing water up to the top of the cars and this just beginning. we're looking at 36 hours of pounding, pounding rains from this cat 5 storm. you can see the thunderstorms swirling around it. almost a perfect eye here. they're going to need a lot of help in the next couple of weeks. we could see gusts up to 220 miles an hour. we have never seen that before. this is a historical event that's unfolding right before our eyes and will be unfolding

during the next 36 hours. category 5. through monday we'll see it sustained at a category 5. there's not much in its way. it is going over a land mass but the bahamas are not very mountainous. it's over those warm waters. we don't have a lot of wind sheer and dry air. it sort of has the free for all to keep as a category five storm. then we expect that turn. category 4 storm on tuesday and still hoping that the models hold true that we followed up to the north. we see that around the high hugging the coast here. still are going to have issues along the coast. we're not seeing landfall along the coast of the u.s. let's focus right now on the bahamas. we're thinking about the residents and toiurists there. a hurricane warning right now. that means things are happening. we're looking at the torrential downpour. we're looking at the heavy winds with 185 miles an hour. i can't even wrap my head around 220 miles an hour wind gusts.

we'll see that move off. i want to show you this graphic here. when we talk about hurricanes we think of wind and rain. we don't often think about storm surge because i think it's hard to picture what storm surge is. just picture it as water. it's a wall of water that gets pushed on shore. we could see a storm surge 18 to 23 feet above what is normal for this time of year. we could see rain, 12 to 24 inches. possibly 30 inches in some spot. we'll see the sustained period. that's remarkable. we'll have to really think about that over the next several days and pray for a lot of the residents there. this is what it looks like on radar. we have the heavy rain around it. we have lightning and the thunder we're hearing and seeing the power outages. where you see this red is the hurricane force winds. we're seeing that extending about 30 miles. look at that. right over the islands right now. they are getting truly battered. if you see any video you'll know

what i'm talking about. then we have this yellow right here where we're seeing tropical storm force winds. impacts, strongest winds. we'll be talking about for days and days. we'll be cleaning up there for weeks. going to need a lot of aid as we go through the flexion couple of weeks. life threatenings situation. this will be a story for the record books. >> we have some to show you. this was taken here in the bahamas. you're looking at just absolutely pounding rain and winds. you were saying you couldn't get your head around 220 miles an hour wind gusts. it's extraordinary. look at the way the plants are bending there in the wind.

it's just extraordinary. this is well before that storm hit. you got to wonder what is going on there now. >> i don't know if you can still hear me but there's a lot of meteorologists on the ground there. we heard reports of boards big ripped off the windows, kidding being carried in blankets. these are winds they have never seen. when you say the geography could be changed after this, that's a big deal. >> yes. what are you experiencing there? certainly higher surf. >> that's right. you have so many onlookers taking photos and taking in what

one lady described as the last view of this place before it changes because of this monster cat 5. this could possibly be a historic storm. it's hard to wrap your head around that. i've been speaking to city officials and they are re-evaluating mandatory evacuation orders. they are slated for 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. they have been meeting every hour because this situation really, i would say got way more urgent in the past hour or so. many residents greting, i have to say, the fact that they have not evacuated yet. among them is 76-year-old nancy. she's lived here her whole life.

this is what she said. >> i should have left. i was a fool to stay. we're looking for a miracle to have turn east and go north. >> what worries you about this storm? >> the high intensity of it, the winds. i've never seen them this high. >> we have taken down nancy's address and number. we'll alert the authorities. i think it's important to note that history is on side of this area. since they have been keeping hur hurricane records, nothing higher than a cat 1 has ever made landfall in brevard county. with this storm and just how unpredictable it has been, there's just no way of knowing. >> let's hope that holds true for this one as well and they can keep that good record going.

thank you very much. let's go now to the nbc station in miami. okay, looks like you are there at jacksonville beach, florida. how about the folks there? what are they feeling and how much are they preparing? >> reporter: you see the surf behind me and they don't want to take any chances here. the latest information i can share with you the the beach you see behind me, all across jacksonville, duval county, beaches will be closed going forward as of 12:01 tuesday morning. police here locally want people to stay out of the water and just behind me you can see why just how rough the surf is ahead of hurricane dorian even with it still so far out from us here in the atlantic. people still have time to prepare and that's exactly they are doing as we spoke with one man who told us he's lived here for 20 years and he needs to protect his home. >> always prepare for the worst.

hope for the best. i've always taken everything in just to make sure and put it in the garage. doesn't take me an hour, two hours to do all that. >> it's worth it? >> it is. it is. you never know. he's still sure where he will ride out the storm. that's something shared by many people in the jacksonville area. do they stay or do they go? that's another question also for city officials. the mayor is waiting until tomorrow to make a decision about potential evacuations here along jacksonville beach and elsewhere. >> thank you so much for bringing us the latest from jacksonville, florida. we appreciate that. we're obviously volleying between two very important stories today. we're giving you a look at the set up, the preparation in

midland-odessa, texas. we'll take you there and find out what the police have found out about that mass shooting yesterday. meantime let's go back to this. the other big story with the president leading this aspect of things as he's reacting to the shooting in texas just a short time ago. let's go to nbc white house correspondent kelly o'donnell with that aspect of this story. what is the president saying about it? >> reporter: it is a split screen kind of news weekend as we're dealing with the storm and the aftermath of this shooting and the president's been dealing with that as well. speaking a couple of instances today when he returned from camp david and addressed reporters on the south lawn and visited fema where he was getting a briefing on the hurricane and took an opportunity there to address the issue of the shooting in texas. of course to express condolences to those involved, thank first responders and speak on the larger issue of what to do next. that has been very contentious

for a long time and the political divide in the country is certainly stark where democrats are calling for a much more quick action on some legislation that already exists to try to have gun reforms that deal with background checks and frankly other measures that could try to reduce the flow of weapons in the country. republicans, including the president have a more cautious and hesitant approach on some aspects of that. where the president and the administration appear to be ready to try to work with congress, at least that's what the president is saying is that he wants to take some action he claims on background checks. the president said this before. the big question with now that it's september and congress will be returning in another week or so, will there be action on some form of changes, adjustments to background checks. the president's focus is on the matter of can there be a way to better discern people who have

dangerous mental or emotional conditions who should not have weapons. there's been a long tradition of a problem in how limited it is where people have had a court adjudication that says they are mentally unfit to have a weapon. is there a way to expand that in way that respect's people's m-- people's medical privacies. are there steps that could have practical effects to prevent these terrible instances we have seen. >> background checks, for the most part, if you look at the last four or five going back, even five or six or seven years, for the most part as strong as you make your background checks, they would not have stopped any of it.

it's a big problem. it's a mental problem. >> reporter: that doesn't sound all that encouraging. what we know from talking with administration officials and what the president said publicly is he has been talking with senators who have been working on this issue trying to take elements of different pieces of legislati legislation, looking for ways to try to find something that woulwould be more effective. he's been in contact as the administration has with the national rifle association, an incredibly powerful lobby that does not want to see new steps and is there way for administration to back something that could get through congress with or without the support of the national rifle association. those are big, big questions.

these are big political questions. the fall season will return in another week or so. >> thank you for that. this texas deadly rampage is adding pressure. the house judiciary committee three gun reform control bills. the committee planned to cut short its august recess. they were going thoeldo hold a hearing this tuesday. let's bring in a member of the judiciary committee and our friend to this broadcast. first of all, let's talk about the situation right now. we know what you're committee was supposed to be doing as of tuesday. it's been pushed back a week because of the weather. what were your first thoughts congressman when you heard about what happened in midland-odessa yesterday? >> i couldn't believe it.

>> it's another mass shooting. more people dead and randomly killed. i thought it was appropriate were we having our hearing that was going to be this week. it will be approach and timely on september 10th. i wish we had it this week. val demmings is an important member of our committee. >> let's talk about the legislation that your economy is considering. i'm curious what your end goal realistically is given mitch mcconnell's history of never ever allowing a senate vote on bills of that kind. >> it's to make the country safer although you cannot make it totally safe.

make it safer for people not to be the victims of random gun violence and mass shootings, et cetera. realistically, mitch mcconnell and donald trump will not do anything that the nra does not want. they see the slippery slope as they see it or camel getting it ts nose under the tent and for those reasons they will do nothing. donald trump is seriously concerned, as he should be, about his re-election. if he loses some of the nra support and some of people who just totally listen to the nra and guns are their number one issue, they could sit it out or not vote and he's afraid of that. he puts his re-election, which is forhis personal greed first and the safety of the public second. we should always think when ever we think of donald trump, we should realize he's individual one. he's a person who won the election along with michael cohen by violating the campaign finance laws and getting stormi

daniels and kathryn mcdougal to sign these releases and give him money. he would be with plimichael coh in jail. individual one. >> i want to let everybody know that we have been given a two minute warning. that happened a good 30, 45 seconds ago. we're seeing this news conference getting ready to go. congressman, i want to ask you about the president and his flip-flopping on the prospect of background checks. in the wake of the texas, el paso and dayton shootings, the president suggested with e needneed -- we need to enhance background checks. he has flip-flopped on that.

>> he had a long conversation with the head of the nra. i suspect the nra will not change their position and i don't expect the republicans, in general, there might be one or two. peter king or justin amash and another one or two that will deviate from that. it will be impossible to get anything passed in major bipartisan fashion. he told parents he wasn't afraid of the nra. he didn't. he crumbled. he'll crumble here as well. he talked about mental health and yet his administration was sponsored or supported in republican past, a repeal of an obama law that said if your social security said because of mental illness, you had lost your -- you were on a disability social security list because of

mental illness that you couldn't buy a gun. they repealed that. it's the only time donald trump has been in bed with the aclu. it's not going to be for any gun changes. they let mentally ill people get guns. they will not stop anyone from having a gun. background checks might have stopped this man from having a rifle, you don't know. the red flag laws might have stopped him. maybe somebody, one of his family members said there was some problem here. we don't know. we don't know when he got his gun. we don't know if he had a warrant out. we don't know any of that. we'll probably learn a lot in the next news conference. it's so sad these people died. >> it's tragic. we're looking at the preparations and we expect to hear a lot more. perhaps some answers to that. we're seeing governor greg abbott as well as officials from the local police force, looks like sheriff's department as well.

yur welcome to st you're welcome to stay and listen there. the shooting where seven people's lives were taken. a 17-month-old little girl was shot in face by this gunman. we listened to shanna sexton who was driving her car down the highway and her 2-year-old grandson in the backseat. she heard three shots being fired that she's convinced were aimed directly for her had she not sped that car away from the gunman realizing that she was in dear trouble. let's listen to everything happening. >> we had something happened that we would never wish on anyone. the texas department of public safety made an initial traffic stop at about 3:15 on i-20

yesterday afternoon. the trooper was shot during the traffic stop. our subject proceeded into the city of odessa. over a period of time created several more victims. officially it was thought there may have been multiple shooters. that's because at some point this subject changed vehicles. we are now confident that there was just the one actor. this is an ongoing investigation. it's active. there are still multiple crime scenes that are being worked. there are no definitive answers as to motive or reasons at this

point. we are fairly certain this subject did act alone. you'll notice that i'm not naming this subject. there's a reason for that. i refuse to. i'm not going to give him any notoriety for what he did. we'll provide that information to you but not in this public space. as we stand, 22 people are injured, three of them law enforcement. very, very sadly, seven people have been killed. 7 of our citizens. they have ranged in ages from 15 years to 57. very sincerely i say to those family, i offer my apologies and

my condolences. my heart aches for all of them. i ask the city of odesa, the state of texas and the nation to please history up your hearts and send us your prayers. i thank every one who has already done that. there has been a tremendous outpour. just to the local audience, please with your show of support, going to the crime scenes and dropping off food and water and that is much appreciated but it is also hindering the investigation. please, if we could stop that and just bring that stuff to a central location here at u.t.b. would be great. also want to thank all the support we've gotten from other local state and federal law enforcement agencies. the outpouring of resources has been amazing.

the cooperation while this incident was ongoing was amazing. please understand this is a different type of active shooter that we were involved with because he was mobile. that creates very special type of issues. my thanks go out to brothers and sisters in midland county sheriff's office and the university of texas police departme department. i could sit here all day and name those agencies that helped o out. my heart is filled with gratitude. the close out, i would invite every one, the community, to join us here this evening at utpb for a prayer vigil which will start at 7:00 p.m.

thank you. >> chief, thank you. we're proud of you. as you all know, the lives of the people of odessa and the entire basin region have been shattered over the past 24 hours. hearts have been broken. we want people to know that all of texans stand with you and embrace you in this time of challenge. we are here today, and we'll be here every day until this community is pieced back together. we know that words alone are inadequate. words must be met with action. i want to thank the police chief for his tireless efforts over

the past 24 hours in the robust and heroic response that he and his fellow law enforcement agencies and officers utilized to bring the gunman down and to quickly deescalate the challenge and to literally save lives that could have been lost had it not been for the action of the k collaborative effort by law enforcement. we cannot thank enough for all the first responders from all the law enforcement agencies involved in this process to ensure they were going to be able to do what was necessary to restore safety in this community. as governor, i want to thank the texas department of public safety for what they did. we talk about this all the time.

there is no such thing as a routine stop. the way all this began yesterday was with what would be categorized as a routine stop by the texas department of public safety. only for that stop two immediately escalate into gunfire by this killer with an officer being injured in the process. i appreciate the way that the texas department of public safety steps up every single day, always prepared. knowing that the lives are on the line any stop they make, ensuring safety in our communities across the state. also want to express my gratitude to the incredible health care providers in this region. they had to deal with probably what was their most challenging day ever and they stepped up with collective calm and poise

to make sure that they were able to heal the wounded as quickly as possible. i want to express my deepest sorrow for the families who have lost their loved ones and for all the victims. the hurt you feel is in inc incalculab incalculable. we must hold onto the hope you must have. we're seeing this with the family of one of the victims. some of you know that one of the victims is a 17-month-old child. moments before coming in here i received a text from the mother about this 17-month-old. i want to read you the text of what this mother wrote.

she said ", thank you all f, "o praying. this is all of our worth nightmares. thank god she's alive and we relatively well. she says toddlers are funny and they can get shot and still want to run around and play. she said we are thanking god for that. her mouth is pretty bad but will heal and can be fixed. thankfully it doesn't seem like her jaw was hit. just lip, teeth and tongue. she's having surgery tomorrow to remove the shrapnel from her chest and to fix her lip and mouth and to get a better look at her tongue. we are thanking god for healing her and appreciate continued prayers." i want her family to know they can be assured of those prayers

today, tomorrow and every day as that young child continues her pathway to healing. let me say this. i have been to too many of these even events. as governor the first one i went to was the shooting in downtown dallas that killed police officers as well as others. then there was sutherland springs and santa fe high school where ten people were killed. less than a month ago there was a shooting in el paso. i'm heartbroken crying of the people in the state of texas. i'm tired of the dying of the

people in the state of texas. too many texans are many mourning. too many texans have lost their lives. the status quo in texas is unacceptable and action is needed. after the shooting at santa fe high school, i signed more than 15 laws to make our schools safer from shooting attacks. in the immediate aftermath i worked with the lieutenant governor as well as legislatures. i've worked with victims as well as advocacy groups. we have been working on drafting solutions that can be taken as legislatures as well as solutions that can be taken by the governor and the executive branch in texas. solutions that address racists hate attacks like what happened with el paso. solutions that will address keeping our community safer. now in the aftermath of this

shooting and the unique aspects of this shooting, we must broaden our efforts to address the tragedy that has befallen odessa and we must do so quickly. we need solutions that will keep guns out of the hands of criminals like the killer here in odessa while also assuring we safeguard second amendment rights. we must do it fast. most of all in the aftermath of what happened here in odessa, we must replicate what we have seen in el paso and that is we must do what texas do best. in times of tragedy, we unite. we come together. we support each other. we reinvigorate our community with the love we have for one another. kn i know that's exactly what's going to happen here.

thank you all as a community for what you will do to help each other and thank you to the heroic law enforcement officers and first responders for everything that you've already done. [ applause ] >> i'm like to thank the governor for all the work he's doing.

the active shooter in a matter of 28 day s unheard of and especially in the west texas region. we can't do it alone. it's important we continue to focus, unify and help the government fight the fight and continue to do so. i want to give an update on a trooper that was shot yesterday. the grace of god he survived the shooting. he went through a couple hours of surgery. the doctors left there apt mystic that he will have a recovery, a full recovery.

they are working behind the scenes with the police department and federal i vest gags as well. those families that are suffering the losses are definitely educated and compensated as the law allows and thanks to the governor and office of attorney general to make sure that all moneys are made available to the families and to help them with their recovery. thank you. >> i want to emphasize is first the gratitude to the legislatures from this region who can be helpful in making sure the victims get the resources they need. that he are behind me. i want to recognize the senator from this region.

senator perry and representative craddock. they can be helpful in working with local families and local communities and local schools as well as health care providers in providing information to us at the state level. work with these senators to make sure your needs are raised and addressed. with that we'll pass over to the federal official involved. >> i'm the fbi special agent in charge. i want to commend local law enforcement effort and state effort here. there's no question these are true heroes. in the midst of the man driving down the highway, state troop s

troopers -- i think that's the story of law enforcement that should be conveyed. i want to commend them on that. the fbi is here. we are almost every other week supporting our state and low cool suppo -- local partners on an active shooter. every two weeks an active shooter in this country. the fbi responds to them all. here in odessa we have 130 fbi personnel supporting the chief. i have pledged the federal law enforcement to support the chief and the commander we have help them on this.

we do not believe there's any connection to any domestic or international terrorists. we are still working through that. we're conducting searches at this exact moment in time to make sure there is nobody else possiblily connected with this. this is not a multi-shooter event. we have worked closely with dps and the texas rangers. it's team that's here in the rangers along with the fbi team that did the crime scene as well. the connection between the fbi and the dps, odessa police is built on unfortunate experience of working together. we are working together to make sure this community is the safest. we will be here from the duration of the time the chief needs our services. we'll get ready to get ready to

the next active shooter which is an unfortunate statement to make but it seems like that's what we do. we respond to one after the other of these horrible events. thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> there's no way of knowing that. it begs the question of why go to a theater if you're not planning to enter. on a saturday afternoon in odessa, texas that's one of the most crowded places to be. >> do you know the motive? sglo >> i do not. >> is there any reason to believe this could have been a planned attack? >> the investigation is still

ongoing. >> can you describe the shoot out. how long did it last? did he say anything? >> again, you know, all that is still under investigation. there are some videos that are out there. i'm not going to get into that incident at this point. >> we're going to call on people. >> raise your hand and we'll call on you. >> there's also another crime scene. an eyewitness saw a blue pickup truck was shot by a police officer. it was involved in chase earlier that evening. do you know if that's connected to anything? >> i have no information about the incident that you're talking about. >> what was the firearm used in

the shooting? >> the firearm was an ar type weapon. as far as how he obtained it, that's still under investigation. >> why was he stopped in the first place? >> stopped for simple trarvffic violation. >> by dps. >> he's got i believe there's some criminal record attacked to driver's license. >> what do you say if people wonder if texas is going in the wrong direction to stop more shootings? >> one of the laws that went into effect and some deal with issues like this and that is laws that ensure that school

marshals will be able to have guns to keep schools safer. some were enacted for the purpose of making our schools safer. community safer. >> is texas doing enough to restrict guns like the ar 15? >> what we're doing, we have been meeting daily in part with members of the legislature, in part with victims and with members of the community and in part with our federal counterparts. we have been hammering out on a daily basis new additional solutions that we'll offer up. some by the governor, some by the executive branch, some by the legislature. these will be new and different solutions that will work to de-escalate gun violence in texas. >> to increase the urgency, you had two -- >> absolutely. >> is the suspect from odessa? >> the suspect has a hector

county address. >> in the front. go ahead, sir. >> sir, any reason why the subject would have been resisting be an -- any outstanding warrants or any criminal matters as far as you know? >> as far as i know, there were no active warrants. >> can you walk us through the time line? >> no, we can't. actually, because it is -- it's the very chaotic situation when this -- these things happen and that is all being pieced together as we speak. >> governor abbott, one of the things that you say -- what are the things -- the shootings that you just mentioned now in el paso, odessa, with an ar-style rifle. is it time to ban these kinds of weapons? >> this is the kind of thing that legislators are talking about. it's one of the topics that was raised during the roundtable

discussions we had in el paso. i do want to point out -- i was going to say i want to point out, however, that some of the shootings that have not involved ar. very important to understand that the shooting that took place at santa fe high school did not. the largest -- it involved a shot gun and a handgun as well as ied and the largest one we had in texas that was at luby's, it only involved handguns. let me just answer your question. we're going to look at every issue. there's no issue that we will not look at. and we're going to be working with legislators to find out what the best solutions are for texas. >> right here. >> law enforcement officer would rather go up against a person with a handgun than -- and ladies than someone with an assault rifle, is that correct? >> and the people we talked to

are law enforcement officers. >> -- several crime scenes, do you believe that just on that one or are they all going to be -- [ indiscernible ]. which ones do you see -- >> all scenes are being processed. again, well over 15 scenes. i mean, so i mean, it takes time process that many scenes. >> and with someone who has an ar, is that -- does that stop -- or under, was -- [ indiscernible ]. >> you know, there's no way of knowing without talking to him and we can't talk to him. but again, it's -- he showed up at a movie theater which would tend to show his motives. >> we're going to go to the last

questions. the man in the green shirt. go ahead. >> yes, sir. first of all, thank you for everything you have done. i know there's no perfect answers as far as how to combat the mass shootings but we spoke with a man yesterday who was a big -- well, a person at the theater during the whole evacuation process. he was wondering is there a reason why an evacuation was initiated rather than a lockdown? and i guess would this help you in the future? >> the situation was so fluid at that point. this person was driving from location to location to location to location. lockdown, evacuation, you know, two sides of the same coin i think. you just don't have enough personnel to lock down every location in this city. you just don't. so you do the best you can with

the person that you have and that's why we had people there at cinergy. and i think again lockdown, evacuation, either way could have -- >> during that time did you guys lose him while he was doing what he was doing? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> to you, sir. >> earlier yesterday, you said that there was a person that -- was there a reason why -- [ indiscernible ]. were you tipped off on? it was a guy who knew him. that's who you were looking for. it was a certain guy that you were looking for. >> i think you misunderstood what i was saying yesterday. what i was saying yesterday was that when the suspect was down, we had a good idea of who he was at that time. and that we just had not totally identified him yet. that's why we wouldn't release that until we had an absolute

stone cold identification on him. that's what i was saying. >> last question in the back. >> two-part question. christopher on the team over in odessa and chris morris they got into the home. what can you tell us about -- related to the suspect or anyone else? >> i can tell you we're executing a federally authorized search warrant at this point in time. there's over 15 crime scenes so frankly we are all over the place with the police and all day today and tomorrow you'll see significant police and fbi activity throughout the city. >> and governor, when it continues to -- you're quoted as saying i'm tired of people dying. based on what the fbi is saying statistically, what can you say to the people of texas and do

you have any guarantees as to all of the action regarding gun control? what can you say to the people? >> first, from the response side the state level, we have the sense of urgency to arrive at solutions. and working together with the legislature. working together with our law enforcement officers and federal partners and we are working quickly to hammer out some solutions to put some solutions on the table. second, importantly, is the way that our law enforcement responds. they work 24/7 to make sure that their communities are as safe as possible. you can see the dedication that they have and they will be doing the same to replicate that in every community across the state of texas. >> thanks, guys. >> okay, everyone. we have been listening to a press conference from which we

did not get a lot of detail about the unfolding of the incidents yesterday. there were some questions about police procedure. and they were attempting to create a time line as to what happened yesterday. what we know is that there was a white male enlisted to be in his 30s and he shot and killed seven people before his own life ended as a result of police. there you see the very end where things ended up, outside of the movie theater there in the middle of odessa, texas, area. it was extraordinary listening to the police officials. they are still unfolding what happened. they are still trying to piece together all of the details. they did not give a specific name to the gunman but they did say that they knew who he was based on probably some sort of information coming from people who had seen him. you never know if it was from a

license plate that was able to be traced. they had a good idea of who he was, though the indication that he was known to them prior to this incident that was not clear. so it may have been they just found out who he was while in pursuit of him. of course a number of agencies were involved in the apprehension of him and ultimately in taking him down at that movie theater parking lot. it was also extraordinary the timing of this incident and the reaction today as you were just listening to specifically by governor abbott of texas. he spoke of a few things and he said that the new texas gun laws that went into effect today were an attempt to strengthen the state of texas. the question though very articula articula articulately, because of the watering down of the gun laws, is texas not going in the wrong direction? and what his response to that was that these new gun laws in

effect just today of course the irony of the timing is not lost on anybody allows marshals at schools to make schools safer. the question has to be asked as to whether or not there are any statistics anywhere that support a factual, concrete agreement in that statement that by putting more guns out there it makes things safer for those that are trying to protect the public. let me go through a couple of the texas gun laws, everybody. very quickly. licensed gun owners they can store guns and ammunition in locked places in their vehicles and that includes on school campuses, in the parking lots there as long as weapons and ammunition are out of sight. that is the beginning of a number of points, six really extraordinary ones again now effective in the state of texas. as i wrap up this hour, and all of the breaking news that we have had between the two significant stories today, kendis gibson i bring you in.