tackle. it's friday november 1st and this is "now." let the dysfunction continue. yesterday senate republican filibustered nominations of patricia mallet and representative watt. history buffs, the first member of congress to be filibustered since the year 1843. democrats and other lovers of a functioning u.s. government were not pleased. >> i believe very deeply that the judiciary is too important to play partisan games with it. that's exactly what's going on here. >> going to hold nominations hostage without consideration of individual merit we will have drastic measures. >> drastic measures also known

as the nuclear option, also known as a push to get nominees cleared with a simple 51-vote majority. democrats are reconsidering that measure because of the gop's unprecedented and historic intransigence on, well, everything but especially on presidential nominations. as "the new york times" reports, republican objections to miss millet had nothing to do with her political leanings. they wanted to refuse president obama any more appointments to appeals court. that's because the court oversees most agencies, health care, financial reform to the irs and epa. underscoring the importance of the d.c. circuit court, four of the nine supreme court justices served on it. but rather than than admit to their fear obama appointee might shift the balance away from them, republicans have cooked up a sketchy, mostly absurd

argument that filling an empty seat amounts to court packing. because you know, the second most important court in the land is not busy. why do they need all those judges anyway. >> presently there's enough judges to go around. there's plenty of reasons not to fill any more seats on this court. >> he's trying to pack the court in order to affect the outcomes. if you're going to try to jam three additional judges on the court that are not needed, second most important court in the nation to change the outcome of decisions and rubber stamp the administration's expansive policies, i don't know what else you'd call it other than court packing. >> that is correct. nominations for empty court seats are tantamount to jamming the judicial branch. not only does this republican obstruction create havoc, it has the added bonus of undermining constitutional authority of the president of the united states. in reality, if anyone is court

packing, it's actually senate republicans. writes salon, republicans are denying or threatening to deny confirmation to any nominees in order to nullify laws, stymy legitimate policymaking and reverse pac, keep liberal judges off one key appellate court in order to conserve its conservative balance for as long as possible. joining me today senior writer for "politico" magazine glen thrush, host of disrupt karen finney and writer from the "washington post" sam stein. wonderful people. thank you for joining me this friday of fridays. glen has more time with these slacky magazine deadlines. >> packed the court. >> we have talked. i think there's new polling out. there's a discussion about both parties being at once hurt by

recent sort of scandals, allegations, problems, and gaining ground on other parties because of the problems on the other side of the aisle. this republican wave of obstruction that we saw in and around raising the debt ceiling and reopening the government continues in i think a more insidious way with these nominations. i wonder, glen, harry reid talked about the nuclear option, which is using simple majority to clear nominees. that was put down as it were. some concessions were made. do you think democrats after all of the battles that have been waged in the last two months throw their hands up and say, you know what, it's time to use the nuclear option. >> any time republicans aren't talking about obama care rollout in the debacle they are losing. it's interesting to me they would decide to pick this fight right at this particular point in time. there's a number of reasons why they are doing this. the first is you've got a lot of republicans up in cycle. when you're talking about lindsey graham talking about blocking janet yellin.

that is clearly in-state politics they are doing. i think it's nuts for them to create, give democrats the opportunity to soapbox on an issue when all the republicans right now from a political perspective should be talking about is obama care. >> it's really almost a bridge too far. the idea that the president by filling the seats as he is supposed to do as president of the united states is somehow obstructing justice, manipulating executive power. i do think it's a bridge too far for the american public. >> there's two issues. one is judicial nominees. you're right to know there are open seats. it's not court packing but fighting replacements. then executive nominees. harry reid and democratic leadership focused attention with respect to nuclear option. they said, listen, you have to be able to choose your own team. going to stop the president from choosing his own team we're going to have to change the rules. when they did this the first time, they brought to the brink and ultimately john mccain and other senate republicans said

okay, okay, we'll give you six or so nominees but that's it. you can preserve the right to go down this path but that's it. looks like we're going to go down that path one more time. reid putting the pause button, try this a little more and see what happens. i can forces them doing the exact same thing, having the exact same result and going through the whole enterprise time and time again. it's dragging political feet. >> the difference between the executive and judicial nominees, karen, is the only thing happening in american government is happening in the judicial branch. that's increasingly where laws are crafted. as mother jones points out authorized for 11 judgeships d.c. court presently has only eight judges. republicans claim the court is evenly divided by judges appointed by republicans and democrats but the court also has six semiretired senior judges who hear cases. when they are concluded they have a 9-5 majority. many nominees are hard core

conservative ideologues. they want to preserve that at all costs. >> two things going on here. one thing, preserving that advantage. packing. god forbid we pack it with moderates or liberals. >> we're not concerned of ideologue. >> on the other hand, the language they are using in challenging president obama, the language cornyn was using on this, it was part of the ongoing mean designed to undermine this president. he's a constitutional lawyer. to say he is court packing, to say he doesn't understand his role, duties. again, we've heard it time and time again. i'll do a little plug for my show. >> please do. disrupt this conversation. >> one thing we're not talking about is the impact it's having on daily people, speedy justice, right to speedy trial, speedy path to justice, that is guaranteed to every american under the constitution and it is

being slowed down. >> alex is right the main legislative business is in the courts. you're talking about birth control mandate. >> epa regulations. >> texas with abortion laws. >> i'm saying there are plenty of cases, whether it's small businesses or individuals waiting and waiting years because the courts are so overwhelmed. >> yes. that problem is more than just nominees. that's about funding judiciary. for instance, public defenders have no money to do the trials. your point, some of the big legislative business is being decided in the court system today. literally today. >> the other issue is regulatory. we've seen nothing on legislative side, judicial action, regulatory is huge. you've got a guy running finance agency ed demarco refused to comply with hud's desire to do loan modifications on some of these mortgages. we are starting to see the housing market. again, not in a swoon but

clearly plateauing the rise in the last months. mel watteau what's interesting mel watt is -- >> for freddie and fannie. >> opposed ideological who do not want to see banks give back on loan modifications. this is a big deal. the other thing to point out in addition to a sitting member of congress, mel watt is an african-american. i think from a political perspective this is going to fire up obama base in the midterms potentially when people see these kinds of things. >> patricia millet has ted cruz consent. that's like a three-headed rabbit in the wild. there is no ideological -- there's a reason to oppose her nomination except for this completely trumped up idea of court packing. >> everyone from john roberts, aba across the spectrum has said this is important. this is a problem.

this is not court packing. this needs to get taken care of. >> let me ask you, glen in terms of the worry, senate democrats worry one day we may not be in power. we want all the levers of power at our disposal. if you look at the senate at this point the republicans can't win a national election. the only reason they control the house they gerrymandered districts and making efforts to suppress people from participating in the voting process. in 2014 up for election making democrats nervous, 24 republicans up for re-election in the senate and 10 democrats up for re-election. so they could go forward with the nuclear option. who knows, it may not even hurt them for another six to twelve years. >> i think the other issue here with the senate is clearly starting to see a moderation. when you talk with -- you do this as well, sam. when you talk to republican

operatives dealing with senate races, they are talking in a much more moderate way and much more hostile to the house. i think from a political perspective. the thing about cornyn and grassley speech, they were completely lame. >> hold on. keep in mind, nuclear option only about executive nominees. reid did this for a purpose. he doesn't want to expand scope including legislative and judicial. >> this is a leverage game with republicans. they don't have authority. we're going to be playing lets make a deal in the next few weeks. >> see read push more and more and more. >> harry reid has had his boxing gloves on of late. this is not a fight i would pick with him at the moment but what do i know. coming up, glitches. new documents show enrollment for affordable care act -- there is the best cover to hit news stands in a long time. may be slower than the site itself if such a thing is possible. we will discuss when melissa harris-perry joins us coming up next.

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six. that is the number of people who were able to enroll in insurance plan through the healthcare.gov website on launch day according to documents or war room notes released on thursday night. by the end of the second day only 248 people in the entire country had enrolled even though estimates show 40,000 people in the online waiting room. according to the white house estimate 4.7 unique visitors visited the website wayne the first 24 hours of enrollment. last night the department of health and human services pushed back on the leaked report.

speaking to nbc news, "these appear to be notes. they do not include official enrollment statistics. we are focused on providing realable and accurate information and we do not have that at this time. we have always anticipated the pace of enrollment will increase throughout the enrollment period. joining us now is melissa harris-perry with her economist show. >> i'm supposed to speak to this question about whether it was six people or 250. i have no idea how many people signed up. >> here is a theory i'm floating. they should just say, how do these six people get through. they are the glitches. >> it's not a small point. we just shut down the government because of angered irritation over the idea that any american would have to sign up for obama care. then the first act of government after reopening is to have hearings about the fact people can't sign up for the thing, this entire blockade against. feels what the administration is

having a challenge with, a capacity to sell this program, which has everything to do with the fact there are very real beneficiaries of the aca expansion most importantly around medicaid. but we get to that conversation because we're talking about the glitches in the website. >> may i remind us this information comes from a leaked report from none other than darrell issa. i'm going to say he's got a little history of cherry picking the information he leaks. we saw that in the irs scandal where everybody went this direction. we get the facts and realize it's a totally different story than we thought. i want to remind us, there have been plenty of glitches. we think it's terrible. i'm not sure we should use darrell issa. >> a discount factor of 25 at least. >> so 31 people signed up. glen, go ahead. >> darrell issa aside, this is not going well. >> master of understatement. >> i would just like to point out that even darrell issa

occasionally manages to get -- i think this was actually a fairly revealing document. hss, my reporting and others was pathetic. >> can we have that new yorker? i don't know if he was using a gordon gekko phone as he called hss but the lack of preparedness and coordination. that said, sam, the gold standard of health care pollers, the gold standard of health care polling, kaiser asks americans what would you like to see congress do when it comes to health care? 47% of respondents want to expand or keep it, 37% want to repeal it. those numbers are sort of exemplary of the fact that americans do not think gop has an alternative for obama care and they would rather work through this messy, glitchy semidisaster to get to better

health care coverage for everyone than walk everything back. >> doesn't gop have an alternative? i know they throw out some ideas. >> they don't. that is widely understood. >> there's an ambiguous what if, what if we had to start over from scratch, would anything get done. people are frightened nothing would. there's been incredible glitches. i thought the document was revealing. i was glad it was released. i'm pretty sure it's going to ramp up from six to 248 to a bunch of other things if the massachusetts model is correct. however, this is not just a debate about enrollment but a huge system failing the american public prior to that. people's memories aren't short-term but long-term. they understand the individual marketplace is a complete disaster and needs to be reformed. while there are horror stories dominating the news now, in eight month's time, 12 month's time you're going to see a lot of people saying, wow, these reforms were probably good for the system. >> i'm not sure i quite agree

nothing would get done. they do have alternatives. republicans have alternatives. the alternatives leave more people, many hundreds of thousands -- >> we take them at their word on what they propose. that's the best we've got. >> i feel like people would much rather have -- >> status quo -- >> tens of thousands of people stuck in the online waiting room than the realities of many millions thrown off of medicaid. we're already seeing the clear willingness of republican state lawmakers to refuse medication expansion to the neediest members of their constituencies once they were given that option by the roberts court. even if this couldn't get through the presidential level we see willingness to withhold health care. >> the focus has been on health care about posses being canceled. there will come a time when they start asking poor people in red states who could have applied for medicare what it was like not to be able to get access to insurance. >> nobody has a program, an option.

>> let me ask you, there are several competing areas here. i'm of the mind the website will get fixed hopefully by november 30th. i think the republicans are gradually accepting that idea as well. they are losing this idea of people losing their insurance. as key advisers noted those plans were crappy to begin with. but they are going to continue to get hammered on this issue of credibility and trustworthy. jay carney punted this question over the insurance market and said, the problem, which has always been the problem, insurance companies in that wild, wild west of the insurance market could arbitrarily cancel, change, downgrade those plans at any time and many of them have over the last several years. that's true. but it's not like the white house didn't know. >> by the way, i don't recall that being the applause line in the 500 speeches i had to sit through. i mean, this is clearly they were either misleading or weren't quite aware of it. i don't know what the heck it

was. the thing i find incredibly striking here, the president keeps telling us how angry he is. he hasn't told us he screwed up. at some point down the line people are going to want to hear why he didn't oversee the system more. >> if he does that, he can really only do that once this thing is really working well which could be months and months from now. >> nor do i think it makes good sense or politics. this president is not running for re-election. what he does have to do is protect the party which has a real capacity to extend its growth in the house and senate in the next election cycle. >> someone has to be accountable for what happened here. i'll be held accountable. fine. in addition to me someone else should be held accountable. this was his signature policy. >> the american people re-elected him based on this. >> but it was a big, big f up basically. >> whew. >> twenty years from now -- >> we still have to hold someone

accountable for a website -- >> for a website? >> yes. >> we're going to have to take a break. i'll just say nobody has been held accountable for the financial calamity. i question whether that is actually going to happen and whether it will really fix anything. i just think what we are more likely to see is get more -- and resign. >> that person wanted and needed insurance. the reason only six people enrolled was because of failures. >> that is fair. there is a human cost to all of this. we must take a break. in the ongoing debate about the u.s. drone program rarely do we take into account the civilian toll. tuesday deadly american drone strike testified on capitol hill. earlier this week i spoke with them about their experience, their loss and their feelings about the u.s. and pakistan. our conversation is coming up next. my customers can shop around--

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early yesterday in pakistan's north wazirstan. the battle has been largely a faceless one. that changed this week. for the first time congress heard direct testimony from survivors of an alleged u.s. drone strike in pakistan. at a hearing organized by alan grayson. a pakistani school teacher and his 9-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son testified about the day their grandmother was killed in a u.s. drone strike in waziristan, the same location as yesterdayed strike and terrorist enclave. it happened october 24th, 2012. milan, a, a 67-year-old mid

we've was tending to her garden when she was struck and killed by a u.s. drone. her grandchildren, those testifying, were among victims of the attack. her body was too badly burned to run away. her brother was forced to undergo surgery and special medical treatment to remove considerable amount of shrapnel in his leg. the family has failed to receive any acknowledgement u.s. forces were responsible for her death nor have they received compensation for loss. new reports from united nations, human rights watch and amnesty international document the human cost of drone strikes and demand more accountability. yesterday pakistan's government claimed u.s. drones took the lives of 67 civilians since 2008, a figure far lower than earlier estimates. this week i spoke with the family and asked 13-year-old zuba what happened.

>> it was the day before eid. i had gotten home from school. i prayed and had a snack and my grandmother asked me to help her in the fields. we were preparing vegetables for the meal tomorrow. while we were outside with our grandmother i heard a noise and saw two missiles come down with my grandmother standing by me. everything turned dark. i heard a scream. the next thing i knew i was running because i was so scared. later i found out my grandmother was blown up into pieces. there's pain in my left leg. it was as if i was on fire. i could feel blood coming out. despised the pain i tried to run out of there. five minutes later i heard the same dumb dumb noise and missiles came down. i heard later this is a tactic that was used that whoever in the house would come outside. my cousins in the house came out after hearing the first attack.

in total nine children in my family had been injured as a result of this. >> nabila, did you know what a drone was? had you seen one before? >> translator: they are always there. >> are children in the neighborhood afraid of them? what do you think of them? >> translator: before it was something normal to us. we would always hear it. after the attack they saw my grandma got killed and we were injured, my friends tell me we're scared now. this could happen to us. >> nine children in your family were injured in this attack. what was your immediate reaction? >> translator: now looking back at it, i can't make sense of it. i still don't understand. we're a family of educators. i'm a teacher. my father was the retired principal of the school where i teach. my mother, although she might not have been educated she served as a mid wife in our

village. all we want is peace and to send our children to school. >> is this something that's happened to other families that you know of? >> i've heard of incidents like this, but it's never been someone i personally have known. unfortunately we're all poor people and we don't have the opportunity to share our stories. even if we did, it's not as if many people want to hear it. >> when we talk about the injuries sustained by zubar, he was badly injured with shrapnel. has anybody helped pay for the medical bills because of the injuries. >> translator: the whole reason i considered writing to my government, he needed a surgery that was very expensive. i'm a poor person. i cooperate afford it. they said what happened to you is very sad and unfortunate but this is a result of an american drone. that's why i've taken out drones and i'm in debt for his surgery. >> i'd like to ask you in terms

of getting the family to the united states, how difficult was that given how much the u.s. government has been reticent to acknowledge there have been civilian tolls in drone strikes and the thorniness of getting papers to come into the u.s. >> it hasn't been easy. it's probably about a six-month process in this point. for people living in this area, one of the biggest impediments as a starting point is getting birth certificates. it's not standard to get birth certificates when they are born. so we had to start from the very beginning in trying to get them paperwork of a birth certificate to even be able to get the passport to even then be able to apply for the visa. it was further complicated by the fact the family was supposed to travel with me and their pakistani lawyer who is a legal fellow who works closely with over 150 families who have been affected by drone strikes. the u.s. refused to grant his

visa. we then had to scramble to figure out another way to get them here. what happened was i flew to islamabad to get them here and then d.c. >> coming up i asked what he as a young man thinks about the united states. i'll have more of my interview next on "now." [ susan ] ...as though he had never left. the end. lovely read susan. but isn't it time to turn the page on your cup of joe? gevalia, or a cup of johan, is like losing yourself in a great book. may i read something? yes, please. of course. a rich, never bitter taste cup after cup. net weight 340 grams. [ sighs ] [ chuckles ] [ announcer ] always rich, never bitter. gevalia. why would i take one pepcid® when i could take tums® throughout the day when my heartburn comes back? 'cause you only have to take one... [ male announcer ] don't be like the burns. just one pepcid® complete works fast and lasts.

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look he's right there! follow me! ♪ wow! crystal falls? follow me! [ male announcer ] the nissan pathfinder. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ earlier this week i spoke with the victims of a drone strike in pakistan's north waziristan province in october. this is the second part of that interview. i asked 14-year-old about his feeling about the united states in the aftermath of the drone strike that killed his grandmother. >> translator: my friends were telling me i should not exactly come to america because they are the ones that have done this to me. i thought they must be people like us. this is not something i should take out against americans but their government. now that i'm here i see

americans are very nice people, respectful and treat me like a human being. all i request is they end these drones so i can also live in a peaceful country. >> nabila, when you go outside and play, are you scared or how do you feel about going outside? >> translator: i used to go outside and play. now i don't go out and play because i'm scared. >> you had bad burns. how was that recovery process? was it difficult for you? >> i was hurt on my hands. there was a lot of blood. a lot of blood came out. >> i want to ask, your children are here. it's a wonderful thing they are here to talk about this. your family has sustained a lot of trauma. when you think about the united states, i'm sure there's a lot of anger and frustration. i would ask about pakistan and how you feel about these cases

where they have allowed these to happen. >> i was upset with america. i know they did not intentionally do this i did not understand why my children ended up getting hurt and my mother died. all i want for my children and hope for them is they can live in a peaceful environment and complete their education. now they live in fear, constant fear. i'm aware pakistani and american government may be aware of these drones happening and i feel the pakistani government has failed me because i'm a citizen of that country. as a citizen, their duty is to protect me. i feel a bit neglected. obviously i just don't understand that. but what i do want is that these two governments find a way to bring peace in my neighborhood, either by discussion and ending these drones so we don't have to live in fear any longer. >> jennifer, i'd like to ask you

a question. in terms of this conversational void to let this family tell their story which is highly underdiscussed in terms of the casualties from these drone strikes, do you expect the u.s. government -- how optimistic are you this policy can change. this policy of drone strikes seem to be working quite well for parts of the counter-terrorism community. what's your feeling now that the family has been in the united states and told this story? >> i think we're very optimistic. we're optimistic if you put a human face on the numbers and this debate, one of the problems it's been numbers up to this point. numbers and policy without anyone taking into account those numbers represent people like rafiq, nabila and zubair. the hope is that you put a face to the numbers and people in washington start listening. is this really the policy we should be pursuing.

>> i want to say we're very happy to have you in the states telling your story. it is important for all of us to let you know that all americans consent to this policy. when you go back, please share that view with your friends and your family. >> thank you. >> thank you. thank you for your time. coming up, if you need any more evidence as to why judicial nominations are so important, look no further than texas fifth circuit court of appeals which yesterday ruled in favor of reinstating a highly restrictive and controversial abortion law. we will discuss the latest move in the push to repeal roe. that's next. [ male announcer ] wildlife rescue workers open up a lot of dawn --

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struck down part of the state's new abortion law declaring it unconstitutional and medically unnecessary. but yesterday a three-judge panel on one of the most conservative courts in the country reinstated it. with this decision as many as one-third of texas 6 abortion clinics will have to stop their services immediately. the order is temporary and will remain in place until the court can hold the full hearing, something that is not likely to happen until early next year. meanwhile thousands of texas women will lose access to care. we talked about importance of judges and judge seats. what's breathtaking to me is the three judges that decided this are all women. it seems like a decision tha is really bad for texas women. >> it's horrible for texas women. particularly low in come women. i should remind you, as a board member, this is one of the things we're following.

the law goes into effect and gives people 180 days to establish with the hospital. it's only been about 90 days. they should have more time to try to establish those relationships and yet many of the clinics report they can't get calls back. they can't get their applications through. remember governor perry also told public hospitals they can't enter into relationships with these doctors. the problem is, they are really hurting low in come women the worst. >> the most insidious part of this, melissa, you make it harder for women to get borings -- abortions, you make it more disang reduce. women in rural texas may have to drive 300 miles to el paso or dallas, several cities including ft. worth and lubbock will have no access to abortion. that makes it bad for women and unsafe for women. >> not only bad and unsafe but bad and unsafe for women's children. one of the things we know

particularly among low in come women who don't have the ability to go in and have abortions with their private doctor, private physicians in these hospitals, what these laws do is strip away the ability and access of poor women to access their constitutional right to a medically safe procedure. it doesn't do that for wealthy women who have insurance plans but these women often already have children. in fact, often they are choosing to terminate current pregnancies because of the economic factor associated. so if you have to drive that distance, if you have to stay overnight, you are often taking small children along with you. this endangerers children. >> i have to cut you off. we have breaking news. reports of shots fired at los angeles national airport. an active shooter at terminal 3. we will bring you more details as we get them. we have very little to share with our audience.

lax has most recently been in the news for other sorts of situations relating to dry ice bombs. we are going to go to our local affiliate and nbc on the west coast. lets take a listen. >> reports somebody was able to get through security somehow with a rifle or some kind of weapon and began opening fire. began, this happening at lax terminal 3. people are being evacuated. you can imagine the scene happening there. tens of thousands of people fly through this airport every day. we're getting new information. as we speak, bear with us as this is happening. lets get up to news chopper 4. i think we got him back in our picture. any idea? look like all flights in and out of the airport are on hold right now? >> not seeing any flights -- actually seeing flights land on the far south runway i see a flight landing over there.

certainly this side where terminal 3 is nothing is moving. this is terminal 3. you can see planes parked there. most of them are virgin planes, virgin america, virgin australia. a lot of l.a. airport police there on the ground as well as lapd units from pacific division up here. again, moments ago we saw people being treated between terminals 2 and 3, being treat freddie what and to be some sort of wounds. we saw people covered in blood. this is a different person in a wheelchair being tended to. we did see two people taken out. look at the posture of the officers. they still have weapons drawn. up by terminal 3, officers are behind vehicles as if there's still some sort of threat, imminent threat ongoing.

we see officers running. again, weapons drawn, moving very quickly. this may not be over. this situation may not be over here in terminal 3. going to look up at the terminal and see what people are doing. determine houses mostly, many of the virgin airline operations, there we see a large number of officers kind of behind the van. they have got the van between them and entrance to terminal 3. they are obviously doing some sort of meeting there. >> will, bear with us again. we're just getting new information here. the fact flights are coming in and out on different runways could be a positive development in the fact maybe they think this is isolated to just that one terminal and perhaps one would hope whatever did happen is over. again, we were getting reports

from somebody actually inside one of those terminals. she said it happened around 9:20. we're only about 20, 30 minutes into this whole thing. suddenly she heard shots fired. people started running for their lives. reports cain from security agents who were actually there at the airport saying a man with a rifle of some kind was able to get past security and started opening fire. based on the live pictures we're seeing right now clearly this still a developing story right now. what we don't know is whether the incident is over, how many people have been hurt. we did see one man in a wheelchair receiving some treatment, what looked to be a tsa agent also treated. joining us on live coverage, michelle stepping in now. >> as we heard will say between terminal 2 and 3 is the way he witnessed being treated. the scanner says there were two victims including a 45-year-old male. that quickly changing as we get

more information. joining at 9:50, 9:20 is when people start reporting a shooting there, reporting a man with a rifle got past a tsa screener. a suspect reportedly shot. more information coming in as we look at these live pictures right now. again, looking between terminal 2 and 3 near the virgin america. >> terminal 3 for folks who have been there, this is a massive open space. just the thought of somebody being able to get in with a weapon, there are hundreds of people, if not thousands in the immediate vicinity who could be hurt by stray gunfire. we still don't know exactly how this unfolded. the only official word coming in now, tsa spokesperson at headquarters told us the shooting happened at a checkpoint. a tsa employee was injured. again, we saw another person in a wheelchair also treated.

it's still unclear whether this is still developing or whether it's all over. we've seen law enforcement officers running, ducking for cover. this is a weekend, a friday, the day after halloween. a lot of people here, a lot of people traveling. perhaps more witnesses will be coming through. this is a very busy morning at lax as we get more information. you mentioned reports coming in a tsa employee was injured during the shooting at lax. >> also we spoke to this witness, carly white, who was there. she said it was just a chaotic scene as people started running for their lives. we know at least that terminal, terminal 3 is being evacuated. on your screen you can see on the left side of your screen you see our live picture from news chopper 4. they have a little tent set up there right now. it appears there's officer

toward that. >> once again shots fired at lax national airport. with me is pete williams. pete, what are you hearing? >> information is slow to flow to headquarters in various agencies in washington. what we do know they told us they are aware at least one shot was fired at terminal 3 at lax. an employee was wounded, we believe, in the leg. that's the initial impression we get back here. we don't know whether other shots are fired. we don't know whether there's still an active shooter situation there. apparently the police are leading this responsibility. it's still rapidly unfolding and chaotic. there's a picture back here of exactly what has happened, who the person with the gun was, why this shooting happened, what's

going on. we're still waiting to get those details. >> pete, if our research is correct, this is not the first time there had been a shooting at lax. the first time in 2002. do you know anything about that? >> yes. there had been shootings at lax before. one notorious one at the ticket counter. if what we hear is correct, this is further into the airport, at or beyond the security checkpoint. that would be unusual. you may recall a situation in miami airport where someone was shot by an air marshall. in terms of someone coming in with a firearm, unfortunately this is not the first time we've seen this happen, it may be further into the airport than in the past. >> nbc correspondent pete williams will be back. lets go back to local affiliate

for more on the ground reporting. >> virgin america. shots reported at 9:20 this morning. witnesses saying a man with some kind of rifle able get past a security checkpoint. still not much information from officials as they are dealing with this. the lapd respond the, fire department setting up triage. you can imagine with something like this, the fbi will also get involved at some point if they are not already there on the ground assessing the situation. again, still developing. hopefully this is all over. we don't know that yet. >> as you mentioned, century boulevard has been shut down as investigators get there to the scene. lapd tactical units there arriving. this is terminal 2 and 3. this is such a busy weekend, busy halloween that really hasn't stopped since overnight. a lot of police incidents and the latest at lax waiting to get

word on what happened with the travelers inside. >> waiting to get information on injuries. assignment debt getting this, a 45-year-old male going to ucla harvard medical center, 29-year-old male shot in the leg going to westwood. a third victim with a sprained ankle. so if this is the extent of the injuries, hopefully that is good news. kben, these are preliminary reports coming in. we don't know how widespread the incident was. matching up with the live pictures we've seen, confirmed this happened in terminal 3, around 9:20 this morning. people reporting suddenly, you can imagine going through security checkpoints, all the

things we have to go through, the last thing you would expect to get through is a weapon. >> the irony, i was through and thought the same thing, with all the security measures one must go through, how hard or difficult is it to walk in with a weapon? . we're seeing that today. lax, you can watch us online. lax is also putting all the information they have available on their twitter account. this incident took place at 9:30. do you have more information for us? >> we saw another person in an ambulance. hard to see what kind of condition he was in. on the back of a stretcher being put into rescue number 63 there. that person needing medical attention. not seeing large numbers of

people brought out and put on these tarps, these triage tarps here. that's good news. we had reports a moment ago there were sightings, at least some sort of video somewhere of large numbers of people being evacuated from the terminal. i've not seen that yet. when we first pulled up we saw a lot of people leaving terminal 2. as far as terminal 3 where this incident occurred, not seeing large numbers of people leaving quite yet. so they may be sheltered in place. we don't know exactly where all the people are that should be inside that terminal there. but it does not appear right now they are leaving. >> just to let you know if they are just now joining us we're told early reports of a man with a rifle was able to get past security here at lax and open fire.

we have witnessed here several people treated. one man in a wheelchair getting treatment. we're getting nchlt information on victims sent to the hospital. this is tactical alert. century boulevard closed going into the terminal. terminal 3 at lax. >> that is andrea mitchell now bringing you up to date on ongoing news, the ongoing situation at lax international in los angeles. this is what we know so far. there was a shooting reported at terminal 3. eyewitness reports seeing a gunman with a rifle. it happened at a checkpoint and a tsa agent has been injured. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. right now mike taibbi is in los angeles