we saw wendell hissrich, a veteran of crime scene, almost break down. can see it in your eyes this scene must have been an awful, awful scene. >> again, this is -- these are our friends and neighbors. when you say hits close to home, that doesn't even begin to say it. so, you know, it's really -- it's hard to even -- you can't even put into words. i have no words to say. but, you know, we're all here just to try to support each other, support the families and support people who are going through something that -- unimaginable. >> he was mentioning an fbi phone number. i know a lot of people just around us, right here, and watching on tv, wonder, much like any other disaster, do i know somebody, is my friend or neighbor in there, is that the best number to call, that fbi number, and what else would you advise people? >> to be honest, i don't know more than that. they're trying to get that information together and identify folks and that number that they gave out is the official number so -- nothing more than we would have so -- >> thank you. >> all right

wendell hissrich.t meghan mclachlan was in the area at the time, to campaign for the democrats. i was actually running late today. i was in at 10am, and i got in around 10:15am and there were just cops everywhere and i was worried at first because it was at the place i was supposed to be at because it was a democrat headquarters in the city and were getting ready to canvass. but i showed up and it was clear there, down the street and i thought maybe it was just something random, i did not know what it was and the door was locked when i got into the house. it was the democratic organisation and they said that the doors were locked for a reason. there was an active shooter. i got in and we were stuck there for about two hours and heard the news that was going on just two blocks from the street. i feel a lot of things right now, i am heartbroken for my community and i livejust a neighbourhood over, but i used to live in squirrel hill, and it is my favourite neighbourhood in the city. it's the most diverse

wendell hissrich / public safety director: "the scene is very bad inside... there are multiple fatalities. there are at least six injuries to include four police officers." a local official said a worship service was in progress when the shooting began. three different congregations hold simultaneous shabbat services in the building on a typical saturday, according to a former president of the synagogue. phyllis kimel/resident: "the people who are regulars there are people that the community loves and knows, and if any of them are injured it's going to hit pretty hard."a law enforcement official said the gunman -- 46-year-old robert bowers -- made anti-jewish comments during the shooting. rabbi chuck diamond: "there's a lot of anti-semitism out there and there's a lot of hate out there."authorities said the shooting will be prosecuted as a hate crime. president trump condemned the act --president trump: "this wicked act of mass murder is pure evil, hard to believe, and frankly something that is unimaginable."now, federal investigators are combing through the

pittburgh‘s public safety director wendell hissrich spoke to reporters earlier and gave this very emotional it isa it is a very horrific crime scene will stop it is one of the worst that i have seen, and i have been on some plane crashes. it is very bad. it falls under hate crime, being it isa it falls under hate crime, being it is ajewish it falls under hate crime, being it is a jewish synagogue, so it be federal investigation. our correspondent dan johnson is in washington, police are saying a number of people have been killed — what's your assessment of the situation? confirmation that two people from with in the synagogue were injured, four police officers. so six people with injuries in total. but still no confirmation from authorities about how many people lost their lives in this attack, and we are being raised to expect that there will be a number at the to expect that there will be a numberat the —— to expect that there will be a number at the —— fatalities at the camp. this is the largest number that they have had to deal with, the public is getting quite emotional describing what

the chief of pittsburgh police, wendell hissrich, praised the quick response of his officers in apprehendingwere hurt. i still want to praise the officers for what they did. i mean, they ran into danger, they ran into gunfire to help others. some of that is training, some of that is experience, but it is their inner core that wants them to help others, that wants to save lives, and they did that yesterday. so we want to praise them for that. the four officers were injured, one was released yesterday. we are praying one will be released today. and then the other two have a little bit more that needs to be done. pittsburgh's mayor, bill peduto, paid tribute to the 11 victims and their families. pittsburgh is a strong town. we are a resilient city. we have been knocked down and we found ways to stand back up. we have always done it in one way — by working together. to the victims' families, to the victims' friends, we are here as a community of one. for you. we will be here to help you through this horrific episode. we will get through this darkest day of pittsburgh's history by working togethe

. >> good afternoon, my name is wendell hissrich, to my left is scott shoe bechubert, chief of politics. on behalf of the city, our hearts go out to all of the victims that were involved in today's tragedy. these incidents usually occur in other cities. today the nightmare has hit home in the city of pittsburgh. as you're well aware, a tree of life synagogue at 5898 wilkins avenue at 9:44 this morning, calls were received that the allegheny county emergency operations center that an active shooter was inside the building. at 9:55, officers were dispatched. apparently initial confrontation between the subject and the officers occurred injuring two of the officers. two additional officers were injured during the altercation. those were s.w.a.t officers. multiple agencies responded to this incident this morning, and without their courage, this tragedy would have been far worse. those include numerous state, county, and federal agencies as well as neighboring ems services along with the city of pittsburgh. additionally, the dispatchers, the physicians, nurses, that assisted in this incident

synagogue, there is going to be a briefing from pittsburgh's public safety officials, the director, wendell hissrich, who gave an emotional briefing a little bit earlier before we expect governor tom wolf to speak as well, just about what happened here, giving us more details about exactly what led to this shooting, potentially more about the suspect. police haven't officially identified the suspect, although as you've mentioned before, our law enforcement sources, multiple of them have confirmed that it is bowers. so, that's something we're expecting to learn more about exactly what might have happened, what led to this, maybe some of the background of this suspect as well as the condition of those victims. >> aaron, give me a sense of the severity. again, we don't have a lot of the details yet. they've been careful, understandably, as they should, as professional law enforcement always do for the betterment of the community. what do we know in terms of the types of injuries here? >> reporter: well, they do seem pretty serious. as i mentioned, we do know at least the injuries to the pittsburgh poli