> chaos inside an office building in maryland. five people are dead. several othe greatly injured and the gunman is in custody. all of this unfolded at the offices of "the capital gazette" newspaper in annapolis. the moti still a mystery. as police questioned the suspect and sweeped the buiing, we're getting some firsthand accounts i what happened from a journalist who waide hiding under a desk as those shots rang out. these dramatic images were captured from the air. it's still unfolding as we come on the air. >> a reporter for "the capital gazette" newspaper says it was like a war zone. haring that on twitter all afternoon. he says the gunman opened fire through the glass door of th newsroom striking several employees, then reloading that shotgun or long gun. we have a team of reporters on the scene as we work the to give you the very latest information. >> this is off 888 bestgate road

near the annapolis mall. the ramage broke out about 2:30 this afternoon "the capital gazette." police werehere within 60 seconds. >> that made a tremendous difference. if you're just joining us, t here's wherngs stand. five people were killed. several others are being treated at area hpitals for gunshot wounds. the suspect a young man in his 20s. a white male armed with a shotgun is being questioned right now. but we're told he not cooperating with authorities. just moments ago we've learned an wxplosive device also recovered from inside that building. >> we're still working to get more information ahat explosive device that was just mentioned in the last news briefing. chopper 4 is upov over the scen as roads are blocked off. this is still a very active scene. we also have reporters on the ground. we're going toce start with t wilkins. you were the first reporter on

thscene, weren't yo >> there are lots of questions here, doreen. even all of thi time we've been trying to get answers to. of course what everyone wants to ow is the motive. why would someone walk into this newsroom and open fire. what police arein te us is five people are dead. there are a number of people who were injured in this. the criminal investigation s under way. the suspect is in custody as you mentioned and we have learned from sources the suspect was armed with a shotgun. we said just a moment ago one em noyee inside thatspaper newsroom said he heard that gunma reload described it as the scariest thing one can hear. nothing like hearing that while he was hiding under a desk. we are told byhe police they are here on the scene within 60 seconds. they confronted this gunman. he put down his gun. there was no exchang of gunfire. he was cooperative.

and then aftereing cooperative he is not being cooperative. there are questions they need tt as man and questions they need to ask witnesses inside the newsroom and those conversations are ongoing. they happened in the nsroom and then as folks were leaving happened in the parking lot. they are intervieng these witnesses and also sboouintervi police officers whoirst here on the scene to find out y at they know and what information tn help with investigation. as i mentioned before, this is what's important taking care of this crime scene. gathers as many details as possible. here behind me is what they're doing. ere are a number of police agencies. we've seen ambulances leave here. fire trucks on the sne. er need to supply the folks with food and wat and the other stuff theyeed here so they can focus on this building. they are going to go ahead and close the road here, close bestgate so they can focus on the investigation without cars coming or anyone going i and

contaminating. that is going to be a locked down building as they try and figure out why this happened. reporting live in anne arundel, back to you all in the studio. >> tracee, thank you. a lot of informtion we've been getting has been coming from a capital gazette reporter and tweeted updates to the world. >> he sent those tweets after he was in a safe place. he first tweeted a single t ooter shot plumultiple people my office some of whom are dead. gunman shot through the glass t do the office and opened fire on multiple employees. can't say much more and don't nt to declare anyone dead, but it's bad. >> a minute later he tweeted there is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and hear the gunman reload. he then confirmed he was safe and was waiting to talk to police. and radio transmissions between

anne arundel county firefighters and police also give us some insightnto the first moment of that attack. >> they're pretty chilling and they reveal how first responders found and capture the suspect. listen closely. >> active shooter, 888 bestgate road. shooting people with a shotgun. black shirt, green pants. >> one person in the. lob >> we've got about four bodies inside. have the suspect inside the office. >> inside "the gazette"ic o >> can he be debriefed so we can make ure it's the only one.

>> you imagine what it was like for loved ones who work in tha building or the nearby area. >> they're setting up a reunification area at the lord o t shomari stone is following that part of this story for us. shomar >> reporter: good evening. right now we're here on the second floor of the annapolis mall in the pking garage. those families are currently meeting with their family and friends. these are people who were actually i that buildinhen the shooting broke out. they were on lockdown, evacuated. now they're reuniting. let'si roll vo to show you what all unfolded apprreimately thre five people and several others injured. the suspected shooter, tnscee wilold you is in custody. authorities are questioning him. some authorities are saying he is not cooperating with the investigation. the names of the dea were not

released immediately. we're trying to figure out who exactly died in this shootiwe. re going to climb up here just so you can s see thene of what's going on. right across the street, that is the building 888, and there were people who went in there for a law office, for a doctor's appointment not knowing that this would happen. many of them are shocked. p at oneoint you're going in the building to see your lawyer or doctor. all of a sudden shots rang out. you shelter in place and then you're. evacuat we're now going to hear from two of those people. >> you were actually in theame building as "the capital gazette" in a different location in a doctor's offic yes. i was on the same floor down the hallway. >> what was going through your mind? >> i immediately started crying. i started a contactin of my family members. >> all i knew was that there was an active shooter and we should stay in our office and barricade ourselves in. we locked our doors and we all hid.of >> you're looking at a live picture of the scene. governor larry hogan is advising people to stay away from this

area. as you can see, therereozens of police officers that are all er the place. they are comparing notes. they are searching for evidence. they are gatring details. processing, trying to figure out what happened. they have not determined a motive. they have not identiied the suspect. what they do know is five people are dead. some gravely injure we will continue to bring you up dates in the parking garage. some of those people have t reunited wiir families. one man said it's so upsetting. give him some time and let him be. you can understand w dealing with is so traumatic. even if you weren't shot in this shooting, he post traumatic stress, a lot of people are stressed and they're shaking because of what happened across le street at that building. >> and a whole of people who have nothing to do with this shooting who were nowhere near it are feeling anxiety right n because of that.

president trump is following the situation closely. he posteds message on his ditter account. it reads prior parting wisconsin i was briefed on the shooting "the capital gazette" in annapolis. my thoughts and prayers are with the victims and tir families t. thank you to all the first responders to the sc>>ene. chopper 4 was over the scene veen maryland gor larry hogan arrived shortly after the shooting. l he thanked enforcement for responding so quickly and offered his con dedolences to t victims. >> or thoughts and prayerre with the victims and their familie i want to tharnks the law enforcement professional pro responded. the response team did an incredible job. the fact that they responded withinec 60 nds, indianapolis to give serious praise to anne arundel county and the city of annapolis. >> last time we saw governor hogan at a scene like this was at great mills high school in southe maryland.

that was back in march where a student killed one ofis classmating, then himself. the governor also referred toat earlier. the area surrounding this office building will be closed office into the eveing. >> ne 4 jackie bensen just talked with a woman who was nearby when everything was unfolding. what are you finding out? >> reporter: human lives lost at this building right behind us and shocked human beings bearing witness to what they saw. we spoke to a woman named patricia who came here to pick up her mom after work. we're going t play with you. how she spoke to me was flat because she was still in shock. but listen to what she saw. >> my mother came in to pick me up and she told me h torry up and get in the car because there was a shoot in. we tried to get out of the parking lotefore w got stuck. and before they put the yellow

lineup we got tosee, y know, i got to watch them come out on the stretchers and stuff.o somthe family members were out hererying. wondering what was going on. and concerns, so they moved them upstairs. it's getting worse and worse. it's getting closer and closer and 's real tragic. nothing's being done about and i don't know what kind of solution they're going to come to, but something has to be done. >> one of the things that was truly heartbreaking that she described to me, she said while she was standing there closeo e entrance to this building, she saw a guy who wasly obviou with the newspaper. he must have been out at lunch, out on assignment. he wam baucame back to theding d couldn't get in and realized something bad had happened to the people he worked with help jackie bensen, news 4. >> jackie, thank you.

so much pain for so many people spread so side by one senseless act. > it just makes you wonder how vulnerable everyone is out ther in an office building like this. >> it's frightenin >> we're going to go next to fcott macfarlane who has been covering this allrnoon from our live desk. scott, you've got some more information for us tshare now. >> here we are four hours after the initial gunshots and we don't know the name of the person suspected. we know police are interrogating, but there is no prosecute congre progress and the next brief suggest two hours away. fbi is on the scene helping out in an assist role. the state police in maryland have 50 plus troopers on the scene assisting county police as well, but helping run aviation. we had tohooveer 4 out of the area because police aircraft needed to get into t range. maryland state police among the police agencies with aircrat.

8:00 p.m. uate coming. "the capital gazette" is reporting on itsy own trag you can see they're reporting real time information about what's going on o the scene, so they're dealing with a trajectory and reporting details of the trajectory at tt of the tragedye same time. the bestgate road is closed indefinitely. 170 people were evacuated from that building and other areas nearby, things that were adjacent wereflvacuated br. there was a lockdown at the anne arundel county medical center which ising some number of victims and there were parks and recs and activities in the area that were called off this afternoon. at the live desk, i'mcott macfarlane. jim and doreen, back to you. joining us now on the phone is robert owings. >> can you describe what you saw and heard. >> i didn't really see and hear

much other than the outside police presence. we were on the top floor of the building sort of away from -- on the opposie side of the billing of the gazette. we got a call to stayhe in office and we looked out and saw we are surrounded by police. >> robert, "the gazette" is the ground floor. do you see in that newsroom or how bigpaf a s we're talking about? >> it's not a large building. when i say top floor, that's fourth floor. not a large building. four floors. n i'm really sure how far across. not a giant office tower or anything like that.ve relly small building. >> you're up on top of the building and you're looking doeen. you can all kinds of huge poce response. at are you and your co-workers seeing? >> obviouslywiot kno what was happening was the worst

part. we all went to one of the interior offices and shut the doors an locked them. that was -- the worst part wasin si there for two hours not knowing what the situation was and trying to wait for word that it was okay for us to leave. >>ilould you tl something was going on? >> i w aware. i looked out my office window and we were surrounded by a massive amou.t of s.w.a team members. you could see there was no activity in and out of the building. there was a heavy police presence in the parking lot. we were told multiple time stay in the offices and stay put. we had to sit there and wait it out until it s our turn to be evacuated. >> two hours is a long time. were you able to rea out to family and friends and let them know that you were okay? >> i was. to be honest for the most

waited to be evacuated so i didn't create a lot of worry. i felt like it would be better a to make call and follow it up with i'm safe and out of the buildcg. >> thatainly makes sense there. thank you. robert, for sharg your ordeal this afternoon. that is a long time to wait in uncertainty and with such terror happening below you in that bill. >> just terrifying. we're going to go back to tracee wilkins now. she's been on the scene this afternoon. u have new information? >> we do. we spoke with congressman anthony brown.h he represent is area. he was talking about being in that newsroom before and he talked about the makeup of the newsroom. he said it's like an open air fice space where youan walk in and see the entire office. he said on most news ds there are about ten people inside of that office with some reporters out, et cetera. w that's about he's seen when he goes in there. h when wer there were five

people killed inside, when we hear there were a number of people injured, we're getting a bettert idea of w those numbers may be like. as it stands, the police are not lling us how many people were in that office when this happene they are saying there were 170 people in the building. we have been talking about the most important partsnd t is beginning to wrap up and the building is protected, what they need to do now is preserve this crime scene and go through it and get as much information asp ible and the most important information these investigators need, the gunman has that information. from what we understand he is not being cooperative with police. he was cooperative when he was taken into custody. at this point he is not speaking and is going to new and unpla d unexplained heights to not cooperate. ear from anthony brown as he describes his thoughts on the lack of cooperation.

om what i'm hearing from bit unusual, a first of all, the fact that he was taken alive. from what we've seen around the country that's not often the case. when shooter are apprehended, they often do cooperate. this guy is not cooperang at all. law enforcement is it still working diligently to identify who he is.e onhey do that, i have no doubt they'll then be able to learn a tremendous amount about who he is, what he's about, what ates him and what may have caused him to come and wreak havoc today tragically taking the life of five of our nehbs. >> and then again police also said there was something they thought was an explosive device inside as well, something theyh to take care of there. this is a very unusual situation. in addition to this being a tragic, once again mass shooting, now we're also looking at a gunma who is being very

unusual in his behavior. a lack of cooperation with investigators. again, from what we understd and wha sources are telling us going to great lengths not to investigate. and it sounds like this is someone who wanted to be taken d into cus. reporting live, i'm tracee wilkins. back to you all. >> tracee, w can hear you and our media colleagues trying to ask so many questions at that news conference. there were still a lot of unanswered questions. have yo been able to learn anything more about this potential explosive device that was just mentioned in the last briefing about half an hour ago? >> reporter: no, although you did hear us yelling out to police and they are specific about what they will and will not share. we get a little more information and nmuch. we've had two briefings. the next one is planned for 8:00 p.m. the did recover what they thought was an explosive device. what that means exactly, still not clear. that is something they had to

take care of. they do believe there aren't any more inside of the gbuild at this point they do believe the building is safe and once again secure.on they arenuing to talk to all the people who they need to talk t >> tracee, thanks so much for that information. >> we still don'tnow why "the capital gazette" was targeted. here's background information. it's a dailyewspaper that serves anne arundel county, annapolis and kent island. it's partf e "baltimore sun" media group. it touts iself as one of the oldest publishers in the countrk going bo 1727. the company moved to its offices on bestgate road in stember of 2014. we want to go back to our scott macfarlane at the live desk. you've got some new information on the suspect. what e youhearing? >> one law enforcement source telling news 4 that there's arn concor investigators that

the person they've detained and are sbfinterrogating has d intentionallaged his own fingerprints. it gives us an indication age and what he might have been wearing. law enforcement source says the person being questioned for th in anne arundel county might have intentionally damaged his own fingerprints making it more difficult to figure out his identity. the interrogation is ongoing, at least it was during the last press briefing.m we'll hear fhem again we're told in about 90 minutes. potentially with more infoation about the suspected gunman or not based on the latest reports in news 4. >> sounds like a lot of thought and planning went into this. we are going to look forward to that 8:00 news conference that we're going tbe streaming live. >> now we go back to stone.ri he's at the scene where families are being reunited at the annapolis mall, the lord &

taylor store right near the scene of this soting that had "the capital gazette" in it. >> you've talked to a lot of witnesses shomari. what are your takeaways from that? certainly a frightening ordeal for so many who got o outthere safely. >> it was incredibly frightening, because you had people who were going to see their doctors, their lawyers, who weren't even affiliated with "the capital gazette." there was one woman on the fourth floor, one woman on the first floor where she says "the capital gazette" w located down the hall. they had such a normal day going. they go into this building. then this happens. they were put on lockdown. as the vide showshem walk out with their handsn their heads. many of them did not know what happened. some did who were with "the capital gazette." others were asking what happened, what happened.ut word ever m carried. when people found out that a potential bombas possibly involved with this, that's when they're like oh my gosh, this

was horrible. you have people who are reuniting with theiramily and friends. when it was going on some of them were sending text messages, photos, showing themselves really locked down in place, concerned aboutthemselves as they walked across, they were hugging each other, kissing, just happy to be reunited let's roll some video. excuse me, roll some sound from a woman who we spoke to. she is the mother of four. she was in the mall when this happened. was very scared when the shooting took place. >> what's your reaction? you have four kids purpose you were in the mall when it happened. your reaction? >> i was worried at first ndviously. i was with a fr and we immediately started praying and thinking, younow, how do we deal with, what's god going to do and people he been so kind. >> now, there are people who so kind trying to console and support the people who were actually in that buildng when

it happened. it's really nice to see after such tragedy seeing people come together and sayingre you okay. giving them kleenexes, giving them bottled water. the first responders bng very compassionate and understanding. we're going to continue to bring you updates where these families are reuniting at annapolis mall back to yo >> thank you. we are getting some new information in on just the lengths that this suspect has gone to conceal his identity. authorities are now trying to use some facial recognition. >> let's go to scott macfarlane. he's at our live desk with more from lawnforcement sources. >> now we have two senior law enforcement officials telling nbc news the suspect has attempted to or maged to obscure his fingerprints making it more difficult to identify who he is. the other rout they're taking using facial recognition software or checking some of erat are likely many surveillance ca in the area, 888 bestgate, sohey're

ying these fingerprints may be obscured. not exactly detailing how. they're trying lt nalternate ro. he's not talking. they don't have an identification nor whs he said e he's from. multiple senior law enforcement officials brieesd on the inigation speaking to nbc news help the wait goes on. 90 minutes until the next brief. >> let's recap what we do know about the guy. he's a young white male. that's pretty much all we have, right? >> clothing, black t-shirt, olive pants, possibly a long pony taylor long hair. they're estimating the age as 20s or 30s. a white male. we know the interrogation is ongoing and has been for some time. >> scott, it's been almost four hours. they talked to multiple witnesses. does this lead you to believe th he had no connection to

this paper or people at the paper may not have recognized him or known who he was? >> the surveillance video could come from anywhere. it could come from the newspaper or elsewhere. they're having difficulty finding an identification to conne if there's any connection to the newspaper or targeting of the newspaper. this is the local newspaper that reports the high school football ores and the local wng says and of course the local news. this is a busy area. the newspaper is one fraction of what exists. you can see from the aerial images, there's so much there. there h there'shousing, businesses, law offices, and the shopping center where there have been icidents in the past and where police have trained for active shooter situations just across the street. >> it seems likely in a very short time we're going to see a picture of this suspect and y possibleven at this 8:00 news briefing. but that's a new one.

we haven't heard this bfore. obscuring fingerprints to conceal identity in a case like this. this is a tweet from a reporter, a community news editor and columnist. devastated and heartbroken. numb. please stop asking for info i'm in position to speak. just know cap gazette news reports give all they have every day. there are no 40 hour weeks. no big paydays. just a passion for telling stories from our community. heartbreaking. for him to say no more questions, they're in the business of asking questions. this is how incredibly tough eis is for peo who cover the community but they also cover tragediesin their own backard or crime as well. they talk to victims all the time >> and troubling to think if --

to flow-up on your question, the people in gazette" office apparently didn't recognize the guy. so often we think of a disgruntled employee or a domestic situation being involved and the idea that this person possibly targeted "the capital gazette" because it was aedia organization. >> and not knowing anyone in particular. > right. we don't know anything about this person's motive yet. so that's speculation. so many -- that's got to be what they're thinkg,hose people who work "the capital gazette." >> we want to go back to tracee wilkins. she's on the scene and has beenv from ty start. tracee, you've talked to so many people today. we just heard you talk to the congressman who represent this is district. what are you hearing now? >> reporter: everyone is talking now about, and i mentioned this, but we needed to confirm that

this suspect had taken steps to ensure that they wouldl not be to identify him by removing his fingerprints or doing whatever it is he has done to obscure his fingerprint as it stands, what was the motive? why would he go in and open fire? these folks are reportingws community who's retired, who will be playing at the

softball game in what is a sleepy town of annapolis. this is where the state's business is conducted, but this is a place where these types of things just don't happen. surely in that newsroom no one was prepared.de the anne ar police department was saying they were prepared and just a week ago had completed a training for this kind of incident and wer on the scene within 60 seconds able to op this before it got any worse. five people killed. injured.of people we talked about congressman anthony brown who has been insr this nm a number of times. he described it as an open air newsroom where you can walk in and see pretty much everybody in there. on most days when he goes in there are eout ten peo there. if we're looking at about ten people in tt newsroom, five killed and a number injured, it gives you an idea of what we're dealing with.ic ponot saying exactly how many were in the newsroom today. this investigation is ongoing.a we'reing for another press

conference that should begin at 8:00 p.m. hopefully we'll have more answers. >> we're going to be streaming that live on nbc washington. there lot of information still unfolding after a deadly mpage "the capital gazette" office building in annapolis. to give you some perspective, this is o 888 bestgate road. right near the annapolis mall.am thatge started about 2:30 this afternoon "the capital rezette." police were theithin 60 seconds. >> if you're just joining us, here's where things snd right now. five have been killed, several others treated in air hospitals fo gunshot wounds. the suspect a young man in his 20s was armed with a shotgun and is being questioned right now.a ag, he is in no way cooperating with police. just minutes ago we learned an explosive device was also recovered at that office building. >> let's take a look at some

live pictures from chopper 4 up scene.he you can see there's still quite a lot of police activit there on bestgate road at this office building that housedt "the ca gazette" and so many other medical and other types of offices. we heard the gentleman on the phone tell eslier about being up on a high floor, soit a pretty tall building right near the annapolis mall. >> there are 170 people who work in thatffice building that's foustories tall. but that -- when we talk about an explosive device being recovered how much worsehings could have been had there actually been something detonated inside that building. that is a lot of people. the newsroom much smaller. we have not gotten a firm figure on how many do work inside that glass enclosred nem. >> very troubling story. it seems like we are coverino far any of these now.

secondovered this is the one in maryland just since march. we want to hear a full wrap uprom jennifer johnson, but as we look- as the chopper zooms out from chopper 4, you can see this is a ery highly trafficked area very commercial. we often see town homes in the corner of your screen. it's a heavy center for activity. no schools nearby, but there are activity cenrs that children go to after school. of course school is out now anyway. as you can see, a lotff ofe buildings in that particular building there which is a large building and a number of oice buildings, a number of doctors offices i should say and lawfi s as well.sw as well as that newspaper which was on the first floor. >> i look at that scene and think of howany people i that office building, how many people in the mall, the shopping mall nearby, how about all those

homes th homes that are right nearby, all of those people and all of their families spread out. they're all scared to death and anxious tonight andill be for years to come. and all caused by one senseless act. >> and how many lives you point t it touched today. still the reverberations will be qoing on foruite some time. this is a story we will be talking about for a while. again, so many questions d unanswe the big one, the motive. who this gunman is. all we know is i that he in his i recall 20s and used some type of long gun, possibl a shotgun, and one witness that reporter who we've been quoting his tweets all afternoon said that he heard him reload thatgun. but it was the quick response of police and fire rescue that o brought thisn end and he surrendered.

no one injured in >> it could have been even worse. we want to recap what has transpired today in a report from jennifer johnson. she has more. >> reporter: shots fired in annapolis maryland. >> phil davis, a gazette reporter, tweeted a single shooter shot multile people at my office, some of whom are dead. >> erere was an active sho incident. five people are dead. several more are rounded a in the care of anne arundel medical center. >> everyone inside was sent to y neaepartment store while investigatoto

investiga combed the scene. the investigation is in very early stages. jennifer johnson,bc news, annapolis maryland. >> we want to go back now to jackiebe en. she has new reaction from people who work at that shopping mall who could tell something was wrong. jackie. >>eporter: well,doreen, one of the things that we see in a situation likehi is that usually a plan goes into effect where folks ared notifi but it doesn't always happen the way that was planned. so a did talk to few people who said that there was no overhen ancements inside the mall and to describe to wyo where this building is, you hi would almost it is part of the mall. it is that close. a lot of people, cnsrs aree some garages and part of the parking lot that they can't get to. they are now being able to come outside and get in their they told me the way they found

out what was going on wast througitter, through their phones, saying something happened, are you okay, trying o figure out exactly what is going on here. there's a multi-story parking rage over there and we just talked to a woman who came out of her business. she said that finally toward the end of the day they did do some type ofl robocanside thema . we know that some stores are open and some are closing do we have available what she told me, that we may be able to turn around the sound from what she told me? ehe owns a business here in the -- i'veard a little bit through the news, social media, friends, and it just felt like itas the right thing to do and just hunker down until everyone

gets through it. >> i worked for nordstrom for a number of years before i opened my own store. it's just a shame. >> i've got another store in downtownnapolis. we have a pretty close relationship with everyone from the capital. it's just heartbreaking. >> that's the hometown paper. so many businesses impacted by this. i've been talking a lot about first responde all of this. >> and how fast theot to work. >> scott macfarlane, you were saying as many as ten, perhaps more agencies all comint ether, huh? >> and we're getting a good ense as to why that's a particularly good thing. this tragic story is taking a very unexpected twist. multiple law enforcement t official i are telling news 4 and nbc news the suspect in a this c has somehow managed to obscure his fingerprints making the idecation in his case

even more difficult. they say the shooter is not talking. he doesn'tave an identit on him, identification card, nor was he indicating where he's from. so this is anne arundel county police's investigation. they seem to be the lead, but the fbi is on site. we have fbi special agents from the baltimore field office and from the anne arundel county field office. also the atf is there.mb multiple quads were there. there's been a report of asp ted explosive device. the anne arundel county bomb squad and the prinorge's county fire department sent its bop squad as well to assist. deral law enforcement officials there. state officials. at least 50 maryland state troopers to help with what might be an increasingly complex investigativ. they to figure out who this individual is and all indications so far the suspect not making that easy and not

cooperating. >> we've seen trees stranhese r circumstances. it's not always easy to find the history of the gun. >> facial recognition, either de you all to this, it may not be surprising for law enforcement to share images fro

security cameras. we've seen any other number of other cases wherei police share a photo publicly to get tips to getur help figg out who that is. >> this is one of those complexes where there will be no shortage of surveillance camer. in this day and age very few have a shortage of surveillance cameras. you have media affixed to medical centers, doctors offices, to law offices and perhaps to shoppin areas where they're always a good number of high volume surveillanceas camer. >> only a matter of time to figure out this guy's identity. keep us sted. > we want to head back to shomari stone. he is at that reunification point.

tell us about this process of the workers being reunited with their families. >> the workers were inside the billing right acros the street. they were sheltered in place floor by floor, room by room, determined everything was clear. they walked out of that building across the street to the annapolis mall where they were met by their family and friends. many of them walked inside and there was a private area where they could be together and consoled. one woman told me she was a therapist. i don't know if she made it to the people who were grieving. we do know there was a therapist at the scene. police are back out here live. they're scouring the area. you can see that area, there's yellow crime scene tape up.av youe law enforcement officers. there's a perimeter set up as they continue to methodicall vigorously look through all the

evidence in that building right across thee s. governor larry hogan is advising people to stay away from you. there are people who work in the mall, th is crate and barrel. police are talking to witnesses and gathering details.y mae coming to the scene to try and find their mothers and fathers who are in the lord & taylor area reurk nighting wini. >> we want to share another tweet that has just come out. this one from capital gazette reporter jimmy, the editor of the capitalazette. he said we try to expose corruption. we fight to get access to puic records. and bring to light the inner ve workings of nment despite major hurdles put in our way. ut reporters and editors their all into finding the truth. that is our mission.

will always be. ou really feel for everybody "the capital gazette" right now. so painful to go through thisd ose five of their colleagues and some others that are very seriously injured. >> we talk about all those people reunited with their families. newsrooms are families, i'maure newsroom that small. everyone knows everyone and their families and everying else. how painful and how close tragic news hits em. >> a newsroom like that has i'm sure a wide range of ages and different cultural backgrounds and a family like something happens to one person in the family, it happens to all of them. just really really very sad. >> well, we've been bringing you

aerials all afternoon since this started to unfold about2:34. we've heard from the governor. we've heard from law enforcement officers, from multiple agencies. there are still so many questions unanswerre as the sun starts to set in annapolis. at 888, this address again is 888, that'igthe building there, it is five stories in fact and "the capital gazette is on the bottom floor there. that's where the gunman opened fire through a glass wi the hallway there. we've heard from first reenonders in those eme calls. >> we're going to go back live to tracee wilkins. at what i understand? tracee wilkins has been at the scene for several hours this afternoon. tracee, anything new from your location? >> reporter: absolutely, doreen. i want to show you what it's

look objection looking like here on bestgate. we had emergency cars, policeer off crowding this entire roadway. but as promised, bestgate is now closed and they do not want anys vehicln this road that are not a part of this investigation. in fact, st a little whilgo we had an officer who walked by and asked is there a delegate here, is there a delegate here with a silver car who needs to come and move this vehicle? they need to keep this area in pristine condition. the trees b arelocking the building from our van tage point, but just t beyondse trees, that's where the building is where this shooting happened, where the capital za -- gazett newspapers are housed. this is a community paper and also covers the statehouse and takes care of some serious business here in annapolis as well as the everyday goings on i of what's hap here and the kind of work that community papers do.

cacause this is the tal, as e editor mentioned, talking about trying to obtain government records and looking for transparency, this is the kind of work this paper does. there are a lot of questions about the gunman. there is anu very usual twist. someone who was willing to be taken into custody but is not cooperating with investigators at this point. has obscured his fingerprints making it more difficult to identify who he is. ere are a lot of questions and they need these answers. a lot of them come from the gunman who as far as we know is not cooperating or talking about investigators. taking a look at the street and seeing the extreme differencet from wt looked like a little while ago when it was completely crowded with vehicles d noweeing officers moving their cars out is speaking to this xt level of investigation and the next steps that they're taking. again, a lot of focus is going to be on the inside of that building and as you can see the

surrounding arsu oundi surrounding area as well. >> we want to let you know we are going to be airing "nbc nightly news," then at 7:30 we are going to have a special report. er >> our live ce returns at 7:30. we plan to be live covering that 8:00 news briefin ay tuned to nbc 4 for more coverage coming on nightly news at 7:00 and we'll be back with our live coverage at 7:30 running through that news conference. we're trying to reach maryland senator chris van holland. if someone is with the senator'g offict him on the phone. a lot of people so frustrated and angry at so m shootings on they lay the blame congress for failure to take some action. >> we want to head back to

bensen. what are you seeing and hearing from where you are with people? >> i can well you tha are going to bring you an interview. representative john sarbane i th us. you are here along with a number of other representatives. regive us your tion. >> well, it's a tragedy. this is my district.i now annapolis well. it's a small tourrwn newspap it's been around for ages. these reporters know people that live inhis community and in a sense the newsroom reflects the community. they do feature articles, human interest articles about people that live here in annapolis and anne arundel county. and so there will be real ripple effec, shop waves that g out from this tragedy. >> i was talking about that with a photographer on the way over here. you some of the hardest work and quite honestly they're not getting rich doing this. hey love thecommunity. that is why they do their jobs.

>> absolutely. they cover the community in a really human way. they build those relationships. that's how they get reall good stories. they develop stories over time. rit's just hific this would happen. >> i can tell you're in shock like the rest of us here today. ank you for joining us. again, we expect another update, but you can see we are getting a lot of members of state and local politics who are coming here simply because they knew these folks so well, knowhese folks so well and just wt to come and see what they can do. >> jackie, thanks so .mu we have maryland senator chris van holland on the phone with us now. senator, thank you for calling us right away. were aiate that. >> thank you for covering what is an aful situation and keeping people inform. >> it certainly is.

so many people are not just sad, but also frustrated and there's a sense of resignation that no one's doing anything about this shooting in public places problem. d they lay the blame on congress. what are your thoughts about that?ca >> well, this not become the new normal. i'm definitely of theie v that time foratience and nice statements ran out a very long time ago. look, we do not know the specific facts of this particulooting. i've been in touch with both the county executive and the mayor and the emergency services folks and we will get more information. but what we do know, what we do know is that there are measures that congress can take that will save lives in the country. tha willeduce the overall death toll. whether it's the daily gun violence in o streets or mass

shootings. maryland actually has pretty good common sense type gun safety laws, but maryland islaot an and much of the gun violence and death by gun violence in maryland occurs with guns and firearms brought from t other s that do not have the same laws. so we need to pass universalim al background checks. we need to limit the capacity of these semi automatic weapons. we should ban all semi automatic assault weapons. that willave livesround the country. we don't know the specific circumstances of this case and this particular tragedy, but wew do kno measures should be taken right away toede the overall toll rom gun violence around the country. >> senator, so many agencies came together this afternoon. what a you hearing about the investigation? have you learned anything? >> well, i've heard primarily what you've been reporting. they've been trying to get

information from the shooter as has been reported. the shooter hasn not b cooperating with police in terms o of providing information. so we don't kno the motive. i do want to applaud the first responders. all accounts thewere on the scene within 60 to 90 seconds lp helping to immediately arrest the shooter and others in the hbuilding. myrt goes out to all the folks who work "the capital gazette." they are a local t phil davis, who's the crime reporter who was tweeting out a lot of the information early on, is somebody i know. he's a good reporter. this is sort of a great sortf typical american small-townne paper that brings people information about what's

happening in their community and i just -- the are the folks who have their finger on the pul of the community. now they're in a terrible situation where they've become the storyms theves. a tragic story. >> well said. >> we know you spent time serving in an office in annapolis for many years. this has got to be very painful for you. >> yeah. i've been out to "the capital gazette." s you know, it's one of those great buzzing local newsrooms, right? where everybody is sort of out in the open, phones a ringing and people are on their twitter accounts and following everything that's goi on. and so, you know, nowhey've been covering things for that , community need to make sure we're all there for them. to the larger point, doing everything we can to make sure at doesn't become the new

normal. odo worry that people get numb to it capitol hill. people need to wake up and take measures. and i should also say it's important that vers hold people accountable for their positions on these really importantes is of life and death. again, it's not necessarily in th particular case. but when you know there are things you can do to save lives around the country and reduce gun violence and you don't do them, that is gross negligence. thank you for sharing your insights and taking time with them. we appreciate it. we're struck by the fact that we still df't have a photograph this guy. they can't identify him. he's obsecurcured his fingerpri. you would think they would want to get the photo out as soon as possible. >> hopefully soon. >> i imaginele at certainly by the 8:00 news conference that we'll be carrying live here on

news 4. scott macfarlane, we come back to you at the live desk to find out if tre's any new information or that you've been able to gather. off the worki information we got about an hour ago from law enforcement ficials that spoke with news 4 hd spoke with nbc news help the suspect seems te tried to deliberately mask his fingerprints to make himself more difficult to identify and also found without i.d. and not indicating where he's from. really not cooperating with the investigation at all.tr thes sck by a few things senator said. it's really an indication of what this kind of year has been. just three months ago he issued a paralle statement after the great mills shooting, the school shooting incident. this is the second time the junior senator from maryland hae issued stants about major shooting incidents in his home state. it's customary for senators, mbers of the u.s. house to be briefed at some point by federal law enforcement becaus they do

have oversight of the federal lau law enforcement agencies. and able to disseminate information. it's interesting the senator has been sold as well they d know who this man is. they're still trying to figure out who the guman is. all indications are federal law enforcement, part o teamsat thare either investigating what happened. we know the atf is there and t fbi is there. it's an important thing that came out of the interview. >> we have just gotten word that law enforcement has identify thd g this gunman by facial recognition software. they are trying to get a search warrant to search his home. his name has not been released. again, five people are dead. several others injured. we hope to have thato photo share at 8:00. but we don't know. >> but it's a big step forward they have identified that suspect. that's all we know. they're not sharingnying

about his identity or where he's from or any possible connection that he mightave to any of the people who were killed and wounded in thi shooting today. i'm one of e correct my error. i misspoke. i said we would be covering that 8:0p.m. news conference live. in fact, our live coverage will begin right after "nbc nightly news" at7:30. we'll be live with any updates between 7:3 and:00 and then we will live stream that news iefing at 8:00 on our app. shington.com. >> the big question remains, what was the motive. did he know someone there? had he worked there? was he disgruntled? was it ar domestic, was this a media target? we don't know that it has certainly put fear into a lot of newsrooms and that larger community there in annapolis.

scott, we'reo going back to you at the live desk. what more are you hearing about this facial recognition. >> our reporting partner, not only have local authorities had some level of success with facial recognition, it looks like they've got a courtau orized search under way of the suspected gunman's home which wouldca inde they got a federal judge to sign off on a search warrant to go into a home. the federal court is not far away. nbc news reporting local authoritying aar authorities in the process of executing a search warrant os the sct's home. >> we will have much more information on this at 7:30 and at 11:00 as well. >> we expect to. we will see you in about half an hour. stay tuned to nbc 4. br

king news tonight, the shooting massacre at a newspaper, a gunman opening fire inside the office building. >> we do have ties, and we do have serious injuries. >> at least five killed, terrifying accounts of reporters oliding under desks as it unfded. tonight a suspect is in custody but what s wae motive? supreme showdown. the battle lines are drawn. who is on president trump's short list to succeed retiring swing justice anthony kennedy? explosive battle on capitol hill over the mueller probe. >> whatever you got, finish it the hell up because th country is being torn apart. >> tense moments as republicans grilled to p justice and fbi