Dont know the path or exactly how the shootings occurred. Where were you when you got that phone call and your heart had to have dropped . So today has baeen we last our footage there. That was the superintendent going through and taking questions there for a few minutes. Let me go down to our nbc correspondent who has been on the scene for the last few hour, Tammy Leitner. What codo you feel like you kno factually and what are some of the Unanswered Questions youre trying to get answers to . Reporter first i want to take you through what weve been seeing the last hour and a half on the scene here. A very emotional scene. When we first pulled up, there were parents lining the street for literally blocks. Parents standing outside of their cars, standing on the side of the road, waiting for answers. Waiting for their children. Literally standing there, some in tears, some hugging each other, others desperate just to hear from their kids. And as the minutes and hours started going on, we started seeing reunions. Police officers started walking kids down this road. Were about one block from the school, the school is one block behind me. Police officers started walking kids down this road. There was only a couple of them, but they started reuniting these parents and it was emotional. You could tell the kids had been through a lot. For the most part, the rest of the kids are reuniting with the paths parents at a hotel. Some havent even spoken to their kids. These kids have been locked down inside the school and then the
police as you know, they go and they talk to the kids, they debrief them, they want to find out as much information as they can while it is still fresh. So many of the parents that weve been speaking to out here at the scene, at the school that have come here for answers, that have come here to find their kids still had not scene them yet, still had not given them a hug. We know there are about 20 kids that have been injured. Parents still searching for answers. There is still an active scene out here. I can tell you there is an elemen Elementary School that had still been on lockdown during the news conference. Parents wanting to even though were okay. So a lot of emotion as police still try to work the scene and piece everything together. So we know 20 injured, we know of one dead. Do we know what kind of weapons were used by the shooter . There seemed to be some speculation that he had a connection to the school. What can we say yet . At this point, it is a lot of speculation. I can tell you it sounded like similar automatic rifle shots. From what were hearing from the description from the kids, we know that school was about ready to be let out when Gunfire Rang Out and that was when school immediately went into lockdown and the kids immediately took cover from the parents that weve spoken to here, that actually got Text Messages from their kids, this is how it went down. Some of the kids texted their parents, one mother said she got a text from her son who was in the office with three other students and he said mommy, what do i do. There is gunfire. And she said barricade yourself right where you are. And so him and three other students barricaded themselves. We know there were about 20 kids at that point barricaded inside the school. And standard protocol is they barricade themselves with the teachers until the Police Actually come and tell them it is safe to walk outside. So at this point they are still
trying to piece all these things together. We talked to one parent who was on the phone with her son speaking to her 14yearold son, a freshman, for the first time and he told police that on social media he had seen something that he thought was important enough to tell them and it said today was purge day. Whether that had anything to do with the School Shooting or not, he thought it was important enough to tell police, but that is obviously something they will be looking at. Tammy leitner on the scene for us. Well probably be checking back in. Thanks very much. Let me turn to Jim Cavanaugh, terrorism analyst on these things for us. And i feel like we always meet like this. This is the 18th School Shooting of 2018. This is the first oneity in two. But weve been averaging about one a week. It feels as if the stories are the same, the setting changes, the number of victims change. But the story is the same. Yeah, the story is the same. Well find out he is a student or former student or some connection to the school. He is likely choking on an empty grudge. He wants to get back at the school for some reason. That can be evaluated by the psychologist for sure. But as a general giant rubric, a revenge on the school. The reports that he might have pulled The Fire Alarm to get people in the hallway and tammys report there, that is the first ive heard that he might have had a long gun, if he is 18, he can walk into any gun store in florida, any gun store in america and buy a long gun, tactical rifle, load it up, and go seek his revenge. And that may be why this is turning out to be so devastating whenever you place a long gun in there, the wounds are much more devastating. Not that a hand gun cant wreak
havoc. Virginia tech is one. It can cause many deaths. But the rifles are so much more devastating. It just makes it all the more horrific sometimes when the shooter is not womell trained. If youre in a Recall Whallway rifle, it will be a bad day. So what can we do . We can do many things, but as a nation, we seem frozen and we dont seem to be doing those things. It feels like paralysis. I guess let me go from the schools point of view. Schools have tried to change things, they now have drills, my kids go through drills in their schools. This is a common thing now to go through these drills. You have School Counselors are trying to be better aware. Youve got backpacks searching issues that are taking place. But none of these have changed anything in 30 years. No, they really havent. Well, they changed . Things. What we do have to realize that a lot of the facts that the
children and even people in businesses will barricade, i mean there is a lot of people and probably people watching but oddly does that feel like progress just because were better capable of protecting ourselves from a lone gunman . We still havent figured out how to deal with the lone gunman issue. I agree with you there. I do think people that are better at some tactics and barricading and fleeing and fighting them off, but, no, we still shouldnt be having this society. One of the things is people have no processes to cope. And this is children and adults. They just have no skills. If they get fired, then instead of looking for another job and picking themselves up, they want to go massacre everybody at the place where they were employed. Or the school that might have done them wrong. And were not as a society maybe realizing it. That is something that we should teach from a young age. You will get knocked down. You have to get back up. And chuck, as you and i and so
many people we know, we admire our parents, our Glabd Parerand who went through wars and holocausts and got knocked down and got back up. And i dont know if everybody sees that anymore, as if that is what life will throw at you. So the first time they get a curve ball, they failed a class, all of a sudden lets get a gun and shoot everybody. It happens time and time again. We can do better. Simple things. Maybe not in this case. This case we dont know. Maybe this person bought the rifle on his own at a store or got it on the street. We dont know yet. But in many School Shootings, if all the parents would just secure their guns at home, we could reduce the number. That is just one thing. Doesnt take a law. Doesnt take anything. Just takes responsibility to do it. So there is some things we can change Teaching Coping Mechanisms certainly better, seeing the signs. This guy will have what we call leakage in the police business. There will be some leakage about what he was going to do. And well see how that was picked up, was it missed, was it picked up. And again im always interested to see was he walking across the parking lot with a long gun expos exposed. Time and again we see that. Im curious that the fbi has prided itself on for decades of trying to better profile all the time. And to profile a killer on their second or third attempt is one thing. But trying to profile somebody before they ever act is something else. But it does seem as if there is something high School Counselors is there something you think at some point the fbi needs to work with schools in how to identify people who may need help early on to make sure they dont fall through the cracks . Well, i think every effort is good on that. The Secret Service tried to do a big study about it, Many Mental Health professionals do. School counselors do. Youre just not going to catch every single person. But i do think we can reduce the number. Usually people are feeling they were done wrong. They cant get ahead. People are treating them mistreating them. They are bullied. They couldnt make it. Look at the Virginia Tech shooter. Everybody has a grudge. When they start getting that grudge, that is when need to be talked to and counseled and say hey, life has those things. You got to come back. And we need to start from a young age teaching all of us that life is not going to be just a big smooth sail. You will get fired, you might get hurt, you could could be injured, you could an veteran. So many things that will happen to you. Dont expect about it will be this easy ride and dont take revenge on everybody when it does. Let me bring in sean henry, he is a former Executive Assistant Director of the fbi, National Security analyst. I know youve probably been hearing jim and i go through this. But give me your initial reaction of what youre seeing and sort of id like to go Bigger Picture here. This is the 18th School Shooting just in 2018. And today is valentines day. Yeah, you know, watching the scene and watching the evacuation of school, understanding the Anxioguish Th parents are going through and the Law Enforcement response the way they do their response looking for the shooter, this is something that weve seen play out too many times in the last few years. And listening to jim, i think there are a lot of social issues. Im a former Law Enforcement office and you typically come on air here to talk about what is happening strategically in terms of Law Enforcement. But in this case, listening to jim, there certainly are social
issues here. As a nation we have to come together and recognize that there has to be a response and it has to be a comprehensive response. I dont pretends to have the answers. Im a gun owner. Ive had guns my whole life. Im responsible and authorized to have one. But i think we have to look at the current laws in place. And while i believe in protecting the Second Amendment, im a believer in that, but we have to look at how guns get into the hands of certain people. And im saying all that high level, we dont know the facts and circumstances here. Totally get it. Let me put this way. There is always individual facts. But i feel like people sometimes use we dont know everything yet to avoid tougher conversations. But let me ask you this. A superintendent calls you up and says you are in charge of preparing us for this. You are in charge of preparing
our school system. There is tactical preparations and there is profiling preparations. What do you do . Youre saying in preparation for a School Shooting in advance of a School Shooting . Yes, trying to sort of both help a high school identified troubled students and both on a tactical front and the profiling front. On the profiles front, i dont think it is much different than the way we profile from a terrorist perspective. Ive talked on the air here many times about how we need to have members of the Community Involved with Law Enforcement reporting unusual behavior, innocuous behavior, people who make threats and sometimes people overlook them. They dont pay it much attention, they dont take it seriously. And i think that while Law Enforcement cannot be expected to police every family, every school, every church, that is not going to happen, it is not their role, but working in coordinate with the community, they need to be able to respond
to issues that are brought to their attention. And there needs to be that close relationship between the organizations. It is the same thing with these types of shootings. Jim talked about we have a kid here who looks like may have attended this particular school at some point or another. What happened there in the background, what may have happened in the past few weeks that caused him to do this. Did he say something. Did he make a comments. Was he posting on social media. And did somebody see something that sthee have brought to somebodys attention. So Law Enforcement cannot police every single facility in the country. They dont have the capacity or capability, but they have to work hand in hand with the community. I appreciate that. Lets me bring in senator bill nelson, senior senator from the state of florida. And senator, appreciate you coming on. Tell me what new information you have about i think the last time
we talked to you, you had been told there could be a number of fatalities. Thankfully so far we only know of one and we hope that that is where the total ends. What more do you know, sir . Well, one is too many. But i understand from the superintendent of education or the superintendent of the schools that there are more than one and that is why i characterized it an hour ago when i spoke to your folks that it was a number of fatalities. And of course that is the same thing with injuries. Youve heard now and we now know that it appears that the suspects in custody. Go a little bit Bigger Picture here for me. 18th School Shooting this year. I keep saying that because its only the middle of february. Right. Chuck, i love your program, so why do i have to come on your program in a tragedy like this . It is a bad day. And South Florida is hurting. And here we go again about that and every time as you say one of these Mass Shootings, we say enough is enough, and then it happens again. Now, the fbi will lead the investigation and well find out what was the caliber of weapon, what was was it legal, was the shooter legal to purchase it. And we go through all of this and then we try to do something in the congress and we take even Dianne Feinsteins bill which is that if you are on the terrorist watch list, you cant buy a gun. And we cant get that passed. So you see the difficulty when you say, well, what are we going to do about these Mass Shootings. Do you have an idea of how to
break through the paralysis on the politics of it . The state of florida is wellknown for having perhaps the most Pro Gun Rights Owners Laws in the country out side of texas. The culture you may not be able to change on that. But how would you break through that paralysis on this issue . Keep trying. And of course you can hear the emotion in my voice. And i think there are a lot of other people out there that if these things continue like they have in the past, almost with regularity, and remember there was a shooting just a year ago in the same county, Broward County, at the ft. Lauderdale airport. And of course what happened in las vegas and go on and on and on all the way back and before sandy hook. And so how do you break through . At some point the American People are going to say in fact
weve had enough and they are going to demand of their members of congressnd State Legislators that things start changing. Let me ask you this. What would you do within the schools . What if School Superintendents told you the only answer in their Minds Gun Restrictions or is there more Mental Health do they need more Mental Health capacity, more counselors . What could wie do on the school front . The answer to that question is yes. But the answer to the implied second question is we cant make schools and armed camp. You know how our whole society has changed. It used to be that i never worried about security. And now when we go into a public meeting, we have to be concerned that we have security there. Same thing in schools. But you cant put an armed camp around schools. You can use some common sense n enacting laws. And you are talking to a Florida Country Boy who grew up on a ranch who has always had guns and who still hunts with my son. Senator bill nelson, i know well probably talking to you more about this incident over the next couple of hours. I appreciate you giving us your time on this and well let you go. I know you want to make more calls. Thanks. Speaking of members of congress, lets me bring on ted deutsche, he represents this part of Broward County. Congressman, what have you learned since what more new information do you have that you can share . Well, thanks for having me first of all. Im not sure what the latest information is that you have. We know that this is just the
worst day in parkland. Let me stop you there. Describe parkland for our viewers that dont though Broward County, dont know the western part of broward or dade. Sure. Yeah, this is this is a beautiful idyllic community. It is a wonderful community. Douglas shs one of the best high schools in the state of florida. I visit often. I was there just a few weeks o ago. And yet here we are talking about a school another School Shooting right in the midst of all of this. This is one of those moments
where when you watch the footage of kids running out of the school with their hands up and police and First Responders going in with their guns to try to secure the school, and you think boy, weve seen these images just so regularly, you realize that indeed this can happen everywhere, but the fact it is it shouldnt have to happen in your own community for you to care about it. It does seem as if that is when people focus on it, when it touches them. And we all get that. What do you as you know, sandy hook is about as tragic as it gets in one of these things. The las vegas shooting, the worst massacre weve ever seen. And it didnt seem to budge congress at all. There didnt even seem to be a desire to even start a commission to think about solutions. Right. Look, ive been ive devoted an enormous amount of my time here in congress trying to do something to stem the tide of gun violence. But lets here is a suggestion. Instead letting it dissolve into the typical political discussion with People Tweeting at me telling me now is not the time to have conversations about gun safety, and others saying stop trying to sbf trying to interfere with my Second Amendment rights and others saying it is about Mental Health issue, lets talk about all of it and do it in a way that is not political. To get when commissions. Do you think that is possible anymore to do anything that didnt get politicized . Look, i cant believe that congress hasnt done anything since sandy hook. I cant believe it. But the fact is everyone has an excuse, but everyone also acknowledges that days like today are awful. And is thisthis is a terrible, e day. It is on grichm. The sheriff, the superintendent, this is as bad as it gets. So i agree lets not politicize it. But lets sit down and have the conversation. If you think it is about Mental Health, lets figure out how to address that. If you think that there are steps that we can take, common sense measures that wont interfere with anyones Second Amendment right, then lets talk about that. But by all means lets just not let this go. I mean were going to have a moment of silence because that is what we do here. That is what we do. And we do it all the time. But at this point we have to follow up with something. No one should feel it shouldnt take every member of congress to feel the way that i feel right now for us to commit ourselves to do something about this. It is not political. These are some of the best kids
in the country. And what they went through today is unspeakable. And it is awful. And we have got to do something about it. Congressman, i want to end it there because i think i cant imagine you having any other better answer than that. I would hope that touched a lot of people no matter their politics. Congressman deutsche, thanks for coming on. Good luck with these families and well check in again. Thanks. Let me bring . Clint watts oi, national securis analyst, former fbi member as well. Clint, i think this is the first time you and i have talked on a School Shooting versus usually were picking your brain when it comes to russia or something with a foreign power. Give me what the tell me what the fbi is doing right now when
it comes to its work with the sheriff office. First thing is trying to go to the crime scene, figure out what is going on, but look for any connection. So any of these individuals that might show up in a mass shooting, you want to make sure they are not connected to a larger conspiracy either locally or even internationally. We used to always look at these Mass Shootings or incidents of violence on a terrorism context. We dont really anymore because far more likely just a len oig being lone being a of active shooter. But they want to eliminate a larger conspiracy or other attacks. Beyond that, they are there to help in terms of the forensic case and provide resources to those local Police Departments that may not have everything on hand. So this could be everything from crime scene investigation, how to retrieve evidence, to running additional leads or looking at more technical signatures. We had talked about social media earlier. And the fingerprints that we can
essentially see out there on the internet. So they may be able to bring some of those resources to bear, help with the local Police Department and help them build out that case. Given that it is Broward County, im getting they are probably pretty good on the resource front. But i want to go deeper on the social media profile i guess of sorts now. We heard one unconfirmed report that perhaps there was some warnings on smooeocial media, a least something handed that a Student Thought he should tell the police about it. Do you envision a day when well be able to that schools will be able to profiling social media feeds to sort of see if they can get this front of Something Like this . Yeah, it is really interesting. The conversation has changed from why did this happen to accepting that it happens. And now trying to figure out the psychology about every human essentially in the United States to diagnose whether they are part of a Terrorist Group or active shooter or what they
might be inclined to do. I think it will be tough in the Social Media Space because if you look at social media at large, you are talking about thousands upon thousands of potential leads. Somebody says something that someone doesnt like or maybe a negative thought one day. What we do tend to find though when you look at these cases, it is not surprising. Receipt tr retrospect suffly we say maybe should have talked to this individual. But unless they are breaking the terms of service of the social media accounts, or actually committing an act of violence, there is very little that Law Enforcement can do. You can preemptively go out there. We have it in the Terrorism Space as well. You can go out there try to have a conversation with them, think through interventions. Thats what i was thinking about. I know we have this focus on trying to deal with sort of get to potential terrorists before
they become before an isis is able to brainwash them or all of that. Is there some way that a School Counselor can start looking for these things . I know this seems like a leap, but you know, if were going to have paralysis on the gun conversation, schools need some stools. Honestly, there is very little difference in terms of the assessment when you go back through the americans that support Isis Orts American Or W kae they choose to go down the terrorism route. And i think the process has always come down to how do you bring Mental Health professionals, School Counselor, people dealing with those in adolesce adolescents, nonprofits together to get in front of this. But it also side steps the larger question which is why do
the United States have so many more instances than any other country in the world. And there are a lot of actions that we could take that would probably make a greater dent or reduce the number ever casualties in this case. And the conversation, we had las vegas and there was no reaction. Im assuming the National Conversation will be nonexistent after this as well. I know we dont pay you to be a political pundit, but i have a feeling you may be right about that. Thank you very much. Just to reset for you, here is what we know. 20 injured, suspect is in custody. It was at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in parkland that the School Shooting took place. Think of where the everglades starts to meet communities there. By the way, Marjory Stoneman douglas the woman who arguably saved the everglades. Ill turn coverage over to mr. Williams. And were just coming on lli
to help out with the breaking news that weve been watching unfold all afternoon. As chuck was just saying, this is the western edge of Broward County in florida. Really where the land comes up against the land that is protected as part of the florida everglades. At we zoom into this location, a lot of people have learned a lot about this community of parkland, florida. Right now nbc news correspondent Tammy Leitner is standing by to talk to us. She has been at the scene for some time now. Tammy, i heard you earlier talk about the emotional reunion, the parents who had obviously shown up, the police have to make a perimeter to keep everybody back and everybody safe. Most of the parents who showed up because of electronics and the ability to text knew that their loved ones, their kids, were okay. Some of the parents have received bad news that their kids were being transported to hospitals. But in a metered method, i know
they let some of the kids run out to the perimeter to their parents. Reporter yeah, i can tell you were about a block away from the school. And we did see a couple of officers slowly walk out students with their arms around them, very gently, tenderly walk those students up to their parents. Very gemotional reunion as you can imagine. Weve seen dozens and dozens of parents show up hoping to be reunited with their children, which for the most part was not happening because the kids were obviously debriefed by police and then taken to a location away from the school. Which parents are having a hard time getting to. Let me take you through what happened. We know the school was almost out today when multiple students have told us that a fire alarm went off. After that, they lettered multiple gunshots ring out which sounded like a semi automatic. L multiple gunshots ring out which sounded like a semi automatic. They went into lockdown. Some students were able to get off campus, others immediately bh barricaded themselves in the classrooms with the teachers. Several parents got frantic Text Messages from their kids saying mom, what do i do, there are gunshots. One mom said she got a text from her son who was 14 who was with three other students in the School Office and she told him to stay where you are, dont leave. And she texted him for the next two hours and basically talked him through this. Obviously this is a hard thing for anybody to go through let alone as you can imagine teenagers. We spoke to another mother who had not been reunited with her son yet, but we were there as she talked to him on the phone for the first time. And she of course asked him what happened. And he said mom, i dont know. He said but i did see something on social media about a purge
day. There is a lot of speculation and it is the job of Law Enforcement to try to piece together why the shooter did this. And one thing they will be doing as you and i know is going and looking at social media accounts and trying to figure out what happened. So this young man obviously thought it was important enough to tell the police about the social media post he saw of today being purge day. So that will be one thing that they look at along with a lot of other accounts. Tammy leitner, thanks. Former new York City Police commissioner bill bratton is here with us to lend his expertise. Commissioner, im not the first to say this, there is a sameness to this now. This is the 12th School Shooting of just this new year. These pictures of horrified kids coming out of their own school being forced to keep their hands up because the authorities cant trust anyone during that time. It is just hard to watch. Weve been using the term the new normal, the frequency of these types of incidents is increasing. And it has become so normal that within a couple days we will have moved on. This will be news tonight, news tomorrow, but then were on to the next event. That is the america were now living in unfortunately. That this is blip on the radar screen. It seems to me there is a big difference when we learn whether this gunman was operating from the outside of the school initially or the inside of the school, what im talking about is an element of this that everyone is mentioning, The Fire Alarm sounded. A fire alarm with an outdoor gunman could indicate help on the inside. With an indoor gunman could indicate a way someone pulled it as a way of getting authorities there. I heard one student say they had a fire drill this morning, so It Wasnt The First Time today they
heard the bells go off. So that is one of the many questions. And a fire drill, the normal response is evacuation. This is a campus style school, so obviously one building did not require evacuation of the other building. Were seeing the officers taking these kids out periodically as they effectively search rooms and check the kids, check to see if there are other gunmen. So from these events you try to learn from every one going forward. Was the school a lockdown type of school in the sense that once kids were in, the doors are locked and you cant get in to the building. Or campus style, chances are it is an open campus, that they move freely from building to building. Each one of these is a learning experience, a tragic learning experience. But you are constantly trying to prevent the next one from happening by learning from this one. And while chuck todd was talking, i wrote down a note, he said to clint watts if were
going to have paralysis on this gun issue, cant we better equip school kids, cant we have a discussion on Mental Health. Well, the insanity of this issue, i talked about it earlier, senators currently debating a bill that would allow any american to carry a Firearm Anywhere in the United States unimpeded, unregistered. We are just crazy about this issue. We just cant seem to find a place where there is safety. Seeing first hand being at these scene and seeing the carnage, i go crazy about this issue that we just cant seem to get our arms around it in a reasonable way. And Jim Cavanaugh is also with us. Jim, i want to talk to you about a point i heard you make earlier in our coverage. And it has to do with Mental Health, it has to go wido with generations. I think you called it setbacks in life. Weve learned this gunman is approximately 18 years of age, various reports he may have attended the school, may be a past student. Obviously there is a triggering mechanism when someone goes crazy enough to grab a firearm and go into a School Firing and we have, what, 20 injured as of the latest count. But talk to me about this aspect ever Mental Health as youve watched it over the years. Yeah, i think one of the greatest tools we should have, we do have in some states is Mental Health restraining orders. And there is a lot of models in states that have those when people come up that they might be involved in violence, the police, Family Member can make petitions, they can go to a court and petition for a Mental Health restraining order. I think we should also think
about having Mass Violencestrai. We have people who make threats against businesses, school, group, congregations. Those passed off. I mean, we didnt coont do any about them. We should say look, this person has made a threat for example against a business, they will shoot up the business, you know, maybe Law Enforcement can get a Mass Violence prevention restraining order. We can just take the person to the court and say look, you are just prevented now from buying guns until you are evaluated. We have to evaluate you because we dont know what youre threatening to do. A lot of the young people, this guy is not going to turn out to be i dont know his age, but he will be under 20. Hes not going to turn out to be a man in the criminal underworld. Commissioner bratton knows, hes worked as chief of all these big pds. We worked all these
gangbangers, mob guys. They are in the criminal underworld, they get guns easy. These 18, 19yearolds that want to shoot up a school, they go to the store. They go to the gun show. They steal it from home. They are not involved in criminal underworld gun traffic. And we can prevent many of them who are already known to be making threats, cognitively and on social media to kind of step in and delay it instead of always waiting until afterwards to do it. Maybe we should explore Mass Violence prevention restraining orders. Again, not to take away peoples righ rights, but we cant turn the Second Amendment into a suicide pact. Were so worried about any kind of little thing that could violate any little right that were just all going to be slaughtered for it. And it is crazy thinking some of those arguments really are not very grounded. We can do much better on that. And again on securing a facility, you know, i see this in so many of these shootings. The person we dont know here. We dont know exactly how this guy got in, but the report from the sheriff was he was a former student. Well, if he had a long gun and he was a former student, how did he get in there . Did he walk across the parking lot carrying this long gun . It is sad to say, and you have to say it so so many of these shootings, if your facility whatever it is can allow someone to walk across the parking lot with a long gun, you have no security. That is not security. You have to be able to stop a person who is walking across a parking lot toward your building, business, school, college with a long gun. You have to stop them outside. So security is many things. It isstraining orders, good laws that help us all on Mental Health and guns,
it is good investigator, schools paying taepg, it is good perimeter security, it all costs money. And we spend money on a lot of things we dont need to. We need to spend money on our kids, our employees, our workers, our citizens. Jim, you look at everything through your own prism and if you are a parent, you look at this as a parent. And im looking at this seeing some of the aerial pictures that weve been running. Again, very familiar. Nothing unique to this as an aftermath and it hurts to say that, but you see kids who have been traumatized as they do out into the fresh air and sunshine, they are traumatized One More Time by being forced to put their hands untreated like suspects at a crime. I get it because they are being forced to put in a pile, lets presume it is their most valuable possessions in the world and that is in the
backpack that is part of every student and every school in this country. Is there any way around these in these first moments after a shooting . These are kids who have been hopefully texting their lovered o ones saying they are okay . We all struggle with this in the police business, but it has to be so. Look at this case right here. The shooter actually escaped the scene and he was apprehended according to the sheriff and from the video weve watched in the area of Coconut Creek which is away from the school, a little bit away. So he actually got away. And Coconut Creek pd looks like apprehended him. And he had a leg injury, that might have been from a k9 or jumping a fence. So here is a guy that got away. There has been cases in policing and we all studiednegotiatonego
get out by just melding in with the other crowd of people who are being evacuated. You just dont know. So there are certain procedures. And you know really that is awful. It does hurt. But the main thing is you are alive. Youre getting out, youre alive. Maybe youre not even wounded. And that is what the officers are mainly concerned about. And thats what they got to be concerned about. Somebody will have to help them with the flaw later, but you have to get them out of there alive. And we have a producer on the Scene Waiting to talk to us pl well he. Well hear a lot of talk about what the weapon might have been and we throw around sizes and brand names and types like ar15 or bushmaster or m4 or 223. The last of which, the 223, that is the standard round for this long gun that people in the News Business call an assault weapon, correct . Right. The american version of the ar15, m16, would use the 223 frequently. It is just a high velocity round, a rifle round. It comes out of the barrel 3,000 feet per second. That is why it causes such devastating wounds and kills many because it is a high velocity weapon. And of course the magazines can be routinely 30 rounds. They could be more. They can be taped upside down, flipped easily to be 60. There could be 100. So a lot of firepower if it is a semi automatic. But it can be a magazine withbe matter of seconds. So they are devastating weapons in a crowd like that. And think when you talk about the shootings, it always comes people wounded. Being wounded is not just a simple thing. That is a really devastating thing to be wounded by a rifle or Sub Machine Gun which that was distinction without a difference, a bump stock. And all those people were wounded. We shouldnt forget them those survivors that were shot in all these things. We talk about those killed, but these wounds, they carry them their whole life. They are made to be devastating weapons because it is a version of that weapon that our Men And Women In Uniform are handed ed and we want it to be when their safety and security is concerned, and its just in the hands of the wrong people state side. Jim, well get back to you, were joined right now by a student at the high school, who got safely out after we spoke to her dad on life television, earlier this afternoon, Gabriella Figueroa is on the
phone. First of all, what grade are you in and how are you doing . Im doing well now, thank god and im in the 11th grade. Tell us when you first knew there was a problem, and can you confirm for me did you guys have a fire drill earlier today . Yes, we did have a fire drill today, and like before, we had another fire drill and then heard the gunshots and it went to code red and it was crazy. How close are far away was the room or the hallway you were in when you started to hear that something bad had happened. I really was not that i was close. I was in another building, but i was like in a second level, like upstairs, like, near it. I was like not that close, but i was close. And did your teacher, did authorities, what were you told to do . And what did you have instinct
tell you to do . I ran, i called my mom immediately. I told her, theres a shooter, theres a shooter, theres a shooter. She went crazy. I ran my mom was picking my brother up, she turned, immediately, drove to the school and then i ran to my classroom, i saw my teacher. He saw me, he didnt let me in. I was like, kind of really mad about that. I banged on the door, let me in, let me in, i didnt know where to go. I finally saw a classroom and he let us in and i ran immediately into the class soset and starte hysterical crying. I would like to know when you go back and talk to that teacher and why he didnt let you in, maybe they thought they would be allowing you into danger if they let you in, i dont know. I know youre not supposed to answer the door for anyone. Like, come on, i know he saw me. The door wasnt even like i was like, wow. I would be upset if i were you. Yeah. So you were able to stay on the phone or at least be texting with your parents and were you with your group of friends . Or were there people who are friends of yours that were kind of unaccounted for . I was with my friend in the closet. Yeah, i was with my friend in the closet. We were just talking like softly. We were just scared for our lives. Like it was the most scariest experience. There was a bunch of people in the closet too. But i only knew one of my friends and im close with her. Was there a point where the gunshots just stopped . Yes. It did stop. It did stop, but i heard that one of the gunshots were in, like, another building and they shot the window and i heard he shot a girl. My friend witnessed that. Lets talk about you for a second, youre in the 11th grade, so its not too early to start thinking about your future. What would you like to grow up and do . I would like to do real estate when i grow up. Wow, good for you. All right. Well because of your quick thinking and fast action and some grown ups who did the right thing, you will be able to pursue your dreams. I want to thank you so much for talking to us on the phone and obviously were thinking of all your friends at the school and we hope to the degree to which they can be, everybody is okay. Gabriella figueroa. Our producer working with us at nbc and msnbc. Brandon, youve probably heard our coverage for quite a while now, fill in any blanks we have left out, please. Reporter brian, i can just tell you that were in the midst of gathering with parents being reunited with their children, in many cases they have been texting and exchanging phone calls, but theyre reuniting, particularly across the street at the middle school. Its just a day that no one expected. People are coming out with roses and flowers, this is valentines day, its just a really somber mood. Many of the parents that are reuniting with their children are incredibly relieved to get back with them. There were kids running out
who were clearly carrying valentines stuff, they were carrying gifts or cards with harts on them while running to safety. Reporter absolutely, and this is still happening live while im talking to you, youve got parents coming through police barricades, through neighborhoods, trying however they can to get to their children. This, as has been discussed, this is a very large high school, this is the largest high school in Broward County, Broward County one of the Largest School districts in the country. This is just a reuniting process and everybodys just trying to wrap their heads around what happened earlier today. Thank you, brandon for your onscene reporting as complete it is. I want to let our viewers know that theres a reason were tracking this Dodge Charger police car with the Broward County sheriffs office, thats because it is carrying the
suspect in this case. I presume we saw him handcuffed at the scene, he was able to stand, thats all we know. He was placed in this car and i presume he is being brought to a second location for processing. But right now theyre on the interstate, Local Television Z News Helicopters have watched this car since it left the scene of the mass shooting. Here in our studio, im joined by the former Police Commissioner of the great city of new york, bill bratton. Commissioner bratton, as youve. This is an evolving understanding of them and from that evolving understanding, the training that we go into,
modifications for police training, modifications for school systems, the idea of when The Fire Alarm goes off, you effectively leave immediately. Notifications systems within the school. Theres so much to learn from these, are you better off with locked door environments . Or do you still want to have an open campus type of system . Theres really no one size fits all answer to this. So since columbine, we have been wrestling with this now for 20someodd years, trying to keep in schools our children safe, our teachers safe, quite obviously were not doing as good a job as we would like. For viewers just joining us, and well continue our conversation with bill bratton in just a moment, as we approach the top of another hour, the
6 00 p. M. Hour in florida and here along the east coast, were on this picture because that is the sheriffs cruiser that is carrying the suspect in this case. About him, we dont know much. And as usually happens, theres kind of whisps and rumors and early reports on social media that circulate before we have the ability to confirm them as a News Organization and pass them off to you with that official story. About him we know that he is approximately 18 years of age. We saw video from a helicopter when he was apprehended and placed in handcuffs, it is said he arrived at the High School Campus with a long gun. A 223round ar15 style weapon. It is said he may indeed be a former student at that high school. There he is, maroon jersey, short hair cut, dark pants and
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