i don t know what the situation was there in squirrel hill, but it wouldn t surprise me if people were on guard. particularly as you point out that think of what we ve been going through this week in this country. and where there have been suspected explosive devices that have been picked up in several places here in new york city, but also people across the country have been on alert, on high alert. so i think that it is something that lot of people are thinking about. and as we see what appears to be s.w.a.t. team even potentially members of the military being do he employeplo. and we re getting word that the nypd is joining efforts in containing the situation. let s know right now to the local reporter from wpxi, we have david johnson on the scene for us. let s take a listen to what he is doing right now, he is interviewing people in the community. right now to david johnson. three officers who have been shot. and at this time we have no more
pid rapid police response we have. realize that this situation, we look at mass shooting, mass murder, we look at those numbers differently. but this shooting with at least three officers shot and reports of sicitizens inside, this is le number 275 mass shootings we ve had in the united states so far this year. it is an extra ordinary time. we have a lot of issues that we are dealing with. stay on the line if a moment. i don t know than die jonathan dietz is joining me. and i know that you have some information to share? reporter: pennsylvania state police have briefed some agencies and the primary information that they are providing is that there is a total of 12 people who have been shot, three of them are law
make a decision to jump off. may not be a pipe bomb, maybe a handgun, a shot gun, but probably not a mistake that this individual did there on this date. he may have planned it, but one has to consider the possibility that everything else that happened this week in america provided the additional fodder to get this individual to do what he did. we ll find that out because it appears that he has been captured. this is somebody that we can talk to. and jim, i ll go over the numbers as have wraen reportbee. 12 people shot, including three officers. preliminary numbers are that eight have been killed. but jonathan is just allowing us an update saying that may go up. those numbers may go up. so as we consider the weapons that are reportedly involved in
he was saying anti-jewish and anti-semitic things as he went into that synagogue, but i think the key information is coming from pennsylvania state police to various law enforcement agencies, the initial reporting there is that 12 people have been shot, three of them law enforcement. and there are multiple fatalities and it appears that the gunman is in custody. thank you for that. please stay with us as you gather more information. clint and jim, i ll get to you in a moment. but we believe this according to the jewish fed raieration of pittsburgh that about 60 to 100 were inside that synagogue. typically services begin about k 9:45 a.m. and there are a much smaller group inside at that time, maybe only 20 to 30 for the early services. but reportedly there was a briss
last five minutes or so that three police officers were shot, an active shooter situation remains in effect, though they believe that they have the gunman in custody. they are still going through this congregation to figure out if there are anymore victims or anybody else who may be hiding in fear of their life. and there have been reports of multiple fatalities. we don t have a confirmed number yet so we are not going to go with what we believe to be the case until that is confirmed here at nbc news. we believe that there was about 60 to 100 people inside the synagogue at the time, this coming from the jewish federation of pittsburgh. again, this is a popular synagogue. the tree of life synagogue there in squirrel hill. it is a beautiful residential community, mostly single family homes. and we re seeing reports of the