This was a joint effort by just a multitude of departments to find this animal and bring him to justice. At this point ill take questions. Has the suspect been identified . Right now ill tell you that he is a white male in his mid30s. I dont have a positive identification on him yet. I have an idea who he is, so i wont release that information until were absolutely positive. Are there any current active shooters going on at this time . Weve had calls, which is to be expected, because obviously our citizens are a little jumpy after this, which is also to be expected. But once this individual was taken out of the picture, there have been no more victims. Is there a reason to believe theres a second suspect that is on the loose . There have been reports that thats possible, but, again, there have been no kwirmconfirm that. Any conditions of the people still alive . The big thing thing its so chaotic still at the local hospitals that its very difficult to get that information. A lot of people on facebook are searching for Family Members who probably theyre not able to get a hold of. Whats the idea behind that and how they can keep in contact with the hospital and other Law Enforcement . Well, again, once we are able to compile a list of victims names, we can absolutely put that out. Also, im sorry, the hospital has set up an area for patients families in the cafeteria [ inaudible ] we got reports of two vehicles earlier today. What i guess is that not confirmed . I think what the issue with that was that you had the original vehicle, and then you had the mail truck. At one point we didnt know that that was the same person, but that is confirmed now, same person. Anything else . Do we know what kind of firearm was used . Was it a gun . A shotgun . Obviously it was a gun. At this point im really not sure. How did the incident begin . Again, it started with the trafficker stop, the attempted traffic stop. Are there precautions for the general public . I would tell people to still be cautious, still try to stay in this residents if at all possible. We believe we have the threat contained, but you cant be 100 positive thats the case. Any motives . No. I cant tell you of a motive at this point. Do you know what the traffic top stop was for . I do not. Do you know what happened to the postal employee whose truck was hijacked . At this point i dont know. I would assume hes part of the victim list, but im not sure of his status. I saw esd bus going down. Are you using the School Transportation to help the victims or patients or anything like that . Not to my knowledge, no. Okay. Thank you, guys. We have to get back to work. We will update you periodically, okay . I just want to make sure you heard there a very difficult evening for the chief of police there, michael gerke. The chief having to describe what is now five dead, 21 injured. The suspect was shot and killed, also mentioning by my count, if i was writing it down fast enough, three officers that were injured in this altercation, that it began at 3 17 local time, that is 4 17 eastern, that a trooper pulled over a toyota, and then thats when shots were fired by the driver of that car as they attempted to pull over the driver. That driver believed to be in his 30s. Looks like were now going to have a second speaker in odessa, texas, and theyre just micing him up at the moment, this after the chief of police from odessa spoke just moments ago and not very long. Lets listen in right now, going straight back to odessa, texas, as another Law Enforcement official is about to begin briefing the press there locally and us to get more details. Lets listen in. Im ready to go. When youre ready. Can you start telling us your first and last name. John alvarez, fire chief, odessa fire rescue. How many victims can we confirm so far . So far weve got 21 victims transported to either Medical Center or omc. We also had some that were transported to midland memorial hospital. Thats the count at this point. For families out there that are worried about their loved ones, that is their next step . How can they find out more information about their Family Member . Sure. As our Public Information officer said, once we get that information, once we get the list, well be able to put that information out to the public to be able to reach out to the loved ones. All those that are wounded, are those gunshot vibctims . Yes, for the most part. The count right now is five deceased according to the reports that i have received, so thats where were at at this point. I guess, did it start in midland and then travel west . That is my understanding. I mean, im not Law Enforcement, but thats the understanding that i have is that it did move from midland to odessa. Unfortunately we did have some casualties here. Is there anything that the residents of the community can do . Like giving blood . Its too early to say at this point, but i can tell you that right now its just shelter in place right now. Im sure the Police Department has sent that message to the community to make sure everyone is aware. Do we know how many odessa hospitals or how many are midland hospitals . That count were just trying to figure it out at this point. I can tell you we notified Medical Center hospital and notified odessa regional Medical Center and midland memorial hospital. Weve also notified outlying communities such as Andrews Crane for assistance. We have a Midland Fire Department that is assisting us. They have several units that were provided to us to assist us with anything that comes up at this point. I want to confirm, this was a traffic gone wrong with dps somewhere in midland. Where is it that all 21 people were shot . Were they shot at the 191 where the maam, i do not know that. I am not Law Enforcement, but weve had several casualties that weve transported. About how many units responded . We had several of our units. To the point where we had a call for Midland Fire Department to assist us with some of our ems runs after. Thank you. Thank you. Odessa, texas, 6 08 p. M. Local team, 7 08 eastern. This, another official appears to be from the Police Department or the ems there in odessa, texas, basically giving an overview of those that were injured and the vehicles that were then deployed to assist in moving those who were injured to local hospitals in the area. Again, the latest information coming from this press briefing, which just ended about ten minutes long, two speakers. Five confirmed dead, 21 injured, and they were clear to say though a suspect has been killed, they are not calling it an active shooter situation, an active shooter scenario at this moment, that they appear they believe that since the shooting and the killing of the suspect, that no more victims have been reported and, therefore, their hope is that this active shooter scenario is over. However, they are saying shelter in place. They are still looking for more information. They are still in the investigative stage of this shooting, active shooter scenario. That is what they believe now at the latter part of the story line, that this began as a traffic stop at 3 00 in the afternoon, 3 17 p. M. Is what the chief of police was saying. And then quickly thereafter that this suspect was shot and killed. Though along the way, three officers were injured, 21 injured overall, whether it includes the officers or not, that was not clear. But 21 injured is the overall number that was given, and five dead. This coming in to us just now from the chief of police. Frank figliuzzi, you listened to the chief of police in odessa, texas. This is a city of 120,000 people, 120,000 not probably believing they were going to have a situation like this on a Holiday Weekend on a saturday where there was an individual pulled over by a trooper and then five dead, 21 injured. What stood out to you in what the chief of police said and then after that, the official who was giving us the overview on ems . So as someone who carried a badge and a gun for 25 years, what i keyed in on was the three officers who are injured. By that i mean not only because i feel akin to them, but rather, look at what our Law Enforcement officers are facing every day on the street. Look at the fire power that they are up against and the risk they put themselves at every single day. Just playing out in my mind the car stop and then that goes bad with a shooting. And then the shooter moved on and another officer engages and a shot. And another and another. And the question we have to ask ourselves is, is this something that we want to keep accepting . Is this something were fed up with . Is this something that we should take action on with regard to the easy access to guns. And with 21 people shot, weve got to really look at the likelihood that this is a rifle. Its very possible that this is going to be a semiautomatic rifle. Its very hard to injure that many people while youre moving shooting with a handgun. So dont be surprised if we hear this involves yet another semiautomatic or automatic weapon. Six shots in total at least, right frank . 21 injured and five dead, if that is the way theyre giving us the numbers. With that number of shots, your statement about where this discussion will follow in the coming days and interestingly enough, today as we were looking at the state of texas, there were there was a headline on one of the local papers about eight gun laws that would loosen restrictions on gun ownership, certainly a debate thats happening in the legislature there in texas. Andrew blankstein joins us from nbc news investigations. You have been following the story. Andrew, what do you know . Andrew blankstein, are you there . Andrew blankstein from nbc news investigations has been following this story. Andrew, are you with us . Andrew, are you there . It appears were having technical difficulties with andrew blankstein. When we get him back, well go straight to andrew. Joyce vance, these details that have come out from local Law Enforcement shows that Law Enforcement were also the victims here as frank was remarking. Three Law Enforcement officials shot and injured. And then we have five dead as well overall from this incident. But these details could change. As you were watching this news briefing loosening with frank and myself, what stood out to you in terms of the details that they were able to provide . I was listening carefully, and one thing that was not clear was when the active shooter was shot and killed, when did this incident end theoretically . How long did it take for them to shoot and kill the suspect . Thats the one detail that did not stand out in this news briefing. But what stood out to you, joyce . Well, i think thats right and it did stand out this began with a traffic stop, as frank speculated before we went to watch the press coverage. And it sounds like it continues over maybe a driving distance, and that there were one or more locations involved, which means there was a lot of risk to the community. What we know is that Law Enforcement not just one, but apparently three Law Enforcement officers have been injured trying to engage the shooter. They were ultimately successful. It does sound like he had a lot of fire power. I think its unlikely that he had 21 perfect shots. I think well see when all the details come to light it would not be surprising if this was some sort of an assault weapon, a semiautomatic rifle that was being used as weve seen in other shootings. You know, we had earlier this week an incident in oregon which has a red flag law where police were able to take away guns from a person who had been identified as being someone who posed a risk. During this press conference, the police didnt identify the shooter. It wasnt entirely clear they knew his identity, although they indicated he was a white male in his 30s. We dont know if there were any warning signs in advance of this shooting incident, but increasingly these sorts of red flag laws are something that states will need to stop resisting, even states where people hold fiercely to their tradition of owning firearms because we have too many of these incidents, too much risk to the public, and the police are really down to the point now where the best that they can do is these running battles with people who are heavily armed after they had had a triggering event. We need to begin to put laws in place to help Law Enforcement do its job of keeping communities safe. Andrew blankstein, i think, is now with us. Andrew from nbc investigations. Andrew, are you there . Yes, richard. Great. Andrew, what do we know in terms of what we can report right now around what has happened . We just finished the news briefing and what is ongoing at the moment on the ground in odessa and midland . One of the key things is Law Enforcement is trying to in addition to process these multiple crime scenes is get some kind of clearcut time line and movement of the suspect or suspects. As the official said, 21 injured, five dead, multiple Law Enforcement officers wounded. So theres going to be a number of Different Things going on, and everything from obviously processing the physical evidence to trying to background the suspect. The suspect is reported dead. What kind of an electronic footprint this person had, trying to establish a motive. The time that these crime scenes take to process is long, but on the other hand, what we know and how information is shared, how quickly that gets out really truncates the amount of understanding we get in the sharing of this information and getting it out to the public and the press. So unfortunately you and i have spoken frequently this summer about a number of these incidents. This is just the latest in a long line of just horrific shootings. It kind of boggles the mind at this point. It boggles the mind, andrew as we look at the video from earlier, this may be close to the scene of the crime where this pickup was pulled over by a dps trooper a local Law Enforcement, and then began the shooting. This could be that very crime scene or the leadup to it. We just got in this picture. It appears to be of also this freeway area that were watching. If you look very closely, it appears that this individual, the side of the road is Law Enforcement. It appears there is a badge of some sort on the arm, so this is a situation, another photo here of another. It could be the same Law Enforcement official. This is the synergy Movie Theater we were describing earlier where it was reported by the chief of police where this incident ended and where the suspect was killed. So two photos very close to the scene of the crime here. You can imagine if youre this individual, david wheatly, who took these shots, and youre watching these happen right in front of you on the side of the road of a very simple freeway that connect odessa and midland. Id like to bring in julian castro. When we look at this, secretary, this is one of those situations from your great state where, again, we are seeing another incident where, unfortunately, at the moment at least five dead and you could marry from thear chief of police, that 21 injured could go down and the number dying from the situation goes up. Richard, thank you for having me. Can you hear me . I can hear you, secretary. What are you hearing from your fellow texans about this situation, about this active shooter scenario that appears now to be over . Just three weeks after what we saw in el paso is tremendously heartbreaking for the entire nation, but also, of course, especially for those of us in texas and for the panhandle thats happened. Its a powerful reminder that we need to take action to ensure that these types of incidents dont keep happening in our country. Just yesterday i visited the Mother Emanuel Church in charleston where four years ago a shooter went in there and he murdered nine people. How many of these incidents do we have to see before we understand that we have to take action . One of the most inspiring moments of the last few weeks happened in ohio after the dayton incident as the governor there was speaking giving remarks about what had happened, the crowd that was listening, people im sure of different backgrounds, different points of view, began to chant do something, do something, do something. And thats the message that i think all of us should carry with us tonight, is that we all need to work to do something to strengthen our gun laws. As you look at the potential progress, then, that may come from this very horrific incident yet again coming out of texas, what would be your hope as you look at what can happen in texas . We were just remarking that a headline from today from a local paper read eight new texas laws loosen gun restrictions starting september 1st. The governor saying we will unite to respond to this tragedy and he thanked the the First Responders along the way. Action. So what might that action be . That action should be in the form of common sense gun safety legislation. Look, we dont know all the details about what happened today, and so, you know, we dont want to speculate on that. But weve seen enough incidents in this country, including what happened in dayton and el paso, and what may well have happened today as we find out more information to know that we need to put in place universal background checks, we need a renewed assault weapons ban because this ar15 has been the weapon of choice time after time for this gunmen. We need to put a better system in place to ensure that anybody who gets their hands on a gun is not a danger to themselves or to somebody else. I support a sevenday waiting period. I also believe we need to limit the capacity of magazines. And i believe that we need to increase the tax on ammunition and on guns and use the revenue that we could garner, 600 million to 700 million a year to invest in Community Programs