Police say at least five people shot at busy thoroughfare in Washington, DC

OK, we are bringing you some breaking news coming to us out of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Police say four people have been shot in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Police are at the scene. It is an active shooting at the area between 15th and P Street Northwest. People are telling people police are telling people in the area to stay inside. Let's go straight to our correspondent, John Holman. He is live. At the scene, John, what more do you know? Well, I first saw this, I guess, like 45 minutes ago, just going out of my hotel fortuitously, which is quite close to here. And there was sort of a river of police cars blocking the street. So I started walking towards the building where this is said to have happened, which is where Vida Gym is. And the first reports are that this happened at or around that gym. As you were saying, four people shot so far in the report and that the suspect Might still be at large. There's definitely helicopters flying all ahead. I walked past, there must be at least dozens of police cars that had gone to the vicinity. Also people putting on tactical gear with long arms and putting on their helmets in the boots of cars and heading towards the zone as well. I saw people not just from the police force, but also from the FBI, the police from the Secret Service that were heading towards there. So a really big opportunity Operation being mounted to try and get to that scene. So the first reports show that he's heavy set, but he's white and he's wearing a grey shirt. But Dave, There's also, as soon as I got to the centre of that, there wasn't much more information that the police or the fire personnel there could give me, apart from to say that if you knew what's good for you, you'd be getting out of here, at least them taking a bit of cover as people were rushing past. Eventually, I got ordered out. And flashing up on everyone's phones here is a sort of alert and saying to shelter in place. Don't go out of your building. Don't go out onto the street where obviously we are now. But the police have set up the cordon that you can see behind me. And the area that this is actually happening in is within there. I don't know yet if they've managed to capture this person who's allegedly been shooting the people or whether that still goes on. Yeah, it's worth saying to our viewers that we have very little information at this point, John. What we do know, according to police, is that four people have been shot in the Logan Circle neighborhood in Washington, D.C. This is, of course, the nation's capital. What more can you tell us about this area, Logan Circle? I understand this is an upscale neighborhood in Washington, D.C., presumably not. Likely to have incidences like this. No, I'm a visiting correspondent here in D.C., but I think you can pretty much fairly say from the amount of times I've been here that this is quite uncommon, especially in rush hour, nine o'clock in the morning or whatever time we're at now in the nation's capital to suddenly see that river of police cars. It certainly seems to startle people that were going past. And as you say, this is quite an upscale area right in the middle. ...of Washington, D.C. itself, so it certainly caused a bit of a blather here. Even as I was walking away from it, there were people out of the window of cars saying, you know, why are you on the street? You should be sheltering in place. So another indication that this isn't normal here in the capital of the United States. And I guess also the amount of police is still arriving. You can still hear the sirens now that have been called to try and deal with this. Another indication of how seriously this has been taken on. So, just to bring our viewers up to date on the pictures that we are seeing live on the left hand of your screen, that is a live shot of Washington, D.C. You can see the sheer number of police cars and ambulances there. This is because four people have been shot in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Police have advised that this is an ongoing situation and that people should stay. Away from the scene, we're speaking to our correspondent, John Holman, who just remind us, John, how far you are from this this ongoing scene. We we can just see this one shot on our screen where all the police cars seem to be congested together. I don't know how much how far away you are from there. And the fact the police are saying that this is a live situation, ongoing situation. What do you understand to be happening right now? So in terms of how far away I am, I guess I was right in front of the building before they ordered me out. And as far as I could tell, I was walking just a couple of blocks. Everything was actually quite hurried as they ordered me out, but just a couple of blocks to get away from there. So we're relatively close at this point, but I guess this is a circumference, a perimeter that they think is safe. Otherwise, they would have made it a bit further out if they put the yellow tape. So that we couldn't get in any further. And in terms of what's happening right now, I guess we're all pretty much in the dark. It's not just me. There's a few other media. I'll make the effort to gingerly turn the camera here to show them who are all set up here sort of watching and waiting for what comes next after this. Just by the helicopters that were continually buzzing overhead, there seemed to be slightly less so, and the people that were still putting on their tactical gear and their helmets with the microphones and things like that, apparently to go in and to try and help with that. About 20 minutes ago, I understood that the situation was still going on. Now that we're outside of that perimeter, it's difficult to know what's happening inside it. We have got reports about... What the shooter may or may not be doing, but I don't think that it's the moment quite yet to be giving those out on air. So let's just collect a bit more information before we see what's actually happened to him or her. And I hate to speculate, John, but this is, of course, Washington, D.C. And from what I'm reading online in terms of this location, we are not too far from the White House. How far would you say this location is from the nation's capital building? Thank you. And like I say, I don't want to make any inferences here, but. Some people would perhaps be thinking that way. Yeah, we're not. I guess it's all about how you measure distance, but it's not like it's a couple of blocks from the White House or anything like that. We're a bit further out. And from that, than that, and the fact that this happened in or around the building, which a gym was not comfortable, not uncomfortably close to the White House, I think it would be much too soon to think that that might be a connection. I think if you were a shooter that was making any sort of attempt on the White House itself or the Capitol or any of those buildings, you would. get a little bit closer to them rather than doing things in the vicinity of the building of this gym. So I don't think that we can say that at this moment. And as you say, we hate to speculate. We're not quite sure what might have motivated this at this point. We just know at the moment the very little amount of information that we've got from reports that it's a white, fairly heavy set, a person in a grey shirt. So, that's a bit of a thimble full of information at the moment to be going on. Okay. Bear with us. John Holman there. We do have Matthew Torres standing by for us in Washington, D.C. as well, but I just want to bring you a little bit of extra information that we have that I can bring you that Al Jazeera has learned from its sources. The gunman apparently is barricaded inside another building. We don't know which building that is, but it is not the gym that John, our correspondent there, was referring to. So the gunman is barricaded in the area inside another building, but not the gym. This is according to what online comments are suggesting. And the victims that were shot have been transported, but the condition of those victims are unknown at the moment. But the shooter is still active. So let's put this to Matthew Torres, who knows Washington very well. Matthew, what more can you tell us about what is going on here? Yeah, well, first off, we are really trying to work to get more details about the shooting from our sources here in the city, in the District of Columbia. As John mentioned there, you could see just how busy that area is because it really is. There's a bunch of shops. There's a bunch of residential areas, apartment buildings there. So to have this happen this morning, our time during a very busy time where people will be walking around certainly is alarming for a lot of the city officials and, of course, the residents there. So, yes, right now, this is still very much... much an active situation. According to sources, they are saying that the shooter is still active right now. And so that barricade situation, we don't know exactly which building and in what proximity to that gym that John referred to earlier, but it is nearby and it is enough to clearly block. There's blocks of the streets there leading up to the public transportation. So really people trying to get in and out of this area is going to be very difficult since police, law enforcement, not just with the city, but we're now talking about federal law enforcement now involved, including the ATF. They are also in that area blocking the street. So that is something to keep in mind, especially here in the nation's capital. But according to my sources, four victims transported to the hospital. Their conditions are unknown at this moment. But they are describing this as very much an active situation still at this moment. Hence why people are being asked to stay clear of this area. We're trying to confirm some images and some information that I'm receiving right now. But judging from what witnesses and neighbors there are saying that we have a bunch of personnel, including those in tactical gear around that area, not just on the ground, but on rooftops as well. So it is a developing situation that we are clearly paying close attention to. And we'll be contacting more of our sources, hopefully to get more details. And Matthew, given that this is the nation's capital, what is your understanding that they would have on standby for a situation like this? It's an active shooting. What sort of resources would be deployed to deal with a situation like this? Right. So keep in mind, because we are the nation's capital, we have the extra resources and the extra personnel to be here. So I mentioned the ATF. So it's not just D.C. police activated. And knowing that this could be near any of the national parks, knowing just where the proximity is to the embassies, even to the White House. That's why you have all of these agencies, not just local, but now federal being deployed here, whether that's to assist them in the investigation. This is what makes it particularly unique here in the nation's capital, knowing just how many law enforcement agencies are available even when you have a shooting like this. But keep in mind, knowing that there were several people shot only elevates the concern and the response. And, uh... I guess at this point, it's worth, with so little information, it's worth discussing the geography of this area. It's been described as a trendy neighborhood. We've talked about this gym that the shooter is apparently not hiding in. This happened around between eight and nine in the morning, we understand, which is obviously a very busy time. People either going to the gym or going to work. There would have been a lot of pedestrians about. Paint a picture for us about This area and what was... Who was likely to be in it? Right. So the city is a very walkable city. So if I'm looking at the map right now, it is about northwest of where the White House is. And we're talking about maybe a mile and a half or so or about three kilometers. And so this particular spot, it's next to. A bagel shop. It's next to restaurants. It's next to coffee shops. It's easily accessible to get to the metro or the public transportation, the bus stops. There are residential buildings. There are apartments. This is a trendy spot. That's one way of describing it. It's a busy spot. People. Walk to and from those area. There's a lot of offices for different organizations around this area. So the city itself is already dense and it could be very busy depending on where you go. But when you have something like this centrally located to a lot of places and businesses that people frequent, that is a type of area. And to know this happened is why to know this happened in this spot is one of the reasons why you got such a swift response so quickly. And do we have any idea how large, for example, the police perimeter would be? We understand that, for now at least, media and bystanders have been pushed back from 15th and P Street NW. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but perhaps that means more to you. Why is the creation of this perimeter significant? It's significant because now it's reaching how people get to work, how people get to school, how people do about their daily lives. And so we're used to roads being blocked for a variety of reasons here in the city. But knowing that this is still active, it's not just trying to keep the roads blocked and closed off. It's to make sure people are protected and they're not We're not in harm's way. As we learn more information, we're trying to figure out how much of an active situation this is. Is this person still actively shooting, still has a gun in their hands, if that's what police are saying. And so that's what we're trying to figure out. And that's why this is so significant when you have all of those streets blocked off. It's hard to kind of illustrate just how wide the area is that's being blocked off. But I'm... I apologize if I'm just looking down on my phone because I just want to make sure that we don't miss anything. The police department is saying the incident happened on that particular street that's mentioned. They were saying the emergency response team is on the scene. Please avoid the area as we work to resolve the incident. Updates will come soon or through this particular platform, which is on social media. And I did hear that the mayor's office is obviously notified about this. The council members have been notified about this. We are expecting a press conference. We don't know exactly how soon yet, since it appears that whoever is responsible has not been caught yet. Yeah, very little information right now. All we have is really this live picture. I will recap what little information we have. Matthew, feel free to update me if you have any more information. So police say four people have been shot in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. This is an upscale neighborhood with gyms and bakeries and coffee shops and apartments. And What we're hearing from our sources, Al Jazeera sources, is that there it is an active situation. The gunman is currently barricaded himself inside a building. We don't know what building that is, but there are comments online saying it is not the gym, a gym which is in this area. So we know that the four victims that were shot have been transported to Thank you very much. to a hospital, we understand, but conditions of those people are unknown. That shooter is still active. So, Matthew, let's talk about this location in terms of the proximity to the White House. This is, of course, the nation's capital. I believe it's Logan Circle is roughly a mile north, is it, from the White House, which would be the reason why you would see this sort of response that we're seeing on our screens? I understand the Secret Service is involved, the Homeland Security. What would you expect, given the location is relatively this close to the White House? Even though I must stress at this point, we're not in any way implying that there is any connection to the White House at this point. We just don't know. Yeah, we don't know at all. And, you know, here in this city, at least having covered this city before, there are several events and several incidents where we have seen these types of shootings, where we have victims of more than two, more than three, even more than four. And so I. I don't want to associate it back, but the type of response that we're seeing, it reminds me, for instance, last year when that was the National Guardsman shooting. That was much closer to the White House. We had a lot of response from both the medics and law enforcement. This is farther north and maybe about two kilometers north from the White House. Certainly close enough and certainly I Again, how busy this area is, it's no surprise that there were already police out there in this community just because of how busy it is. They're kind of patrolling assignments in general, and so this is now that type of response. It's not so uncommon. Especially when there are this many victims to potentially see federal enforcement or federal law enforcement involvement. Definitely, this is a D.C. police type of investigation. But when there is this active, they're still searching or trying to find the shooter. In this case, sometimes asking for those resources can be very helpful and beneficial. And sometimes those federal officers may have already been around this area and close to it, hence their involvement as well.