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Police Say an Ongoing Active Shooter Situation at Aurora Illinois Business. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 15, 2019 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[15:30:00] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: These are live images out of Aurora, Illinois, where we are getting word there's an active shooter situation. Inside a water valve manufacturing company. We're learning it's Henry Pratt Corporation. At the scene here police are responding to an active shooter situation.

Just getting this tweet now from the city of Aurora, Illinois. "There is an active shooter near Highland and Archer, Aurora Police are on the scene. More information will be available soon."

I want to go back to our Brynn Gingras working on gathering more information. What more can you tell us? Any word on any injuries?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not yet. We don't know about the Aurora Police Department, a source within that department said their officers left over a half hour ago, to this location, but as you're seeing in that video, there are police there on the scene. And really what you said, this is a water valve manufacturing company, it prides itself according to its website on being the biggest in north America. At this point we're not sure how many people work at that facility. We're just hearing that it's active shooter that's confirmed. We don't know about injuries, and we are just standing by to get more updates from local law enforcement on the ground.

CABRERA: Josh Campbell is with us, as a former law enforcement officer, what would the police and law enforcement responding to the scene be doing at this point do you think?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: We've said in past incidents, an active shooter is active until it's not. Until the police department has that confidence that they've either taken a shooter into custody, they neutralized him or her, or determined there's no threat. One thing we do know and often do in these types of situations is understand what we can make based on some of the aerial coverage, we look at our affiliate there WLS in Chicago. One thing I noticed as we were zooming in, you saw several emergency vehicles outside, a number of ambulances essentially lined up, but they're not moving. If they had people injured at the moment, they would be putting them in, trying to get them out on the way to the hospital.

To be sure, there's a lot we don't know, since this coverage is coming after the incident. Often times these are over in minutes. If there were injuries, they would triage people and get them on the road. Looking at the police presence, you don't see that continued influx of officers. It looks as though at least at this point they have as much resources as they need to contain the building, and we can expect they'll be going through. This is a large facility as we can see of this company. To have a lot of ground to cover, to work through to determine, is there a threat that's there, are there injured people, people that are possibly hiding in place? We always talk about the response one has in these types of incidents. It will be trying to work through to find people in order to get them out, to account for everyone. And again, ensure there are no injuries and no continued threat.

CABRERA: We are seeing a large police presence on the scene. We don't see flashing lights or anyone coming out of the building. We get used to seeing images during these active shooter situations. People leaving the building with hands up and those long lines of people. Does that give you any indication about where they are in this process?

CAMPBELL: A lot of it comes down to timing as well. If they were -- we don't know when this kicked off. They possibly had people coming out of the building. As you mentioned, that's one thing we do see whenever they're doing a full-scale evacuation, you see that methodical egress, people ling them up, bringing them out. To ensure there's no one among the population that may be the shooter himself. We don't see that presence. Can you see the footage there, it looks like there's a S.W.A.T. vehicle backing up to the facility, it doesn't look as though they're approaching in any type of emergency? We can expect at this point they're likely doing that methodical clearing, going through the facility, and then we can expect we'll be hearing from authorities in order to give some type of update about what is going on there. The last thing I'll tell you is obviously, any time there's an incident. People need to treat it seriously, if they hear something, if there's a loud bang, there's something uncomfortable, they're going to call law enforcement, those 911 calls are going to go out to officers that are responding, if there's a report that there was some type of gunshot or some type of violent person. That's the information that we have that we'll be coming out, and that will be sorted out as authorities work through on what the actual details are, and again, we can expect to hear from authorities. I would imagine in short order, let us know what they are dealing with and not dealing with.

[15:35:00] CABRERA: Brynn, do we know how long ago the initial call went out?

GINGRAS: It was definitely over a half hour ago. I'm checking through my e-mail when we received a little bit of a heads up on this, and that was probably -- Yes, like I said a little more than a half hour ago, about 3:10 we were hearing about this. I am looking, Ana, at a map crews printed out for me. Giving me an idea of the area. This area is -- there's a lot of industrial buildings, just looking from a bird's a view. There's also a lot of residential streets as well. Josh could probably speak more to this. I'm sure setting up a perimeter is going to be interesting with all these big buildings. And with the neighborhoods nearby. And we also are seeing that -- possibly a school nearby as well. That could be a whole different element at 2:36 an hour behind us. Whether or not school was supposed to be let out around this time. Certainly, that might be something law enforcement is taking into account as they continue to respond to this scene.

CABRERA: Now we're seeing action as you look closely in the middle of the screen. There's a group of a half a dozen people walking out. They're walking, not running. I can't tell from my vantage point who they may be, if they're police officers or not. What does this tell you?

CAMPBELL: It's hard to see from the helicopter shot, one thing that's interesting, Brynn hit on it. When you look at the facility itself, when these types of incident happen, if it turns out to be a shooting, one thing we want to know. Why this particular facility. And this is something morbid to think, this is part of our job as we describe and analyze these. What other facilities might have been in the vicinity of this area. If one's goal is to cause a large loss of life, it appears as though just looking at the map, there are other areas around this location that would have been a manufacturing company that may have had some type of security on site. If this turns out to be something where you have someone showing up to try to cause harm, the question will remain as to why that person was there, why this particular facility, again, there's that shot we were talking about earlier, you see the elements are lined up, you see these assets being held in place, at least signals to us right now, they're not engaging or seeing law enforcement, something that requires immediate removal of victims, perhaps, and getting them out of there, that's a good sign. But again, we don't know what the actual encounter was between law enforcement, if there was a person, they were able to come up with. We'll have to wait for authorities to provide some of that insight. Their first goal right now is to get through, clear that building. And account for every innocent person and ensure there's no continuing threat.

CABRERA: As we see different angles and vantage points from these aerial shots. You see a lot of people now appearing outside the building, they appear to be standing around, josh. I don't know what that means, if that tells you anything, we got the bigger picture of the building. It's very large it looks like to me, maybe a warehouse type sized company. All we know about this company is it is Henry Pratt Company, is believed to be a water valve manufacturing facility, again, without seeing people with a sense of urgency and rushing around in these images, does that give you optimism for the situation, or is it too soon to tell?

CAMPBELL: It's too soon to tell, since we don't know the gravity of the situation, as we zoom out there from affiliate WBBM, the one thing you do see is this is a textbook response by law enforcement, there's a mobile command post vehicle they've rolled to that scene, that vehicle in the middle of the screen, there off to the right would be the central command hub for leadership as they move to an incident to try to quarterback, determine what they're dealing with, and what resources they need to move in different directions. Back to your question, it's hard to tell right now exactly what the degree or gravity of the situation is. Because we're now a half hour outside the incident. These things take place. If this is a shooting, they're often over within a matter of minutes. Law enforcement, they're going to move into finding potential victims. Triaging them and getting them out of there.

[15:40:00] This being a metropolitan area, you have a number of ambulances that are already in the vicinity, with fire departments ready to respond with any type of emergency that's ready to deal with. They would be there quickly on the scene. The part that we don't know, we don't know if there are any actual vehicles they transported to any hospitals or are they're holding in place right now as a precaution. This may not turn out to be the deal with. They would be there quickly on the scene. The part that we don't know, we don't know if there are any actual vehicles they transported to any hospitals or are they're holding in place right now as a precaution. This may not turn out to be the very serious issue we all hope. We're seeing from these pictures, this is the textbook response from law enforcement personnel, get to the scene. Set up a perimeter, this is what we're able to see from ourselves.

CABRERA: For our viewers just joining us, just tuning in, we're looking at live images from the scene of what's being called an active shooter situation. This is in aurora, Illinois. 41 miles outside of Chicago, believed to be at the Henry Pratt Company, a water valve manufacturing company, a source telling CNN that all police command staff left their department for this scene. About now, almost an hour ago since the situation. We first learned of it and able to confirm that was going on. We're just getting a tweet now from a school district in this neighborhood. This is the west aurora school district advising they're going into a soft lockdown. Let me read the note that went out to parents. There are reports of an active shooter near the Henry Pratt building. As a result, we're holding all district students in place for their safety. There is a police presence in the area. For directions from the county sheriff, the district has been advised to go into a soft lockdown situation across the district. Teaching will continue with reduced movement. Normal operations will resume when the soft lockdown has been lifted. No one will be allowed to leave or enter our buildings until the soft lockdown is lifted. Again, soft lockdown is what they are calling this, Josh, what exactly is that?

CAMPBELL: Any time there's an incident like this, we'll focus on the facility in question. That's to try to find out where the threat is, they'll move in that location. As you widen the perimeter there are lots of businesses, schools, other facilities that are potentially near an active shooter, they also have to take certain precautions. If there's someone that's gone to a particular location to cause harm and they flee. There are a potential number of areas where that person can seek shelter. You see that in these situations, that's why communication has become so important. I'll say for CNN's part as well. Getting the word out to these areas, there's a situation in your location. That's why law enforcement uses social media. That's why they're trying to get their message amplified. They want to know what's going on, and how they want them to respond. And we know this is that period of time that's so disconcerting for anyone who may know someone that works here. Law enforcement, businesses, other locations in and around there, want to be able to give some type of comfort to people that are responding, people are sheltering in place, and again until we get more details from law enforcement, we don't know exactly what we're dealing with, but this is the evolution so to speak of these types of incidents. When I was inside the FBI, this is one thing we tried to focus on. Communication, getting the word out, letting people know where they should go. Places they should avoid as law enforcement does this work. We can't lose sight of this incident. This is a large facility, there's a lot of ground the law enforcement has to cover. Opening the ap tour, the perimeter of that area, there are a lot of other businesses and schools and other locations. We saw a lot of Houses, being potentially impacted. And law enforcement wants all of those people to stay out of the way, and to accept what they can going on in the vicinity. I assume they're trying to keep track of people coming and going.

CABRERA: Let me read you a new notice that just went out from the Aurora Police Department on Twitter: "We have an ongoing shooter incident. This is an ongoing active scene at 641 Archer Avenue. We will provide more information once confirmed."

At this point it sounds like this is still an ongoing situation. Their words, doesn't sound like they have anything resolved just yet. We don't know again if there are any injuries. None confirmed so far. There are a number of agencies responding. Not just law enforcement, but emergency personnel including aurora fire department vehicles we're seeing on scene. And we're not knowing about injuries or transports at this time. Let me bring in Brian Stelter here, who I know has been scanning some of the local media reports out there. What are you hearing? What are you learning?

[15:45:00] BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: The very first indication of something going very wrong at this manufacturing plant. Around 1:50 p.m. Central time. That's when there were initial indications of social media that something was going on. Whatever call was placed to 911 is very disturbing because of the intensity of the response. The numbers of ambulances and fire trucks being rushed to the scene. Still in the last 20 minutes here, in these images, we're seeing teams of officers moving into the building. We saw a team of officers start to move into the building using vehicles on approach, in order to protect themselves. That's continuing right now, there are different angles here around this building and the local channels are trying to be careful not to give anything away that could be too troubling.

CABRERA: Josh, what are you seeing here. Describe for us what this could be?

CAMPBELL: You see officers -- they appear to be moving very slowly and methodically. It's hard to tell, we don't know what they're returning to. Some type of location where they're going to meet and coral and actually going to do some type of briefing. There is -- and again this is just speculation at this point, if you have an incident where there's possible evidence that may be located along a certain path, this is the type of posture you see foreign policy law enforcement, for example, I've been to scenes where you have shootings and officers are looking for shell casings and any type of evidence that may have been ejected or discarded. They would often get in these types of formations. It appears because they're shoulder to shoulder, that's along the lines of what we're seeing here. Then you have other groups that ensure nothing is missed or left behind. As you mentioned about the ongoing active shooter, the one call that all law enforcement officers want, the all clear that comes out across the radio that says either the threat is mitigated or there is no threat. They're not going to send up that call until they're 100 percent sure there is no threat. When we see this ongoing, it's exactly what it is. We don't have the specifics whether they identified the subject, they're in communication with someone or there's some type of stand- off. We don't know any of that. That would all fall under the category of ongoing. Officers are going to be conservative as they describe these types of situations. Is there a threat? And until they searched every piece of that building, every inch of that building and have that confidence they can send out that word there is no threat, this is going to remain on going, we're going to continue to see this police presence. You talked about people that would be coming out of the building. Those are potential witnesses. You're going to have a large police presence to interview all those people. Try to figure out what they saw, what officers are dealing with, and every one of those people that are coming out. It's a potential intelligence platform. Bottom line, a lot of work going on right here in this vicinity.

CABRERA: We're being careful about the images we're showing. Most of these images you've seen earlier. We don't want to give any information to any potential suspect involved here, we want to be careful for the officers' safety and that of the rest of the neighborhood and people inside that facility, it is an ongoing situation. There you see in these pictures, we've seen the line of emergency vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks ready to respond in case there's a medical response that is needed in the situation. We just don't know the answer to that yet. There are no reports, no confirmations right now of injuries or fatalities, we do know there's an ongoing active shooter situation according to the local law enforcement there. ATF is responding, federal officials are responding now to what is reported to be an active shooter situation. Is that standard protocol, Josh?

CAMPBELL: It is. We see report officers from ATF, the FBI. Essentially any law enforcement officer in the vicinity or near a shooting that's going to respond. You get into a situation where there's mutual aid where you'll have additional resources that are need. That's the focus of saving lives, they're going to respond to this type of location. One thing that is interesting. There's often this -- you turn on the television, people wonder, you see these battles, who owns a particular crime? Who's in charge? None of that matters right now. They're all working together, you see officers surging to that location, providing whatever resources they can. And all these agencies not only bring the tactical capability and the baseline capability that any law enforcement officer with a firearm responding to a deadly situation would bring, but they bring different areas of expertise. The ATF, if this turns out to be some incident involving a firearm, they're going to be critical, doing that type of research to figure out where the firearm came from.

[15:50:00] What type of weaponry would be involves in a situation, if it turns out there is a shooting here? You have other resources from the federal government, state, local law enforcement, and the one thing we have to keep in mind which I think doesn't get enough attention in these situations. Is the medical personnel, their training that goes into responding to these incidents? We're looking at a situation where there's a report of an incident. At hospitals throughout this location, miles and miles around, they're getting the alert now that there's some type of situation. As we speak right now, they're preparing for the possible receiving of victims, if that is need. Obviously, we hope that's not where there's a report of an incident. At hospitals throughout this location, miles and miles around, they're getting the alert now that there's some type of situation. As we speak right now, they're preparing for the possible receiving of victims, if that is need. Obviously, we hope that's not the case. This is all -- what we don't see behind the scenes that's going on, as all of these agencies and these institutions have trained in order to prepare for this type of incident when one person, if it turns out to be some type of shooting or threat, one person can cause hundreds, even thousands of people to then switch into high gear and try to respond in order to try to save lives. It's a herculean endeavor that goes into it.

CABRERA: Aurora police asking people to avoid this area all together. Saying the shooting scene is still active. This is in Aurora, Illinois. Just outside of Chicago. About 41 miles outside of Chicago. This taking place at a business there. Let me bring back Brynn Gingras who is continuing to gather more information. Reset what we know in this new situation?

GINGRAS: So, the calls came in about two hours ago. At a manufacturing company about an hour west of Chicago. We know that as you said the city of aurora saying it is still an active shooter situation. We know there are other residential areas around this manufacturing company. There are a lot of authorities not only on the scene but headed to the scene. We know that ATF and FBI are headed to the scene. You can see police personnel. We are learning more and more people are responding. At this point we don't know of any injuries just yet.

CABRERA: We are looking at pictures from outside this facility. Do we know any more about where the shooting is taking place or where it is believed they are responding to?

GINGRAS: We don't. You can see the perimeter that is being set up all around this manufacturing plant. It looks rather large. It is unclear how many people work inside that plant but, Yes. Details of what's happening inside that building are very scarce. By don't have much on that.

CABRERA: As you can't look at the reports that are out there so often because of social media we have access quickly to witness information. Are you seeing any of that at this point?

STELTER: There is a little bit of confusion about what building exactly we are seeing on the screen. You have been mentioning this. The address that the city is giving out the next door. A company called Alro Steel. It is unclear exactly where the shooting may have started or where it may have moved to. That's an open question. I think it speaks to the confusion. It is the address that's been identified by the Aurora Police Department as the site of the active shooting. We don't know and we won't know for a little while longer. This staging area is a couple of blocks away. We haven't seen this equipment move in the past 45 minutes unfortunately.

CABRERA: Again, these images moments ago. I have to be careful and we don't know what the current situation is exactly. We do know the FBI is responding. The ATF is responding. A number of different emergency agencies including fire departments and ambulances. What does that tell you?

CAMPBELL: You brought up a good point. Look at the sheer number of law enforcement vehicles here on scene. You know, a lot of it you want to bring as many resources as you need in order to possibly stop. You look at the size of the facility. It is probably with the size of what they are dealing.

[15:55:00] There is a person or threat and whether that person has been taken into custody all of these buildings are areas in places that this person can be. You'll need as many resources as you can to come in and try to not only set up that perimeter and start that clearing. It has to be coordinated. You don't want officers running in different directions. They have to have some type of communication. We saw that mobile command center set up. It is to try to provide that communication between all of these different agencies that are responding. One thing I will mention is if you're a law enforcement officer or team of officers and you get a report and you show up and you don't find it doesn't mean you pack up and go home. You see this start to widen. If there was someone here and someone saw something and did something and left these are all areas law enforcement officers will have to search. You're going to need a lot of people and manpower there to go through a large location and find whoever this person is they are looking for. So that's going to be a thing to go through. One thing we often talk about, this is the frustrating part, we don't know what's going on inside the building right now. But then one question that always comes up is why a particular location, if this is some type of threat or some type of shooting, I often tried to look around and determine what other possible areas or soft targets would be there. I don't know that a manufacturing company would necessarily, you know, serve the purpose if someone wanted to cause massive loss of life unless they knew the facility. So many unanswered questions. Until we hear from law enforcement, we won't know what they are dealing with. They will continue their efforts.

CABRERA: We are just getting sound now. Apparently, our affiliate just spoke to somebody that ran out of this building. Let's listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JOHN PROBST, RAN OUT OF BUILDING WHERE SHOOTING TOOK PLACE: One of the guys said that the person was shooting and he come out and he was bleeding pretty bad. Next thing you know he was walking back in front and we heard more shots. We just left the building.

WLS REPORTER: So, hold on one second. Did you see the shooter that you're talking about?

PROBST: Yes.

WLS REPORTER: Can you describe him and what you saw?

PROBST: I saw a guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it.

WLS REPORTER: OK. And where -- and which part of the building because we are not really familiar with inside of this building. Where are we talking about right now when you see the shooter?

PROBST: I was all the way in the back. Like I said we were just scared.

WLS REPORTER: Did you recognize him?

PROBST: Yes.

WLS REPORTER: You did recognize the shooter?

PROBST: Yes.

WLS REPORTER: Is he a coworker of yours?

PROBST: Yes.

WLS REPORTER: Can you tell me -- and we don't need to reveal any sort of name. Was he upset recently? What can you tell me about this man?

PROBST: I don't know for a fact but I think they were going to let him go.

WLS REPORTER: I have to think you were pretty shaken up. How many people can you tell me were in that area at this time that you see the shooter? How many people did you see get wounded?

PROBST: I don't know how many are wounded. The one that started opening up a room and he was shooting everybody.

WLS REPORTER: And this is -- and John, this is a coworker of yours?

PROBST: Yes.

WLS REPORTER: OK.

CHUCK GOUDIE, REPORTER, ABC 7: John, this is Chuck Goudie at ABC 7. If I could break in here for a moment to ask you, you described this as a pistol. Did you see he had any other weapons on him?

PROBST: I don't know. Because like I said soon as I seen the green thing and I heard the shots, we left.

GOUDIE: You didn't see any kind of ammo belt or any other weapons over his shoulder?

PROBST: I don't know. Because like I said as soon as I heard it, I took off. GOUDIE: Did you know this person to be a gun owner? Did you ever see

him with guns at work?

[16:00:00] PROBST: No. We are not even supposed to have any guns at work.

GOUDIE: I think that's true.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CABRERA: Again, that is sound from a witness we believe John Probst who says he was inside the building, saw the shooter, saw somebody bleeding. He took off running. We are learning multiple patients have been transported to area medical centers. We don't know the extent of their injuries but we can confirm Mercy Medical Center and Rush Copley Medical Center, they are receiving patients in Aurora.

Let me go back to Josh Campbell quickly if you will. Got about 30 seconds before the top of the hour here. Based on what we just heard, what stands out?

CAMPBELL: We are getting a lot of questions answered and a lot of this comes down to do what witnesses saw, what they heard. I am often conservative in these situations. In want to hear from more people. I want more witnesses. At least this gentleman saying he knew the person. Helps us answer this question about why this particular location. We'll need details on what officers do next? And whether that person has actually been taken into custody?

CABRERA: All right. Thank you so much everybody. Thank you for your contributions. Our breaking news continues right now.