Im seeing a tweet in the last few minutes from lapds verified account, a response to the president s tweet, if you will, saying offering this update, saying that earlier today officers went in pursuit of a suspect wanted in connection to a shooting. At the termination of the pursuit an officerinvolved shooting occurred and the suspect has barricaded himself inside a trader joes in silver lake. You heard if you were listening in the last few minutes here to the reporting from our affiliate there, knbc in los angeles, the reporter in the helicopter saying there had been an indication there was a shooting around 1 30 local time in los angeles, south of los angeles, and then this chase seemed to happen right around 3 00. So that would seem to fit with what the lapd just tweeted here, that this started with a shooting earlier and then turned into this chase that ended with a crash, a suspect running into this trader joes. Were watching still the live pictures coming in from knbc. Their helicopter outside that trader joes. They have reported that theres an expectation that as many as five hostages could be released from this Grocery Store at any moment now. Those five people would be in closest proximity to the suspect, who we also believe is injured and near those front doors. Jim cavanaugh, the former atf Hostage Negotiator whos been watching this with us, is still on the phone now. Jim, as weve been learning bits and pieces in the last few minutes what strikes you and what do you make of this notion that five hostages may come out at if i moment now . Certainly good news. It shows a textbook operation by lapd s. W. A. T. They got the isolation and location of the suspect behind the Cash Register from the knbc reporting. So theyre holding right at the front door and around the back. Aaron, and you asked earlier about people coming out the windows on the back side on the top side seeing if the officers could move those people when they were watching the suspect down by the front of the store by the Cash Register, then they could safely he move the people upstairs out the windows in the back. Once they isolated and locate him if he didnt have a lot of freedom of movement because of his wounds, s. W. A. T. Tactical officers with long scopes close up with binoculars, they could watch him and see him and talk to him. Preferably you want to talk to him on the phone. They get him a phone, a throw phone if you can, which is a hard line hostage phone if you can get him that. Thats the easiest and most effective way. Its a hard Straight Line from where the officers are. It could be by a cell phone. It could be sometimes by yelling at each other. But the best thing is if you can talk on the phone and you can start to drop his emotion, get his reasoning going. This is what may be happening when youre talking about some people are going to be released. Also the humanity of the hostages helping him with his wounds, maybe a drink of water, helping him get a phone call to Police Officers, thats all Human Interaction that is positi positive. It doesnt necessarily mean he wont kill but a better sign if hes abusing you, kicking you, punching you, trying to dehumanize you. Thats a better sign. We may be reaching a point where he will allow these five people to come out. Were not sure yet. But if he does theyll come out, they will follow the tactical officers command. We will come out slowly. Could be one at a time preferably but could be in a group. But one thing you dont want to do, you dont want to refuse anybody. You want to get them sought on scene commanders will make that decision. But they will come out slow. Their hands will be visible. And if they can get them out and secured, hes just barricaded alone. Of course he may agree then to give up his weapon and surrender and even walk out himself. Whatever they can ask him to do. Or they can go in and secure him, medically treat him, get his wounds, the bleeding stopped and you know, get him out on a stretcher and get him to the hospital and then the jail. The main thing is can you get him separated from the citizens . Because once you do that it changes the dynamic of the situation from the onscene commander. It goes from the hostage barricade to the barricade. And its a much better situation to deal with. Jim, i dont know if youre looking at your tv screen but in the time youve been talking ive noticed two Armored Vehicles have pulled up closer to the building. You see one thats right in front of the doors here that wasnt there a few minutes ago i dont believe. Theres another one i saw around the side of the store thats pulled up there. What do you think may have prompted that . Whats the end game here . Were likely into zblsh we see the doors opening. Release procedures. Those are bear cat vehicles from the s. W. A. T. Team. Armed vehicles. And theyve likely started the release procedure. And hopefully a surrender procedure. They move them up. If the people can come out, the hostages can come out, then they can quickly be behind the bearcat there and that protects them if the shooter changes his mind and wants to fire rounds. They want to get them to safety as quick as they can. You can see from looking at the roof of the bearcat where theres an officer behind the armored patch that if the citizen can just reach behind that armored car its only 20 feet, if they can get there then theyre safe. Even if theyre walking, theyre still in danger until they get into the hands of Law Enforcement. It looks like its going to be a release procedure dictated by the onscene commander with the negotiators and through hostage taker. In other words, hell be agreeing to the procedure and that will be the safest way to do it. Lets agree to let so many come out or one come out or whatever they can agree to. Sometimes youd like them all to come out. But you cant make it cumbersome. You cant make it dangerous. They have to make those decisions by the scenario there. Sometimes its one by one. But you dont want him to change his mind either. They have to make those decisions based on what theyve discussed with him, what they think his state of mind is, aaron, and how hes been cooperating with the negotiators. The negotiators can tell because this is their life. Theyre praying for this, they know. Is he in a state of mind where he is going to cooperate and follow through . Is there still danger theres always danger but youre making an assessment on what your procedures are. Of course dont think that this guy cannot release the hostages. He could release all the hostages and kill himself. And thats a suicide person can do that. They can still want to shoot out with police and go suicide by cop. Sought officers have to read all that as theyre trying to save these lives of these five people. The movement up of the bearcats and the looks like theres some shadows moving up from the inside. May be about to see some people release. A very dangerous time is the surrender. A very dangerous time. Were going to continue to watch these live pictures coming in from los angeles in hopes there will be an orderly and peaceful release of those hostages and then an ending to the situation inside the trader joes here in silver lake in the los angeles area. We have another witness on the phone with us. Ali sajis was outside in the parking lot when this began town fold. Ali, youre on the fold with us . I was down the street a little bit. My boyfriend went into trader joes about 20 minutes before, and then we went up the street a little bit. And theres a parking lot right up the street. And all kind of mayhem broke loose. Next thing you know theyre telling us to get back and putting yellow tape and they havent led us back to our car. Its been over a couple of hours now. Were you able to even as you were a little bit down the road there were you able to see or hear any of the activity that was happening at the Grocery Store . We heard earlier reports from folks who said they heard a crash, that they heard shots being fired. Were you able to see or hear anything . I believe we were probably driving up the street at that point. Everyone around us has said, we have witnesses here, that said they saw him crash and then start shooting and running into trader joes and they were hiding behind their cars. But we werent down that way. We were up a little bit. Have police given you any information . You said they sort of blocked your ability to get to your car. Have they told you anything about whats happening or when you might have access again . No. We tried like what was it, like an hour and a half ago . To get to our car. Almost two hours ago we asked the police and they said this whole areas on lockdown. Everything from the gas station to the other Grocery Store across the street, gelsons, starbucks, everything. Luckily theres been nice neighbors to give us water and things like that. But the police said youre not allowed back to your car and nobodys allowed into the area. So everybody, a lost people are here and were all just standing here behind yellow tape waiting to see when were allowed to get closer. We appreciate you taking the time to talk about what youve seen and what youve been told as the situation is still unfolding. Ali seijas on the phone. Thank you so much. Weve been watching these live pictures coming from the los angeles area. A barricade situation still unfolding. Youre looking at some video here now that was shot earlier today, some live pictures now. I believe we want to listen in to this. This is a witness talking to knbc. It was shortly after 3 00. I was working in the back room, heard screaming and gunfire. Ran upstairs, grabbed a couple coworkers, made my way into a back section of the storage area upstairs. I grabbed an emergency ladder, barricaded the hallway, grabbed a weapon, put the ladder out the window, and just tried to get the attention of the s. W. A. T. Officer, take out his attention. I indicated i want to go down the ladder. He gave me a thumbs up. And i went down the ladder first, held the ladder, and three more coworkers came out. Do you know at this point where your other coworkers are inside . I do not. Were you able to see any activity . I just heard screaming and gunfire and just knew i had to find a way out. You mentioned you barricaded the door and grabbed a weapon. What sort of weapon did you grab . And talk about the steps you took after barricading the door. There was a series of file boxes and some cabinets. I put the cabinets over and stacked up file boxes. Grabbed a couple hammers. Open the window, put the ladder out the window for a short period of time. Barricaded ourselves in the bathroom. Went to the ladder, finished putting it out the window. Was able to get a s. W. A. T. Officers attention tension. Indicated i wanted to go downtown ladder and he gave me a thumbs up. And i grabbed i went down the ladder and a few of my coworkers followed after and got them out. And youre talking about the layout of the store. Give us a little more detail of from the time you see another coworker was telling me he saw at least two men come inside, one was armed and then he started firing out toward police. Can you share with us where you were in relation to that . Its upstairs, right . On the ground floor but all the way in the back of the store. In the storage area. Were there other customers area . In the back storage area no, only employees are allowed. And do you know if some of those employees are still there or all of them were able to get out . I have no idea, maam. I have no idea at this time. Shawn, thanks so much for talking to us. I know at this point a lost people are still gathering out here, everyones trying to get a hold of him, but others are really not sure whats still unfolding out here. This gentleman as well weve been talking to him. I know at this point hes very emotional. Everyone just wants to make sure their fellow crew members as theyre called come out. It is a wait and see situation for them. Well send it back to you. A lot of emotion out there. Thank you, jane, for sharing that and getting some more information about the layout of the store and what that worker was doing escaping to the back. Can you imagine youre at work and you hear gunfire and you hear yelling and running its just a nightmare there. We are still waiting for news. We had talked to gil leyvas in news chopper 4 a little earlier and they said they had information, police did, the suspect might be getting ready to surrender. We also have Team Coverage in the choppers. We have megan reyes whos live for us in news chopper 4 alpha now. Megan, what can you tell us . Kathy, you can see the trader joes right there in the center of the screen right now. Were keeping a wide shot for obvious reasons. We dont want to compromise the position of lapd ofts officers. The significant amount of Law Enforcement officers who have responded to this area, at the intersection of hyperion and rowena. You can see how l. A. City fire has set up shot here right now, they set up a Triage Center. Theyre taking all necessary action here. They want to make sure they are ready for any situation and right there you can see the different colors the green, the yellow and the red indicating the severity of injuries if that happens. God forbid if that happens they will be ready. Hopefully thats not the situation. You can see all the paramedics that are lined up here, all the resources ready for any type of response. Lapd officers, crisis negotiators on the scene negotiating. They want this to come to a peaceful end. The standoff well under way for a couple hours now. But this area inundated with Law Enforcement officers. A lot of crowd control. This is Griffith Park and hyperion. Lapd doing their best to bring this situation to a peaceful ending. News chopper alpha as well as news chopper bravo with gil leyvas on the scene. Lets send it back to you in the studio. Megan, theyre keeping people out of the area. We have a lot of streets closed off and obviously me want people to stay away from this place. This is a very busy place. Anyone who lives in the silver lake area knows how populated this area is especially on the weekends. Youve got the Silver Lake Reservoir not too far from there. This is definitely a traffic nightmare situation. Obviously stay away, give lapd the space they need. You do not want into the fehr or be a part of the traffic problem. Be a part of the solution and just avoid this area. Let me show you all the City Fire Department resources on the scene right now. The men and women of the Fire Department are on scene. Look at all the ambulances. We have at least im counting almost two dozen paramedics on scene right now. They want to make sure if anything happens, if anybody needs any medical response, they are standing by, they are ready but hopefully that will not be resources that will be needed. But again, the traffic area in this place is absolutely gridlocked. Avoid the area if at all possible. Its going to kays lot of traffic concerns but really nothing to be concerned or worried about. Considering the situation. Just avoid the area so you can help out with the lapd Law Enforcement. So many people who not only live in this area but frequent so many different businesses in this intersection. We want to get right to aligna who is on the phone. We understand alina, you may have been in the parking lot as this all unfolded, as that suspect crashed into the front of that trader joes. What can you tell us . What happened . What did you see . Reporter hi. Yes. Taz correct. I was actually exiting the trader joes and i went in my car and az shut the door i heard a screeching crashing sound, a cash crashing into something. I looked out the window and immediately saw Police Shooting and there was a lot of gunfire. And it all happened really fast. And i just at that moment i jumped to the back seat of my car i laid low while all this commotion was happening around me. Alina, how far would you say you were from the crash and the gunfire . I was probably about 25 feet away. My car was parked i would say about 25 feet away from where the cops jumped out of their car and started shooting. What was going through your mind when you saw that . It was just like i just went into an instant mode of this is an active shooting, i need to lie low and just that was literally all that was going through my mind. There was no feeling of like immediate fear. It was just get into action. I just jumped into the back seat and just found like the lowest basically the floor of the car. And just ducked down. Incredible. So youre in the back. Then what happened . You were there for how long . I was probably there for close to an hour. And it was extremely hot, as you can imagine, being in a locked car with the sun and the heat of today. But i was not thinking about that immediately. I was just listening to all the commotion happening outside. The helicopters above me. I didnt want to look up for fear that the shooter was maybe right outside my car. So i lied low for a while. And when i heard that things were starting to come down, its when i peeked up and to see what was happening. Alina, how did you get out . Did you say im going get out of my car because it looked more calm or did police come to you . How did that happen . I did not want to get out of the car. When i did look up, i saw that there were so many cops with their guns drawn taking cover behind cars in the parking lot and i just did not want to draw attention to me. Like getting out of the car in a situation like that. So at that time i just decided that im going to lie low. But the heat was getting really bad and i was sweating profusely. So i was on the phone with my husband and he said, you know, you need to try to open the windows. The way i got out was i peeked up and right out my windshield there was seven cops all with their guns drawn toward my car. They saw me and they told me to get down. But the cops that were talking to my husband who was like across the street on the other side of trader joes told them she needs to get their attention and get out of the car. How did you do that . I got up, i peeked up again. And they looked at me. Then they realized like okay, she needs to get out. So they started motioning me with their hands to just get out of the car, get out of the car. And i had to climb back into the front seat. I couldnt even get it unlocked. Who knows what was happening . I got out and they just pulled me over a barricade. They got me away from the immediate danger area. Alina, can you talk about the moment you finally got out of this parking lot and the moment you saw your husband again . So