we have our justice correspondent evan perez on the phone right now some more information. evan, as far as we know, according to the u.s. navy, one report of an injury confirmed. there may be more. we don't know what's going on inside that building. do you know anything else? >> reporter: the fbi is now on the scene and they're trying to get into the building to try to secure it. now, this is still an active situation. it doesn't appear as barbara mentioned that they have apprehended the suspect. there are lots of active officials on the scene so we still don't know whether or not how many more people have been injured in this. it's still developing at this hour. >> okay, stay on the line, evan. we have paul corson on the phone, on the ground at the naval yard. i want to go to him because i really want to know what the scene is like. so tell us, paul. paul, are you there in. >> yes, i am. is that carol? carol, paul corson roughly at the intersection of eighth and l streets. u.s. park police put up a helicopter on reports i'm hearing this guy may have made it to the roof of o

our justice reporter evan perez joining us on a different story, fbi, he was at a briefing with fbi sources what are you learning, evan? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. the fbi director did a briefing with reporters, his first since the shooting and he's telling us new details of what went down in building 197. the suspect entered around 8:00 as we have heard before. the remmington .870 shotgun sawed off, a new detail we didn't know before. we previously had been told by sources and the fbi believed that he was standing on the fourth floor and shooting down at the atrium where many people were killed. it turns out, they've now determined, that when he came out of the bathroom with the the gun he immediately starting shooting randomly with no discernible pattern, nobody he was trying to hit per se. he shot people on the fourth floor. went down to the third floor, down to the lobby, came back up and continued shooting. this lasted 30 minutes. at some point he shot a guard and took his baretta pistol, handgun. and when he ran out of shotgun bullets, shells, he started using the pistol to kill

let's go now to cnn reporter evan perez, who has information on this. evan? >> that's correct. one of the things that happens today, fbi and atf are going over everything that they can find about how this suspect was able to, a, acquire the firearm that he had and whether or not, you know, he was -- he should have been cleared to be able to enter this facility. as pamela has mentioned, he was able to buy a gun in recent days. clearly, whatever information the federal government had on him was not enough to stop that purchase. and apparently not enough to stop him from getting security clearance to be able to get into the washington navy yard. now the other part of the scene today is the fbi and the atf and other agencies are going over the scene. all the shell casings from all the shots fired yesterday, that is a big part of the job today. they're trying to figure out how many shots were fired by the suspect, how many shots were fired by law enforcement. in these types of incidents, there's always friendly fire incidents. you have to account for these types of things. all the i

i want to bring in evan perez now. because evan was the one who just broke that news i shared with you. what else can you tell us? you're finding out about the weapons that aaron alexis had and how he gained access. tell me more. >> reporter: right. we were told this morning that he apparently drove in, parked and made his way right over to the, right over to the location, the building where the shooting took place. he walked straight up to the location that overlooks the atrium and started shooting. he was armed with an ar-15, with a rifle and with a glock semi-automatic. it is believed, the fbi believes that most of the shooting was done using an ar-15. at this hour, the fbi agents have determined he was probably, he was the only shooter. as you know there is still someone else that they're trying to, the dc police is trying to figure out whether there's any association. but the fbi has determined there was only one shooter at the scene today. >> and evan, in terms of this other person, and i know you're working this

evan perez is our justice reporter, and what can i say? it's very, very scary stuff.of us who lived through that -- those brief hours in washington when that situation was so unclear. thanks very much, evan, for that report. we'll take another quick break. more news right after this. from. they flip the switch-- and the light comes on. it's our job to make sure that it does. using natural gas this power plant can produce enough energy for about 600,000 homes. generating electricity that's cleaner and reliable, with fewer emissions-- it matters. ♪ i remember thinking there's a lot i have to do... check my blood sugar, eat better. start insulin. today i learned there's something i don't have to do anymore. my doctor said with levemir® flexpen... i don't have to use a syringe and a vial. levemir® flexpen comes prefilled with long-acting insulin taken once daily for type 2 diabetes to help control high blood sugar. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button. no drawing from a vial. no refrigeration for up to 42 days. levemir® (insulin detemir [rdna origin] injection)

we're joined now from washington by evan perez.ad was what was really an abuse of power at the nsa? >> well, it is an abuse of power. and you know, the good news here is that it appears to be pretty rare. we have about a dozen incidents over the past decade that the nsa's inspector gualenl a letter to chuck grassley of iowa detailed yesterday. and one of the things is, this basically relates to signals intelligence, the nsa's power to spy on targets overseas. and it appears what has happened is you have these employees who decided they were going to use it to snoop on girlfriends or husbands to try to figure out if they were cheating on them and so on. one employee, for instance, used it to spy on apparently nine girlfriends over the period of five years. so it is one of those things that us know, the strangeness of the incidents really is, you know, raises eyebrows, but it looks like the nsa systems are there to catch these relatively quickingly and these employees are punished usually by being forced to resign or getting fired. >

ov evan perez live for us in washington. you got ahold of the indictment. what are these ex-soldiers charged with? >> they're charged with conspiracy to kill a federal agent, to try to import cocaine into the united states. but as you described just now, this indictment reads like a spy novel. the leader of this plot whose name is joseph hunter, he's the one that prosecutors say went by the nickname rambo. they say he's been a contract killer since he left the u.s. military in 2004. he was a trained sniper instruct instructor, so he knew what he was doing. and you had a couple other -- four other soldiers, one a u.s. military. a couple from germany, one from poland, and now the plot that the prosecutors have described is one in which they were essentially going to kill a dea agent and what they thought was an informant for the dea to try to stop the undermining of a drug trafficking organization. >> evan, how far along were they able to get with this plan? how far along were they with this plan? >> this was a stang. this was something that the dea set up wi

we're joined now by our justice correspondent evan perez with the latest on this investigation. get us up to speed on these changes in the details. clearly when these things start to roll out, evan, there are misreports that come in, specifically the weapon and about this person. but get us up to speed on the very latest if you could. >> right, ashleigh. as you know, these scenes, you've covered many of them, are always very confusing, even for law enforcement, enlaw enforcement officers who have done this for many years. yesterday the d.c. police chief at a news conference was telling us there might have been two other shooters. we now know there was only one. as you can see, the confusion of the initial event brings forward some of these confusing details. now, we know that he came on board -- i'm sorry. we know that he came onto the navy yard property yesterday with a shotgun. that's the latest information from investigators. we know that they recovered a couple of other handguns at the scene, one of them investigators now believe was taken from a guard. one of the first perso

evan perez is following the investigation in washington. getting there from law enforcement? >> reporter: hi, michael. that's right. the authorities today are still trying to interview witnesses. they're trying to go through all the videotape. trying to make sure that they will try to figure out exactly what the order of events was on monday. we know he entered building 197. he goes up to the fourth floor, as you just showed. he comes out and appears he starts shooting randomly. he's not hunting anyone in particular. on the fourth floor, the authorities say there is some i.t. support office there which he may have been familiar with. and one of the questions, obviously, is was there a workplace issue? was there something that set him off that brought him there on monday to start shooting. that is still something they're struggling with. they don't quite note how to put it together. but at this point, it can loos like he goes through the building, shooting randomly. goes down to the first floor. then back up. all of this goes down about 30 m

i want to bring the the justice reporter evan perez.us through what we are seeing here. >> that's right. you see, the -- fbi video that was released this afternoon shows him driving into the navy yard in his suv. parks it and see him going into the building. going into the bathroom where he has this bag. he comes out with just the sawed -- off shotgun and you can see him -- seeming to walk down the hallway stalking victims. at win point you see people to be running scared for their lives. but, you know, from the picture you can see he's almost looking like he's at a s.w.a.t. team, looking for victims and fbi did not release actual video of him shooting. but you can see him going down the hallway, going down the third floor, first floor, coming back up, and the -- fbi said the -- entire shooting took place about one hour -- took about one hour to go down before law enforcement was able to shoot him. >> the fbi also released more information about the killer today. what did they reveal? >> well, they said that -- apparently from what -- f

all of our correspondents, evan perez, susan candyiotty have been doing reporting. when you piece together what is happening, it is chilling how this ban the in such a matter of fact way. the suspect had an i.d.ch drove up to the gate, showed his i.d.. >> it was a legally valid id i. >> reporter: it was a legally valid i.d., he was working for hooul hewlett packard, drove onto the navy yard this way. parked his car, then allegedly walked into the building. again, the questions remain how did he walk into the building with an ar-15, a glock, it is supposed tosh a fortress, one of the most secure facilities in washington, d.c. it was just the idea to get in with all those firearms. according to all our source accounts, walked in the building, over the atrium where the cafeteria area is and started opening fire. >> do we know much about his own background? >> his own background, this will raise questions. he was a contractor. he had the i.d. to be on the base. he did work for hewlett packard. why was he here on this day? we were told he was staying at a hotel near here

evan perez is here to break it down. good morning. >> good morning. big issue for the president. as you know, president obama has based his entire administration on this idea that the u.s. the going to abide by international rules which he viewed as much different from the way president bush did. for president obama to now launch an attack which is clearly under international law, illegal because there is no provision in the u.n. charter for the u.s. to attack another nation unless it is in self-defense. or if it has the approval of the u.n. security council, it's a very, very difficult decision for the president. clearly, he's been working with lawyers in the last few days. they have come up with a way to essentially excuse this idea that the u.s. must act on humanitarian grounds and on national security grounds. the idea being that the u.s. and allies are under threat from the syrian regime. as you know, this is sort of a different way to go about it, carol. >> different, indeed. lawmakers are complaining the white house proposal for military author

evan perez and mike brooks, thank you.ear, the fbi chose not to air the graphic material and we did not either. >>> next, how does republican senator ted cruz feel after talking about obama care? and a lot of other stuff for more than 21 hours on the floor? our chief congressional correspondent dana bash asked him. >>> how do you feel standing there for so long? >> dana, to be honest, i feel terrific. i feel energized that the american people had an opportunity, i hope, to engage in this debate and have their voice heard. >> total tally of talking, twen hours, 18 minutes. that's how long cruz railed against obuma care and talked about, well, anything and everything. here's a sample. >> some people dismiss, oh, single payer, this is designed to go there. you know, that's just crazy tin foil hat wearing stuff. you know, there's an old saying, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. if you will forgive me, i want to take an opportunity to read two bedtime stories to my girls. i do so like green e

. >> evan perez, stand by. brian todd is also on the scene for us. brian, what are you learning? >> wolf, we can report that six local schools in this general area are on lockdown as well as one administrative building. to reiterate what evan said, it's a very heavy police presence. our photo journalist can pan to the left and we can see the squad cars. we've just seen metropolitan police reinforcements come in. you can shoot past that. we've seen metropolitan police here, we've seen fbi here. evan just reported the presence of atf officers, capitol hill police have been in the area. so extremely heavy law enforcement presence here at the washington navy yard. the shooting apparently occurred in the naval sea systems command building, building 197 of this complex. the washington navy yard. about 3,000 people work here. we can take a shot of this chopper right here, if we can. this apparently is some kind of a rescue chopper and we've seen kind of a rescue basket or something either hanging from it or along the entrance there. that chopper has been circling very, very close to the

evan perez, cnn reporter at the justice department says that the elite atf, bureau of alcohol tobaccoen an fire arps unit that assisted in and preending is tsarnaev after the boston attacks has been dispatched to the scene earlier today and trying to get the shooters here as they did so ably in boston and cambridge after the boston marathon attacks. we're waiting here for a press conference in about five or ten minutes where we're going to get the latest information. i can see the mayor and the police chief and other individuals who are going to be holding this press conference over there getting all their information together. as soon as it happens, i'm sure we'll bring it to you live. >> excellent. we're going to come back to you in a moment. thanks very much. tom fuentes, the former assistant director of the fbi is joining us on the phone right now. you know, it's not unusual by any means, even almost 3 1/2 hours since this incident occurred, tom, for there to be so much conflicting information coming in from official sources, shall we say, because the information is pretty fluid rig

cnn's evan perez joins us from washington with more on that. good morning. >> good morning, carol.e trying to catalog everything that went down, including all the shots fired. we now know the authorities tell us that this was a gun battle that lasted well over 30 minutes. apparently the suspect, aaron alexis, entered the washington navy yard with a small bag. he apparently had it in his car. he got into the building with his pass, went up to the fourth floor, got into a bathroom, reassembled the remington 870 he was carrying and came out and started shooting. we're told that in about seven minutes the first police officers on the scene started firing back, and they continued with a running gun battle, essentially going down the halls. he was ducking in and out of rooms with the police officers essentially pursuing him and trying to bring him down. it lasted well over 30 minutes. altogether about 40, 45 minutes perhaps before they were able to bring him down, carol. >> so just to make it a little more clear, he goes into the bathroom, reassembles this shotgun, then does he go direct

let's bring in our justice reporter, evan perez, had has been doing excellent reporting. you are learning about what exactly happened in that encounter. >> that's right, wolf. shortly after 8:00, when this all went down at the washington navy yard, about seven minutes after the shooting begins, the washington police, metropolitan police department and other departments, rushed to the scene and within seven minutes, they had begun shooting. there is now a gun battle that starts inside building 197, which is where the victims were shot and killed. the police end up engaging in a running gun battle, essentially, with the suspect, with alexis. he's up on the fourth floor, he's shooting down at the victims, and they start shooting at him as they are going through the building. lasts for about more than 30 minutes according to the police department, and so it takes about all together, probably about 40 minutes for this entire episode to go down. >> he was there with a shotgun, that apparently he purchased legally in virginia. did he have any other weapons as far as we know? >>

that information is just coming in from our justice reporter evan perez and meanwhile questions about security focus on police man power here at the navy yard ahead of the shootings as well as continuing fallout about the warning signs kpin r exhibited by the shooter before the rampage. one of america's top military officials sites obvious red flags that came up before aaron alexis went on his rampage at washington's navy yard. >> why they didn't get picked up, why they didn't get incorporated into the clearance process, what he was doing, those are all legitimate questions we'll be dealing with. >> questions over y alexis got and kept a secret security clearance after he had run ins with the law. last month he told police someone he was in an argument with sent three people to follow him and keep him away by sending vibrations into his body. that is from the police report that relays alexis taking people were talking to him through the wall and when he went no another hotel he heard the same voices talking to him through the walls, floor and ceiling. i asked tom fuentes what should h

evan perez joins me now from washington. the plan got a bit of an update.'re outside the washington convention center where the attorney general is speaking right about now. he's announcing essentially that this plan -- this new policy that they set in place a few weeks ago to change the way they handle nonviolent offenses is going to be retroactive, so one of the criticisms that happened after this policy was announced a few weeks ago was that there were people who were charged, people who are awaiting to be sentenced who have already pled guilty, and the concern was some of these people would not get the benefit of the new policy, so the attorney general is announcing today that essentially the policy is going to be now retroactive so those people can also benefit. this is something that there's a lot of support for, even among some conservatives. for instance, rand paul and patrick leahy are people working on congressional legislation to try to do something similar. right now, the administration is trying to do this by executive order while they wait for

law enforcement official is telling evan perez, there is an increasing concern that some of the terrorists who carried out the attack he is came alongside fleeing victim. the officials say this is making the effort to actually find out who was responsible difficult. the attack left as many as 63 people dead and of course it raise that's crucial question. where the attackers right now and are there more attacks in store? we'll have much more on that story coming up, including the search for one of the people who are possibly involve in the attacks. the woman known as the white widow. there is an alert out around the world for her arrest. still to come also, bill gates looks back on a mistake he made. is it way too late to change course now? and the latest on the costa concordia investigation. 20 months after that ship went down, they have found new human remains. >>> and a woman who fired a warning shot into a wall was sentenced to 20 years in prison. a major development in that story. it is stand your ground. >>> and a high school teacher who raped a student served only 31 days in jail eve

i want to bring in right now cnn justice reporter evan perez. what can you tell us, who is this man? >> his name is aaron alexis. he is a former navy man, former military man. 34 years old, originally apparently from texas, and the feds are still looking at what the motivation is for this. the going theory right now is perhaps that it's a workplace shooting, something he was unhappy about, and had some beef with people who work there or perhaps in the navy right now. the fbi is still focusing on that issue. >> he's a contractor, right? >> he worked with a contractor, a military contractor, that may have had access to the facility. so right now, they still don't know exactly how he made his way in, but one of the things they're working on, one of the theories they're working on, is that through his military contractor access, he was able to either be waved in or, you know, made his way in some other way. >> because it is a secure location, difficult to get in. the members of the public cannot just get in. >> that's right. that's right. >> i want

cnn justice reporter evan perez is here, he's getting more information on this suspect, among other things. what are you learning? >> we know he's a former navy man, so we know that the fbi is now trying to figure out exactly what connection he has in this building. right now, the going theory is this appears to be a workplace shooting of some kind, perhaps some beef he had with people inside the navy yard. right now -- >> we're looking for your microphone. they're not hearing you. here it is. >> here we go. sorry about that. >> i don't know if that's the microphone or this is the microphone. go ahead. talk to me. tell us what you know. >> well, right now, the fbi is still trying to figure out exactly what connection he has with this building, whether or not he was able to -- whether or not he had some beef with someone inside or whether there's some other reason why he came here today, but as of now, we know that he's a former navy man. we know that he worked previously with a former contractor. that's what the fbi believes. they're still trying to figure out exactly what brought him here

cnn justice reporter evan perez is working his law enforcement sources. etchings found on the gun alexis used? >> reporter: good morning, carol. yes, this is among the many clues that the law enforcement investigators are looking at. they're basically still trying to figure out, there's so many unanswered questions that they have. there are things, so many puzzling things that they've found. one of the things they found was on the shotgun that he used on monday. he had etched the couple of phrases. one said better off this way and the other one said my elf weapon. no one knows what those -- especially the "elf weapon" refers to. it could be something video game related. it could be some navy phrase. it's one of the puzzles that they have today. they also found in searching his laptop, they found that he had some kind of online alias in the name of mohammed salem and apparently they're trying to figure out whether or not this means anything. they don't think he was a jihadi or had any interest in any kind of religion views. he dabbled in bhuddism. so, agai