perspective, there is the anacostia river. right now i am about a block and a half away from building 197. i've been pushed out of the way but there are other people in here and sitting just waiting and kind of looking out the windows. i spoke with one lady who about two hours and 15 minutes ago she arrived at work at building 197. when she walked in to the area, it was as normal. then the fire alarms went off. she continued to go in and at that point heard that there was a shooter and she immediately fled but said she chose to go out the back entrance rather than the main entrance and what's the typical security like in that building on that complex

and she compared it to airport-style security which in the post 9/11 world i'm sure that many of the viewers across the country are used to experiencing it at their own workplace but x-ray machines for bags and they also do metal detectors when they arrive. she said it's a very secure premises with multiple layers of security. wolf. >> todd sperry, stand by. at least it ten people have been injured and police are not confirming reports of fatalities at this time at this shooting incident. barbara starr is getting more information. what are you picking up? >> wolf, i want to get back to what todd was saying about layers of security at the navy yard, the u.s. navy person who deals with this building regularly just explained to me that inside this building there

are multiple layers of security because of the work that they do, the classified work they do, there are multiple areas where you need a security pass to swipe an i.d. throughout the building. he is still his friends who are on the upper floors of the building making sure that they are safe, military become as small family in these situations. his friends are safe but they are reporting that security people are throughout the building now trying to ensure the safety of the people who are still there beyond these layers of security that are always there, wolf. and this is going to be the question. we've talked about it. yes, a person can bring a weapon into an area and find a way to get it past security but there's going to be an awful lot of questions about how this happened and how someone might have been able to move through such a building armed and able

to shoot. >> a lot of people at the u.s. navy yard but the specific building, 197 inside the naval seas system command, what do we know about the naval sea systems command. what is that about, barbara? >> sure, wolf. you know, to many people it might be a nameless, faceless bureaucracy but it's a crucial part of the united states navy. these are the people that work on design, engineering, budgeting, financing of u.s. navy warships. the ships that -- the surface warships, the submarines, the weapons, all of that. this is really a crucial part of the u.s. naval presence around the world. so it's not really the operations, you know, putting those navy warships out in the med for potential action against syria. these are people who have been working for years and years on the design and technology that the navy has to carry out its

missions around the world. much of it is very classified and that, of course, is why you see this notion that there are multiple layers of security in the building. this building sits right on the washington navy yard. you and i have both been there. multiple buildings on the navy yard. very historic but very tight security. there's a lot of high level navy personnel that go in and out of there every day. there's a lot of navy sailors that go in and out of there every day. there's a considerable effort always to keep everyone safe and, of course, it sits right in the middle of this washington, . d.c., neighborhood with homes and schools. this incident in just three hours or so has rippled as a security incident across the nation's capital until they get it resolved, wolf. >> obviously very disturbing information coming in. joe johns is on the scene for us. where are you, joe, and what are you picking up?

>> hi, wolf. i'm about two blocks from one of the entrances to the washington navy yard right now. just a few minutes ago we spoke with a woman who was inside when all of this started this morning, inside the washington navy yard. she said that at the very beginning she heard three shots, very distinct, and at that time a security guard came out and advised people in the area around the cafeteria to get moving, run as fast as you can, the security guard, she said. after that she said she heard another series of shots, four shots at that time, a total of seven shots and then she left the building. she saw essentially what was pandemonium. one woman was in physical distress. she thought that woman might have been having a heart attack and the most important thing, of course, was just to get out of

the building. a little more detail there on what it must have been like. >> joe, hold on a minute. we have eyewitnesses who saw the shooting suspect. let me play this clip. >> the fire alarm went off first and i was on the phone and someone said hey, this is not a fire alarm. someone has been shot in the building. as we were chit exiting the building, he came around the corner and aimed his gun at us and fired two or three shots. ran out of the building to get out and there were still shots in the building. >> we were having a business meeting and we heard three sounds, it sounded like a table collapsing out of the ground and we came out of the office and said, what was that and a minute later we heard a very large pop which couldn't have been more -- we estimated about 100 feet away. when that happened, everyone said, this is no drill.

go, go, go. emergency exits now. go, go, go, go and a whole bunch of us were able to make it to the emergency exits and then we heard more shots. >> so you were having a meeting? >> and then we heard sounds, like a pop, it sounded like a table dropping on to the ground and the fourth shot was absolutely unmistakable. it was a loud gunshot. >> we were just working at our desks and the fire alarm went off which, you know, occasionally there's a practice or there's a fire in the building and immediately there was an announcement that there was a fire emergency in the building but our fire wardens came running very quickly yelling for everyone to get out of the building now and that's when we started moving. he was far enough down the hall that we couldn't see his face but we could see him with a rifle and he aimed and raised at us and hit high on the wall just as we were trying to leave. >> and the washington, d.c., police spokesman chris kelly describes the suspect as an adult male, 6 feet tall with a

bald head, medium complexion dressed in a black top and black jeans. we're awaiting momentarily now a news conference the d.c. metro police department are about to brief all of us on what they can right now. at least ten people have been shot, including two law enforcement officers. as you know, there are reports of fatalities as well. we have not yet completely confirmed those reports so stand by. we expect to get all of the latest information momentarily from the d.c. metro police conference. i expect cathy lanier, the police cheer here in washington, d.c., to brief reporters. joe johns is standing by. joe, what else do we know, if anything, about this suspect, the shooter? >> very little. the repeated descriptions from eyewitnesses, and they can be wrong, is that this individual was tall and apparently in total

black and carrying firearms and that's about it. there was reports of a long gun and we don't know what type -- >> hold on a second because i think that d.c. metro police department -- actually, never mind. once again, we're getting conflicting information over here, joe. finish your thought. >> that was about it. if you were looking at the camera here at the staging area, the person who was at the microphone was a pastor from a church just across the way here encouraging people to pray for the victims. but, yes, we're waiting for that news conference from the police to try to get detail from the authority about the state of play over there because there's so many questions about just what are the locations that are secure, wolf. >> and set the scene for us, joe. the area, you're about a block, block and a half from one of the entrances to the u.s. navy yard. set the scene for us. how intense is the police

presence? >> it's tremendous. a variety of law enforcement helicopters in the area. we've seen tons of police vehicles on the ground. u.s. park police is here. inside the perimeter, i got a view a while ago, a huge police presence inside. a number of police cars with lights, people moving back and forth. not too long ago i saw people that were moving outside the building. you could also see authorities with long guns inside the perimeter and probably the most interesting thing i saw was a number of suvs, sports utility vehicles with police markings on them pulling into the gate and some of those police markings indicated that there were police dogs inside the vehicle. so, of course, the question would be whether the authorities had any reason to actually try

to go from office to office or door to door and dogs could be a part of that, wolf. >> joe, stand by. our cnn justice reporter is also on the scene for us. tell us what you are learning. >> hi, wolf. we're told that the atf has sent in their srt, which is their special response team. the same one that helped take down the boston bomber, the surviving boston bomber at the scene there in the boat. that same team has been sent down to try to help with the fbi, with the metropolitan police and with the navy officials that are all trying to secure this scene as i think we've already reported, you know, that there is still a very -- they are trying to secure people, get people outside of the buildings. i've been communicating with someone in a building nearby inside the navy yard and as basically told me that they are

all locked in. they have got everyone that is away from the windows, they are being told to just stay put until the police are able to secure everything. >> so as far as you know, evan, you've been checking with all of your sources, the shooter is still holed up in one of those buildings around building 197 at the naval sea systems command at the u.s. navy yard here in washington, d.c. but there's a multiple -- there's a multitude, shall we say, law enforcement agencies on the scene. you mentioned the fbi, u.s. military police, d.c. metropolitan police. it looks like everybody has moved into this area, evan. >> yes, that's right. wolf, there's a very -- this is an area in washington because of obviously of all of the different threats that are faced with the federal government and the military facilities in this area, they are very well practiced in this area.

the d.c. police, for instance, does a lot of drills. they roll out on multiple reports of bags that are left unguarded or unattended near metro stations or outside of public buildings. i mean, multiple times a day these guys roll out to try to secure scenes. so this is something that they are well practiced in. the joint terrorism task force is part of this as well. they -- this is a grouping of the federal agencies and the local police of this entire area and they are all well practiced in trying to secure places like this. now, obviously with 3,000 people in this facility it's a lot more difficult because you want to make sure you protect people, keep them locked down and then get people from the building that is where this shooter is reported to be. >> 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 scene, close to the ground but not really -- has not really descended at all. that's about as low as we've seen him go. so that is an interesting development. that particular chopper has been circling around and we've also seen a chopper with a police sniper, apparently, with his scope at the ready. again, law enforcement agencies, we're told, as you've been mentioning, that we're going to hear from metropolitan police chief cathy lanier any time now regarding potential casualties. we know that there are at least ten people injured and including two law enforcement officers, one of them from the metropolitan police. one of them a base police officer. we're trying to get this confirmed as far as the injuries. at least ten we're told of at this time. >> brian, hold on a minute because momentarily, as you point out, we're expecting to

get this news conference from the metropolitan police chief. we expect it to be cathy lanier briefing us. some have already been moved to the d.c. hospitals. we'll stand by and get live information. at least ten people have been injured, including two law enforcement officers. there are reports of fatalities. we have not reported that yet. we'll stand by for that as well. tom fuentes, our cnn law enforcement analyst is on the phone joining us right now. tom, there seems to be every federal -- i shouldn't say state. every federal and local police jurisdiction on the scene, including the fbi where you used to be the assistant fbi director, i'm sure u.s. military police officers from the navy and other agencies, presumably there as well. who takes charge of a shooting incident like this on the base, the u.s. navy yard, the naval

sea systems command building? >> well, in this case, wolf, it's probably the fbi would take the lead but it's kind of -- you know, it's kind of a group effort anyway. you're going to have a command post set up. it's going to have, you know, the heads of the metro police departme department, fbi, military assets. they are all going to be working together there trying to resolve the issue. as far as the who is in charge or who would prosecute the case, that usually isn't the main issue at this point. who's in charge part is kind of an issue because you have to have command and control of a scene but as far as all of the agencies, they all would be working together to try to secure the perimeters and then even after the incident appears to be resolved you're going to have a massive undertaking to search all of those buildings, every room, every closet to see if employees who heard the shots locked themselves in a closet and aren't coming out and don't know what is happening outside.

>> we've just been told, tom, that d.c. police are saying families can reunite with their loved ones who may have been inside the u.s. navy yard. they can walk over. it's not very far away over to washington national park where the major league baseball teams play. they set up special facilities in parking lot b over at washington national park afew bloc few blocks away to reunite with their loved ones. the fact that someone is described as dressed in a black top, black jeans, what does that say, if anything, about a possible motive or whatever? can we begin to draw any initial conclusions? i want to alert our viewers, sometimes these initial conclusions can obviously be very, very wrong. >> i don't think it says much at this point. that could just be someone in casual clothes and they dressed that way if it's an employee or

other people that might be on that base. it could be some type of maybe a tactical uniform of some sort. we don't know. again, eyewitness accounts are going to be very uncertain at this point when they are looking down the hallway at someone pointing a gun at them and then that person starts shooting at them. so we don't have a real clear description that's been confirmed of exactly what the shooter looked leike or what thy were wearing but we have a general idea from what people said. witness accounts are not reliable, especially when you're being shot at. >> obviously. you heard evan perez, our jis citi justice reporter, say that a team of 20 special agents have been sent to contain the situation at the washington navy yard. this is the same team that helped apprehend dzhokhar tsarnaev. it happened at the nation's

capital. they have all of these agencies and so immediately they flood the zone. is that correct? >> that's true. you'd have no shortage of the command and tactical teams, the u.s. marshals, the metro police, the fbi's hostage rescue team is based in quantico about 40 miles south of washington as well as the washington field office. so the number of assets that would be able to be brought to bear could be a lot. and in that kind of a complex, you would need them because, again, they have to make sure not just that one building, building 197 is secure eventually or at least contained to that building but they are going to have to check every building in the whole navy yard before this day is over. >> tom fuentes, former assistant director, now a cnn legal law enforcement analyst.

tom, hold on a minute. i want to go to cnn's re rene marsh. rene, tell us where you are. i understand you have someone who heard what was going on at 8:20 a.m. eastern when shots were fired? >> that's right, that's right, wolf. we're standing right now here with patricia ward. she was inside that very building when shots broke out and i want to talk to you a little bit. tell me about what you heard and what happened after the shots rang out. >> okay. it was about 8:20 in the morning. i was going to the cafeteria to get something to eat and i heard three shots, pow, pow, pow. 30 seconds later i heard four more shots and a couple of us in the cafeteria knew they were shots and started panicking and then we was trying to decide which way we were going to run out. >> reporter: were the shots rapid shots?

can you describe the speed of them and what happened after you heard the shots? >> the first three was like pow, pow, pow and then it was pow, pow, pow. i heard a total of seven shots. it might have been much more than that. >> reporter: and then everyone started to run. you were pretty frantic at the time you heard the shots? >> right. we knew it wasn't something that had fallen on the floor. it was all too clear. we were trying to run in the back. the workers in the cafeteria told us to get in the back. i refused. i wanted to get out of the building. we ran on the side of the building where security was and she was outside and she told us to run as far as we could and she had a gun drawn. someone had pulled the fire alarm and the next thing i heard was police sirens. it happened so fast. >> was it an organized evacuation? >> from my perspective, the ones in the cafeteria, we were able

to handle it. we got out safely. like i said, a lot of people were just panicking and there were no screams because we were in shock. >> reporter: wolf, you can see that there's a wide, wide circle of media here as we await a police briefing on what they know, what they still do not know. it's an active scene. you heard a chopper passing over our head a moment ago. when the press conference begins, we'll get it back to you. >> rene, you're there. we expect the police chief cathy lanier to show up where you are? >> i don't think she can hear me. cathy lanier, the d.c. police chief, will she be answering the questions at the news conference we will hear fairly soon? >> reporter: well, what we know, wolf, we haven't gotten word exactly who will be speaking to us and briefing us here. we also don't have a time frame.

we've been asking how long it will take before they can actually come and brief us. again, no timeline on that. we will sit and wait. >> rene marsh, thanks very much. we'll of course have live coverage of that news conference from d.c. metro police as soon as it begins. you can see all of the police officers, local police from the distinct of columbia, certainly from the fbi, certainly from the u.s. military. if you're just following, if you're just following the breaking news, just tuning in, let me update you on what's going on right now. an active shooter is inside the washington navy yard right here in the nation's capital. at least ten people have been injured, including two law enforcement officers. it all began around 8:20 a.m. eastern, about three hours or so ago when the shooter fired several shots inside the headquarters for what's called the naval sea systems command. he's still in the building.

so that's what we have for you. all of the latest information there. it's obviously an ongoing situation, a very tense situation and we are trying to get as much information for you as possible. we're checking with our sources from the u.s. navy over at the pentagon, certainly with the fbi, the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms as well as the d.c. police department. tom fuentes, our c nchlnn law enforcement analyst has been helping us. and just to update you, if you're not familiar with this area of the washington -- in the washington, d.c., area, the u.s. navy yard is right in the district of columbia. it's not very far away from capitol hill. you can see the navy yard at the bottom of your screen. it's not very far away, the white house not very far away either. it's very close. it's literally right next door to washington national park, the home of the washington

national's baseball team and right across the street from the reagan international airport here in washington, d.c. all of the area has been basically shut down around the navy yard. so we're trying to get all of the latest information for you right now. let's bring in david katz. what goes through your mind? >> well, this is going to be an extremely chaotic situation for certain. you have a multiple number of agencies, both federal and local and there is a unified command but it takes a while for all of the bosses to get together and make a plan of action. the basic idea right now is to keep people locked down. you don't want them moving around and evacuating just yet until you identify where the bad guy is, have him pinned down so you can evacuate people safely. it's a matter of containment and trying to deny him more victims and try to get as much

information as they can before they act. >> would they presumably, david, have started some negotiation with the shooter? >> well, they would try that. it's possible. at this point now, you know, i see reports that he's barricaded someplace. has he made demands or is he just a wanton killer. that's up in the air. is there one shooter? multiple shooters? there's a lack of information and typically that would be a tactic if he's willing to talk but right now it seems that he's on the move and quite a danger. i would agree with mr. fuentes that the fbi will take a lead. they are based out of virginia and it's only 45 minutes by car. i imagine they are gearing up and will be here shortly. >> out of abundance of caution, they presumably shut down the department of transportation,

all of the schools have been put on lockdown. there you can see brian todd. what are you learning? >> reporter: well, wolf, we've just seen a lot of activity down this street. this is 11th street. you can see a couple of officers rushing down the street to the flashing lights. that's the fbi mobile command center. you can see officers rushing down there. we saw at least four s.w.a.t. team members with helmets on and what appeared to be night vision goggles down there and then they kind of disappeared i believe over to our right where the navy yard perimeter exists right there. you can see those officers rushing down there. and then to my left, to your right you see washington, d.c. police officers with some tactical gear and semiautomatic weapons. these are i think the same officers that came down this area before now heading back towards the main entrance of the navy yard. so that's what we can tell you right now. a little bit of a buzz here, activity here. not sure exactly what that means but, again, we know that this is

a very fluid situation with one shooter at least and the disposition of that shooter is not clear at this point. we're expected to hear from the d.c. police chief cathy lanier very soon. one of the officers just told us that she is going to be briefing soon. we've seen tactical vehicles moving around here, some officers with tactical gear on. our photo journalist mark saw him. this is now blocked by the fire truck but that's the direction that we saw this. i couldn't see it with my naked eye but mark saw it with his lens. helicopters are swarming autopsy over the place as well. six local schools as well as one administrative building is locked down. it's a fluid situation and that could be by the police chief has not come out and briefed yet. down here is where we saw the fbi mobile command center move down 11th street down towards this possible entrance of the navy yard, towards that area of

the perimeter. a very active situation here, wolf. a u.s. marshal is coming over here with riot gear on. he's heading down that way. so a real swarm of activity here, wolf, as the situation remains very, very active. >> obviously. brian, stand by. barbara starr is our pentagon correspondent. what are you picking up, barbara? >> wolf, a named ed seigler has told cnn that two shooters are down. that's the word from this spokesman for the navy yard. pardon me. what that means, we're still trying to determine. we don't know if they are killed, in custody, wounded. but he says two shooters, two suspects down. he is also saying now that there are multiple deaths but that our understanding is that it does not involve the d.c. metropolitan police officer who appears to have been shot in

this incident. if, in fact, it turns out as ed says, there are multiple shooters, too, this becomes a very different situation because then you would have had the elements, frankly, of some sort of conspiracy to use the word broadly, two people talking about carrying out this event, two people planning together to carry out some sort of an event. so this becomes an even more serious situation for the military and for security officials to understand as rapidly as they can what exactly they are dealing with here. we do want to repeat, of course, that information is sketchy, rapidly changing situation. we have also confirmed that the chief of naval operations, admiral jonathan was at his residence at the navy yard when this unfolded and he was evacuated. wolf? >> i was going to ask you earlier, there are senior naval personnel, admirals who live on the u.s. navy yard. that's where their residence

are. do you know how many people live there, barbara, approximately? >> there are a good handful for more. i don't have an exact number of residences there and we're also told that besides the admiral, the four-star head of the u.s. navy, the three-star admiral, this ild aboutibuilding is locas evacuated. the command center at the navy yard, the incident command center was emptied out, evacuated. its location has been moved but also, wolf, of course, as you know, a number of very junior people, civilians, junior navy personnel. the whole range of u.s. military and civilian personnel of all ranks come to work at the navy yard every day and this is in the middle of a washington, d.c., neighborhood. families, childrens, schools, all of it.

so this has rapidly impacted across the board across washington, d.c., this morning, wolf. >> and you heard barbara quote the head of naval affairs for the washington, d.c., navy yard, two shooters are down but it's unclear what that means. there have been multiple deaths at the u.s. navy yard. all right. let me bring in joe johns. he's on the scene for us as well. what else are you picking up, joe? >> wolf , it's difficult to assess what is going on but we've seen a very large movement of law enforcement authorities from a variety of different organizations, all moving south on m street southwest in the direction of the river, the potomac river, and taking a left, going further into southwest washington. so the question is why these

police officers are moving at such a rapid speed with lights and sirens and appear to be headed to perhaps a second location but certainly it doesn't appear to be, from what i can tell, a second entrance into the washington navy yard. so, you know, our question right now is whether there is a second location that suddenly police have a whole lot of interest in, wolf. >> joe, hold on a minute. our cnn producer todd sperry is getting some information. what are you learning? >> wolf, i'm about a block and a half north of the scene here and as these vehicles are going to that other scene, ncis agents and fbi agents and homeland security canine unit. they are actually moving away and are kind of running and the vehicles that were driving by were rapidly changing location.

this area right here -- >> hold on a minute. hold on a minute, todd. there's a news conference over at the washington hospital medical center under way. i just want to listen in. >> individuals who were at the scene, we understand that there are still more victims and we are not sure as yet how many individuals will be coming to our hospital. those that have come to the trauma bay are alert, they are responsive, they are able to talk to us. they do have severe injuries but we've been able to speak with all of them. they have not been able to tell us what happened to them because of the pain and distress that they suffered from this morning. we'll have more information later but i chose to come out and talk to you at this time so you'd have an opportunity to hear what we know as of right now. >> can you confirm that there are two police officers, including those wounded, being

treated here? >> no, sir. there is one metropolitan police officer who is here. the other two are civilians who are here. we understand that there is potentially a second metropolitan police officer at the scene but we have no con fim mags confirmation about that. >> would you say that they are in critical condition right now? >> they are in critical condition. in order to maintain privacy, i'm going to be very brief about it. we have a gentleman who is -- who has multiple gunshot wounds to his legs. his injuries involve bones and the blood vessels of his lower legs. we have another individual who was shot in the shoulder and we have a third individual who just arrived who had a gunshot wound to the head and to the hand. >> male or -- >> male, first one. female, female. >> is it fair to say that their chances of survival are pretty

good then? >> their chances of survival are very good. >> for all three? >> for all three, yes. again, we have, as you know -- we are pretty darn experienced at this. we've got right now this morning we have a number of teams in the trauma bay. we've actually been able to bring in two of our helicopter crews as well. so we have plenty of folks who are here. we are just in the process, the operating room is ready for these individuals. because of our trauma status, we always have trauma rooms that are available in the operating room. so i have surgeons, nurses, i have trauma specialists. we've got the blood bank in the operating room, all open, all ready. we have been in communication with those individuals at the scene and we're telling them that we can take an additional eight to ten individuals here at med star washington medical

center. we are not sure if we will get that many but they have told us that they believe that there will be more victims coming. >> did they say what kind -- >> did the helicopters move from the hospital to the scene? >> the helicopters that have brought the victims insofar have been park police helicopter and a maryland state police helicopter. there are other helicopters at the scene right now. we are aware of that. but we're not sure who will be transporting. there's initial report of individuals who are on the roof. it ends up that there was an individual taken from the roof. she is actually here and the others were individuals who were trying to be undercover on the roof. so the original report of the number of injured on the roof is being modified right now. again, it's a very fluid situation. we really are just going minute by minute right now. >> do you know what kind of gun was used? a semiautomatic weapon? >> i would tell you from the reports of the victims, it

was -- it had to be a semiautomatic because they are talking about gunshots that they heard in rapid succession. so i have no more information. we, of course, will get bullet fragments and have more information and they will at the scene as well. but i don't have any more information right now. >> do you know if it was a male or female? >> the d.c. police officer is a male and i can't go into any other information right now regarding him but he is the gentleman who's in the operating room right now. >> could you tell us again the injuries of the women, what are their wounds? >> the -- there is a woman who has a gunshot wound to the shoulder and there's a woman who has a gunshot wound to the head and her hand. >> has law enforcement tried to interview them at all? >> yes, we have law enforcement in. they always wait until we tell them but they have had a chance to very briefly talk to the

officers. we have been able to speak with their loved ones and they were also able to speak briefly with law officers before they've gone off to the operating room. >> have they told you guys anything that you can tell us about what happened? >> no. >> and you say a woman is ready to go into surgery? >> they are on their way to surgery, yes. >> which of the injuries? the shoulder -- >> the young lady with a gunshot wound to the head we're just assessing right now. obviously we'll make a triage decision. we'll have to see. >> are there any other hospitals where wounded are being taken? >> i'm not aware. we have been in contact with our colleagues in the city. we all are standing up in order to receive information who are gunshot victims but i'm not aware if anyone else has

received any. so we have three -- so we have -- as i said, we have three individuals and we're told to expect more. >> how many? do you have any idea? >> no idea. >> there's additional security here at the hospital. whenever we have an incident of this type, we partner with on this campus, the children's hospital and the v.a. hospital and our officers have stood up and we are -- have a much tighter perimeter to our campus right now and that will continue during at least for the next day or so. >> we understand you can't give names but we know that the male was a d.c. metropolitan police officer. can you describe the women? were they employees at the navy yard? >> you know, sir, i'm not sure what their relationship with the navy yard is. so i don't have that information to tell you. >> can you tell us if they were wounded inside the navy yard? >> they were. >> and all of them are alert and

speaking? >> all of them are alert and speaking at this time. >> those who may be just tuning in, can you give us a summary of the headline? >> so tragedy at the navy yards, multiple individuals have been shot. we have a report of individuals who have died at the scene and we have a transportation of three gunshot victims to our hospital at this time. >> how many died at the scene? >> we understand that there are individuals at the scene who will not be transported because they are deceased. >> do you have any idea of the number? >> i don't know the number. i'm not confident of the number in order to say. >> would you be briefing us again? >> we will be briefing you again. >> thank you very much. >> sure. yes, sir. >> that officer -- >> janet orlowski from the medstar hospital center, three individuals have been brought to the medstar hospital center, including one law enforcement

officer. they will survive, she says, but in various stages of condition right now. she does confirm there are fatalities. she doesn't say how many fatalities. we're getting that now from multiple sources. brian todd is on the scene for us. you're getting more information. brian, we saw a lot of activity just a few moments ago. s.w.a.t. teams and others moving quickly towards that area. what are you seeing? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. we can tell you exactly where they were moving from and to. they were coming up 11th street southest we were at the northeast corner of the navy yard. these vehicles came up 11th street and made a swift turn heading south. multiple police vehicles, at least two ambulances we saw streaming south and then we saw them from a distance heading down south towards another basin sta lags that is south of here. not sure what all of that means but there's a lot of activity here and multiple vehicles heading from the navy yard south on to 95.

a very fluid situation. not sure what many of that means but a heavy presence here at the navy yard. there is police in tactical gear down here. the mobile command center is set up down the street here. this is heading south towards another entrance of the navy yard where we know now there have been multiple victims of the shooting. you heard the hospital spokesperson confirm there were fatalities here. not sure of the number but the shooting took place in the naval sea systems command building, building number 197 where there was one shooter confirmed. the disposition of that shooter, we are not clear yet. we were told a short time ago that's it is a fluid, active scene. ings as the choppers were still swarming, tactical ambulances come from the navy yard heading south that way towards another direction, basically south on route 295. so not quite sure what that

means at this moment. >> all right. brian, we just got a little statement from george little, the pentagon press secretary. we believe there has been loss of life and several injuries. our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved. the president of the united states getting ready to speak over at the white house. we're going to be monitoring what the president is going to be speaking about. he was supposed to be outside but it's been moved inside. the subject at hand, the financial crisis, five years later, referring to the serious collapse of the u.s. economy exactly five years ago today with collapse of lehman brothers among other financial institutions. the president wanted to update all of us five years later where the u.s. economy stands. he may say something presumably about what is going on in washington. we'll monitor, of course, what the president has to say. we'll take some of his remarks clearly. we'll bring it to you live. but we want to alert you that the president may be speaking about what's happening not very far away from the white house over at the u.s. navy yard, only

a few miles away right here in the district of columbia. reports of fatalities, reports of several injuries and according to a spokesman for the u.s. navy here in the d.c., washington district, an area here, ed zigler saying two shooters, quote, are down at the d.c. navy yard but he's not able to confirm if they have been taken into custody or killed. the words "are down" is unclear. he tells cnn that there have been, quote, multiple deaths at the navy yard and obviously multiple injuries as well. let's go back to brian todd. he's on the scene for us. brian, multiple deaths, multiple injuries. two shooters, not one, two shooters are down. we don't know what that means "are down," but i'm assuming you're trying to get more information where you are? >> reporter: we are, wolf. we're trying to get more information and, of course, waiting for a police briefing

from cathy lanier. we're told that could come at any moment. we have at least two shooters, according to the spokesperson you just cited, down here at the navy yard. we have just seen a multiple police vehicles circle away with a lot of urgency with ambulances. we have seen tactical officers heading down this street with tactical gear on and also coming back up the street and heading down m street down here. we are at the northeast corner of the navy yard right now where there is a lot of police activity. more vehicles are coming in as we speak. what we can tell you is multiple victims. the hospital spokeswoman just cited multiple victims, multiple injuries and there are some fatalities here. we're not sure how many. we'll get those numbers as soon as we can. but this has been a very, very heavy law enforcement presence here. mark, i don't know if you can

take a shot of that helicopter. i believe that's a park police chopper, if i'm not mistaken, has just been circling fairly low over the navy yard and over that one specific location. again, we know that the shooting took place in the naval sea systems command system, building number 197. that's what officials have told us this morning. i'm not sure if that building is at that particular location where that chopper has been circling. >> hold on, brian. >> reporter: we'll get more information soon, wolf. >> there's a news conference under way. >> my name is spelled g-w-e-n-d-o-l-y-n crump. there will be an update here in 20 minutes. thank you. >> there you heard a spokeswoman for the mayor, the police chief here in washington. they will update us in about 20 minutes or so.

we'll have live coverage. i'm anxious to hear from authorities. district columbia authorities, federal authorities, u.s. military personnel, all of them will presumably be briefing us. live coverage. that's coming up. let's go over to barbara starr at the pentagon. this occurred at the u.s. naval yard, the navy sea systems command building 197. multiple injuries and fatalities. what else are you learning, barbara? >> wolf, first reports often very skietchy. but now a senior u.s. navy official tells me that they now believe one shooter at least, one shooter is dead. that is the word that he hears that he expects law enforcement authorities to make public shortly. so that information appears to have developed in the last few minutes. as to this question of whether there are multiple shooters, a different navy official who works at the navy yard, ed zeigler, he says that he believes that there are two

shooters down. he's not saying whether that means dead or wounded or in custody. but two shooters down. now, let's try and help people understand why there may be this conflicting information. we're here at the pentagon. senior u.s. from navy officials at the scene at the yard, information very difficult to confirm for them. they're being very cautious, very deliberate what they are telling reporters. they want to make sure they get it right. that is why this one senior officer telling me one shooter is dead. the word about two shooters being down coming from officials on scene at the yard. we expect, of course, much of this to be resolved when the police department shortly comes out and has their press conference. also, several wounded. they believe there are several wounded and several fatalities. then they will be discussing that in further detail.

but as we see so often in these incidents, people start using a lot of numbers, a lot of statistics. these are families, these are people involved in all of this. families, of course, watching. we want to be very careful what we say and make sure we're absolutely as precise as we can possibly be. and at this hour, the information still changing, still fluid, trying to get the facts as fast as we can, wolf. >> these kinds of shooting incidents, barbara, u.s. military bases across the united states, they're pretty extraordinary. they don't happy very often. of course, ft. hood, texas, a lot of us remember that incident. this is pretty extraordinary. isn't it? ? >>. >> well, it is. they do happen, as you say. not very often. not of this magnitude and certainly not here in the nation's capital. perhaps a mile or two from the white house, a mile or two from pr capitol hill. grabbing is the attention of everyone this morning. we are only a few days past is

the 9/11 attacks here in washington, d.c. this is a city that is well trained and well practiced with local law enforcement, fbi, local police department, the u.s. military across the city in responding to these kinds of crises. if there are two shooters, wolf, if that problems to be correct, it is going to be the most significant fact. it is going to mean that two people conspired to carry out this attack, that they talked about it ahead of time, that they planned it ahead of time. even if it was just a short period ahead of time, that they had a plan to do this. how anybody managed to do this at the washington navy yard is the question to be addressed. look, you have to have clearance. you have to have an escort if you don't work for the navy. if you work for the navy, you have a sticker in your car that lets you on. i don't think it's a stretch to say that security measures can be gotten around. you could have all the authority in the world to be on the installation, and if you have a

weapon in your car, security personnel at the gate might not probably would not know that. so these are all the issues that will be looked at. how did one gunman, possibly two, we dote know yet, get past security into the fave yard? but once they got into this building within that building, we are told adamantly, there are multiple layers of security in that building. because they carry on a good deal of classified work. if you want to go into certain areas, you have to have a pass. you know, computer, swipe yourself into the area. you have to be authorized. there's security at the doors. so this is -- this is just a very big mystery at the moment. something that law enforcement and the u.s. military, as well as the fbi is going to want to figure out as quickly as they can, wolf. >> obviously, indeed. situation still unfolding. details coming in. once again, the president was supposed to speak a few minutes

ago. he's obviously running a little bit late. he's over at the white house. you see at the bomb right-hand corner of your screen the podium there inside the white house. he wants it speak about the financial crisis here in the united states, five years later. today marks five years since the collapse of lehman brothers, other major u.s. financial institutions, the start of that deep, deep recession. where the country has moved over these last five years. we're awaiting the president. maybe he'll open his remarks with some comments. this unfolding drama not very far away from where he is at the u.s. navy yard in washington, d.c. jake tapper is on the scene for us now. jake, where are you, what are you seeing, what are you learning? >> reporter: i'm right at the corner of 3rd and m southeast right near the washington naval yard right outside where there is a scrum of reporters waiting for a briefing. we expect in about 15 minutes or so from the metropolitan police department chief here in

washington, d.c., kathy lanier who we're told will brief in about 15 minutes. earlier we were told by a spokesman for the naval district there were two shooters. they are down. what that means exactly we're not exactly sure whether they're in custody or killed. we're told those two shooters are down. we've been told about multiple deaths. there have been a lot of resume plors flying. in situations like this a lot of the early information is wrong even if it comes from authorities because the situation is so fluid and so ki otic. but one of the things we've been told, there was a rumor going around there was another shooting at another military base. a spokeswoman for the metropolitan police department said that is not true. do not report that. do not give that report any credence. if any viewers have been hearing about another possible shooting, we're told that is a not true story. the situation right now is very fluid. a senior official told me earlier based on the fact that there were bodies outside the building, it seems likely that

the shooting began before the shooter or shooters entered the building. but that's all we have right now for you, wolf. we'll give you more information as soon as we are told in a few minutes here. down at the scene of the shooting earlier today. >> we'll stand by for that, jake tapper on the scene for us. brian todd is also on the scene. remind viewers we're awaiting the president of the united states, as well. he's supposed to speak on the financial crisis five years later. we'll see if he makes some remarks about what's going on. not far away where you are over at the u.s. navy yard, we're told also he's been watching the situation unfold on television, as well. i'm sure he's getting inside information from law enforcement personnel. what else are you picking up? >> reporter: picking up two ambulances that headed down 11th street southeast. joining multiple vehicles at the end of this block. you can see them here. you can see the flashing lights down the block would if ambulances just headed down there. again, this kind of of

accentuates some of the reporting, adds to reporting we've gotten from the hospitals and elsewhere of multiple victims here. again, multiple vehicles have been swarming around this area for hours now. several headed up that ramp and south on 295 a short time ago. not sure what that was about. what we can also tell you is according to the -- one of the hospital spokes women here kind of gave a hint as to the kind of weapon that might have been used. she said the witnesses she treated, some of the people she talked to who were victims of the shooting reported shots in multiple succession, indicating it was some kind of semi-automatic weapon or something of that sort. that's some of the incremental information that we're getting right now. again did, heavy presence down here on 11th street. we're at the northeast corner of the navy yard. and again, a chopper, park police chopper has been circling fairly low above the navy yard for several hours now. not sure exactly what the purpose of that chopper is, but he's circling right around me now, wolf. so again adding to the multiple

agency presence here. we've got washington metropolitan police, fbi here that we have seen on the scene. we've got base police, other police jurisdictions have sent their officers here, atf is here. so very, very, very heavy police presence here on the navy yard with multiple injuries that we can report now and barbara starr, as you heard earlier, reporting navy official telling her one shooter at least is down. >> and it's unclear whether there's one shooter or two shooters because we're getting these conflicting statements coming in from various authorities. ed ziegler, director of public affairs for the naval district office says two shooters are down, but unclear what that means, are down. also, he says there are multiple deaths, multiple injuries. as far as the latest information, brian, that you are getting, one shooter or two shooters? do we know precisely yet, or is this still fluid? >> i think the information about the two shooters is coming from

this one navy official. we have to wait and see if that can be confirmed in this briefing we're going to get from the metropolitan police. there's at least one shooter, barbara reporting one shooter is dead. but again, reports of multiple shooters, we just cannot confirm that hard and fast at this moment as jake tapper alluded to earlier, there's been a lot of information flowing this morning, some of it wrong. so we have to be very, very careful. we've gotten descriptions of a gunman. we've had to hold off on that a little bit. we'll try to get harder information from the briefing and set the scene for you down the street here. there's some kind of heavy presence. an fbi mobile command unit went down there a short time ago. you've got that down there, you've got tactical police officers down in that direction and d.c. police officers with automatic weapons have been moving around this block here at m street and 11th street southeast. so this is clearly one of the active perimeters in the navy yard right now. we do know that the shooting took place, according to

officials, at the naevl sea systems command building, that is building 197. not sure hauf into the base that will building is. we'll hopefully get that layout and more details and kaye details in that briefing, wolf. >> brian todd, don't go too far away. let me update viewers what we know right now. we want be to welcome viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. not very far away from where i am right now over at the navy, u.s. navy yard, maybe about a mile and a half from the u.s. capitol or so, there was a shooting incident at around 8:208 a.m. eastern. about 3 1/2 hours or so ago. and according to authorities on the scene, at least according to the spokesman for the naval district office here in washington, d.c., ed zigger director of public affairs, multiple deaths and