Washington Police Respond to Active Shooter Situation

A little bit, to tape a little bit, and then go back. You're good. Clear the building where the shootings occurred. They also began to clear an apartment building. in the 1500 block of 15th Street While clearing the building, gunshots rang out on the 7th floor. And since that time, we have determined The suspect had barricaded themselves. in an apartment on the 7th floor of that building. MPD's emergency response team also responds to the scene. as additional resources from numerous federal partners, our patrol officers here, to coordinate among the different agencies and to deploy resources here. Our negotiators, along with their emergency response team, were also able to establish contact with the suspect inside the apartment. They've been talking to him for over an hour now. again trying to resolve the situation. Just moments ago, while communicating with that individual, Officers heard a gunshot. In response, officers forced their way into the apartment. When they did that, they located The suspect is suffering from a gunshot wound. At this moment, the situation remains fluid. They're still evaluating that to make Sure, we clear the entire building. We do believe that the suspect is now contained at that location. and of course, emergency services will be rendered appropriately for that. With that, once again, this is a very preliminary investigation. We know that there were a lot of people out here this morning. when this came out. Our detectives have been interviewing individuals who may have seen or witnessed this. We would ask anyone who did, potentially in the area, may have fled the area, to ensure they contact MPD. You can reach us at 202-727-9099. so we can follow up with you and interview you. Obviously, there's a lot to this because there There are multiple different scenes. What I mean by that is there are different locations where people were shot I have to say that DC Fire and EMS arrived on the scene right away. We were able to coordinate with them. to provide medical treatment to the victims, get them off the scene where they've all Have been transported to local hospitals. Of those victims, the four who are surviving, One is determined to be in critical condition. At this point, the other three do not appear to be. They appear to have non-life-threatening injuries. With that, I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Mark Stone from Sky News. Can you tell us any more about the gunman? Did you know him? How old was he? and can you give us any sense of what What might have been the motive at this stage? Certainly, as I said, we're still very early in the investigation here. We do know, based on the lookouts, it's a white male. We do have an idea who he is. We believe there was some sort of a conflict with the apartment building, but we don't have much more than that. That will be part of the ongoing investigation. Yes, ma'am. Again, we are still very early in the investigation. We do know there was a conflict between him and the homeowners association of that building, But at this point, we're still looking into it. Yes, ma'am. Sure, so we do believe that at some point there was a fire that was set. The fire alarm went off in the building. The sprinklers in the building did go off. There is a large amount of water inside that location. So we do believe that at some point there was a fire in the building. It has been contained and extinguished at this time. We can't be certain of that, of course, we'd naturally expect it That would be it, but we can't be certain about that at this point. Thank you so much. Let's go over here. Again, we are still very early in the investigation, We are not sure what the relationship may or may not be. Certainly. That is correct. There is one person. who was shot and died inside the gym. We have some other individuals who were actually across The street is working on a construction site. We have the report of another individual. Who was inside the lobby area or in the alley area? As you can imagine, we're not only investigating, but we're also interviewing those witnesses as they were being taken to different hospitals. So we have officers there. Some are able to be interviewed right away. Some, based on their medical treatment, It is going to take more time to interview in order to get more details on that. Sure, so right now officers are still clearing the actual unit, But we do believe it was his unit inside there. He fired through the door at the officers. on at least two occasions, while he was barricaded inside. Torin would see. This is because it came out. as an active shooter. We had people who were actually being killed, so any law enforcement that would be in the area, We would expect them to stop that threat immediately. Yeah I don't have any specific idea about government buildings. We did send out messages to the community to avoid this area. We also sent out a wireless emergency alert, once again, Avoid this area while there was an active threat. And then, of course, once it transitioned into a barricade situation, we pushed that out as well. May I ask you a question? My name is Abdul Bardisi. So the shooting took place inside the gym, Or inside the gym and outside the gym as well? That's what we believe right now. But again, we are still very early in the investigation, so an exact timeline and exact locations remain part of the investigation. So the initial call for service that we had, The first shooting took place inside the gym. That's the first call. The motive, we don't know. Again, we've been dealing with the situation for two hours. We cannot specify the exact motivation. That's all part of the investigation. Mayor Bowser, can we get your take? Just a few minutes before we walked up here, It appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. As I mentioned, our negotiators were speaking with him on the phone. at which time they heard a gunshot, And he stopped communicating with them. At this point, once again, we're out here. I'm not sure what his exact situation is. Medical services, of course, respond in an attempt to treat him. But we do not have that information at this time. I'm not going to mention specific locations, but he did shoot himself. Again, based on what we know right now, I don't want to get due to the investigation still being ongoing. We know, at least at one point in time, he had a handgun. We don't know whether other weapons are involved or not. Again, that will be part of the investigation. Of course, and what we find inside his apartment. We do believe he was a member of the gym. Mayor, can we get your thoughts on this? What does this imply about gun crime? First of all, let me just say this. We're devastated. Someone was killed in our city this morning. A senseless act of gun violence. I am very grateful to MPD and Fire and EMS for responding immediately. I know many D.C. residents were awakened to this news. and were very frightened and listened to all of the directors that MPD provided, so we are also grateful to them. And MPD will continue to investigate this situation, But this lone gunman has been contained. Did you read the White House? The White House has been briefed, as is my procedure. Yes. You praised President Trump for bringing down crime. Actually, I commend the MPD for reducing crime in this city. And I commend our prosecutors. And I I am grateful, as you can see The question was asked: Is this a typical response? It's not typical to have an active shooter. that shoots people in the city. And so all of law enforcement, our federal partners, our local MPD, our fire and EMS, our HCSMA, our 911 have all responded in a professional manner, that has this situation under control. Good morning, I'm John Donnelly, Chief of D.C. Fire and EMS. Fire and EMS responded immediately along with the police department. Our first units made contact with the first victim they encountered. encountered approximately three minutes after the initial dispatch. Thank you very much. It's a bustling, highly chaotic scene. In the end, we transported four patients. Some of them were able to come to us. Some of them were brought. to us by law enforcement in order to make the scene work. Three of those patients have non-life-threatening injuries. And there is one serious injury. I'm not sure you're fully grasping the significance of the moment, but as I watched it again, They were taking your live shot over my life, so... You guys readjust so some of the vehicles can begin coming out? Thank you. We're here until at least one o'clock I think One more. Oh, yeah? Okay. Wait for it. SM, I don't know. Slow you down. I'll see you later. I'll see you as a vehicle Yeah. I don't know if this is my supervisor. Hey, hey, hey! I'll see you over and over. It's going to be endless. ... ... Make a hole, please. Setting up a barricade toward the U.S. region... Please move. Make a hole. Guys, make a hole for the Card, please. What is it What's happening? You bet. Yeah, it just looks like you're really trying to... Yes, thank you. Sorry, I have to move around. Because one of the officers has a few people in front of me. I'm not a fan of that. Thank you. Alright, let's go. Thanks for eating with me. Hi. Come and hold this for me. Thank you. You. Thank you. you very Much. Can you lift it up? I'll grab It. Bring it toward me. Bring it over to me. Hey buddy, thanks.