coming up in a few moments we're going to have ken ulman. hey guys! sorry we're late.un into traffic? no, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life. personalized home security and automation. get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month. with limited availability in select markets. ♪ i nethat's my geico digital in seleinsurance id card - gots all my pertinents on it and such. works for me. turn to the camera. ah, actually i think my eyes might ha... next! digital insurance id cards. just a tap away on the geico app. could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no one's around, it does make a sound? ohhh...ugh. geico. little help here. yeah... try new alka sel

and i spoke with the howard county executive ken ulman a couple of times yesterday. and that's what he kept saying. some law enforcement officials were able to get to the scene within 90 seconds, but a lot of them showed up within two minutes. but they did say they will have a larger security presence when they reopen. they may reopen as early as tuesday, but it could be even earlier than that and they'll probably make that determination later today or monday morning. >> what do we know about the shotgun and where it was purchased? >> reporter: we do know that it was purchased just in december. so not long ago. the shooter himself purchased the shotgun. they said it was a 12-gauge shotgun. but he didn't give much more detail than that because people are trying to wonder how he got it into the mall, how he had it concealed. and one of the things the police chief said is shotguns come in lots of different lengths. >> right. and you can break them down and put them back together as well. and how did the shooter get to the mall? he lived, what, maybe ten miles i'm told f

opening was led by ken ulman. >> we wanted to show our respect to the victims and also let the community know the mall is open and we're going back about our lives. >> reporter: soon governor martin o'malley visited with a similar message as the mall came back to life. >> i want tone courage everybody to stop by, if you -- to encourage everybody to stop by, if you, can sometime this week and show your solidarity for the people of columbia. >> we just want to show we're getting back to normal. >> reporter: but nothing about today at the columbia mall is business as usual. >> for it to happen in your own back yard it's very surreal. >> i needed to do this for me to try to get some closure so i wouldn't feel unsafe trying to come back stop other time. >> reporter: representative cummings among those reminding us today that howard county is among the safest communities in america to live and if tragedy like this could happen here, it could happen anywhere. scott broom, wusa9. >>> meantime at the rockville gun shop where darion aguilar purchased the shotgun he used on saturday, the owners tel

i believe this is ken ulman, the executive of the county there. this is t.j. holmes, msnbc new york, you got me all right? >> yes. thanks for having me. >> sir, we appreciate you taking some time out here. we were trying to get some clarity earlier, at least the police chief told us you don't believe there's another shooter inside or outside of that mall, but this also wasn't random. can you give us any more details yet on what happened there? there were reports this was possibly a domestic situation. >> you know, it's really too early to know motives. we'll do another press briefing around 4:00. hopefully we'll be able to provide more details there. but it does appear there were three victims including the shooter at this point. it does not appear to be random in that, you know, we don't think there's any other danger. it's taking a long time because it's a crime scene. and if you can picture a very large mall with multiple department stores, it takes a long time to go through that mall. there are a lot of people sheltering in place. we're going through the t

we'll hear from the county executive ken ulman and chief of police bill mcmann. >> thank you.l, thank you all for being here once again. my deepest thank yous go out to our men and women in law enforcement, who arrived on the scene within two minutes of the first call that we got to 911. and did not wait to go into the mall to do the things that they are trained to do. both our tactical team and patrol officers, and, you know, these are the kinds of things that unfortunately in our nation, our law enforcement train on. and are prepared to do. and they did exactly what they were trained to do. both our folks here in howard county, and all of our neighboring partners from many counties throughout maryland, state police, federal partners. as you can tell, the mall, you saw a lot of folks come out of the mall. the mall has been cleared. this took a long time, because if you imagine how many rooms there are in the mall, how many back offices and restrooms and dressing rooms, and nooks and crannies in the mall, the tactical teams went through every inch of the mall, and it has been

ken ulman, thanks so much. howard county executive, appreciate it. we know this continues to be an active crime scene there at the mall in columbia, maryland. thank you so much. again if you're just now joining us, a deadly shooting taking place at the ma until columbia, maryland, just outside washington, d.c. and baltimore, maryland. we're in the "cnn newsroom." that tops our story. i'm fredricka whitfield. thanks again for being with us. we're following this story, which continues to be an active crime scene at that mall. three people are dead, four others injured after a shooting took place earlier today. police say the suspected shooter just might be among the dead. erin mcpike is outside the mall. see what is the latest, erin? >> reporter: well, fredricka, from early information that we're getting, some early reporting, we understand that there are three victims. one may be the shooter himself. a man and a woman, he apparently shot dead. those are, of course, some of the early investigative reports we're getting, but there is supposed to be anot

ken ulman, county executive here in howard county, maryland. i want to make a few points. first of all, we do have three confirmed fatalities. we want to send our thoughts and prayers to the family members of the victims, the loved ones of the victims. i want to thank the public of howard county here in columbia for their patience. the folks here at the columbia mall. for their patients. all the shoppers, the other folks that work here at the mall, this has obviously been a tremendously trying few hours. we've seen a lot of patience. we ask people to continue to bear with us. this is an active crime scene. it is going to be an active crime season for some time. we will give you another briefing around 4:00 with more details and potentially when the mall will reopen. lastly, i want to thank our brave men and women in law enforcement here in howard county who rushed into this scene immediately. this was an incredibly well-run, thoughtful operation, tactically with a lot of help from our neighboring agencies. we've had help on the ground and continue to have help on the groun

the county executive with howard county, ken ullmyou ulman is wi now. was at the police chief brief an hour and a half ago commemorating this has ban cooperative effort by so many agencies on the local and state levels, and, ken if you're with me and able to hear me, do you know whether or not this mall has since been secured, about an hour and a half ago, police said they still had some patrons and employees inside the mall and were unable to lift that lockdown. what's the latest now? >> yeah. thank you for having me and thank you for your attention to this. no. our law enforcement folks are still going through the mall, systemically. every, combing every inch of the mall. wanting to check every room and if you can imagine, a very large shopping mall, all of the rooms, dressing rooms, offices, throughout this mall, to make sure that everyone is safe. there are a number of folks who are still shelters in place. and so they're going through our s.w.a.t. team, tactical teams, with our regional partners from a number of other counties and the state police,

we heard from one politician ken ulman who thanked the brave law enforcement officers who rush into these situations not knowing what's happening. certainly everybody in this area thanked the brave police officers for running into that situation and securing it. we are continuing to talk to people who have been in the mall and have come out. we talked to one person there with his daughter. he got out. another person who was an employee at the store who heard shots fired and was able to shelter in place, then make her way out, as well. we'll continue to work things here on the ground. >> molly, i see sears behind you. you are obviously very close in and you are talking about seeing people come out. i am following the howard county police on twitter and they are bringing out groups of people. what is the demeanor of these people? they have been in there for hours. >> we have seen groups come out. we've been very close to them. police are keeping them away to question them. we are watching them and they are subdued and calm. we haven't seen a lot of crying or anxiety or that kind of thing. t