and jim cavanaugh, thanks to you as always. >>> and turning to some breaking news. we had just learned that a formal lab has confirmed the suspicion that that white powdery substance found in the west wing on sunday was in fact positive for cocaine. the discovery led it a brief evacuation of the white house sunday night. joining us now is nbc white house correspondent mike memoli. mike, where do things stand now? this is so unusual. you and i have covered the white house for years. i can't even fathom anything like this having been found before in the west wing and i go back to the '70s at the white house. this is pretty wild. >> reporter: absolutely extraordinary, andrea. this new conclusive test confirms what had been the preliminary field test conducted by d.c. fire personnel who were called in on sunday night after the discovery of this suspicious substance by a uniformed officer in the secret service that was conducting a routine patrol of the white house. so, to recap on the developments from -- that we have been reporting from yesterday, this was found, we un

joining us right now in the last 24 hours, rehema ellis as well as jim cavanaugh, former hostage negotiator for the atf. a lot covered. what would be the summary of what we learned? >> there was a lot covered there, richard. first and foremost, the authorities came out and said this act was done randomly, it was shooting and perpetrated by someone asked of the officer if they intended to cause harm. and the police commissioner said, yes, indeed. they are still investigating and analyzing material but they said what happened was quoting the police commissioner, it was disgusting and horrifying. an abhorrent act of violence. she praised her officers respond to be a radio call of shots fired. they quickly responded to that and they helped out some victims who were shot, some officers taking them to the hospital. while other officers pursued the suspect on foot. and they were able to stop that person, authorities say, from firing and injuring and killing more people. so there was a lot of praise for the officers and the way that they behaved and the way they conducted themselves. they asked for