to family members and neighbors there. also the wounded. detectives will be headed to whatever emergency rooms these wounded people were sent to and if they're able to talk, then the detectives are going to speak with them and say what happened, do you know this guy? were you targeted? what's going on? all of that behind the scenes, and pretty sensitive technical resources being brought in. you know, we talk about the cleveland, texas, shooting. that guy lost his phones. he apparently may have grabbed another phone at some point because he was communicating and that person had help, right, we have already heard today that others are being arrested for harboring and aiding his escape, so he had assistance, but what made him a challenge was that because of his alleged unlawful status in the united states as an undocumented migrant, he didn't live on the grid. he lived every day not wanting to be found by law enforcement because of his status, and so that means not easy to track credit card use and all of that

stuff that might be more present here. so all of that's going on behind the scenes, but i'm always intrigued by the decision making to shelter in place, release people and how confident you can be when you're releasing citizens into a safe area. tough decisions. >> for anybody just joining us, the top of the hour, we are following report of an active shooter in the midtown atlanta area. we have one person who has died at the scene. four people injured and taken to the hospital. the suspect still on the run. let's go ahead and listen to our local affiliate there, wxia. they are conducting an interview right now with sate senator josh mclauren who was having lunch in the area at the time. >> before i took this call, i was downstairs, there was an atlanta police officer who came through and reminded everyone we're still on lockdown. i'm glad some people were able to be evacuated. we have seen cars leave the area. confusion, it's uncertainty, it's fear, and we're going to wait and see what we're told.

>> state senator josh mclauren on the phone with us. thank you so much, please continue to stay safe. we appreciate you taking our call. >> we want to take you live to a ground perspective, with 11 alive reporter, this armored vehicle pulling through your shot is quite a visual for the situation that continues to unfold in one of the busiest parts of the city. >> reporter: it really is, literally within the last two minutes that vehicle just pulled up, trying to navigate around in atlanta police car that is also blocking this road. right now we're on 13th street. just up from spring street, and they are continuing to block off a lot of the streets around here as they try and make sense of it all. i did see two people who told me they were hospital employees who said that they had just been asked to leave and to get as far away from the area as possible. they were not able to tell me if they had received any other instructions from police but only that they were told by their supervisors leave the building and get out of the area as soon as possible.

they did seem a little shaken up. as you can imagine, a lot of confusion right now because the situation is evolving. a lot of information not immediately available. i did hear an officer say they are still bringing in more vehicles, more teams, more cars to try and help with this situation. so still rapidly evolving, and we are hoping to get a few more details but right where i am, officers have informed me that they are still going to be moving cars in and out of this area. as you just mentioned, right before you came to me there was a fulton county s.w.a.t vehicle that just drove by. to give you a sense of the urgency of what's going on here as people try to make sense of what exactly is going on. >> the last update we got from police was that there are now five victims, one confirmed dead, the others being rushed to the hospital and something notable, i think, that added to the latest update, they are not only actively searching for the suspect but also any other victims that added to the latest

update, and that was the latest we've heard. our crews on the scene telling us that employees, staff people inside of north side hospital were being evacuated. in this sky cam, i've seen a lot of people in scrubs walking down the road. we were just on the road with state senator josh mclauren who is in currently in lockdown in a restaurant in midtown and he said atlanta police popped in to tell them to continue to shelter in place, but it does appear some buildings right now being cleared by police. the suspect does not appear to be in them, and those people are being escorted out. >> somewhere in that maze of buildings and streets is the man they're looking for in this shooting of five people, one confirmed dead. we should mention while we do know four people have been injured and are at grady hospital, a level one trauma center, we do not know the conditions of those people, and we'll certainly update you on that point as soon as we get more information. >> all right. everybody, we have been listening to our local affiliate

wxia there in atlanta as they interviewed a state senator who is having lunch and currently sheltered in place there. to catch everybody up to speed, an active shooter situation in midtown atlanta here. we have one person who has tragically died on scene. four were taken to the hospital. the alleged shooter, police believe is on the left side of the screen is still yet to be apprehended. i want to go ahead and bring in frank figliuzzi who has been with us as this has been unfolding. we have north side hospital which we have discussed is in the area that police have said was in their area where they have been looking at. north side hospital here, cooperating with law enforcement, following the shooting at our midtown atlanta location earlier this afternoon. we urge people in the area to shelter in place. they say this tragedy is affecting all of us, and we ask for patience and prayers at this time. frank, this is the first action we are getting that the shooting did, in fact, by all reports

take place in this medical center, at least part of it did. we heard our nbc news producer tell us he had heard somebody working in the next building over say as much. frank, what does the cooperation from the hospital look like, and what are the procedures likely happening in place as this area is in shelter in place orders? >> let's take the tactical procedures first here. what you don't want to happen is for the shooter to take the high ground. if he's got any kind of thought process or training, he's going to want to get on top of a building. because that gives him a huge tactical advantage, not just that he can see who's coming and where the police are, but also if he wants to continue to harm people, he's got the maximum advantage. so you're likely seeing on the ground there s.w.a.t team members from various departments taking the roof. they're going to go around and get sniper observers from their s.w.a.t teams on the roof with binoculars and sights, trying to

see if they can see the other roof tops to ensure that the shooter's not there. so that's a battle for the high ground that's going on tactically. you also heard the mention of the local affiliate reporter, grady hospital. absolutely the trauma center you want to be in if you have that unfortunate situation of being shot. i mentioned i served in fbi lineup for five years, we knew that's where we were going if god forbid we had been severely wounded. grady is the place to be. people might find it ironic, wait a minute, this started in the hospital, they're being sent to the level one trauma center at grady, and that's the place for them to be. >> i want to go ahead and bring in georgia state senator josh mclauren who had been talking to our affiliate, wxia who is now joining us and sheltering in place. senator, first of all, i want to make sure you're safe, in a place where you can, in fact, talk to us.

>> i'm fine. i have been in the restaurant for an hour. i'm on the second floor of the restaurant, feeling good, not good, but better than i'm sure it could be, and just really feeling for the families affected by the shooting next door. i have heard one person has passed, i've got friends with spouses who work in the building. it's been a stressful hour. >> we share your heartfelt condolences to the people impacted, and no one else is impacted and the shooter is apprehended quickly with no further harm or destruction. senator mclaurin, what can you tell us about what you heard, what you saw when you were told to shelter in place? >> i was catching up with a friend, and all of a sudden people were walking around the restaurant saying we're locked down. there's an active shooter. we saw a huge police presence with fire trucks outside. a s.w.a.t team that was walking by at one point, kind of running

seemed like. maybe they were in pursuit. very hard to get information here. i have mostly been trying to check local outlets and the atlanta police, twitter to keep abreast of what's going on. the sense of confusion and fear is accelerated when you have no idea what's going to happen or when you'll be able to leave, and it's crazy to think thousands of people on this block, and in the general area have to put their lives on hold and maybe wonder about the safety of loved ones. >> north side hospital did tweet saying they're cooperating with law enforcement following the shooting at the midtown atlanta location earlier this afternoon. reports coming in at 12:37 with police tweeting just a few minutes later for everybody to shelter in place. you mentioned that you know maybe some spouses of friends who work there. what can you tell us about that hospital? >> my understanding is the people i'm connected to and my networks are safe. obviously there are a lot of very afraid people right now. my overwhelming reaction to this is we don't have to live this

way. most people would agree that this is something we don't want to be part of our society, part of our every day experience, and you know, we're going to hear people call for more metal detectors or fewer doors or entry/exit points and i guess my thought is, this really sucks, i don't want to live in a militarized society where we're living in constant fear of gun violence when you're out to eat or going to work, and this is one more example of that. >> we're so sorry that you and your community are having to go through this, and senator mclaurin if you could stand by and let you are team you're communicating with if there's anything else you would like to add to the conversation or anything else you see or hear on the screen. vaughn hillyard, you're familiar with the area, as we learn more about north side hospital and finally learning that they're tweeting that the shooting took place at their location, what can you tell us about this? >> this is a major hospital facility, number one, it's right off the 75 and 85 corridors that run north to south through the heart of atlanta.

this is in midtown, right off peach tree. this is a major commercial but also residential hub here. they have a emergency room facility for emergency care, this is 169,000 square foot building. it's 12 stories tall. it's state of the art. it opened in 2018. they have 20 different tenets we know inside, ranging from cancer care, radiology, there's a spine center, but also care for sleeping disorders, diabetes, nutrition, maternity, sports medicine. again, there is an urgent care component to this hospital facility. we're talking about 12 stories, and so this is a major medical facility there in the heart of atlanta. of course we have said that this is just one block away from the grocery store, three blocks away from a major outdoor mall facility, just a half mile away from georgia tech university here. but when we're talking about this medical facility, we saw clearly employees of the facility being led away from the building here, but this is a

major operational medical hub, and also residential, you know, i was at one point staying in an apartment facility about 30 stories tall, right next door, multiple around there. there are several different hotels within three floor blocks there as well. including parking garages, this is a high concentration populated area, and of course again, this is a medical facility if you're in the heart of the day, you could expect to have been quite busy, 20 different tenets inside of here, ranging from all different types of care. the question is what part of the facility. and as frank figliuzzi has outlined, to what extent was this a targeted attack. >> i want to go ahead and bring in nbc's catie beck in atlanta down the street from where the shooting happened. we talked with producer charlie guile who i'm sure you're with or spread out together. he said you were pushed back a couple of blocks. what can you tell us about what you're seeing, hearing and what we know so far? >> reporter: we just saw for the first time some traffic start to

move in this area, which has been unusual for the past two hours. this has been basically a grid search, several different agencies from the air and from the ground, just combing this area. we have seen s.w.a.t team members with rifles drawn, and we've seen people told get back in the building, secure and lock away. so as you can see, we are not far. where those emergency vehicles are is directly outside the building, and every once in a while we'll sort of see a gathering of law enforcers come out and sort of go back in. this is a very active scene, a very eerie scene for downtown atlanta. this is a major sort of artery right here next to i-85 and right in the middle of the city. there are tons of high-rise condo buildings and businesses located here. probably the busiest time of day that this could have happened. atlanta, by night in this area is a little quieter, but during the day is a busy thoroughfare. this is going to certainly affect a lot of people who are currently sheltering in place

and being told not to leave their buildings, not to come outside as police continue to search for this shooter. we know so far five victims, four of them have been transported to the hospital. one deceased and really so far, atlanta police not releasing much more information after that. we are waiting to hear any news they are going to bring forward. we know it is a very active search, and there are many people who are held up in the center of the city. >> stand by, let us know. flag us if you get anymore information or would like us to know anything. i want to bring in msnbc national security analyst clint watts. clint, as this is the first time we're talking to you since this has unfolded this afternoon, but based on what we've heard from catie, from vaughn, from frank, what would you like to say in terms of what you're thinking about as this is unfolding? >> it is the second man hunt this week, you know, that i have been on air for, one quite a bit

different than the one in texas. it is probably super challenging, highly populated area, a lot of people moving around. it is what we would say a vertical location, instead of horizontal, lots of tall buildings in the area. if they don't have a strong lead on where the shooter is at, i'm sure they're going through all the technical capabilities that are available. we have a picture, which you have shown there on the left as you look at the screen, so they are obviously going to be looking through anything they have in terms of imagery, technical analysis, lots of law enforcement on the scene that can help run down leads. the other thing is, you know, they're going to be worried, is the shooter really acting alone? is this connected to anything else? they're likely going to be looking at motive. that might help them understand where the shooter was going after the shooting or if the shooter has other targets that they might be pursuing. so if they already have an image like this, maybe they can identify the shooter a little

bit quicker and get to motive a lot faster, which might help him close in on the individual. >> that's sad, as we're still waiting for this person to be apprehended here in hopes that no more lives are damaged or lost. we have talked to vaughn and frank about the possibility of this being a targeted attack because this took place at a medical center. this took place where we have four people who are injured, taken to the hospital, one person who was pronounced dead at the scene and no shots since those initial calls came in. do you also get the sense that this could be more of a targeted attack rather than random? >> obviously i don't know so i don't want to over speculate. it does seem quite different from a lot of the other attacks. the shooter, it appears just from the images we've already seen, went in, looks like he was looking for a specific target. very different from sort of a quick reaction sort of shooting we saw in texas earlier this week. separately, it would really be of interest, i think to see if

there's any connections between the shooter. i'm sure that's what law enforcement is looking at right now, and if they can figure out any of these leads early on, it would really help them close the gap, probably in terms of their search and i think the last thing is like, is there any other connections to other individuals. did this person have any accomplices. was there anybody that maybe was doing, you know, a dropoff or a pickup which would allow that individual to move around more quickly? that's what they're going to be exploring, you know, in the near term, and then the last part, which we obviously can't rule out because we don't have many details, at least at this point is you don't want to overassume things, and maybe this was connected to some sort of ideological motivation. there's no evidence of that now, and maybe it would be surprising, but i think you got to leave the door open just to make sure for public safety that this isn't part of something much bigger than this one individual shooting. >> we're constantly getting new information in as you all are

talking to us, and i can tell you there have been reports the suspect was there for a mental health appointment with his mother. we have been in communication with the public information officer for atlanta police who tells our katy tur that the suspect's mother was not shot. as we continue to gather more information behind the scenes here, i want to bring back former atf special agent in charge, jim kavanagh. just in the last few minutes since we have spoken, what has struck you about the investigation and what's happening behind the scenes with law enforcement to get this suspect in custody? >> yeah, well, behind the scenes, they're rapidly pressing through that building, if they don't know where he is. if they do know where he is, they certainly aren't telling us, if he's committed suicide or hiding somewhere or barricaded, holding some people or even if he's escaped. a building like that is large, a person can, you know, shoot a few people, jump on an elevator, run down the stairway and go out the back door before police even arrive, so you have all of those

possibilities facing the on-scene commanders. they have to deal with each one of those. they haven't been saying anything so they're still pressing through the building to search. he could run and hide somewhere. it reminds me of the tulsa shooting in june of 2022 where a person went in there who was angry at his doctor and, you know, he killed four people. he went to a medical facility. sometimes people, you know, they're angry for no good reason at a medical personnel doctor, maybe in this case, a psychiatrist or someone, and they lash out. and then what? you know, maybe they have a plan or maybe they have no plan. it's hard to tell. but it does seem like, you know, that the person is wanting to shoot in this facility. he's connected somehow there if his mother's got him there for a mental health evaluation. so the critical thing is to find

him, because if they know where he is, it would lead the public's angst if they say, well, you know, we know where he is. he's barricaded in a room or we're talking to him or he's deceased or we can't find him. if you can't find him, you know, everybody really needs to stay barricaded in their rooms, locked in their rooms, in that certainly few block area until they can idm, as clint said. that photograph will i.d. him. if they know he's there with his mother, they know who he is. they're going to go back to his house, get other evidence, where could he be, track a cell phone. see other places he might have frequented, other places he might go to. see if they can get a handle on him if they don't think he's still in the building. >> we know that the gradys health systems chief medical officer will give an update from patients on the shooting at 2:20 eastern.

that's right about now. we'll bring that to you once we're able to. i also want to let everybody know again, this is from msnbc's katy tur who spoke to the public information officer again for atlanta p.d. saying that the suspected shooter was with his mother, there for a medical appointment. we can't confirm whether it was for mental health, but it sound like there are reports from people in the office saying that's what it was. i want to go ahead and say -- and bring vaughn in here. it sound like they know the person's identity. they're not releasing it yet, but what can you tell us here about some of the mental health treatments here at this facility? >> we know that there is -- we're talking about a medical facility that is 20 floors. we know it has a vast number of tenants inside of it. from my first glance, i am not certain of the extent to which mental health facilities are in this unit, but we know that there is family care.

there is urgent care. there is primary care. there's a vast number of types of tenants providing different forms of care here. you know, this harkens back to the shooting at the tulsa hospital just one year ago when in a similar situation there was a gunman who entered and targeted specific doctors at that medical facility in tulsa. so if, in fact, this is a targeted event here you're talking about a hospital medical facility that is 20 floors. it's 169,000 square feet, and so as jim was just outlining here, working through methodically that building is important. of course if he did exit that building, we're talking about a busy commercial residential area, two college campuses nearby. you're talking about several square mile size park, piedmont park that is a few blocks away, an outdoor mall here. in terms of this individual, you're talking about the heart of midtown atlanta here, and for

authorities, if, in fact, he is outside of that hospital, it's a question mark as to what direction he could have gone. >> new reporting from msnbc's katy tur having spoken to the public information officer for the police department here that the alleged shooter was with his mother, was there at north side hospital for a medical appointment. not confirming yet that it was a mental health appointment but police do know his identity. there's a white house press briefing right now underway. press secretary karine jean-pierre is talking about the shooting. let's listen in. >> i want to tell the public, we urge them to heed guidance from officials and please keep yourselves safe as the situation continues. just want to be very clear about this, and don't want to speak to this directly because we just don't know exactly what is -- i know there's a shooting, but we don't have all of the information. it's very fluid. so, look, is the president

frustrated about what we're seeing in our communities, in our schools, in our churches in this epidemic that we've seen, this gun violence epidemic, yes, of course he's frustrated. this is a president who has taken historic actions the first two years, signed as you mentioned to me a piece of legislation that was bipartisan and it was the first legislation we had seen in 30 years to deal with this issue but we know that more needs to be done. we know that congress needs to take more steps to deal with the violence that we're seeing again in our communities, our schools, our churches. we should not be, american people should be able to feel free to go to a grocery store, to go to a church. our kids should feel free and safe and our teachers, administrators should feel safe to go into a school, and right now, we're seeing weapons of war on our streets, which should not be. which should not be. so we have been very clear about congress needing to act, and i think we're all frustrated.

i think there's parents out there who are frustrated. there are americans out there who are frustrated and who want to see an assault weapons ban, which would reduce mass shootings. when something that the president led on in 1994. we want to see common sense gun law reform, whether it's requiring background checks on all gun sales, requiring safe storage of guns, eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war, again, on our streets. these are the things that we want to see congress act on, and so we're going continue to call on them to do so. go ahead. >> we have been listening to the white house daily press briefing with press secretary karine jean-pierre talking about how the president is frustrated about the epidemic of gun violence after taking the historic action he has taken in his administration, and essentially further saying his hands are tied for any more action. there will be much much much

more time to talk about what more can be done to prevent something like this. let's go ahead and listen to the press conference at grady health talking about the condition of the victims. >> four injured people were brought here. no other injuries occurred that we know of, and nobody was taken to any other facility. the four that were brought here. three are critical. one is still in the emergency department. the others are upstairs being treated, two in the operating room, and one in what's called interventional radiology. >> are you able to describe -- i know there are hipaa laws, are you able to describe -- >> i can't give out that information. i'm sorry. >> how is grady prepared to handle a mass shooting situation? >> so we call it a mass casualty event. within minutes we had multiple trauma surgeons, multiple staff

in the trauma bay itself. we cleared out any patients who were currently in the marcus trauma center, and we were fully prepared. we were anticipating up to 12 patients. fortunately we only received four, but we were completely prepared for it. we had all the staff that we needed. we had all the ancillary staff we needed. we had chaplains there, security there. everyone that was needed was in the place. >> just in case there are more? >> yes, yes. we have stopped our mass casualty call now. but we are prepared. >> reporter: i understand at this point no visitors are being allowed in the building, is that correct? >> we initially stopped visitors because we weren't sure where the shooter is. we are confident we can let visitors back in. we never locked the hospital down. we wanted to stop visitors just in case there was anything going on. >> reporter: can you tell me -- >> i'm sorry, i couldn't -- when

we activate our mass casualty event, that immediately starts our command center. we bring all the surgeons, all the nurses, all the ancillary staff to the trauma center itself. it goes out over both remotely through phones as well as announced over the loud speaker, and then we start clearing out operating rooms and start clearing out the emergency department in case we need additional space. >> i know you have a lot of information to identify, can you tell us if these are adults, children, any age ranges? >> they're all adults. >> reporter: any gender? >> no, i don't have that. we know a couple of families are here, but i don't know about the other ones. >> reporter: you said originally you were preparing for 12, did the original call come in that there might be 12? >> that's what we heard initially. in these situations, there's a lot of confusion, as you know.

>> thank, guys. >> thank you. >> we'll keep you updated. >> we have been listening to a press conference there with the chief medical officer for grady's health systems who is talking to us about the condition of the victims who were brought to the hospital. just to remind everybody in this active shooter situation in midtown, atlanta, which we believe at this point took place at north side hospital on peachtree street. we know that one person was pronounced dead at the scene. four people were injured and taken to the hospital. three are critical. one is in the emergency room. two are in the operating room. he also mentioned interventional radiology, i believe, so some kind of maybe x-rays or cts being involved in the treatment of those people, and i want to bring back in msnbc national security analyst frank figliuzzi. when we heard that doctor saying that they originally were anticipating up to 12 people,

what does that tell you? >> that's the initial radio calls they're getting from paramedics, police, emts on the scene saying hey, we think we've got this, we're not sure. here's what we do know. let's go larger and anticipate all the people in that office or others in that particular office might also be injured. so it's a guesstimate. but thankfully, the number is lower. you can rest assured detectives are at grady hospital now. we heard, you know, this is rough news with regard to the condition of some of these victims, and so they're not necessarily able to talk, and that's a delay. but the good news, if there is any in this tragic picture, the mother of the shooter appears to be alive, not wounded, and is likely talking to authorities. they will be asking her questions like how did you get bus? train? car? uber? that's important because if it's

a vehicle she can identify, hey, we have a blue toyota, that's what they'll be looking for if he has the keys. they'll say do you have the keys or does he have the keys? how many weapons does he have access to? even though the photos are grainy that you showed us earlier, it appears he's holding a handgun, that's any initial quick review of the grainy photo, the way he's holding his arm out and what the weapon looks like. that's better than, say, holding an ar-15 or assault style rifle. does he have more access to ammo. could there be more ammo in his vehicle if he has a vehicle. all of that is what they will be asking the mother about. and have then of course now we've got inserted in this the news most recently that maybe he was in that facility for a mental health appointment. that's going to bring all back to bear the issue of, well, is this a gun enforcement problem or mental health problem, do we have a gun problem, mental

health issues. at what point do you deny someone access to a lawful gun purchase. i'm here to say this quickly. we have to stop this kind of binary discussion that it's either more about the guns or mental health problem, we have to get real and understand it can be about all of those things and more, and we should be having a logical discussion about that. >> important words, as you mentioned, we don't know what weapon was used. former agent in charge jim kavanaugh told us don't underestimate the damage a handgun could do, he has a bag and could have more ammo in it. i want to go ahead and read a new statement here that we have from police which says, and i'm reading this along with you, folks, as we transition from a very active situation to a very active investigation we are not forgetting our commitment to the public and media partners. we know there are many questions. we understand you have heard information on scanners and

other means. we're gathering and confirming information as we can, and making plans to provide sound to media. be patient and responsible with reporting. they are seeing inaccurate reporting. they can't keep up with demand. up dates will be provided at the same time, and to monitor social media, which we of course are doing. and we heard from katy tur, who spoke with the pio that the suspect was with his mother for the a medical appointment, that she is safe and police know his identity and are not yet releasing it. let's go ahead and listen to some -- part of an interview that our affiliate wxia got with a witness. let's listen. >> i was meeting a friend for lunch, and saw atlanta police rush in the building, and there was a very heavy and quick response, and they asked us to stay put in the restaurant until the situation was under control and everything -- i never felt like i was personally in any danger. they did a great job.

>> reporter: where is the restaurant in relation to the building where -- >> it was part of the big building, but it was directly adjacent to the office where everything happened. it was right next to it but not directly attached to it. >> reporter: do you recall hearing or seeing anything that was off before all the police came in? >> no, the police were the first thing that i saw. the first thing we noticed looking out the restaurant window was the cops rushing so i didn't see or hear anything. >> reporter: once you learned there was potentially an active shooter, what did you do next? >> just stayed put. again, i never felt like we were in any danger. the atlanta police came in and were very quickly on the scene and had everything surrounded and the situation, i never felt was out of control. so we just -- >> heads up. >> we just stayed put in the restaurant until the police came and said that we could leave. >> while we were listening to that interview, we have new information from atlanta police. i had read you that statement that they were going to update us on social media, and they have. they say the suspect's name is

dion patterson, born october 1998. that would make him 24 years old. they say to people do not approach him. he is considered armed and dangerous, the suspect's name, dion patter son, date of birth, october 1998. 24 years old. as we work to comb what we can from this person and what we know about him, i want to bring back national security analyst clint watts. given that we know from the public information officer and katy tur's reporting that they know who he was, they weren't releasing his information at the time, why release it now, and in fact, why wait? what's some of the calculus here and some of the information they're releasing to the public, clint? >> i think in the initial stages they were just trying to get a handle on all of the information that they had, and also likely clearing some of the buildings. you'll notice in one of the earlier press conferences, right before frank was speaking, they mentioned that they locked down

briefly. in terms of visitors, but then opened back up. that seems to suggest to me that they do know a little bit about the situation, and what we're learning now. they did know likely the identity of the shooter and where the whereabouts of the shooter might be. we'll see this unfold very very quickly, and it also suggests if they're releasing the name, the photos, they could use tips and leads to help locate where this individual might be. so part of what their strategy is, if you remember back to things like the boston bombing, you know, they didn't have tips or leads. they didn't know who the shooters were, at least initially, so they were locking down everywhere. now they're trying to open up and get more information in so that they can drive some of the leads. having the name, the picture, that goes a long way for getting the public engaged and getting other law enforcement engaged in terms of what they're looking for. >> i want to bring in cnbc's

white house correspondent, kayla tausche. we know the vice president and president have been briefed. we heard a little bit from karine jean-pierre. what more do we know about their response? >> reporter: that's pretty much the gist of it. the briefing included a few minutes ago, and in it the press secretary confirmed that the president and the vice president had been briefed on the situation in atlanta but that's all the information that she provided, and it remains unclear when or whether we could hear from the president or the vice president on this situation specifically. looking at the president's schedule, he is expected to appear publicly this evening at a dinner at 6:30 p.m. at the white house that he and the first lady are cohosting. as of right now, the only information we know is that the briefing has happened to the president and the vice president on the situation, and as is typical with these active shooter situations in the past, the president vice president have been briefed regularly. they continue to be briefed regularly throughout the day as the situation evolves.

we would expect that to be the same situation here but all we know is that that initial briefing has happened. >> kayla tausche, thank you, and as we catch people back up to speed in case they missed the last update from the hospital where the victims were taken, four victims in total hospitalized after the shooting. one had been pronounced dead at the scene. we know that they had told us three of them were critical, one was still in the emergency department, two were in the operating room, and one was in radiology. unclear if all of those injuries are gunshot wounds, but frank figliuzzi, since we last spoke, since we have the identity of the shooter, 24-year-old dion patterson, what is likely happening behind the scenes with agents trying to glean who he is and how they might be able to find him? >> modern day thinking in law enforcement, which is i can tell you back in the early days of my career this information would have been held. it wasn't the digital age.

it wasn't the age where you could crowd source crime solving, where you could put out information to the public and maybe set up a tip line, and by the way, don't be surprised if we see that tip line set up if they can't find the guy quickly, everyone is going to go, yeah, i worked with him. i know his uncle. i think he's here or there. it helps a tremendous amount. and so the intelligence part of this kicks in as even, you know, fbi comes in and says, look, we could help with forensic examination of any devices at his home. a search warrant is being applied for right now i'm sure. some agent or detective is swearing out an affidavit that will go before a magistrate, and they will say, yes, you can get into the home and look for this, or the vehicle and look for that. that's going to happen, and there will be forensic examination. someone else is looking over and lots of people listening to us or trying to pull up any social media accounts for this guy. if you can find him and determine, you know, ideology, behavior, what's up with him. that's going on right now on a very sophisticated level within

the law enforcement community. >> and we know every second is precious, frank, when you say don't be surprised you don't see a tip line, if they don't apprehend him soon quickly, what does soon mean? obviously they want him as soon as possible, but, you know, as each second and minute trickles by, he could potentially get further out of their grips. >> yeah, there's a, you know, there will be a concern coming up. we talked earlier about the decision making going on about, you know, emptying buildings into what could be an unsafe block or area or neighborhood, and those decisions have to be made because they're going to face them in a big way as 5:00 p.m., end of business day comes around, and people say, hey, what's going on. i need to go home. and they've got to decide that. are you escorting people to their vehicles, perhaps in various parking garages, and then releasing them. are you literally laying eyes on and frisking people who might be the suspect you're looking for. you do not want to make that mistake and pat somebody on the head and say go home, and

actually they are the suspect. or the suspect is holed up in their vehicle, unknowingly, and you have allowed a citizen to drive home with someone inside the car. all of this going on in a very crowded, challenging environment. >> clint, do you want to weigh in here? >> yeah, i just think they are going to be moving very very quickly, and if i can tie back to anything, just a few days, you know, ago we were talking about the shooting in texas, and they just didn't have a lot of details, and they didn't have a lot of law enforcement officers. we're seeing the inverse situation here where speed matters, they're moving very quickly. separately, you know, just looking at this law enforcement response here, they're going to be able to move on any lead or tip that comes in. so i think this is a set up that's going to be very aggressive, like frank said, they're going to be going for the search warrant. the other thing i would add is they would be looking in terms of any sort of postings, maybe personal postings or notes left

if they do a search warrant or if this person had an online presence, you might be looking to see what were the intentions, any notifications. we often times will see in these scenarios where there's sort of a last post that's made before a violence incident like this. that might give a clue where this individual is or what his intentions might be after the shooting. i'm hopeful this is a fast breaking operation. as you can see there, they've got all the resources from everywhere around the atlanta area, it looks like working on this. i'm hoping it comes to a safe and peaceful resolution here quite soon. >> we share your hope there, clint, is it likely a situation in which law enforcement will glean whatever they can as quickly as possible, and then disable social media so that god forbid the suspected shooter, if he has any ideas of committing other crimes or doing anything else doesn't have access to that or any kind of live streaming capabilities? >> yeah, in this case, if they do find something like that, some sort of a signature or a

signal that's out there, it will be a decision about how much information is gleaned from it to where they can locate the individual. if they find something like that, they would reach out through the joint terrorism task forces through the liaison officers that they have, with all of the tech companies to try and qui abock some sort of information and make those sorts of decisions. it's hard to say because it can be just as critical, you know, to have that, and be able to understand where the individual is. at the same point, i have to say across all of the tech companies, they have gotten much better and are definitely on the watch for those things in terms of live feeds as well to make sure there's no exposure to the public. they move very quickly now compared to many years ago. >> frank, what would social media potentially help with in terms of the suspect? i mean, yes in terms of motive. that's not the immediate concern, right? >> so clint's got it right,

there's this delicate possibility that geo location that could come from active use of social media. you don't want to discount that and turn this guys advice off or accounts down. so they will be looking at that, but also as clint alluded to, often there's a so-called manifesto. there's a reason posted and there's your motivation, and there's your evidence of targeting. does that necessarily get you an apprehension more quickly? not necessarily. but the social media will paint a picture of friends, relatives, maybe even depict his isolation as he moved toward a flash point of violence, often people will express their grievances, then they get very quiet as they acquire a weapon. maybe train with it, develop a plan, and you see nothing posted on social media, and then boom, you might see a manifesto or an explanation.

>> i want to go ahead and bring in msnbc anchor katy tur into our coverage. she has been talking to officials and following this breaking news for us. >> just to update everyone watching with everything we know at this moment, one person is dead, at least four others are injured after, again, a shooting at an atlanta medical center this afternoon. i was speaking with a spokesperson for the atlanta police department just a moment ago and they tell me that the suspect, 24-year-old dion patterson born in october 1998 was at that medical center for an appointment along with his mother. it was an appointment for him. there are reports out there that he was there for a mental health check of some kind. the atlanta police department is not ready to confirm that right now. there were also reports that the mother was among those shot. the atlanta police department says she was not shot. again, they know who the suspect

is. they just don't know where he is as you have been talking about. and i got a note from the public affairs unit that says they are aware of a vehicle carjacking on 14th street and william street not long after the shooting. the vehicle they say has been recovered by law enforcement partners in cobb county, and they are working to determine whether that vehicle is connected to the shooting in any way. they are still looking to see if any more victims might be within that medical center. again, so far five victims, one of them has since died. you heard from the grady hospital, from the surgeon there that they were expecting a lot more victims, possibly 12. they were relieved to only get five victims. they were preparing for a larger mass shooting event, and you can see that the city of atlanta is

prepared for anything that might now happen. no shots have since been fired since that initial round, but you can just see in the images we have, the number of police, the amount of police that are currently on the streets in atlanta, and how well armed and geared up they are in preparation for any potential show down with the suspected shooter. they warned the public that this man is armed, he's considered dangerous and they're telling people do not approach him, to instead call 911. you can see as they're evacuating buildings, people streaming out. they're trying to get people to safety. again, it is not clear where this suspect is. i've reached out to ask it maybe they think he's still inside the building. i have not heard back. they are mentioning the carjacking, unclear if the carjacking is in connection to this shooting. again, the suspect is 24-year-old deion patterson.

he's considered armed and dangerous, do not approach. call 911 instead. let's bring in the former chief of homeland security and intelligence for district of columbia, darnell, thank you for being with us. they know who the guy is, working to figure out a motivation. they don't believe any of the people he shot were targeted specifically, but again, they don't know who he is. and they don't know how dangerous he might still be to the public at large. what would you be doing right now if you didn't know where this guy was? >> well, he's certainly a danger to the public at large, and what we would be doing is as frank and some of the other guests mentioned, we would be looking for social media accounts, in the fusion center network, reaching out to other centers that may have had contact with him. perhaps a driver's license of a previous address at another state, looking for associates, trying to piece together what his intentions may be going forward.

there will be plenty of time to figure out why he did what he did, retrospectively. right now, there's an active man hunt, is he being aided and abetted by someone, sequestered by someone. is someone helping him hide out. we saw that with the last texas shooter with family members and friends helping this individual out. this is a scary, unique situation, a closed manifest, where there's a finite number of people in a medical center. that makes it a lot more easy to deal with in terms of identifying the victims and bodies, unfortunately the individual that's deceased. this individual is on the run. they have no idea where he's at. there's a lot of cct footage that has to be gone through. license plate readers, if he was in a vehicle and that pans out that he was in a vehicle where he was cell phone tower pinging, there's a lot of information that's being collected by a lot of individuals. it's got to be crunched in a very short amount of time.

>> chief harvin, i wanted to ask you about an alert we have gotten from atlanta public schools, and i'm going to read it to everybody. until the suspect is contained their schools, midtown and washington cluster, along with stanton, king, wesley international and dunbar will hold on dismissal. they're telling parents to stay home. they're saying right now schools are on hold, they will not release students to leave until the lockdowns are lifted. they say the buildings are secure, and as long as students are inside, they are safe. how common is that for something like this, for schools in the area and, you know, as i haven't looked to see exactly how close these schools are. we just got this in, but for this to be the type of protocol that they would follow? >> absolutely, not that this individual is any indication of targeting schools, but certainly officials don't want more people out on the streets right now, and so having children and staff say in schools, keeping them off the streets, keeping the roadways clear for first responders, law enforcement that are actively searching for this

individual is really a smart move. particularly, you know, schools are really safe right now, at least especially if they know there's a potential threat out there. i'm sure they're locked down, going through protocols, doors are locked, people on alert. right now, probably the safest place for these kids to be is in school and not, you know, waiting for parents on the streets or walking home or getting on to school buses, clogging up the roads. >> we have a new picture of the suspect. we're going to put it up on the screen right now. this is a clear shot of the suspect's face. this is 24-year-old deion patterson. police are saying, if you see him, do not approach him. call 911 instead. darnell, if he has his phone on him, for instance, could they be geo tracking him right now? >> they could, depending on what type of technology they have and one of the previous guests mentioned, depending on whether they're able to get a warrant to do so. generally those are done in rapid order.

the technology exists, you know, if he's sophisticated, he may have turned his phone off or geo location off. he may have ditched his phone. that's just one small piece of information that investigators are going through right now. once again, a lot of it's going to be good old fashioned law enforcement, tips and leads. and having people kind of report things, and there's a lot of cc tv footage i'm sure that's available to them that they will be looking for. i would be surprised if they don't have a good idea of where his location is within the hour. >> let's hope they do. let's also ask about the mother. there were initial reports that his mother was one of the victims. the police department says she was not. again, they tell me that she was there with him for a medical appointment, presuming that she is still there, what would police be asking her right now? how would they be using her to try to track this man down?

>> well, she would have access to information about what type of weapons he has, training he has, with such weapons, if he's had violent outbreaks before, what's his medical background, does he have a psychological or emotional history, what would be his triggers? where would he normally go? where would he think she would go in this type of situation, who were his friends? a lot of the information that would be needed in the immediate after math of this type of event would be available to them through the mother, especially if he spends a lot of time with her. she's probably their best source right now, and so the good thing is she is not injured. hopefully she's in the right mental state to provide information. particularly around whose associate, what type of behavior, is he erratic, someone negotiators can talk to. is he willing to take other's

lives continuously or is he potentially suicidal? that's the information they're looking for from his mother. >> i want to bring back in former special agent in charge, jim kavanaugh, when we had spoken in the last hour, you mentioned one of the challenges for police will be as they're going through and plain clothes officers as well, swarming the area as law enforcement, they could get in a lot of tips that aren't necessarily helpful and it could muddy the waters of what could be helpful information. we're seeing that with atlanta police retweeting a video here that's been circulating that is not of the suspect. how do they deal with just the volume of information? they want tips to come in. that's why they put out these pictures and names. they want obviously the suspect apprehended as quickly as possible. they have to weigh that with just the volume of information they're going to get that's not super helpful. >> it always happens at any one was at, and always happens. what you do is prepare for it.

and you have so many resources from all the other agencies coming together and in a big emergency like this, you have enough investigators to sort out the leads. you're looking for major league categories. what you're looking for in this situation is the location of this fugitive. they know he's a fugitive. atlanta pd would not put out his identity and say he's armed and dangerous if they didn't think he hit the streets. the reason they know he hit the streets and they had time to sweep the video surveillance in the hospital is my assumption, my guess, my educated guess. they went in on the cameras, he's walking out door. they know he left. therefore they put out his identity, and they say he's armed and dangerous. so they're sure of that. and now, you know, this nearby carjacking is a strong lead. does it mean it's him? no, carjackings happen all the time in big cities. how close was it to the

building. what was the time? >> just a couple of blocks from what i can tell. >> yeah, and the time in relation to the murders, was it quickly thereafter. if so, then you want to go back to the mother, you know, if he went to cobb county where this vehicle was found, who would he go see in cobb county? where would he go in cobb county, has he ever been to cobb county, does he frequent any places, you know, public places, restaurants, you know, does he sleep in shelters, does he have friend? where does he go? is he a guy that wanders the streets? is he a person that goes to certain places? and that's what you want to glean from her, and then of course cobb county pd, and all the police forces in that county have to be on exceptionally high alert with the information that's at hand about the carjacking, whether or not it turns out to be the killer because possibly it could and so you want to keep the community safe as well. >> frank figliuzzi, one more question on guns in georgia. we saw a photo of the suspect

from a little bit earlier inside that medical center, and it appears that he's pointing a gun. the gun appears not a semiautomatic weapon. not an assault rifle, as we've become so used to seeing in these active shooter events, but a pistol. the state of georgia has no waiting period to buy a gun, no concealed carry permitting process. no background checks. and there's no extreme risk law. i guess that's no red flag law. if it does conclude or does get born out that this suspect was there for a mental health appointment, talk about the stress and the pressure that's going to put on red flag laws in that state? >> well, you know i'm a big advocate for red flag laws, it gives police and family members to say, it's troubling, and let's take these weapons away temporarily with due process,

but until we figure out whether this threat is real and for how long. you know, some states are not budging on this. be prepared for the real possibility that this gun was lawfully purchased. we don't know. there would be no constraint as you're referring to in georgia and most states. the simple act of seeking mental health care is certainly not enough to block someone from purchasing a weapon, nor do we want it to be. we want people to access mental health care of course, but we also want to try and create a threshold whereby if you're adjudicated or involuntarily institutionalized or certain, let's set a bar somewhere. this happened big time after the virginia tech shooting. you'll recall. so that information then gets entered into what's called the nix background system run by the fbi and a flag goes up when you try to purchase a weapon after that. we don't know if that person

would have been able to purchase a gun lawfully in some other state based on his status. we don't know if it was the first mental health appointment for him or the 27th mental health appointment for him. we don't know. there's another question that's going to come up around guns here. that's the question of security in a hospital. someone bringing a gun into a hospital very easily, you can do it on any given day anywhere. the press conference at grady hospital, level one trauma center, very busy, major active hospital in atlanta. we heard the doctor say, we don't walk down the hospital, even at grady. the issue of should a psychiatric floor or unit within a medical center, should they have extra security and what does that look like? is it a magnetometer. all of those issues are going to m come up after this case is discussed. >> we will leave it there right now for this hour.

it has pained all of us for bringing this news. we thank you for being with us, and all of our guests for bringing much needed context and help. i'm lindsey reiser in for chris jansing. one person is dead and four others injured at an atlanta medical center this afternoon. a spokesperson for the atlanta police department tells me the suspect, 24-year-old deion patterson was there for a medical appointment with his mother. the appointment was for him. there are reports that he was there to seek mental health treatment. the atlanta police department tells me they cannot yet confirm that. there were also reports the shooter's mother was among the victims. atlanta police say she is not. that she is alive. what they do not know right now ishe