few moments from now. it was here almost exactly 24 hours ago now that a gunman opened fire from the roof of a building about two blocks behind me, killing six people, you can hear the sounds of it right there, wounding 25. it caused hundreds of people to flee the scene. a real moment of sheer terror. you can see actually behind us now some of the chairs that they left behind still littering the scene here. police did find a gun on the roof of that building. ultimately about eight hours later they were able to apprehend someone there y re calling a person of interest, they used the phrase suspect, that person has been in custody overnight and several hours and investigators are going through his past trying to learn more about what might have led him to open fire on this celebration of the nation s independence. let s get the very latest on where the investigation stands this morning, i m joined by josh campbell who has been on the scene now for 20 hours at this point chasing
backdrop for movies like home alone and ferris buhler s day off. police say a gunman fired on people along the parade route from a rooftop. a barrage of bullets just after 10:00 a.m., causing spec to it tors, mostly families with children, both young and old, to scatter. right now officials say the victims range from 8 to 85 years old. five adults died at the scene, a sixth person later passed away at the hospital. witnesses describing chaos where strollers and belongings lay scattered on the streets that have become a crime scene. i picked up my kids and ran again, i put them in a garbage dumpster, and then i ran back to look for my partner and her daughter, and i saw people shot on the ground. all of a sudden, there was a stampede of people coming, and then i realized it was gunshots. i literally thought to myself, this is how it s going to end. we hope to learn more about a man who they say has not been charged but is a person of interest. within eight hours after
took the main brunt of the attack with many tanks and vehicles disabled. when his tank commander was hit, and gravely wounded, specialist birdwell got him to a place of safety and then took command. he knew his vehicle was on the first line of defense. so birdwell stood and his commander, half exposed, at times standing out of the tank, fully exposed, laying down suppressive fire on the enemy. he used the tank s cannon, used the tank s machine gun, he used his personal rifle, he sustained fire, drove back the attackers and created a place of relative safety for the injured men behind the tank to take cover. he provided battlefield updates to his commanders until the enemy shot the communications system right off his helmet. when he ran out of ammunition, he ran to retrieve an m 60 machine gun and ammo off the
specialist birdwell s unit took the brunt of the attack with many tanks and vehicles disabled. when his tank commander was hit and gravely wounded, specialist birdwell got him to a place of safety and then took command. he knew his vehicle was on the first line of defense, so birdwell stood in his commander s hat at times, at times standing entirely out of the tank, fully exposed, laying down suppressive fire on the enemy. he used the tank s cannon, the machine gun, his personal rival. he sustained fire, drove back attackers and created a place of relative safety for injured men behind the tank to take cover. he provided battlefield updates to the commanders until the enemy shot the communication system right off his helmet. when he ran out of ammunition, he ran to retrieve an m-60 machine gun and ammo off the helicopter that had been downed
in a flight to keep firing on the enemy. even when that m-60 was hit by enemy fire causing it to explode and send shrapnel into birdwell s face, chest, arms and hands, he remained on the battlefield. when he was ordered to load onto the medevac helicopter, he complied. this i find amazing, only to crawl right back off the other side and to keep on fighting. that s what you call taking orders and causing trouble. god love you. only after reinforcements arrive and after he helped treat the evacuees, his fellow wounded, did specialist birdwell agree to evacuate himself. at the time he received a silver star for outstanding heroism on the battlefield. it took decades for his commanding officer, then general glenn otis, to realize that birdwell had not received the full honor he earned. in retirement general otis made