i want to bring in former fbi special agent brad garrett right now. we're learning more from the eyewitnesss, you got the sense that the gunman came in, strong burst of sustained gunfire for several minutes around 2:00 a.m. takes the hostages and holds them for about three hours. it's hard to know which killing happened when. >> exactly. my sense would be because law enforcement was on the scene in fairly short order. there was an off-duty officer there that engaged the shooter at some point, law enforcement if they continued to hear shots would have gone in long before 5:00. it's a bit of a mystery, based on all these mass shootings we've tke years as to why he stopped and waited for three hours before this ultimately ended in his death. so, there's a lot to be filled in here. but, you know, we're still not also with any clarity to what motivated him. is this a mixture of radical islamic isis thinking, anti-gay thinking. the two go hand in hand with isis with the brutality that isis has demonstrated against gay individuals in syria and in iraq. you k

i want to go to brad garrett. we just heard the words from the mom who was dealing with this, no word from her son and it's so hard to sort through these kind of scenes after the fact. >> and the problem, george, sadly so as time goes on and not more communication can only take you to one dark place and i'm sure that's what she's feeling. i've sensed it in her voice that you have got 50 plus people that haven't been identified or maybe some have at this point. i will tell you for emergency services and local law enforcement, it is one of the worst things but necessary to do which is to go through these mass casualties, look at these horriblebly maimed bodies and figure out identities of people so they can then go to relatives to aunts, uncles, loved ones and give them the facts. but you know when you have this many, it's one thing to have four or five or six that we typically talk about at a school shooting but now you have 50 plus. this is going to take i think most of today to probably sort that out. >> okay bra

but now there is a new lead that has led brad garrett to the banks of the ohio river.ere was a kid in prison named corey hammersly. >> reporter: he got deep in the drug scene. and one year after lauren's disappearance, had a meltdown high on drugs. >> he steps out of his apartment. has nothing on but a hat. takes a firearm and starts shooting into a house. >> a naked man armed with a gun. >> firing as many as 15 rounds. >> reporter: captured, prosecuted and sentenced to 24 years in state prison where a new lead emerged. >> this is coming from another inmate that was locked up with corey. they were playing cards. lauren's picture coming up on the television. >> immediately, corey looks up at the tv and says, man, i knew the guys who did that. >> reporter: the inmate who served time with hammersly agreed to recount what hammersly told him if he blacked out his face. >> they were drinking and got to ecstasy. she od'd and day hook her to the ohio sbrifr disposed of her body. >> reporter: this is a hard lead you are looking at? >> absolutely. the simplest is, she died at a

and brad garrett retracing her steps. >> the last time she was seen alive is exactly where we're standing>> i really just would like to -- be able to bring lauren home. >> reporter: lauren spierer grew up in the suburb >> i'm going to be a princess. >> she's a great kid. high energy. very caring. >> very caring. >> loving. ♪ i love you you love me ♪ ♪ we're a happy family >> she really had a zest for life. >> i love that. so lauren. >> reporter: her heart broken mother and father, try now to smile through their tearps as they remember the good times. the child ballerina. >> mom and dad, i just want to say thank you. i'm having an amazing night and i love you two so much. >> reporter: the coming of age of her bat mitzvah. >> her joy in living life. >> reporter: you are proud parents. >> very proud. her parents eeps dream came on june 3rd, 2011. >> we were eating dinner and the phone rang. and robbie said, char, lauren's missing. so -- it's really heart stopping. you know? >> lauren spierer has become a house hold name. >> one of the highest profile missing person's cases in america. >> we

i want to bring brad garrett back in here. we heard from eyewitnesss. we're getting more information about the shooter and learn more about what was happening inside that club from 2:00 to 5:00, and what the police officers had to do when they went in at 5:00 a.m. one thing we're unclear on, at least i've been unclear on from watching the police briefings so far, were all of the victims killed by the shooter or was there some critical damage when the police went in at 5:00. >> which will take a while to sort out, but not a long while because of caliber of weapons. but the problem is, when you do a dynamic entry into a location where conceivably there are still dozens of people, the lighting is probably not the be best. you may or may not know where the shooter may be. how do you hone that down, not wanting to harm anyone but the shooter. is that possible? yes. particularly when you talk about return of fire which is how it's described that omar returned fire to the officers, so you have this gunfight going on inside the club. to your question, it is cer

i want to bring in former fbi special agent brad garrett right now. we're learning more from the eyewitnesss, you got the sense that the gunman came in, strong burst of sustained gunfire for several minutes around 2:00 a.m. takes the hostages and holds them for about three hours. it's hard to know which killing happened when. >> exactly. my sense would be because law enforcement was on the scene in fairly short order. there was an off-duty officer there that engaged the shooter at some point, law enforcement if they continued to hear shots would have gone in long before 5:00. it's a bit of a mystery, based on all these mass shootings we've talked about over the years as to why he stopped and waited for three hours before this ultimately ended in his death. so, there's a lot to be filled in here. but, you know, we're still not also with any clarity to what motivated him. is this a mixture of radical islamic isis thinking, anti-gay thinking. the two go hand in hand with isis with the brutality that isis has demonstrated against gay individuals in syria

. >> let's get more on that from fbi special agent brad garrett. apparently this thing unfolded over several hours. the first gunfire with police on the scene around 2:00 a.m. the gunman goes inside the club. holds hostages for up to three hours. around 5:00 a.m., the fbi and police go in with the s.w.a.t. team. describe how that decision would be made. >> the real key is no further casualties or injuries top officers or people attdi club. it's about intelligence gathering. for example, did they eventually get cameras, mikes inside the club to see what's going on to assess what's going on before they do an entry? where there any explosives? the suggestion is, he had maybe some sort of device on him? were the doors mined in a certain way? you have to eliminate those things before going crashing through the doors. the other thing is maybe he stopped shooting. with no additional gunfire, it guys you time to collect intelligence. then, for whatever reason, around 5:00 or so, they made a dynamic entry. killed him. released 30-plus hostages. >> officials

and we'll bring in brad garrett who is a retired fbi agent. we keep hearing the shooter was very well prepared and organized. it sounds like he had been planning this for a long time? >> yeah. think about this. he had to travel maybe a couple of hours presuming he was at his home in florida. he would have to know that nightclub is there. how do you get into this nightclub. what weapon are you going to use? if he had explosives he would have to acquire those along the way. the idea this could be a impulsive act, this isn't going to work. i suspect that law enforcement may now already start seeing some of those links. this is a kid in his late 20s. there's social media traffic by him. they have probably found some of his associates. there's some reference he may have been in their database previously. all of those things will give them a faster window into omar as to what makes him tick and how he actually put this together. >> one of the questions that is unanswered was whether he targeted this club specifically because it was a gay nightclub a

. >> let's go to brad garrett. former fbi special agent. it sounded like a dramatic scene beginning to unfold around 5:00 a.m. when the police decided to go in with their bearcat and try to take over and end the situation. >> it's one of those situations george, where you have to make a call at a certain point to save lives. think about this, now, maybe three hours into the shooting, we still don't know how this played out. did he come out once, engage the officers, go back in and shoot again then barricade himself? all are unphone known at this p. you have to be decisive if you're the on-scene commander as to when we're going to stop this. nobody else is going to get hurt. >> i want to go one more time to lauren lyster. the back with more information as they got it. what's happening now? >> reporter: sure. we heard about the possible 30 hostages or people rescued. we did see a few minutes ago, a long line of people mostly men walking down a street that is within this crime scene area. we certainly can't get to this. boarding a bus. and the

meanwhile, we want to bring in former fbi agent brad garrett, who is an abc news consultant. brad, amplify the point pierre was making about the phenomenon that keeps up so many of our national security officials and domestic security officials. the lone wolf phenomenon. >> the problem is dan, identifying people out there with no formal connection to a group. we've been lucky over the years as far as islamic extremists are concerned. they've been sloppy and said things over the internet or contacted an informant et cetera to head them off. you go to a individual who is maybe keeping their mouth shut. they develop an ideology that motivates them to go commit this type of megaviolence. and you know, you also could have two things going on here. could it be driven by an isis-inspired thinking? perhaps. is there an anti-gay overlay to it? perhaps. so as the fbi asac in orlando said this could go a number of directions. that it probably is some extremist. but it is an anti-gay organization? driven by isis? or some affiliated organization? remains to be seen. i'll tell you the idea

agent brad garrett said keeping out shooters like what happened in orlando isn't easy. >> when you haveeople that are willing to die to kill other people that is difficult to defend against untiles -- unless you turn everything into a prison. amy: many times it comes to get information from sources like friends or family before a tragedy like this happens. >> it's just sad. for freddie it's all keepal the customers safe. saying they are not revealing all the security measures they are taking. in the meantime, he is working to send a message. >> trying to show the whole i guess world how we amy: amy aubert, abc7 news. leon: tonight is a night to eat or hang out partying outdoors opposed to staying indoors anyway. steve: soak it in. enjoy it. tomorrow night is the last we will be able to do it for this week. changes are on the way. that will mean the wet weather. we get a little bit of rain. tiny bit. take a look at what is going on for the baseball game tonight. for those headed that way, temperatures are in the middle 70's by 8:00 tonight. the sun will set around 8:30. with temperatures

former fbi agent brad garrett is joining us now, brad, jeffs removes his gps monitor, he goes on thelots of this is exactly what was going to happen. what is the fbi doing to try to track him down? >> what has he stated in recent times to other cult members or people who used to be in the cult who possibly may know about safe houses. they'll look at cell phone, hard lines, the real key, what conversations has he had in recent times about fleeing? >> brad, as you know "the salt lake tribune" is reporting he had an idea the fbi was zeroing in on him. he had an elaborate escape plan. >> i don't think it will be easy to find him. he has a lot of money. thousands of cult followers who are willing to hide him. apparently he last a number of safe houses. he has property in south america. his ability to secrete and move, i think, will be very, very difficult for the fbi to track and my guess is this is not going to end in any short-term time. >> i was going to say how long do you think he's on the run? what are the of finding him ever? >> well, the key is every fugitive at some point gets sl