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Police say at least four people were shot this morning in what officials are describing as an active scene right here in the nation's capital. Sources tell CNN the suspect is now barricaded inside an apartment building. The shooting took place in Logan Circle neighborhood. Police are advising people to stay away from that area. Let's go live now to CNN's Jeff Zeleny with the very latest. Jeff, I know this is a very busy area of Washington, D.C.
I lived right there. Describe what you're seeing and hearing. Well, Pamela, as you well know, this is about a mile north of the white House. We're at 16th Street. We can see the white House just down the way here. But the scene is about a block behind me in an apartment building which sits above a gymnasium in a very residential neighborhood. The gymnasium, and we are told by witnesses that is where this apparently happened around 8:00 or so. This morning I was walking in the neighborhood myself, and I just dozens and dozens of law enforcement officials streaming, toward downtown Washington.
And clearly, the scene at the time inside of the gymnasium and the apartment building where officials are still actively surrounded. Officials do believe that the shooter has not been, apprehended or neutralized. And they are, around that apartment building. But, if you listen to the witnesses describe the scene, the panic in the moment was clear in their voice. The alarm started going off in my building. So we go out. I think it's a fire drill. Then I see everyone outside quite shaken up.
We're hearing that there was someone who was shot point blank in the, at that point that we're all talking, that I. Eventually we hear 3 or 4 more shots. I think it was on Church Street. That's where it sounded like. From there, we just started sprinting. So it, seems talking to officials in a residence and people here in the neighborhood, in the surrounding buildings, in a bagel shop, a coffee shop. Others were barricading themselves in place, a shelter in place order went out on everyone's, cell phone, and that is still in place.
We are told a traffic has started moving a bit, but again, the scene remains as active as it has there are ambulances with their doors open, potentially waiting, for victims. We do not know if there are any remaining inside, but Pamela, it does seem that the just by the activity here that the shooter is still in that apartment building, and obviously police are trying to learn more about who this may be and what may have led to this. Really a chaotic and horrific scene here in Washington. And I talked with someone who was in the gym, and they are okay.
They said most others in the gym were okay, but clearly at least four people, were shot, this morning, according to the MPD. Yeah. And, Jeff, I used to go to that gym. I know in the mornings it would be packed. People would go work out there, before going to work. And we're also hearing from witnesses, including one man who was on the treadmill when the shooting broke out. Let's hear what he had to say. So I was at the treadmill at the video in five minutes, and I hear a loud bang, and I'm thinking, like a bouncy ball popped or a painting fell on the floor. And then I see I go towards like the commotion area, which is like,
right as soon as you go down the stairs, that's like where the incident happened to do was on the floor and someone says, like, who's closer to the body? Like, oh, he's dead. I'm like, what were you talking about? So then like, I'm clicking door. It's like a loud bang. I'm thinking gunshot. And then I see blood on the floor. So I'm like clicking the dots. So then, like two minutes later, like there's a fire alarm. People start evacuating. I assume the shooter just ran out? I assume so, and then, we're all outside the front entrance of the villa, and then police officers are running inside, and then, another police officers are trying
to get the description of this. The guy who killed the guy. And then, while he's describing him, the one of the people who was inside the villa, we hear five gunshots or so, and then we all just start running, and people are scattering everywhere. Did you hear the description? I did not hear the description. I was like, still in shock. I was really not paying attention. And this is the villa on 14th Street, like near to Whole Foods and. Yeah. And how are you feeling now? Like, what happened after. Did you run and because it's been a couple hours since then.
Yeah, I mean I ran and I just wanted to take shelter. So I went to a coffee shop and, and I didn't move till like, I, I think he's barricaded right now, but who knows. It's not confirmed yet. Fully. I mean, you see, did you see the I, I don't know, I saw people run upstairs. I don't know if that was like someone who saw like the incident happen and he like, you know, start running or you see someone the gun or if that was the like shooter. But like my mind was really focused because like, I didn't think it was a gun when I first like if I was like, I mean, I'm going to be like laser locked, like, who was this guy? But I wasn't really focused on the body
that was on the ground. Was it a younger person or like a middle aged dude? Yeah. And he was standing like, you people. I saw somewhere online that he was like sitting down on the couch or something, like he was like, standing. And he wasn't like near, like the couch area. So I don't know. I don't know, that's all. How are you feeling now? It's like surreal. Honestly, I'm a part of this. Like this happened, you know, I'm sure my family, like, is like in shock that, like, I sent the text like, oh, like, this happened at my gym, and this is where I'm at.
I'm safe. Like, when they first saw it, I'm sure they were surprised. So I want to bring in CNN senior law enforcement analyst, Charles Ramsey. He's also the former Washington, DC police chief. It's still early, Chief Ramsey, but what stands out to you right now from the initial information? And we're only getting limited information. What stands out to you? What stands out is basically whether or not this is a barricade situation or not. Right now, there's so much confusion going on. When I look at the scene and I see the various officers standing around, it looks as
if you've got an enormous response, but not necessarily one where everybody's been given a specific assignment. There's the MPD needs to have a press conference as soon as possible. Some information is better than no information. Rumors are going to take over. If they aren't very careful, we need to know exactly what the situation is right now. They're not going to have a lot of information that they're willing to share, but they'll have enough to be able to dispel some of the rumors.
You know, did it occur inside? Did it occur outside? Do you have any, fatalities? How many people shot? I mean, there's certain information that they can provide and hopefully that happens soon. And they can certainly provide guidance to individuals who are in that area right now and to tell them to stay indoors, go someplace else. Just be very, very careful whatever they're doing. As you know, there's a shelter in place order, chief Ramsey, in effect, in this whole, Logan Circle area of northwest Washington. What does that tell you? Well, that the gunman is still in the area. At least they believe they still in the area.
Now, if it's true that he's barricaded in that same building or another building that is residential, that is a huge issue, a huge problem. How do you locate that individual to know exactly where they are in that building? He forced his way into someone's apartment. I mean, there are a lot of different possibilities, and it would be very difficult to pinpoint the individual. So right now, they're doing the best they can to try to identify this individual.
They're looking at video, they're interviewing witnesses. They're doing all those kinds of things, but they're also trying to pinpoint exactly where this person is and try to establish some lines of communication with a negotiator, someone who can actually talk to this individual and hopefully get them to surrender. This area, of course, is not too far from the white House. How does that play into the additional security measures we might see after an incident like this? I don't really think it plays that much into it right now, but when you look at the response in DC and you all know because you're there in DC
and you lived in DC, there are so many different police departments in the city. And if you get something like a call for an active shooter, you're going to get a lot of response. MPD, Metro Transit, Uniformed Secret Service, ATF, I mean, they're all going to go to the scene. Now it's within a mile of the white House, but there's nothing that indicates there was any threat whatsoever. To the white House. Obviously, they're on alert, but there's nothing that would indicate that's a problem. I mean, you're in DC. It's hard to not be somewhere close to the white House.
Quite frankly. So, you know, that's something to consider, but I wouldn't spend a lot of time thinking about that in particular. Right now. The issue is where is the shooter? And if there's a barricade, can we identify them? Can we locate where they are? Can we get negotiators to speak with this individual? Is the person even still alive? It's not uncommon when somebody does something like that, they wind up taking their own life.
I mean, we just don't know the answer to any of that right now. You know, we're getting a lot of additional reporting just coming in. We're waiting for a news conference. We hope that will happen soon. Get some more official response. But there is a very, very heavy law enforcement presence around this gym. Near Logan Circle, U.S Park Service police, DC, Metropolitan Police, FBI, ATF, and U.S. Marshals Service. They're all assisting right now.
They brought in everyone, for all practical purposes, to investigate and to try to find this individual. He's described the suspect as a white man with a heavy build and is now barricaded in a building near Logan Circle. Well, you know, one thing I think it's important to remember to MPD would be the lead, agency in something like this. I mean, it's a shooting that occurred inside of the district. There's no, connection to anything in terms of federal, property or anything like that. So MPD would be the agency in charge, but all these other agencies respond, and they all assist and they play different roles.
ATF, for an example, will be there. If there's any ballistic evidence that can be recovered. FBI is always there to help process a scene. I mean, so you have a lot of different agencies that'll be there, but right now they're there to try to contain the area. More than anything, I saw some National Guard people, they come in handy for traffic control and other types of things. So you're going to have a variety of agencies there. But MPD is the agency in charge. That's where the information ought to be coming from.
And U.S. marshals are involved right now in this investigation. What does that say to you, Chief Ramsey? Because I know a lot of members of Congress presumably live not too far away from this Logan Circle area. That could be, a particular issue again, you know, I don't know, I think the marshals would respond to something like this just to make sure that there's no threat to anyone else that might be a member of Congress or anything else. But again, until we hear from MPD, we don't know if there's anything involved other than a shooting that occurred in or around, the gym, at that particular, site. And that's all we have right now. And I wouldn't speculate on anything else, at this point in time.
