-- bowling alley at around 7:15 this evening. shortly after that there were reports of another shooting at a nearby restaurant. and that it 8:15, another shooting at a walmart distribution center. unconfirmed reports, again, unconfirmed reports, say that multiple people have been shocked and that some people have been killed. we do not have numbers for you at this time. at this point, the suspect is still at large. the county sheriff's office released -- of the suspected shooter, holding what looks to be a rifle as he entered the bowling alley. police are now asking people in lewiston to shelter in place, to please stay inside their homes with their doors locked. governor janet mills says she has been briefed on the situation, and will remain in close contact with public safety officials. again, this is an active shooter situation in lewiston, maine. that is maine's second largest city -- at about 7:15, a shooting at a bowling alley, spare time recreation. shortly after that, reports of another shooting at a restaurant in the area, and then, following that, at about 8:15, another shooting reported at the walmart distribution center in lewiston, maine. joining us now is retired atf special agent in charge an msnbc analyst jim kavanaugh. jim, this is obviously a fluid situation. we do not have a lot of details right now. but what is the -- the warnings we are getting from law enforcement, for residents of lewistown, maine, to stay inside and lock their doors, what does that tell you about the gravity of the situation? >> it is a very active, chaotic situation, even for the police and commanders on the ground here, alex. they don't know if they have one shooter, who has traveled between locations, or there is multiple shooters involved. they have to sort that out. we have -- you have the image of the shooter. the tactical rifle, a big sign on it. it looks like he has maybe even some extra mags in these btu pants they are bulging out of the side. -- can cause devastation and death in proximity and the bowling alley, in a walmart distribution center. so, it's a very dire situation and everybody does need to stay sheltered in place, listen to the police, report anything. shots, sightings, anything. so they can get to this person and get to him quickly -- they've got to get him, quickly, and i isolate him and get to the threat. >> jim, the shooter, if this is indeed the shooter -- the image that we have up on the screen right now -- he's not making any effort to conceal his face. i would imagine that is helpful to law enforcement in this moment as they try to apprehend him. >> right. i think he is probably past worrying about that, if this is the shooter, like you say. he is past worrying about that -- >> when we talk about the timeframe here, 7:15, eight pm, 8:15. as you look at that, that is moving around a lot in a very short amount of time, jim. could we be looking at multiple shooters here? >> i don't think you can rule that out right now, that there could be multiple shooters. but depending on the drive time, or walk time between the locations, he could get in the car, ten minutes, drive to another location, and get out, then shoot for a few minutes. and kill a whole lot of people. or wound a whole lot of people, and get in a car and do it again, and keep moving until he is caught or stopped. so, it could be one person. that is possible. but you can never say that for sure. they have got to plan on both multiple actors and one actor. >> jim, hold if you can. we are going to turn now to our local affiliate in maine wchs to see what they are reporting about the situation. >> -- there is also, across the street from that, you can kind of see the big square building, seeing that across, we are seniors were gathering for events. we talked to a woman earlier tonight. she was 61 years old, mary ellendavis, who was part of a knitting group. do we have sound from mary ellen, guys? >> -- and someone was knocking on the door. they told us to call 9-1-1, there was an active shooter. from what we have heard -- we have been seeing police with long guns running around. ever since about 6:30. >> okay. >> -- this evening. all around this industrial park where spare time is located. >> again, police searching for an active shooter or shooters in that area of lewistown, asking everyone to stay home and stay where you are. we are also hearing from parents who had to pick up their kids at the hockey rink in auburn, because everything is shutting down in the area. >> again, police are asking if you are in that area, don't drive anywhere, stay inside. lock your doors, and stay safe tonight. i believe we also have some more sounds from mary ellen there to listen to tonight. >> yeah, everybody here is -- we are cold, we are worried. there is one very elderly woman who is -- doing the best she can. we are being told to leave right now, going to the armory, -- what >> are they telling you why? just to find a safer place? >> i have to -- with police. >> okay. >> -- you can call me back in 15 minutes if you want. >> okay. thanks, mary allen. >> please be patient. i know you want to get the [bleep] out of here. -- >> very active situation. chris costa spoke to mary ellen just moments ago, saying that she was in that building for than knitting group, told to stay inside, but then they discovered an open door in the building, so, police wanted to search the building which would, of course, require them to evacuate it, and then you hear police interacting with folks there. >> so, they were moved out to the woods, mary ellen told us. they were moved out to the woods to be safer. and then, of course, moved to the armory. so, a very, very active scene here in lewiston, tonight. we will start from the beginning here, for those of you just joining in. police right now in lewiston are searching for an active shooter or shooters. they are unclear. in lewiston. it started at sparetime recreation on -- mollison way -- email them or respond to this -- you can have -- >> -- apparent large gun, please give police a call and -- it outside of sparetime right now -- and jack, what can you tell us about what you are seeing there? >> yeah, zak, that's right, i'm across the street from the sparetime recreation center, that's one of the scenes that lewiston police are telling us that they are searching for the active shooter right now. we actually just pulled into their to see if we get closer to get some video, and you can see over my shoulder here there are dozens of law enforcement corps there, mainstay, police different police officers there. they told us this is an active scene and they are currently looking into that right now, and they asked us to leave their. like we have been saying, earlier, we are hearing that numerous people have been injured. we are not getting much more information about those people that were injured at this time. again, this is an active shooter situation, and everybody in lewiston is being asked to stay inside and off the roads as they search for the shooter or shooters. now, the shootings they have happened at sparetime recreation, that's where i'm standing across -- and a bar named -- schemengees -- talking amongst themselves dissuading the at some more information about what happened and then across the street from there, we saw several different ambulances there on standby as well, and we do know that this is still very much an active scene that is going on. again, where i'm standing right here is across the street from the sparetime recreation center, and i believe that was one of the law enforcement vehicles also pulling into the scene right there, and as we pulled in, like i said, law enforcement told us this is an active situation. that's one of the scene that they are looking at right now in addition to the walmart distribution center, in lewiston, and along with that bar called -- do not drive around, lock your doors and be on the look at. we do know there is a staging area shelter where people are -- who do not have anywhere else to go right now, and i believe we have had alex at that scene, now, for a while. but for now we are outside live, across the street from the sparetime recreation center, which is one of the scenes where police tell us that they are looking for this active shooter. >> jack moment, live for us in lewiston tonight. and jack, you mentioned still it's an active scene happening behind you. are you seeing kind of people who were bowling there or is it just police? has everyone been kind of evacuated from that scene? >> no, amanda. it appears everybody there has been evacuated and we did not see one single car there that was not a law enforcement vehicle and it seems it's pretty much on lockdown right now, and -- law enforcement vehicles. they're like i said, earlier, it's obviously a very intense scene, where and when we pulled in they asked us to leave and it was an active -- >> all right, john, we will check back with you when -- >> all right. and one of our colleagues here at news center maine shared with us that there was a personal connection to one of our colleagues here, who had a family member at sparetime this evening. >> and they are currently in surgery from what we are hearing. and, again i think this is something that is going to impact a lot of people. we are hearing that a number of people are injured out of the situation. again, police are not confirming any deaths at this point. they are not giving us a number on how many people are injured, because i'm sure they are also still trying to figure out all of that. it is a very, very active situation. >> of course. and they continue to look for this man. please take a look at your screens there. i know it is hard to look at, seeing a man with a gun walking into that sparetime recreation time facility. if you know him, if you even think that you know him police do ask that you give them a call if you see him in public. you should also call police. but do not approach him. police are still looking for that shooter and still even possibly shooters this evening. we are hearing from several people weighing in including -- >> okay, that is nbc's maine in portland, wchs, covering what we now know is an active shooter situation in lewiston, maine, which is the second largest city in the state. police are investigating at least two locations. law enforcement has issued a shelter in place directives for residents. we have no word on any possible number of casualties, but we do know that the central maine medical center is reacting to what they call a mass casualty event, a mass casualty event, a mass shooter event. again, we do not know -- we do not know -- the number of casualties, or the number wounded. we know that there are at least two locations that police are investigating, possibly three sites where this shooter came in. the details are scant at this hour. but i want to bring in retired atf special agent in charge an msnbc analyst jim kavanaugh. jim, the central maine medical center reacting to a mass casualty event. your thoughts on that? >> yeah, the whole city has to be spun off. this is an active killer. he is on the move. he has hit two, at least, or maybe three locations. we can see from the photograph, at least by the police, he has got a large military style tactical rifle. he has btu pants that are stuff to the brim. he may be carrying other handguns in there. he could even have a bomb or pipe mom or something. he's got a backpack on as well. and he could be loaded up for their with ammunitions and magazines, prepared to shoot for a long time. it's interesting, alex. he did not stay in any one location. a lot of these killers will do that. they kind of just fizzle out. they don't wait for the police. they shoot it out with the police. suicide by cop, or kill themselves, or get arrested -- no, this guy moved to three different locations. and he may have plant that he wants to be a mobile shooter, if it is one shooter. now, i say that, because we don't know. we don't know that there could be multiple actors here, because we have multiple locations. people should not just center on any one picture they see, but report anything they see or any shot they hear, suspicious activity, to the police, dial 9-1-1. stay inside, lock your doors. this is a very, very dangerous situation in lewiston, right. now >> jim cavanaugh, our affiliate, wchs, in maine, we're speaking with someone who, i believe, with onsite at one of these locations where police are investigating. she said she saw police with long guns responding at around seven pm. that tracks with the timeline that we are working with so far, that the first active shooter event may have taken place at about 7:15. again, we are just getting details here. if the police were responding already at 7:00, the shooter then went on, presumably, to maybe one, and possibly two more locations. what are they looking for at this point? they have effectively been on the site. so, they are looking for a vehicle? i know they were also urging residents to call in if you recognize the shooter, who is not wearing any covering over his face. can you sort of help us understand what law enforcement may be doing right now in terms of their response? >> they certainly have the description of the person we are seeing on the camera. they have that out to all the officers in lewiston, in auburn, in maine. that picture is out. all the officers have seen, that the patrol officers. now, what you have described, alex, is the first responding patrol officers -- we call them swat light -- they will get their tactical vest out of their trunk, their tactical rifle. and they will respond to an active shooter quickly. and they will do that within a few minutes of the first reports. so, you reported about seven of them. the first few patrol cars that are on the scene, that is how they are going to come out of the patrol cars. they are going to get to rifles and get their tactical vest and they are going to go into where the reported shooting is. the bowling alley or the bar. and they are going to try to locate the shooter or shooters. that is their job. they are stepping over wounded people, maybe deceased people. because that is the training that law enforcement has, an active shooter. the mission is to stop the killing. it's tough on officers because you have people that are wounded and they are calling for your help. they want you to stop and help them. but you have to clear the way. you have to go in and find the killer, and clear the way, so emt and paramedics and -- come in behind you and help those wounded people. so, it's a tough mission. but this shooter or shooters is a very mobile person. and we have seen in other cases -- we saw in san bernardino california -- you could see in other cases where the shooter moves around a lot. we had it in the dc sniper. but it wasn't a spree killing like this. it was more separated shootings. but when they are moving fast like this in a spree, the challenge is to catch up with them, and stop them. they can change vehicles. they can change clothes. and like i say, there can be multiple people involved. we don't have an answer to that yet. >> yeah, there are certainly many more questions and there are answers at this hour. i want to bring in now frank figliuzzi a. i think we still have frank on the line by phone, former if the eye grand cuba pubah -- not really -- frank figliuzzi, i did not want to get your title wrong there. and help me understand how this might have happened. frank, we have the security camera footage of a single shooter. and we have reports of at least two, possibly three different locations there of what sounds like an hour, 7:15, 8:00, and a 15, locations where the shooter may have been on a spree. we do not have the number of casualties. we do not know the number of wounded. we know that the central maine medical center is reacting to a mass casualty event. does it sound like a single shooter event? what questions first come to your mind as we are hearing the initial details about this? >> alex, we can only go with precedent and history here and -- starting again. it is extremely rare to have multiple shooters. it's not that it doesn't happen. but something like this really involves multiple shooters. it could still be. we don't know. but my gut is telling me -- the police have to assume that they may be dealing with multiple shooters. i will tell you, i'm very troubled by the amount of time that has passed so far. so, that means a lot of damage could be done. i know we don't have accurate numbers in yet. but local news reporting is disturbing on the potential for mass casualties here. you heard jim cavanaugh use the word spree. and he's absolutely right. that has meaning for law enforcement, and behavioral scientists who study this thing. a spree is different from a serial killer. this is someone who keeps going until they are literally stopped. and the stock will likely -- by that i mean, it's not unprecedented for a spree killer to end their own life, or to die at the hands of law enforcement. that is house breeze and, unfortunately. but somewhere right now, if he's not been actively -- recently, he's been hunkered -- or he's already ended his life. the question now is containing him and rescuing those who were injured. this image that went up rather quickly on television is very helpful. i am hoping that people are going to recognize this in the lewiston area and called police and say, i think i know who that is. why is that helpful? that could help zero in on vehicles, on potential targets, and maybe his places of employment or places he you know that he has a beef with them. that's very helpful. the other thing you can do, and now two hours has now passed between initial reports, as you can start doing technical coverage of any devices that he owns. and you could actually start triangulating devices, if he's got a phone on him you could figure out where his last known location was. so, this will end. but it won't end well. and right now it is about complying with the police instructions to keep your business and homes locked, not answer the door unless you are absolutely certain who is there, and just complying with instructions right now. this is the second largest city in maine. but it's still not large. we are talking somewhere between 35 and 40,000 people. depending on the number of casualties, this will tax the -- >> frank, just to double back on something you are just saying, the fact that this -- we are talking about a relatively small city. we are talking about an alleged shooter here who is unmasked. and the reality of the 21st century is such that an electronic footprint is constantly with us. would you imagine that law enforcement may already know who this is, given the facts that are available, and the data available to them at this point? >> i believe that the time that this past -- there's a couple of factors, right? when is the time that is passed, gives the police time for some investigative worked. -- if the guys from the area, and it's probable that he was, they call in. they go, yeah, i know who that is. the other factor is the targets he selected. if it was a personal beef with one or more places of employment, or another place of business that upset him, people harbor these things. they hold this baggage, these grudges. and the often -- they say, i've been very upset. maybe four years this has been building up. maybe he was fired recently. maybe he had a beef with that industry or that business. and people won't be surprised when they hear this. people who know him will go, you have, i'm not surprised. that's important for the police, because they can even anticipate future targets based on his employment. so, yeah it's, it's possible they are not telling us the identity, and that's fine. because they've got a crisis on their hands. but knowing who he is is going to contain him, find him. cars, phones, et cetera. >> yeah, and if you are watching us right now, there is, apparently, security camera footage that we have where you can quite clearly see the alleged shooter's face. we also -- i think we can bring this back up. we have a picture of the vehicle of interest, which is a white -- i am not sure with the make and model is. a white vehicle that police are looking for. i want to go now to former seattle police chief carmen base. chief best, talk to me a little bit about the police, in a moment like this, where you potentially have a shooter that has gone to three different locations in the same city and managed to presumably escape law enforcement at each one of them -- what is happening right now, especially given the visual data that we have about the identity of this shooter? >> there is a lot going on, as you know. these situations are very fluid. right now, as you said, their -- lives. multiple units -- multi sectional response looking for this person. -- looking at photographs, and one that we have available, to see that any recognition technology or otherwise that can help us identify who the shooter's, looking at any locations that he may have gone to ground or any kind of transportation in the area, and all the cameras as well. there is a potential to send some drones in the year to see if, in fact, there is a movement movement of any kind of one of these facilities. because it's really clear at this point, as has been noted, whether or not this person is going to ground somewhere, or whether they have -- until we have more information, they are going to have to treat every location as a potential -- >> chief carmen best, the fact that we -- on our screens right now is the vehicle of interest. the fact that they have located the vehicle, what does that tell you about where the shooter might be? and where they're looking? lewiston, maine, as far as i can tell, does not have an extensive rail system. are we looking at someone who may be on foot at this point? >> there is a high probability that, if this is in fact the correct vehicle, unless there was a plan to have a different vehicle as a escape route -- there's so many different potentialities here early on. but if they have this vehicle i can guarantee you they are running the tags on the plates on the vehicle, too -- if it was stolen, or any other information they can gather additionally. it would be a vehicle that they would check for fingerprints and other kinds of evidence to identify the suspect. >> can you talk a little bit more -- you mentioned facial recognition. can you talk a little bit more about what a city like lewiston might have in place. this is maine's the second largest city. but it is, as frank figliuzzi pointed out, not a large city. it's a city of some 20 to 30,000 people. >> yeah. there is always that potentialities to -- mostly, it would be a larger city if issue issue if it wasn't a smaller city issue -- organizations and support in place and -- they would have the ability to utilize facial recognition to some capacity. so, i am not short to what degree. every state is a little different. but they would likely put that in place as well. >> former seattle police chief carmen best. thank you for helping us understand what is happening right now in this very kinetic situation. let's take a listen again to our nbc portland, maine, affiliate wchs. >> -- at lewiston city hall shortly. but i also want to share -- we are just learning on twitter that boston atf agents are responding to lewiston. so, this is having far reaching effects, not only for the city of lewiston but for agencies all across the state. the local sheriff's office as well as state police and now boston atf is also on the way to the scene. >> multiple agencies responding. again, this is from surveillance video from sparetime in lewiston. this is who police are looking for right now. if you know, if you recognize this person or this vehicle here, which is a black bumper. it looks like a white or a silver crossover vehicle with a a black bumper. police are looking for that person and for this vehicle. if you know anything you can call lewiston. you can also reach out to androscoggin county sheriff's. they say they're responding on facebook. they are also -- you can email dispatch dispatch- @androscoggincountymaine.gov -- . multiple bars, restaurants, closed down. some of them close their doors, like everyone, in until they -- this remains an active situation. >> yet, so at this point, there still could be those people that are locked in places. but, of course, we have not received an update on police just yet to say specifically what is going on there. i want to ask our control room to perhaps pull up that close-up shot they have on the shooter, because i think it's really important that we look at who he is tonight and police are still searching for this man, clearly caught on surveillance camera here in a parking lot. you can see a closer shot of his face compared to that photo we were -- has a large gun in his hands. if you know, him please give police a call. new center mains maine's alex haskell is standing by for us at lewiston city hall, we are, i hear we are supposed to get more information from the police in just a few moments. >> yeah, a, zach. we are waiting for a spokesperson to come over here and here a few more details with us. last i heard, the spokesperson was at the lewiston police department on their way here. so, we should hear from them, and see them any time. i do want to share with you with the scene was like as we approached lewiston. we got an alert on our phone, and i want to read it to you. our phones were buzzing. and we got this alert that said, an active shooter is located in lewiston. avoid the area and shelter in place immediately. lewiston officials will follow up as the situation de-escalates. this is what a lot of folks we're seeing and as we were also approaching lewiston. i will never forget it. we were crossing over a bridge into the city. and i just saw a gentleman who is probably out for a walk with his headphones, just sprinting into the city, and the fear on his face, as i imagine he was hearing the news and what is going to safety. so, that is something that is going to stick with me. and after that, of course, there is multiple police cruisers passing, us ambulances. i believe my photographer also mentioned that he saw a swat vehicle. so, there is still many officers in this area. and of course, our thoughts are with him. during this dangerous time -- but we are here in city hall, just waiting for the state police spokesperson to get here and hopefully share some more details with us. but that is all we have right now. >> okay. so, as you hear from our affiliate in portland, maine, that we are awaiting a press conference, presumably shortly, to hear more details on this active shooter situation in lewiston, maine. we know that president biden has been briefed on tonight's shooting. senator angus king, the senator from maine, has released this statement. senator king is deeply sad for the city of lewiston and all those worried about the family, friends and neighbors. he is receiving regular updates and awaits further details from local authorities and will be headed directly home to maine once the senate's final vote is held tomorrow afternoon. given the shelter in place currently underway, he asks all in androscoggin county to allow first responded to address the threat, stay indoors and report any suspicious behavior to the local authorities. we will bring in here frank figliuzzi, former fbi assistant director of counter intelligence and an msnbc national security analyst. frank, we are getting more images from security cameras of this alleged shooter. they are clearly fairly close up. they are fairly billed as security camera images go. we have a shot of the vehicle of interest. a make and model has not yet been released. i would imagine this is quite a bit for law enforcement to go off of. >> yeah, i know it's hard to find a bright spot here. the fact that we have a vehicle identified, and we have multiple images of the suspect, is extremely encouraging for law enforcement, in that they are going to know his location, his home and, maybe -- maybe -- be figuring out right now what has triggered him to act out this evening. but, again, they don't have this planned. he may not have a plan at this point. and in fact he may just be hunkered down in hiding right now. but rest assured, even as we speak, if they have him identified, they are already on the phone with the prosecutor, swearing out an affidavit surrounding's last known address, assuming, again, that they have identified him from these images. and one of the concerns they will now have to deal with is the possibility that he has anticipated law enforcement at his address or at a storage facility. and there might be booby traps. there might be bombs triggered. so, this is going to really have to be handled carefully. because we are clearly dealing with someone who is desperate. and appears to have at least given some thought to this. you heard jim early on talking about the image of this guy's cargo pants. he is weighted down. you can see that his pockets are full. and that could mean extra ammo, magazines, even handguns. he is prepared. and law enforcement is behind the curve, because they don't know where he is. so, safety of the public right now, and rescuing the victims, ensuring that rescue personnel can get into these locations, get people out and to the hospital, maybe airlifting them to other locations while we have an active shooter in a relatively small city -- that is a challenge for law enforcement. the good news is, unfortunately, cities have rehearsed this. everybody knows everybody else in town. they have done cable -- they have done realized exercises. we heard mentioned the atf early on. api the fbi has, believe it or not, a presence in -- they have satellite offices that called resident agencies that answer to boston, but they live and work in maine. you can rest assured the marshall, the fbi, the atf are all responding tonight in an attempt to contain the threat. >> yeah. and what we do know -- this has been escalated up to the white house. the president has been briefed. we know that from a white house statement just a few moments ago. frank, i am so struck by the fact that this individual is not even attempting to conceal his identity. and a -- from criminal profiling, what that tells you about how he expects this to go. >> yeah. it's not good, alex. not caring about concealing your identity means he understands he is going to get caught. this is not about evading the police. this is about executing as much as he can in terms of violence. and his last concern is getting caught at this point. he understands he is going to be identified, and he is on camera. and so, this will end, unfortunately, with more violence. unless somehow, miraculously, he throws up his hands when encountered by police, and surrenders. let's hope that happens. but history tells us, probably not, with this -- shooter. >> i just want to reset for people who are just joining us right now. there is an active shooter situation in, lewiston, maine. it is the second largest city in the state. police are investigating at least two locations. law enforcement in maine has issued a shelter in place directives for residents of lewiston. we still do not have word on the number of casualties or wounded. we do know that the central maine medical center is reacting to what they term a mass casualty event. it is a fluid situation. we have some security camera footage, which we are showing you right now, that shows the alleged shooter. i believe that is from a bowling alley. and this is the security camera footage from a parking lot. we also have an image of the vehicle in question. again, we don't have make or model. but i think we can pull it up here. it is a white crossover vehicle of some type. and we are expecting a press conference eminently from local authorities to get more information. frank, if i could go back to you -- assistant rector of counterintelligence at the fbi -- the fact that they are going to have a press conference. does that signal to you that they may have something to report in terms of potentially having this u-turn comes to the, or at least an idea on him? >> i am hopeful that that is what that means, that in a crisis like this the last thing on the minds in a place of executive is, oh, let's call a press conference. so, it could be two things. one is, they desperately need the public's help, because they have not found this individual. number two, they do have this individual and they are going to announce some facts, and relieve the public. the other thing i have keyed in on here, alex, is that you mentioned that the president has been briefed. i don't want to jump to conclusions. but, in my experience, that is a certain level that you get to when things are worthy of disrupting the presidents evening. and i hope i am wrong. but that often means that there is multiple casualties. because you just don't get all the way to a president, unfortunately these days, for what may be a simple shooting with minor injuries. >> yes, unfortunately, here in america shootings are an everyday occurrence. the fact that the local medical center is calling this a mass casualty event, and the fact that this has been escalated to the presidents ear is indicative of not anything good. something potentially, dramatically, tragic. as all shootings are tragic, this one, a mass casualty event, is in the category of its own. nbc news, i can now report, has confirmed at least 15 dead in what is still an active shooter situation in, lewiston, maine. that is 15 casualty so far. we do not have a number on the wounded. this helps explain why central maine medical is calling this a mass casualty event. 15 dead. frank, if i could go back to you -- 15 dead, multiple locations. you say that cities of many sizes do drills. they basically have a plan in terms of how they can react to a situation like this. because, unfortunately, and the 21st century here in the states, this is something that happens with some frequency. can you talk a little bit about how a city like lewiston would have tried to prepare for something like this? given the fact that this is a relatively small city in a state where gun violence is not exactly the norm? >> yeah, indeed. that is a challenge. so, if there is encouraging news, it means that, since 9/11, driven by counter terrorism concerns, every city in america is familiar with exercising a response, a multi agency response. and often, executives and police agencies have -- as to how to set up a joint incident command, operational command centers. that is being done now. they know how, unfortunately, to set up a place for family members to gather and wait for news of their loved ones who are missing, or haven't come home. they have done this. they have done it in exercises and drills. now it is for real. but you are correct. this site, the lack of resources that come with a population that is this small, because you are not talking about new york, l.a., washington, where you can literally pour hundreds and thousands of resources. in maine, you are talking about, especially on a night shift, you are now getting people up who have worked day shift, and you are telling them to come in. the state police are driving long distances now to respond to this city. federal agents now are rolling out. but, again, the numbers are small. but if there is any encouraging news here, it's we are well rehearsed in the law enforcement community on setting up joint incident commands, responding, and containing and moving methodically toward this individual and his known residences in order to do this. it is sad when it happens for real. but i am confident that the law enforcement officers are at least trained and have exercise this. >> frank, stay with us. we have some new reporting. nbc news can confirm 22 dead in the shooting in lewiston, maine. three locations police are investigating, and 55 to 60 people injured. i want to bring in now clint watts, former fbi special agent, and msnbc national security agent. clint, this is indeed a mass casualty event and these numbers are taking up higher. in a short nary tragedy. dead, 55 to -- injured. three locations. let me first get your reaction to one person in, what we believe -- again, we are just confirming details here. what we believe is an hour, between 7:15, and 8:15, visited three locations, and was able to inflict this much pain, this much horror in the city of lewistown, maine. your thoughts? >> yeah. it is just devastating to see this happen time and time again. i think the other thing is the images you see, which law enforcement has gotten out very quickly. as frank noted, that is what they felt like they needed to do to identify this person, and try to bring them in. those images that you are showing right there are bad news. you can just look at it. it is an ar-15 style weapon with a scope. we face -- you are looking at pants that seem to be some sort of military looking cargo pant in those could be combat style boots of some sort. the individual seems to be moving with -- everything that i have seen so far, and i know that i have only seen so much so far. i just got alerted to this a little while ago. this is the worst-case scenario and it's going to multiple locations. the key questions that are being as there is, why did this person pick these locations? where is it about a personal grievance? was it about some sort of ideological motivation? i heard frank on her right before this. and those of the question you always go to, to understand where the shooter might be, if he has not already been apprehended. the other thing that -- >> go ahead, please. >> -- that frank was spot on about. this individual, he is not hiding his face. he wants to be seen. the other thing that i noticed that is different from some of the other recent mass shootings that we have had is, there does not appear to be body armor, which, we've seen that several times in recent mass shootings, obviously. so, i think the situation is very violent, dangerous. and then just hoping that law enforcement has some good leads. and i am sure they are working with the public here to try to get some sort of lead and some sort of information about where this individual might be. >> yeah. what i can tell you. again, nbc news can report that 22 are dead and as many as 50 to 60 people are injured and now what is officially a mass casualty event in lewiston, maine. we do not have word yet on the whereabouts of the shooter. as far as we know, the shelter in place directive to residents of lewiston a still in place. we have the security camera images of the alleged shooter. we have a vehicle of interest. clint, the fact that police are going to have a press conference imminently, the fact that they are soliciting responses from residents, citizens of lewistown, if they know this person to get in contact with law enforcement the fact that they are showing the images of this individual -- i would assume that suggest to you that this person has not yet been apprehended. in your experience, given the sort of lack of tactical gear, the fact that he is operating out in the open with no face covering, when suggests, perchance, his motives? and how this may end -- but also, undoubtedly, it will help law enforcement apprehend him, if he is still out there, given the fact that this is a small city of 25 to 30,000 residents. people know each other in lewiston, maine, as we heard from our local affiliate. i would assume citizen engagement on an issue like this can be quite helpful in a moment where police are scrambling to find someone who has inflicted a deadly toll on their community. >> that's right alex, not just helpful, essential. we need to move quickly, and it seemed like a lot of women responded to this in the right way, which is put out as much information as you can, put out as much detail as he can, possibly a vehicle a vehicle can be traced to an individual an individual in a small town with specified locations with images. the best thing they can do is identify the shooter, because that might give you a pattern of where they might be and where they might go i would assume what they are trying to do is solicit as much information as possible, from the local community. but the other thing that they may be able to pull from this, especially as we talk about it as a national level, things on social media or the internet, or something to consider. does somebody recognize this? did somebody see a posting somewhere that they can replay about lewiston, maine. oh things will be essential. i wonder, as frank was noting with the press conference coming up, is an update on the whereabouts of the individual and what the situation is at, or are they still trying to search for the individual? they want to get out to the public quickly, it seems like their main engine. just across the board, it's a dangerous situation, when you have somebody that is unmasked, on surveillance, open the shooting people at multiple locations and on the move. it's the most dangerous situation for law enforcement. >> clint, i want to ask your opinion on something that we're also getting from our nbc news desk here. they note it is early, and as it stands right now, in the investigation thus far, there are no initial signs of tears, signs that this was targeted against a particular community. and he talked to me about how law spent this about the determination, and with that might suggest to you in this particular case? >> definitely speaks to the information that they have on hand. the question everyone goes to immediately is if it is a lone shooter or part of a larger network. you might remember 8 to 10 years ago, i saw cells in brussels or paris. they were looking for not one but multiple shooters, or bombers. they were trying to tech -- connect targets with ideological motivations. the question here is does it seem to be ideologically more of it? are there certain pockets? they have evidence to support that, or is personally motivated? you can relate that more to workplace shootings, for example or school shootings, where somebody goes into a place that they were a student or had connection to, or is this something about the individual locations specifically. i am sure that is what they are trying to look through right now. for law enforcement, they have very specific consideration about terrorism, ideological, social or political motivation. they were not moved that immediately. they will try to leave it wide open. if you go down one lane too quickly, it can actually lead you in the wrong direction. there have been many examples over the last few decades of people pursuing even the wrong direction, closing things off. they are trying to keep it wide open aperture right now to try to understand, it seems as if based on what you said, they don't have evidence to point to any sort of social, political, religious, ideological motivation that would tie it to terrorism. i think the bigger question being why did these individuals pick these targets, and why was he willing to go out, knowing he would be on kara, knowing he's unmasked, not wearing body armor? is this a situation where they are out committing violence and will continue to pursue the untold the counter law enforcement in a sensible way? >> clint, hang with us, if you can. we are again awaiting a press conference from law enforcement in lewiston, maine. before we get to that, i want to turn to msnbc law enforcement analysts, cedric alexander. he served as a member of president obama's task force, 21st century policing and was the former public safety director of the cab county, georgia. such a, we can report now 22 people dead, at least as many as 55 to 60 people injured, three location so far, it seems like we are just looking at one shooter. again, we don't have a ton of information right now, but we only have images of a single shooter and multiple locations. how are you looking at this from a law enforcement perspective? >> there is a lot of information that we clearly don't know as of yet, but certainly, we know at this point, there is a lone shooter, heavily armed and has, of course, killed significant number of people within a matter of moments. that is another sad case being reported here. there certainly will be a long night for law enforcement, whether it's a single shooter or not, it will be determined overtime. of course, we're looking at video footage there, at least a still image of at least one shooter. this is of great concern for that community, in and around that community there in lewiston, maine. this is a real serious issue tonight with a person identified as heavily armed and certainly has enough ambition to have created the amount of death and may hand that he has at this point. he is going to need to be called quickly and brought to justice. this is not a good night in america. >> that image that we just showed you, we can pull it back up, cedric. not sure if you can see this. it's the central maine medical center. as we saw reacting to a mass casualty event. we are not sure who that is. i think that is one of the medical officials in front of the maine medical center. cedric, if you could help me understand, maine it's not known traditionally for high numbers of gun violence. it is a plague on the entire country, but as a state, maine is not known for a particularly high rate of gun violence. this is the second biggest city in the state, with -- in terms of the law enforcementd they sort of nimbleness of it on a wednesday night, relatively small town, do you have a sense of how robust law enforcement response may be. keep in mind, that the shooter, again, we're working out the details here, but the single shooter may have traveled to three different locations and killed scores of people in the process. it does not sound yeah as if law forsman has apprehended him will probably know more about that shortly, but can you talk to me a little bit about the scope of what a town like this, what kind of response they can mount in an hour like this. >> here is what we know about lewiston, maine, a small community there are, second largest city in maine, a population of about 30,000 with -- it is a relatively small american city, but a significant sized city when you compare all the cities across the country you have a community in that city, where you will find, i can only imagine, a police force that probably is meeting the requirements of the number of officers of that size and community. i think the one thing that we had to keep in mind, as the shooter has proved, we don't know if he moved around the city limits. he's been outside the city limits into the county area. we still don't know quite frankly any other people who may have been injured or killed, that is still yet to be determined. so tonight, it will be a collaboration of all local state and federal law enforcement that will be moved into that city, in and around that area and follow as many leads as they can. of course, we don't know what leads they may be following at this point, as they gather information. hopefully, they're getting calls in from the community, who may recognize the subject or may have seen him, or whatever the case may be. it will be important during this press conference. hopefully, they will be able to share some information with the community and the rest of the country in terms of where they are in the investigation, and what it is that they know, as long as it does not impede the investigation itself. >> yeah, i am also struck, as i am sure that you are, the number of images that we have of the shooter's face, the fact that he is unmasked, but also that law enforcement is circulating the images. so widely, presumably to get citizen response, to engage citizenry and apprehending the individual, other police, identifying him. it's very much a break from other mass casualty events, where the shooter identity has remained under wraps until apprehension. are you thinking at this moment, as a considerably different in that way in terms of the identification of the shooter so early on in this very chaotic situation? >> here, again, doing a presser that is coming up here very soon, we'll learn more as to whether they have identified the individual. if they have identified him, i am certain that they will share that with the community, so everyone will be on the lookout for this particular person but then again, it may be someone who might be indigenous to document the, or they may not be. they could come in from another city, another town, another state, we don't know this, it's too early to tell, but we have clear images there, and i think within a period of time, it's something, the technology is available to police and law enforcement today. hopefully, we can identify this individual soon, which will be an important step in a critical step in the entire investigation. >> such a, thank you for your thoughts. if you could hang on a moment, i want to bring on again, clint watts, former fbi special agent and an msnbc national security analysts. clint, when it comes to what insights men like this violence, , if it is not as nbc news is reporting at this hour, there are no initial signs of terrorism, can you talk, obviously broadly, because this is a fluid moving situation, what tips these men into such a dramatic moments of violence? >> everything happens on a spectrum. when it comes to grievances around the shooting, it's everything from the personal, could be personal animosity about a specific individual or location. it could be psychological. we've seen several instances where it seems very much tied to mental health issues, but then you can move that across the spectrum to what is known as ideological grievances around religious political, social issues. you might remember that 2017, 2018, 2019 period, when we had a series of mass shootings, very much tied up in ideological motivations. some of them on race, some on gender, misogynists issues. but even at that, you can get a palette of issues that they are motivated by, which all blend together oftentimes, it is not just about one thing. the only one thing that they are committed to is committing violence and moving towards a violence and understanding what the trigger is is oftentimes amorphous, sometimes it is more clear. the things that we can look at already, it seems like it's a single shooter. or does not appear to be a terrorist cell, something law enforcement noted right away the other thing that we will be looking at is just in terms of selection of targets, why did they select -- why did this individual select these targets, why did he go from one time to another? that will be critical to understand is there some sort of motivation around the timing? was the attack done because of a specific day or something about the day in october that made the individual wanted to execute an attack? i think moving beyond that, once we talk about the wise, how did they do it, and we look at the amendment of this, it's well known, been seen many times before, i could not count the number of times i have been on the channel talking about a mass shooting like this. when i got the initial report tonight, that there had been a mass shooting, this has been on my mind, what i thought we would see. someone with a long gun, in this case, which appears to be some sort of semi automatic rifle, someone dressed in some formal tactical gear or combination of tactical gear. i think that is the disturbing part, which is, there are two parts of this. when you see in many countries, potentially, the frequency of these attacks are too high. there is some motivation to why these individuals do this. but what we see in this country, and this country more that many others and probably all others is the impact. by that, the number of ople killed, the number of people wounded, and that comes down to the weaponry equipped. that individual is caring right there while i used to carry in the u.s. army. it is what i was trained on, and you only have access to those things 30 is ago. if you are in the military and following proper safety precautions, you carry those weapons openly on the streets of this country. that is the impact we do see terrorist attacks, see workplace violence or school violence in other countries, but you do not see 22 dead,

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