As it happened: CNN and other TV networks

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Valerie, we are going to listen in to one of our affiliates in Denver, Colorado, KUSA where there is a report of a school shooting -- a high school student on the telephone, talking to their anchors there.

JONATHAN LADD, COLUMBINE STUDENT: ... coming from the back side of the school where the student parking lot is at.

KYLE DYER, KUSA ANCHOR: Are you with other students now?

LADD: No I am at my house alone.

DYER: Okay did you hear of any other students being hurt?

LADD: I didn't, but as I was around the corner a whole bunch of students were coming out of the auditorium and just as I was coming down to where the gunman was shooting -- or gunmen -- there were people there, standing there or getting out of the way, I'd imagine some of them probably had to get hit.

GARY SHAPIRO, KUSA ANCHOR: We have heard unconfirmed reports that there were two men, two people with guns involved in this thing; is that what you think?

LADD: That or it had to be some sort of semiautomatic weapon, just because it was one shot after another, simultaneously.

SHAPIRO: OK, Jonathan, we're going to put you on hold for just a minute if you would stick with us, because we're going to talk to a sheriff's investigator OK?

LADD: Sure.

SHAPIRO: OK, Steve Davis with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department joins us now. Steve, are you on the line?

STEVE DAVIS, JEFFERSON COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Yes I am.

SHAPIRO: OK, what can you tell us?

DAVIS: Everything is kind of sketchy right now. I know we have had reports of shots fired and explosions there, also some units are reporting a fire at this time. However I don't have any confirmed reports about victims or if there are any or how many. It sounds very possible that there is more than one suspect involved at this time.

DYER: And this is still going on right now?

DAVIS: That's correct. We have our SWAT team being mobilized, several of our K-9 units, quite a few patrol units heading that way, also investigators and detectives are en route.

SHAPIRO: Now Steve, we understand it started in the school. Is it your knowledge that it spilled out of the school now into the parking lot?

DAVIS: I don't know that to be a fact. Like I said, I am responding to the scene right now; I am just a couple minutes out, so hopefully we will have some additional information shortly.

SHAPIRO: OK. What about possible injuries? I know you don't know how many, but have they ordered up ambulances and that sort of thing?.

DAVIS: Certainly, we have ambulances responding, just as standard operating procedure but I haven't confirmed any types of injuries at this point.

DYER: OK, we are going to check back in with you a little bit later, then, all right, Steve?.

DAVIS: Thank you.

SHAPIRO: Steve Davis with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department. Can we get Jonathan back on the line?

DYER: Hi, Jonathan.

LADD: Hi.

SHAPIRO: OK, Jonathan, you're at home now, how far away from the school are you?

LADD: I live about a mile-and-a-half to two miles away.

SHAPIRO: So you can't really see what's going on. What were the students saying and doing as you were fleeing the school?

LADD: A lot of them couldn't believe what was going on. My -- myself -- I couldn't, you know -- most of you just think it will never happen to you, at your school, and unfortunately it has.

DYER: Yes. Jonathan we are hearing reports that there was some kind of bomb scare at the school earlier this morning; do you know anything about that?

LADD: I don't know anything about that.

DYER: It was just a regular class day at school?

LADD: It was, it was, until about 40 minutes ago. SHAPIRO: Okay one of the really disturbing things with this, obviously, is that there may be a grenade or grenades involved. You said you heard an explosion; could you tell if it was inside the building?

LADD: I really couldn't tell. After I heard it I kind of looked back over my shoulder to see if I saw anything; I didn't see anything, so -- I don't know if there was just some loud explosion or if it was, you know, some type of weapon going off, I don't know.

DYER: Now you said you had left your class?

LADD: I did; I had left my class and just started running for the park next to the school.

DYER: So they may still be in the building.

LADD: They could. I am not aware if they are.

DYER: How big is your school?

LADD: I really couldn't say. There are two levels to it: the downstairs has the business department and the commons area. And the upstairs has the remainder of the school. Where they were shooting was upstairs down towards -- from the back of the school down towards the main office.

SHAPIRO: Could you see or tell if the students were pretty panicked or were they getting out of the building OK?

LADD: Most of them were pretty panicked; I would say a good majority of them got out okay. As I was driving by to go home from the school I noticed a huge crowd of students across the field across from the school, students out by their cars over at Clement Park -- people running away, you know, trying to go home or whatever.

SHAPIRO: OK, well, Jonathan, thank you very much. We might try to talk to you a little bit later, but we appreciate you joining us.

LADD: All right, thank you.

DYER: Right now we will take a break and then come back with more on this apparent shooting at Columbine High School.

SAVIDGE: You have been watching KUSA, which is a CNN affiliate in Denver, Colorado. They have been reporting on apparently a school shooting. We will join now KCNC for their coverage of the same shooting at a high school in Jefferson County, Colorado.

KEVIN HARPER: I heard there were injuries on the scene I have no confirmation of that, but they are locking the place down really good now.

KUSA ANCHOR: Kevin, we don't have confirmed reports of this. We have heard some people talking about possible gunmen in the area, perhaps as many as two shooters inside one of the buildings. Getting in the general feeling there with so many jurisdictions on the scene that we have a gunman on the loose?

HARPER: You know, I just saw -- a police going back down Wadsworth, looking like they were going into a neighborhood on the back side. Columbine High School sets adjacent to Clement Park, which has a big lake and then a few strip malls around it, and then a neighborhood on the back side of a lake there, so it looked like there were officers going down around to that neighborhood. Why they were going down the back there maybe to -- you know, see that the neighborhoods in there are safe and that, but no idea at all. What I can see is the emergency vehicles have kind of locked the area down.

KUSA ANCHOR: Kevin, right now of course everybody is wondering, you know, what is going on with the students who would be at the high school. Do you have any idea if there has been any attempt to get them out of that building or is everyone secured inside the building from your vantage point?

HARPER: You know, I can't see the high school from where I am, but there's a ways to get them out if they need to. I -- they can move them over to Clement Park; there's a big parking lot there. Then there's the pavilion and baseball field, so there's a place where the students can easily be evacuated if they're doing that, in an orderly manner. So they can account for all the students.

KUSA ANCHOR: Kevin, we've heard about possible injuries, though nothing has been confirmed. Of course, we're in touch with hospitals, have yet to hear anything. Are you seeing a lot of ambulances in the area?

HARPER: Yes, I did see ambulances go down. I had heard that there were as many as, like I said, three people that were injured in the parking lot itself, not inside the school, but I heard that they were in the parking lot.

KUSA ANCHOR: All right, Kevin, if you'll just hang on for just a moment. We have Steve Davis now with us. He's with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department.

Steve, what's the official word on this? Do we have injuries at Columbine High?

STEVE DAVIS: It's my understanding that we do. How many and how severe I don't know. We are having several ambulances respond to the area right now.

KUSA ANCHOR: Steve, what happened there?

DAVIS: Right now, all I've got is the information that there have been several shots fired, some explosions heard and also some fire in the school.

KUSA ANCHOR: Where exactly at the school?

DAVIS: I know that one of the areas is the cafeteria area. Other than that, I'm not real sure at this time.

KUSA ANCHOR: And Steve, what about the students at the school? Are they safe at this time?

DAVIS: That's unknown to me. We have several of our units responding, SWAT teams, several K9 units and patrol units. Also, investigators are responding to the scene, so hopefully we'll have some more information soon.

KUSA ANCHOR: Will there be any plan now to evacuate those students, do you know?

DAVIS: I'm sorry?

KUSA ANCHOR: Do you have any plan at this time to try to either hold the students at the school or evacuate them?

DAVIS: That would probably be some of the tactical stuff that the SWAT team's going to be involved in, and how they're going to handle that I'm not aware of at this time.

KUSA ANCHOR: Steve, is this part of Denver or is this part of Littleton basically locked down right now?

DAVIS: I'm sorry. I'm having a hard time hearing you.

KUSA ANCHOR: Steve, are you in a lockdown mode in that area? Not only has the high school been blocked off, but the neighborhood. We're getting, you know, the inclination here that perhaps the gunman is either in the neighborhood or in the school building and you're just not sure.

DAVIS: We at this time think that there might be more than one gunman and -- or suspect, so right now it's unknown whether if one of them is out in the neighborhood or if they're still all at the school, but certainly the area is being cordoned off by our officers so that no one goes in.

KUSA ANCHOR: We understand all of this is breaking right now. Can you walk us through exactly what happened, as you know it, at Columbine High School, starting about 30 minutes ago.

DAVIS: We did receive a report of shots being fired in the school and our deputies were responding and could hear shots, also explosions, and our deputies also could see fire in the school. Like I said, right now it's...

SAVIDGE: We're going to interrupt now KCNC and go to back to KUSA in Denver, where they have another student witness.

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BRADEN PESUSICH, COLUMBINE STUDENT: Eventually we all ran outside. And as I was running outside, I heard like rapid fire as like Black Cats were going off, but it sounded like it was inside the school. And while I was, like, before I dropped to the ground, I saw a guy who was dressed in a black trench coat, he also had a black cap, and he had a shotgun, and he shot at the ground. I hope it wasn't at a student, but it was pretty scary. DYER: It's terrifying.

SHAPIRO: What was the last thing you saw before you left the school? We understand this still may be going on. How long ago did you leave and what was going on then?

PESUSICH: I must have left like 10 or 15 minutes ago or more. Everyone was on the ground, kind of like running up stairways toward the front door. I stayed on the lower level and ran out the foreign language hall, and I just ran across tears (ph) and I ran home.

DYER: Braden, did you recognize this guy in the black trench coat? Is he a student?

PESUSICH: Yes, there's several students that always, like, dress with the black trench coat. There are, like, a gang or something, but -- so this wasn't really startling to me to find out that they, like, snapped.

SHAPIRO: How many were involved, do you think?

PESUSICH: I saw one, but there was lots of fire and stuff, and before I ran out of the school, I saw him throwing like a pipe bomb into the student parking lot.

SHAPIRO: We had heard that there was a bomb scare earlier this morning at the school. Do you know anything about that?

PESUSICH: No, I never heard anything about a bomb threat.

SAVIDGE: Now we'll switch back to KCNC for more on the information regarding a shooting -- possible shooting at a high school.

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JANINE: ... and we don't know the other one's name, but they had black trench coats on.

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: You saw two students with black trench coats on holding guns?

JANINE: Yes. They were shooting people and throwing grenades and stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Were they saying anything? Yelling anything?

JANINE: No, we didn't hear anything. We just walked past them like we usually walk past everybody at school, and then they started shooting people and throwing grenades, and me and my friends just got into my car and drove off.

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Janine, did you see anyone shot? Were they shooting at people, or...

JANINE: Yes, we saw like three people get shot.

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Janine, did it look like they were shooting at specific people, could you...

JANINE: They were just shooting. They were -- they didn't care who they shot at; they were just shooting and then they threw a grenade or they threw something that blew up.

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Janine, where are you right now?

JANINE: I'm on my way home.

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Well, why don't we let you go home and get home and get, you know, a hold of yourself, here, and...

JANINE: How did you get my phone number?

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Janine, it's my understand that you called one of our staff members at "News 4" and we were just told by our producer that you were ready to talk with us, but you sound really upset; I can certainly understand why. We're going to let you go, Janine, OK?

JANINE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Thank you, Janine, very much.

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Thank you very much for talking.

JANINE: Bye.

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Stay with your friends at this point in time.

JANINE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Sarah Vadore (ph), "News 4's" Sarah Vadore is either on her way to the scene or in fact has arrived at the scene, and we have her right now that we can speak with as well...

SAVIDGE: Move along back to KUSA, where they are in conversation with people at a local hospital regarding the shooting that's taken place, apparently, in Denver.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED: Yes, I did check with an urgent care center, the Swedish Health Park, Southwest Center, down by the plaza, and they have not seen any injuries yet and would recommend that anyone needing emergency care come to a hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED: And again, you said that Littleton is having trouble getting in there?

UNIDENTIFIED: That was the understanding from our emergency staff, yes. ERIKA WILNER, KUSA REPORTER: So they don't know what the situation will be later on, but right now they are expecting one victim with an ankle wound, and we will certainly let you know what happens as -- if we get more information here.

Gary and Kyle?

SHAPIRO: OK.

DYER: Thanks a lot, Erika.

SHAPIRO: Thank you, Erika.

DYER: We're hearing now that there are even more explosions at the school.

SHAPIRO: Yes, people around the school are hearing more explosions right now, and Associated Press is reporting that the Sheriff's Department has confirmed multiple injuries.

Let's check in with Greg Moss, who's at the scene now.

Greg, what can you see?

GREG MOSS, KUSA REPORTER: Well actually, Gary, if you can look behind me here, there -- this is the main staging area for the police departments that have responded from all over the metropolitan area. We have Jeff Co. police, Littleton police. We have all the fire departments moving in now, Denver paramedics, Littleton paramedics in Arapahoe County. The SWAT team is actually flooring behind here. They just put on their full body armor, and it appears they're getting ready to move in as well.

We have talked to numerous students, and this is a gathering place for some of the parents of the students inside the building. They're obviously very concerned. We talked to some students who were inside the cafeteria when they heard shots fired.

Apparently, this all began between 11:30, 11:45 a.m. this morning. Not really sure the circumstances. They do believe that at least two people are inside with multiple automatic weapons and perhaps some pipe bombs, we've heard, unconfirmed, again, from police.

This is a student, here, at -- who was inside the building.

Let me get your name first.

CHRISTINE CARDWELL (ph), COLUMBINE STUDENT: Christine Cardwell.

MOSS: Christine, what are you seeing?

CARDWELL: Just like a kid go down and it was just really hectic. Everyone was running through the halls, and that's pretty much it.

MOSS: Do you have any idea what was going on or what happened? CARDWELL: Just a couple of guys they had -- I guess they -- I heard they had shotguns and grenades and now there's a bomb threat. I don't know, but.

MOSS: What was going through your mind when you heard all this happening?

CARDWELL: We thought it was a fight, me and my friends, so.

MOSS: There's a lot of emotion going on right here, a lot of classmates extremely worried about their friends. What's going through your mind right now?

CARDWELL: I don't know, really. I just -- I want to know where some of my friends are, because they won't let us go over there, and I can't find much of my friends, so.

MOSS: OK, well thank you for talking to us. Obviously this is a very difficult time.

We have police helicopters also circling overhead, and actually, Gary and Kyle, the police are going to be moving us back here in just a minute. We'll try to stay on the air as long as possible.

DYER: Hey, Greg...

MOSS: Hi, yes.

DYER: I'm sorry. I'm curious, are all the students out of school or are there some students trapped?

MOSS: We do not believe they are all out of the school. I just heard one police officer saying we have some folks inside the cafeteria. Apparently those students have actually barricaded themselves inside the cafeteria and are trying to lock the doors so no one can get back in. They've also had some reports of people hanging out on top of the rooftop of the school. Again, the police are not confirming a lot right at this point. This is all coming from students and eyewitness accounts.

We hope to have more information as the public information officer arrives, but as you can imagine, this is extremely chaotic now. We have probably five or six jurisdictions of police officers responding, and we have lots of paramedics and fire rescue on the team -- on the scene.

We have -- we have seen transported a few -- a few students that apparently were injured. We're not sure what those injuries were like. And we're going to have to move back. We'll move back now, officer. And we'll check back with you as soon as we can.

DYER: All right, thanks, Greg.

SHAPIRO: We'll talk to you in just a few minutes, Greg.

OK, on the phone right now we do have a parent of a student that goes to Columbine High School, and it's Kim Sander (ph).

Kim, you there?

KIM SANDER, PARENT OF COLUMBINE STUDENT: Hi.

SHAPIRO: Hi. What have you heard?

SANDER: My daughter call me over -- it's been a good half an hour ago. She called hysterical. First thing I though, oh God, she wrecked her car at lunch, but of course it was much worse than that.

She said that she and her friend were going out to her car to retrieve something and they heard some pops, and she said she didn't think anything about it at first, but it got louder, and she looked up, she saw a gunman in a black trench coat with a very huge gun in front of him. She wasn't sure, you know, what kind of gun or anything. She said he had dark brown hair; thick, bushy eye brows; was very ugly, she said, but he was a white male. She said that she looked back, she saw a girl fall and all these kids were running back into the school because the gunman was out of the school, he was on top of a ledge thing, where their smoking area is and was shooting down at these students and some girls came back and tried to pick this other girl up, she could not get up and the girls did not move.

She and a friend then got in her car and went to the friends house where they can see everything that's happening at the school right now and the parents of the girl she's with can't even get into the home.

So, those girls are safe, she said that it just happened very quickly, there was a lot of shots and there were some kids that did get shot.

DYER: Hey, Kim, did your daughter say if the gunman that she saw was a student at the school?

SANDER: She did not recognize him as a student, not as a student. I did say to visualize his mind, it stays in your mind and stick it there, so, you know, she can remember, and she gave, you know, she it hadn't been long enough she gave me a description that she saw perfectly at that point and that was before any news broadcasting was on because I turned the television on right away and that was probably 20 minutes before the TV came on with anything.

SHAPIRO: Yeah, well, the gunman in trench coat, several witnesses saw that person, so apparently that is what was happening.

SHAPIRO: Where's your daughter now, is she okay?

SANDER: She's okay, she's at a friend's house, she's about a block-and-a-half away from school. Or a block, their back yard pretty much faces into the school so they can see, you know, all the chaoticness.

DYER: Have you heard from any other parents of students? SANDER: No I haven't. the other point is we do have a student that lives here with us, that goes there with my daughter to school, because her mother moved back to a different state to put a (ph) to the school, so I don't have any idea where this other girl is at.

SHAPIRO: Kim, I don't know if you can describe this or not, but this is every parent's just worst nightmare, how are you doing and what are you going through?.

SANDER: I was fine for a while, I think it's all just soaking in now.

DYER: You're so fortunate, I mean your daughter was so close to the gunman.

SANDER: She was in the cafeteria, where the kids have now barricaded themselves in, she, like, left all of her stuff in her car.

SHAPIRO: Kim, thank you very much.

SANDER: You're welcome.

SHAPIRO: We appreciate it.

DYER: Thanks for calling, Kim.

SHAPIRO: That picture we were just looking at, just a moment ago was from the staging area, which is outside of Columbine High School, looks like they were bringing in a front end loader of some sort.

MOSS: Yes, actually Gary, they're bringing in some heavy equipment now to assist the SWAT team members as they attempt to go through some of the football fields here and make their way closer a little bit closer to the school.

Again, we're not getting a whole lot of information from the police department, this is a very chaotic scene, and this is the staging area, about five or six different districts have responded, the SWAT from all of those districts as well.

The SWAT teams have geared up, they've called in some of this heavy construction equipment and apparently that is moving towards the school. We're about a block-and-a-half from the school and the police continue to move us back a little bit every five or 10 minutes or so, so if we have to shut down we'll let you know that, but we're talking to a lot of students who were inside and heard what took place.

And, again, this took place, it started about 11:45 this morning, and apparently two suspects, all dressed in black, with semiautomatic weapons, were in the school and began to fire, they are believed to still be inside at this time, and here at the staging area you can also see lots of emergency equipment coming in.

We're going to talk to one of the students who was inside the school right now. Give me your name, sir.

ZACK DORN (PH): Zack Dorn.

MOSS: What did you see or hear, I guess?

DORN: I heard, OK, I was sitting in math class, and all of a sudden we look out and there's people that are sprinting down the math hall and we open the door, we hear a shot, a loud bang, and, then we hear some guy go "holy crap there's a guy with a gun." So everybody starts freaking out, one of my friends goes up to the door and says there's a guy standing there. We evacuate to the corner of our classroom and my teacher just doesn't know what to do because she's so freaked.

MOSS: Most of the students, do you know if they got out?

DORN: Most of my friends did, I don't know about most of the others. But, it looked like all the school was there expect a few, and then we just evacuated to the park and that's all I can tell you right now.

MOSS: What was going through your mind when you heard all this?

DORN: Adrenaline. I just want to find the guy, see if he's who me and my friends think he is and we hope he hasn't gotten to anybody else, we don't want our friends hurt over this incident.

MOSS: Thanks very much for talking to us.

So Gary and Kyle, that's what's happening right now at the staging area. Once again, from what we understand from both witnesses and some of the police officers we have talked to, there may be as many as two suspects inside, armed with automatic weapons, wearing black.

We have Denver, JEFCO, Arapahoe, Littleton police departments and swat teams on site right now. We also have numerous fire districts on scene as well ambulance and paramedics standing by here at the staging area.

Parents, concerned, are still gathered around although some of them are being gathered up by the police department and moved to a different location and we'll keep you informed as we get more information but right now it's very sketchy.

SHAPIRO: Yes, Greg, we are being told by the sheriffs department and by Littleton that they do not want parents going to the high school right now because the scene is so chaotic. However, that's a problem. And as soon as we get the information we'll relay it to the parents out there.

DYER: OK. Thanks, Greg, we'll talk with you in just a bit.

We have Bob Sabin (ph) on the telephone line with us right now. He too is a student who was inside the school.

Bob, what happened? BOB SABIN, COLUMBINE STUDENT: I was hiding around the back of the school after I heard the shots. I evacuated out of the back of the school and, you'll have to pardon me I'm out of breath. I saw the men, I was hiding around the bushes and that's when your lady on the phone, I called you as first fast as I could, and that's when on the phone the lady told me to get out of danger because I was in danger, because I saw the men with the weapons inside the school.

SHAPIRO: Now there were two of them.

SABIN: They were stalking around, I assume looking for people to kill.

DYER: Did you recognize them?

SABIN: No they had masks on, they were wearing black masks and I was very scared..

SHAPIRO: Trench coats and black masks, is that right?

SABIN: Yes, solid black, they were all in black with it looked like some machine guns.

DYER: SO what happened, you were hiding behind the school...

SABIN: I hid behind the school in the bushes, and I saw them and I ran from there when they started walking down the hallway, I ran, and I ran up to the bushes and I stayed, I'm about 400 yards away now from the back of the school, hiding in some bushes, I kind of kicked up some dirt so nobody can see me back here.

SHAPIRO: Bob, is it outside the school right now or are they still inside, can you tell?

SABIN: They're inside the building, I haven't seen them come out the back doors, I'm praying to the lord that they don't come out the back doors.

DYER: Well, you're hiding so you'll be OK.

SHAPIRO: We heard from other witnesses that there were some explosions a few minutes ago, have you heard that?

SABIN: I know there was, there were two, they came from inside the left of the building, I assume that they're looking for something. I don't know, maybe more students hiding inside.

DYER: Bob, you see all the police are there now and the SWAT so they're going to be taking care of this.

SABIN: I know, I'm going to be, rushing back here about 200 more yards and to the left and hopefully I will be a full range of my own safety. Now, I know that I could get over to the SWAT team hopefully as soon as possible and somehow connect up with them.

SHAPIRO: Yes, I think you should head on out of there, although they are in the building right now, the gunmen, we understand.

SABIN: They are but I have a feeling that at any moment they could come rushing out the back door and like I've said I'm in eye shot of the back door, about 250 yards up the hill.

SHAPIRO: OK, well make your way over to the SWAT team.

SABIN: I will.

SHAPIRO: And if you get to a safe place call us back.

DYER: Take care, Bob.

We have some videotape, just coming in now, of, apparently, one of the injured students.

Here you can see them being taken to the ambulance.

SHAPIRO: And we talked to a sheriffs spokesperson about 15 minutes ago, he said that all available ambulances and rescue crews are responding, however he didn't know how many injuries there were, he said that's just natural in something like this, that they'd bring in a lot of people.

We talked to Greg Moss a few minutes ago, he's where the SWAT team is. I understand Ginger Delgado (ph) is on the other side of the school, Nine News reporter, she's on the phone right now, what do you see?

DELGADO: Well, I'll tell you, we're at the corner of Kaylee (ph) and Uconn and there are at least 8 eight kids who are shot and this is a very disturbing scene here, it's very chaotic, many of them are very seriously injured. Police tell us there are even more victims still trapped inside the school. They're evacuating the area right now and trying to get more kids out of the school right now.

They're telling us that there were two suspects in the school at the time with shotguns and semiautomatic rifles. One girl told us that she was eating lunch in the lunch room when all of a sudden a guy started shooting into the lunch room and then went inside the library and started shooting kids in there. So at this point there a lot of ambulances here. They are treating these kids.

Again, eight kids here shot, none of them deceased but very very seriously injured. We'll have an update as soon as we get more information -- back to you.

DYER: Ginger, have any of the ambulances left for the hospital yet?

DELGADO: The ambulances are here right now; one of them just took off. There are five ambulances right here at this corner. They're putting all these kids on the gurneys right now as we speak, and transporting them to the hospital, but several of them are also being treated by paramedics at the scene. SHAPIRO: OK, Ginger Del Gado, thank you very much. Ginger on the back side of the school, reporting that there's a triage area set up with about eight kids who were apparently shot. They are moving them toward ambulances right now. She also says that police say there are more victims inside the school.

Let's go back to Greg Moss at the command post.

MOSS: Gary, Kyle, thank you. We're just getting some more information here, and actually we're seeing some of this take place right now. We're at the staging area where a lot of the SWAT teams initially have formed. We understand that some of them on the other side of the school have actually started to move in en mass with guns drawn, and of course they're in their full body armor.

The fire departments on scene here are urging parents not to come to the school; we have obviously a lot of concerned parents that are converging on this area as they start to hear about it over the news. That is impeding their efforts, and they're urging parents to please, not come to the school at this time. If they could at least stay back until we get some more information where their staging area is.

But the SWAT teams have began to converge on the school; we saw some heavy construction equipment a little earlier. Apparently that was part of the operation. We're preparing to try to grab the public information officer from Jefferson County who's just getting briefed now to hopefully get some more information from that, but as you've been hearing from eyewitness accounts, and we are also hearing, there are a couple of suspects still inside the building at this time, and apparently when this all began, they donned black ski masks, trench coats.

And we also have Air Life, which is now coming down here too; Gary and Kyle, that the helicopter you hear in the background. But anyhow when this whole thing started, apparently the trench coats and the ski masks were donned; they do have automatic weapons and possibly some pipe bombs as well. That's maybe where we're hearing reports of explosions. We have also heard reports of a couple of explosions.

Again you're seeing a picture of Air Life landing on the football field here, just a little bit east of Columbine High School. Once again, though, parents I know that are watching this, and there are many of them gathering around right now, are being urged to stay away from this area and of course, the police are cordoning it off and not letting anyone in right now, but they're being urged to please stay away at this time and we'll keep you as updated as possible.

SHAPIRO: Okay Greg, we got -- we have a phone number now that we are putting on the screen for parents...

DYER: Parents only.

SHAPIRO: ... parents only, who need information. It's 303-982- 6836, the Sheriff's Department says parents only can call this number to get an update on the shooting at Columbine High School. 303-982- 6836 and they'll get them the best information that they have. MOSS: That's very good advice, and I would also say that a lot of the students who were returning from lunch at this time, if they're watching or listening at all, they're urged to please stay away from the area, too. A lot of people converging on the scene and it is hampering efforts a little bit. We do understand that there are some students perhaps still trapped inside who are injured; again, those are unconfirmed reports from the police department. They are coming from eyewitnesses here. Air Life just landed a few moments ago. We have four SWAT team districts on scene right now, and we believe that they've began to perhaps cordon off the area a little closer than they have before and we have some heavy construction equipment move in as well.

DYER: OK, thanks a lot, Greg, we'll check in with you in just a bit, OK? We want to talk now with Jonathan Ladd. He is on the telephone. He is a student of the school. He is home now; he ran home when all this started. Jonathan how are you doing?

LADD: Pretty good.

DYER: OK, tell us again for our viewers that are just joining what you saw and heard.

LADD: OK, as I was leaving the technology lab at our school to go to the restroom, I walked out and noticed a -- I'd say a fairly good sized crowd of students running down the hall. It kind of concerned me, because of the way they looked, and running. I kind of walked around the corner towards the bathroom and just as I rounded the corner, I heard gun shots going off, bullets ricocheting off lockers, and there was a mass crowd of people coming out of the auditorium. And the way that the gunmen were shooting, those students had to be -- they had to get hit. I followed one of our administrators out of the building, out towards Clement Park; ran out there, hooked up with some guys from school. Got a ride home, but it's chaotic. As I was running I heard an explosion. I wasn't sure what it was. I didn't see anything, but...

SHAPIRO: Do you have any idea who this was? I know they had masks on, but do you have any idea?

LADD: I don't know; I wasn't going to stick around long enough to see.

DYER: We're hearing that there are some kids at school wear black trench coats to school everyday. They are kind of like a club or a bunch of friends.

LADD: There is. I'd say that there is eight of them, ten of them that just -- they hang around and they all wear black trench coats. To me they seem like the type that would do this.

SHAPIRO: OK, thank you very much, Jonathan, we appreciate it. Jonathan Ladd, who is a student who is very lucky to have gotten out of there. Let's check in with Ginger Del Gado again, who's on the backside of the school.

DYER: Hi, Ginger.

DEL GADO: Hi, Kyle. We are on the corner of Yukon and Kaylee (ph) where eight kids have been very seriously injured in the shooting. I'm going to put you on the phone now with Cathy Park. She's a freshman at Columbine. She's going to explain to you exactly what happened. She was in the library at the time the gunman came in and started shooting. Here is Cathy Park.

DYER: Hi, Cathy.

SHAPIRO: Hi, Cathy. Can you tell us what you saw?

CATHY PARK, COLUMBINE STUDENT: Well, I was in the library. And there were noises downstairs and we didn't know what was going on. There was like, banging sounds, and we thought there was just construction of something. And then this girl came up screaming, and she was, like, someone's got a gun, and then she's like, get under the table. So everyone got under the table, and then these two guys came up and they were shooting randomly and there was bombing, I guess, downstairs, and people were screaming.

SHAPIRO: Could you tell how many explosions there were?

PARK: Huh?

SHAPIRO: Could you tell how many explosions there were?

PARK: Uh-uh.

DYER: Did you see the gunman come into the library?

PARK: Excuse me?

DYER: Did you see the gunman? Did they come in...

PARK: I didn't really look. I didn't want to.

DYER: How did you get out?

PARK: Um, well, after about -- I don't know how long it was but, um, when everything we thought was okay, we just all ran out of the library exit.

DYER: Uh-huh.

SHAPIRO: Okay. Are your friends safe, the people you are with now?

PARK: Are they what?

SHAPIRO: Are they safe, the people who were with? Or should some of them still in there.

PARK: Is this on?

SHAPIRO: Yes. Are some of them still in there? PARK: I think so -- lots. My sister was shot.

DYER: Your sister was. Is she going to the hospital. Is she outside with you right now or is she still in the school?

PARK: Hah, oh, she's out -- went with the paramedics.

DYER: That's good, okay. Okay.

SHAPIRO: Okay. Well, Cathy thank you very much. We're glad you are safe.

DYER: We wish the best for your sister too.

SHAPIRO: OK. The picture you're looking at right now is from the command post at Columbine High School which is about a block and a half away. You can see a lot of police activity out there. Apparently this is still going on, the gunman are still inside the school. We do believe that there might be still students inside the school too, although the police aren't confirming that. We have had reports of an explosion, it's been 20 minutes now since the last report of an explosion. So, apparently the SWAT teams are gathering and trying to figure out what to do next.

DYER: Right, if you're a parent and at home, watching this right now, we understand how frightened you must be. Don't go to the school. As you can see in this video, it's a chaotic situation as it is. This is the phone number you can call. 303-982-6836. At the school right now is Greg Moss. Greg what is the latest from your end?

MOSS: Well, actually, the chaos at least here has died down just slightly now. This is the staging area for the SWAT teams and for the tactical teams that are going in. We hesitate to get you a whole lot more information right now. We have been asked to be a little less specific from this location, but there are SWAT teams from about four or five districts on scene right now. We have at least 70 to 75 different police cars here. We have Flight for Life that's landed and is still on the football field here, that is obviously to take the most critically injured. Some of which may still be inside the school. We have lots of fire districts here as well, and I'm right at the police line, as you can see.

This is the line which they have asked us not to cross, and about less than a block, block and a half or so is the high school itself. We are looking at the field and the massive amounts of police officers that are on scene. We can't stress enough, as police are -- and you just emphasized Kyle, the police are asking that parents, please: as difficult as it may be, please stay away. Lots of emotion running around here. Most of the students who were witnesses or perhaps saw something have been taken away by detectives who are still trying to piece together what happened.

Again, what we are hearing is that there still may be two suspects inside. They may have found where they are, or at least they have a pretty good idea where they are. Let this police officer underneath the tape here, hang on just a second. Again, automatic weapons are involved, and they do believe that some explosives, perhaps pipe bombs were involved, and some of them might indeed have detonated.

You are looking now at some of the SWAT team members who are still assembling. Again, lots from different districts, and we have helicopters circling overhead as well.

That's pretty much what we know right now. We're still trying to track down the public information officer. We should have him in a few minutes, we hope, and we'll get some more specific information.

As you might imagine, they are still trying to piece together, and it's extremely difficult to figure out exactly what's going on because you are getting lots of different stories.

DWYER: Right. Greg, it seems we have heard so many eyewitness accounts, that so many children, so many students saw these men. They must have been all over the school.

MOSS: Well, that's -- they're not sure exactly. We do believe they began this whole thing inside the cafeteria and perhaps then started wandering the schools.

As you might imagine, when something like this happens, there's mass panic. From the witnesses we've heard who were inside their classrooms, that's indeed what happened.

No one knew what was going on. There was mass panic and apparently the gunmen then moved into the library. At one point police officers thought they were on top of the roof. They have since secured the roof, we understand, and are pretty sure that they are inside the building.

They do not know how many students are inside, although there's a good bet that most of them are out unless there are some still inside injured.

We do believe that there were some at one point who had barricaded themselves inside the cafeteria after the suspects left, and those are going to be obviously difficult students to get to until they get a little more handle on this situation.

SHAPIRO: Now, as a point of information, Greg, it is not a small high school: 1,800 students go to Columbine High School.

MOSS: Yes, it's -- yes, it's a big high school. And obviously, when the police start this kind of operation, they're going to go through this very detailed and slowly to try to figure out where these suspects are located, and first and more importantly, make sure that they get all of the injured and students out of there. And hopefully, they'll do that very quickly.

SHAPIRO: Have you heard anymore explosions?

MOSS: We have not from this vantage point. We understand that there were at least two explosions earlier on and that kind of jives with what the eyewitnesses were saying, that these suspects had pipe bombs inside their trench coats along with the automatic weapons.

SHAPIRO: OK. Greg Moss at the scene, thank you very much. We will check back with you later. The phone number that we are putting on the screen is a phone number that parents only can call to get information. Jefferson County Sheriff's Department is requesting that parents only call that number. We'll get it up for you here.

DYER: It's 982-6836.

SHAPIRO: OK.

DYER: Right now I want to go to Erika Wilner (ph), who is sitting by a Swedish medical center. Erika, have you seen many victims come in there?

WILNER: We have, Kyle. We saw two victims come in just a little while ago. There are two ambulances here. These are unrelated cases. These are not shooting victims. But just about five or 10 minutes ago, two ambulances came in with two victims: one in each. We do know that Swedish hospital is expecting at least one more victim. Those three victims: head injury, back injury and ankle injury. We do not know the severity. But a spokesperson for Swedish hospital says all three of those patients are conscious. Two of them have already been brought in. They are waiting for one more, and of course, the air life helicopter out there would land here if need be.

We are told victims are also going to Denver health medical center and St. Anthony's.

There are a number of police officers here, at least a dozen at one time, just here to do what they can do, to see if there is any help needed.

The doctors and nurses are standing by here ready for anything, and we understand that people who are not working are calling in to see if they can help. So Swedish Medical Center is getting prepared for the worst. They don't know what to expect, but so far they have two victims, at least one more on the way.

Gary and Kyle.

DYER: Have any parents or students shown up there?

WILNER: Not that we have seen. No.

SHAPIRO: OK. Erika Wilner at Swedish, thank you very much. We'll check back with you later.

WILNER: OK.

SHAPIRO: We do -- we do know that at least eight people in one location were being treated at the scene and they were getting ready to move them out.

DYER: On the phone right now, we have Jeff Goodwin (ph) with the state parole. Hi, Jeff. What's the latest? JEFF GOODWIN, COLORADO STATE PATROL: Hi. Well, I can't tell you much about anything to do with the victims, but I can tell the viewers out there what to pay attention for and stay away from this area. On the north end of the school, the big intersection at Pierce and Bowles, and from that intersection, if you go west out to Wadsworth it is shut down near the southwest plaza mall. And on the southside, Pierce and Coal Mine near the King Super Shopping Center out there, and it's just probably five, six-block square area, and it is just cordoned off. So we advise everybody to stay away.

SHAPIRO: What's the scene from your vantage point now? What are you seeing?

GOODWIN: Well, I'm behind one of the big rigs right now from Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department just to take cover. Since I got here about maybe a half hour ago, I have heard shots. We took cover behind our patrol vehicles and it sounded like heavy shots, as in a long rifle or some kind of automatic weapon. And that's all I know at this point.

So we have heard shots and we know that we definitely have victims here.

SHAPIRO: OK. Is the state patrol getting involved with this as far as any of the SWAT team action?

GOODWIN: We have our guys on standby at this time in case we are called into assist. Some of the other agencies that are here, like the Arapahoe County and Denver and Jefco, right now they have a lot of their people geared up and getting ready for any kind of action that needs to be taken.

DYER: OK. Thanks a lot. We appreciate it, Jeff.

GOODWIN: Sure, Kyle.

DYER: You know, Jeff is saying to stay away from that area. In this video that we just saw, a boy riding a bike, a couple of very concerned-looking parents in the area -- again, please, stay away. It is still a very much of a hot situation, involved situation. We believe the two gunmen are still inside.

SHAPIRO: Yes. We can't stress enough that we don't know how this is going to be resolved yet. When we talked to Ginger Delgado earlier, she was on the backside of the school and said that they were students that were coming out there and some were hiding and there was a triage unit set up. So it's still a very confusing situation there, and we do think there maybe students inside the school yet. We think the suspects are probably inside the school, the two suspects, and we think that there may be also victims inside the school.

DYER: Greg, Greg Moss was saying he's not receiving much detail from the authorities, as you might imagine. But apparently they have an idea, a good idea as to where these gunmen are in the school right now. Jonathan Ladd is on the phone again with us. He is a student that was in the school when this happened. Have you heard from any of your friends? Did all your friends get out OK?

LADD: I have no idea. I haven't heard from a single one.

DYER: You are at home alone right now.

LADD: I am.

DYER: And when you said you ran out of school as fast as you heard, you could tell us about -- you saw bullets ricocheting off lockers?

LADD: I heard them as I was leaving the school, around in the corner from where the gunmen were shooting down the hall at. Just as I rounded the corner, I heard gunfire immediately after, bullets ricocheting off the lockers directly behind me.

SHAPIRO: Now, Jonathan, I know you've talked to us about this before, but we have viewers that are tuning in all the time. What were the other students doing during this? Was there a lot of panic?

LADD: There was. Before I was, you know, aware of what was going on, there were students running, teachers running. And once I was outside, there were a bunch of students running toward the parking lot to get in their cars and go home. But it was chaotic.

SHAPIRO: For sure.

OK, thank you very much, Jonathan Ladd. We appreciate it and we might check back with you a little bit later. Jonathan, one of the witnesses that we have talked to. We have talked to several students. We talked to a student about 10 minutes ago who was actually hiding outside of the school in a bush and he called us on a cell phone and he was afraid to expose himself to the school to go run to safety, but I think he did. So, that's the kind of situation we're dealing with there. It's very uncertain right now.

DYER: Gary, we understand that Leawood Elementary School is just two blocks from Columbine High School. Parents, for those of you with children there, do not go to that school either. The school is in lockdown. None of the kids can get out. No one can get in. Again, this is Leawood Elementary School, which is two blocks from Columbine.

SHAPIRO: OK. We also have some other information here. We understand that the phone number that we've been putting up is not working.

DYER: Oh, no.

SHAPIRO: It was a parents' phone line for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. We are asking parents right now -- I know it's difficult -- but just keep tuned in to us and we'll try and get you the information. The phone line has overloaded and it is not working. So give it a rest for the time being and we'll try and get you information on that.

We're also asked by the police to announce that any Columbine High School student who can hear us, who is listening right now, should call the police. I understand you can probably call the Jefferson Country Sheriff's Department or the Littleton police or just dial 911. Tell them you are a Columbine High School student. And they are requesting that any student that is listening right now call the police.

DYER: It seems like a lot of students knew it was going on. When you said there were 1,800 students at this school...

SHAPIRO: 1,800 students in the school. And apparently, a lot of them were in the cafeteria. Well, it was right before lunch hour, or it was during lunch hour actually. So a lot of them were taking their lunch break in the cafeteria.

Let's go to Tony Lamonica, who is in Sky-9 over Columbine right now. What can you see from there, Tony?

LAMONICA: Well, we've just arrived on the scene just a moment ago, Gary and Kyle, and this is a live picture again. This is Columbine High School. And you are looking at it right now from the east toward the west. And we'll pull the camera back just a little bit. There is a great deal of activity, as you can imagine and as you have been seeing from our ground cameras.

At the back of the school, what would appear to be the gymnasium area, there's a fair concentration of police officers and fire rescue and Medivac people. To the south of the school -- and we're going to pull the camera back just a little bit -- we're going to go a little bit south of the school. You can see the tremendous amount of mutual aid that has been brought into the seen, Gary and Kyle. This is law enforcement agents that have come in from all over the metropolitan area.

This would include the Littleton area. This would include Arapahoe County; of course, all available units of Douglas (ph) County. This is -- and we're going to zoom in on it just a little bit -- just a tremendous amount of aid that has been brought in.

You can see from our ground shot on the grouped from one of our photographers there is just a tremendous amount of rescue equipment that has been brought in to help.

And of course, the first concern right here now, this is the concentration of first aid, paramedics and EMS equipment that has been brought to the scene. And again this is just to the south of the school.

We're going to pan back, pull back toward the school itself. It appears that they have established a very, very tight perimeter around the school. At one point, just a few minutes ago, they thought they might have somebody up on the roof. And we were able to relay some information to the Colorado state patrol from our vantage point that there is no one apparently up on the roof. Apparently, there was some concern that someone might be up on the roof. We still believe that there are a number of students inside the school. We also believe that the suspects are inside the school.

We'll go in here a little tighter in this corner -- some of the emergency equipment positioned here at the rear of the school and some of the officers gathered around. I can tell you that there's a lot of students outside of the school that are safe -- to -- immediately to the south of it, and this is quite an active, as you can imagine, scene. You can do nothing by coming to the school. You'll just complicate the situation.

It appears, for the most part, Gary and Kyle, that area law enforcement has moved in and sealed off the perimeter very much effectively and very, very quickly as you can see in the picture now. These -- this is another ambulance that is coming in. This is one from the West Metro Fire Department. You can see there some of the SWAT officers talking over the situation, trying to assess the situation. That's an officer -- at the left side of your screen there -- putting on a flak jacket. High-powered weapons. These are from area police departments. Many of them are trained SWAT members.

So quite a bit of activity. This is going to go on for some time. And once again, we'd like to caution parents as well as motorists to stay away from, again, the 6,700 block of South Pierce here at Columbine High School.

As you can see from the aerial view that we had a few minutes ago, it is quite well sealed off.

These are more officers. That one appears to be a Denver officer who responded. You've got them from all over the metropolitan area that have responded in view of this shooting incident. The gunmen still inside the building. Again, this is at Columbine High School.

A number of students are gathered south of the school and very much safe. We have had some medivac helicopters also brought into the scene, and again quite a bit of activity continues in the response mode, assessing the information, and how to bring this to a successful end.

And once again, I think there's probably over -- Gary and Kyle, over -- well over 100 law enforcement and medical people here at the scene. This is another aerial view from Sky-9. Sky-9 pilot Al Verlaite (ph) now has us flying in an easterly direction. This is an intersection that is just south of the school, and, as you can see, there's another police car just arriving at the scene. So equipment is still responding. This car looks like it's from either Jefferson or Douglas County. There must be, again, well over 100 officers on the scene here at Columbine High School.

I'm Tony Lamonica (ph) reporting live from 9 -- from Sky-9. Let's go back to Gary and Kyle. We'll be back up in the air here in just a moment to bring you up to date. Back to you. SHAPIRO: OK

DYER: Thanks Tony, a lot. Appreciate it.

SHAPIRO: OK, thank you very much Tony.

We want to clarify something: the telephone number we were putting up earlier for parents is -- I guess it's working, but it's just so jammed right now...

DYER: Sure, yeah.

SHAPIRO: ... that people can't get through, so they're trying to get an alternate line in, and when we get that information we'll bring it to you.

DYER: OK, right now let's go to Greg Moss who was at the scene at the parking lot. Hi Greg.

MOSS: Hi guys.

And actually, we want to also stress to the parents that you mentioned just a moment ago of the Leawood Elementary School -- I believe that's the name of the school just a couple of blocks from here. Parents of children in that school, please stay away from the area. That school, as you mentioned and the police have also reinforced to us, is in a lockdown mode. Neither teachers or students are being allowed out, and no one is being allowed in, and it will remain that way until the situation is over.

You're looking at a live picture now. We are at Leawood and Pierce. This is the main staging area for SWAT Teams and law enforcement who, as Tony Lamonica mentioned, have gathered from all across the metropolitan area. Easily 150 to 200 officers on scene right now is what we're hearing. Many more paramedic and fire-rescue teams on scene.

We are not able to interview this teacher, but I am actually looking at one of the teachers who was locked inside the faculty bathroom downstairs. She is being debriefed by detectives now. So some people are -- and teachers and students are still coming out of the school who've been trapped inside during this whole thing.

This is the main staging area for SWAT teams as well. You're seeing some of those SWAT members now move around and get some of their equipment out. We understand they have a pretty tight perimeter around the school, but they are doing some tactical planning here as well.

Not many more details from the public information officers just yet. We are still hearing that there are possibly some students inside -- unsure if they are injured or have barricaded themselves in because they don't know what's going on, but we fear that there may be some still inside the cafeteria. There were some faculty still inside, and again I'm -- one teacher here, who we will try to talk to in a few minutes, was locked inside a faculty bathroom downstairs, and she managed to work her way out and run across the football field where she was met by SWAT officers. She's obviously extremely shaken up, as all of the people that we have talked to here today.

Again, just wrapping -- police are running now, from what we understand. Again, we don't know exactly what's going on, but they have a pretty tight perimeter around the school, and they have been running back and forth periodically as students make their way out. And that's a student there, I believe you're looking at, being escorted to a Arapahoe County sheriff's car.

SHAPIRO: Right.

MOSS: A lot of these students being ushered out and debriefed as they make their way out. And they're being extremely careful that close in. They don't know where these suspects are. They know they are probably still in there, and they're being very careful as they move around.

DYER: OK, thanks a lot, Greg.

SHAPIRO: Police have asked us to ask any students that might be listening to call your local police department or call 911; they would like to get in touch with you, I imagine to get more information.

DYER: One of those students that called us earlier is back on the phone with us now Bob Sabin -- last time you called, Bob, you were hiding in the bushes behind the school. We hope that you got away from the school.

SABIN: I did, I ran all the way to my house.

DYER: Good.

SHAPIRO: OK, what was the situation when you left the area?

SABIN: OK, I saw -- I saw the gunman. I saw two gunmen. I saw them have weapons, black masks, black trench coats, and, needless to say, I was very frightened. I saw some students running, and I was just -- I felt lucky that I got away as fast as I did, and I thank the Lord that I got to hide where I did and they did not see me and blow me away subsequently.

SHAPIRO: Yeah, for sure. Where were you when all of this started, and how did this all start?

SABIN: I was in Mr. Conyer's (ph) math class and I heard noises and other students panicked, and I heard sounds in the hallway. I ran for the door, I got out -- I got outside, and I just subsequently ran, and when I was hiding there was no more students around.

DYER: So your math class...

SABIN: ... I was the only one left.

DYER: You math class stayed in that room?

SABIN: No, my math class ran...

DYER: Everybody got out.

SABIN: ... but they all got -- they got away, and I was -- I guess my curiosity got the best of me, and I wanted to see who this was, and if I could help in any way from a behind-the-lines perspective if any of my friends had been injured. So I hid in the bushes to see -- but I tell you when I saw the men, I chickened out, and I couldn't be brave enough.

DYER: I don't think you chickened out, I think you did the smart thing getting out of there Bob.

SHAPIRO: Yeah, that's for sure. Now, were you outside in the bushes when you saw them, or was it before you...

SABIN: I was, and I saw them through windows walk by, and I was afraid that they were going to see me.

SHAPIRO: So that was about 20 minutes ago; what part of the school were they in then?

SABIN: They were by the cafeteria and by the library.

DYER: Bob, we understand that they did go into the cafeteria; what -- at this time of day, how many students would be in the cafeteria at one time?

SABIN: Well, we have a couple different lunches, and we're on different lunch schedules, and some students sneak away. But I think that there could be, at any given time, 200 kids in the cafeteria.

SHAPIRO: Now, these guys were described by all of the witnesses as wearing the black masks and black trench coats, and we had heard from some students that there were a -- there was a group of kids that hung around that wore black trench coats. What can you tell us about that?

SABIN: Well, I think those kids -- I think that they're just trying to attempt to live the gothic lifestyle. I don't think that they're -- they're really -- they could be the blame for this. I think this is -- the society in which we live. If it is them that is committing these atrocious crimes, then we should blame the society in which we live in, which is pressing them to behave in this -- this is about the seventh time this has happened. I just can't believe it's happening to us at my school. I haven't heard from my girlfriend. This is a traumatic situation.

DYER; You haven't heard from any of your friends.

SABIN: No I haven't.

DYER: OK.

SHAPIRO: OK, Bob Sabin, thank you very much for joining us. We appreciate it. DYER: Bob, I'm glad you got home safely.

SABIN: Thank you, thank you.

SHAPIRO: OK, Bob Sabin, who witnessed the shooting, and who saw the gunmen through the window about 20 minutes ago still in the cafeteria area inside the school.

DYER: All right, on the phone right now with Jefco schools we have Kaye Pride (ph). Is that right, Kaye?

KAYE PRIDE, JEFFERSON COUNTY SCHOOLS: Yes.

DYER: Kaye, what's the latest that you're hearing?

PRIDE: I have very little information here, because we have dispatched people to the scene but they have not reported back to us yet.

We do know that we are asking parents, who might want information or who want a way to know how they can get connected with their children, to go to nearby Leawood Elementary School.

DYER: You're -- wait, I'm sorry, you're telling the high school parents to go to Leawood?

PRIDE: Yes.

DYER: We're hearing -- by the way, Kaye is with the Jeff. Co. county schools -- we're hearing that Leawood is in lockdown, all the students at the elementary school are inside; is that right?

PRIDE: Yes, we have locked down all the elementary and middle schools in that area.

SHAPIRO: OK, but students -- or parents of students should go to Leawood; did we get that right?

PRIDE: Yes, if they are concerned about making a connection with their student at this time that's where they can go. It may be a while before we have more information for them.

SHAPIRO: Where exactly is Leawood?

PRIDE: I can get you an address for Leawood. Hold on just a second here.

SHAPIRO: OK.

PRIDE: OK, tell them to hold. Tell them I'll be right with them.

DYER: OK Kaye.

SHAPIRO: OK, thank you.

PRIDE: Now, just a second. I was talking to somebody else.

DYER: Oh, somebody else, OK.

PRIDE: Leawood is at 6155 West Leawood Drive in Littleton.

All right. I need to go. Thank you.

SHAPIRO: Kay Pride from the Jefferson County School District. We've been telling to you stay away from Columbine High School. And Kay is saying that if you have a student in the area, you're asked to go to Leawood Elementary School, which is at 6155 West Leawood Drive. It's about three blocks away from there.

DYER: Erika Wilner is standing by now at Swedish Medical Center.

Erika, last we heard, there were three people coming in -- Anymore?

WILNER: Yes, the third victim has come in just a little while ago. There is an ambulance right here, and that carried the third victim.

We were told that they were expecting a back injury, a head injury. Those came in a little bit earlier, about 20 minutes ago. And then a third injury just came in here. It appeared to be a woman with blood on her shoulder. She may have been conscious. I heard one of the police officers yell out to her: "Are you okay, sweetie." I did not hear what her response was.

But so far, they have three people here. The first two I am told -- a boy and a girl -- appear to be students. But spokesperson here says that they don't have identifications yet, because, as you know, students don't always carry ID; and so they don't have names yet. They haven't been able to notify parents, and they're not here.

But they say that these two people who were brought in earlier are conscious, so they are hoping to get some identification from them that way -- and maybe they're doing that right now.

So three victims here. They don't know if more are on the way, but they are certainly getting ready and they are standing by -- back to you.

SHAPIRO: It doesn't sound like they were gunshot wounds then.

WILNER: They were all gunshot wounds -- they were. Back, head -- they were expecting an ankle injury. They had the back injury and the head injury; and here, a third person came in here -- I don't know if that was the person with an ankle injury, or if that was an additional injury. But they said they were gunshot wounds -- yes.

SHAPIRO: OK, thank you.

WILNER: But all conscious.

SHAPIRO: OK, well that's good new anyway. Erika Wilner at Swedish.

I was just going to say that understand that injured students have been taken to Denver Health Medical Center and St. Anthony Hospital, also.

DYER: And we're also hearing that some of the students were treated at the scene. Ginger Delgado was standing on one side of the building where a lot of the students were coming out. She said she saw at least eight serious injuries.

And earlier on the telephone, we were talking to a young girl who was in the library at the time with her sister. She said that her sister was shot, and has since gone to the hospital.

SHAPIRO: Right.

Kyle, just a few minutes ago, a student called our news room, who said he knew the identity of at least one of the gunman. We're not putting that person on the air, but the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department would like to talk to him. He has since hung up. If he is listening, we would ask that student who called us just a few minutes ago and said he knew the identity of the gunman, we ask that student to call the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department. I'm sure you can dial 911 and they will put you in touch with the sheriff's investigators.

DYER: OK, again, you are looking at scenes from Columbine High School. A lot of the law enforcement around the parking lot; of course, others are surrounding the building right now.

We are hearing that they may have an idea as to where the gunmen are in the building. Some reports told us that they started shooting outside of the school, when inside on the top floor, perhaps near the office. We also know that they were in the library and the cafeteria.

SHAPIRO: And we believe they are still in there. We haven't heard otherwise.

Well, on the phone right now with us is Stephanie Demming (ph), the PR person for Denver Health Medical Center.

Stephanie, have you gotten any of the victims there?

STEPHANIE DEMMING, PUBLIC RELATIONS, DENVER HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER: So far, they only have two people -- A young man and a young woman. One looks to be fair, and the other one is probably going to be in critical condition and headed up to the OR shortly. We are expecting other victims, however.

DYER: What are the injuries for the boy and the girl?

DEMMING: These are gunshot wounds.

SHAPIRO: OK, and have they given you any indication of how many will be coming in? DEMMING: No, we do not know. The difficulty, as you probably know at this point, is just getting the kids out. We are working cooperatively with West Metro Fire; our paramedics are on scene, as well as one of our emergency physicians is on scene at this time.

SHAPIRO: Do you have any idea how they are dividing them up? We understand some are going to Swedish, some are going to Denver Health. Are they taking the more serious ones to Denver Health, or how does that work?

DEMMING: Well, right now, we are in the process of implementing our disaster protocols for all metro area hospitals, which we oversee and implement. So that process is being instituted right now, to take a look at what hospitals have what kinds of beds, and who can go where, depending on the nature of their injuries and the level of their seriousness.

DYER: Stephanie, within the past year and a half or so, there have been several school shootings all across the country. Did your hospital ever think that something like this may happen in the metro area, and make a plan for that?

DEMMING: Well, all hospitals everywhere have a plans for that . I mean, it's unfortunate -- part of the times we live in, I suppose -- but this is part of the disaster planning that every hospital everywhere does and prepares for. You just hope that you never have to actually implement it.

SHAPIRO: OK, Stephanie Demming from Denver Health Medical Center, thanks for joining us, appreciate it.

DEMMING: Sure.

SHAPIRO: Two people taken to Denver Health Medical Center, one in critical condition, one in fair condition, a boy and a girl.

We also understand that three students -- we think they were students -- were taken to Swedish Hospital. We don't have conditions on them yet.

DYER: Our education reporter, Heather Cabot (ph) is joining us now from one of the evacuation centers, the library nearby.

Hi, Heather.

HEATHER CABOT, KUSA REPORTER: Hi, Kyle. Yes that's right, I'm at the Columbine Public Library, which is on the corner of Bowles and Pierce. This is one of the other locations where parents can meet their kids. They are circulating lists here of children who have arrived here, and those lists are being faxed back and forth between this public library and the elementary school -- Leawood Elementary School.

So far, we've seen lots of parents arriving, and kids trying find each other. The children here, obviously the teens are very shaken up. But luckily, there are parents and teachers who have been on the scenes for quite awhile now.

And as far as the pandemonium, we had heard about before, things seem to be calming down a little bit as some of these reunions are taking place. But again, this is one of the other places that parents can go to find their children. It's Columbine Public Library, on the corner Bowels and Pierce.

DYER: OK, thanks a lot, Heather.

SHAPIRO: OK, thank you very much.

And the other one is Leawood Elementary School at 6155 West Leawood Drive.

DYER: Again, we are getting word that Leawood Elementary School is locked down so...

SHAPIRO: ... it's a little bit confusing. We asked Kay Pride, from the Jefferson County School about that, and she said, well, the students are locked down inside.

DYER: The elementary school students.

SHAPIRO: The elementary school students. But apparently, they have a place that she would like the parents of the high school students to go, rather than going to Columbine High School, where they're obviously in situations much more dangerous.

DYER: Exactly. Again, you can go to Columbine Public Library, Bowles and Pierce. And Heather is saying that a lot of parents are getting reunited with their children.

SHAPIRO: Yes, and I think this goes without saying, but a parent called us just a few minutes ago in the news room, and said, I haven't heard from my kid yet; could you put out a plea for my kid to call me. So I think if the students have any access to a phone or can get to a phone they should call their parents, like, right away.

DYER: Nine news reporter Heidi Hemet (ph) is now joining us from the scene.

Hi, Heidi, what's going on from where you are?

HEIDI HEMET, REPORTER: Hi, yes, I just got a confirm from a Arapahoe deputy that some of the kids have identified the suspects as possibly students. That's what we're hearing here. We're also told -- and I can tell you right now that the parents are coming here in absolute panic, trying to get back to the scene; the police won't let them go -- but the police officer also tells me that at this point that they believe that they have taken hostages inside the school. And so that's what we know at this point.

But I can tell that this is absolute mayhem out here. And there are a lot of parents absolutely demanding to get past the perimeter that they've blocked off, because, of course, they're absolutely concerned and, you know, scared that they have kids in there that have been injured. But at this point, they do believe that these are students.

DYER: OK, Heidi, I don't know where you are in terms of the school building.

Are police officers surrounding the building? Are they up close near the building?

HEMET: I am pretty far back. Right now, they have really moved back the road blocks, because, again, they are just getting inundated with parents out here, who are saying, no, I have to get back there; my student is inside.

SHAPIRO: OK, we're looking at a live picture right now of the SWAT team members -- no, this is tape, I'm sorry. This is tape from a few minutes ago. The SWAT team members who are moving in and some of the students that were running out of the high school. When this happened, we believe there were a lot of students in the school, especially in the cafeteria area, because it was lunchtime -- that's where the original shooting started, and a lot of the students came running out in a panic.

DYER: Heidi, are you still there.

HEMET: Yes.

DYER: OK, do they have any idea how many students might be being held hostage?

HEMET: Well, they say 90 percent of the students have been evacuated.

So let me ask this police officer right here. All right, he's standing here right now.

Do you have any idea how many students may be being held hostage?

No idea at all? Do you think maybe about 20, 30 -- any idea?

No, they have no idea at this point.

Right now, do you know where they are being held hostage? No, OK.

No, they have no idea at this point. They just say that they think they have gotten most of the students out. They also say that the students pretty much scattered as soon as the gunfire, you know, started going off, so it's hard to tell where everyone went. A lot of people unaccounted for.

SHAPIRO: I'm sorry. Does he know if there are still victims in there?

HEMET: He says that they believes there are victims in there. There are people who are injured. I just heard him tell a parent that.

SHAPIRO: OK, Heidi, thank you very much.

HEMET: You are welcome.

SHAPIRO: Heidi Hemet who is reporting from the scene, right now. That's the first we have heard from a police officer that there may be hostages involved with this, at this point.

DYER: But some 90 percent of the students have evacuated the building.

Again, we see this video of parents just looking scared and running to the school. Please don't go there. I know you want to go there and try and find your child. But go to either Columbine public library at Bowles and Pierce or Leawood Elementary School.

SHAPIRO: Yes. Obviously, you know -- OK. We're going to talk to another student who apparently witnessed the shooting, on the phone with us right now. Evan, and we don't have his last name.

Evan, can you hear us?

EVAN, COLUMBINE STUDENT: Yes, I can.

SHAPIRO: OK. What can you tell us? Where are you at right now?

EVAN: I'm at my house now. I got home.

SHAPIRO: OK. You got home. What did you see before you left the scene?

EVAN: There were -- I just saw two kids in there and there were in all-black clothing. They had shotguns and rifles, and they were just shooting anybody and everybody.

DYER: Did you see people get hit?

EVAN: Yes, I did.

DYER: How many people would you say you saw get shot?

EVAN: I saw at least probably 10 to 15 kids get shot.

SHAPIRO: Now, you said they were heavily armed. Could you tell how many rifles they had with them?

EVAN: They both had two shotguns and one of them had a pistol- type Uzi, the small Uzi.

SHAPIRO: OK. And we had heard reports earlier of possibly hand grenades or pipe bombs on them too. Do you have any knowledge of that?

EVAN: Yes, I know they had pipe bombs because they were letting them off in the school, in the commons and the library. They let a couple off in the parking lot.

DYER: Yes. You were -- where were you when this all started? Were you in a hallway? Were you in a classroom?

EVAN: I was in the library typing a report for one of my classes.

DYER: OK.

SHAPIRO: Do you have any idea who this was? Don't give us their names, but were they students there?

EVAN: Yes, they were -- they were, you can say, part of a trench-coat mafia. homosexual group.

SHAPIRO: OK. Thank you very much. Evan, appreciate the call.

EVAN: No problem.

SHAPIRO: OK.

DYER: Thanks, Evan. Glad you're home safely.

SHAPIRO: Evan, who says -- witnessed the event and says that several students, as many -- as many as 10 might have been shot just in the area that he was at.

DYER: Ed Gakowski (ph), a state trooper, is joining us right now on the telephone. Ed, I understand that area is being blocked off?

ED GAKOWSKI, COLORADO STATE TROOPER: Yes, that's true. The whole area is being blocked off from Bowles all the way south, at least four to five blocks.

SHAPIRO: What are you hearing about the situation right now, Ed? We have just heard from a police officer that they might possibly have hostages? Have you heard any of that?

GAKOWSKI: Right now we are still trying to coordinate efforts. It's definitely a multijurisdictional process going on here. We have got different agencies working on the situation. SWAT teams are here. The problem is I don't believe we have any contact with the suspects at this point to be able to even make a negotiation-type situation.

DYER: They have not called you?

GAKOWSKI: Not at this point. We haven't had word that they have.

DYER: OK.

SHAPIRO: OK. And what are you hearing as far as injuries, numbers and types of injuries?

GAKOWSKI: I talked to a school security official, say that there was injuries, but it's still unknown. We haven't been able to get in there and the amount is unknown.

DYER: It sounds like they are just two guys. Is that what you are hearing?

GAKOWSKI: It's up to two to three possibly.

DYER: Because a lot of people are being shot here, and if it's just two guys that are doing all this...

GAKOWSKI: Well, they do have some firepower. We've heard shots fired from semiautomatic weapons, and we are told they have some pipe bombs and that type of stuff. So they do...

SHAPIRO: Has it been -- I'm sorry. Has it been quiet for a while?

GAKOWSKI: It has been quiet recently, but we're actually a little bit north of the school right now. So what's been happening on the south side we haven't really gotten word on just yet.

SHAPIRO: OK. Ed Gakowski from the state patrol. Thank you very much, Ed.

GAKOWSKI: You're welcome.

SHAPIRO: OK. Appreciate it. We'll talk...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're ready to go live.

SHAPIRO: We'll try and talk to him later.

Once again, we want to tell parents who have students at Columbine school that they are asked not to go to the scene right now because of the dangerous situation there. You are asked to go to one of two places. I think the best place probably would be the Columbine public library. That's at Bowles and Pierce about three blocks away from the school. Also Kay Pride (ph) from Jefco school says you can go to Leawood Elementary School, which is in the area also. It's about two blocks away. It's at 6155 West Leawood Drive.

DYER: Again, we're hearing, though, that 90 percent of the students did evacuate the building. We heard that from our reporter. Heidi Hemet talked to a police officer on the scene. He said about 90 percent. They believe some students are being held hostage. They do not offer any numbers as to how many people might be inside.

And as you heard from state trooper Gakowski, the gunmen have not made any contact outside of the school. They have not called the police. Police have not been able to get a hold of them.

SHAPIRO: OK. We want to go on the phone right now to James, who is a student. James, we understand you are inside the school.

JAMES, COLUMBINE STUDENT: Yes, I am.

SHAPIRO: OK, and you are in a secure area I imagine?

JAMES: Yes. I'm in the classroom, locked doors.

SHAPIRO: OK. What's going on there now, can you tell?

JAMES: It's just really noisy outside. I hear a lot of screaming.

DYER: Are you near the cafeteria?

JAMES: No. Actually, I ran up the stairs and went into a classroom.

DYER: Are you all by yourself?

JAMES: Yes, I am.

SHAPIRO: That's very smart. You are on a cell phone, obviously.

Now, you say you hear screaming. Was that recent?

JAMES: Just as it is right now.

DYER: Have you heard any gunshots?

JAMES: No gunshots, just threats. A bunch of threats. Guys are yelling out there.

DYER: Do you recognize the voices, James?

JAMES: I don't recognize any of the voices.

DYER: OK. You need to get off the phone with us right now and call 911. OK? Immediately.

SHAPIRO: The police want to talk to you. OK?

JAMES: All right.

DYER: Take care, James.

SHAPIRO: OK. Give them a call.

Well, apparently there are still students inside the school.

DYER: Yes. James is lucky he's locked all by himself.

Erika Wilner is at Swedish Medical where quite a few victims have been taken. Hi, Erika.

WILNER: Hi. We do have some updated information about the victims who were brought here. There are three victims in here: two females, one male. We do have all students. We do have one female student brought in with nine gunshot wounds to the chest. And she is still conscious. They do not have identification on her. They are trying to get her name. But they are having trouble. So she has not been identified. Her family has not been notified. But a female student with nine gunshot wounds to the chest.

We also have another female student with one gunshot wound to the chest and we have a male student with a gunshot wound to the back. They were all conscious when they came in. Some of the family members have been arriving. They were able to identify the two kids, the woman with the one gunshot wound to the chest and the male with the one gunshot wound to the back. But again no identification on the other one who was shot nine times. They are all listed now in serious condition, and they are expecting possibly one more. They're not sure. We know that they have told us there are two helicopters in the air, are en route. And they don't know which hospital they are going to, but they are standing by here.

DYER: OK. Thanks a lot, Erika. We'll talk with you in just a bit.

WILNER: OK.

Ginger Delgado is now on the phone with us. She's on the south side of the -- the backside of the school. Oh, you are live. Hi, Ginger.

DELGADO: Hi, Kyle. We are at the triage center, which is actually, like you mentioned, on the back side of the school. Right now there are no victims here. They have transported all of them to the hospital. But if you look in the open field behind me, you can see some helicopters, Airlife helicopters have been landing.

This is the area where they are transporting the kids to stabilize them and then take them to the hospital. Right now as I said there are no kids here, but earlier at least 10 with gunshots. Right now I want to Ted -- Ted, I'm sorry. You're last name again?

TED KUTCH (ph): Ted Kutch.

DELGADO: Ted Kutch. Tell me a little bit about what you saw out here. You are from a local church in the area. What are some of the things you were seeing?

KUTCH: Well, basically what we have been seeing right now is they have been bringing a lot of the kids down. We have talked to some of the students. We came down because we have a lot of the students go to St. Francis Cabrini (ph) Church. I'm with the youth program there, and basically head youth minister, Jim Beckman (ph), is on the other side of the school. What we are trying to do is identify as many kids as we can. We have parents calling the school, or the church, trying to find out if their kids -- if we heard anything, if we know anything. So we came down to see how many we can identify.

Emily is actually one of the -- one of the kids from the church.

DELGADO: And Emily, you were also in the school at the time of the shooting. Tell me what happened and what you saw. You saw a very traumatic event. Talk to me about that.

EMILY, COLUMBINE STUDENT: Yes. I was in the library and the whole room was just filled with smoke, and I heard gunshots all over. And the two guys, who were the "Trench Coat Mafia," came into the library and were just shooting everyone that they could, anyone that they can, you know.

And so we were all under the tables, and the girl who was sitting right across from me under the table was shot in the head right there. And I mean, it was the worst feeling that I have ever had, because, I mean, blood was just going all over and I mean -- I witnessed that, you know. It was hard.

DELGADO: Now, how did you manage to get away? Did you hide under a desk or go into a closet or what?

EMILY: I was still under the table when they were still coming in, and then they just kept on going back and forth between that and I guess the cafeteria, or all over.

So once they left the library we just kind of ran and were running toward the cop cars. And that's when they transported us down here.

DELGADO: Were these guys saying anything as they were shooting at kids?

EMILY: They were saying that they wanted to do this for their revenge for the school, I guess, because I mean, they are such outcasts at our school. So...

DELGADO: You must feel so lucky to be here today.

EMILY: I am very glad. I am praying so hard.

DELGADO: OK, thank you so much, Emily. Thank you, Ted, so much.

You know, it's almost hard to describe the situation around here. It is so chaotic. Kids are shaking, they're crying, they're screaming. None of them have ever seen anything like this. It's just a very, very sad moment here, and I think a lot of parents, a lot of counselors are arriving just trying to take care of these kids and reassure them and counsel them that they are, in fact, going to be OK.

At this moment, things have slowed down in this area, but we will keep you posted if we hear anything else.

Back to you.

SHAPIRO: OK, Ginger.

DYER: Thanks, Ginger.

SHAPIRO: We want to join James again on the phone. James is inside the school. James, we understand you tried to call the police and couldn't get through. So we are working on trying to hook you up with the police, OK?

DYER: OK?

JAMES: OK, thanks.

DYER: We hear you have heard more gunshots.

JAMES: Yes. In fact I've got a little TV watching you guys right now.

SHAPIRO: OK.

JAMES: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) see what's going on inside.

SHAPIRO: Well, you'll see.

JAMES: I am trying to be a little bit quiet so they can't hear me from inside.

DYER: Definitely, definitely.

SHAPIRO: You'll see what we see, for sure. What are you hearing right now?

JAMES: I heard a couple of gunshots and then people are running up and down the hall a little bit, and I guess I heard -- I don't know what happened outside. I just heard them yelling, telling them to get down.

They are inside the cafeteria. I hear stuff being thrown around. I am staying underneath this desk. I am upstairs. I don't know if they know I'm up here. I am just glad they don't. I am just staying upstairs for right now, and I just hope they don't know..

DYER: Don't tell us where you are.

SHAPIRO: Yes. Don't give away your location to us.

JAMES: I'm not going to say anything...

SHAPIRO: In case they have...

JAMES: ... stay underneath the desk.

SHAPIRO: In case they have a TV in there.

JAMES: The desk is like back toward the door, so I'm facing towards the window. I'm looking outside. So...

SHAPIRO: James, does it seem to you like there are a lot of students still in there. Can you hear a lot of kids?

JAMES: Yes, there's still a few kids in here. I'm a new kid to this school, so I don't know too many people.

DYER: When did you start?

JAMES: I started in February.

DYER: Really.

JAMES: Yeah, I just came down here from Thortonsville (ph). SHAPIRO: OK, Has it quieted down now?

JAMES: No, not really. There's a little bunch of people crying outside, I can hear them downstairs. Whoa.

DYER: What was that?

JAMES: I don't know.

SHAPIRO: OK, James, we're going to let you hang up, but we're going to try and hook you up with the police department. Keep trying to call them, OK?

DYER: We're going to get you some help, OK James?.

JAMES: OK, thanks guys.

DYER: Sure.

SHAPIRO: OK, thank you very much. Let's check in with Nine News reporter Heidi Hemet who is also at the scene. Heidi, you heard gunshots too?

HEMET: We have just been told as recently as 20 minutes ago there were more shots fired inside the school. The police officer tells me they aren't sure if there are any more injuries because they really don't know what is going on inside the school. But they do know that there were more shots fired. A lot of people heard them. And there is still a lot of people still filtering out of the school. But, yeah, they are very concerned about that because they don't know. As you know as we reported earlier they do believe there are hostages inside. So just a very uncertain situation, very scary situation out here.

DYER: Heidi, a lot of people, parents, I guess, are calling 911 to find out about their children. Please don't, if you are out there. James, who we just talked to, is trying to call 911 and can't get through because other people are jamming the lines.

SHAPIRO: He can't get through. The police are asking you not to call 911. They are trying to get an information number up. The best thing to do if you are a parent right now would be not to go to the scene but to go to one of the places they have set up for the parents to go.

DYER: You can go to Columbine Public Library at Bowles and Pierce or Leawood Elementary School and that address is --

SHAPIRO: That is at 6155 West Leawood Drive. So, you are asked to go to one of the two locations. Heidi, what does the scene look like now?

HEMET: Parents continue to show up here and demand to get past the barriers, and -- obviously concerned that their kids are inside and possibly injured or worse. We have a lot of high school kids standing around, all of them looking shocked and confused and dazed. Just basically still a very panicked situation out here, and police really have their hands full just trying to keep people from driving right by this barrier. They have to run after people and stop them, because obviously, parents are very concerned and with good reason.

DYER: Thanks a lot, Heidi. For parents...

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: This is Daryn Kagan at CNN in Atlanta, you are watching our continuing live coverage of a shooting in a high school just southwest of Denver, Colorado in a community at Littleton, Colorado at Columbine High School.

What we know that has happened so far, at about 11:00, 11:30 Denver time, two gunmen apparently walked into Columbine High School holding guns, possibly explosives, and started shooting and bullets ricocheted off of lockers and possibly other explosions as well. Right now we know of reports are that there are at least eight students who have been hurt, at one local hospital, one female student taken in. Nine gunshot wounds to the chest. Another female student with one gunshot wound to the chest, and a male student with a gunshot wound to the back. A total of eight students hurt so far.

The situation right now as we follow our coverage on our affiliate KUSA. The two gunmen are believed still to be inside Columbine High School, perhaps holding hostages. The idea right now is getting parents in touch with their kids and trying to get the gunmen out and the kids who still might be inside out safely. We will continue to listen in on our affiliate KUSA.

SHAPIRO: ... were asked by the police department to relay that if there are any students watching this and they have not contacted the police yet, to call one of the local law enforcement agencies and talk to the investigators.

DYER: And it seems like a lot of the students saw the two guys. Perhaps maybe three we're hearing, and maybe that's why the 911 lines are jammed. But again, if you do not need an emergency call please, do not call 911.

SHAPIRO: Obviously, we don't know who the suspects are, but they have been described by some of the witnesses that we have talked to as the Trench Coat Mafia. Apparently a group of students -- one student told us there may be as many as eight of them who wear trench coats to school, and who hung out together. It was described by one student as a gang; described by another student as a club. Nevertheless, they were a little bit, apparently, outcasts and well known to the other students in the school. Now we're not saying that's who did it, but apparently that's who some of the students think might be involved.

DYER: Right, and as you mentioned one of our eyewitnesses was in the library when they came in and they said they were out for revenge.

SHAPIRO: Yeah. So. That will be all sorted out. But first things first, there are gunmen still in the school, that are still holding hostages, we believe, although that hasn't been confirmed by the police. But we have heard that there are hostages held inside the cafeteria. DYER: We are hearing now that apparently five patients have been taken to Littleton Porter hospital. Two to St. Anthony's, four to Swedish, and three to Denver Health Medical Center. We were talking to -- I believe it was Erika Wilner earlier, she said she had three students -- four students at Swedish. One of the girls was shot nine times in the chest.

SHAPIRO: Yeah, gunshot wounds to the chest. Nine gunshot wounds to the chest. Another girl that was taken to Swedish had one gunshot wound to the chest. And there was a male student that was taken there that had a gunshot wound to the back. They are all listed in serious condition at Swedish but the good news is they all conscious and talking to the doctors right now.

Let's check back in with Greg Moss.

MOSS: OK, Gary and Kyle. Actually we are just getting briefed by police officers right now. We understand that they are going to be holding a press conference here in about 15 or 20 minutes. We will be having to move our truck at the time. We are of course at the staging area at Leawood and Pierce, just about a block and a half or so from the high school.

You are looking at a live picture now of the SWAT staging and tactical areas. We are getting word now from some folks that as you've been hearing, that obviously the suspects are still inside there. I just spoke with one of the teachers that works inside the cafeteria or was inside the cafeteria at the time of the shooting. She is going to talk to us in just a minute. Apparently she heard this take place; she was with about five or six of the students that were injured. She managed to help those students get out.

We are also hearing -- we just talked to one of the crisis workers from the school district here. They are urging that if any Columbine High School student is listening, for crisis counseling or to check in, they are urging them to go to Leawood Elementary School. Apparently that's where all the crisis counselors are at this time. And of course, they are still urging parents to stay away from this area and you have been running that number all afternoon long, and we urge the parents to call the phone number and not come down to the school area here. It is extremely chaotic. Again, this is the staging area.

And the federal officers have also showed up on scene. I just talked to one of them about 10 or 15 minutes ago. So we know the federal officers have showed up as well. Again, crisis counselors are on scene and we have had numerous Flight for Life helicopters show up, too. We're going to try to get -- we're going to try to get someone here from the police department to talk with us live in just a second.

There are probably about 150-200 officers from six or seven different districts. We also have the ambulance staging here as well, and the scene here is a little more stable than it was a few minutes ago, but there is still a lot of questions unanswered. There apparently has not been communication established with the shooters inside the building. Although I have been listening to the conversations you've had with one of the victims who is apparently still in there. But no communication as we know of yet, formally, with the shooters inside the building, and they are attempting fast and furious to establish the communication because we do understand there are students being held in there hostage at this time -- Gary and Kyle.

DYER: We're hearing from James who called us earlier, that it appears as though all the hostages are down in the cafeteria or near there.

MOSS: We were hearing that as well. Apparently when the shooting started to take place, outside, it moved quickly inside, and the cafeteria is indeed where that took place.

SHAPIRO: Greg, can you tell some of the injured students were outside in a triage area and around the front of the school somewhere inside the school. Have the ones that are all outside been transported yet?

MOSS: We understand that the ones all outside have been transported Gary.

SHAPIRO: Okay.

And there are still some, however, inside that they're trying to get -- We're going to go live now to a briefing by the public information officer, Neil Brown, standing by with him at this time. I think we can take that -- we can take that live, Neil?

SHAPIRO: Okay, we're having trouble getting a hold of Neil Brown. As soon as we hook up with him we will obviously join him. There are so many law enforcement agencies out there, as you can see, and so much equipment being moved around and so many SWAT teams being moved into position right now that it is really hard to get a handle on who's in charge and what's going on. But hopefully, as soon as we can talk to a public information officer from Jefferson County or from Littleton, they will sort all that out.

DYER: Again, if you have a child in any school in Jefferson County -- not just Columbine -- your child is in lockdown right now inside the school. Do not go to the school to pick him or her up.

We have a list of those schools, again we want to go through them. Let me find my notes here.

OK, there they are. Wilder Elementary, Centennial Elementary, Goodland Elementary, Littleton Prep., Littleton Charter School.

All your children are safe inside those schools right now. Do not go in that area. That entire area around the school is cordoned off by police officers; you can't get through there.

SHAPIRO: Right. Chatfield High School is also on that list to be locked down.

DYER: OK. SHAPIRO: And we're told that students out there that witnessed the shooting, if they're having problems, or they would like to talk to somebody, he should head to Leawood Elementary School; the Jefferson County school district has grief counselors on the scene out there that are ready and willing to talk to you right now. Leawood Elementary School is just a couple of blocks from the school at 6155 West Leawood Drive.

DYER: This all began just about two hours ago. We understand that these two men -- maybe three -- two students -- maybe three -- wearing trench coats walked up to the school. They had heavy machine guns -- two guns, and grenades, and pipe bombs, and then they moved inside the school shooting students all along the way.

SHAPIRO: Yeah, we're told that a lot of the students panicked and ran out of the school. You're seeing some video of that, that was taken a couple of hours ago. This video is a couple hours old now.

But apparently, according to police, about 90 percent of the students have gotten out of the school OK. There are 1,800 students that go to Columbine High School. A lot of them were in the cafeteria, but about 90 percent of them, we understand, have gotten out of the school, have either made their way home or are talking to police officers right now. Police are asking any student that is listening that haven't talked to them yet to give them a call. They are still trying to gather information on the whereabouts of students inside the building, and, of course, on the suspects.

DYER: Yes, we don't know how many students right now are being held hostage. We talked with one student earlier who is locked in a room all by himself. He could hear gunshots, oh, I'd say about 15 -- 20 minutes ago. He's hearing screams, lots of yelling, things being thrown around inside the cafeteria. Again though police won't guess how many students might be inside.

SHAPIRO: Heather Cabot joins us on the phone right now. She is at one of the evacuation centers. Heather, what's going on there right now?

DYER: Heather, are you there?

SHAPIRO: OK.

DYER: Heather was telling us earlier that a lot of parents are being reunited with their students, so if you're just hearing about this now, do not go to the high school, go to Columbine Public Library at Bowles and Pierce; your child might be there. There's also apparently -- Leawood Elementary -- apparently some students and parents are going there as well. That is where, as Gary said earlier, the crisis center is for any students who might have been eyewitnesses.

And these kids saw horrible things.

SHAPIRO: That's for sure.

DYER: One girl was sitting next to a girl who got her head shot.

SHAPIRO: Yeah.

DYER: And, I mean, it's just awful.

SHAPIRO: Yes, the injured we have been hearing have been fairly serious injuries -- gunshot wounds to the chest. One girl taken to Swedish Medical Center had nine gunshot wounds to the chest; she's reported in serious condition but conscious. We have heard of gunshot wounds to the legs and also the back. Denver Health Medical Center has two students that were taken there in critical condition, and we're still getting reports from other hospitals.

You're looking at a live picture right now. This is the staging area, which is about three blocks away from Columbine High School. Once again, hundreds of police officers are involved. This is a massive effort. They have SWAT teams out there, and they are coordinating their efforts right now to try and get in and get these guys -- we believe two guys, maybe three, who are holding students hostage inside the cafeteria right now.

DYER: We are waiting for a press conference to begin, but right now we have Jonathan Ladd on the telephone. Jonathan, you keep checking in with us, has it -- have you calmed down at all? I mean this is just -- you probably never imagined you'd see something like this at your school.

LADD: I never thought of it. You always see it on TV and it happens everywhere else, but you never can think that it's going to happen to you, or your school, and you friends, and you know, unfortunately, it has today.

I've calmed down some, you know, still a little shaken by what's happened.

DYER: Sure,.

LADD: But I've talked to some of my friends.

DYER: Good.

LADD: They're OK. One of my friends is still in the school, though.

DYER: Really?

LADD: I guess his mother paged him. He called her back, said that he's -- I guess he's in the choir room supposedly, I'm not sure. But I'm a little shaken about that.

DYER: Yeah, we are hearing that some of your classmates are being held hostage, perhaps in the cafeteria. But I'm sure there are a lot of other students like your friend that are hiding in different rooms and under desks.

LADD: Right. DYER: Yeah, when you -- when this all went down this morning, you were out in the hallway, you went to the rest room; is that right?

LADD: Right, I was heading towards the rest room. To me it was another casual day. As I was heading towards the rest room a whole bunch of teachers, students were running down the hallway towards me. The way they looked, it didn't look like it was good. Didn't pay much attention to it at first, because I wasn't sure what was going on. And just before I started around the corner, gunfire was going off and bullets were ricocheting off lockers. There were students coming out of the auditorium it looked like; they had to get hit for the way the bullets were going.

DYER: You didn't look, you just kept running.

LADD: I didn't look. I wasn't going to stay around long enough to look.

DYER: That's probably smart.

SHAPIRO: OK, Jonathan thank you very much. We're glad you're safe anyway, and we appreciate talking to you.

DYER: We hope your friend's OK, too.

LADD: All right, thank you.

SHAPIRO: OK, we have some information that we would like to relay. It's kind of a strange situation: James called us back. If you remember, James is a student who is hiding in one of the classrooms at the school. James has apparently caught another view of the gunmen. He is describing them to us and we'll get to that in a minute.

But what we are asking is -- James can't get through to the police department because the 911 lines are jammed up. We want James and any other student that might be in the school that is hiding to call us. I'm going to give you a phone number in just a minute. Call us here at 9 News, we will put you in touch with the police department. We have a special number here, that we're not going to put out over the air, that is only going to be for students that are inside the school that are trying to stay away from the gunmen. Hope you followed all that.

But if you are inside the school and you are a student, call us at 303-871-1499 -- that's here at 9 News -- and we will give you the phone number to get in touch with the police.

So James, call us back, we'll give that you phone number. Any other students that might be hiding in the school, call us here at 9 News; we will put you in touch with the police department.

The only other information I have to relate is that James saw the gunmen a few minutes ago. He is describing them as wearing hats, black trench coats, black masks, and one of them has long hair that is coming out the back of his hat. That's the description we have. They are apparently still holding hostages in the cafeteria area of the school.

DYER: We've been hearing from a lot of the students who have called in and talked to us -- some of the reporters on the scene -- that there was a group of about eight students at the high school that wore black trench coats to school every day, and they were kind of in a group, and they were called the Trench Coat Mafia, correct?

SHAPIRO: That's what the students called them, yeah.

DYER: And one student, who was in the library when they came in, said that the gunmen said they were out for revenge, because apparently they were outcasts at the school.

SHAPIRO: Yeah, we don't know, you know, who was involved...

DYER: Right.

SHAPIRO: ... in this, obviously, at this point.

DYER: This is what students that were inside the school are telling us.

SHAPIRO: OK, and we want to check in with Greg Moss who is at the command post now -- Greg.

MOSS: Yeah, Gary, we were telling you a little earlier we were getting ready for a press briefing. This is Steve Dayson -- Davis with -- Jefferson County public information officer. Steve, tell us what's going on right now?

STEVE DAVIS, JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER: Right now we're waiting for the SWAT teams to take care of the school and sweep that school, and number one check for victims. Secondly, also checking for suspects still in the area or in the school. Hopefully if the suspects are still in there and they can take them into custody.

MOSS: Let's start with the suspects: how many and how did this whole thing start?

DAVIS: We really don't know how many suspects; we do feel like we're dealing with, certainly more than one, possibly two or three, but the exact number is unknown.

The whole thing started approximately 11:30 this morning, where we received reports of numerous shots being fired inside the school. When our deputies responded, they could still hear shots being fired, also could hear some explosions in the school, and could see some fire.

One of the deputies reported that he was returning fire to a suspect at one point. I haven't confirmed that; I haven't been able to talk to that deputy, but I some heard air traffic to that effect. I don't have any indication that the suspect was shot. I don't have any reason to believe any deputies have been shot or injured in any way at this time right now. I do know that we've had at least four people transported to area hospitals. We feel like we do have more victims, but the extent of their injuries and the types of their injuries are unknown right now.

MOSS: Are those other victims possibly still trapped inside the school? Is that your understanding?

DAVIS: Some are inside, some possibly just outside, and right now efforts are being made to retrieve those victims without endangering more lives.

MOSS: Any idea how many students or teachers are still trapped inside the school?

DAVIS: I have no idea.

MOSS: What's the plan right now? I mean, there's lot of activity going on, this is obviously the staging area, but where do you go from here?

DAVIS: Like I said, right now, one of the things that we're just going to have to wait on is the SWAT team -- SWAT Teams, I should say, to effectively search the building and the area before we can say it's safe for the rest of the personnel to on the scene to respond.

JIM BETTERMAN, KUSA REPORTER: We're listening to Steve Davis talking. Greg Moss, can you hear me? It's Jim Betterman.

DAVIS: However, like I said, the priority is to the victims.

MOSS: Absolutely.

DYER: We want to check in with Tony Lamonica. He's in Sky-9 over the school -- Tony.

LAMONICA: OK, the live shot that we're showing you now at Columbine High School -- live from Sky-9. Just a moment ago -- these are students that have just been rescued by a SWAT team. The SWAT team went inside the school just a moment ago. These students came from the left side, an area of the left entrance, so just to the west of the left entrance.

They first ran -- you can see at the top of the screen there, there are two windows at the bottom right there, and they ran out of the window. They came out of that window, ran to the front of that fire truck, Gary and Kyle. In fact, they had their hands over their head just a moment ago. And then they moved the students over into this area.

And I believe, right now, maybe 15, 20 students have just been dramatically rescued from inside of the school. You can see the students surrounded with the officers. They're being checked to make sure they're in good shape or good condition, that they don't need any medical help. But this, we believe, were students that were trapped inside of the school, and rescued moments ago. They came from an area that was near the front of the school, and came out of the window, then moved to where there was a fire-pumper, and then they moved to an area where there are Denver police officers -- rather numerous officers, including Denver, Lakewood and Jefferson County.

So a dramatic rescue just a moment ago of some of the students in Columbine High that were trapped just a few moment ago. Let's go back to Gary and Kyle.

JIM BETTERMAN (ph), ANCHOR: All right, Tony Lamonica, thanks very much.

Jim Betterman -- I stepped in to give Gary Shapiro a much deserved break.

Tony, let me ask you, are you still with us?

LAMONICA: Go ahead, Jim, I'm with you.

BETTERMAN: Tony, I know that Ginger Delgado is on the, I believe, the north side of the school. There is some sort of a triage area set up. We don't know if any of these students who have just been rescued will need that. But how far away are those kids right now from the triage area?

LAMONICA: Probably about one block, Jim, just about a block away, and we really don't want to show everybody where that is. But about a block away. Plenty of ambulance, plenty of medical people on scene in case they do need the help.

But I'll tell you what, the way that they were running, the way they were moving, as the speed at which they fled from that school to the waiting arms of those officers, I can tell you, they look like they were in pretty good shape, and I haven't seen any of them moving to any ambulances at this point.

DYER: All right, thanks a lot, Tony.

We want to let everyone know that if any kids are still in the school, we told you earlier to call the stations and we'll put you through to police. Do not call the station, be quiet, stay where you are, hide.

OK, now we want to go to Greg Moss who is standing by live there.

You have one of the students who just came out of the school, Greg?

MOSS: Actually, this is Andrea, and her boyfriend, we understand, was one of the victims that was shot.

Andrea, what happened?

ANDREA: I just heard that he's been shot in the knee, but he will be OK. He's in the hospital. His parents just called to inform me. He is OK, though.

MOSS: What -- you were inside the school when this whole thing took place. Can you explain what happened?

ANDREA: I didn't hear anything, but the fire alarm did go off, and everyone just started evacuating, crying and hopping fences; and we had heard there were shootings, and everyone ran to my house to call, and...

MOSS: What was going through your mind at that time?

ANDREA: I don't know. I just couldn't believe something like this could happen here. I mean, we thought it was safe, you know.

MOSS: A lot of emotion running high around here, students we've talked to.

ANDREA: Yes, awful, scary.

MOSS: Any idea -- a lot of people have called in saying we know the suspects, but do you have any idea what the motive might be for something like this?

ANDREA: I don't know. They say that some of the guys from our school. I don't know what they could have been thinking. Maybe they've been made fun of -- I don't know; I don't know what the deal is.

MOSS: Again, your boyfriend was shot in the knee?

ANDREA: Yes, I just found out. But he'll be OK, I guess.

MOSS: That's very good.

ANDREA: I'm getting ready to go to the hospital.

MOSS: OK, Andrea, thanks so much for joining us.

Gary and Kyle, as you heard just a few minutes ago, we were talking to Steve Davis, the Jefferson County public information officer; we are actually going to be moving a little bit closer here in a safer vantage; they'd like us to move here in just a few minutes.

But they have not established communication with the suspects or multiple suspects that are in there. They are trying to sort that out, and the SWAT teams are gearing up and planning, and perhaps making some sort of way to establish communication and go through the school very carefully, insure that there are no more victims inside of the school.

And you saw -- Tony Lamonica -- a very dramatic rescue of some of those students on the other side from where we are at right now.

DYER: OK, Greg, we understand there are some students still hiding in classrooms. And apparently they have TV's in their classrooms, so if you're watching kids, turn the TV off -- or down at least.

MOSS: Yes, the police are asking those students inside to continue to hide, not to call the media, turn your televisions down, off. And your first priority, if you're watching, should be to take care of your safety. Of course, we don't know if the suspects have televisions as well, so we're very hesitant to give too much specific details about the tactical operations that are happening here.

We can tell you that there are probably about a half dozen that have staged here. This is the main tactical operations. We have SWAT teams from all across the metropolitan area, at least six different districts. And there are probably 200 to 250 officers on scene here, including federal officers, who have just shown up as well. Lots of crisis counselor are showing up, and they have been urging folks, if you are a student from Columbine High School, to go to the Leawood Elementary School for crisis counseling, which they are setting up there.

And they are also setting up some posts at Columbine Public Library -- which is at Bowles and Pierce -- and, again, they're asking parents not to come down to the school, and they're asking friends or anyone else concerned, don't come down here. There is a phone number on the screen that you should be having; that's the number that they should contact.

DYER: OK, All right, Greg. Actually that phone line has been jammed, so I think so many parents are calling that we've taken it away for a while. We want people to go to the Columbine Public Library or Leawood Elementary School.

MOSS: Understandable.

We're going to move our vantage here, in just a few minutes, and we'll check back with you as soon as we get set up across the way.

DYER: OK, thanks a lot, Greg.

BETTERMAN: I know you and Gary have been talking a little bit about some of the schools in the immediate vicinity that are on lockdown right now. That means the parents, as frightened as you might be about the prospect that this could spill over into surrounding neighborhoods, Don't worry; these are the schools in the immediate vicinity of Columbine High School that are now on lockdown.

And when we say lockdown, that means, Kyle -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- but parents -- not even a parent can get in to their child.

DYER: No, no child can get out, and no one can come in. Everyone that was there when we went to school this morning is there...

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We continue our coverage of the school shooting just outside of Denver, Colorado.

Right now, we're going to switch affiliates, switch stations and join KCNC -- a hospital spokesman just outside of Denver.

SARAH SPALDING, HOSPITAL SPOKESWOMAN: My understanding, is that they were delivering one patient to Denver Health and the other patient to another hospital.

QUESTION: And what about the total number of injured...?

(INAUDIBLE)

SPALDING, HOSPITAL SPOKESWOMAN: I don't have a total number. We are working close to the Denver Health to get those. Assistants are here on scene helping with the families.

SARAH PADORA (ph), REPORTER: Thank you, Sara. That was Sarah Spalding at Swedish Hospital. And again, she gave us an update on four of the injured patients that were taken here -- two girls and two boys. One girl, as she said, nine gunshot wounds to her chest. There was another girl that was brought -- she had a gunshot wound to her chest. Another boy was shot in the back. And the fourth boy that was just brought in, probably about 20 minutes ago or 15 minutes ago, came in with 5 wounds to his chest. And again, we don't know if those are single gunshots or if they are pellets from a shotgun. But again, four students here.

We can also tell you that as soon as the ambulances drop those injured off here at the hospital, they are turning right around and racing back out to the scene. And so there is a lot going on.

Again, 16 emergency care people -- surgeons, technicians, operating room technicians are all working on those four students at this hour, at Swedish here. And a lot of the problems in trying to get IDs on these students. They don't carry IDs, although they all came in conscious. They tried to get information from them in that way. And parents are here who have been notified. There is another student, the fourth male who was brought here who has not yet been identified. So that is the situation down here at Swedish.

KIM: Sara Padora (ph) live at Swedish Hospital, where four students have confirmed injuries there. Let's go down our list of injuries -- again, the numbers are sketchy. Kathy Walsh reporting from a neighborhood, describing the bloody scene she saw with students on the ground. Other students carrying the bodies of other students, bleeding at the time. So some of those people are now being transported.

But let's look again at the injury count. We have four injuries at Swedish; three at Denver Health Medical confirmed -- one of whom, a young person with a gunshot wound to the face. At St. Anthony's, there are three confirmed injuries there, three confirmed patients. Littleton -- where we had Steve Lusk (ph) -- four so far, one other student on the way.

JIM: And we're learning a little bit more about the alleged gunman at this point in time, too. As Kathy Walsh reported, some of the students she talked to said they were members of the so-called -- or believed to be members of the so-called Trench Coat Mafia. And they did in fact enter the school, we are told, in black trench coats, at about 11:30 today, and they were carrying weapons and perhaps explosive devices as well. Some of the witnesses told Kathy that they believed that these two young men -- possibly seniors, because they were recognized, apparently, by some of the students. They apparently were targeting minorities, people of color and people who played sports strangely enough.

KIM: We have another victim, Jim -- pardon me for interrupting -- is being put into an ambulance here. This is a neighborhood nearby Columbine High School, where Kathy Walsh witnessed just a horrific scene -- young people helping others, a lot of injuries there -- at least four students brought to that area.

Chris Shobble (ph) joins us live on the telephone.

Chris, you're at Leawood Elementary. This has to be incredible for parents. We want everybody just to try to calm down. If you have kids at Columbine High School or nearby schools -- at any elementary, middle school or high school in that area -- you're asked just to sit tight and wait.

What are they telling parents who are frantically trying to get information at Leawood Elementary?

CHRIS SHOBBLE (ph), REPORTER: Well, Katie, essentially what they're telling parents is that all of the students who have been made aware at Columbine High School are coming here; they're being asked to sign in on a sheet that's in the school gymnasium, and then from there, they're being asked to hop on to a stage; that way, if the parents actually come to Leawood Elementary School, they can literally check the list to see if they actually see their child's name, if they signed, if they're known to be safe, and then, if they don't see the child's name, they can actually see the child possibly on the stage. That's the process that's essentially being undertaken here at Leawood Elementary School.

And it's also important to note that we are now hearing from the principal here that some parents and students are trying to meet up at the Columbine School Library initially set up for that very purpose. But now they are asking those same people, both parents and students, to come on down to Leawood Elementary School. We are talking about hundreds of people. Both here on the lawn and also actually -- many parents are showing up here and not finding their child. It is pretty nerve racking. Some of those children, we understand, are in nearby homes.

Obviously we are very near Columbine High School. So for that very reason many of the students just simply went to their home or went to a friend's home. They need, if they are actually hearing this right now, they need to come down to Leawood Elementary School. That's if they have not already made contact with their parents.

Many parents taking off work right now. The word has definitely gotten out throughout the Denver metro area. They are coming to Leawood Elementary School. And by the way, I have with me here, Derek Molthen (ph). He is a senior at Columbine High School. I'm going to put him on the phone; he's going to tell us a little bit more about the "trench coat gang" also called the Trench Coat Mafia. Derek what can you tell us?

DEREK MOLTHEN, COLUMBINE STUDENT: Well, basically it's just a group of about like 20 guys that, I don't know, they wear, like, trench coats every day to school and dress in all black. A lot of the time they'll like wear makeup and paint their nails and stuff. They are always just kind of, like, different and no one really associates with them. They're kind of -- I don't know, like goth, sort of, like, and they're, like, associated with death and violence a lot.

SHOBBLE: You told me that last year, that they had an annual prediction. Tell us about that prediction.

MOLTHEN: Well, they were kind of threatening the people because they saying like 2000 is coming soon...

SHAPIRO: Forgive us. We're going to go out to Suzanne McCarrol (ph) who is out at the scene at Columbine High School. She has the latest for us as it unfolding for us -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MCCARROL: We are just north of the parking lot which is where the SWAT team is assembling. And if you're looking -- if you look down the street here with me, you see an officer, and the red truck is an armored vehicle. And what they have brought that in. This is the second one they've brought in. What officers say is that armored vehicle will actually go in, pick up SWAT team members, and carry them in close to the school. That way if the gunman or gunmen are inside, this is a bullet proof van -- a bullet proof armored truck, that will actually carry a team of SWAT members into the school.

Let's go live now to Kathy Walsh for more information.

KATHY WALSH, KUSA REPORTER: Suzanne, we are looking at a field, this is right beyond the neighborhood where we are, so it would probably be between the school and the neighborhood that we've been standing in, which is probably southwest of the school. We've got three, it looks like, students, or the age of students, with their hands up with two police cars around them. Their hands are up, they're standing there. I see their backs to the cars right now. I cannot tell you exactly what's going here. All I can tell you this is the situation. It may have been these guys were wandering around and cars, police cars, have been ferrying students from the school to this area to get them out of the school -- kids who were trapped in the school area. And those cars were headed back that way I thought. They took off pretty quickly, next thing you know they have got these three -- and it looks to me -- and I'm pretty far away, I have to tell you -- and it looks to me like three males -- three white males as far as I can tell, all wearing black jackets. They are not trench coats; is that correct?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No they're not trench coats. They've got -- one looks to be like an avalanche symbol...

WALSH: Yeah, they have emblems on the backs of the jackets. They look almost more like sporting type jackets than they do than trench coats. All black hats apparently.

Anybody -- looks like they're going to stop these guys because they're wearing black. But we don't see any guns there. And so we believe these guys were just in the area and they were stopping them just as a precaution. Are we as lucky to have these three guys locked up here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've got them at gunpoint.

WALSH: One is going down right now on to the ground. There's a gentleman you can see, an officer in a yellow shirt. He's probably -- he's between the two cars. I just saw him take one down on the ground. The other two are still standing there with their hands behind their heads.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And are there other police now on the way there or along with you at that scene Kathy, can you tell us?

WALSH: There are a lot of paramedics at this scene. There are other officers in different areas. Actually, all eyes are, believe it or not, not on that particular scene. There are still people working with some students and helping out other people. I'm not sure that anybody can tell me exactly what's going on out there. Now people here behind me are shaking their heads, and they're telling me that they're just checking everybody out and these guys might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, correct? That may well be the situation. Here comes another police car, as you can see, and somebody jumping out of that. Somebody from the front seat there, on the right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously, the officer there, the Jefferson County Deputy that is over the vehicle, he's having some kind of communications with the two guys that we see here on the screen, asking them to back up toward the vehicle. It looks like they put the one guy down on the ground and possibly put handcuffs on him.

WALSH: He's up now. Like you said, he may have had handcuffs. It looks like he's up now. And maybe he's going to end up in the car, I'm not sure. As I've said, we're pretty far away. Photographer -- Photojournalist Dale Acheson (ph) probably has a better view than I do through the camera lens.

But the situation is tense, there's no question. And as one of the gentleman here told me here, one of the paramedics, he said, you know, they are stopping anybody. And here you can see, one of the officers taking the one you said, who has the handcuffs on or is somehow restrained, it appears that he is moving that person into the car.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kathy, where are you right now?

WALSH: We are at Kaylee (ph). We are at South Yukon Court and West Kaylee Drive. This is the same spot that we have been at where I told you they had the triage. This was sort of the make shift emergency room, from the time all of this happened. This was where students were running and carrying their friends who were bleeding. This is where the first person who showed up on the scene who told me who was a hospice nurse who happened to be working in the neighborhood with someone. And this is where all of the ambulances have converged, or at least many ambulances have converged. We saw at least nine -- at least nine, I'd say -- people transported from this area, some with very severe wounds. Some superficial. We even talked with one man who had some wounds in his chest.

All right, now you see SWAT team members, it appears to be, coming from the right, heading over. And this is Clement Park I'm told; this is the name of this park? And they are headed over, guns drawn. Weapons drawn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How close are you to the high school?

WALSH: That's a good question. I -- you know, I can't even see the high school from here. I can see the park. How far away are we from the high school, anybody.

About a quarter of a mile, I'm hearing. It's up over the hill. There's a big berm, sort of a hill over there, so we can't even see the high school. But this has been a very active spot. I think it was, you know, like, let's get people out of there, and they came right into this neighborhood, where I guess they had communications and telephones and streets to get in with they'd be far away from the school to work with the wounded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us, Cathy, before we came to you, we saw -- the first picture with the young men with their hands up in the air. Can you tell us before that, did these young men have any sort of weapons that would be visible to you?

WALSH: I have to tell you I saw them probably about the same time you did. I said, Dale, shoot, and we looked over and there they were. So, I don't know that they had any kind of weapon.

KAGAN: We continue to bring our live coverage of the situation just outside of Denver. Right now we're seeing an aerial shot from a helicopter from our affiliate KMGH, this situation taking place very close to Columbine High School. Police apparently have three men -- young men, boys -- taking them into custody. Whether they're suspects in this case is not really clear. Let's just go ahead and listen in to the coverage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we're going on a couple of hours now. A little over two hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As Gina mentioned just to look at this as we are looking at it live with you. It certainly appears that these two people are dressed in a fashion that many of the students we have talked to this afternoon have mentioned, dressed in black clothing. A couple of them we were told were seen in masks earlier, and a couple of the witnesses, students also told us that they didn't have masks on, and they recognized them at that point. One of the men being handcuffed and taken into custody right there as you look at it live. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can see that they're checking inside their jackets, inside their shirts for weapons, as we have had many of the students describe the suspects dressed all in black who were carrying several weapons -- armed to the nines, basically -- and as they take them into custody now you can see that they were checking to make sure they weren't armed or at least did not have any weapons on them that they could use at the time.

KAGAN: This is Daryn Kagan at CNN in Atlanta. We are going to go ahead and switch over pictures to our affiliate KUSA also out of Denver, Colorado. The situation we've been following here for a couple of hours.

To recap for you if you're just joining us: about 11:00 or 11:30 a.m. Denver time, at least two gunmen walked into Columbine High School in Littleton Colorado just southwest of Denver. They're described as two men wearing black trench coats, black masks, black hats. A number of students at the high school say they did recognize the gunmen, so that would apparently lead to the idea they might be fellow students. Apparently there was a lot of gunfire, explosions. At this point police officials say that at least 14 students have been hurt, including one female student who took nine gunshots to the chest. Another female student took five gunshot wounds to the chest, and those 14 students being taken to hospitals around the Denver area.

The situation right now, it looks like police have taken three people into custody. They are not saying if these are the suspects. We are just watching the pictures live as we show them to you. Also, there was apparently a hostage situation inside Columbine High School. Parents waiting to get back in touch with their kids. We also witnessed about a half hour ago a situation where SWAT teams were able to get about 15 to 20 students out of the high school through a window.

So the situation continues to unfold as we watch it with the help of our affiliate, and we'll continue to do so, watching the pictures and listening to KUSA.

LAMONICA: This apparently is some type of park custodian that has come over here in this golf cart. Again, this is playing out in the Clement Park area. And you can see that the officers here are very, very heavily armed.

And again, this is not far. This is part of that Columbine High School complex, and at least one person taken into custody: at least for questioning at this point. We really don't know much more than that.

The original information is that they were possibly a suspect, but now again the information, we believe it to be, is that this individual, at least this one individual that you saw taken into custody, apparently is acquainted with, police believe, with one of the suspects involved, allegedly involved in this incident. So again this is what is happening right here at Clement Park.

We'll throw it back to you in the studio. MALE ANCHOR: Tony, it would be my suspicion that if -- when they finally do get the gunmen out from inside the school, that they would be inside of police vehicles long before they would get that far away, into that field -- wouldn't you think?

LAMONICA: Absolutey. I doubt very, very seriously, Jim, that if a suspect involved in this incident could make -- could actually get out of the building without being confronted by police, much less make it across the park.

Again, I think that this is certainly an individual that police wanted to talk to and they wanted to take him into custody very quickly and safely. And they did without injury.

It's interesting that he was dressed in the fatigues at school. I wonder if that drew attention to him. This will all have to play out in the next couple of hours.

As you can see, this, apparently a park custodian or supervisor, is leading the officers out here as they take this party into custody. And he'll probably go to either Lakewood police or to Golden (ph), to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department. And again, you can see that this is a very, very big park, and officers had to move in very, very quickly to take this individual into custody.

MALE ANCHOR: All right. Tony Lamonica, thanks.

DWYER: Thanks, Tony.

And as we saw, we saw three young men that were in that field at Clement Park and officers had their hands behind their heads, and then they asked one of them at least to fall to his knees and they arrested him. And we saw them take two others away in the police cars. And we really don't know, but a spokesperson for the sheriff's department in Jefferson County says that they are not the gunmen involved in this case.

Let's go live to Ginger Delgado, who was near the school and near the park. Apparently you have some new information, Ginger.

DELGADO: We do have some new information. We just learned from Mark Wilson of CBI that those three gentlemen that we saw out in the field are not the suspects but rather friends of the suspects. Mark Wilson says to us that he believes the suspects may have changed clothes. We are getting conflicting reports now, because we did talk to one person who was in the school who saw the suspects still wearing the trench coats at this hour.

But Mark Wilson of CBI says these three gentlemen who were in the field are not the suspects. They are friends of the suspects.

At this point, those gentlemen are gone. There is CBI right behind me, talking to some students. We are at the triage area where they are bringing students, injured students to treat them and then transport them to the hospital.

That's the situation here. Back to you.

MALE ANCHOR: Ginger, when was the last time you saw a student arrive there with injuries?

DELGADO: The last time we saw a student arrive here was probably about a half-an-hour ago. They have treated about 15 students here so far, but haven't brought one down in quite a while.

DWYER: Ginger, we saw something apparently being taken out of the hands or out of the pockets of one of those young men. Do you know anything about what they might have possibly had with them in the field?

DELGADO: I don't, Kyle. I don't know what they took out of their pockets. I don't know what they searched them for. I don't know what they had on them. We're not getting much information here on those suspects at that point.

But Mark Wilson of CBI has told me that he's going to come over and talk to me in just a few minutes. As soon as he does, we'll come to you live.

MALE ANCHOR: All right, Ginger Delgado, thanks very much. And just a recap. We know that a lot of people are coming in after their workday or whatever, just tuning into 9 News. We have got 13 people -- the last report -- 13 people, students from Columbine High School sent to area hospitals, some in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds. This after at least two, possibly three gunmen walked into the high school this afternoon just before the lunch hour and opened fire.

DWYER: That's right. And from what we understand, there may still be hostages within the school at Columbine High School. No one has been arrested at this point. We're thinking two, maybe three young men wearing black trench coats and masks came into school and began firing.

And we're hoping to hear more about the hostages. We saw 15 to 20 young people released a short time ago. And you know, as a victims' advocate called the news room and said, all of these kids are victims whether they are injured or not. Everyone at this point is a victim involved in that school at Columbine High School: 1,800 students. We understand 90 percent of them, though, are out of the school at this point.

MALE ANCHOR: That's the good news. That could mean as many 150 more are still in inside. So certainly the situation still very dangerous at Columbine High School.

Right now, we're joined on the phone by Paula Reed (ph).

Paul, I understand that you're a teacher at Columbine?

PAULA REED, TEACHER AT COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL: Yes, I am.

MALE ANCHOR: Were you -- and you were at the scene today when all this went down?

REED: Yes. I didn't see any of it happen. I certainly heard some of the explosions that happened in the school and I was there as we assisted the students in evacuating through Clement Park.

DWYER: And you're involved in helping the students now, are you not?

REED: Yes. I'm at the Columbine community library in Clement Park, and we have a list here that the students who have been here have all checked in so that parents can find in. That way if they've left, at least the parents have some sort of verification that their children are safe.

There are a number of children at Leawood. Leawood has the same kind of lists.

At this point we have parents who are coming from Leawood to here, not finding their kid's names on either list. It's very important that people know that kids scattered very quickly. They went through the neighborhoods. There are houses in the neighborhoods right now that are packed with kids.

So the fact that a child's name is not on a list does not mean that the child is not safe.

MALE ANCHOR: You know, and something, Paula, that you know, as you know, a lot of kids don't carry identification to school. And we talk, and I'm a parent of four myself, and we always like to leave a way for the kids to find at least one of the parents. Hopefully it would never be a situation like this. But even for a less severe emergency, always nice for parents to give the kids an idea how they can reach them.

REED: Right. A number of students have been able to reach their parents so that their parents at least know they're all right. To my surprise, some kids had only voicemail numbers for parents. So we have been trying to help them find the central phone numbers for their parents, places of employment so that we can get messages through.

Otherwise it is really important that parents have a way for kids to notify them. We have parents here who are looking for kids, but then their house is empty. So if the child is trying to call home, there's no one there.

If at this point parents can't find their children's names on lists, really they need to be home or at least have someone there so that parents can -- so that students can contact them.

DWYER: That's a good idea, because they may be missing one another. It seems like it's such a chaotic situation there.

REED: Very chaotic.

MALE ANCHOR: Paula, could you describe the emotional trauma that some of the kids are going through at this point? I know -- it sounds like you have met some of them there at the library.

REED: Well, right now we're in pretty good shape in terms of we have a number of victim assistants, people here, and we have a number of counselors here. And that is helping tremendously.

The teachers who are at this site are circulating as best we can to the students who are crying and trying to at least assure them that the fact that they don't see their friends right here does not mean that their friend is not safe. It only means that they're not right here.

At Columbine, we are a very protected group of people. In general, we don't have gang problems to speak of. We don't have crime problems. It's not to say it's nonexistent, but we really do have a deep sense of security, and to have that invaded in such a violent way is very difficult for these students to deal with.

DWYER: That is so difficult to understand. You never expect it's going to happen in your town or in your community or at your school.

REED: Precisely.

DWYER: But we have seen this all too often in the last couple of years in schools around the country.

REED: It's true.

DWYER: It's got to be terrifying for teachers as well.

REED: Well, and again I think you're talking about people who -- we have really felt, obviously falsely ourselves, above all of this.

I -- you know, like anyone else, I'm getting the bits and the pieces from the news and I'm getting little bits of information. I'm hearing that I have colleagues still in that building. And I just can't even imagine: When we walked in this morning, this was the last thing that we would have expected.

MALE ANCHOR: Yes. Certainly, Paula, no matter what high school you're talking about in any part of the country, none of us are truly insulated from this type of random violence.

But can you tell me, Paula, Kim was mentioning in the last couple of years several highly publicized cases of kids, disgruntled students walking into their high schools and opening fire. And I'm curious: Do Columbine, do the Jefco schools, have you talked about it in the last year or so, how to secure a school when trouble does strike? What do you do?

REED: Well, we -- I think at Columbine certainly we have had casual conversations about it, but we really have not had an organized discussion about what to do. And the truth is I'm not sure that there's anything you can do to totally prepare a school for that, because there are so many different scenarios that could possibly happen. You don't know, obviously, where something like this could start.

We did evacuate the building as quickly as we could. We had lots of teachers out there, administrators with walkie-talkies who were letting us know what to do to get the kids safe. And we did move them away from the building as fast as we could.

The only thing at this point that has been a real difficulty -- and I'm not sure how we would have dealt with it -- was the fact that the kids did scatter. And so it makes it very hard to tell parents where they are.

MALE ANCHOR: All right. Paula Reed. And once again, to clarify for those folks who might just be joining us from home, Paula, you are a teacher. Right now you are stationed at the Columbine public library nearby. And that is one place, that and Leawood elementary, where parents can go to get reunited with children.

REED: Right. And it is very important to understand that they may not be at either location, but they may be safe. If -- they really need to have somebody somewhere that their kid can get a hold of in case they are at a house and just want to let you know that they're OK.

FEMALE ANCHOR: And, pal, while we continue talking to you, we're going to show a phone number for parents to call if they want information about what happened today. Again, this happened more than two hours ago -- we're talking about two and a half hours ago. What time did you -- would you say that you first heard some explosions was about 11:15, 11:30?

REED: I would say it was probably -- yeah, in between there.

FEMALE ANCHOR: And it was in the cafeteria area? Is that where it all started, it seems like?

REED: Well, that's difficult to say. I was in the north wing of the building which, as far as I know, was pretty much unaffected in terms of anybody actually being shot or anything like that.

As we were evacuating students from the building, there were definitely the sounds of explosions from inside, but at that point I was outside the building, moving kids into the park.

MALE ANCHOR: All right. Paula, that number that we have up on the screen -- I know that you're not near a monitor right now, but for the good people at home, that is recorded information if you call trying to get some information about the incident, about where you can go to claim kids.

And we should say Kay Pride, the spokesperson for the Jefco Schools said about half an hour ago, be patient. A lot of people calling in, trying to get that information, so just keeping trying.

REED: Absolutely.

MALE ANCHOR: It's a busy line today.

FEMALE ANCHOR: And we understand also they do have some grief counselors working at Leawood Elementary School. Is there any -- any of the counselors working with you all? Certainly, you are counseling students I'm sure, yourselves right now.

REED: Right, and we do have professionals here at the library as well.

FEMALE ANCHOR: That's good to hear...

MALE ANCHOR: Paula...

FEMALE ANCHOR: ... because all these kids have really -- really been victimized today.

REED: Yes. Yes. They are shell-shocked.

MALE ANCHOR: Can you tell us what it was like, Paula? You said you were inside the building. Where were you? We understand that the cafeteria was, if you might say, ground zero for all the trouble.

REED: Right.

MALE ANCHOR: Were you close to the cafeteria? Could you hear the gunshots?

REED: No. In fact, I was in the part of the building that's probably as far as you can get from the cafeteria, so I did not hear the gunshots. Truth to tell, I was in the bathroom, so when the alarm went off, I assumed it was a fire drill until I walked out in the hall and students were running, and I had colleagues down the hall, yelling, "Move, move, move as fast as you." And so I just kind of jumped right in and started moving kids out.

We had administrators behind us, saying, "Tell them to jump the fence, they've got to go over the fence in park."

MALE ANCHOR: Were you guiding them to specific exits or just to the front door?

REED: Where we are, there is a fence that stretches along the park, and so there -- I was right by an exit. They were going out there. It was just trying to get them off the school grounds. They did have to climb a fence and jump it.

There were some who were a little reluctant at first, but we got everybody over the fence, and I think clearly within a safe margin.

MALE ANCHOR: Just mass panic at that point, I suspect.

REED: Pardon me?

MALE ANCHOR: Mass panic at that point.

REED: Yeah. Yeah, pretty much, and just a lot of confusion. The kids -- again, we were just -- we have this sense of security here, and so I think the kids thought obviously somebody was overreacting to something.

It was gym kids, kids from the P.E. Department who heard things in the hall, and I know that there were people in the tech lab upstairs who heard gunshots. And initially, one of the teachers I talked to who was in the tech lab -- in fact, he's my partner. We had half our kids in the tech lab and half the kids in our classroom. He started to direct the kids out of the tech lab, there were gunshots, he got them back into the room, waited for a pause in the fire and then hustled them out the door.

FEMALE ANCHOR: Boy, we certainly are hearing about a lot of unsung heroes, and I'm sure many of the teachers, administrators and fellow students helped one another escape.

REED: They really have come together.

FEMALE ANCHOR: You know, our latest numbers show that 18 young people have been injured, 18, and they have been taken to six hospitals in the metro area. We know of at least one young boy that is in -- young man, I should say, in critical condition at Denver Health Medical Center, and even at Swedish Medical Center we understand one of the young women shot was shot as many as eight or nine times.

MALE ANCHOR: All right. Paula Reed, thank you very much, a teacher from Columbine High School. Thank you very much, Paula. Paula now working the scene over at the local library, Columbine Library which is where a lot of the kids have been told to go to get reunited with parents.

FEMALE ANCHOR: Right, and she's with many students and trying to reunite them with their parents, which is difficult at this point because, in some cases, they're missing one another...

MALE ANCHOR: Right.

FEMALE ANCHOR: ... they're going to one of the other various places they're supposed to go to at this point.

We're going to get an update on the conditions of the young people at Denver Health Medical Center, and this is a taped interview from earlier from Stephanie Demming, one of the public spokespersons for the hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE DEMMING, DENVER HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER SPOKESPERSON: Right now at Denver Health Medical Center, we have three -- one young man who is critical who is in the operating room. We have one young lady who is in fair condition with multiple gunshot wounds to lower extremities. We have another young man who was just airlifted in who is probably going to be considered in serious condition -- gunshot wounds to upper body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOIE CHEN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: All right, to our viewers watching here on CNN, we want to show you the pictures, the latest pictures that we're getting now from KMGH-TV, also one of our Denver affiliates.

We see some of the -- some of the scene there, some people being loaded into a vehicle and moved off. Let's listen a little bit to KMGH.

BERTHA (ph), KMGH ANCHOR: Is he still on the line with us?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: No.

BERTHA: OK, Lance has gone. He mentioned that he just could not believe that something like this could be happening in our area, Sean (ph). It's so reminiscent of -- remember, in 1997, when we started seeing a series of shooting at schools? We'll talk about that in just a second.

But let's go now to John Farusia (ph), who's standing by on the telephone as that car whips out of there. And, John, you have a witness, don't you?

JOHN FARUSIA, KMGH REPORTER: Yeah, Bertha. With me is Karen Nielson, who was in the cafeteria at the time the shooting started. I'm going to put her on the line in just a moment, but I want to tell you, as we're standing here, a person in handcuffs was just put in a car, who was wearing a black jacket, not a black long coat, as we've heard about, but in a car. We don't know whether that's a suspect or someone, again, who just in the area. At this point, police aren't saying.

But let me put you on right now with Karen Nielson, who is a cafeteria worker and she actually saw some students. Karen? Go ahead.

KAREN NIELSON, WITNESS: Hi. This is Karen.

BERTHA: Karen, go ahead. Just tell us what you saw. We want to hear it from your perspective.

NIELSON: OK. I was in the cafeteria, serving lunch, and somebody came in from outside, yelling, "Get down," and we all got down. I heard gunshots -- some pistols, some bigger guns, probably a shotgun. There were students wounded.

I guess first I started looking for anybody that was wounded. I found three students that were wounded. I was trying to take care of them and had called 911 and trying to give 911 the information about what was going on with the kids when the shooters came in the cafeteria and we -- at that point, I hung up the phone and we got into a bathroom that was nearby. There were five of us in the bathroom.

SHAWN, KMGH ANCHOR: Karen, how were the gunmen dressed? We are hearing unconfirmed reports that the gunmen may have been part of a group known as the Trench Coat Mafia. Were they indeed wearing long black trenchcoats, as many of the students have told us over the last several hours?

NIELSON: I have heard that one of them was wearing a trenchcoat. I did not actually see the shooters. I was trying to pay attention to the people that had been wounded, and trying to stay down myself, and I did not really look up and look around for the shooters.

BERTHA: Karen, forgive me if this is redundant -- are you a staff member or a student? You said you were serving lunch at the time.

NIELSON: I'm in the cafeteria. I'm a cafeteria worker.

BERTHA: I see, OK. So this is not the ordinary lunch time, as...

NIELSON: No.

BERTHA: How long have you worked there?

NIELSON: No, not at all.

BERTHA: How long have you worked there, Karen?

NIELSON: I've worked here for a year.

BERTHA: A year. How many of these "Goth" students are there? A lot of mention has been made of these young people who dress in black, and we should mention that this is just a theory, but they are investigating...

NIELSON: I'm sorry, you're breaking up and I can't understand what you're saying, and I've got a helicopter overhead.

BERTHA: OK, I understand. We'll try to talk to you later. Thank you so much. That's Karen Nielson, a staff member at the cafeteria at Columbine High School.

SHAWN: That was one of two locations where we understand the shooting took place initially -- we were told the school library and also the school cafeteria. The video we're looking at right now -- obviously, these are some of the students that were caught up in this shooting spree. You can see one of them possibly being -- I don't know if he's being looked at for possible injuries or maybe even frisked by personnel on the scene there.

But this is a scary scene for not only the students there but also for the many, many parents who were out there and trying to figure out exactly what is going on, because if they are just hearing news reports right now of this shooting, then they certainly want to find out what is going on.

There's a number on your screen right now that any parent can call, and they are asking at this point that you only call if you are a parent of a student at Columbine High School. Now, Denver parents, you can call 303-620-4444. Statewide, there is a 1-800 number for parents -- 1-800-288-3444.

Now, if they do not have the specific information that you are looking for at this time, please give them a little bit of time and show some patience. I understand this is a very harrowing experience, but they are trying to collect and gather and disseminate that information as they are getting it, and it is a very hectic scene out there right now.

BERTHA: Just try to imagine the situation out there -- Columbine High School, suburban Littleton area. We do have a map to show you. If you're just tuning in, you may not realize where this school is located.

But it's a school of 1,800 students and we should reiterate that at least 90 percent of the student body has made a safe escape from the danger zone there. They are accounted for and they are safe.

CHEN: To our viewers here on CNN, you've been watching coverage provided to us by one of our affiliates there, KMGH-TV. There are four affiliate stations in the Denver area, and CNN is bringing you the best coverage from each of those stations.

We've been following up on the situation. It's happening in a suburban area right outside of Denver, a town called Littleton, and the high -- Columbine High School there, a big school, about 1,870 students, according to school records, a school where earlier today, about 11:00 in the morning local time, there was an incident where at least two gunmen dressed in black -- by various reports, wearing black trenchcoats and ski masks, according to many of the students there -- came into the building.

We understand from the student witness reports that these individuals were carrying semi-automatic weapons, shotguns and pipe bombs as well. Again, these are reports coming to us from students who have given their statements now to the police in the area as well. The situation is still unfolding at this hour, more than two hours later.

We do know from local hospitals -- and again, the numbers have been sketchy because the situation is still quite chaotic -- that there have been 14 injuries reported, one very serious one, a girl shot nine times in the chest. We understand that there are some other students in the operating theaters as well in the local hospitals of the area around Denver.

We want to join now our correspondent Tony Clark, who is in Littleton at the scene of this high school shooting. Tony Clark is on the telephone line with us. Tony?

TONY CLARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're keeping us some distance away from the school. There is a soccer field, a large park area between the school and our location, but we're right near the command post, and you can see just hundreds of law enforcements officers, bomb squad trucks, fire trucks, ambulances. There's a life-flight (ph) helicopter standing by here at the soccer field, waiting for them to bring out any more victims. At present, there are four different SWAT teams that are going through the building, searching the school, trying to get the suspects. There were some detentions -- some young people were brought out, they were put in handcuffs. Currently, they're being questioned right now. We're told that they may be friends of the alleged gunmen in this case. They're being questioned over at a car not too far from our location.

Everyone is still treating this very seriously. When deputies arrived, they said they heard explosions inside the school. That's what led authorities to bring the bomb squad trucks here. One deputy reported returning fire at one point during this. At this point, there is no indication that the suspects have been wounded, none of the law enforcement officers were wounded, but there are, we are told, students who are still inside who have been wounded.

So what the law enforcement officers here are doing, they're using -- they said they're going to use firetrucks and an armored car to get them closer so that they can bring out additional wounded students.

We did see a number of students inside who were brought out. Law enforcement officers were able to get inside the school and bring out some of the students to safety, and they've been debriefing them for the last, oh, 15 or 20 minutes or so.

A short time ago, I talked to one woman whose son is a senior here at the high school, and he was being inside. He was hiding inside. He borrowed someone's cell phone, called home and all he could say was, "I'm all right, I'm hiding." But now his parents are anxiously walking alongside the police lines here, waiting for some word that their son has gotten out safely.

So far, it is thought that there are still students that are still hiding inside the school -- as I say, SWAT teams going through the school, searching for the -- at least two gunmen. Law enforcement agents say they don't know for sure how many, but at least two gunmen involved in this, and that's as we know it right now.

CHEN: Tony, looking at these pictures here, we know this is a school of about 1,800 some-odd students. It looks quite a large space that the SWAT teams will have to move through, a very big campus.

CLARK: It is. It's an extremely large campus. As I say, the place that I'm standing is over, almost like a park area that is to the north of the school. And I'm probably a quarter mile from the school.

There are a group of trees that are blocking my view of much of the school. I can see the top of the white -- kind of white, light tan school building, it looks like a brick school building. There are helicopters that going overhead and, as a say, a life-flight helicopter standing by here, and police just in all directions, many of them just waiting.

Earlier, probably -- I don't know -- 45 minutes ago, we saw half a dozen SWAT team members kind of double-timing it, what looked to be around the backside of the school with their weapons at their side as they were going in, and apparently one of the teams that was being used to search the building.

CHEN: All right. To our viewers here, you are looking at live pictures that are coming to us from KCNC-TV, one of the local affiliates there in Denver that we are drawing some of coverage now from. There are four affiliates in Denver, and we are working with all of them to bring you the best information and the best pictures of the situation that we can possibly bring to you.

As you see, views from a helicopter here, apparently down on some of the environment right outside the school area and, as Tony Clark just mentioned, this is a very big campus at Columbine High School, a school that was just remodeled a few years ago -- they finished remodeling in 1995 -- a school that houses some 1,870 students.

Right now, Tony Clark tells us there are four SWAT teams moving through the building, trying to find the gunmen who may still be at work inside the building, also trying to find any students. And there are reports of the possibility that the authorities there believe some of the students may still be injured and inside that high school.

There have been a number of reports of students who are still in the school calling out, using their cell phones, calling out to families, in one case calling a local television station to try to get help. We understand that some of those kids are unable to reach 911 because the phone lines in the Denver area have been so flooded with so many panicked parents, of course, calling the school, trying to call as well the police authorities to try to get any information they can about the situation.

Again, here is what we know. This is a situation that broke out about 11:00 this morning local time in the Denver area -- that's Mountain time, 11:00 this morning -- a situation where two individuals thought by other students to be students at that school, dressed in black, wearing trenchcoats, came into the building armed. By some reports, they may also have been carrying pipe bombs in their custody as well, also may have been wearing black ski masks.

They reportedly did quite a bit of shooting inside. Fourteen injuries have been reported by local hospitals. There may be others as well. As we've been telling you, police authorities there suspect that there may be other students injured and still inside the high school building, unable to get out, unable to get to help.

One of the hospitals, we understand, is treating a young woman, a student who was shot nine times in the chest. Another student, a male student who is in the operating theater at a local hospital.

Let's listen now to KMGH-TV and their coverage of this still- developing situation.

FEMALE ANCHOR: ... again in '97, I should say. And I believe it was Jonesboro where the young men who perpetrated the attack actually pulled fire alarms to get people to run out. Is it possible -- are they investigating the angle that maybe some pipe bombs or some sort of explosive was detonated to get people to scatter?

JULIE HAYDEN, COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL: Well, you know, certainly, Bertha, that is a very good possibility. I think right now they're looking into all of that, at least on one level.

I think the main priority right now -- and this is typical of a scene like this. You have, on one level, investigators trying to figure out exactly who's in there in terms of the suspects, what their motive is, what they might be capable of, what they're trying to do and, obviously, to try to prepare any kind of eventual criminal case against them.

But I think, operating at a more -- higher priority, at least right now, at least at another level is the effort to, number one, secure the scene, and that has not happened yet. There are still people inside, people unaccounted for, people apparently injured, and right now they have SWAT teams for four different jurisdictions going in there methodically, as I said, going through the school, trying to rescue people who may be hiding, rescue people who may be injured and unable to get to safety, as well as at the same time trying to confine the gunmen until they can decide either to...

CHEN: All right, we're looking at pictures again. We've been getting coverage from the various affiliates, first KMGH, now KCNC-TV. Apparently some sort of armored vehicle. We heard from CNN correspondent Tony Clark a few moments ago that the police authorities there did intend to use SWAT vehicles to move as close as they could to the high school doors so that in the possibility that they could get any students out, any students who might be hostage at this point inside. They're going to try to bring the armored vehicles as close as possible to the school to try to get those kids out and to safety as quickly as possible.

We're looking at these pictures taken by the helicopter of KNCN- TV in the Denver area. The high school, again, is right outside of Denver, southwest of Denver in Littleton, Colorado. It is Columbine High School, and we understand, as we have been reporting from CNN's Tony Clark, that there are as well four SWAT teams, local SWAT teams that have gone into the high school. They are working through the high school now, trying to find both the suspects in this shooting incident as well as any students who may be injured or being held hostage or hiding for their own safety somewhere in this very large high school. You've been seeing some of the pictures taken by the local affiliates there, showing pictures of how big this campus is as well.

We're going to go now to local station KUSA-TV is bringing us their coverage. Let's listen in to that.

JIM, KUSA ANCHOR: ... direct path between you and the school.

DELGADO: They are in a direct path between us and the school, yes, and there are some police cars here. When they get word that they can go in and retrieve some of the wounded students. The police cars are rushing in there, they're getting the students and they're coming back out here. There are several ambulances here on standby, again some paramedics, just waiting for those students to come out.

KIM, KUSA ANCHOR: Ginger, have you heard anything more about the three young men we saw arrested in that field at Clement Park? Have you heard anything new about that?

DELGADO: No, we really haven't heard anything new. The only thing we heard is that they were friends of the suspect.

Let's swing the camera around right now, because I'm being told that -- well, you can see some of the officers on horseback back there.

But, no, Kim, I have not heard anything more on those suspects. They have been taken away and all we know is that they were friends of the people responsible.

JIM: Ginger, with all the grassy area surrounding that school, horseback probably not a bad way to get around.

DELGADO: Not a bad way to get around. I'm sure they can -- they have a very good vantage point from being up at that elevated level. You know, they're just -- they have called -- CBI has told us that they have literally called every single police agency out here.

You can see right here there are some fire department personnel, some paramedics that are bringing a gurney -- it looks like they're bringing a gurney into one of these houses here. We know that there are several students in that house. There's at least 10 or 15 students that they have asked to wait inside there.

I don't know whether any of them are injured. The last we were told, or the last I saw, there were no one injured, they were just very shaken up and very distraught. But they're going in there for some reason, so as soon as we find out, we'll let you know.

JIM: Ginger, for all the people who happen to live on that little street where you're reporting from, anybody who was home at the time, what a horrible situation probably trying to reach out, help the kids if they could. At the same time, I'm sure the paramedics wanted everybody to keep a safe distance, but that looks like a nice residential area where probably a lot of people asking, "What can I do to help?"

NOGADO: Exactly, Jim. You know, this is a very nice residential area. Not a lot of people were home at the time, but certainly a lot of people have come home after hearing word about what happened.

The parents who live in this area are being very helpful. They are telling police -- they're opening up their homes for students. They are opening up their homes for parents and for police officers. They are letting them use their phone, their restrooms. I mean, the show of support -- the community is absolutely unbelievable.

KIM: You know, Ginger, we're just watching this young woman walk over to that ambulance behind you, and she has blood splattered on her shirt and on her arm. It's just horrific to think of what these people have been through today.

DELGADO: It really is, Kim. You know, we've been seeing a lot of that, some of it just absolutely too graphic to show you. These kids are coming out, some of them extremely wounded, very seriously wounded, and, you know, it's just a really, really sad, disturbing sight for a reporter. I can tell you this is one of the most disturbing stories I've ever covered in my career, and certainly a lot of the pictures are too graphic to even show you, so you're seeing most of the mild stuff, I can tell you, at home, but it is much more graphic when you're out here in the field.

JIM: Ginger, how long after the shooting did you arrive at the scene?

DELGADO: We arrived at the scene probably about 20 minutes after the shooting, and we came straight here to the triage area. I don't know whether there's another triage area, but this seems to be the main one, because this is where most of the students are coming.

When we got here, there was at least 13 students being treated for very serious injuries. It was so chaotic. A lot of their friends were here. Parents started showing up. But now it has subsided, it has dissipated. The crowd has dissipated. There's not a lot of people here, other than paramedics and fire personnel.

JIM: Now, you said that there was a lot of ground transport -- I see the ambulance behind you. Can any of the kids who are being treated go directly from the triage onto some of the helicopters?

DELGADO: Yes. The helicopters are landing in the open field behind me, and so what they're doing is the most seriously injured are being airlifted to the hospital. We have seen some air life helicopters land, some Flight For Life helicopters land in this open field right behind me. So the most seriously injured are being airlifted. The ones who are less injured are being taken in the ambulance.

JIM: All right. Ginger Delgado, thanks very much. There you see a live picture, some of the police units moving throughout the area. That is Clement Park between Ginger's location and the school. We have seen people on horseback, we have seen four-wheel-drive vehicles like that one. Certainly, that's an area where police feel that they can get a pretty good vantage, at least from the ground level, as to what's going on inside that school.

KIM: And, really, so much is unknown at this point.

JIM: Right. Right.

KIM: We know that we have at least two suspects that are inside the school. We believe there are hostages inside that school. Some of the people have been shot, and SWAT teams are hoping to get to them and hoping to get them some help. They certainly need some medical help.

We don't know a whole lot more about the suspects. Again, we've been told they came in in dark trenchcoats and black masks and hats and apparently they opened fire in the cafeteria area about 11:30 this morning.

JIM: We got some troubling information from Steve Davis. He is a spokesman with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, was talking with Adelle Arakawa (ph) about 20 minutes ago, said -- based on what I heard, and correct me if I'm wrong -- but did you hear him say that SWAT teams were actually inside or at least just on the outside, could see in the windows, and they could see victims laying on the ground.

KIM: Yeah. Yeah. That's very troubling, and obviously they don't know what their condition is and they certainly would like to get to them, but they're trying to establish contact with the suspects at this point. And he said they had heard, at least in one case, where there was gunfire exchanged between an officer and the suspect. None of the officers have been hurt at this point, but it doesn't seem like these people are willing to negotiate right now.

JIM: Well, right now we're going to send it back out to Adelle Arakawa. Adele, what's the latest from your vantage point?

ADELLE ARAKAWA, KUSA REPORTER: We're getting some new information. First of all, let's start off by telling you that President Bill Clinton in Washington, D.C. is expected to address this incident at any time, so we may interrupt that to carry his comments live.

The newest information that we have is we have a latest count of 18 students now transported to six area hospitals. Again, all of this started around 11:00. At least two suspects, as we've been saying all morning long and all afternoon long, dressed in black masks and black trenchcoats.

We understand that there are students trapped on the second floor. We still don't know how many students are inside. We are told that 90 percent of the students have been evacuated from the school. Not knowing what the student population is, that's hard to say, but we can say that most of the students have been evacuated from the school.

Parents have been directed to Leawood Elementary and Columbine Public Library to hook up with the students, with their children there and to find out if they are indeed safe.

That's about the latest information that we do have. We have been seeing some of the helicopters that Ginger was talking about leaving from her vantage point. She's south of the school. We're are north northeast of the school, and there's a life-flight helicopter on the soccer field here north of the school that there is no activity around. We do see some helicopters hovering around -- of course, some are media helicopters -- but the latest information that we do have -- students trapped on the second floor, and again, we can't confirm the information that Steve Davis, Jefferson County Public Information Officer, had given us that there are students who are wounded within the school that they are trying to get SWAT teams into. We are told SWAT teams are inside the school. Other than that, they are not divulging much about their plan as far as trying to get to the gunmen, the two suspects at least at this point, because they really don't want to give away their strategy. Kim and Jim?

JIM: You know, Adelle, something that we should -- and we've got a little bit of time to chat about it while we wait for the president to make his remarks about the shooting. You mentioned it to Steve Davis earlier and more than a couple -- we can safely say several students have mentioned this Trench Coat Mafia, as they were nicknamed, a group of about eight kids, certainly could be described as something of social outcasts at the school. And it might just be coincidence, but several kids have said that they suspect that the gunmen who came in, just the way that they were dressed, might indeed be part of that small school clique known as the Trench Coat Mafia.

ARAKAWA: That was some of the earlier reports that we had heard. KOA Radio was reporting just that, that one student had actually said that she had been involved with this particular Trench Coat Mafia is the name that they are using. Steve Davis wasn't really familiar with that, and, of course, they're still investigating.

But this one girl had said on KOA Radio that these were somewhat perceived by other students as somewhat of the social outcasts of the school, that they seemed to be kind of identified with the kind of, if you want to call it that, the "bad element" of the school, that they kind of hung out together and that type of thing.

So the -- at least question has been raised if this is a gang that was formed at the school or loosely belonged to the school or...

KIM: Oh, and we just lost contact with Adelle Arakawa. She is north of Columbine High School where the shooting took place this afternoon.

JIM: Right now we're looking at file video that came in about an hour ago. You saw that one young man getting down to his knees, being frisked by police officers. Those are three -- described by authorities, described as three accomplices of the gunmen who are inside the school.

We say "gunmen." From the sounds of it, teenagers, school students who marched into the school this morning and opened fire. And I'm sure that investigators are hoping they can get information from those alleged accomplices about exactly what the motivation was and exactly what kind of weapons those young men were packing when they went into that school today.

KIM: And also troubling -- we notice that they did ask one of the men that they arrested -- they cleaned out his pockets and apparently there was something in -- and he had something with him that they were very concerned about, although they haven't released that information.

You know, we have been reporting on this story for over three hours now at this point, and the students have been -- have been talking to us and telling us what they saw and they heard at Columbine High School this morning. Let's listen to an interview recorded earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLUMBINE STUDENT: This can't be happening to our school.

COLUMBINE STUDENT: I know. We don't...

COLUMBINE STUDENT: It's -- oh, I don't know.

COLUMBINE STUDENT: We should be safe at school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BETTERMAN: Right there you heard one of the students who had gone through just a horrible situation this morning. We don't know if that was somebody who was there to witness the shooting; might have had a friend who was wounded during the melee when the guns started going off.

This was video from the triage unit -- the makeshift triage, really has been set-up from the looks of it on the lawn on a home not too far from Columbine High School. There you heard from one of the students. You can see some the grief being displayed by the students and faculty.

And the Red Cross is providing grief counselors, both at Leawood Elementary and at Columbine Public Library. That's where a lot of the students are being told to go at this point to get reunited with parents who might be coming to the area and trying to find their children. Certainly there's going to be an awful lot of grief counseling that's needed to get that Columbine High School community through this.

DYER: That's right, and the weeks, the months even years to come after something like this. We've been telling you that 18 people have been injured, in some cases critically in this shooting, and they have been taken to various hospitals around the metropolitan area.

Sarah Spalding (ph) from Swedish Medical Center has an update for us, and this is an interview recorded a short time ago for the injured at the Swedish Medical Center. Oh, Sarah is on the phone with us.

Sarah, can you give us an update on the conditions?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, so far it is 18 people that are critically injured. We don't know much more past that. But we do know one thing, the gunmen was Howard Stern. He was shooting up the whole school. It was ridiculous. He was angry because nobody was watching his Saturday night television...

DYER: Apparently that was not Sarah Spalding, and someone else is calling in and -- posing as somebody from one of the hospitals that we've been trying to talk to today. We do know at Swedish Medical Center that we have four people at Swedish Medical Center. One is a teenaged girl who was shot at least eight to nine times.

BETTERMAN: Situation not only at Swedish, but also Littleton, Denver Health Medical Center; 18 victims, some in very critical condition. We described earlier, how one young woman, teenaged student from Columbine, came in with as many as eight or nine gunshot wounds to Swedish Medical Center was described as conscious when she came in -- what a courageous young woman, and went into surgery. We understand that she has survived to this point. All the students at Columbine or I should say at Swedish have been described as being in serious condition. One female in critical condition at St. Anthony Central. With Littleton Porter (ph); four with gunshot wounds; conditions unknown at this point.

There you see a map of where all this started to play out, tragically this morning at about 11:15, Columbine High School, at about Pierce and Coal Mine; that is a Jefferson County Public High School. At least two, possibly three gunmen walked in -- could be students -- we don't know for sure right now -- dressed in black ski masks, heavily armed, wearing trench coats; opening fire in the cafeteria area. We know of several people who were wounded there. Then the mayhem just spread out from that location.

DYER: And some of the wounded are still in that cafeteria area, possibly. Police officers have seen victims that are down in the school, and they haven't been able to get to them because the suspects are still in the school.

CHEN: Bringing you the latest information on the school shooting in Littleton, Colorado. We understand that President Clinton is about to make some remarks regarding this shooting. Let's hear from him.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me begin by saying that we all know there has been a terrible shooting at a high school in Littleton, Colorado. Because the situation as I left to come out here apparently is ongoing, I think it would be inappropriate for me to say anything other than I hope the American people will be praying for the students, the parents and the teachers. And we will wait for events to unfold and then there will be more to say.

I have just met with my economic team to discuss the steps that we will be taking in the weeks and months ahead to continue to advance our prosperity at home and abroad. As you know, the economy continues to grow in ways...

CHEN: Very brief statement from President Clinton regarding the shootings in Littleton, Colorado. We'll report later here on CNN on his statement about the economy.

But on the particular developing situation underway right now in Littleton, Colorado, the president only asked that the American people pray for the students, the teachers and the parents of Columbine High School where this situation is still playing out.

Again, to our viewers who are joining us late in the day, this is a situation that started about 11:00 local time, mountain time outside of Denver, Colorado this morning. This is just outside of Denver, a suburban area called Littleton. It's southwest of the city of Denver -- big high school as you see in the pictures, where about 11:00 this morning two young men dressed in black, wearing trench coats and armed -- heavily armed apparently entered the school and began shooting. By reports of student witnesses they said that they came in; they were shooting, and according to some witnesses were also carrying pipe bombs as well.

Reports from local hospitals and authorities we can confirm 14 hurt in the attack, however the numbers may move higher. Some of the local stations are reporting higher numbers.

We also understand that the SWAT teams which have been able to move up as you see in these pictures -- some of the local police there and fire officials as well trying to move very close to the building. These are pictures from earlier, but they were trying to move very close to the building; look in the windows; see if they could reach any students who might still be trapped because of what the gunmen are doing; who may be injured and unable to get themselves out or may just be hiding. They've been going around the sides of the building as well. We understand as SWAT have entered the building according to CNN correspondent Tony Clark to look around to see if they are able to bring any students out, also to see if they are able to have access, and are able to bring the suspects in this case down.

But from the local hospitals we are able to confirm 14 injuries; some of them quite serious; critical in some cases; one young woman who was shot nine times in the chest. You may see some break-up in the picture. Our signal coming from the various stations.

Again to our viewers, there are four local affiliates in the Denver area, and we are working with all four of those stations to try to bring you the best coverage possible of this developing situation. In some cases we're getting pictures of things that it isn't entirely clear to us what we are looking at. But as you see the police still believe at this late hour, and it's now just after 2:30 local time there in Denver, so more than three and a half hours since the incident first started. But they believe that students may be trapped, may be injured and inside this building; inside this very large public high school as you are seeing there. And also they have not at this point been able to locate the suspects, and bring them into custody at this point either -- so a developing situation.

You see they have in several cases been able to move up to the school, and get some students out as you see the students there fleeing as quickly as they can from the school building. In some cases going into the surrounding areas, which is a suburban residential area. We saw in some cases children waiting in areas, and the side streets right around the high school to be taken for treatment, for injuries, for possible shock, whatever they are experiencing right in the neighborhoods right around the school. And, of course, you can understand the chaos as many, many concerned parents try to reach their children and to find out what has become of them.

There also have been reports, unconfirmed reports, but reports of phone calls made by students inside the building still trapped, still afraid to come out of the building. Students from inside the building calling out; in one case calling a local police station. We also heard in the newscasts from one of the local stations there that a child called home and told his parents he's OK, but he was hiding inside the building.

Want to bring you now pictures from KMGH TV. You see here some sort of armored vehicle and a SWAT team moving very, very close to the building. Let's listen.

BERTHA: Lead them out to safety and they would try to go back in to make sure there was nobody else who needed their attention. Now, look, we're watching students -- look, there's a bloody student right there in the window.

SHAWN: We're trying to see exactly where the SWAT team members are trying to get to. You can see somebody in the window there. At this point we don't know if it's a student. The person is obviously trying to flag them down; trying to get their attention. I'm not sure if we can get any video of the -- we don't know if the SWAT team members have already driven by or not. I don't know if we can go back to that picture or not, but as you can obviously see there's still some students. There are still some staff trapped inside that building. The SWAT team is doing their very best at this point. They are very well trained, but they are doing their very best to try to the get everybody out. But you can see the desperation in that situation. You can see, the SWAT team obviously has been able to extricate that person from the building.

BERTHA: Unbelievable.

SHAWN: Incredible video, and right now we don't know how many more students might be stuck in there desperately trying the get out; breaking window in this case, trying to get out to the SWAT team and trying to get to safety.

BERTHA: That poor person -- we couldn't tell if it was a student or staff, faculty member -- who it was. That person obviously was in distress, and will hopefully will get immediate medical attention. Where are we going now? Can we go back out to the scene? Is it possible to see what's happening there?

SHAWN: Just to let you know at this point the shooting started at about 11:30 this morning.

CHEN: All right. To our viewers who have been watching this developing situation here on CNN, we're getting coverage from four stations in the Denver area -- the four local affiliates -- of a shooting at a high school in Littleton, Colorado, a suburb southwest of Denver; an incident that began about 11:00 local team this morning. We understand the latest confirmed reports that we have are 14 students injured and being treated in local hospitals. However, as you see, this is still a very developing situation, and just moments ago we saw someone able to break out and able to get to the SWAT team outside, obviously another injured person, whether that was student or faculty we do not know, but do we expect that the number might go higher than the 14.

Now we understand the number has officially moved to 15 hurt in this attack, but certainly that number could be higher. We also understand, from some of the local TV stations, that some of the SWAT teams have seen injured people lying inside the building. Let's listen now to KUSA TV in Denver.

LAMONICA: ... right now as we fly to southwesterly direction, we're in a -- just a little bit of a slow turn toward the south, down toward Chatfield Reservoir, and over toward the southwest. But you can see that they have really buttoned up the high school. There's nothing getting in, nothing getting out, and earlier, of course, we had the arrest of the three people that you saw live on 9 News, and also those students -- about two dozen -- that were able to get out.

But right now, everything appears to be in a hold mode, but we have some information that hopefully some more students might be released here in the next couple of minutes. Just got a good feeling about it as we look at this entire operation. We're withholding some of the specifics; obviously we're not going to tip anybody's hand at this time.

And again, this whole area has been cordoned off. I know a lot of people are concerned, they may want to try to get to the school, and we just want to, again, strongly urge that you do not come here, that you not -- do not try to get to the high school or the high school area. Simply go over to the Columbine Library: that is the place to go for additional information or at the Leawood Elementary School.

And again, you're looking at a live picture of Columbine High School, the entire complex, and Clement Park; that's adjacent to it.

Reporting live from Sky-9, I'm Tony Lamonica, 9 News. Now back to Jim and Kyle.

BETTERMAN: Tony, what's that main drag as we look at it now, on the other side of the high school?

LAMONICA: Well, what you've got here is you've got Pierce Street, and then Wadsworth and Pierce -- Wadsworth is on the far west, Pierce on the east -- and of course Bowles and Coal Mine north and south, and that is a -- the whole area that's closed off.

In the bottom of the screen, where you can see the tennis courts and that area around in there, that area is Clement Park. And then off to the right, if we were to pull the camera back a little bit -- off to the right is the Leawood Elementary School.

And you can see that law enforcement has done a wonderful job in isolating this whole area so that police can concentrate on trying to bring this thing to a resolve as quickly as possible. And as you can see, some of the staging -- at the bottom that's some of the emergency equipment, and on that curb at the bottom of the picture, those were some of the cars that belong to, obviously, the students and the teachers at the school. Those are the tennis courts in the back, and you can see, in that green area to the north of the picture and off to the east side, that's where those three suspects -- or three people were taken into custody for questioning concerning those that might have been involved in the shooting incident.

This is a very, very big, sprawling complex -- this is a very big school, and it's going to take some time to go room to room and vent area to vent area. It's going to take a long time to check out this entire school safely, getting the officers in, and hopefully getting those suspects in custody quickly, that this thing doesn't drag on into the nighttime hours.

BETTERMAN: Tony, as we get into the afternoon drive, a lot of detours in that area.

LAMONICA: Yes, really. Everything is pretty much closed off, but the nice thing is that, with the word that we've been able to put out on 9 News, and certainly area media, the public, I think, is doing a good - is doing a really good job staying away. You can see that we really don't have any major traffic jam here right now, and it's not going to affect C-470, it will not affect Kipling (ph), and it really won't affect Wadsworth Boulevard, where the heavily traveled sections are.

But again, at the center of your screen, that is Columbine High School -- that is the complex -- and then Clement Park is beyond it. And then of course, as part of this complex...

CHEN: To our viewers now, we've been watching the coverage from the various stations -- the four stations in the Denver area, all of this developing situation. Let's listen now to KMGH TV.

COLUMBINE STUDENT: One of my best friends, Ashley, is in there. Just any of my -- I don't even care if they're my friends, people that I know, I'm just scared that they're in there. But I've been able to get a hold of most of them, so I'm thankful for that.

MITCH JELNIKER, KMGH REPORTER: OK, Marty (ph), we thank you for joining us. Marty's a freshman here at Columbine High School, trying to give us an update of what she saw or heard inside.

Again, we've just been -- we mentioned earlier, most of the kids heard the gunshots. Some thought they heard some explosions; it remains to be seen whether those were just the shotgun blasts or gunshots. We're not sure about that.

I think we have a live picture, John, of the situation at the school and -- from the chopper, and you can see apparently from the picture -- and I cannot see it as you can at home -- but there are some other students been able to get out of a couple of those spots, those nooks and crannies and rooms around the school area.

SHAWN: Yes, I meant to -- I'm sorry to bother you...

JELNIKER: Go ahead.

SHAWN: Mitch, as you were talking to that young lady, we did see another group of students -- maybe as many as eight to 10 students -- who apparently were freed from the high school, they ran out under cover from the SWAT teams as we have seen so many times this afternoon. And right now we are looking at live pictures from Air Tracker 7 of these students piling into cars and hopefully moving off to safer ground at this point.

BERTHA: And some of them...

JELNIKER: Shawn, as we continue to look at that picture -- pardon me, I'm going to bring John Farusia in here. I mentioned to you a moment ago that there was a quick news conference. John had his head poked in there, what'd they say?

JOHN FARUSIA, KMGH REPORTER: Well basically, Mitch, what's going on is they've taken an armored car, and moved in some of the SWAT team into the area of the hallway around the cafeteria, and around the auditorium area, and they've systematically now started going through and they've found pockets of people hiding -- students and sometimes teachers -- hiding in closets or restrooms or whatever, and they're bringing them out. Several groups have been brought out.

But they're also finding that there are more victims in there, and they're being covered by this armored car, basically, as they bring these victims out and get them to the hospital.

So this thing, so far, seems far from over. There's still people in there. They don't really know how many people may be hiding, and they're just working their way trying to systematically work their way through the building to bring people out.

JELNIKER: And -- yeah, we're hearing a lot of conflicting stories as to whether or not there are students inside, and whether they can call out. And we're hearing a lot of things but none of them are terribly -- a lot of them we're not comfortable with repeating because it may not be the case, it's still unofficial word.

I can tell you that, while John was there talking to police, and I was on the air a moment ago, that I saw the FBI SWAT team pull up. I also saw Denver D.A. Bill Ritter come to the scene; so obviously another indication that this is, as you said, far from over.

FARUSIA: Right, I think it's pretty clear from what we're hearing here that they really don't know how many people are accounted for, or unaccounted for, more to the point. And they don't know if those people are injured somewhere in the building, or whether they just might be hiding. And, as you might expect, there are lots of parents and family members here waiting to hear, "Where is my child?" and that's probably the most agonizing part of this right now, because you don't know if your child's inside safe, hiding or maybe a victim of this gunman.

JELNIKER: OK, John, thank you. And Shawn, we'll back to you and Bertha for a moment.

BERTHA: OK, thank you, Mitch. And as Mitch and John were making very clear from the scene, this is an agonizing situation for all of us. And we have on -- we have on the line a neighbor who reports...

CHEN: All right, that's the latest breaking information from KMGH TV, one of the four stations in Denver that CNN is work with to bring you the best coverage of what's going on in Littleton, Colorado, a suburb outside -- southwest of Denver, Colorado, where earlier today, according to student reports, two masked gunmen wearing all black trench coats, came into the building, they may possibly have been students at the school themselves, they began shooting at least 18 people.

Let's listen now to KUSA TV.

LAMONICA: This is the very same area where a SWAT team went in earlier, and then you saw, initially, about, oh, three or four students, and then about two dozen that we described to you -- and look at all these students -- this is just dozens and dozens of students that are fleeing for safety, coming out of the school now. Officers up on the hill by this fire truck, and many, many students just coming out of this building. And the good news is that they look like they're OK, and they're running over here by this ambulance. Let's see if we can move the camera in just a little bit closer.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: .. turned on the police scanner and heard the first 911 call come in.

SHAWN: OK, thank you very much. Sorry to interrupt you, but we are showing live pictures now -- it appears to be a great number -- more than 20 or so -- students who have been freed from the high school, Bertha.

BERTHA: Oh Shawn, I'm sorry, did you see that one student go down? There seems to be some sort of little overflow area or a creek -- I don't know if it's an intentional creek or just something that happens when there's moisture -- precipitation, rain, whatever -- but students are running out of there at full speed, many of them have to keep their hands up at the direction of police, I would assume, and they lose their balance in that particular area.

I -- if we can get Air Tracker 7 and Rich Wester (ph) to just pull out and go back to a little -- OK. It has -- OK, my suspicion has been confirmed: I saw somebody down on the ground and we will try to avoid that area. We don't know if that person is seriously injured or just waiting for somebody to come get them.

SHAWN: There were a good 20 or 30 students, as you are seeing, once again live from Air Tracker 7, who came running out of the school. They all have their hands atop their head, and Bertha, and you mentioned, this is common procedure that police are telling them to do so to make sure that these are not, indeed, some of the suspects who might be trying to mingle themselves away, mingle themselves back into a group of students and possibly escape any...

BERTHA: Consequences.

SHAWN: Consequences from police.

BERTHA: That's a good point.

SHAWN: But this is most certainly the scene we've been seeing all afternoon, and this has to be good news for any parents out there. There are a number of students out there with their hands on top of their heads and...

BERTHA: Hugging each other, reassuring each other. The terror is not over for these students. Now they have been huddled in the school for three hours now, but the terror is not over for them. They have just now made their escape, and even more are making their escape even as we speak, running up steps, running across -- and please take it easy over there on that sidewalk -- but they make it to the parking lot, and then they shuttle them out of the parking lot, a few at a time, as soon as they can get vehicles, police vehicles in there to take them out, they do.

SHAWN: As we are watching more students run to safety from Columbine High School, Mitch Jelniker joins us once again from the scene with update -- Mitch.

JELIKER: Yes, Shawn, as you continue to look at those pictures from Air Tracker 7, we can tell you, we just talked to police and got a bit more of an update. They tell us now that there are 14 shooting victims. They did not clarify for us whether they were all students, or perhaps some of those teachers. And that is just those shot, and I can't tell you, among those, who may have lost their struggle, and who may have just been shot and already treated and released.

But the count thus far that the police have given us is that 14 people in Columbine High School have been injured, in one way or another. That is the latest from them as they are trying to give us an update.

As you watch more students come out, again, as you mentioned, with their hands on top of their heads, because, remember, many of the students are telling us that the gunmen were in fact school-age or perhaps students themselves, so to be extra cautious of course the police are making sure they question and stop anyone of that age group, or anyone of any age group, quite frankly, around that school area.

If you're just tuning in, we should stop and take a deep breath for a moment. And if you're getting home and turning us on, we should take it from the top, and let you know that a little after 11:25 this morning there at at Columbine High School -- you see it there on the map, roughly Pierce and Bowles -- we understand that three younger armed men came in with long -- a couple of them had long, black coats on, started shooting, started in the lower parking lot of that school area, that campus of Columbine High School in Jefco; and then, we're told, moved into the cafeteria area, and them moved on through the school.

Here are some hotlines. If you are a parent, just getting home, just getting word of this, Columbine High School. You see Denver parents, also there is a statewide... CHEN: All right, you were just hearing a little bit of the information from one of the TV stations there in Denver. We've been working with four stations in Denver to bring you the latest on the situation in Littleton, Colorado.

The school is Columbine High School, where earlier today, a little after 11:00 in the morning local time, Mountain Time, this morning, students report that two individuals, school-aged, and possibly students at this school themselves, came in, wearing all black, trench coats or long-type coats and ski-masks -- they are very heavily armed -- and they began shooting.

Now CNN has confirmed with the various hospitals in the area that at least 18 people have been treated or are being treated now as a result of injuries sustained in this shooting attack inside Columbine High School.

We've been watching several TV stations. This one is KUSA TV in Denver. Let's listen to their coverage.

LAMONICA: This window that's in the center on the first floor, beyond that little blue car, that's where the students have been coming out of. And if we pull the camera back just a little bit more, you can see that officers have taken cover in this particular area of the high school complex.

We'll stay on this for just a moment, trying to figure out exactly what might be going on.

That window right there on the bottom, those two windows, and the one on the side, that one in the middle, that is where the officers have been going in, and that is where the students have been coming out; that has been the window at the light of the tunnel that has led them to freedom. And then they went up the sidewalk over toward this fire-pumper, where we had a bunch of officers in the front taking cover right there. You can see there is still a couple there. And then back over here, in this corner, is where everyone has safely taken refuge. You can see the great number of students that have come out of the school in the last couple of minutes.

I don't know what went on inside there. But wait until we talk to them. Jim, it's going to be an amazing story.

DYER: Well, and it sounds like the police, given the nature of everything right now, do not want them to leave that area, even just a few feet away from that area, because the way they have taken cover, it seems like something is about to happen here.

Again, we were told that these suspects were on the second floor of the school. Is that your understanding, Tony.

LAMONICA: Well, that's one report that we have. And let's put the camera back in over here and see if we can see any activity up on the second floor. You can see some of the blinds are down, some of them are up. And I think somebody is coming out of this window here. I think we may have somebody coming out of the window here. This is, again, the same area where the students have fled for safety, just dozens of them, out of this particular area.

And I don't know whether this party is waving for some help or what he's waving for, but his hands are now up in the air, and he is making some type of motion and looking back inside of the high school. I'm not sure what this all means -- maybe there's somebody inside there that needs some help.

OK, now he's walking down to the other window. What kind of amazes me is that this party is not running for safety, that this party is still staying by the school.

BETTERMAN: Tony, perhaps quick review for the people who are joining us as we come up toward 3:00 -- this is Columbine High School in Jefferson County. At about 11:15 this morning two -- at least two, possibly three gunmen, believed by many to be students at the school, came in heavily armed, started opening fire; at least 18 students were wounded, taken to area hospitals; now being treated by gunshot wounds. We have no reports of fatalities, but we do have reports of several students in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds.

Tony Lamonica, up in Sky 9 has just been giving us a marvelous look at what is transpiring right now. These are students who were able to be freed from the building with help of SWAT teams, in about the last 10 minutes.

We understand that the shooters and still many students, unfortunately, are probably still inside the school. But this is certainly good news, Tony, to see so many young people be able to get to safety.

LAMONICA: Well, I'll tell you, up here at altitude, when we start to see a couple come out, and then a couple more and then it must have been 30 or 40 in a group, just all running as quick as they could; and the good news: This group looks like they have not been hurt, and that's certainly good news at this point in this very...

CHEN: All right, you've been watching live coverage. That last coverage coming to us from KUSA TV, one of the four Denver stations that CNN is working with to bring you the latest developments on the situation in Littleton, Colorado, at Columbine High School, where a number of people have been shot. By the latest reports confirmed by CNN, from local hospitals in the area, at least 18 people are being treated as a result of injuries sustained in the shooting attack at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

This incident began about 11:00 this morning. Students report that two individuals, who may also have been students at the school, came in wearing black, long coats, wearing ski masks as well, and began shooting. They were heavily-armed individuals -- shotguns by some accounts, and also thought to perhaps be carrying pipe bombs.

This situation has been going on for hours, because the authorities believe that a number of students are either trapped or held hostage inside. They sent SWAT teams; as you see, moving in, in these pictures taken earlier by KMGH TV. They moved SWAT teams into into the building and then, as you see, they were able to free dozens. And we were trying to count earlier how many dozen. I counted in the vicinity of about three dozen that were able to move out very, very quickly, as you see, running to their own safety, being moved out by the police, by the authorities there.

You see these young people, the students from the TV station, pictures there; those pictures taken just a few minutes ago as dozens of students were able to get out. They, as you saw, had their hands up by their heads, which apparently was a precaution made by the police; they were told to keep their hands up by their heads until they were able to make it to safety.

We want to go back now to pictures being taken now by KUSA TV, one of the four stations in Denver. They're also covering it by helicopter; over the scene now. Let's listen.

KIM: And, Dell (ph), it's still so troubling to think of the fact that we keep referring to two gunmen inside this school, and they are believed to be fellow students -- we're talking about teenagers.

DELL (ph), REPORTER: That's the latest reports that we are having. Actually, we just got an update from Steve Davis, who is the Jefferson County public information officer. He says that no communication has been established at this point with the suspects, and they still believe there are at least two suspects still inside.

We have gotten some conflicting reports about the number of people injured and transported to area hospitals. He gave us an updated version, or an updated number as 14. They do still believe, obviously, that the suspects are still inside.

We had talked with a couple of students who were just coming back from lunch, who came up to Columbine High School, and talking with their friends, they figured out what had happened. One of the ones that we had talked to said they saw one student who had been wounded, not seriously she didn't think.

So a lot of these students that we had talked to, kind of telling about what they're going through emotionally; both of them said, you know, you might think that this might happen in a big city or an urban area; you just never thought that it would happen here.

The latest information that we have, too: There are, indeed, TV's in every classroom. So indeed if the gunmen are inside and do have access -- and we assume they do -- to any of the classrooms, that we are assuming that they are able to watch all of the coverage that's going on right now, Jim and Kim.

BETTERMAN: We would say give yourselves up.

A large group, which is kind of taking shelter in the corner of the building over there; they are kind of clinging to one another. This is obviously a very terrifying and harrowing experience for them. But it appears at this point, that they are plucking out several of the students at a time, making sure they are OK, making sure that possibly they weren't even involved in some periphery fashion in what happened today, and taking them to safety.

KIM: Now Air Tracker 7, Channel 7's helicopter is at some distance. But we have the ability to go in close that you can tell that, that was a Denver Police Department vehicle. And in a situation like this, it's all hands on deck. These jurisdictional boundaries sort of dissolve, and all law enforcement agencies pitch in to help in a situation like this. We have many, many terrorized people. They have been out of the situation for some hours, but they are still reacting to the tragedy that unfolded in front of them. And we have a witness standing by with Rhonda Sholting (ph), a 7 News reporter.

Rhonda.

BETTERMAN: Apparently -- Rhonda.

RHONDA SHOLTING, KMGH REPORTER: What the sheriff deputies here are telling me, just a few feet south of the intersection of Polk and Pierce, this is a house that I can see sitting in front of me. It is split-level house, brown in color, very much like the rest of the houses in the neighborhood, But this one is very special in that this is where several students ran from the school when the shooting started. They ran to this house looking for shelter.

We've been here only a few minutes, but while we have been here we have seen a couple of parents come to pick up their students, cheerful reunions, children looking very shocked as they are led off. They are being escorted by sheriff deputies and other officers as they walk away. And we are unable to speak with them. But just by looking at their faces I can tell that they are not really probably comprehending what has happened here today.

Now, one of the deputies has told me to move back a little bit further. I'm note sure what is happening. There's a few other cars that are pulling in. I think perhaps just more parents are coming in.

But this location that we are in, although it was safe enough for the students who are inside the house still at this time, it is not a very safe place for people who are outside.

BETTERMAN: All right, Rhonda Sholting, thank you very much. We are now looking at a live picture of more SWAT team members reportedly moving in to hopefully pull some more students out of that building.

We have seen this go on all afternoon where SWAT team members in full garb, full gear, body armor will walk in a single-file line and they will also use the armored truck. There's a truck, perhaps, that might be being pulled in for such a use. They will walk behind that truck to shield them from any possible gunfire, because at this point they are under the assumption -- and this is very wise on their part -- that the gunmen are still armed, they are still in there, and they might still be very much a threat to anyone.

BETTERMAN: That's right. Mitch Jelniker told us that his sources on the scene, law enforcement officers on the scene are reporting that they have had no contact with these suspects. They still don't know whether they're looking for two people with weapons or three people, or where they might be in the building. So they have to proceed with all due caution to make sure that they don't move too quickly, because they want to get anymore of those stranded children, stranded high school students out of the facility.

BETTERMAN: Air Tracker pulls out right now to give you a good idea of exactly the scene that we are -- that police are dealing with, I should say. This is another live picture on the ground of perhaps some reporters, some parents and some other officials trying to exactly find out what has happened here and what needs to happen next. These are obviously some students who were running for freedom...

CHEN: And we're watching live coverage from several stations in the Denver area of the shooting at the Littleton, Colorado school, Columbine High School: at least 18 reported injured now. One of the stations, KUSA, has been talking to parents in the area. Let's see if we can hear what they have to say.

PHIL KEATING (ph), KUSA REPORTER: Clearly, there is a whole lot of people here in the schoolyard dying to go up there and see people they are hoping to find come off that bus to know that they are safe and sound. There are many parents here that have met their students. They've since gone home. I'm told all of the elementary school students remain locked up in the classrooms inside.

Once the parents come to pull them out, they are signing them out and then going home. And it's really -- this entire neighborhood around Leawood Elementary School is completely swamped with cars and people.

Take a look out here on the street up here, if you can, Bruce. There's really no parking anywhere. Every curbside is taken up by a car, whether it's a parent, whether it's a member of the media or whether it's fellow students. This place is just crowded with people. Everyone is trying to find and locate and account for people they know.

And naturally when they do arrive here and find that person, it's extremely -- an emotional moment full of great relief. Certainly very tense still, and you can see right there, there is a father and daughter, I believe. Just, glad to be safe.

KIM: Phil, we saw some police officers walk in front of your camera just a moment ago. Are they going onto the bus? Can you tell? Are there police officers on the bus that may be talking to the students?

KEATING: Well, they are right over here. Right beyond these people here -- they gathered in front of the bus. It's really difficult to find someone here around the school because it truly is just quite chaotic to find someone who knows what's going on. It's really not an organized situation as far as I can tell. It's all simply no one knows who is in charge, and everyone is just trying to mill around on their own and find their daughter, or find their friend for that matter.

And now we have another school bus coming through. That one appears to be empty. We were told there were two school buses coming over here from the high school, dropping off students. And again, this is where parents are told to come find their high school student from Columbine High School. everyone is being taken to Leawood Elementary School, and then they are dispersing from here.

Granted there's got to be an untold number of high school students who have come here, hooked up with some friends who had cars and then drove home.

JIM: You know, Phil, we had also heard taking kids to Columbine public library...

KEATING: That's right.

JIM: ... which is not too far away. So do you think that this same scene is now being played out over at Columbine as well?

KEATING: Oh, most undoubtedly. And it's really a scene -- it's not really exactly frantic, but it's certainly filled with a lot of people, extremely concerned because no one knows -- if someone is missing, no one knows where they are: whether they left the school, whether they're out somewhere in the community or whether they're still in the school, hiding out perhaps in one of those classrooms as we've been hearing.

And the situation in the school as far as I've heard remains ongoing with the suspects somewhere still inside the school.

Right now, we've got some of those police officers, sheriff's deputies that we saw a few minutes ago climbing onto the school bus. I can see their feet from underneath the bus.

There is an adult talking to the students on the bus right now. So apparently they are giving them some instructions, some direction as to what to do once they get off the bus. But the entire sidewalk here and front yard of the school is full of people here hoping to finally come up and talk to someone.

Do you guys mind if we talk to you briefly?

LIZ PRINZEY (ph): Hi.

KEATING: Hi. I'm Phil (UNINTELLIGIBLE) from 9 News. You are...?

PRINZEY: Liz.

KEATING: Liz.

PRINZEY: Prinzey.

KEATING: Liz Prinzey. This is your daughter?

PRINZEY: My daughter, Ashley (ph).

KEATING: Hi, Ashley. ASHLEY PRINZEY: Hi.

KEATING: Ashley, you look very shaken up. Are you missing a friend?

ASHLEY: Yes, a couple.

KEATING: And you haven't heard from them at all?

ASHLEY: No. No one knows where they are.

KEATING: What time did you get out of the school?

ASHLEY: Like 11:00, like 15-ish, 11:30.

KEATING: Right after the gunshots.

ASHLEY: Yes. We left right away and went across the street to a park, so.

KEATING: And you were hanging out there for a half hour, hour?

ASHLEY: Yes, and then everyone started yelling again, and then we went across the street again, and we ran into houses wherever we could go. Wherever we could go, we just went into any house we could find.

KEATING: Just looking for safety.

ASHLEY: Yes. And so we got there.

KEATING: And who specifically are you looking for, from your friends?

ASHLEY: A couple of my friends -- two Megans (ph) and Courtney (ph) and Nicole (ph). And we're just trying to find them all. And Amy (ph). A bunch of them are gone.

KEATING: Where do you think they might be? Still in the school?

ASHLEY: Locked -- locked in a room in the school, maybe auditorium or somewhere in the choir room or just in a classroom looked in somewhere.

KEATING: And they are just trying to be safe and hide out and wait until this ends?

ASHLEY: Yes, I'm sure they are all OK. We're just waiting to hear from them to make sure they are.

KEATING: Do you have any idea who these suspects are?

ASHLEY: I don't know -- don't know them personally. I've seen them before, but I don't know.

KEATING: Did you see them this morning? ASHLEY: No. I haven't seen them in, like, a long time. I just heard that they were there and that's who they were.

KEATING: Just an unbelievable situation today.

ASHLEY: Very.

KEATING: Well, good luck.

ASHLEY: Thank you.

KEATING: And Liz, when you first found out about your daughter being at the school, in the shooting, did you race over here as well?

PRINZEY: I didn't know where to go. I didn't know where to go, so I tried to get a hold of the girls, went home and waited for them to call. And they called work, and work said the girls were OK. So just anxiously waiting to hear everyone was safe.

KEATING: Now, Liz, clearly, you are smiling. You've got your daughter here safe and sound.

PRINZEY: I'm smiling, but we are just waiting good word for everyone, everyone included.

KEATING: Because there are a lot of parents here who don't...

PRINZEY: You bet, you bet. I just know everyone is safe. So we're thinking good thoughts and waiting just to give them all big hugs.

KEATING: You know, I was talking to another parent down in the neighborhood of the school. And he told me, you know, this is one of those things you see on TV on the news from around the country and you never think it's going to happen in your backyard. But now here it is.

PRINZEY: Oh, it's bizarre. It's bizarre. And I feel so bad for the kids they have to go through all this for senseless, senseless reasons. So yes, just waiting to hug them all.

KEATING: All right, Liz, thanks so much.

And Jim, let's send it back to you and Kim in the studio. The school buses...

KIM: The buses have taken off, Phil.

KEATING: Well, they went over here and parked. I think they're -- they're trying to get it out of the street. Like I said earlier the street's almost impassable. There are parked cars on all -- both sides of the roads. So apparently the school bus is going around the corner. That's where they -- it appears to me they are letting students off of the bus. I can see some students up there walking around. We don't have too much cable here, Bruce, so it looks like some of the students are starting to walk around the corner: certainly a lot of anxious anticipation.

PAT WARNER (ph), KMGH REPORTER: Two kids who both go to Columbine High School: a senior and a sophomore. Is that correct?

ED OLSON, COLUMBINE FATHER: Yes, sir.

WARNER: And one of them that you know of has gotten out of the school. The other you still have no information on?

OLSON: Yes, not reliable information.

WARNER: So what have they been telling you here, if anything?

OLSON: There is no word. All I know is that people are waiting to see if their kids are going to show or not, you know. It's kind of scary.

WARNER: So what have you been doing? Just kind of waiting for phone calls to come in, making calls yourself?

OLSON: Yes. I'm trying not to be too retroactive in this. I don't want to wait.

WARNER: Obviously there have been buses pulling up here recently with some kids who have been able to get away from Columbine and get over here. Did you scan those?

OLSON: Yes. My wife is here, my ex-wife actually, and she hasn't seen them. So at this point we're just hoping and waiting.

WARNER: Now the son of yours who was able to get out. You did talk to him, right. What did he tell you about what happened?

OLSON: All he knows was that he was in the science room, evidently, and the shooting started about 20 yards away from where he was, and a lot of the kids started to panic, naturally, and he said he tried to keep his cool. Yeah, I guess he was the last one to exit the room. I guess it was crazy, people running everywhere, I don't know.

WARNER: All right, thanks very much, Ed, and best of luck to you. We wish you the best.

That's Ed Olson, as we mentioned, who is a parent of two students at Columbine High School. There are literally hundreds of parents who are either reuniting with children or waiting to find out some word. What happens is, the kids come over here, they're told to go inside and sign a sheet to let everyone know they have indeed checked in, then the parents come and see whether their child's name is on that sheet. The problem is, parents are coming in, they're not finding their child's name on the sheet. They just have to wait, and find out if that child is going to show up. Maybe they went to a house in the neighborhood, maybe they went somewhere else. Maybe they are one of this group of students that are -- just being getting -- escaping from the school now. No one really knows, all they can do is wait.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pat, that's very interesting how they try to connect the parents with the students. Do they have a list of the students who are injured at the various hospitals to be able to compare against that?

PAT WARNER: Well, not that I know of. We are not actually allowed inside the school. They are keeping the media out of the interior of the schools, so we don't know for sure if they have a list. But mainly I think, what they're doing is they're waiting for kids to check in here. That way they know that those kids are not injured and can be reunited with parents. As far as the kids who are injured, we don't know if there is a way for parents to find that out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, Pat Warner (ph), thank you very much, reporting live from Leawood Elementary, where a lot of the parents are at a staging area trying to connect with kids some how. If you are a parent out there and need more information about what is going on and hopefully to find out more about your child, here are some numbers you need. Please take time to write them down:

For Denver parents, that number is 303-620-4444.

CHEN: Local television stations in Denver, Colorado following up on the developing situation coming from Littleton, Colorado -- that's a suburb southwest of Denver. This is a very big high school, Columbine High School, where there are about 1800 students on a normal day. Earlier today, about 11:00 in the morning, there was an incident where students say, that two individuals -- at least two individuals -- came into the building, they began shooting. They were wearing black, long dark coats, possibly trench coats and ski masks. And again, shooting -- at least 18 people have been confirmed being treated at local hospital as a result of their injuries.

You are looking at some of the tape from the local stations that we've been watching on CNN throughout the afternoon. The four local stations -- this is obviously an ambulance bringing some of the injured to some of the local hospitals there. I understand from the local stations that there are six hospitals, all of which have taken patients involved in this situation. Again, some of the injuries have been very serious. We understood earlier that a young man was in surgery, we also heard that there was a young woman who suffered nine gunshot wounds to the chest and was being treated at a local hospital. Again, the local authorities in the Littleton area are very concerned that a number of students had been trapped inside when the shooting broke out; that some of them might even be injured and not able to get themselves out. Others might be hiding inside.

As a result they have been moving very carefully, very gingerly, and had been able to free, as you see there, a number of students throughout this day. Those pictures were from about an hour ago. All the students were moved off to nearby areas and then those who needed treatment taken off to local hospital. These pictures coming to us now, we're moving over to pictures from KCNC, where just a few minutes ago, maybe about 15 minutes ago, they saw dozens of children coming out of the high school. These pictures coming to us now from KMGH; these are even later pictures taken moments ago. We understood that the SWAT teams had gone into the building. They brought an armored car right up to the doorway of the building by the cafeteria area and then the SWAT teams had gone inside, going room to room trying to find both the suspects, whom they had not been able to locate and bring into custody so far, as well as any injured students or other students who were trapped inside that building.

As we saw just a moment ago, they have been bringing out a number of students, and let's listen now to KMGH as we see more SWAT teams lined up outside the building.

JELNIKER: Well you were -- as you were looking at a live picture there of students exiting the building, you were looking at some tape we shot just about two minutes ago from three young men that were inside the school at the time at Columbine High School. We keep seeing these systematic removal of the kids inside the school, sometimes 10, 12, 2 dozen at a time. Keep in mind, Columbine High School has about 2000 students and there are still some inside. The numbers aren't clear, but that's why you continually see, every few minutes, the SWAT teams finding these young people -- they pull them out, they check on them to make sure they're not hurt, then of course they debrief them and then release them over at Leawood Elementary School not far from here down Bowles, to their parents and their guardians.

But you heard those young men that were inside the school describing the scene, something that none of us should have to look at, especially a young student trying to spend the day at school. Bertha, Sean.

SEAN: Mitch, at last report there were approximately 100 officers at the scene. Any update on that, are they bringing in reinforcements at this point?

JELNIKER: I've seen on occasion, in the last hour or so, a -- groups of like a half a dozen SWAT team members that move in and I've seen some come out, so it may be that their relieving one another but they're not giving us word on that, nor are they giving us specific numbers, again in case the gunmen inside are watching the broadcast.

BERTHA: Getting back to the young man that we just heard describing what he saw as he made his exit from the building, Mitch. It certainly changes things, doesn't it, for you, that he is describing what he thought were dead bodies? All I can do is hope that he was mistaken, but all -- for the past several hours as we've been covering this event, we've just been reporting on students who were injured, and now we have somebody who was inside the building saying that he had seen what he thought were people who were deceased, so we have a serious -- very serious situation.

JELNIKER: Yes, it's a very grave situation and we don't know, again it may have been someone down and passed out; it's just not confirmed, and the police are too concentrated -- and for obvious reasons -- on trying to end this situation as peaceably as they can. And they had not told us anything but 14 people that have been injured. Now what's the extent -- what are the extent of those injuries, they haven't gone into great detail. Were they all shot, were they all -- one just -- just roughed up, it's unclear, so you're right. The numbers will probably change; it's been my experience, often times, when you do these kinds of things that sometimes the numbers are even lower, because at first the reporting procedure is rather frantic, given the emergency going on around a school like this.

BERTHA: That's right and we do have information, Mitch, that another...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE ON HELICOPTER: ... same entrance that several others fled just a few minutes ago. These are a couple of dozen more. They look like they're in pretty good shape and they're moving over to the triage area and they'll be checked by paramedics and make sure that they're OK. This is just dozens and dozens of more students that are coming out of the school, the officers moving them into an area where they can be checked to make sure that they're okay. We have some officers running back and apparently, somebody has been taken into -- just been arrested at gun point -- we'll see what this one is all about -- not sure if this is one of the suspects, but for some reason it appears that this person is definitely in custody and wanted for questioning by the officers on the scene, being led away by one of the SWAT officers.

We have more officers now moving in to this area, and here's another student coming out that's OK -- more students -- still more students, Jim and Kim, and they all look like they're in good shape. What great news to see these youngsters, these teenagers coming out of Columbine High School, running across the lawn, they're running over toward Pierce Street now. You can see they're just about to cross Pierce Street here, and the officers waving them on, where they'll be checked to make sure they're all okay. They'll also be checked, hopefully, none of these are any of those that were involved in the shooting. This is just of dozens and dozens of more students crossing Fair Avenue right at about Pierce Street.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And perhaps some staff members as well, Tony.

We're going to interrupt you and hope you stand by. We'll go to Phil Keating. He is live at Leawood Elementary School, where some of the students are actually leaving the buses and reuniting with their parents.

KEATING: Yeah, take a look at the scene behind me: everyone is suddenly running over there to the yellow school bus just as soon as it gets here, full of more students who have been evacuated from Columbine High School, they have now been brought here. This is where the students are being brought. I have got to tell you, it was really a touching moment as the bus pulls up, and you've got parents who -- we were just talking with them on the sidewalk -- who have been looking for their kids for 3 hours, and suddenly you hear them yell the name of their son or daughter as they see their face on the bus with just pure absolute relief.

And so, very nice to see that, in this sad situation that's still ongoing here. So Leawood Elementary School is the site where the students are coming. They get off the bus, they take them into the gymnasium here, and then the parents come into the school, find their son or daughter, sign them out to account for them, and then they're allowed to leave. But this is the place where they're all being rejoined with their moms, their dads.

and there are so many students here as well, just waiting to find out what happened to their friends.

The problem is there's really no main point -- source of information here at the school. All of these parents are essentially relying on us to tell them what's going on because there are no TVs, there are no radios here, and it's really hard to find someone from the schools or the sheriff's department who knows exactly what's going on because it truly is still unorganized; it's chaos; it's a crime scene still going on at the school.

And here you just got parents and students and kids all running around hoping to make eye contact and find their loved ones and realize that they're in fact safe and sound. So for the parents here, it's been very frustrating for them. But when they do reunite with their son or daughter it's, as you can imagine, perhaps the best thing that could -- has happened to them in quite a long time.

BETTERMAN: You know, Phil, you're talking about those happy reunions, Phil, and we think we might see a few of them taken place right now. However we talk about the happy reunions for every parent who might find their son or daughter on one of those buses, probably a few more still wondering if their son or daughter is OK' not everyone is accounted for by any stretch of the imagination.

KEATING: Right, and all the parents that I have talked to, you know -- as you can imagine they have pure empathy for those other parent out here who perhaps may have one of the students who has been injured or who may have one of the students who may -- they may find out hours from now that student has been injured. So clearly a whole lot of empathy going on here; a lot of understanding and a lot of concern. But I've got to say it's the best thing that happened for the parents when they finally make eye contact and get to hug their son or daughter here knowing that they are still alive and still very safe -- Jim, Kim.

KIM: Sure, it's certainly been a long time. It's been four hours now since the shots were first fired, so it must feel like a lifetime for these parents and for friends and family members waiting. And as we said there may be staff members as well, we do believe inside that school.

Paula Reed one of the English teachers who spoke to us earlier described the scene in which a teacher was letting his students out of the classroom when the shots were fired; heard more shots and then ordered them all to get back inside the classroom and shut the door. And we may be actually seeing that, that the SWAT teams have gone into the various classrooms and found classrooms -- entire classrooms just hiding, and looking for safety that way.

BETTERMAN: Phil Keating, you know, one thing we should mention, and we're putting it up for our viewers on the screen; we report to them that parents should go to Leawood Elementary where you are right now, also to Columbine Library. So there are two designated locations to go to get reunited with a child.

KEATING: Actually there's even more than that, Jim -- steady Bruce -- this way. Over here on the door of Leawood Elementary School there's a list, lots of lists on the wall and the door here -- you've got about 25 feet to go. In fact if we can come up -- right over here Bruce -- if you can stand over here. Up there on the wall, you can see all the white papers that have been taped up and posted. Those are lists of names of students and where they are. So if parents come here and they look on the wall there, they can see the name.

Now there's actually some of those students who have actually been accounted for, but they're at a house in the neighborhood. So, we've got the library; we've got Leawood Elementary School, and there's also groups of students -- maybe 15 or 20 at a couple of houses just in the neighborhood. That's where they ended up after the schools evacuated or after everyone left when the shootings and explosions went off.

Ma'am, can I talk to you for a second?

Did you just get off that bus? No. Have you found who all you're looking for? You read the list -- can't find them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can't find them off the bus either.

KEATING: So two buses have come here in the last 20 minutes. You've been looking on both buses for your friends?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're not there. They're not on the stage.

KEATING: Do you know where they were when everything happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know some of them were in the marketing room and some of them were in the choir room.

KEATING: So, you think they may still be in there -- locked in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. They said they just took like 70 more kids out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And one of my good friend's brother we can't find him, and we don't know what class he was in. We don't have a clue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just like chaos. No one knows where anyone is, unless they find them.

KEATING: Is it really difficult and frustrating for you just to be hanging out here; seeing each bus come in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just sad. I'm just trying to stay strong for everybody else. It's frustrating. Why would this happen to us. I mean it's Columbine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In suburbia -- I mean.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's supposed to happen in the South, not here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No in our senior year with 19 days to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't get it.

KEATING: Thanks so much. Good luck.

KIM: All right, thank you Phil. We're going to go back to Ardel Arakawa (ph) who is near Columbine High School with an update -- Ardel.

ARDEL Arakawa, KUSA CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kim.

What we're seeing is -- just went behind the truck -- there is an armored personnel carrier or a tank. The latest development -- what's happening now are a very large group of students have come through right out our area and they have been reunited with parents. Emotional reunions; some of the students have been in the school; they were just recently released. And a lot of these -- you can see some of the parents holding on to their children at this point, of course, being mobbed by the media. But all these kids had been recently released. They seen to be OK; some joyous reunions, some very, very...

JULIE HAYDEN: Something like that.

JELNIKER: Well, it is kind of highly unusual, not only just the sheer mass and size of this situation, but you can see -- it looks like some kind of tank or armored vehicle of course and it's moving it's way down -- this is at Pierce and Bowles. As you can see from our camera trying to work its way down to the school -- we've had no indication from police what that might be used for. Julie, you have any idea?

HAYDEN: I think that it probably -- what it would be used for is just what we would think; it would be used for some kind of break-in kind of situation. What the SWAT teams typically do is what we've been seeing and what we've been talking about. They're going to go to the school. They're going to try to rescue the people; get the people that they see safely out. I think maybe the closest thing we've seen to this was about two years ago at Christmas time, on Christmas Eve when -- people may remember -- a gunman took people hostage -- it was a similar kind of thing. They had to clear the building; then they could go in and get the gunmen. And I suspect that, that's what they're making plans for now.

JELNIKER: OK, Julie Hayden, putting some insight in there from her years of police reporting.

Shawn, let's go back to you.

SHAWN: All right, Mitch, thank you very much. We'll check in with both you and Julie in just a little bit.

Right now we want to go to Seven News reporter Paul Reinerson (ph) who standing by live at the command center -- Paul.

KIM: Paul Reinerson, can you hear us? All right.

SHAWN: Lance Hernandez is also covering this story for us. Lance can you hear us?

LANCE HERNANDEZ, KUSA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I can hear. I'm over here at St. Anthony Central. Can you hear me?

KIM: Yes, Lance.

SHAWN: Certainly can, go right ahead, sir.

HERNANDEZ: I can tell you, that there are now four victims that have been transported to this hospital. One of them by Airlife and three by ambulances; all four people are in critical condition. We are told that there are three young men and one female. Three of them came straight from the high school over here to St. Anthony's. One was first taken to Littleton Hospital and then he was the one that was transported here to St. Anthony's by Airlife.

I'm up here on the helipad. I can tell you that when he came into the hospital a while ago, he appeared to have some wounds to his right leg in the knee area. It was all bandaged up. We could see blood on him. But as they were pulling him out of the chopper he raised his head to see what paramedics were doing, so he's obviously conscience. He is in critical condition; in surgery as we speak. But we are told that he is conscious, as are all the other victims here; that they have all given their names because they are juveniles, so the hospital is not releasing their names to us. They are on standby. They have brought in extra staff in terms of doctors, nurses, that type of thing -- here at St. Anthony's hospital.

And we're hearing from hospital folk here that other hospitals around the metro area are on the same type of footing in terms of bringing in extra staff to deal with any more victims that may come in from the hospital. We are told that there are several other ambulances down at the scene waiting; so they're here in a waiting mode now taking care of the people that have already come in, and standing by in case there are more victims brought into the hospital later this afternoon -- back to you.

KIM: Lance, by our account we have 14 young people -- we shouldn't specify young people; they could be staff members, faculty members; we are not clear on that yet -- we do know male, female that sort of thing -- but we have 14 patients transported to area hospitals including the ones that you were just referring to and it is quite a scene. We were just watching another live view from Air Tracker Seven on Columbine.

SHAWN: The officers feel like this could drag on for a while, and they might need to go to great lengths to bring this to a safe conclusion.

KIM: We saw officers taking cover behind their cars right outside of the school a short time ago, and Tony Lamonica is in Sky-9 right now. Is that still the case, Tony.

LAMONICA: They're still there. And we just want to show you some of the equipment that continues to move in. This looks like some type of armored personnel carrier -- small in size, but obviously for tactical purposes they brought that into the area here. They feel that obviously they need this type of protection here at the scene because of what has transpired so far.

Now at the top of the picture, as we pull the picture back from Sky-9, you can see Columbine High School. It's a major complex. It's a very, very large system. And down here at the bottom of the screen -- we'll zoom back in -- this is the last location that we had a number of students that fled for safety, and then ran across Pierce Street right about Fair (ph) Avenue. As you can see there are still a number of officers, not as many as there were there before, Kim. And then this officer -- everybody who moves around, moves quickly because they are very, very concerned about obviously what's still going on inside the school, and particularly, up on the second floor of one area of the school.

And of course you continue to get reports from people that have fled and are now safe, and been reunited.

The big question right now is where are the suspects, and how many hostages -- if they have any -- and how many students are still hiding inside that building. There's probably quite a few. And, again, this is off toward the east end of the building, and right at your 9:00 position, that is the front entrance. And at the top of the screen, that's the area where students have fled from safety earlier.

Now we're going to go back in with the Sky-9 camera here into the parking lot to see...

CHEN: CNN's live coverage -- these pictures coming to us from KUSA TV, one of the four local station in Denver, all covering the developing situation in Littleton, Colorado; a shooting situation that broke out this morning about 11:00 local time in Littleton Colorado, at Columbine High school, the building that you see there. Now, more than four hours later, it is still under way. A great deal of concern. At least 18 people hurt, and at least two gunmen apparently still at large.

As you see just there, just moments ago, the local authorities were able to free another dozen or so of the students who were trapped inside the building. As you see in these pictures, and you will see repeatedly, the students come out with their hands on hear heads. That is a precaution. They are instructed to do that by the police. Given the circumstances, the confusion surrounding the situation, they don't want these students mistaken for the possible gunmen in this case; that's why they bring them out with their hands on their heads.

But over the last hour or so, we have seen several times now, the groups of students -- a dozen maybe more in some of the case; in one case as many as 50 kids -- coming out at one time, freed apparently by the SWAT teams who are going, apparently, through the building themselves.

We know, from a short time ago, that they brought up an armored vehicle up to the door of the building. We understand from our correspondents and from the local correspondents on the scene, that they sent SWAT teams into the building to try to bring out anybody who is trapped inside, anyone who may be injured and on the ground, inside the building, and unable to bring themselves out; as well as to bring those two suspects -- at least two suspects -- that they think may still be inside that building.

It is a very large building, Columbine High School, very big campus; school house some 1,800-plus students. And on this day, 19 days before the end of the school year, a lot of students throughout the building, that they are greatly concerned about earlier reports from school authorities that at least 90 percent of the students had gotten out in the initial wave.

But after that, it became unclear how many students might be trapped inside classrooms.

There were also varying reports earlier this afternoon, a couple of hours ago, a local television station heard from a young man who said he was inside a classroom, that he barricaded the door with a desk, and that he was on his cell phone trying to call for help. He was unable to get through on the 911 phone lines because they were so jammed with parents, of course, and other people very concerned, calling police, asking for information about the developing situation.

About the injuries and what we know so far, CNN has confirmed at least 18 people treated for injuries sustained in the attack at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. In one case, we were reporting to you earlier about a young woman who was nine times in the chest. The latest report that we are getting is that this young woman is at least stable after surgery. We know that other students as well, other individuals who are involved, we're reported in critical condition earlier. We don't have a full condition report on all of them. Obviously, being treated at a number of different hospitals.

Here, your seeing some of the pictures; these coming from KCNC TV. But you see at the back corner of that screen, a picture of a vehicle, apparently an armored personnel vehicle, a tank type vehicle, that they have used as part of the operation. There were other ones as well, as they brought SWAT teams right up to the doorway to get the SWAT teams into the building and to move in on the situation there. We want to go on now to KUSA TV, one of the local stations in Denver that has been bringing us coverage. They have been doing some interviews with parents outside of the school.

KEATING: ... find out what's going on?

GENE, FATHER OF COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: Not a lot of information. Names are coming in. Buses are coming in. And everybody's hoping. We're just trying to see what they basically know, trying to get people settled in.

KEATING: It's one of those things where you really can't belief it's happening here in your neighborhood.

GENE: Well, I wouldn't say that. We've got a great neighborhood, but stuff happens all over the place.

KEATING: Yes -- how long did it take you to actually find and identify where your sons were and that they were safe?

GENE: I was way up on the north side of town, and I came home, and right before I got home, my one son called me, so it was about 45 minutes after I heard; and the other son we didn't hear from for another hour, hour and a half. It was tough.

KEATING: You said a whole range of emotions went through your head?

GENE: Yes -- concern, fear, sympathy for others; obviously, prayers go up for the kids out here, for the kids in the school -- the whole gamut -- anger, trust.

KEATING: A rough afternoon -- that's without a doubt.

GENE: Yes, it is.

KEATING: All right, well, Gene, thanks a lot for talking to us.

The latest from here at the elementary school is that the parents are told to come down here if your kid goes to Columbine High School, your son or daughter is being brought here unless they've somehow gone off to a house or a friend's house on their own. But if you have yet to locate your son or your daughter, come to the elementary school, Leawood Elementary, or Columbine Public Library. There are lists of names on the front doors of students that they know are inside. The process is, as you go in the building, you identify your son or daughter, bring them outside, sign them out, so that way, school officials can keep everyone identified, so that no one is left missing at the end of the day.

Right here, as you can see, a mom has come by to pick up her elementary school daughter, because this is elementary school, so, essentially, the day is kind of over. But since the building is being used to transport and then hold the high school students who have been brought from the high school, parents are coming down here, not only to pick up their high school students to try to find them and unite with them, but they're also coming down here to get their elementary school students because they know that all of this chaos is going on.

So there's really just a swarm of people here -- parents, students, you name it -- and it's all very unorganized. And for parents, it's really difficult for them, because they can't get any information. They're asking us what we know, what's going on, and it's just -- it's, as you can imagine, it's just completely disorganized, out of control, but that's the way it goes in situations like this where everything's still happening as we speak, Jim and Kim.

KIM: All right, thanks, Phil. It's got to be an agonizing wait. And talking to one of the English teachers early on, they talked about, how do you really prepare for something like this? You have to react. And the teachers, in many cases, tried to get the kids out of the school as soon as they this, and in some cases, took them back into classrooms where they were safer.

And it's really impossible to prepare for something as horrible as this, even though we've seen it happen time and time again across the country, in the last couple of years.

BETTERMAN: Sure -- I think that they go through a lot of fire drills and things like that, that you can try to prepare for something like this, because you never...

CHEN: Local coverage. That was from KUSA TV, Channel 9 News in Denver.

I want go now to KMGH TV, one of the other local stations that CNN is working with. They have talked to a number of the parents who are look for their children outside of Columbine High School.

SHAWN: Frightening situation for any parent out there.

BERTHA: Absolutely, it's hard to get complete lists when there is an ongoing situation. As we've been telling you, it's been going on since 11:30, and there are still many students, we presume, in that school, because they are not all yet accounted for.

SHAWN: We are now going to talk live to somebody on the phone, a neighbor who is surrounding the Columbine High School.

I understand you do not want to give your name -- that's fine. But can you tell us what you have seen, what you have heard today?

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL NEIGHBOR: Yes, this morning about 11:30, thereabouts, I took my dog outside, and there was a very loud boom. It sounded like a cannon going off, and it came straight from Columbine High School, and so we ran back in the house and turned on the police scanner and heard the first 911 sound come in. I since heard about, I believe, seven loud, terrifying blasts, and it sounded more like a bomb than it did gunshots at that time.

SHAWN: Did any students start running toward your house or toward your part of the neighborhood?

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL NEIGHBOR: Not at that time, no. I saw windows burst out and glass fall all over the ground, but there were screaming, that sort of thing, but I didn't see any people come out at that time.

SHAWN: I take it you do not have any children at the school.

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL NEIGHBOR: I don't, this year.

BERTHA: Well, what was your initial reaction when you saw this happening and heard this happening?

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL NEIGHBOR: I couldn't imagine what it was. Our neighborhood is so peaceful and quiet. And then it really sounded like we were in the middle of a war zone all of a sudden. Just shortly after that, there was a lot of rapid fire, loud blasts like shotguns, that sort of thing, and then intermittent with these really loud, horrific blasts.

BERTHA: What did you do at that point?

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL NEIGHBOR: Well, we kind of hung out in the backyard and watched as carefully as we could, and we saw the police coming in from all different directions and listened to the police scanners. We couldn't believe what was happening. It was just like going to the movies and seeing a police shootout.

BERTHA: As you think back, how long was its before police arrived on the scene?

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL NEIGHBOR: It was not long at all. They were there within just a couple of minutes.

BERTHA: Minutes.

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL NEIGHBOR: Yes.

And then we live -- we have Fire Station 13 that's only a few blocks away -- maybe a half a mile away -- and they were on the scene right away as well.

BERTHA: I wonder, can you tell from where you're located whether they would have been able to hear those blasts or if somebody summoned them to the school?

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL NEIGHBOR: I suspect they could have heard them, but I also think they probably were summoned.

SHAWN: All right. Thank you very much. And that's a neighbor surrounding Columbine High School, did not want to be identified, but certainly wanted to pass along some information.

Please give us a call back if you have any additional information.

BERTHA: Meanwhile another school bus taking off, loaded with students. SHAWN: Most certainly. It has been a scene that we have shown you time and time again over the last several hours. It is a good scene because that means they have found more students and more students safe.

Now, from what we understand they are being taken to Leawood Elementary School. And is where Pat Woodard is standing by live right now.

Pat.

PAT WOODARD, KMGH REPORTER: Yes, Shawn, the reunions continue here. More students continue to show up and be reunited with their parents. You know, we played some sound for you a little earlier of frustrated parents not being able to find out any information. That continues to be the situation here except when we see reunions like this going on right before us: when students arrive at the school, are reunited with their parents and other family members, and are able to let them know that they did indeed get through this OK.

So this will be going on probably for several hours here. We're told that the governor probably is going to be holding a news conference here this afternoon at about 4 o'clock, but that has not happened.

Now, you can imagine the crush of media that's around here. That has forced the school officials to say that they want us all off school property. So we have all been moved back and are on the sidewalks not to hopefully give these families a little bit more breathing room, a huge crush.

As you mentioned, this is a national and international story now: media cruisers showing up from all over the country to cover this.

But the immediate concern right now is for families and their children to be reunited, and that continues to go on here.

SHAWN: All right, Pat Woodard, reporting live from Leawood Elementary where a lot of parents are hooking up with their children. Unfortunately, there are still a good number of parents out there who are still trying to find out exactly where their children are and the status of those kids.

BERTHA: And you can see that there is quite a contingent of safety personnel who have responded to the scene from all over the metro area. People in this line of work do that. They respond in a crisis, as do members of medical professions.

And we are hearing now from the Denver office of emergency management that they no longer need extra emergency medical personnel to respond to the crisis. Apparently they have all of their bases covered. So they no longer need doctors, EMTs, nurses to respond to area hospitals or to the scene to respond to this crisis.

SHAWN: As we show you another live picture of the scene out there, we want to tell you a little bit more about the armored personnel carrier that we showed you just a couple of minutes ago. And we now understand it was brought up from the national guard. This is obviously a heartfelt reunion that you're seeing near Columbine High School. But that armored personnel carrier was brought up from the National Guard. It was stored at Fort Carson. It was requested by the FBI, and it is military support to civilians authorities.

Now, what it's going to be used for is protection for team members and also for picking up all of those groups of kids that we have seen near the high school. It is going to pick up all those people in danger zones.

And by the way, it was Governor Bill Owens who gave the OK for that armored personnel carrier to arrive at the scene out there near Columbine High School.

BERTHA: As you can imagine, the phone lines are jammed, and USWest tells us it's making extra staff available to help reroute phone traffic in Jefferson County. USWest is setting up a pay phone bank at 5910 South J for people in the area who need to use telephones. Just in case that's a concern for you, this is located at 5910 South J.

SHAWN: As we continue to take a live look at the scene out there near Columbine High School, that appears to be a couple of parents, possibly even a parent and a student there. You can see the anguish on the faces there.

This is -- this has been too much. This is Leawood Elementary right now where some of the parents, as we are obviously seeing right there, are being reunited with their children. And the parents and the students are going through a separate kind of hell, if you will: one, not knowing if they're going to escape the tragedy from inside that shooting gallery; the other on the outside, wondering if their children are going to be OK. And any parent out there can certainly feel the anguish that some of these parents are feeling right now.

If you need any information, what you need to do if you're a Denver parent is call 303...

CHEN: That coverage from KMGH TV, Channel 7, in the Denver area. We want to switch now to KUSA, which is Channel 9, 9 News, in Denver. They've been talking with a student who was inside. Let's listen in.

JUSTIN, COLUMBINE STUDENT: Yes.

KEATING: Students rather.

JUSTIN: Yes.

KEATING: And you teacher.

JUSTIN: Yes.

KEATING: And what -- was the door locked, I assume?

JUSTIN: Yes. KEATING: No windows?

JUSTIN: There were windows on the doors and to the outside, right by the parking lot. But that's it.

KEATING: Did you ever see or hear the suspects go by?

JUSTIN: Yes, we heard them running by, like, shooting. But that's it.

KEATING: What has been going on for the last three hours essentially? Everyone who has been watching the story has not been inside the school, but you have been in there. What have you been hearing and seeing?

JUSTIN: Silence, and people -- like cops and stuff driving by, in the parking lot, SWAT teams everywhere. That's about it.

KEATING: How did you get out?

JUSTIN: Well, I was sent by myself to the door to see if the SWAT team was out there. And I got called out, and then the rest of my class followed me.

KEATING: So everyone in the classroom was like hiding in the corner away from the view of the window and the door?

JUSTIN: Yes.

KEATING: And for four hours, three hours everyone was just sitting there. And what were you guys doing? Being as quiet as possible?

JUSTIN: Yes. Just trying to be quiet and not let anybody know we were there.

KEATING: Can you believe this has happened to you today?

JUSTIN: No. I never thought this would happen.

KEATING: Kathy (ph) -- that's Justin's mom. You were one of the lucky parents who was waiting here at the school and finally -- finally you have been reunited with your son.

KATHY, MOTHER OF COLUMBINE STUDENT: I'm just so happy and yet I feel so bad, because there's going to be a lot of heartache. These kids aren't going to forget this for a long time.

KEATING: I don't think the parents will either, huh?

KATHY: No. No. My kids aren't going to school anytime soon.

KEATING: We had 19 days left of school this year.

JUSTIN: About.

KEATING: Kathy, are you guys going to head home now and just have a really special dinner tonight?

KATHY: Yes. I think he'd like to see his dad.

KEATING: All right. Thanks so much for taking some time with us.

KATHY: Thanks.

KEATING: Congratulations.

Go left, Bruce. Here we've got another bus coming in from the high school, bringing in more students here to hopefully end some more heartache for all of these parents here still waiting and wondering where the students are. As you can see, these are some of the students, who like Justin, who we were just talking with, been hiding out in the school. You see how happy they are.

FEMALE KUSA ANCHOR: Phil, we see many, many other students out there waiting for their friends as well as parents. And it has got to be just as agonizing for them as you worry about your friends.

KEATING: Come over here. Yes, here are two girls. And look at the smiles on their faces. Who did you see on the bus?

FEMALE COLUMBINE STUDENT: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

KEATING: That's so sweet.

FEMALE COLUMBINE STUDENT: And they're the only people that we were worrying about right now.

KEATING: You have been sitting our here for...?

FEMALE COLUMBINE STUDENT: We have been out fear for a while. It was mostly my brother we were looking for, and we found him.

FEMALE COLUMBINE STUDENT: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) our friends just showed up.

FEMALE COLUMBINE STUDENT: Yes. And more and more people keep showing up, so we have more and more reason to be happy again.

KEATING: An exhilarating moment, clearly.

All right. Why don't you go over there and say hi to him.

FEMALE COLUMBINE STUDENT: Thanks.

KEATING: God, that's some of the best news that they have had in a long time, and that certainly makes a lot of the grief that you see and the sorrow and the anxiety that's really depressingly filling the schoolyard here in between each bus as the minutes go by -- they seem like hours and everyone's wondering and hoping when they can finally see that special someone that is unaccounted for.

But slowly but surely, bus after bus is bringing over more students, and we're seeing a whole lot of happy -- happy kids reunited with their parents. So Kim and Jim...

CHEN: ... MGH TV. You're seeing these pictures from KMGH TV, an individual in handcuffs. We do not know who this is, whether this person is a suspect in the shooting at Columbine High School. Let's listen to the local station coverage.

JELNIKER: And the answer to that is no, despite the fact we're hearing reports there may be some shots fired inside the school, because quite frankly they have got us all significantly far back from that huge Columbine High School campus.

MALE KMGH ANCHOR: We're continuing to watch video of this -- we can only assume is a suspect, because they do have him in handcuffs as he's being watched by 7 News anchor -- walked by 7 News anchor Mitch Jelniker there. Now, putting him in the back of the car.

As Mitch said, at this point we do not know exactly why they are taking him into custody, but we can only assume that he is a suspect in some type of way in connection with this case.

BERTHA: We have no clue at this point. We could tell you that he had handcuffs. His hands were behind his back. He was wearing black, a young man in glasses, medium-color brown hair. We have no way of identifying him at this point. He just seemed to appear out of nowhere with a Jefferson County sheriff's officer, it appeared to be. And they are now taking him away from the scene.

I don't know if this is one of the young people that we saw being rushed out of the building or how he made his way to this area. Maybe this was one of the people who was picked up in that field earlier when we saw those three people apprehended out in the field.

So we will be watching the situation to tell you, our viewers, exactly who this young man is, as soon as we can find out who he is and what his relationship is to this incident.

SHAWN: In the meantime, we are going live out to 7 News anchor Anne Trujillo who joins us from Swedish hospital.

ANNE TRUJILLO, KMGH REPORTER: John, we've just had a very interesting twist. Police came out and told us a carload of people left Columbine High School and was followed by a carload of people who apparently possibly had weapons. And so police have staged an officer here outside the emergency room. And you can see him right there, holding a very large weapon. I am not familiar with weapons so I can't tell you exactly what it is. Apparently it's a shotgun.

And they are here just prepared in case something should happen. I know the details are very sketchy on this, but that's what they have told us, is that they are putting people on alert not just here at Swedish, but at other hospitals as well just in case.

But again, very vague information, other than to say that a carload left Columbine High School -- an ambulance, excuse me, left Columbine High School, and it was followed by a carload of people, or so they thought, that possibly had some weapons. And so they have staged this officer, again, here with a shotgun just in case.

So what that means, I -- we certainly can't answer, and we don't want to speculate, but this is quite a change from the scene that we saw here just a few minutes ago, Shawn.

SHAWN: All right, thank you very much.

BERTHA: All right, thank you, Anne, and we have Mitch standing by for us at -- near the Columbine High School area with the somber announcement -- Mitch.

JELNIKER: Well Bertha and Shawn, what we're understanding -- we're trying to get the latest from police, and Julie Hayden stepped aside while I was on the air with you, to try to get the latest on the situation here. Julie, what do you have?

HAYDEN: Well, right now I think we need to emphasize that the police officially are not confirming anything, but I did speak with a source, talking about the situation inside the school, and the source said that it is very possible that there are numerous, and he used the word twice -- numerous people -- numerous fatalities inside the school. I asked him about the possibility of the suspects being among the fatalities, and he said that that is certainly a possibility.

Now let me explain why I think the police are hesitant about confirming all of this. Obviously, the situation inside is still a developing one with a SWAT team going through. They don't know for sure how many people are inside, they don't know for sure how many gunmen are inside, they don't want to tip their hand one way or the other, but they have been going through searching rooms.

And again the police source said this is one of the things they'll be talking about at this 4:00 news conference that they're going to be having here in a few minutes. But he said, "Yes, the possibility of numerous people dead, possibly the suspects, or at least some of the suspects."

JELNIKER: OK, Julie, and one other thing we should mention that we had 7 News reporter Paul Rinninson (ph) mention a moment ago that he had heard there reports there were shots being fired in the school. We did talk to someone with police and they said that that is correct; there were some just a few moments ago.

HAYDEN: And you know one thing I think too we should point out, there are dozens, literally dozens of ambulances here at the scene. I'm sure that they are going in and out of the school as the areas are cleared to try to help people, so that perhaps maybe someone may appear to be unconscious or something like that to a police officer at the scene. I'm sure the ambulances will be called in to work on those people as well. So a lot of work that can be done medically too.

JELNIKER: OK Julie, thanks for an update on the situation. Sean let's go back to you for a moment.

SHAWN: OK, thank you very much, Mitch. That's Mitch Jelniker reporting live from Columbine High School. That is one scene that we are telling you about; the other scene one of tears and hopefully reunion for some parents is Leawood Elementary. That is where a lot of the kids that are running to safety are being taken to, and that is where they have set up, sort of, a command post where the kids can check in.

As you take another look live, from Air Tracker 7, at Columbine High School, this is the situation we're still dealing with: there are still two, possibly three, suspects armed at least with sawed-off shotguns, and at this point police have not apprehended them. And we do not know, at this point, exactly how many children -- how many students or staff members have been hurt. All of this information is coming to us as soon as we get it.

BERTHA: And we have information also, Shawn, that Governor Owens has become involved in this crisis, understandably. You mentioned earlier that he gave his OK for the National Guard to bring up that armored personnel carrier. And he is going to be making some sort of news conference -- some sort of comment at the area -- at the scene -- the command post out there in -- near Columbine High School around 4:00, so that's exactly six minutes from now, so we will, of course, cut away to that when it does happen.

Now, the people that we've been hearing from said that they heard shots coming a few minutes ago, and that those shots may have been coming from the gymnasium area. We have Air Tracker 7 up in the air still near Columbine High School. I wonder if we would be able to get a wider shot to show us where the gym might be. And also, I'm wondering if law enforcement is still onboard Air Tracker 7; do we have any word of that yet?

SHAWN: OK, apparently we don't have word of that.

BERTHA: OK, well this could be the gym here close to us, not quite sure. But Pat Woodard is standing by for us where we do have some information at Leawood Elementary School, as parents continue to be reunited with their children. That must be just so heartwarming, Pat.

WOODARD: Yes it is, but it's obviously a bittersweet moment, knowing that their child is all right, at least in most of the cases that we've seen so far, but knowing that maybe some of the child's friends or classmates are certainly not OK, at least according to the severity of this incident.

But what's been happening here -- we did talk to one young girl about five minutes ago who came out. She told us that she was one of the people who was with a group that the SWAT teams came and extricated. She said that it was obviously the worst experience that she'd ever had in her life, or could ever even imagine in her life, just a chaotic scene of shooting and screaming, people running to try get to safety.

As far as what's going on here now, parents continue to be reunited with their kids. As we mentioned, those reunions are very heartfelt, very emotional, and I think what most people want to do is get those children aside, get them somewhere home, and give them a little bit of an extra hug. That's what's going on here now.

SHAWN: Most certainly. Pat, have you seen any buses pull up in the last several minutes, because in the last 10 to 15 we have not...

CHEN: Leaving KMGH TV, one of the four local stations in Denver that CNN is working with on the situation of the shootings at a Littleton, Colorado high school -- Columbine High School.

I want to switch over to KUSA TV now, see their coverage. Let's listen to this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... watching bus after bus, just waiting to finally see this cute little face.

UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER: I can't even imagine. I just -- it's just awful. Just awful. I never want to go through that again, never, ever.

KEATING: Now, you were inside what part of the school for the last three or four hours?

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Science. The science room.

KEATING: This is the same one where you saw a bullet go flying through the wall?

STUDENT: No, I didn't see that. I just heard gunshots and people yelling, and that's pretty much all I heard. I didn't see anything.

KEATING: So you weren't held hostage. You guys had the door locked, and then the whole classroom and your teacher essentially doing what?

STUDENT: Our teacher was keeping us calm. She was calm herself and keeping us together. We prayed and just stayed calm.

KEATING: What's your teacher's name?

STUDENT: Miss Mo.

KEATING: Miss Mo?

STUDENT: Miss Moshier (ph).

KEATING: Miss Moshier?

STUDENT: Yeah, well we call her Miss Mo.

KEATING: Do you have a lot more respect for her now than you ever had?

STUDENT: Yes, a lot more respect.

KEATING: What was she doing to keep everyone cool and calm?

STUDENT: Well, telling us -- telling everybody to pray, and to hug one another, and just keep close.

KEATING: So everyone did just -- like be very quiet for the entire time?

STUDENT: Yeah, we were -- some of us were crying, and we had to keep it down so that people wouldn't hear us if he was still in the building.

KEATING: Well apparently the two suspects are still in the building from what all I've been able to gather. Is that what you have heard too?

STUDENT: That's what I have heard.

KEATING: When was the last time you heard the suspects running down the hallway shooting?

STUDENT: Probably around, oh, 1:00 -- before my lunch hour, and then it stopped soon after that.

KEATING: Have you heard -- did you hear any, like, pipe bombs or explosives going off within the school?

STUDENT: No, I didn't hear any of that, just gunshots and echoing from room to room.

KEATING: A scary situation.

STUDENT: Yes.

KEATING: All right. Happy family home tonight, huh?

STUDENT: Yes.

MOTHER: Yeah, we're very happy.

KEATING: Thanks for taking a minute with us.

That's the situation going on right now. You got more people now walking back over to the school. Everyone's just trying to find someone they know. The crowd here is definitely a lot smaller than it was, say, an hour -- hour and a half ago. As more students have arrived here, they've hooked up with their parents and their friends, and they've left the area. A lot of the parents have also removed a lot of the elementary school students from Leawood Elementary, and everyone's hoping that, you know, this place does eventually clear out sooner than later with a whole lot of happy families.

But without a doubt, not every family is happy tonight. There are a lot of people still here waiting to try to find their son or daughter. And of course, let's not forget, there are dozens of parents tonight whose son or daughter has been seriously injured in today's horrible day of violence at the school -- Jim and Kim.

BETTERMAN: All right, Phil Keating thanks very much. And talking about the tension inside the school when this first happened, the young lady -- what a poignant story -- saying, "We had...

CHEN: All right. You've been watching coverage on KUSA TV. We're moving over now to KMGH. The governor, Bill Owens, of Colorado speaking now.

GOV. BILL OWENS, COLORADO: ... hoping that their children are safe, and we are too. We have a daughter who's 16, who's a high school student, and we just can't imagine what these parents are going through today.

QUESTION: Anything when you -- what can you say about...

OWENS: Well, I'm -- say, "Our prayers are with you. If there's anything we can do, and we really feel for you and hope that your children are safe."

QUESTION: Governor, what's the (OFF MIKE)

OWENS: I can't comment on that. I have heard some information, but the teams are still in the school, as you know, and so we're going to wait and hope and pray.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

OWENS: Can't comment on that.

QUESTION: Governor, have you activated any elements of the National Guard?

OWENS: Just in terms of the armored personnel carrier that was requested by the FBI.

QUESTION: Why have you come to the school here?

OWENS: Just to see if I can be of any help, show the states' concern. In tragedies like this, I represent the state, and all of the eyes of the state are looking at these parents and hoping for the best.

RICK: Does this point up the need for stricter controls to prevent weapons from coming into the schools?

OWENS: Rick, I'm not going to get into this, at this point. These children are still in school. We can talk about the policies later.

QUESTION: Do you know...?

(INAUDIBLE)

OWENS: No, I don't. I don't know how many children are still in, but it's more than we'd like.

QUESTION: Do we know how many...

(INAUDIBLE)

OWENS: No, I'm not going to comment. Some of the law enforcement authorities may know. But I'll let them talk about the law enforcement aspects of this.

QUESTION: Say again, what are you going to tell the parents? How do you...

(INAUDIBLE)

OWENS: Just we're parents representing Colorado. If we can be of any help, if it takes prayer, we'll pray; anything we can do. It just seemed like this was the place to be right now.

QUESTION: It seems like, governor, that there's a lot of parents who haven't been able to locate their kids, even though their kids may be out. Is that a priority, getting these kids...?

OWENS: Well, it is. And this is what the law enforcement authorities are trying to do is, a, get the children out of the school, and then, b, get them united with their parents. There are a lot of children that are apparently out that aren't yet linked up with their parents, and that's what the state and local authorities and the Jefferson County sheriff is trying to do right now.

QUESTION: We've talked to some parents today; everyone expresses surprise with what's happened. What do you tell those people?

OWENS: You know, we don't know. It's happened -- you know, there's a culture of violence. These are children that apparently don't have the same sorts of moral background that most of us would have, and you just can't explain it. There is no simple explanation for why children -- teenagers -- would go in and kill or injure other children.

QUESTION: Governor, have you talked to any of the family members of students who were injured in this?

OWENS: No, we haven't. We just got here this moment.

QUESTION: So do you have any comments, support for parents for dealing with this...?

(INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not sure I can express that, but I know it's absolutely...

ANNOUNCER: This is KMGH, 7 News, Denver, Colorado.

CHEN: All right, we have been watching, as you see there, KMGH TV, as well as KUSA and two other television stations in the Denver area, bringing us, to CNN, extra coverage, as we try to cover the situation in Littleton, Colorado at Columbine High School. Here's what we know so far, about 11:00 this morning or shortly thereafter, local time, it's about two -- almost 4-1/2 hours ago, at this point, two individuals -- at least two individuals --- entered Columbine High School. They were heavily armed. Some students believe that these individuals are also students of this particular high school. There was a great deal of shooting that went on. Students took cover; a number of them were hit. We have at CNN confirmed at least 18 people that have been taken to local hospitals and have been treated.

However, there have been a number of reports from police authorities in the area that they were able to look inside, that they were able to see some people down on the ground still inside the high school, and there's a great deal of concern for that.

Throughout these last several hours, police have surrounded this place, this high school. They've cut it off from outside contact; and they had been working to try to free all the students who might be inside, either held as hostages or who were hiding themselves to make sure they did not come in contact with the gunman.

You see there a large group, one of the many large groups of students that the police were able to free. You see them coming out with their hands on their heads; that is a police precaution. They do not necessarily believe these children are involved, but they do have them come out with their hands up on their heads to make sure there is no confusion about who these young people are, that they are innocent and they are just trying to get them to a safe place.

We've been watching pictures throughout the day from the four TV stations in the Denver area. We want to return you now to KUSA TV, doing an interview there outside the school.

STEVE DAVIS, JEFCO. SHERIFF DEPARTMENT: Those deputies also reported that they could hear explosions inside the school as they were sitting outside. Some deputies also reported seeing fire in the school. What the explosions were and what generated those explosions right now is unknown. We do have our bomb team that's been mobilized, so that they can check for any unexploded ordnances or devices that are in the school.

Right now, the latest update that I have heard is that we have approximately 15 to 18 people who have been transported to area hospitals. We do have some fatalities. The number of those fatalities is unknown right now. The fatalities also -- I am sorry -- it's unknown whether those fatalities are students, faculties or a mixture of both.

The SWAT team from our department has been joined by at least 3 other SWAT teams from area agencies, and they are still currently working the area and the building, looking for additional victims and suspects.

There has been some air traffic, to the effect that the suspects have been found inside the building and are dead. At this time, we feel like it's certainly a possibility that those are two of our suspects, but that hasn't been confirmed.

There are additional victims inside the building that are SWAT team members are finding as they comb the building. However, the condition of those victims right now is unknown. I'll entertain a few questions and also the sheriff can answer any that you want to hear from him.

QUESTION: And we've heard reports that the possible suspects had hand grenades, possibly live hand grenades on their bodies. Is that accurate?

JOHN STONE, JEFCO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: There are explosives -- yes, sure -- there are explosives that were found in the school and outside of the school, as well as that one of the suspects's houses, a device was found over there. I've heard radio traffic that there was technical devices on one of the suspects -- at least one suspect.

QUESTION: Can you identify that suspect?

STONE: Not at this point.

QUESTION: What kind of weapons did these suspects use, to the best of your knowledge.

STONE: Well, handguns and these bombs, and we're not exactly sure what where they were.

QUESTION: Where were they found?

STONE: In the library.

QUESTION: If there was a suspect or someone in handcuffs taken down in custody here, can you tell us who that person was?

STONE: We had three individuals that were ascending upon the school, wearing kind of military, camouflage fatigue-type things; they were detained, and it appears they are associates of these gentleman or good friends of these gentleman that -- I don't want to call them gentleman -- these people that perpetrated this atrocity here today.

QUESTION: We're talking about someone dressed in black.

STONE: Yes.

QUESTION: Is he one of the suspects?

STONE: This is still under investigation. We're not sure what relationship he had to those people inside, but he was a very good friend, according to the information we have.

QUESTION: You said you found two suspects in the library?

STONE: Three -- two dead in the library.

QUESTION: Well, where is the third?

STONE: Well, we're not sure if there is a third yet or not, yet, or how many -- the SWAT operation is still going on in there.

QUESTION: Two dead suspects?

STONE: Two dead suspects.

QUESTION: Did it look like they were self-inflicted wounds.

STONE: It's possible.

QUESTION: What about a possible motive in this? I mean, what are you hearing from the kids?

STONE: Craziness, you know. We're not hearing anything from the kids -- the kids are pretty hysterical that this happened.

QUESTION: ... the suspects?

(INAUDIBLE)

STONE: I can't tell you that yet.

QUESTION: ... any relation to the suspects at all?

(CROSSTALK)

STONE: No, I'm not sure.

QUESTION: tell us... what your...?

(INAUDIBLE)

STONE: It was brought in for security to try to help get wounded people out if we needed it. Unfortunately, when we made entry into the library, it was a pretty gruesome site.

QUESTION: ... still students, possibly...?

(INAUDIBLE)

STONE: No, we're doing a sweep of the entire school. We've got SWAT teams and the FBI currently in there.

QUESTION: How long do you think ...?

(INAUDIBLE)

STONE: Hopefully, it'll get wrapped up within an hour, as far as the sweeps.

QUESTION: Could you give us an idea of how many fatalities?

STONE: I've heard numbers as high as 25.

QUESTION: Fatalities?

STONE: Yes. QUESTION: How much planning...?

(INAUDIBLE)

STONE: It looks like quite a bit.

QUESTION: Can you give us some examples of why you think that?

STONE: Well, I think just by the degree of what they've done, and the bombs brought in, the types of firearms brought in to do that kind of damage.

QUESTION: Can you characterize the mission that these...?

(INAUDIBLE)

STONE: Well, it appears to be a suicide mission, but one -- you know, I've think we've had a lot of media attention on these things around the country, and you don't know how much that plays into giving somebody else an idea to do it.

QUESTION: We've interviewed a lot of the kids that were in there, and they said the suspects...?

(INAUDIBLE)

STONE: I've heard that, but I'm not familiar with that particular thing. We've got quite a bit of investigation to do.

QUESTION: How many additional wounded do you think there might be?

STONE: We transported, I think, 14.

QUESTION: Wounded?

STONE: Wounded.

QUESTION: Are students -- have they given any indication that there have been threats of this kind; apparently, there had been a bomb threat at the school last year, that these trench Coat gang members were talking about destruction, and death and...?

(INAUDIBLE)

STONE: Nothing that we're aware of at this point.

QUESTION: Any officers hurt?

STONE: No.

QUESTION: What was the 25 figure -- is that wounded?

STONE: Possibly deceased.

QUESTION: That's based on reports back, as they were going through the building?

STONE: Right, from the library.

QUESTION: At any time, did your officers or other SWAT officers communicate with the suspects inside the school during the search?

STONE: No -- not that I'm aware of.

QUESTION: Do you have any idea how many rounds were fired...?

(INAUDIBLE)

STONE: Well that's yet to be determined.

QUESTION: How many total law enforcement are on the scene?

STONE: I'd estimate we've got several hundred here. We had great service from Arapahoe County, from Denver, from the state -- everybody helping us secure this area. So, cooperation has been super.

QUESTION: What was the (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

STONE: You've got explosive devices. ATF is out here also on the explosive devices.

QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

STONE: That we're aware of, yes.

QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) inside?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

STONE: That's unknown. If they had found it in the area, it was probably a precaution taken and detonated.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

STONE: OK, could you ask that question again please?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) 25 I believe (UNINTELLIGIBLE) how many people are still left?

STONE: Well, we hadn't completed the sweep when we had come up here for the press conference. So the sweep is still going on in the school. Hopefully within about an hour we'll have that wrapped up.

QUESTION: In terms of informing people, what's the game plan for tomorrow? The school I'm guessing is probably still in lockdown. What do parents need to know about...

STONE: We'll have somebody from the school district up here to touch on those things and on the counseling things.

QUESTION: Sheriff, the victims that were found and transported elsewhere, without being too gruesome -- just asking a question -- was it multiple gunshots that these people suffered from?

STONE: That's what it appears. That's what it appears -- multiple gunshots.

QUESTION: You think there was automatic weapons?

STONE: I'm sorry.

QUESTION: Can you tell us some of the things your officers saw?

STONE: The only thing I can tell you is what I heard over the radio and we've still got our SWAT people in there, so we have not had any personal contact with anybody that has actually been in the facility. They're still in there and they've been in there since about 1:00.

QUESTION: Sir, was there any kind of confrontation between the officers and the two suspects who were found dead? And what time were they found?

STONE: They weren't found until about an hour ago, Steve?

DAVIS: Yes, within the last hour.

STONE: Sir.

QUESTION: Were there shots exchanged?

STONE: No.

QUESTION: I was told by one young man out here, that there were three people that went in; there were two in trench coats and one in a white shirt. Is that how you see it?

STONE: We had three names. We've got two bodies that belong to two of those names up there, and the third name -- the person was not in the school.

QUESTION: Is he in custody -- or she?

STONE: I can't tell you at this point. I don't know. I'm not aware.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

STONE: They've made contact with them.

QUESTION: Sheriff, were those two people students here?

STONE: The ones who we picked up off the school grounds were ex- students, and the ones -- the two suspects that are deceased are students.

QUESTION: Were they wearing black trench coats?

STONE: I haven't seen the bodies yet or the crime scene. QUESTION: Did they have black trench coats?

STONE: I can't answer. I don't know.

QUESTION: Did they have black trench coats?

STONE: I can't answer that. I don't have those details. As we gather further information we will release it to you.

QUESTION: How soon will we get names of the suspects?

STONE: As soon as we can confirm death, they'll notify family...

QUESTION: Sir, has your office ever been told anything about this group or this kind of thing before?

STONE: No.

QUESTION: You've never heard of the black Trench Coat Mafia.

STONE: No.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

STONE: Yes, because we're serving search warrants at those houses, and we found a device at one of the houses.

QUESTION: What type of device was it?

STONE: A bomb.

QUESTION: Can you tell us if it's a home-made bomb?

STONE: I can't tell you. I don't have the details on it. I just know that there's a device...

QUESTION: A couple of students said there was a shotgun involved. Did you find the shotgun yet?

STONE: I can't tell you anything about the scene because we haven't been in yet. They're still securing it.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

STONE: Well, there were bomb devices around the school.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

STONE: Several were found.

QUESTION: Undetonated you mean?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

STONE: No.

QUESTION: Any idea, how many students were rescued by the swat team?

STONE: Roughly -- we figure we had about 900 students over here.

QUESTION: Has this changed your mind about the gun legislation that is now passing through the state house?

STONE: That's -- the gun legislation currently, we've got illegal activities of people bringing guns to school. They can't legally bring guns to school. I don't think this would have any bearing really on that. But it's the fact that you've got kids with automatic weapons is really a concern. What are these parents doing that they are letting their kids have automatic weapons?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) there are still bomb devices around the school?

STONE: There are still bomb devices around the school.

QUESTION: Can you describe those devices?

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: We have been listening to Sheriff John Stone in Jefferson County. He has confirmed a lot of information for us. The two suspects in the shooting at Columbine High School today; students at the school are dead. They are inside the library area is what we understand.

We also hear him talking about fatalities. We don't know if he's talking about the fatalities of the suspects in this case or perhaps other people that may be dead inside this...

CHEN: That's the coverage from KUSA TV, 9-News in Denver, Colorado, and their coverage of a press conference being given by the Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone, as well as his spokesman Steve Davis; there on the shooting in Littleton, Colorado.

The late information confirmed now by the sheriff of Jefferson County, that the two suspects, the two people believed to be suspects are deceased and that their bodies were found in the library of the school. Let's listen to what the sheriff said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Two in trench coats and one in a shirt, is that how you see it?

STONE: We had three names; we've got two bodies that belong to two of those names up there, and the third name -- the person was not in the school.

QUESTION: Is he in custody -- or she?

STONE: I can't tell you that point. I don't know.

QUESTION: Were they both students here?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) STONE: They've made contact with them.

QUESTION: Sheriff, were those two people students here?

STONE: The one's that we picked off the school grounds were ex- students, and the ones -- the two suspects that were deceased are students.

QUESTION: Were they wearing black trench coats?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) near the bodies?

STONE: I haven't seen the bodies yet or the crime scene.

QUESTION: Did they have on black...

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

STONE: I can't answer that.

QUESTION: Did they have black trench coats?

STONE: I can't answer that. I don't have those details.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: All right that was the Jefferson County sheriff there in Littleton, Colorado at the scene of Columbine High School.

We want to bring you up to date on all the events that have happened through the day. What we know now from the Jefferson County sheriff is that two suspects in a shooting at Columbine High School have been found dead in the library. The sheriff described it as what appears to be a "suicide mission," in his words.

He also said there were a number of explosive devices found around the school. The late reports of CNN has confirmed are 18 injured individuals taken from the school scene to local hospitals; many of those individuals in critical condition. And possibly the most disturbing information to come from the Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone -- he said, "The number of fatalities inside the school may reach as high as 25 people."

We want to go to our correspondent Tony Clark now who is at the scene at Columbine High School. Tony, what are you seeing there?

CLARK: Joie, it's been really, very much an unreal situation. One of the students earlier today told me that he was coming down some stairs and saw three bodies there of people that he thought had been killed. The school itself -- we're being kept some distance from the school -- but you can see the school, the white building off in the distance -- what we have seen all day long as this has been a staging area for a couple of hundred law enforcement officers. We've seen members of the FBI, the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms unit. There were four swat teams that were sent into the school to be -- searching the school. That search continuing; they're continuing to go through the school even though they have found the bodies of the two people that are believed to be the suspects in this.

One of the very heart-rendering scenes that we have seen out here is the parents of some of the students. They have told us that their students -- their children, students calling home on a cell phone, and saying that they were hiding in one place or another in the school -- and they were just whispering and couldn't talk long at all. And the parents waited out here very anxiously for their students to be rescued. That was the first priority. The law enforcement officials said they went in, both the SWAT teams -- and using fire trucks and an armored car to get close to the school; to find the students that were hiding in the school and get them out safely.

And one of the things that they did throughout the day was be sure to interview everyone of the people that they brought out because there was some concern that the suspects in this case could have changed clothes; could have tried to escape as students. So, they were all being checked as they were brought out of the school today.

Sean Kelly (ph) is one of the students at the school. Sean you were in class; you were upstairs at the library at the time the shooting began. What did it sound like?

SEAN KELLY, STUDENT: Well, first of all there was a loud explosion which I thought was a shotgun blast, but I believe it actually was an explosive. And then later as I was leaving; trying to get out through the auditorium, I heard around 10 or 11 rounds shot from an automatic weapon at that time.

CLARK: Was there a sense of panic with student and faculty members racing for the doors? Paint us a picture?

KELLY: Well, they were racing for the doors, but it wasn't -- it's not exactly as panicked as I would -- it was more of an organized panic. There was people running for the doors but it was a -- tended to be like a single file line; and very methodical with getting out and orderly.

CLARK: Was there a continual shooting or would you hear a burst of gunfire and then a lull? What was it like?

KELLY: As I was leaving -- as I was running up the main hallway to get out, I did hear a few more gunshots, and then I believe people, as they were coming out, were saying that there were gunshots fired after that -- long after that.

CLARK: As you left, did you see anyone who was wounded or were you able to get out in perhaps one of the safer areas?

KELLY: I like to consider myself lucky. I got out in one of the safer areas. However, the plate glass window in front of the school was broken out. I do not know what that was from, but...

CLARK: Sean Kelly, thank you very much.

As I said, we have had parents and students outside the school all day long to be reunited. Anxious parents, very worried parents waiting to see if their students -- their children were safe. The same with spouses whose husbands or wives work there. One woman whose husband is a teacher told me, a little while ago, that her husband had called on one of the cell phones and said that he too, and some students, were hiding in the school waiting to be rescued by law enforcement.

Now, as we've heard from the sheriff, the two people believed to be suspects -- their bodies found in the library. Continuing a search to see if there were other people involved in today's tragic shooting, and, perhaps one of the grimmest things, going around to see how many people are still remaining in the school who had either been injured or killed -- Joie.

CHEN: Tony, we heard from the sheriff as well a concern about a number of explosives -- explosive devices found at the scene and indeed, he also reported that a search of one of the presumed suspects' homes turned up a bomb inside that person's home. I'm wondering if you're seeing any evidence that there's continued search for any other unexploded devices that might be in the area. Do you see anything around there going on?

CLARK: Well, what we saw from the time we got here were a couple of bomb disposal trucks. One of the sheriff's office deputies told us that one of the first arriving deputies heard some type of explosion, and so there was concern that there were some home-made bombs, and so they brought in the bomb disposal units. And that was one of -- the plan was for, once the SWAT team went through, the bomb disposal unit to go through as well, to find and dispose of any of the bombs that could have been placed around the school. And, as we heard from the sheriff, they did find some and are continuing to look for those.

CHEN: Tony, do you have a sense there as you look around -- it does seem a little bit quieter than it was just an hour ago -- is there a sense that the information is getting around that the two people considered to be suspects have been found dead, and perhaps this is bringing a little bit of calm to the situation?

CLARK: It is, and I guess as much as anything we have seen some parents reunited with their students, and so there is that sense of relief as well, that this event that has gone on for almost five hours now is drawing to a close.

Again, the law enforcement officials say they're still searching, because there was some talk by some of the students of seeing three individuals -- two in trench coats, and one in a white T-shirt -- and that they were perhaps looking for a third person. The authorities have said all along they knew that there were at least two; they didn't know if there were more. I think that's what will bring this to a final conclusion when they've checked all of the whole school.

CHEN: Right, and we did hear the sheriff, John Stone, saying that that third individual, described by some of the students as wearing a white T-shirt, was not found on the school grounds. But we did see earlier a number of students being brought out. There was a lot of concern that possibly one of the suspects might try to slip out with the crowds of students coming out of the building. CLARK: Right, and one of the things the officers were talking of earlier is having a fear they said -- they described the suspects of having backpacks with home-made pipe bombs and the like, and concerned that they might be just setting them off. And so there was that concern all along.

CHEN: CNN's Tony Clark, our correspondent on the scene in Littleton, Colorado, at the scene of Columbine High School.

Again to our viewers this is the situation as we know it now. The sheriff of Jefferson County, just a few moments ago, confirmed on the air that two people thought to be suspects in this case have been found dead in the library of Columbine High School, but the sheriff also sadly noted that there are some fatalities. He said that the number could reach as high as 25. He said at this point he was not able to say whether those individuals were students or faculty.

And at this hour SWAT teams are still moving through the building. Their first concern is for any students who might be injured and need help inside the building. There's also a great deal of concern -- a number of students reported on the possibility that a third individual was with the two suspects. Even though the sheriff said that two suspects were found dead, there's been a great deal of concern that there might be a third suspect at large within the building. As we've been reporting, this is a very large high school -- about 1,800 plus students at Columbine High School, and a great deal of concern expressed whether somebody else might be hiding.

As well, there are a number of students who'd hidden themselves -- concerned that they didn't want to step in the hallway and into the path of gunfire, had taken refuge by themselves inside classrooms. Some reportedly had called out to -- either to families -- in one case an individual used his cell phone and called from a classroom where he said he'd been holed up to a local TV station to try to get help.

We understand also from the sheriff's department that SWAT teams have been moving through the building still at this hour. They are still finding victims throughout the building. Again, the sheriff saying that he could confirm that there are some fatalities. There's also a great deal of concern expressed because there have been explosions within the school building, and the sheriff said that there had been a bomb found at the home of one of the presumed suspects. There had been other explosive devices as well within the school property.

We want to turn now to KMGH TV, one of the stations continuing their live coverage. Let's listen in now.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: ... at the corner of Pierce and Polk, and this is where a house was, where a lot of kids that were able to get out of the school this is where they ran for safety. They didn't know where else to go. They tell me that, as they ran out of the school, that the man who owned the house was actually standing outside waving them in.

And just a few moments ago we shot this videotape. This is raw tape of the kids as they were evacuated from the house. There were some kids that left a little bit earlier -- one by one we saw parents come in and take the kids out -- but this was a group of perhaps two dozen. They were led across the street and down in a ditch, as you can see, because the police were telling us at this point in time that they were still in this line of fire, that this house was in the line of fire, so they had to stay low. The lowest place to go, at this point of course, was this ditch.

And you saw some kids holding hands. We saw one little girl who said she used to play basketball, she had had knee surgery just recently, and she was one of the ones walking. Some people left so quickly they did not take all of their belongings with them. You see this little girl right here? She forgot her shoes, and photographer Greg Burswell (ph) did talk to her a little bit about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Actually I had my shoes, but when I knew we had to run I lost them. (AUDIO GAP) ... the commons when...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: All right, our coverage of this developing situation continues. Now, from Washington, CNN's Bernard Shaw there -- Bernie.

BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Joie.

As you may have heard and seen here on CNN carried live just a short while ago, the Jefferson County sheriff, John Stone, holding his news conference, giving us tentative information, much of it very graphic, much of it very depressing. He said that the scene in the high school -- at Columbine High School -- in the library in his words is "a pretty gruesome site." He said that the SWAT teams and the FBI are continuing to methodically sweep through this high school, following this afternoon's tragedy which occurred shortly at 11:30 this morning, Mountain Time, shortly past 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Just a short while ago this is what the sheriff said, in his judgment, is what the two dead suspects had in mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STONE: Well, it appears to be a suicide mission, but one -- you know, I think we've had a lot of media attention on these things around the country, and you don't know how much that plays into giving somebody else an idea to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHAW: And we want to make this announcement to you, our viewers: Columbine High School has cable, and quite possibly students are in classrooms. Police, as you heard, are looking for a third suspect. Two of the suspects are dead. But because of that, CNN is filtering its coverage. We don't want to broadcast any pictures possibly linking what the police are doing within their operations within that school. We are continuing to follow the situation through four affiliates. KMGH and KUSA plus two other affiliates. We pick up their coverage.

KEATING: ... Leawood Elementary School because you still got a lot of parents wondering where their sons and daughters are, you've got students here just openly crying, and people wondering, "What is the deal? Where is that person who is still missing, still unaccounted for?"

So this is certainly a very emotional scene here at Leawood Elementary School. Governor Owens and his wife -- they are inside the gymnasium, comforting those parents -- comforting those students. The governor and his wife, you know, they've got kids of their own. One of them's a 16-year-old girl, so they know.

They can certainly empathize this the emotional plight of the parents here as to what they may be going through.

Certainly a very tough day for everyone involved here, Columbine High School.

Back to you, Jim and Kim.

BETTERMAN: All right, Phil Keating, thanks very much. You know, we the president talking about the situation. Certainly these types of situations he has had to talk about them far more often than any American would like while he's been in office. And one right there in Jonesboro, Arkansas, his home state. Several people were killed there and also many others wounded.

So you could just see the emotion on the president's face today, having his -- home state having been touched by a tragedy like this, knowing that yet another one today, and right here in Littleton, Colorado.

KIM: And again and again we keep hearing how people want to feel that their children are safe at school, and that's certainly not the case today in 1999.

You know, we have been getting calls about blood. And Bonfils Blood Center in Lakewood says they will stay open tonight as late as necessary for people that want to give donations of blood. They are at 1050 South Wadsworth. The telephone number is 303-936-7174.

Erika Wilner at Swedish Medical Center told us not too long ago that they needed 400 units of blood. They are treating four of the young people that were injured in the shooting there, and they (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 400 at Swedish Medical Center alone.

One of the girls that was taken there was shot eight to nine times and survived surgery and has been able to talk, at least to some people there. And obviously it is a critical situation at every hospital right now.

BETTERMAN: Bonfils -- Bonfils said earlier this afternoon that based on the supply that they have on hand right now, that they would probably be able to take care of any of the blood demands brought on by this shooting.

But certainly when you are talking about the number of units you mentioned, 400 or so, that greatly depletes the stock that they have on hand.

So by all means, if you can get over to Bonfils, they would love to see you and they will be staying open late.

SHAW: Jefferson County sheriff John Stone in that recently concluded news conference less than 32 minutes ago also said that he estimated it would take about roughly an hour for the four SWAT teams and the FBI to continue going through Columbine High School.

This is an eyewitness account earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLUMBINE STUDENT: We were just sitting there in the library and then we heard like popping, and we didn't know what it was. And then I looked out the window and there is this guy throwing like a pipe bomb at all the cars.

And then he came in -- they, like, started blowing up and shooting everyone in the cafeteria. And then you could hear them laughing and running up stairs, and they were shooting anyone of color, wearing a white hat or playing a sport. And they didn't care who it was and it was all at close-range.

FEMALE REPORTER (on camera): What did you see? You have blood on your hand.

COLUMBINE STUDENT: Everyone around me got shot. And I begged him for 10 minutes not to shoot me. And he just put the gun in my face and started (UNINTELLIGIBLE) everywhere and started laughing, saying that it was all because people were mean to him last year.

FEMALE REPORTER (on camera): Who were these people?

COLUMBINE STUDENT: I don't know.

FEMALE REPORTER (on camera): You saw other people get...

COLUMBINE STUDENT: He did it right in front of us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHAW: Again, the sheriff there in Jefferson County at a just- concluded news conference says two of the suspects, two of the three suspects have been found dead in the library. The sheriff describes the library as a gruesome site and he said as many as 25 people could be dead. Confirmation of that would have to come later.

We rejoin our affiliate coverage. DENNIS KENNEDY: ... who aren't at Columbine High School. Talk with them about what's happened today. Give them the chance to talk about it. Don't immediately come up with all the finished, polished answers. Listen. Let them talk about their feelings, their thoughts.

It may be kind of crazy feeling for a while, but listen to them.

We need to pay attention to how we're doing. Are you talking about this yourself? Is there someone you can hug? Is there someone you can cry with? Is there someone you can write to or even journaling?

We need to take some time ourselves to sit with this and not just run around frantically all the time about it.

Sure, we want to do something, but let's take it into ourselves first, find some ways for ourselves to heal and then help others as well.

MALE KMGH ANCHOR: Well, let me ask you this. I have a 5-year- old son at home. He's very smart, and I can tell you my wife has been watching the coverage. He is obviously going to pick up on what is happening.

How does she, how do I explain to him what has happened here?

KENNEDY: Well, I'm not sure you can explain it. I'm not sure I can explain it to myself. It's something terrible that has happened.

I think one of the things we need to say to children is just because something terrible has happened, that doesn't mean our lives have to be terrible.

SHAW: CNN is continuing to bring you live coverage of this breaking story from Colorado at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, which is a middle-class community of 35,000. It's a community of single-family homes amid winding streets.

We want to recap for you if you're just joining our coverage what we know today based on a just-concluded news conference by Jefferson County sheriff John Stone.

Sheriff Stone reported that his deputies upon entering the school reported hearing explosions and seeing fires. He said that 15 to 18 people have been taken to air hospitals. He said there is an unknown number of fatalities of students, faculty or a mixture of both. And at one point he used the used the number 25.

He said that SWAT teams at this moment, as we report to you, are looking for victims and suspects. There were reports that the suspects are dead and he said that two of the suspects are dead in the library, although people reported seeing a third person in a white T- shirt.

The sheriff further said that explosives were found inside and outside the school and at one of the suspect's houses. I'm going through my notes as I took them, based on the news conference.

He said that the gunman had handguns and bombs, and then he retraced what happened initially at 11:30 a.m. Mountain Time today.

He said that three individuals, in his words, ascended upon the school.

Earlier in our CNN coverage you may have seen three young men dressed in black T-shirts and black pants. They were surrounded by armed police in a field. They were put to the ground and they had their hands tied behind their backs and they were taken off in police cars.

Well, the sheriff said that those three are -- quote -- "good friends of these people that perpetrated this atrocity today."

Again he said that the two suspects in the library are dead. When asked by reporters what possible motive -- and these are the three people we were talking about earlier, surrounded by police cars. They were put to the ground and they were taken away. As I just reported to you, the sheriff said that these three men were -- quote -- "good friends of these people that perpetrated this atrocity today."

Reporters at the news conference a few moments ago asked the sheriff for a possible motive. He used one word -- quote -- "craziness" and he described, of course, the students who fled the school as pretty hysterical.

And to sum up, the SWAT teams are going through the school right now, assisted by the FBI. But the FBI earlier this afternoon asked the state governor for an armored personnel carrier. A shore while ago, Governor Bill Owens confirmed that he did have the National Guard send that armored personnel carrier to Columbine High School.

Our affiliates continue covering, and as they do, I just want to indicate to you what the sheriff said about this tragedy this afternoon. He said it appears -- quote -- to be "a suicide mission."

We pick up now our live affiliate coverage from Colorado.

FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: ... from reports that we've heard about this Trench Coat Mafia. Was this a well-known group at the school?

JOSH, COLUMBINE STUDENT: They were pretty much the scum of our school, like nobody liked them. They were totally, like, I guess discarded, or whatever, from the school. They weren't involved in any school activities or nothing. They pretty much thought that they played their war games and pretty much World War II re-enactors, I mean, all involved with that stuff.

I heard from some other students that had talked to them before that they were saying that they found God in themselves and all of these other things.

FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: How are you going to deal with it going back to school, Josh?

JOSH: I really don't know yet. I mean, the actual fact of going back to school won't be too hard, but the people that are going to be there, the people that I'm going to be talking to and everything, that's going to be kind of hard.

FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: OK. Josh, thank you.

JOSH: No problem.

FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: Joining me now is Sheriff John Stone with Jefferson County.

Sheriff Stone, we saw your news conference just a few moments ago, and we are hearing, as you had said, unconfirmed reports of as many as 25 dead inside the school? Can you update us?

JOHN STONE, JEFFERSON COUNTY SHERIFF: That's the information that I have from the last sweep that we had going through there, but they were just continuing with the operation when I came up here for the 4 o'clock news conference.

FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: Are these all gunshot victims?

STONE: It appears so.

FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: And you don't know how many of them are students, how many are faculty?

STONE: I don't know that.

FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: How are you notifying the parents?

STONE: Well, once we get the scene secure, we're going to have to go inside and get these people identified.

FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: So you have not identified all the victims who are inside?

STONE: No, because we still have a security operation, a sweep going on inside the school. The school is not secure.

We found two suspects that we believe were involved in this that were dead. It looks like they were self-inflicted gunshot wounds, but we were still searching the rest of the school just to make sure we didn't have anybody else involved in this thing, to make sure the school is secure.

FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: We have been hearing over and over again all afternoon about this Trench Coat Mafia. What have you been able to find out about them?

STONE: I've heard rumors that that's who was involved in this. But we can't confirm or deny that right now. I've never heard of the Trench Coat Mafia. FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: As far as this type of thing happening, I mean, it's tragic that it happens, but it seems like it's happening with all too much frequency.

STONE: Well, you just wonder how much -- when the attention like this media attention gets on it, that this is broadcast all over the United States and other people get the same idea that, you know...

FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: And the conflict is you can't not cover it. But then again, you know, the dilemma is for that 15 seconds of fame or whatever the motive is.

STONE: Yes, I understand.

FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: How much more time are you going to have?

STONE: We're going to be here all night probably. We've got a lot of work to do. Once we get the building secured, we've got crime scene units from our office, from FBI, CDI, going to come in and work this thing. And we're probably going to be here until the morning.

FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: OK, and at what point will you extricate the bodies?

STONE: When we're done with the crime scene, which is going to be quite a while.

FEMALE KUSA REPORTER: OK, Sheriff Stone, thank you very much.

Jim and Kim, again we're hearing reports of horrible tragedies. And again, you just heard Sheriff Stone say that it's unconfirmed that there are as many as 25 dead still inside the school. He also said that it may be quite some time before those bodies are taken out.

We were talking with reporter Greg Moss just a few moments ago. He had talked with the father earlier in the day, and he saw that Father again. The father had two twin sophomore girls who attended Columbine High School, and Greg had just told me he that found out that both his twin daughters were dead -- Kim and Jim.

BETTERMAN: That's a terrible situation. And certainly the sheriff getting his information from SWAT team members who are making the sweep, and it might be, you know, somewhere around that number of 25, but certainly those veteran SWAT team members have a pretty good idea of what's down on the scene, so you've got to believe the sheriff when he says up to 25. It certainly could be very close to that number.

KIM: I would think so.

I just can't imagine -- thank you Adelle -- you can't imagine the horror of everyone in that community in...

SHAW: The information coming from inside Columbine High School obviously indicated by Sheriff John Stone. As each moment progresses, the information, the news, is becoming grimmer and grimmer. And the sheriff told us exactly what we can expect in the coming hours here tonight. He said his people, along with the federal agents and the SWAT teams and all of the authorities in that area would be working through the night and into tomorrow morning.

One indication was I noted that he said, a short while ago, there are still bomb devices around the school, so the authorities inside the school there have to tread very, very carefully; and he told us that the last week of information came from the four SWAT teams and the FBI inside the school. He said that it appeared that the two dead suspects were dead from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, and he said that once the scene is secured, only then would they be able to go in and identify each dead person inside Columbine High School.

Our man Tony Clark still at the scene.

Tony, come in please.

CLARK: Bernie, it is quieter, I guess. There is less perhaps apprehension because what we've seen over the last five hours -- we have seen students and parents gathered behind me. In fact, I'm probably, I guess, about a quarter mile or so -- the school is the white building behind the trees.

The area here, the soccer field and all, was the staging area for law enforcement officials. I'm told that there were at least 200 here. We have seen members of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the FBI, Police, all around. There are bomb units that are here as well. The bomb units were called in early on, because some of the first deputies heard an explosion. They weren't sure what it was, but heard some type of explosion when they arrived at the school. And now as the SWAT teams go through the rest of the school, looking to see if there are any people who are still hiding -- students, faculty members who are still hiding; potentially other suspects, because the authorities have not ruled out the possibility of other suspects.

They're going through and looking to check out the school, and then the bomb units will go in and dispose of the potentially explosive devices that they have found. But they have said that they found some of the devices around one or both of the two suspects whose bodies are currently in the library.

When I've talked to students who have come out of there, and they have talked of being shot at. One student talked about running down the stairs and that there were three bodies along the stairs, people who have been shot, and he presumed had been fatally shot here.

The number we have heard throughout the day just kept growing and growing, the situation got worse and worse. When I first got here, shortly after the shooting, there had been four people transferred to the hospital, and everyone was hoping at the time that, that was as high as it would go, but helicopter shots -- helicopter views of the campus showed that it was potentially a much worse situation.

One other thing, Bernie.

One of the things that has been really a real heartbreaking situation out here throughout the day -- we saw parents whose children were inside the school and who had called out on a cell phone and said that they were hiding in the school, and the worried parents simply stood here hoping and praying that their students would get out safely.

SHAW: Tony, a couple of questions. To underpin what you said earlier about explosions having being heard, one of our affiliates, KMGH, interviewed on the telephone a woman in the neighborhood. She did not want to use her name, but she said that she first knew something was amiss when she heard a loud boom, and then she heard what she described as several blasts, and then she said there was a lot of rapid fire and she said -- in her words -- "It sounded like we were in the middle of a war zone."

And we've heard several eyewitness accounts saying that the gunmen were shooting at minorities, women and people of color. Have you heard any more about that?

CLARK: Well, what I heard in talking to some students who saw the people being shot, said that they didn't think, in many cases, that they were targeting anyone in particular, that they were shooting at random, that they were spraying shots around.

And so I think what we have now is we have more questions than we have answers in this case. It may take some time to ever, if ever, unravel exactly what caused today's tragedy.

SHAW: One of the students said the gunmen were shooting also at athletes. Let's pause for a moment -- I'm sorry go ahead.

CLARK: No, I think those are all questions that we have to have answered, because, you know, there are people who said that they knew a group, a click, known as the Trench Coat Mafia, and they were people who were snubbed, as what some students said, and they associated this with -- the two suspects in this case were members of that. And so I think we still have a lot of questions that need answers.

SHAW: OK, but we do have some information. We do know some facts. And CNN viewers who are just getting home and tuning in, our live coverage has been going on all afternoon.

Tony Clark, at the scene in Colorado just southwest of Denver, can you please bring us up to date on the shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado? What happened, and how did this day unfold?

CLARK: It all began around 11:30 local time. Students said that -- who they described as two young men, students they thought, wearing black trench coats. Some descriptions said they had ski masks on, were walking through the school, came into the school, armed -- various descriptions -- armed with a shotgun, automatic weapon or at least semiautomatic weapon, and began shooting. Students began running for cover -- students and faculty members.

This is a very large campus spread out over a large area. Deputies, when they first got here, said they heard a sound of an explosion; and there were reports of homemade bombs being detonated. Some students said that they looked like little grenades that were being thrown.

One student said he saw three people nearby being shot falling over -- being shot.

And for almost five hours, this area, this whole school, was surrounded as the SWAT teams, four different SWAT teams, went into the school to try to find the suspects; shooting continued as students kept trying to escape.

Some students and faculty members were, in fact, trapped inside the school. Some had cell phones and were calling relatives to say that they were hiding in a classroom or in a closet, hoping to stay hidden from the gunmen as they walked through the school shooting at people.

About 200 or so law enforcement officers from all around the area, as well as FBI agents, and members of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms converged on the school and the school campus.

Parents, worried parents, and spouses of employees and faculty members gathered here trying to see if their loved ones were all right.

The SWAT teams went through the school, searched the school, brought out groups of students. Periodically, we would see large groups of students brought out to an area where they could be questioned about what they had seen.

There was also concern that the suspects may try to escape, posing as victims of the shooting rather than being as the suspects.

And then, it was just about 45 minutes or an hour ago the shepherd -- sheriff here said that two bodies found in the library appear to be that of the suspects. They are dead, apparently of self- inflicted gunshot wounds. There were apparently explosive devices around them, but the real tragedy, even though there have been an estimate of 14 to 18 people already transferred to the hospital, the sheriff said that there could be upwards of 25 fatalities from today's shooting.

It is a real tragedy and the law enforcement officers still going through the school, still checking to see exactly what is inside, if there are people that are still alive inside, and then, also looking at the victims of this shooting -- Bernie.

SHAW: And Sheriff Stone said that the two dead suspects, dead of self-inflicted wounds -- he identified them as students.

Hear now an eyewitness account of what one student heard and saw and felt earlier today at Columbine High School.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Tell me everything that you know. UNIDENTIFIED COLUMBINE STUDENT: Everything I know. Guns, bombs, people shooting. I was in -- to make it brief, I was in -- took two teachers another -- a cook and another woman, another guy and my friend Tim went into the bathroom, and there were bombs and shooting and you just kept hearing these bombs go off and shooting.

And finally, when I went back outside I saw some bodies laying there. One kid was partially alive I don't know. His face was blown off. When we knew that part, I said "You have to get out of there, we have, you know, the guys and the teachers." And they got out safely.

And there was people crawling on the top of the vents -- kids trying to figure out where the bad people were and the other people were at -- any other students were at. So, we -- I went and climbed up, and Tim Castle (ph) was in there and this other kid was in there finding -- trying to find people. And when I went up there, I started climbing a little bit, I slipped and lost my grip and fell through the ceiling and landed on a concrete table. I didn't know if I snapped my leg or not, I didn't I guess. And then I didn't know after that -- I didn't know if they'd heard me or not, so I opened this door knowing if they're going to be with guns or not, and I ran outside.

REPORTER: Did you know the people who did this?

STUDENT: No.

REPORTER: Ever seen them before?

STUDENT: I didn't see them. I just saw guns and a big black cape, or, you know, a jacket.

REPORTER: And what about the victims? You said you saw them just lying there.

STUDENT: I saw one of my friends -- good friends with his face blown off. Another freshman or some young kid shot in the back. Innocent guys, you know, I don't know.

REPORTER: I think the thing everyone's saying is: this could not have happened at Columbine, but it did.

STUDENT: It did. It doesn't matter. It didn't have to happen downtown or anywhere, it takes anybody to be crazy enough to do anything they want. You know, these guys don't care.

When I went to the hospital I was messing with (ph) my friends up there, and one good friend of mine, a girl named Jennifer Doyle (ph), she got shot in the hand like three or four times. I said. "What happened?" She goes, "I don't know. We hid under the tables in the libraries" -- this is how sick these people are -- "and they put under the tables and started shooting under the tables."

REPORTER: Do we know how many, roughly?

STUDENT: No.

REPORTER: And what about your friends, and being able to save them: was there even a...

STUDENT: Yeah, I stopped, I stopped, you know, I stopped and the cop said, "Keep going, keep going," and I couldn't do anything man.

REPORTER: And then what happened after that? Where were you taken after that?

STUDENT: I was hiding behind a car for a few minutes, and then an officer pulled up, got me in a car, and they drove me down to some place -- I don't know where -- I -- they were just driving away, and I met to an ambulance, and then...

REPORTER: And what are police telling you?

STUDENT: Keep calm, and breathe, and, "You're OK."

REPORTER: And what are they telling you now that we're -- that you're away from the scene? Are they giving you any detail about what's happened?

STUDENT: They say the same thing, same thing.

REPORTER: OK, all right, and if you will stay with us. We have yet another witness to this shooting. Go ahead and say your name for me sir.

ADAM FOSS (ph), STUDENT: I'm Adam Foss.

REPORTER: Adam, what year are you there?

FOSS: I'm a senior.

REPORTER: And tell me what you saw.

FOSS: I -- all I saw was the barrels of the guns just going off blazing. I saw a couple teachers limping with a bunch of blood. I saw a couple of kids just get shot. And after that I just turned around, had a bunch of my buddies help me get a bunch of people into a room, barricade ourselves in there.

REPORTER: And what part of the school were you talking about?

FOSS: We were in the crossfire between the science hall and the vocal choir room.

REPORTER: And you saw the guns opening fire; do you have any idea -- did you get a quick glimpse of at least how many?

FOSS: How many guns?

REPORTER: No, how many guys and guns.

FOSS: I think three guys and a bunch of 12 gauges I think. I don't know. Maybe smaller guns.

REPORTER: And people were just fleeing all around? FOSS: Yeah, it was just one big rat race, I guess.

REPORTER: Did you have time to try and help anybody, or...

FOSS: Yeah, me and three of my buddies -- our choir room split up, half and half. I took half the class, and me and three or four of my buddies we grabbed all the kids we could, and grabbed them into a room, and we were in like an eight by eight room, there were like 60 of us in there, and did the best we could from then. And then...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHAW: And at 6:56 Eastern Time in the evening here in the United States, at this moment, inch by inch, corridor by corridor, classroom by classroom, closet by closet at Columbine High School four SWAT Teams and the FBI are methodically going through a building which Sheriff John Jones (sic) says still is not secure. Earlier in a live news conference here on CNN he indicated that there are still explosive devices around the school. The two suspects found in the library, dead of self-inflicted wounds, according to Sheriff John Stone, and we know that there's still a third suspect who is being sought.

CNN now picks up the live coverage from Colorado by CNN affiliates.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: ... kids from lunch in the auditorium. And one of the guys came in with a gun in the auditorium. I'm hoping my friends -- all my friends are OK, because it's certainly scary.

BETTERMAN: Some of the students who were lucky enough to survive what happened today at Columbine Elementary (sic) deeply troubled by what they saw, but certainly they're the lucky ones. At least 20 people have been wounded, many in critical condition. The Jeff. Co. sheriff saying as many as 25 people might have been killed.

Right now we want to send it out to Adelle Arakawa. Adelle is at the scene at Columbine.

ARAKAWA: Thanks a lot Kim and Jim.

We just saw a Flight For Life helicopter leaving out from the area. We can tell you that all of the students have been evacuated from the school. Those who are still inside, we are told by the sheriff's department, are dead, and those bodies will not be removed for quite some time until they finish with the crime scene.

Bonfils Blood Center is asking for blood donations as you mentioned Jim. Twenty people have been transported to six area hospitals. One girl, who was taken to Swedish, suffered at least eight gunshot wounds. She did make it through surgery, but the need for blood is great. And there's the number to call, and there is the location that is open for donations: it's at 1050 South Wadsworth. The number to call is 303-936-7174.

The Jefferson County public school system has now issued a news release. The superintendent of Jefferson County public schools, Jane Hammond (ph), says, quote, "This is the worst kind of tragedy for our students, their families, and our staff at Columbine High School, and our hearts go out to them."

The have now given another number for parents to call for information. They're trying to contact each family of every student who attended Columbine and let them know, if these parents are home, where their kids are and how they are. That number -- you may want to write this down -- is 303-982-6836.

Columbine High School will not be open tomorrow. It's less than a month from graduation, and the number we have unconfirmed dead inside the school is as high as 25 -- Jim and Kim.

BETTERMAN: All right. Adelle Arakawa, thanks very much. Adelle with the latest from the scene out there, and she has seen an awful lot of sadness, and awful lot of commotion and chaos since Adelle first reported to the scene at about 1:00 this afternoon.

We have been on the air, everyone, since about 11:15 or 11:25, that's when word started to trickle in that something was happening at Columbine High School. Certainly at that point we had no idea that it would become just the horror show that we have been reporting on.

KIM: We're going to take a brief break and come right back with 9 News at 5:00.

SHAW: Our affiliates -- our thanks to our Colorado affiliates for the excellent and exceptional coverage of this very, very disturbing tragedy from Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, a community of 35,000 people just southwest of Denver, Colorado.

To recap for you briefly what has happened to the moment: first of all, the sheriff of Jefferson County, John Jones, indicates, in a news conference just concluded within -- John Stone, rather, Sheriff Stone indicating within the last hour that two suspected gunmen have been found dead in the Columbine High School library, dead of self- inflicted wounds. A third person reportedly is still at large.

The sheriff said, based on reports from the SWAT teams and the FBI, who are still methodically sweeping through the high school trying to secure it, the indications are from these sweepers is that at least 25 people are dead.

The sheriff said -- well, let's listen for a moment to just a portion of that news conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STONE: There are explosives that were found in the school and outside of the school, as well as at one of the suspects' houses -- a device was found over there. I've heard radio traffic that there was technical devices on one of the suspects -- at least one suspect.

QUESTION: Can you identify that suspect?

STONE: Not at this point.

QUESTION: What kind of weapons did these suspects use, to the best of your knowledge.

STONE: Well, handguns and these bombs, and we're not exactly sure what where they were.

QUESTION: Where were they found?

STONE: In the library.

QUESTION: If there was a suspect or someone in handcuffs taken down in custody here, can you tell us who that person was?

STONE: We had three individuals that were ascending upon the school, wearing kind of military, camouflage fatigue-type things; they were detained, and it appears they are associates of these gentleman or good friends of these gentleman that -- I don't want to call them gentleman -- these people that perpetrated this atrocity here today.

QUESTION: We're talking about someone dressed in black.

STONE: Yes.

QUESTION: Is he one of the suspects?

STONE: This is still under investigation. We're not sure what relationship he had to those people inside, but he was a very good friend, according to the information we have.

QUESTION: You said you found two suspects in the library?

STONE: Three -- two dead in the library.

QUESTION: Well, where is the third?

STONE: Well, we're not sure if there is a third yet or not, yet, or how many -- the SWAT operation is still going on in there.

QUESTION: Two dead suspects?

STONE: Two dead suspects.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHAW: This unfolding tragedy from Colorado has been a day for one to constantly hold one's breath as the information unfolded. We don't have the picture of it right now, but earlier this afternoon, our affiliates showed one of the people inside the building, a man, standing on the second floor in a classroom. The man clearly had been wounded, blood on his shirt, and he was using his hand, his bare hand, to flick away shards of glass. He leaned out the window, and down below on the first floor an armored vehicle, SWAT team members on the roof of this armored vehicle, their hands outstretched, they grabbed his body as he fell from the second floor into their arms and he was rushed off to the hospital. Other things that we can report to you -- and we want to keep emphasizing that as darkness comes to Colorado very shortly, the school building itself, Columbine High School still is not secured to the satisfaction of authorities on the scene. The sheriff that indicated the SWAT teams and FBI will continue going through the building methodically. Once they feel the building is secure, then, and only then, will they go back and identify the bodies that are strewn in that building.

And the sheriff indicated that he has information that as many as 25 people are dead. Again, the two suspected gunmen apparently died, according to the sheriff, of self-inflicted wounds. Their bodies found in the school library.

You've heard in our coverage word of these alleged gunmen. Seen around the school there day in and day out at Columbine High School, wearing black trench coats. Eyewitnesses said men entered the school with black trench coats and black ski masks. Here are the words from the school superintendent earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: ... the Trench Coat Mafia, we just heard today, and we don't know whether it was a new group or if we're just now experiencing it. I guess what's been going on here is the recognition of this terrible tragedy and the long-term impact it will have on Jefferson County and on our community.

QUESTION: What kind of impact do you think it might have on security at schools, specifically at Columbine?

SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: I believe it's going to be critical for us to work with the community, saying how do we make our schools as safe as we can make them. It's very difficult to deal with a kind of a surprise tragedy like this. But we are committed to kids being safe and to families feeling as though they can trust that their students will be safe in our schools. This has been a life-changing day for us. And we are worried about how to provide the most support we can to the families, the community and to the children.

QUESTION: Have you been getting a lot of calls from parents here at the administration building, or has that mainly gone to other offices over the district?

SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: We have been receiving calls from parents. Right now, we have quite a number of staff members calling every parent -- every student's home, checking on the families, seeing how they're doing. We also have calls going to every one of our employees.

QUESTION: We've heard that there is a service going on this evening, and that word was pressed on at a press conference. Can you tell the details of that?

SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: There is going to be a church that is open --it's on Bowles, just west of Kipling -- and they are receiving students, families, community members that would like to gather at this time, and then there will be a 7:00 service at the church.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHAW: Of course it's an understatement to say that the students and the faculty members caught up in this afternoon's tragedy are in a state of disbelief.

Listen to these words from two students interviewed earlier today by our KUSA affiliate. This is what one young lady said: "Why -- why would this happen to us at Columbine? Not in our senior year, not with 19 days to go." -- unquote.

Earlier today at the White House, President Clinton urged all Americans to pray for the people there at Columbine High School. The president is expected to make a statement very shortly, maybe about 25 minutes from now at 7:30 Eastern time. We'll carry his remarks live, of course.

Now, we pick up our affiliates' coverage.

NICK KLAUS, COLUMBINE STUDENT: I didn't see any gunmen. I heard shots and firing, but I didn't see them. I went to one of them. One was shot in the back at least three times, and from what I know is dead. One other one, I looked to the right, half his face was blown off and still apparently living -- I don't know. And...

KEATING: You're 17, right?

KLAUS: I'm 18.

KEATING: Eighteen -- senior?

And this has got to be unbelievably traumatic just to be dealing with?

KLAUS: Yes, it's hard to talk about it right now. The gunman -- I saw two of them come around. One of them just opened with his big cape and just had a big shotgun and started firing; and like I said, one grazed my head, and I just rolled back into the door and got in the door, and got two teachers, a cook, another woman and another guy into the bathroom, and we sat there for at least 30, 45 minutes. Finally, I started figuring out these guys shoot to kill for no reason.

KEATING: You recognize any of the students here on the bus -- these students that go to your high school?

KLAUS: I don't know. I haven't seen them yet.

KEATING: It's hard to see them through the tinted glass windows. But it does appear that's the latest wave of students coming from the high school over here from Leawood Elementary to hopefully reunite with their parents. So these guys with the trench coats clearly are just unbelievably heavily armed, and they're just, like, spraying?

KLAUS: They just start shooting, just anybody who was walking and talking, didn't matter -- boom, they shot; they didn't care, and that was the sick part of about it. And I don't know, man. It's scary.

KEATING: Could you tell who they were?

KLAUS: No, I don't. All I saw was big, black trench coats and guns, man, and bombs -- lots of bombs.

KEATING: Were they throwing bombs?

KLAUS: Threw them down in the parking lot. They threw them inside the school in the commons area. I mean, I saw this teacher running, and he just looked at me and the bomb went off -- I don't know where he went, you know. I got into the teacher lounge, went in the bathroom. Finally, I figured out that people on top were trying to get a hold of other people. We didn't know where anybody was. I got the teachers and everybody else out, went back in. I got on the vent and I fell 18 feet and I got out, but my leg was hurt.

KEATING: So there is -- there were, like, several, maybe dozens of people, up in the crawl space above...

KLAUS: At least four that I know of, four or five, crawling, trying to find people and trying to figure out where the shooters were so they didn't get shot.

KEATING: Were these suspects, the guys with the guns, who apparently, the best we know, they're dead and accounted for. Were they yelling anything at anybody?

KLAUS: Quiet; didn't say anything, wasn't cursing, no profanities, no nothing. They just -- you know, when they looked at me, the guys eyes were just mean; they just didn't care, no feeling, no nothing.

KEATING: You made eye contact with them?

KLAUS: One of them. The guy with the barrel just looked at me, and I looked at him, and he was shooting; I went to the right.

KEATING: Any idea what may have provoked this?

KLAUS: I have not a clue. I don't know why anybody would do this. I don't -- I guess they would take anybody -- it doesn't matter if their downtown, suburban -- it doesn't matter, just one crazed person. You know, anybody can have the mind to just go up and shoot people for only -- any given intentions, you know.

KEATING: Stand by one second -- Bruce.

BRUCE, KEATING: Right here, there is a parent voicing some heavy concerns about jocks versus preppies versus outcasts, alleging that for a long time, it's been unsafe, that he hasn't been able to keep his kid safe.

PARENT OF COLUMBINE STUDENT: My son, I don't want to say, because he is a student here in the high school.

KEATING: He is very critical of the school, saying the principal really wasn't taking his concerns seriously. Any truth at all that there was, you know, animosity between different sexes, different cliques of the school that would possibly lead to one click bringing guns and taking on another?

KLAUS: No, I don't believe that at all. I think these people came in, didn't care what race, what nationality, didn't have to be a jock, nobody. They shot people. I went to the hospital and saw my friend. She told me the story. She was up in the library. People got under the tables, cleared the tables, started shooting under the tables.

Whoever these people were, they didn't care what you were, they didn't care what race you were, didn't matter -- doesn't matter; they didn't care. They wanted to shoot to have fun -- I don't know. Sick people, hurting innocent people. And, you know, I don't know. I feel really sorry for them. I really do. It's not a jock or any issue. None to the contrary. None.

KEATING: Just senseless violence?

KLAUS: Yes, some crazed kid who is very, very messed up.

KEATING: Clearly you are very, very lucky tonight.

Thanks a lot you for your time, Nick.

Bill, thanks a lot. Have a good night.

So clearly, a whole list of emotions, range of emotions from parents, from kids, students. Everyone is seriously starting to lose their control and anger at certain points, as they're not finding the students, they're not finding their friends or they're just upset at what's going on here.

But clearly, a very senseless tragic day here at the Columbine High School area.

Back to you in the studio.

BETTERMAN: All right, Phil Keating, thanks very much. We want to send it right back to Adelle Arakawa. She's at the scene there at Columbine High School with more information for us -- Adelle.

ARAKAWA: We have just found out that they will be holding news conferences every hour on the hour beginning at 5:30 this evening. And as far as the focus of the investigation now is going to be answering the question why. Police did take one person into custody. They are not saying it is an arrest. They want to question this person to possibly find out what the motive may have been. Apparently this was a student here at the school who may have been friends of the two suspects who died of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds -- Jim and Kim.

BETTERMAN: All right, thanks Adelle.

KIM: In light of this tragedy we have been hearing about church services that are going to be held and vigils. We'll be telling you about that also. The Rockies and the Nuggets have canceled their games tonight.

BETTERMAN: Phil Keating was trying to get to the bottom -- trying to get any information about who these people were; why they did they do it. The family of...

SHAW: OK, that was very interesting. As you can sense the community throughout Colorado, the professional ball teams, the Rockets and the Nuggets have canceled their games tonight. Again, we want to remind you that at 7:30 Eastern time tonight, President Clinton will make a statement on today's tragedy there on Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. We heard one of our affiliate reporters indicate that local authorities out there starting at 5:30 Mountain time, 7:30 Eastern time, there will be a news conference every hour on the hour. We will monitor what the local authorities say in their news conference coming up in about 18 minutes. We will carry President Clinton's remarks from the White House live in about 18 minutes.

We want to quote again from Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone, who said a short while ago -- he describing what happened today at Columbine High School as, "It appears to be a suicide mission." He said, that no shots were exchanged between authorities. At least four SWAT teams and the FBI, as you can see in this picture, began to methodically and very carefully move into Columbine High School to try to get on top of the situation.

As you are watching these pictures, just keep in mind that the situation was very fluid when these pictures were taken. Parents upon hearing of what had happened at this school; rushing to the school. Students who were able to get out ran to safety. They ran to any house they could find in the neighborhood. The homeowners there opening up their houses to faculty members, to the authorities, to the triage unit members who were set up immediately.

Meanwhile, the SWAT teams continue going towards the building; going into the school. All of this is unfolding with elementary schools in the area coming under the order from authorities to lock themselves down. No students could enter these elementary schools; none could leave. As parents converged on the scene -- and you can imagine the pandemonium. Everyone holding their breath as this scene unfolded. As Sheriff John Stone indicated, by the time the authorities were able to get to the library, they found two of the suspects dead of what they described as self-inflicted wounds. He said, "We have three names; we've got two bodies." The third person wasn't in the school.

We did see videotape; a suspect who was handcuffed, hands behind his back, wearing a black t-shirt and black pants. He was led to an unmarked car and was driven away. Earlier, we showed you videotape of three men in dark clothing -- young men surrounded by heavily armed police officers in squad cars and in the grass. They were taken to the ground; they were handcuffed. They, too, were driven away. Sheriff Stone indicated at his news conference that these three men were ex-students, friends of the suspects. He also said, I should remind you -- he said that the suspects were students -- more of the activity and here now another eyewitness account.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE STUDENT: Well, me and my friend Chris were just out during lunch by the student parking lot and we saw -- we heard what sounded like firecrackers, and so we looked over and we saw some guys with guns creeping around the corner, and we thought it was like a senior prank or something, so we just kept watching to see what they were going to do.

Then, we saw them shoot three kids, and so we like started going back on the soccer field and he looked at us and then he started shooting at us, and so we like fell to the ground. And then we got back up after he stopped shooting, and we saw a guy in a white t-shirt throw some bombs or something on top of the school.

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Did they appear to be targeting certain students or just whoever was in their path?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE STUDENT: It didn't really look like they were aiming at kids. It just looked like they were just kind of shooting randomly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHAW: "Kind of shooting randomly." Sheriff Stone called it a "suicide mission." Again, a reminder in less than 15 minutes President Clinton will be making a statement from the White House. CNN will carry it live.

We now rejoin our live affiliate coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, OK, let's go home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RHONDA: Obviously a very emotional reunion between a father and daughter and the daughter's friend. The father had no idea where she was. He couldn't find her name on a list anywhere. But he just happened to be at that corner sort of driving through the neighborhood looking and there she was. And -- a horrible thing for any parent to have to go through.

JELNIKER: No kidding. All right, Rhonda, we thank you.

Lots of tearful reunions going on this afternoon as parents waited along this line behind me and all around this area awaiting to hear word of their sons or their daughters, and sometimes having to wait several hours before they truly knew whether their kids were out of that school and out of harm's way.

Of, course, this is something that affects not only the people that go to school here and in this neighborhood in this neck of the woods in Jefferson County, but all of us as Coloradans. And as a result many things are changing in our city tonight, including some events that would normally be held this evening, and our Tom Green has more on that. And now that's being changed this evening because of this tragedy -- Tom.

TOM GREEN, LIVE-7 CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Mitch. It's obviously sports...

SHAW: That's the latest from our affiliates out there.

One other thing I wanted to report to you earlier; you noticed that we were reporting that among the students who were shot there was a young lady shot nine times in the chest. The latest word we had was that she is in stable condition. We do not have her name yet, but I wanted to pass that along to you because we had been emphasizing that one young lady had been shot nine times. And the last word we had and it's still an authoritative word, that's why I reported to you, her condition is described as stable.

Tony Clark is still at the scene as he will be all night long. Tony, what's the latest you are hearing?

CLARK: Bernie, I think what we see more than anything else is a change. We have started seeing law enforcement officers walking away from the school. The number of vehicles, police vehicles and the like, seems to be decreasing. We have seen some of the -- we saw an armored personnel carrier, what looked like an armored personnel carrier driving away. The helicopter, the life flight helicopter that was here all afternoon has -- has gone as well, and so I think what we're starting to see here on the periphery of the school is a winding down.

Of course, inside the school the search is continuing by the SWAT team members. They're checking all of the school before a bomb disposal unit is able to go in and then -- even at that point, after that point, that's when they're going to be -- be checking some of the victims that are in the school.

SHAW: Tony...

CLARK: As Sheriff Stone said, maybe 25 victims inside. Yes, sir.

SHAW: Tony, pardon me for interrupting you. We are going live to the Swedish Medical Center where they are holding a briefing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can describe each patient by the injuries so you guys know what's going on.

The first one is a female, sustained what was reported as nine gunshot wounds to the chest. What it was actually was nine -- more than nine injuries all from shrapnel, more than gunshot wounds -- to the breast, abdominal wall, chest wall, and left forearm. We did an operation on her and she had no vital organs that were injured. She did have a lot of soft tissue injuries to both the breast, chest wall, abdomen, and her left forearm. Neurologically she appears to be in tact in terms of her function of her left around, so there does not appear to be any nerve or vascular injury to that area. As far as her lungs, her heart, and her internal abdominal organs, they all appear to be in tact, and she appears to be stable. And she's the one going to the regular floor today.

The other female, that sustained a gunshot wound to the chest; she right now is in the intensive care unit. She sustained a significant injury to her liver requiring a specific amount of operations. She's still critical, and so right now we are still trying to manage her in the intensive care unit; controlling blood pressure and that sort of -- her vital systems.

The other male, which is a gentleman who got a gunshot wound to the back, he sustained significant injury requiring operation; injuring his colon as well as potential injury to his spinal cord. That is still in the process of being worked up.

The last male sustained gunshot wound to the chest and back. He is also -- he is still in the operating room. He also sustained injury to his left arm, which is requiring an operation to repair the major artery in that arm. And he sustained also injuries to his internal abdominal organs, such as his spleen, his kidney, and also a portion of his -- injury to the backbone itself.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, the two patients who are going to the general floor, their prognosis is still guarded, but they should do OK. The two patients going to the intensive care unit, still undecided right now. They're both still very critical and still very unstable at this point.

QUESTION: How about that spinal cord injury?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We won't know more about that until they start waking up and we start seeing if they can follow commands.

QUESTION: That's the one that is in intensive care?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

QUESTION: The male?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, the who one in intensive care right now is the female. The one going who is going to intensive care is still in the operating room.

QUESTION: How are they emotionally and mentally?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know -- I briefly saw three of the four; all three were very shaken up. They were very concerned as to what was going on, and didn't know why everything happened to them. But they were very shaken up.

QUESTION: Are you expecting anymore?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As of this time, no. But we won't know until they finish the sweep in the school. I'm not sure when that is going to be completed, yet.

QUESTION: We've heard a report that a business teacher...

SHAWN: That's the latest from Swedish Medical Center. You hear the doctors giving us a briefing on the patients that they have there. They're also some that at Anthony, DGH and also at a university hospital. The latest number...

SHAW: To clarify, you heard me reporting on that young lady who was shot nine times as I reported based on information we've had earlier in the afternoon. And now we hear from Swedish Medical Center in Denver, Colorado that the woman was not shot nine times in the chest. This doctor said that she suffered nine injuries from shrapnel -- which is very good -- rather than gunshot wounds. He said that she suffered nine injuries from shrapnel -- more than nine; in his words, that "fortunately, no vital organs were injured -- none. He said that there was no nerve or vascular injury, and her lung and heart appeared to be all right. And he described her, as we described her earlier, as being in stable condition. And then he went through a list of the conditions and the status of three other of the victims from the Columbine High School shooting earlier today.

And you heard the doctor indicate that they didn't expect anymore people to come to Swedish Medical Center but they were awaiting further word once the sweep had ended.

And in the news conference that the Sheriff of Jefferson County had, he indicated that he expected the sweep to be completed by the four SWAT teams and the FBI within an hour. That news conference ended more than an hour ago, but of course, this is a fluid situation, and we'll just have to wait to see what the authorities report to us.

There are going to be local news conferences, beginning on the half hour, every hour out there in Colorado.

President Clinton, as we say, should be coming up to address the nation, for that matter, the world, in about seven or eight minutes. Whenever he does appear at the White House, CNN will carry his remarks live.

Tony Clark, I unceremoniously had to interrupt you. were giving us a status report. We wanted to get the latest from Swedish Medical Center in Denver. Please continue your report.

CLARK: Bernie, just a moment ago, we saw about a dozen homicide investigation officers head in with clipboards in hand toward the school, and one can only assume that the investigation of what happened here at Columbine is getting under way -- efforts to try and document what happened inside the school. We have continued to see people -- law enforcement officers begin moving away. The parents -- who have kept vigil here all day long, at the outskirts of the campus, waiting for their children to come out of the school -- they have all gone, and hopefully, are being reunited.

The -- we have not heard word that the sweep is over. We expect to hear that perhaps very soon. And then once the sweep is over and the bomb disposal unit officers get inside, then we may know a little bit more.

But right now, as I say, we've seen about half a dozen or so -- or rather, over a dozen homicide investigators head toward the school to begin their investigation -- Bernie.

SHAW: Tony, I want to go to something that is very sensitive and very understandable right now.

Can you tell us, please, what's being done for the parents and the loved ones of at least 25 people who, by now, must know that their loved ones are not coming home tonight? We heard the Jefferson County Sheriff say at least 25 people have been killed in this massacre. What about them? What are authorities doing for parents of students and the loved ones of faculty members who will not be coming home, not only tonight, but forever?

CLARK: Well, the school system itself -- the school superintendent issued a press release a short time ago, saying that they were contacting everyone, the homes of everyone that was a student or faculty member at the school. They are also setting up counselors and others, trained professionals, to help with those as much as possible.

But you know, this is one of those tragedies that we have seen all too often. We saw in Oklahoma City during the bombing just -- the anniversary yesterday -- the waiting until things become official, and that's what perhaps 25 people who have children here or who have a spouse who may be either worked here or was a teacher -- they are going through that waiting, waiting for the final notification.

SHAW: And you reported a short while ago when I interrupted you, that the armored car personnel carrier requested by the FBI of Governor Bill Owens has withdrawn from the crime scene, that the ambulances are pulling back, as are the police squad cars and many of the SWAT team members who are still outside -- they're withdrawing?

CLARK: We're seeing a number of units withdraw. I did see one armored unit pull away. I've seen fire trucks and the life flight helicopter also take off. We have seen some SWAT team members walk off to the side. And so I think what we're seeing now is a winding down of the almost search and siege, and winding up, gearing up of the investigation itself.

SHAW: And the scene has been repeated across the United States so many times, too many times. I'm looking at information that CNN has compiled, information about school shootings going back as late as 1993. I'll just read for you the datelines and the states. Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi; West Paducah, Kentucky; Jonesboro, Arkansas; Edinboro Pennsylvania; Fayetteville, Tennessee; Springfield, Oregon; Richmond, Virginia, Bethel, Alaska, Moses Lake, Washington, Grayson, Kentucky; and Giles county, Tennessee -- all communities undergoing tragedy over about the past nine or 10 years.

We continue following our affiliate coverage.

LAMONICA: ... that they wanted to detonate safely. They would place them in that container, and there's a vent in the top to allow the force to go straight up, but not to spill over to the side, so you can see that there is still a great deal of concern as to the amount of explosives that apparently are still inside of this building. This scene has not been stabilized just yet.

And again, we're flying from the west to the east. This is the west side of, if you will, Columbine High School, and all of the emergency activity will come back over to the school here, where you can see still quite a bit of the police activity and just out of this entire sprawling complex. And again, the Boulder Bomb Squad is still en route to the scene to help the investigators already here.

We also noted that the ATF people, the people from Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms -- they are the federal agency that deals with explosives and firearms -- they too have brought their lab here to the scene at Columbine High School.

Reporting live from Sky 9, I am Tony Lamonica, 9 news. Let's go back to Jim and Kim.

BETTERMAN: Tony, quickly, could you pull out of the area and show us -- I know police have been asking people to stay away -- and tell us what you see?

LAMONICA: OK, this is the area that is the complex itself. You know, it's quite a big school. This is the entire complex itself. And you'll notice that there's very little vehicular traffic. Everything has been closed off in all directions around the school. You simply can't get through on Pierce Street or on Wadsworth, and they have got it very well blocked off and very much under control.

There are hundreds and hundreds of pieces of emergency equipment at the scene -- ambulances and armored personnel carrier -- came from the military. We have fire trucks from several neighborhoods.

You can see what's really interesting to note that a lot of the administrators, the people that were inside the building, they have elected to stay and to help out, and that's exactly what's going on.

This is just a tremendous outpouring of help at all levels, federal levels right down to the local and school levels. Also the medivac people have done a marvelous job. But you can see there is very little, if any, traffic, only the emergency vehicles in and around the school area for several blocks.

KIM: All right. Thanks, Tony. BETTERMAN: A couple of programming notes we'd like to tell you about. Of course, coming up on the 5:30 hour here in Denver, typically you would be watching Tom Brokaw...

SHAW: I'm Bernard Shaw at CNN in Washington. We welcome our international viewers around the world where we continue to cover a story that unfolded several hours ago in the United States at a high school in suburban Colorado, Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

Earlier today, two gunmen opened fire on innocent victims in the school. We are told by the sheriff that as many as 25 people are dead. That number could fluctuate. The sheriff told us that the two alleged gunmen were found dead in the school library, dead of self- inflicted wounds.

The president of the United States is scheduled to address the American people in a matter of moments. We're going to go to our senior White House correspondent, Wolf Blitzer.

Wolf, it was just slightly over a year ago, March 1998 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, when this kind of tragedy unfolded in the president's home state.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's not the first time the president has had to deal with this issue. And in fact, he focused a conference here at the White House last October on school safety, school violence. His aides subsequently proposed as part of the new fiscal year budget some additional money for the federal government to see how these kinds of tragedies can be averted.

The president has been receiving briefings for much of this afternoon from his aides on what exactly happened outside of Denver. He now understands that the incident is over with, and as a result, he feels free to come out and speak about it.

Earlier in the day, while it was still under way, he did express his sincere wishes that families and friends and those involved would get through this. He asked everyone to pray for them.

Now we'll have a more detailed statement on precisely what he knows about this and what, if anything, the federal government can do.

We do know that the Justice Department has been alerted. Various agencies -- including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms -- are already on the scene trying to see what the federal government can do to assist local law enforcement authorities get to the bottom of this tragic incident.

Bernie.

SHAW: And Wolf, aside from the two victims who allegedly perpetrated this tragedy this afternoon, they are dead. Aside from those two alleged perpetrators who are described as being dead of self-inflicted wounds, the president will, doubtless, have in mind the fact that the parents and the loved ones of 25 people who will not be coming home tonight for dinner -- he will doubtless have them in mind, and he will doubtless be saying something to them in an effort to comfort them.

BLITZER: And this is what President Clinton has done over these past six years plus since he has been in office, is express his sadness, speak to the nation, try to comfort those who have suffered the most from this kind of tragedy. And as you will recall, he has often gone to see the aftermath of these kinds of incidents, the most tragic, of course, being the Oklahoma City bombing. He went for that memorial service immediately thereafter.

White House officials do not anticipate the president would head to Colorado on his trip tomorrow -- he's going to Texas -- take some time. He wants to make sure that he would not be disruptive by his very presence there. But at some point down the road, presumably, he might try to personally comfort those who have suffered today.

SHAW: And just to bring you up to date, as we await the appearance of President Clinton, whose remarks CNN will carry live, earlier the sheriff of Jefferson County in a news conference shortly past 6:00 Eastern Item time said that once the scene is secured, we have to identify the bodies. He indicated that reports from the SWAT teams and the FBI, the men who were going methodically, searching through Columbine High School -- going through every classroom, every closet -- that once -- he got information from them, rather, that at least 25 people were dead.

We are going to go live out to Colorado, but as soon as the president appears, we'll come back to bring you his remarks.

DAVIS: The earlier information about a third suspect seems to be a little sketchy. I talked to the people in charge of the investigation, and that third party isn't necessarily considered a suspect at this time, just an associate of maybe one of the suspects.

So as far as the actual shooting, we believe that the two suspects that we have found inside -- at this time, anyway -- are the only two, at least as far as now, that we're looking at.

The number of fatalities is still unconfirmed. Earlier, the sheriff was talking about upwards of 25 fatalities. The investigators have told me that at this time they hope that number is high, but it certainly could go that high. And a number of victims that have been transported that are injured -- the last I heard was close to 20 injured at area hospitals.

Those injuries range everywhere from a very small injury, a very light injury, to something pretty serious.

We have crime-scene lab people from our department and from several other agencies in the area now that are going to assist us. There's a tremendous amount of evidence to log and to catalog and to take in. So we expect to be here for quite some time, probably into the next several days.

We have -- we have a very massive crime scene, and I don't know that in my experience I have ever seen a crime scene, at least with our department, that entails quite as much area as -- quite as many injuries and fatalities as I have seen. So it's going to take our department quite a few days, I think, to wrap it up.

Hopefully, in the next few hours, we'll be able to move all the live trucks and media closer. There's a parking lot within side -- or within -- inside Plymouth Park (ph) that I am going to try to get everybody into just as soon as we possibly can where you can get some shots of the school and all.

I'll entertain a few questions after I say that right now the members of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office along with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, the Lakewood Police Department, the Littleton Police Department, Denver Police Department, and some departments, I am sure, that I have omitted -- the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the FBI -- we're getting a lot of cooperation from those departments. And we all feel a tragic loss of life for not only some parents, but it's a very good possibility that maybe there are some teachers also as victims, fatalities.

So our hearts go out to the families and the friends of all the victims, and we will try to update those numbers for you just as soon as possible. I will try to keep you updated hourly, on the half hour.

And I'll just take very few questions, and then I am going to try to get back and get some information.

Yes.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DAVIS: That's still unknown. The scene is as we found it. Nothing's been moved or touched. And I assume it won't be for a long, long time, several hours, because it'll take our lab people a long time to go in there and sketch the crime scene room by room.

We are working on getting some maps for you people about the -- or on the layout of the school. That'll show you where the rooms are and which -- what room -- or excuse me -- what room is -- which room is -- excuse me.

QUESTION: Sir, can you explain the difficulty in counting the bodies in there? It would seem that even though it was a widespread area you must have idea of how many bodies?

DAVIS: I think one of the difficulties right now is that there are more than one SWAT team that's been utilized, and they have possibly split up the building in different quadrants. So it's a matter of totaling all of that information. And rather than throw out a number to you, you know, I can -- I'd rather get a good count. And like the sheriff was saying, and hopefully it's -- hopefully, no more than the sheriff said.

Yes.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) DAVIS: As far as I know, I think there were some outside the school. Whether they were fatalities or not, I don't know that.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DAVIS: Pardon?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DAVIS: I don't have the names of the suspects, no.

QUESTION: Were they male and were they members of the Trench Coat Mafia?

DAVIS: As far as I know, they're both male. And again, the Trench Coat Mafia is news to me. I haven't heard it until today, so I am not real familiar with it.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DAVIS: Not that I know of, no.

QUESTION: What were they wearing?

DAVIS: I'm sorry?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DAVIS: The first information I had was that they were ex- students or possibly had been expelled from the school. That's something that we're waiting to confirm.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DAVIS: The -- the only reports that I have heard, obviously, are from some of the SWAT team members that were inside and some of the radio traffic that they had while they were inside. And I heard words like "grisly" and "gruesome," "sad," "tragic."

So I haven't seen the scene inside, but going on what I have heard from some of the officers that have been in there it's a very tragic scene.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DAVIS: Yes, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In addition, some of the paramedics that were responding to the scene are currently being debriefed and counseled at certain locations throughout the area.

QUESTION: Any idea how long it might take to (OFF-MIKE)

DAVIS: Well, not knowing how many victims, that's a job that's going to be up to the coroner from Jefferson County. He actually makes notifications -- death notifications. So it may be some time before we have victims' names. And in this case, we're going to have a lot of juvenile names, obviously. I think we can release juvenile names if they are fatalities, however, a juvenile that's just an injury -- I probably won't be able to release a name just because of the Colorado statutes -- yes.

QUESTION: (OFF MIKE) did you say that the gunmen are dead of self-inflicted wounds, and all of the people involved in the (OFF MIKE)

DAVIS: At this time, we believe that to be true, and we believe that they were self-inflicted gunshots. There is no indication that any officers of the SWAT teams shot, or did any shooting inside the building.

QUESTION: Did you (OFF MIKE) community officers in the building on a regular...

DAVIS: We have an officer that is assigned to that school, and quite frankly, I don't know if he was there today or not. I haven't seen him on scene.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... through the library?

DAVIS: I'm sorry.?

QUESTION: Do you believe that it started in the cafeteria and moved to the library?

DAVIS: I don't know exactly which way it went. I do know that there was shooting in both the cafeteria area and the library. Which was first, I don't know -- I really don't know. Hopefully, we'll have a map for you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The cafeteria's on the first floor and the library is right above it.

DAVIS: I'm sorry.

QUESTION: (OFF MIKE) identified the gunmen?

DAVIS: I think they have some names, but I can't confirm those at this time.

QUESTION: (OFF MIKE) or right after (OFF MIKE)

DAVIS: Yeah, I don't know what the timeline is on that. I don't know. I really don't know.

QUESTION: Is there any indication of a (OFF MIKE)

DAVIS: Not that I'm aware of.

QUESTION: There are reports that the third suspect was (OFF MIKE) was identified by (OFF MIKE) DAVIS: As I was saying earlier, apparently the information on the third suspect was something that was premature, and we don't believe that he was actually a suspect involved in the incident. Apparently, he is a known associate or a friend of one of our suspects, and that's where that information came from.

(OFF MIKE)

DAVIS: I don't know. I really don't know.

QUESTION: Do you have any information on either of these suspects who are dead now that (OFF MIKE) something like that, or was talking (OFF MIKE)

DAVIS: Not that I'm aware of, no.

QUESTION: (OFF MIKE) any bombs that (OFF MIKE)

DAVIS: There seems to be some devices that were found. It's unknown whether they are explosive devices or not, but because of the explosions that our deputies heard when they responded, the bomb team has been brought in, and will deal with those devices as they see fit. I assume that they will treat them as though they are live bombs.

JELNIKER: That's Steve Davis with the Jeff. Co. police department telling us that he's never seen a crime sign -- crime scene quite like this. In fact...

SHAW: As the affiliate reporter indicated, the Jefferson County spokesman, Steve Davis, indicated that the exact number of fatalities is unconfirmed. He said it could go higher than 25. He indicated, obviously, that authorities there in Colorado are hoping that that number does not. He quoted some of the FBI and SWAT team members who've been methodically searching Columbine High School as saying -- they used such words as grisly, gruesome, sad and tragic, and he described the scene as very fluid. He said that there's a tremendous -- a tremendous amount of evidence to be logged, to be cataloged, to be taken in. He said it is a very massive crime scene. The scene is as we found it, in his words, "nothing has been touched, nothing has been moved." It will take hours, indeed days, to document everything.

Our affiliate coverage showed you live picture of bomb units out in the field waiting to explode the devices that authorities found. We still do not have any official word that Columbine High School is secure enough for authorities to make that announcement. When they do make that announcement, we will report it to you.

The president of the United States is standing by at the White House to address the American people. Our senior White House correspondent, Wolf Blitzer, indicated to us just a short while ago that all day long, the president has been getting information, and Wolf, we're still standing by.

ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, the program will begin in two minutes. BLITZER: Bernie, we've just been told that the president will walk into the Briefing Room here in two minutes, and he will make his statement. We don't know if he will stick around and answer our questions.

The president wanted to make sure that he had all the latest information from his top advisers. They, of course, have been receiving information from local law enforcement authorities, officials in Colorado, as well as federal law enforcement authorities who already have been brought in to look into this tragic incident.

The president will talk about what, if anything, the federal government can do. This, unfortunately, is not a new type of crime that has been committed. The president, during his six years in the White House, has now been confronted with several similar kinds of cases, although this one might be more gruesome than the others in terms of the numbers of those killed and injured. We don't know those numbers yet specifically.

The president had said earlier in the day that his prayers -- and wanted all of Americas' prayers to be with those who have suffered the most, the families of those who have been injured and killed, and he promised earlier in the day he would come back and speak a little bit more about what's going through his mind, and that's what he's about to do right now, Bernie.

SHAW: And the president was very meticulously careful about not getting out in front of an unfolding tragedy.

BLITZER: He didn't want to say anything, because he didn't know all of the details. He and his aides were getting information coming in, they were also watching television to try to get specific details.

And of course, what this has done here in the United States is, at least temporarily, pushed the Kosovo situation immediately off the front headline, and this has dominated the news here in the United States for the past several hours.

SHAW: Well, as we continue our coverage of the tragedy out there at Littleton, Colorado, we're going to hear from our justice correspondent Pierre Salinger -- I'm sorry, Pierre Thomas. We'll hear from you very shortly after the president speaks.

Wolf, we're going to stay with you because it should be just a matter of seconds before Mr. Clinton appears in that same Briefing Room with you.

BLITZER: That's right, Bernie, and I've already sat down. They were spending some time making sure to get all the arrangements ready, the microphone, the podium. The door is now opening, and the president is walking in.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to begin by saying that Hillary and I are profoundly shocked and saddened by the tragedy today in Littleton, where two students opened fire on their classmates before apparently turning their guns on themselves. I have spoken with Governor Bill Owens and County Commission Chair Patricia Holloway (ph) and expressed my profound concern for the people of Littleton. I have spoken to Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and who, along with Attorney General Reno, is closely monitoring the situation. I've asked the attorney general and the secretary of education to stand ready to assist local law enforcement, the schools, the families, the entire community during this time of crisis and sorrow.

A crisis response team is ready now to travel to Colorado, and I strongly believe that we should do whatever we can to get enough counselors to the families and the children as quickly as possible. I know the other communities that have been through this are also ready to do whatever they can to help.

I think that Patricia Holloway would not mind if I said that amidst all of the turmoil and grief that she and others are experiencing, she said to me just a moment ago that perhaps now America would wake up to the dimensions of this challenge if it could happen in a place like Littleton and we could prevent anything like this from happening again. We pray that she is right.

We don't know yet all the hows or whys of this tragedy. Perhaps we may never fully understand it. St. Paul reminds us that we all see things in this life through a glass darkly, that we only partly understand what is happening.

We do know that we must do more to reach out to our children and teach them to express their anger and to resolve their conflicts with words, not weapons. And we do know we have to do more to recognize the early warning signs that are sent before children act violently.

To the families who have lost their loved ones, to the parents who have lost their beloved children, to the wounded children and their families, to the people of the community of Littleton, I can only say tonight that the prayers of the American people are with you.

Thank you very much.

QUESTION: Mr. President.

QUESTION: Is there anything additional you can say or that the federal government can do to prevent things like this from happening?

CLINTON: Well, I think on this case, it's very, very important that we have the facts insofar as we can find them out. You know, we had the conference here last Fall. The attorney general and the secretary of education prepared the handbook for all the schools that we asked to be widely used. And we do have from a bitter and sad experience a great cadre of very good effective grief counselors. My guess is that they will be needed in abundance there for the children. I -- I think after a little time has passed, we need to have a candid assessment about what more we can do to try to prevent these things from happening.

BLITZER: Mr. President, there seems to be an epidemic of these kinds of incidents now. There was Paducah, Kentucky, Jonesboro Arkansas, Springfield, Oregon and several others. Would you characterize this as an epidemic affecting the nation's school system?

CLINTON: I wouldn't want to use that word. What I would like to know is whether we can -- we can learn enough from this which in its dimensions apparently is much greater than even the others were and see what else we can do. I had a very interesting conversation this afternoon with Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, whom, as all of you know, lost her own husband and son sustained a wound as a result of a shooting incident on a commuter train, and -- and that's what we talked about.

I think tonight, we owe it to the people of Littleton and to the families involved in this tragedy to let them go through the grieving and deal -- and try to get the facts. And then the rest of us have a responsibility to do everything we can to make sure this doesn't make 1999 a year like last year that we don't have another rash of this; that we really can be more effective in preventing it. And I wish I could say more tonight, but I don't think I can.

QUESTION: Mr. President, have you been told, sir, that the death toll is as high as the 25 figure that we have heard? And secondly, sir, every time one of these things happens, we go through this course of hand-wringing and say, we have got to stop it from happening again. Is there anything specific and concrete that you'd like to see happen that hasn't happened yet?

CLINTON: Well, I don't want to make a -- there are, but what I would like to do is take a couple of days because we don't know what the facts are here. And keeping in mind, the community is an open wound right now. They have suffered as much as anyone can suffer. This is the largest group of fatalities, whatever the numbers are, and I've heard various numbers -- even as much as five minutes ago right before I came out.

I'd like to answer that question, but I think anything I say tonight could only add to the pain of the people in Littleton, and not serve to solve the problem. So I will answer that question when I have more facts and after we let a little time pass.

QUESTION: Mr. President, you said you pray that people will wake up. Wake up to what, sir?

CLINTON: Well, I think you know that there are a lot of kids out there who have access to weapons, and apparently more than guns here. And who build up these grievances in their own mind, and who are not being reached. And it's not just Littleton. We know that now. We've had lots and lots and lots of places.

So, I don't know ho many of you have been there, but I've actually been there. I know the community and it's a wonderful place. And I think -- I can't do better than what Patricia Holloway said, the commission chair, you know if it can said, it can here, then surely people will recognize that they have to be aware for the possibility that it could occur in any community in America. And maybe that will help us to keep it from happening again. But, you know what we put out before, you know the efforts we've made and I just think that tonight we need to focus on the families that lost their kids, on the children that are wounded, on the grieving of the community.

Give this thing a day or two for the facts to emerge, and then I'll -- I'll try to have more to say to you.

QUESTION: On just that point, Mr. President, at the time you -- you had that conference last year, your administration said that students are still safer sitting in a classroom than they are walking down the street. Do you think Americans still think that's true?

CLINTON: Statistically, for all the whole 53 million kids in our schools it's true. But, you know, from the facts we're hearing about what happened at this school, and the possibility that explosives were out there, that hand grenades were available, that other things were there, it obviously wasn't true there. That was obviously the most dangerous place in Colorado today.

So I don't want to -- but that doesn't -- that shouldn't make people believe that every school is in danger. What it should make every community do is to study this handbook we put out and see what lessons can be learned here.

But again, you know, tonight I think the American people ought to be thinking about those folks in Littleton. Tomorrow and in the days ahead, we'll have a little more time to kind of gather ourselves and our determination and go back at this again.

Thank you.

SHAW: And we heard President Clinton clearly back away from using the word "epidemic." We need some "breathing time." And the federal government of the United States is not oblivious to this problem.

Our justice correspondent Pierre Thomas is here.

PIERRE THOMAS, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Bernie, about a year ago, after these recent spate of incidents the Justice Department and the Education Department began to look at the issue, and what they found is this is not an epidemic but it's a serious problem. They found that out of roughly 100 percent of schools, only 10 percent reported a serious incident of violence in the 1996-97 school year. But this does raise the broader issue of juvenile violence. Juvenile violence has gone down in recent years, but in 1997, 73,000 juveniles were involved in serious incidents of violence. Also in that same year, 1,624 juveniles were charged with murder; 153 of those juveniles were under 15 years old.

SHAW: Pierre Thomas, thanks very much.

Wolf Blitzer is at the White House in the West Briefing Room. Wolf, I was struck by the fact the president announced that a crisis response team is standing by to go to Littleton, Colorado. BLITZER: This has become standard operating procedure following these kinds of incidents at schools across the United States. They will go offer counseling. One of the new things the president did suggest would happen was that some of those who suffered in similar incidents, albeit on a smaller scale elsewhere, might be available themselves: parents, family, loved ones, other students who perhaps could come to Colorado and give some counseling, some support, some comfort to those who have suffered.

This time the president saying two students did open fire, and then he says they apparently took their own lives after they were finished with their ordeal. Mr. Clinton saying he is still awaiting additional information; refused to say how many fatalities there were, although we did hear from one police officer earlier out there could be as many as 25. We'll just have to stand by and wait for that. But Mr. Clinton promising that the federal government will do whatever is possible to try to help in this investigation.

SHAW: Wolf, I was struck by the president quoting two of the people he talked with. He cited Governor Bill Owens and the City Commission Chair, Patricia Holloway. And he quoted something that she told him on the telephone a short while ago before he addressed the American people. He said that she said, "She would hope that the American people will wake up to the dimensions of this challenge, if it could happen to a place like Littleton."

BLITZER: Well, the president has been very aggressive during his time in office about doing something about gun control -- handgun control in particular. This particular case, there were other weapons beyond simply guns. We heard about hand grenades, for example. How did these students get these kinds of weapons with this kind of ammunition? Should there be any additional tightening of these kinds of laws that would make it more difficult, presumably, for them to get their hands on this kind of equipment, this kind of weaponry? These are the kinds of issues that the president wants America to wake up to. Presumably he was quoting her as saying the same thing.

SHAW: Wolf Blitzer at the White House; Pierre Thomas a short while ago, our justice correspondent with me here in the Washington studio.

This programming reminder: on CNN tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, a special anchored by Judy Woodruff, "The Colorado School Shooting: Students Under Attack."

I'm Bernard Shaw in Washington. Coming up now, "THE WORLD TODAY" with Joie Chen.