Minutes after 7 00, we received an 911 call of an active shooter at simpson park here in monroe in alexandria. Our units responded and were on scene within three minutes. The officers were received fire from a suspect and they returned fire. Part of the investigation is ongoing as we speak. This event was this event was a practice session for Baseball Team involving some representatives from congress. Some employees from congress. There were Capitol Police individuals continued on scene and they engaged with the subject. Ill let the Capitol Police respond to that. The emergency medical personnel that responded at the scene from the Alexandria Fire Department as well as officers from the Alexandria Police department provided treatment to a number of individuals on the scene. Those individuals, we know five of them were transported by Emergency Services to hospitals within the area to deal with a variety of injuries and treatment. At this point, the Alexandria Police department, because this case involves the assault on a federal officer, the federal bureau of investigation will be taking over the investigation and we welcome our work with the f. B. I. We are assisting the f. B. I. Along with other agencies that at this particular scene. I would like to say our gratitude to the agencies that responded to the scene. We had individuals from the alexandria sheriffs department. Of course, the Alexandria Fire Department who were initial response, helped us a great deal in trying to manage this thing. Frankly, kinet be more proud of the men and women that were involved from the Alexandria Police department. They did an outstanding job in my opinion, from what i heard so far. At this time i would like to introduce the chief from the Capitol Police to talk about their efforts in this area and what theyre doing. Chief. Thank you, chief. Id like to, of course, start out by thanking the Alexandria Police, sheriffs office, fire department, the f. B. I. , a. T. F. And all of our federal enforcement local partners who assisted in this response. Its going to take a while to sort through all the details. My units of the dignitary Protection Unit were on sight when we had when the incident occurred. They did engage in gunfire with the suspect. And they were assisted by the Alexandria Police. The officers, the officers who were injured are in Good Condition and have not suffered any lifethreatening injuries at this point. Chief verderosa as we get more information we will be working through the f. B. I. And our local partners with the Alexandria Police to provide more details as they become available. At this point ill turn it over o the f. B. I. Good morning. Tim slater. Im the special agent in charge of the Washington Field office and i just want to reiterate what the chiefs have said. This is a secured community at this point. Its an active investigation. However, the security of the community is paramount and i want to reassure you thats the case. Initially we responded with our National Capitol response squad from the jctf. And they were assisting our state and local partners. Once confirmed that a member of congress that was involved in the incident, we have taken a lead. However, this is a joint command and this is a joint investigation with our state and local partners to include whos been at the microphone already and our partners from a. T. Averplet f. And alexandria county and alexandria city and Capitol Police as well. I want to turn it over to the governor for a second. Governor mcauliffe i want to say our thoughts and prayers are with everybody. I want to congratulate the effort of the state, local and federal. Were all here together. Early this Morning Police i want to thank everybodys involvement. I specifically want to thank the First Responders. I have been told that members of the neighborhood and the community gave assistance. This is truly an extraordinary effort. And i also want to compliment the u. S. Capitol police for their quick action and through their heroic efforts and others they saved a lot of lives today. We do everything we can to keep our community safe. I once again want to thank all Law Enforcement personnel and First Responders who were involved today. Thank you. Reporter are you feeling at this point this was what do you see, number one, a deliberate planned attack . And are you investigating this now on the basis it could be an act of terrorism . Maam, its too early to say. This is really raw at this moment. We are at the initial part of the investigation. So its too early to say. Were working it both ways right now. Reporter when you say working both ways, is one of the angles exploring, investigating, it could be an act of terrorism . We are exploring all angles. Reporter do you have any information there may be a tentative i. D. Even if you cant say specifics, are you beginning to narrow down on the identity of the shooter . Yes, we are. St reporter was this an assassination attempt . No, this is not an assassination attempt. Reporter do you know who he is . Were working on it reporter former mirls. Too early to tell if they were targeted or not. Porter were there lifethreatening injuries . Everybody was transferred to the hospital. Reporter the shooter asked republicans or democrats, can you say, yes, whether you think there is a political motivation . No, not aware of that at all. Reporter what kind of weapon . Dont know the information on the weapon. Reporter are you saying this is random . Its early. Reporter assassination . I dont know the facts. Its too early to say. Reporter can you give us the condition of the suspect . The suspect was taken to the suspect . And the general condition of the officers shot . I think the officers are doing better. I am not sure about the suspect at this time. Reporter is the suspect talking to Law Enforcement . Is there any information on motive . No, maam. Reporter the Capitol Police officers, the security details here with congressman scalise, can you give us the sense of the importance about the fact there were armed officers on the scene when it started . Members of the dignitary protection, yes, they were here. Yes. Protection team. Reporter and the difference it made . Im sure it made a significant difference. Reporter sure, is the suspect talking at this point . Is he cooperating . Dont know the answer to that. Reporter security detail, were they reporter is there anywhere else the investigation is taking place reporter you said you dont think this san assassination attempt and yet what appears [no audio] i said we are not sure at this moment. Its still an early on investigation and we are working through it. Is he a local man . Dont know yet. Reporter dont know if hes from the region . No, maam. Say, again. [inaudible] i am not aware of that. No, maam. Reporter you said it wasnt an assassination attempt. Can you clarify . If i said that i misspoke. Its too early in the investigation to say one way or another. Reporter can you tell us what he looks like . No, i am not aware what have he looks like. Reporter given the facts laid out, obviously how much you dont know, how much youre investigating, how, with all due respect can you and the chief and the governor say because you dont know that the community is safe and this area is safe, how can you rule out there is not [inaudible] from the early on in the investigation, where we are right now, we think we have a really good handle on it. We just want to run on a couple details before we confirm other additional stuff. Is that enough . Reporter was there more than one . I cannot, no, maam. Reporter can we ask the Capitol Hill Police chief dont know what kind of weapon. Reporter can we get an update on your officers who engaged the suspect . We understand they were wounded in the line of dutyy. Can you give us an update on how theyre doing . They are being treated at a local hospital and the injuries do not appear to be life threatening at this point. Reporter i would categorize it from what i have been told they are in Good Condition. Reporter how did they engage the suspect . We received reports of gunfire through our communications and then we coordinated with the Alexandria Police. Chief verderosa from the early incident shots were fired. Its my understanding. Reporter where were your officers at when they started firing on the gunman . Chief verderosa its too early to talk about the investigation. I believe the officers acted heroically today. They are in Good Condition. We look for a rapid recovery. With that said, ill turn it back over to the reporter one male, one female . Chief verderosa i am not going to comment on the names, numbers until i am reasonable assured that next of kin are note advise. Reporter what about the investigation tells you anything about the motivation here and whether its political . Chief verderosa i am not going to any indication. Reporter why he was shot . Chief verderoas when the facts come to light we will share what we will share. Thank you. Reporter thank you. Reporter was the fifth person a shooter . Chief brown its significantly early. And so reporter are there four victims or five victims . I am not going done firm that. Reporter you can confirm five people were injured . I am not going to confirm that either. There were five people transferred by medical personnel to hospitals. Reporter was the suspect one of them . I am not going to comment on that. Let me comment to the question about the Safe Community piece. We have several things going on. Chief brown we walked the community. We looked for secondary issues. We brought in Additional Resources and assets so we could deal with any possible secondary thing. The question that was directed by the investigation if in fact it reveals Something Else then we will certainly respond to that. But right now every indication in this city is this is an isolated incident but the investigation will indeed be long long term. Let me also do a thank you to the agencies that assisted us and as we canvased the neighborhoods to make sure they were safe. That included the alexandria stays police and the Alexandria Sheriffs Office and everybody in the neighborhood came out to do make sure there were doing the right thing. There were five people transported. I wont go into that. I cant speak to the information that others are reporting, folks. Five people were transferred. I cant speak to that. Ill refer to the f. B. I. [inaudible] reporter are any of the injuries life threatening . Reporter from your point of view, your view about the safety of the area, do you have any information prior to any of the host and thats the latest from local Police Officials and the governor of virginia. Were now going to take our viewers live to the United States senate thats about to gavel in for the day. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] let us pray. Gracious father, our shield and defense. We look to you in these challenging times
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