← Deadline: White House
Deadline: White House
“Breaking News: Tragedy in San Diego”
00:56:54
Nicolle Wallace covers the breaking news out of San Diego where three people were killed in a shooting at an Islamic Center. Two suspects, teenagers, were found dead. This situation is being treated as a hate crime.
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- [00:00]
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- [00:56]
Nicole Wallace
Hi there, everybody. It's four o'clock in New York. We're following breaking news out of San Diego, California, where police say they are responding to an active shooter situation at the Islamic center of San Diego. In a post just a few moments ago, San Diego police said the scene was, quote, active but contained. We can see police officers responding on the scene, massive police presence there. There were students being led out of a door holding hands a few moments ago. Governor Gavin Newsom, California's governor, says he has been informed and that his office is coordinating with local law enforcement. San Diego's Mayor Todd Gloria is asking everyone to avoid the area and follow all instructions from public safety officials. Other religious institutions, including Jewish institutions, have said that they will initiate lockdown procedures out of an abundance of caution today. With me through this unfolding scene and tragedy here in San Diego possibly is my friend and colleague, former assistant special agent in charge at the FBI, National Security Intelligence analyst Michael Feinberg. It is the most harrowing scene to come on the air and have to share with our audience, share with anyone in this community, share with any families in this community that there's an active shooter situation. Just tell us what's happening from a law enforcement perspective right now.
- [02:30]
Michael Feinberg
So it's difficult to say with certainty because so little information has come out as this is a developing story. But the fact that the police department locally has said the shooter is active but contained would obviously lead us to believe that they have established a secure perimeter around the building. I would suspect, as in most situations like these, there Is more than one law enforcement department responding. There are probably both federal and local agencies that are working together to establish the court and needed. And from this point forward, there are a couple different things that can happen depending on what sort of information the police are getting from the inside. If there is an active shooter, that is somebody who is continuing to maneuver around the facility while discharging their weapon at victims, and that is something that you could be able to tell normally by security footage and by audible indicators. There is a pretty standard protocol that, at the risk of being of sounding glib, what responders are trained to do now is stop the killing, then stop the bleeding. What that means is the first priority over everything else is going to be to conduct a sweep of the building, identify the assailant and neutralize him or her. Whether that's taking them into custody or using deadly force against them to just stop them from murdering more people. Then and only then do they engage in stopping the bleeding. Once the site is secure, they know they've neutralized any threats, they will immediately start rendering first aid and triaging injuries in the order of most severe to most survivable. That's if everything works out correctly. And thankfully, over the past few years, we as a society, unfortunately have gathered a ton of data about how these incidents play out. So that stop the killing, stop the bleeding protocol is something that hopefully everybody on the scene has practiced through simulations on countless occasions. Where it gets a little bit trickier is if there is no active violence going on, but there is a hostage situation, particularly one where there are children, there is going to be a whole different calculus that comes into play, and that is going to be the give and take of negotiation with the potential assailant versus raising the pressure from a tactical viewpoint in order to make them more malleable to law enforcement demands. And balancing those two equities, it's not something that's going to be an equipoise. Throughout the whole event. The hostage negotiators and the tactical commanders and the on scene commanders are going to be constantly dialoguing and figuring out at this exact moment, like right now, are we better off raising the pressure maybe with some flashbangs or chemical agents, or are we better taking a more conciliatory negotiation approach where we have the negotiators attempt to reach them and work out some sort of compromise on small issues until enough rapport is built that we can start making bigger asks. And it's really difficult to know which approach they'll go with at any given moment. Without knowing what they're seeing and hearing on scene.
- [06:18]
Nicole Wallace
I mean, my question for you was what does active but contained mean? And it sounds like one of the things it can mean is what you're describing, that the shooter is still active, but they have some knowledge of the space in which he or she is contained.
- [06:38]
Michael Feinberg
Correct. To me, it sounds like they've established a secure perimeter. So nobody is getting into that building and nobody is getting out without going through at least some sort of oversight and check, like we saw with the children. And it's important to note in situations like these, you have to have oversight of who's coming out because you never know if the assailant, him or herself, is going to try and abscond from the scene by pretending to be a hostage. So even though it's mostly children, there is going to be vetting of people coming out of the building once they're in a secure space.
- [07:20]
Nicole Wallace
Being a parent in this country is to ask your very small children, I think my son was three the first time he described an active shooter drill at his nursery school. And they know as three year olds that it's different from a fire drill because they stay inside and they hide from the bad people. This is life in America for parents, but for kids, I mean, what are the sort of special considerations for law enforcement when there are very young children involved?
- [07:54]
Michael Feinberg
The considerations with children are in any sort of crime situation or any sort of violent conflict are always do what you can to minimize the trauma that is being inflicted on them. And that sounds good, but I think any parent who has dealt with something as simple as a scraped knee or a fall on a hard surface knows that it is difficult for children, particularly young ones, to compartmentalize this sort of stuff. And my understanding is there's a lot of research out there now that even these drills, although they're designed to keep children safe and unfortunately are very necessary in the sort of violent society we have become. The drills themselves leave emotional residue.
- [08:50]
Nicole Wallace
Yeah, yeah. Actually, let me interrupt you for one second just to share with you and our viewers what we were able to report about the status of the situation and then ask you to help us understand what this means. KNSD local station is reporting that two suspects are dead. Does that that suggests that they've moved from active and contained to some early resolution? No,
- [09:24]
Michael Feinberg
it depends. Baked into that assumption is that there were only two assailants. Taking out two assailants could mean that the situation is over and they can get to saving lives and rendering aid to those who need it. But they're going to have to do a sweep of the building and make sure there are no additional ones. And it's important to note that sweep is not going to just be for human assailants. They're going to have to do, at minimum, a cursory quick check for IEDs or other explosive devices. That sweep is going to have to become more in depth once they have a level of comfort established. But unless we know how many people were there on site, we don't know whether two assailants means that the threat is completely eliminated or that there is a third or even a fourth person in there who is now under more pressure and more worried and more anxious and more likely to act rash than he or she was before their two colleagues were stopped.
- [10:32]
Nicole Wallace
So this is coming in as quickly as our reporting suggests. San Diego Police Department is now reporting this, quote, the threat at the Islamic center has been neutralized. And until we have a briefing, we don't know if what you're saying that that's consistent with the two suspects that are dead or if there were more. But it seems that just since we've been on the air in the last 10 minutes, they've been able to confirm these two pieces of information. Local KNSD reporting that two suspects are dead and the San Diego Police Department saying that the threat at the Islamic center has been neutralized. I've learned from you, from being on during these situations, that doesn't necessarily mean that the threat was limited to the two, but it means that two suspects are dead. And according to San Diego Police, the threat has been neutralized.
- [11:35]
Michael Feinberg
Yeah. If they're saying the threat has been neutralized, they're going to shift gears and immediately get to rendering aid.
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Nicole Wallace
I cut you off, though, when we were talking about, I think the piece that makes everyone sort of stop and sit before their televisions with their heart in their stomach. And that is the trauma for kids, for children and their parents. But more importantly, for the purposes of this conversation, children pick up where I cut you off.
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Michael Feinberg
Yeah, I mean, it's important to note. We want to believe I'm a parent and I would like to believe this, that once a child or any victim really has been extricated from a traumatic situation, that there's almost like a memory wipe we can do by showing the right nurturing or the right caring or the right therapy or the right discussions or pastoral care that will make the child or victim whole again. Part of the reason, though, that these experiences for law enforcement are so wrenching is because we know from hard earned, bitter experience that it is rarely that easy. That's not to say anybody is going to be traumatized for life and never over this. But parents of these children, and more importantly the friends and support network for those parents need to realize this is not a linear psychological recovery process. And it's not one that's even uniform across individuals, even when they're of the same demographic or socioeconomic class or what have you. This is a highly individualized journey back to a feeling of safety, and there's just no one size fits all model for that.
- [13:36]
Nicole Wallace
Michael Feinberg we also live in a country where, I mean, you and I think we're both in government. After 9 11, the threat environment nationwide has shifted from one of foreign terrorism to domestic threats. And we don't know the motives here. We don't know if the threat was the suspects that police say have been neutralized and a personal grievance or relationship with, or if it had anything to do with anything geopolitical or policy wise. But the FBI leaders over the last decade have testified to the fact that the threats, the greatest threats in this country are now domestic ones.
- [14:20]
Michael Feinberg
Yeah, I mean, look, I spent the last two years of my career in part overseeing a field office's entire counterterrorism program, both international terrorism and domestic terrorism. And I can tell you the ratio I spent on the latter compared to the former was probably about 10 to 1. And there's a lot of complex reasons for that. And there are also cases where the line is blurred. I mean, whether you consider a homegrown violent extremist, as we would call them, who is radicalized online but has never left the United States, we generally lump that into international terrorism. But it can also be considered domestic. And just investigating domestic terrorism is a lot more difficult than investigating domestic than investigating international terrorism. The first part, which is true regardless of a nation, of our nation's political landscape or cultural mores in any given era, is that for domestic terrorists, the ideology and the means by which they express it before there is a threat of violence is protected by the First Amendment. So there is a much higher bar to investigating somebody for domestic terrorism than there is for investigating somebody affiliated with an international foreign terrorist designated organization. And that's just that was a hurdle we had to deal with the entirety of my time in the FBI, you know, from the mid 2000 early to mid 2000s all the way up through present day, a couple decades later, complicating it. And I'm almost hesitant to even bring this up because it should not be the focus until we know whether these children are safe. But at some point, we're going to have to ask, why are these children in danger in the first place? And, you know, we live in a world where in the recent past, many major domestic terrorism events have involved members of minority religions. And we have to ask ourselves, why do they feel. Why do the people doing this feel that they are now in a safe operating environment to target Muslims, to target Jews? It's a legitimate question. That was not a frequent occurrence for most of our lifetimes. It was by no means unknown, but it wasn't regular. And we have to examine why is that happening now? And is the government taking the proper steps to stop the groups that are generally targeting discrete and insular ethnic and religious minorities?
- [17:30]
Nicole Wallace
Michael, let me share with you one more piece of information that we've learned again since we've been on the air. Sharp Memorial hospital tells msnow that it is, quote, receiving patients from the Islamic Center. The San Diego shooting. They add this, quote, disaster procedures have been activated. This is according to Alicia Cook. She's the director of marketing and communications at Sharp Memorial Hospital. She says this quote, we are aware of a situation involving an active shooter at the Islamic center of San Diego in Claremont Mesa. Reports indicate multiple injured people and Sharp Memorial hospital is receiving patients. Our disaster procedures have been activated, and we are coordinating with the county of San Diego and other resources to respond to the incident. It doesn't sound. I mean, it sounds like they're being very careful to protect everyone's privacy, but they do seem to confirm that they are, quote, receiving patients from the Islamic center.
- [18:33]
Michael Feinberg
Yeah, I think what's important to note here, and I'm going to speak in generalities, because every jurisdiction, every hospital, every area uses different terminology and has different protocols. But when we hear about something like disaster protocols, we've all been to an emergency room, sometimes bleeding, sometimes with chest
- [18:54]
Nicole Wallace
pains,
- [18:57]
Michael Feinberg
sometimes because we're having trouble breathing. But one thing that always amazes people, and it's often source of almost like dark comic relief, is how long it can take you to actually be seen in something called an emergency room. Disaster procedures usually just entail immediately bringing in staff and opening up as many beds as humanly possible in critical care areas and ICUs to deal with whatever the influx may be and having a plan in advance to divert people who need aid to a different location once the primary location has already reached capacity. Now, any responsible hospital in the area of something like this happening would institute those processes immediately upon hearing the news before A single victim has ever been brought to the door. So I don't want people to extrapolate from that hospital statement that we're necessarily dealing with dozens or, you know, 50 shooting victims. We could be dealing with none. We could be dealing with a lot. It's really hard to say. We just know that the hospital has a process to, for dealing with all those contingencies and it's kicking into place.
- [20:25]
Nicole Wallace
Right. And it's a good point. They could be other injuries. Let me bring into our coverage. Michael, let me ask you to stay with us. I'm going to bring in my colleague Ayman Mohadin, who's been doing reporting on this breaking news. Ayman, what are you learning?
- [20:41]
Ayman Mohadin
Hey, Nicole. I was able to speak to the imam who runs the Islamic center there in San Diego, Imam Taha Hassan, who I managed to get on the phone a few minutes ago, and he was able to give me a little bit more description of the school and told me that the school has about 200 or so students who attend that school. And he described for me what he had heard shortly after the shooting began, which he said happened within the last hour or so. The school has about 200 students. It has about 20 or so teachers. And this according to him, and again, not yet from law enforcement, but according to him, there are two teachers or staff from the school, to be more specific, that have been killed as a result of the shooting. That is separate from the suspects that we're hearing about. This is, according to Imam Taha Hassan, the imam of the school, saying that there are at least two staff members that were killed and a third security guard that was also killed. So three total killed, according to the imam of the, of the Islamic Center. And he was saying it was, you know, a normal school day for the children and the staff. They were given an evacuation order. They described. He told me that there was a church nearby that was able to open the doors and allow for some of the students to get out of this scene, this horrific scene. And he was actually on the grounds of the school at the time that the shooting happened. As of right now, he and all of the students are safe. But the update that he was able to give me just a few minutes ago was that at least three people, including the security guard and two staff members were killed as a result of the shooting. Nicole,
- [22:36]
Nicole Wallace
the imam must be in a terrible state of shock and grief at the loss of two staff members and one secure security personnel. Did the Iman have any ability to share with you what happened today? You Know when it started or what he saw.
- [22:58]
Ayman Mohadin
He wasn't able to see anything. He was on the second floor and had just stepped out of his office when the shooting began. It seemed that the school, according to him, had some kind of security protocol in a situation like this. He told me that there is no clear motive. Obviously there was nothing that indicated there was a motive from what he was able to pick up or gather from other staff members. And obviously it's still extremely early to even to try to determine that. But what he did tell me was that he had just left his office when he had heard the shooting began and was immediately able to leave the school grounds. The school itself houses both an Islamic center as well as a school. It's a fairly large compound if it's able to actually have 200 or so students and 20 staff members. And from others that I've spoken to who connected me to the imam of the. Of the school. It's a very idyllic school and Islamic center. It had been used as a. As a model for what other Islamic centers in the country could look like, meaning it was very well respected. It was very idyllic in the sense that it was built specifically to function as both the school and Islamic center. And when the shooting happened, he was able to immediately evacuate the school, as well as with students who had in the past participated in some kind of active shooter drills, or I should say, more accurately, security protocols in the situation that something like this could have happened.
- [24:29]
Nicole Wallace
Eamon the images of the children walking out, hand in hand, in lines, and in some instances with their hands on the shoulders of the small child in front of them suggest one of two things. They followed instructions perfectly and beautifully, or they practiced this before the children as well. Did the imam say anything to you or share anything with you about whether the kids themselves were prepared for a horrific tragedy like this?
- [25:04]
Ayman Mohadin
Look, you know, to be honest with you, he was very shook up. But the first thing he said to me was, thankfully, all the kids are safe. And again, that was just his initial assessment. Hope that it does play out to be true in the coming hours when everyone is accounted for. But it seemed that he had a good sense that the students that are there through multiple grades and you can see many of them different ages, it seemed that they were orderly evacuated from the school and the Islamic center. I spoke to another friend who is in the San Diego area and who was telling me that he was thinking about enrolling his kids in that school starting next year. So this is an Islamic center that is Very well known to a lot in the Muslim American community in Southern California and certainly drew a range of people from all walks of life who wanted to have their kids in that school. Sadly, it's an image that we've seen time and time again in many parts of our country, and it's something that I think increasingly many Muslim Americans were bracing themselves for this type of attack and threat. And again, we don't know the motivations behind it. But like any other school In America in 20, all these schools take a variety of protocols, a variety of security measures. The Islamic center will certainly undoubtedly have security camera. And as I mentioned, the security guard that was mentioned to me by the imam of the. Of the school in the center who was killed was somebody that they had there every day of the school, as many schools and religious schools and private schools in America now, unfortunately, are required to have. That's the reality that we live in. It's not yet clear from the imam that I spoke to how the security guard engaged with the suspects and what led to his killing. But we know that that security guard there was widely respected and widely loved, according to two people that I spoke to, including the imam and another person who identified, and I don't want to say the name of the security guard yet, but who told me a little bit about the security guard and how much he was loved and respected by the families in that community. He is somebody from the community. And so it's, as you can imagine, just a very disturbing moment for all the family members and the parents who are now rushing to the school to try to find out about either their loved ones as students or the teachers and staff that worked at that school.
- [27:30]
Nicole Wallace
Eamon People that do what we do
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Eyewitness
are,
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Nicole Wallace
I guess, fluent in how heroic people can be in these moments, particularly when children are involved. The teachers who lost their lives in Newtown are honored every year on that heinous anniversary. Do we know if the staff members who were killed were diverting the shooter? Do we know anything about the way in which the two staff members lost their lives in addition to the security guard that you're talking about, who was beloved by that community?
- [28:10]
Ayman Mohadin
Yeah, I don't know that yet, Nicole. I was able to connect with the imam very briefly, who just kind of told me about what the situation that he had witnessed. And the students, I am not sure yet that they were able to identify exactly how the two staff members and what their roles are in the school. I don't want to say they were teachers or perhaps administrators or perhaps part of the of the staff, janitorial staff, or what have you. It's not yet clear how they engaged with the incident. And so I'm hoping to reconnect with the imam and find out more details, but that's what he was able to tell me yet. And again, you know, I'm couching this with all of the caveats of this is his firsthand account. And he was able to tell me this immediately after being on the phone with me and having just come out of the school facility in the compound. So, you know, just to also wait from law enforcement for the official confirmation on that. But of course, that is what he told me in terms of what he has learned about the casualties. And I was very specific with him. I asked him, is that separate from the reports of the two shooters that we are hearing about or the two potential assailants that we are hearing about from other sources? And he said no. He identified for me that there are at least two staff members plus the security guard that were killed in this incident.
- [29:36]
Nicole Wallace
Amen Mohoodin, the host of Weekend primetime. We are so fortunate to have your reporting on this day on every day, and I appreciate you underscoring that this is reporting from the imam that we are, of course, going to keep putting these questions to local law enforcement. I'm going to let you leave us for a little bit if you pledge to come back as your reporting reveals any new details about this tragic event in San Diego. Thank you for jumping on with us for sure. I want to bring in msnow law enforcement analyst Tom Manger. He's a former US Capitol police chief. Tom, I know you've been talking us through today's tragic events. Let me just try to recap what we understand. KNSD local news station in San Diego, has reported that two suspects are dead. Our colleague Aamma Hudin is reporting that the imam from the Islamic center has told him that his understanding is that one security guard has lost his life and two additional staff members have been killed. We are in receipt of confirmation from the local hospital or one local hospital that a disaster preparedness protocol has been in place, that they are prepared to receive victims from the scene. And we have confirmation from San Diego Police department that, quote, the threat has been neutralized. What are your thoughts in terms of the picture that's starting to come into focus at this early point?
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Tom Manger
Well, now this has turned into a crime scene now, which is why you have the number of police officers there to secure the scene. They're going to be forensic experts that go in to start Collecting evidence. I would say that this, this event is still so early on in its in investigation that the police are still concerned about. Is there anyone else involved? Is there, did these two assailants plant any explosive devices? Did they do anything else that might cause harm later on? So this is not a situation where anybody is relaxing yet, so to speak. I hope and I pray along with everyone else that the Imam's statement that all the kids are safe, that that is eventually confirmed to be true. It certainly does not surprise me that if anyone was a victim that the security guard and two teachers. Because my, my sense is that in situations like that they're going to step up, they're going to make, they're going to put themselves between the children and any danger. And that could be likely why they are victims now. But this is a scene that needs to remain under police control. They will need to keep the public away from this. Just, just in case it is concerning that if it is, if it ends up being two assailants, this, you know, this, this means that there was more planning. This wasn't a lone wolf thing where someone you know was by themselves and didn't talk about it. You've got two people who planned this, this assault and which means that the idea that it could be someone who was struggling with mental health issues now you've got two people who talked about it, who planned, really puts a different light on the motive. It makes you think that you've got two people who agreed on some ideology that this was the way to carry out an attack, that, that aligned with their ideology. So there's a lot of troubling things about this case, not the least of which is that it's another attack on a school where young children are. And so again, I just hope that the Imam is correct and that we do confirm that no children were harmed.
- [34:07]
Nicole Wallace
So much to unpack with you. I have 30 more questions, but I want to ask you, Tom, to listen to. I think this is the first eyewitness sound that we've been able to broadcast to our viewers. This is from knsd.
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Eyewitness
My son in love had just pulled into the driveway on his motorcycle and less than a minute later all these police officers started flying past the house. And I said, what's going on? He goes, I don't know. I said, I wonder if there's a shooting at the mosque. Hence, so then easy 150 police cars have shown up here. So I called my friend who's a fireman and he said, yeah, there's a shooting Supposedly someone walked up, showed a weapon to the security guard, security guard pulled his weapon, they started firing, and from there, this is what I know. I know SWAT showed up, and this is what's going on since then.
- [35:02]
Commercial Narrator 3
And you've been standing here for how long?
- [35:04]
Michael Feinberg
How quickly did all of this unravel?
- [35:07]
Eyewitness
Less than 10 minutes.
- [35:10]
Nicole Wallace
So, Tom, obviously not an eyewitness to the events at the Islamic center, but someone in the neighborhood close enough to be a witness to the police presence. I want to come back to a point you were making about children, and I think this is a good thing. I will never not be gutted by the image of children walking out of their school, a place where their parents leave them. Under very few circumstances are we allowed to go with them for their school day. We drop our kids off at school, and we want to believe. I think we need to believe that they'll be safe there. And every single one of the parents of these kids at the Islamic center will have a hard time for the rest of their lives with drop off, which is a ritual, you know, from nursery school through kindergarten through elementary school, through middle school, through high school, to college. And there is none of those places that I named is safe in America right now. Not nursery school, not elementary school, not middle school, not high school, not college.
- [36:11]
Tom Manger
Yeah. And there's a constant request from educational facilities, from school systems from all over this country that says, what can we do to make our buildings more secure, our classrooms more secure? And slowly but surely that things are being put into place that makes it more difficult for someone to do an assault like this, but it's still not impossible. And you have this facility that had a security guard and sounds like had an armed security guard. And one would think that that would be enough of a deterrent perhaps to keep the building safe, but as it turns out, it did not. And so there's. I don't know how parents today, especially parents of young children, ever get comfortable doing that drop off. I think there's just a pit in their stomach the entire day until their child, you know, walks back through the door and is, okay, this is. This is the. The kind of domestic terrorism that folk. That the people that do these kinds of attacks do them purposefully, that they want to create fear, they want to create terror, and they want people to. To take note of. Of what they did. And it's the. I think our schools. I wonder what our schools are going to look like five years from now, ten years from now, if this doesn't. If this sort of thing continues Tom,
- [37:54]
Nicole Wallace
let me ask you one more question about the point you made about the initial reports of two shooters, two assailants being dead, and the fact that they were there together, that, that suggests a plan amid two people that we can rule out sort of the radic, the lone wolf kind of theory. There were at least two people involved. Just tell me what that means. It sounds like that that's somewhat of a possible early fork in the road in terms of the early steps of an investigation.
- [38:24]
Tom Manger
Well, they'll, they'll do the same things with, if there are two assailants that they do with one. I mean, they're going to take their phones, they're going to seize their computers, they'll serve search warrants on their residences looking for information that leads to some more understanding of what they did, how they did it, what their motive was. And again, if, you know, when you have one individual, especially if they have been radicalized on the Internet or they have been involved in social media, where they got involved with groups that sort of edge them along toward a point where they're going to commit an atrocity like this that's, you know, you almost, you know, every time you talk to law enforcement, they say, yeah, those are the toughest ones to catch because there's just one person. And there may be no way of knowing what they're up to, but this is two people. And so you've got two people talking and, and planning and two people who, who got together and went to this school and, and, and, you know, shot and killed people, according to the reports. So it just makes you wonder, are they part of some bigger effort? Would there have been signs that perhaps law enforcement or someone could, you know, someone who knew these two individuals could have come forward and said, hey, we should be concerned about these two individuals? The same questions exist, but it's more troubling in my mind when you have more than one person that decide they want to do something like this.
- [40:07]
Nicole Wallace
And I should just say, having been on the air with you and Michael Feinberg and all of the responsible folks in law enforcement, we are using reporting from local station KNSD as our source for this scenario. We'll see at the first law enforcement briefing, which we see some signs that they might be preparing to brief the press there when they're able to. But the source for this number that Tom and I are talking about that we're discussing is San Diego station KNSD that reported about 30 minutes ago that two suspects are dead. My colleague Ayman Mohadin is doing some reporting for us on this and has learned more. Eamon, what are you hearing?
- [40:59]
Ayman Mohadin
Hey, Nicole. Yeah, I was able to connect again with the imam of the school in the Islamic center, Imam Taha Hassan, an Algerian American who has been involved at the school for some time now. He told me a little bit more about the school, that it had been around in the community since 1987, but more specifically to what happened today. He gave me a little bit more of the details of what he's been able to learn from some of the people he has spoken to. And again, he said that the shooting started at about 11:30am local time when he started hearing the gunshots and told me that the school itself has a lot of security cameras covering all the entrances of the university and inside the school. Obviously, that is going to be a critical piece of information that law enforcement will ultimately get their hands on, but told me a little bit more about the incident. And according to staff that he spoke to who saw what had happened inside and were able to relay to him that the security guard was killed, was killed engaging one of the shooters. So it seems that according to the imam, he, the security guard tried to engage with one of the shooters and was killed and was seen by staff as they were evacuating the school with the children. Right now, everybody's outside of the school, according to the imam. And the police have cordoned off the area. So they're not able to get back inside to the school right now to identify who has been shot. But they're working more importantly on trying to make sure that parents who are coming to the school are able to connect with their kids and relatives of those that are the staff. And again, earlier we were reporting that the school had about 200 students. It actually runs more specifically from kindergarten to third grade. So we're talking about very young school children here, school children who obviously would need, in any scenario, adult guidance in a situation like this. Compared to, let's say, for example, high school, where students may have more training or may have more awareness as to how to evacuate a school. We're talking about kids that are as old as nine years old, all the way down to, you know, four and five years old, as we've seen in some of this video. But he told me that the school itself has, from kindergarten to about third grade, has pretty good security protocols. And obviously it's not a school that is easily accessible. But we'll learn more about that from law enforcement. I was actually able to hear a law enforcement official talking to the imam while I was on the phone with him and said that they are going to be briefing the press and that they wanted to give him the option if he wanted to speak directly to the press. So I anticipate that we will be hearing from both the administrators of the school, the imam of the school, who kind of serves as both the principal and the leader of the school in the community as well as law enforcement in a relatively short period of time, with an update of what exactly has happened. But again, this is according to the imam, who was on the school premises when the shooting happened and was able to evacuate along with the staff and the students.
- [44:01]
Nicole Wallace
Eamonn, that's incredible reporting that you're able to do through your conversations with the imam. Let me just clarify something that I think you said that he was able to learn through staff who, on their way, as they were being evacuated with the students, were able to learn that this happened, that the security guard had engaged one of the shooters. Was he under the same understanding as the local station is that there were two shooters, that there was more than one shooter?
- [44:35]
Ayman Mohadin
He did not comment on that. He did not tell me whether there was one shooter or not. I did actually ask him specifically, how do you know that there are two victims in addition to the security guard that are separate from potential shooters? And he said because the staff saw the bodies of the staff, and so they recognized them. And they were able to say they saw the security guard on the floor and they saw him trying to engage with at least one shooter. And because they were able to see the bodies, he was able to say that they knew at least three of their overall staff had been had been shot. But he was not able to tell me whether or not there was more than one shooter and if so, how they entered the school and where they were. He told me that he was in his office and had just stepped outside of his office when the shooting started and immediately engaged in the protocol of evacuating and trying to get people out of the school as quickly as possible once they heard the gunshots, which was at about 11:30 local time.
- [45:40]
Nicole Wallace
Eamon, your confirmation that these kids are as young as the few shots we've been broadcasting is just a gut punch. I mean, Michael Feinberg and Tom Manger have both talked about how when kids are involved, especially really young kids, it's different. It's different for the kids, it's different for the school, and it's different for law enforcement. How is the imam doing? Even though it's something everyone prepares for, it has to still be incredibly Traumatic
- [46:16]
Ayman Mohadin
it is. And you can hear that in his voice. And, you know, I think that, you know, having covered situations like this in the past, you know, mass shootings, I think, and certainly ones where you speak to religious leaders, you always think of religious leaders as being very, you know, strong and have a very strong sense of purpose in these moments. And they are both spiritual and educational leaders in the community. But there was no doubt that just speaking to this imam in the few minutes after the shooting, he was shook up. And I think like any educator and any spiritual leader, his immediate concern was about the well being of his students and his staff and making sure that the parents and all the loved ones who are rushing now to this center and trying to connect with him and trying to connect with others to find out about their kids and where they are, that was his main concern, you know, And I told him I really appreciated his time that he was able to even answer my call and take it. But it was through friends that I was able to connect with him. And I bring that up just because. To give you a sense of, like, how respected this Islamic center was. I have a friend who lives in San Diego who mentioned to me that he was thinking about enrolling his kids there and had visited the school and, you know, was very drawn to it. And I think it kind of speaks to the. To the school and the nature of the school and the community. It is a community like any other community in America, where the school serves as a major pillar in the community and a strong sense of identity and gathering for families who want to belong and want to do something in their community. So in speaking to him, he, you know, was very shook up. And on one hand, you know, kind of recited religious passages about the importance of this moment and understanding it and trying to make sure that everyone is okay and praying that everyone is safe. But you can also hear in his voice that there was nothing that could have prepared him for this. And even though I asked him about the security protocols at the school, and he told me this is a community, this is a school that has been around for several decades, as I mentioned. So they did have pretty robust security cameras and protocols in place, nothing could have prepared them for this, given what we've seen elsewhere in the country. But it was something that subconsciously something that they had always prepared for, because they do have security camera, they have a fence around the school. It's not a school or an Islamic center that you can just walk into without everybody in the school knowing who's in and out. Like any other school in America these days.
- [48:46]
Nicole Wallace
It's unbelievable. Eamonn, let's do this. May I ask you to stay with us? If you have to jump in and out to do reporting, I'm going to ask you to stay with us. I'm going to ask Tom Manger and Michael Feinberg to do the same. I have been joined since we've been on the air with my colleague Mark Santilla. We are going to catch our breaths, catch up on any reporting that we've missed so we can share it with you. We're going to try to confirm what Eamonn is able to report that he understands from the imam that a briefing, a briefing of the local press there may be happening soon. So we're going to sneak in a very short break. But all of us, we'll be right back on the other side. Please stay with me.
- [49:27]
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- [50:53]
Nicole Wallace
Yes, We're back. We're covering the breaking news out of San Diego, California. And I want to bring into our breaking news coverage my colleague, investigative reporter Mark Santilla. Mark, what are you Learning from law enforcement sources.
- [51:10]
Mark Santilla
We know right now, according to the mayor of San Diego that there is no ongoing threat to the community. Nicole. We also know that the efforts FBI and ATF agents are also responding. They're going to pick up the investigation as well. There is a reunification location that was set up. You saw the video of those children being walked out. Kindergarteners through third graders who are walked out by adults. There is a reunification location that's set up. We're also being told, Nicole that there's a media staging area. So we're hoping to hear in a press conference very soon. There's a lot to learn. We are being told that a suspect, at least one suspect is dead. We're waiting for officials to confirm if there are any other suspects. Also the weapons, ATF agents are there. They handle obviously firearms. Were those weapons purchased? Were they stolen? We're waiting to hear that the suspect who we're told was neutralized, were they killed by police? Was it a self inflicted wound? Again, we are waiting to hear more from the FBI as well as local police and the atf. They're on the scene working right there. But, but as you see those children being led across the street from the Islamic center there, we do know a reunification center was set up. Ayman, our colleague has been talking to the Imam who said no children were injured, no children were hurt physically. And then again we are waiting to hear. Our news desk has been working the Ms. Now news desk reaching out. We know Sharp Memorial Hospital has received patients there. We don't know the number of injured. So now there are a lot more questions than answers right now. But, but we're hoping, Nicole, very soon as this media staging area is set up as police and federal agents sort of get everything and gather. We're hoping to learn much more. We know that there will have to be search warrants that will be served on the home of the suspect or suspects. It appears right now we might here, let's watch together.
- [53:00]
Cesar Jimenez
Just get, get a little bit closer than normal. We got so many small lines up here.
- [53:26]
Michael Feinberg
Good afternoon. Cesar Jimenez with San Diego Police Department public information officer. Still very early in our investigation. We've got Chief Scott Wall is going to give let you know what occurred. We are going to have time for questions afterwards. And so please Chief Skawa,
- [53:51]
Tom Manger
This is
- [53:52]
Cesar Jimenez
every community's worst nightmare. I want to give you some preliminary, preliminary information to put a lot of minds at ease. There is no further threat. Both suspects in this case are deceased. All of the kids are safe. Our hearts go out to the families that are in this moment being notified of what has happened to their loved ones. We have three confirmed adults that are deceased at the Islamic Center. There is a lot of preliminary information that we're going to try to highlight and cover, but understand it's going to take us some time to get accurate information out to everyone. Here's what we know so far. At about 11:43, we received a call of an active shooter at the Islamic Center. Within four minutes, officers arrived on scene and observed immediately three deceased, what appeared to be deceased victims out in front. They immediately began to deploy with an active shooter response into the mosque and adjacent school. At about the same time, we began to receive calls from just a couple blocks away that we had more active gunfire. Officers were also responding to that call for service. At the same time, there was a landscaper that was doing his work that was shot at. Unfortunately was not hit. That was at about the 7,100 blocks of Salerno, which is just a couple blocks from here. Moments later, at the 3800 block of Hatton, officers were called to that location where they found a vehicle in the middle of the street with who we believe to be the shooters in this incident, both deceased. The circumstances that led up to the
- [56:35]
Ayman Mohadin
this
- [56:38]
Cesar Jimenez
and the details of what happened and exactly which time it happened will come out in the days ahead. I can tell you this is in 28 years, this is the most dynamic and impressive response that I have ever seen in policing. We have every single police officer available throughout our county that dropped what they're doing and did exactly what they're trained to do, run towards gunfire. I could not be more proud. And I cannot express the gratitude, the willingness to step into harm's way in a moment like this. And I tell you what got me watching the kids come running out,
- [57:42]
Tom Manger
Just
- [57:43]
Cesar Jimenez
thankful to be alive. I want to bring up Mark Remli from the FBI. Because of the Islamic center location, we are considering this a hate crime until it's not. And at this point, we're going to work closely with the FBI to make sure that we are matching all the resources that we need for this investigation. So, Mark, thank you, Chief.
- [58:15]
Mark Remily
Good afternoon. My name is Mark Remily. I'm the Special Agent in charge of the FBI San Diego field office. Today the FBI responded to assist our local law enforcement partners at the Islamic center of San Diego. This was based on reports of an active shooter. As the chief said, what we know at this time is that there are three deceased adult males and those are the presumed victims. At this time, on behalf of the FBI, we extend our sincerest condolences. Condolences to the family and friends of the victims of this tragic incident. There were two subjects, both teenagers and both are confirmed deceased. I want to thank our local law enforcement partners for their quick response that undoubtedly saved the additional loss of life. The FBI is meticulously assessing the situation and is prepared to employ every resource we have to uncover the the facts of this.
- [59:13]
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Ayman Mohadin
Yeah.
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Nicole Wallace
So do we.
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