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CNN NEWSROOM

Ohio State University Issues Active Shooter Alert; Aired 10:30- 11a ET

Aired November 28, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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


[10:30:00] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Joe, but we understand that Ohio State students got this emergency text. In fact that's what a student told me that I interviewed a little earlier that the warning came over text, and you're right, social media and, you know, iPhones play a huge part in keeping students safe on campuses these days.

JOSEPH GIACALONE, LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINER: Yes. I mean, we had these retrofitted doors now that you can't see in. And it's a way so that the shooter, when they're walking by down a -- you know, down a corridor, they look into the classrooms, they can't see anything. And this is an extra protection for the kids.

COSTELLO: OK. I'm just getting more eyewitness accounts. This is from an Ohio State student whose name is Anthony Falserano (PH). He's 22, he's a senior at Ohio State. He was in class at the time of the shooting. And I'll read this to you, Tom. And then you can comment afterwards.

Anthony says, "There's a lot of police and fire trucks and an ambulance outside the building. The officers are putting on Kevlar vests and have big weapons. I can't see anyone going inside the building." And he must be talking around 19th and College because that's where the sound of gunfire was reported. He says, "There's just so many cops here. We heard a lot of sirens. I was in class and everyone got a text message at the same time from the emergency alert. Someone said they heard popping right before we got the alert but I didn't hear it. We are in shelter in place right now in the building next door."

A lot of information, Tom, right?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Give you enough key information as to what the situation is there. You still have that there was a lot of what sounded like gunfire being heard by some people even though this student didn't hear it. And now you have a huge police response.

The way to set up a perimeter around that building, they may still believe that there's a shooter in the building or they're going to try to be certain and do a building clearing exercise which can take a long time to go room to room, closet to closet, every, you know, possible place an individual could hide. So you could have a situation where individuals were shot and then the shooter might have killed himself, might already be dead or might be hiding inside the building. But it's still -- or they could be holding hostages also, is another possibility. But it doesn't -- right now it just doesn't seem that they have -- that they believe they have a shooter at large anywhere else but inside that yellow police tape perimeter.

COSTELLO: So, Joe, how long will these students have to stay in place, do you think?

GIACALONE: They have to make sure that this building is perfectly clear before they do anything. It also depends on the type of the weapon that's being alleged, too. So you want to create an even bigger perimeter if there's a long gun like a rifle or a shotgun. And, you know, get those kids to safety. Right now is the best thing is to have them stay where they are until law enforcement can go room to room, closet to closet and search.

I mean, this is a very trying time for law enforcement, too. This is a very difficult task. But they don't know who or what they are actually looking for.

COSTELLO: All right. Do I still have Deb Feyerick with me? OK. All right. She is on the phone with her sources right now. So I'm not going to bother her at this moment for -- but for those viewers just joining us right now, there was an active shooter alert reported at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. It's a very large place, 66,000 students, right in the middle of a large municipality, Columbus, Ohio.

Students, teachers, faculty, everyone urged to shelter in place and avoid the area. Just a few moments ago, probably about 45 minutes ago, this Buckeye alert came out from Ohio State University. "Active shooter on campus, run, hide, fight. Watts Hall, 19th and College." That specifically is from the Ohio State Emergency Management Team.

Now students are in their dorm rooms, they're locked in place. Some students are still in class. They are also locked in place. They all got this message, run, hide and fight on their iPhones, via text message. Some got it on Facebook, some got it via Twitter. So the campus has come to a screeching halt at this time. And you can see lots and lots of police vehicles around 19th and College. That's where the sounds that some thought were gunfire rang out.

And I want to bring back in Tom Fuentes because he's an expert in analyzing police scenes and telling us what they mean. So what can you see, Tom?

FUENTES: Well, I don't see anything different in the last few minutes than we've been seeing, and that is that they've set that yellow police perimeter tape around the scene as they believe the scene to be, and everyone on the outside of that tape is just casually watching. So to me it indicates that they're not believing that there's an active shooter running around on that campus threatening other people, that whatever occurred, the police believe it was within the perimeter of that tape and inside that building, and then, you know, as we've talked about, the room to room search is a very methodical, very difficult problem.

However, if they hear additional shots, then they are probably going to just go storm in there. They're going to try and stop whoever is shooting. But, you know, you do have a good possibility that the shooter, you know, may have shot a couple of people and then shot himself and the whole thing could be over but the police don't know that yet.

[10:35:09] And it will be difficult for them to do the methodical search to determine that it's over.

COSTELLO: All right. I want to bring Joe Giacalone back in here, too. So some students are still trapped inside of buildings and as Tom said, police are probably going from room to room searching everywhere in these very large buildings on campus where they suspect this gunfire emanated from. So this could go on for a very long time.

GIACALONE: Yes, it can. And it has to be like Tom said very methodical. They have to look in every closet, every crevice, wherever it may be where somebody could be hiding. If there are -- if they encounter some --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Hey, Joe. Hey, Joe, I'm going to cut you off because we have an eyewitness. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BEDLE, OHIO STATE STUDENT: I was going to class and just saw people running and was nervous. I was like oh crap.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And then explain how you were able to see a body.

BEDLE: I walked towards where people were running from.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And you told me the name of that building?

BEDLE: CBEC building.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And so that's on Woodruff?

BEDLE: Um-hum.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So tell us what happened. You were on your way to class and just --

BEDLE: Just saw people running, cops, sirens, everything.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And then you saw someone on the ground? Were they saying anything? What was --

BEDLE: I don't know. That's all I got.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you share your name?

BEDLE: I'm Scott.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Last name?

BEDLE: Bedle.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What year are you?

BEDLE: Fifth year, senior.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is it B-E-E-T-L-E?

BEDLE: B-E-D-L-E.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: D-L-E. OK. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. So it appears there may have been some injuries arising out of this incident. We don't know that for sure. We just heard what that eyewitness said.

Let's talk to another student now. His name is Andrew Hinton. Hi, Andrew.

ANDREW HINTON, EYEWITNESS: Hi.

COSTELLO: Where are you right now?

HINTON: I'm in the Residence Hall building right next to Scott Dining Hall.

COSTELLO: Is it anywhere near 19th and College?

HINTON: Yes. It's very near it.

COSTELLO: So that's where another student said he heard gunfire right around 19th and College. Did you hear anything?

HINTON: I did.

COSTELLO: What did you hear?

HINTON: Well, I was originally walking to class and when I saw people running all directions, I took a moment just to see what's going on, and I heard two or three shots, and then I was grabbed by some guy and told get in the building, and I have been in here since.

COSTELLO: Are you in a classroom or --

HINTON: No. It's like a dormitory style building.

COSTELLO: Are there other people with you?

HINTON: Not currently. I'm just sitting in a hallway.

COSTELLO: So what's going through your mind right now?

HINTON: Well, I'm looking out the window and there's cops circling down the hall with weapons drawn. I mean, I'm just waiting it out, I guess. I don't know. My friend sent me a picture of a guy dead on the ground outside of the chemical engineering building so it's kind of scary.

COSTELLO: And when you say down on the ground, did that person appear to be injured? I mean, could you visibly see any injuries?

HINTON: He was very much deceased.

COSTELLO: Oh, well, of course, CNN can't confirm that right now but I hope that's not true. We just don't know yet.

HINTON: Yes. I hope it's not true either.

COSTELLO: Yes. So what -- are police going through the building that you're in now checking different rooms?

HINTON: No. No.

COSTELLO: Did you see them go into any other buildings nearby?

HINTON: I did not. And I saw them walking around the dining hall.

COSTELLO: That this sort of thing could have happened on your campus, does it surprise you?

HINTON: Yes. It does. I just -- it was a regular day for me up until right now.

COSTELLO: And then you got that -- did you get a text or how did you know that something -- other than the guy grabbing you, did you also get a text from your university?

HINTON: Yes, shortly after I was, you know, grabbed or whatever, Buckeye Alert said that there was an active shooter on campus and my teachers e-mailed shortly after and said stay where you are, class is canceled.

COSTELLO: So when you get a text from your university saying run, hide, fight, what's that -- what is that like?

HINTON: Probably the first thing -- I don't know. I mean, like what can you say? Like in this type of situation, like, you just got to -- if you're in hiding, stay in hiding. If you're not in hiding, run to hiding. If you have to fight, fight. I don't know.

[10:40:06] COSTELLO: Andrew Hinton -- one last thing. Did you call your parents?

HINTON: I did. I texted my mom and called my mom right after I got inside.

COSTELLO: What was that conversation like?

HINTON: She's very worried but I everything was OK as far as my safety. COSTELLO: Is she far away?

HINTON: Yes. She's two and a half hours away.

COSTELLO: Well, I'm glad you called her and you stay in place and stay safe.

Andrew Hinton, thanks so much for joining me this morning.

HINTON: Yes. Thank you. Have a good one.

COSTELLO: You -- you try to.

All right. I want to bring back in Tom Fuentes and Joe Giacalone.

Is Deborah Feyerick off the phone yet? She's not. OK. So, Tom Foreman, could you discern anything from what Andrew told me?

FUENTES: You talking Tom Fuentes?

COSTELLO: Tom Fuentes.

FUENTES: No, not really. You know, we've got -- many times in these situations we have individuals that are -- you know, that see or hear things but don't actually see what we really want, which may be impossible, is an eyewitness to who is doing the shooting. And we don't he that or what the circumstances were or what security cameras might show as far as individuals in that area or in that building or in the hallways.

COSTELLO: Right.

FUENTES: You know, any of that type of information. And we still don't have that.

COSTELLO: Hey, Tom, we do have -- we do have a bit of new information. I'm sorry to interrupt you. I want to go right to Deb Feyerick because there have been injuries. Andrew was right about that. Injuries.

Deb, what can you tell us?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, what we are now learning is that the fire department is confirming, the Columbus Fire Department is confirming that at least seven individuals have been taken to area hospitals. We are calling the hospitals right now but we do know that there have been injuries. Those seven people are being transported. We are waiting for a number of calls from multiple law enforcement agencies which are responding, trying to gauge exactly what is going on on that campus.

But we can tell you, you can see the heavy police presence there. They are trying to block off some of the streets, keep people away, run, hide, fight as you have been saying, Carol. That is strategic. That is what law enforcement is teaching individuals, whether it's at a school or an office. Those are the steps you take. First you run, you get as far away from the gunman as you possibly can. Then you hide, and then if worse comes to worse, you fight. But right now you can see it's secure. That seven individuals have been transported to local area hospitals. That's what we've got for you so far, Carol.

COSTELLO: Now we don't know how they were injured?

FEYERICK: We do not. Nor do we know the extent of their injuries. So we are reaching out to the hospital right now to try to determine specifically what kind of injuries they sustained.

COSTELLO: Yes. I have a lot of friends in Columbus. They are all at the scene right now. They're also speaking to people -- many people who are still barricaded inside of buildings and bathrooms of buildings. The police there are advising students and faculty, anybody at Ohio State to stay where they are. There you have it from the OSU emergency management team, Buckeye Alert. Continue to shelter in place. Wait for police officers' directions. Please contact police 911 only if you have information.

And, Joe, I suspect I know why officials are asking students only to call 911 if they have information because the lines are probably clogged.

GIACALONE: Yes. And we want to make sure that when we have the real emergency that the police will be able to get to exactly those students or the faculty that needs the help. So we don't want them running to places where they don't need to be right now. And it's just very important and listen, sitting in the hallway, though, is not hiding. So I hope that gentleman who's listening, could find himself a nice hiding spot because that's not a good place to stay.

COSTELLO: So I know students can listen to CNN on their phones, on their iPhones so say that again, Joe. What should they do if they are inside a building right now?

GIACALONE: Well, if they've been -- if they are locked up in their building right now they need to find a hiding spot. Sitting in the hallway, sitting out in the classroom in the open view is not doing so. If there's no place to hide, for instance, like a closet or something like that, they should be far away from the door so if anybody is peeking in they can't see you. So that's the plan. You know, it's not perfect but you know what? It will work in most situations.

COSTELLO: So if I'm in my dorm room, should I barricade the door?

GIACALONE: Yes. You can barricade your door. You can put your bed in front of it. You're trying to do -- what you're trying to do is making yourself a harder target. You would want this person to just give up trying to gain access to you or your room or your classroom, whatever it may be, and just -- and just keep on walking. And that's the idea. Generally in these shooting cases, you know, unfortunately, these people try to shoot as many people as they can.

[10:45:03] So getting tied up trying to gain access to a location is not really beneficial to them in their mindset at that moment. COSTELLO: So when you hear, Joe, that seven people have been

transported to area hospitals with injuries, what does that tell you about this incident on Ohio state's campus?

GIACALONE: Well, what I'm hoping is that this is people who maybe have been trampled down, you know, during the initial stages of this. I'm hoping they are not gunshots. I think everyone else is thinking the same thing. And, you know, we just -- you know, and this is what happens sometimes when -- in a mass panic. People do get hurt, they fall down, people just keep on running, unfortunately, and you know, people step on hands and toes and they'll break, you know, legs.

So we are hoping that's -- those are minor injuries. We're hoping that's the case. So we can also -- you know, we have to keep an eye open for any other information. If we are looking for a mass amount of ambulances showing up, this could be another indication that something else is definitely more nefarious going on.

COSTELLO: Yes. I'm looking at Ohio State's campus newspaper, it's called "The Lantern," and those students are reporting the news as they see it. They say police are now surrounding Lane Avenue garage, SWAT vans are present, the bomb squad as well.

And Tom, I'm going to go back to you for this. That could just be a precautionary measure, right?

FUENTES: Yes. It could be. We just don't know if they have more specific information, or if any of the injured that were transported, they would all be accompanied by police officers and if they are in a position to say how they would receive their injury, that would be important information for the officers.

The problem, too, is that if you have a large number of people that may have been shot, it would indicate that this might be an individual wanting to just kill anybody he encounters and not a specific vendetta of going after one person or one professor or somebody -- one or two people, that there may be a grievance that that individual has. So that's more troubling that you would have somebody that just wants to shoot people and doesn't care who he shoots or how many.

But the fact that they've got this perimeter that they've set up for awhile now, almost very early on in the aerial coverage that we have has shown that they put that yellow tape up, this would indicate to me that the police had a good indication that whatever they were dealing with is inside that yellow police perimeter.

And another reason for telling the students to stay sheltered, to stay out, is just keep them off the streets. You know, often in these situations, you might have a plainclothes detective responding with a gun drawn running down the street and then a bunch of people see that and call the police and said, I just saw an active shooter running down the street. We've had that in a number of these situations where individuals mistake police officers that are not in uniform for possible shooters who are involved in this.

COSTELLO: And also, Tom, we've learned the FBI has been called in. So what will -- what will the FBI start to do now?

FUENTES: Well, in a situation like this, the other federal agencies, state and county agencies, that come in are there to provide assistance to the primary department that has jurisdiction. But if this was not a terrorist incident, it's going to be under the jurisdiction of either the campus police or the Columbus City Police and they'll be in charge of this but they will welcome all assistance that they can get. That would include support to process the crime scene.

They might have multiple crime scenes where they need additional forensic teams to assist and they may have leads that go outside of the local jurisdiction that they might want assistance from the federal agencies. So that would be the primary reason, is just to provide assistance.

Now, if it somehow turned out that it was a terrorist act, the FBI would need to be there as early as possible and be involved in the investigation as much as possible because it could be FBI jurisdiction if it turned out to be terrorism.

COSTELLO: So --

FUENTES: We don't know that. But it's always a possibility.

COSTELLO: We do not.

FUENTES: And we need to get all the agencies on site to provide assistance immediately.

COSTELLO: We do not. All we know that there's an -- there was an active shooter alert. We know seven people have been injured. They have been taken to area hospitals. We don't know the extent of their injuries.

Deborah Feyerick has been working her sources. She has a little bit more information to share.

What have you got for us, Deb?

FEYERICK: Yes. Carol, and just to sort of play on what Tom just said, there's a huge response and all the local agencies are in fact answering the call. You've got the sheriff's department that is on scene, you've got the police department, you've got the Ohio State public safety officers, who are also there, but the ATF, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms is there on scene as well, as well as the FBI. And again this is all coordinated.

And, you know, I just spoke to a number of law enforcement officials. And they plan for this. They rehearse for this. They make sure that when there is some sort of an active shooting situation that in fact, people are able to respond and respond as a team.

[10:50:10] This coordinated effort is massive and you can see some of the larger vehicles that are being brought in right now. Again, they don't quite know and the people that I'm speaking with, it is so fresh and so new that they are waiting for the information to come into them that you can see the response that they are mounting is significant.

Seven people have been injured, seven people have been taken to local hospitals and so right now they are right in the thick of it and we're developing more information, Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes. In case you're watching and you have family at Ohio State, two of the injured parties were transported to Grant Hospital, two were taken to the Ohio State University Hospital. The other three went to different hospitals. And I wish I could name them but I can't.

Tom, that large vehicle, what is that? Tom? All right. We just lost Tom. Hey, Joe. Joe Giacalone, do you know what that large vehicle is?

GIACALONE: It may be a bomb disposal type of truck. We don't -- I don't know specifically so I don't want to -- I don't want to speculate but, you know, there could be a SWAT team inside. We don't know exactly what's going to happen with this.

COSTELLO: OK. So what we're looking at now, these are -- this is video that kids have taken -- I think they're young adults, they're not kids. They are taking outside of their -- outside of windows. This is what's happening outside and what they are witnessing right now. And if you are in a situation like this, should you be at a window, Joe?

GIACALONE: Yes -- no. I mean, you want to stay away from windows, away from doors, you know, in a corner somewhere. And if you had to, if you think -- if law enforcement believed there was a bomb in there and you do, too, you should take some cover underneath a desk or whatever just in case there is an explosion. It might be able to prevent some of the glass or from the ceiling coming raining down on you.

So this is just something else that they do -- they go over in training. Unfortunately, these buildings aren't prepared to withstand a blast. They have a lot of glass in them. You know, makes them look pretty but they are very vulnerable to these kinds of incidents. And there's just something that happens in the design. I think going forward as college campuses are being created, I think they're going to factor this into, you know, less glass and more of a security measure. I mean, it doesn't look pretty but it does the job.

COSTELLO: All right. I'm getting more information in, Joe, so bear with me here. We understand eight people have now been transported to area hospitals from the Ohio State University campus. We understand one person is in critical condition. We don't know if these people are faculty, students, visitors, who they were. But eight in all transported to hospitals. One in critical condition.

We also have new video coming into us with a person on the ground. We don't -- we can't determine, you know, anything for sure from this, but it does appear that from these pictures -- is this the one, Michelle? Where the person is on the ground? All right. Is he in front of the fire truck? It appears that that person is on the ground. We don't know that

person's condition. But again, eight people now transported to area hospitals from Ohio State University.

So, Joe, I want to bring you back in. ATF is involved. The campus newspaper is reporting that there's a bomb squad on campus. SWAT of course is involved. This is a massive operation now.

GIACALONE: Absolutely. And this is the -- this position that we have on any type of college incidence or any active shooting. It's everybody's coming. You make sure that this investigation gets done properly and if there is an active shooter, to be able to terminate it as fast as possible. That's why the SWAT teams are there with the long guns. They are more quite effective, you know, than just small arms like an officer carrying a nine millimeter or what have you.

The ATF will be involved in this, especially if there's a firearm in it. They'll help trace the gun where it comes from. There are probably units right now, too, investigators, detectives from the local police department that are running social media checks to see if there was any threats via Facebook or any other social media platform. I think that -- you know, that social media canvas is being done as we speak.

You know, there are a lot of social media platforms out there that we don't know about. And if you remember the shooting they had in Oregon, he had posted it on a platform that he was going to do this. So I think investigators have that in the back of their mind and they will be of course, you know, tapping into the Internet and seeing what happens, and see if they can find something. Maybe they can get a name.

COSTELLO: Yes. As I'm looking at these buildings on campus, right, they are huge and also -- they are also -- apparently they're searching a parking garage also, a huge gigantic structure. So this could take them some time.

GIACALONE: This could go on for a number of hours. They have to make sure, you know, unfortunately, we don't know the extent of the injuries are.

[10:55:06] So that's something that would, you know, play a big role into how long this goes on. If there's minor injuries and they are not gunshots, then, you know, this might end a lot faster. But if there is, which we hope there's not, this could go on for quite some time.

COSTELLO: Yes, I just want to ask my producers if they could turn around sound from one of the students that we interviewed, especially the first one who was trapped in his dorm room, because, Joe, students are trapped in their dorm rooms. They are probably barricading their doors. They've called their parents. Their parents, I can't even -- I can't even imagine how freaked out the parents are at this point along with these students. And they are waiting for somebody to show up and tell them what's going on. I just can't imagine how that feels. GIACALONE: Yes. I believe the parents are probably freaking out more

than the students are. That's just the way parents are. But the students, their best bet is to stay exactly where they are until they're given direction to leave. Like Tom had said earlier, we don't want them, you know, running around. We don't want them outside of the location. They are safer where they are currently at the moment.

And the police department had this building cordoned off so I believe they have it isolated and they had it contained. And that's the number one rule in these things for law enforcement. Isolate and contain. And -- you know, and then they can work their way through each individual room. And the way they go about doing it is that there's a mass amount of officers that enter a location and then they leave officers behind everywhere they go so that, you know, basically you take over an area and then it's kept that way so that nobody can, you know, try to escape.

COSTELLO: OK. We have some brighter news coming out of Columbus right now. Two of the patients, two of the injured on the Ohio State campus were taken to Grant Medical Center. The public relations person, his name is Mark Hopkins, he can say -- he says quote, "I can tell you that the patients have all," I'm sorry. I'm going to read this again.

Quote, "I can tell you that the patients all have non-life threatening injuries." He could not provide any information, however, on ages or genders or the types of injuries but at least that's a bit of bright news that these patients have non-life threatening injuries, right, Joe?

GIACALONE: Yes. Absolutely. I mean, if they were gunshots, I mean, I know they'd be reluctant to say so, but, you know, until they get the OK I guess from law enforcement. But I think that's -- those are good words to use, non-life threatening, and let's just hope, like I said, they're minor abrasions or cuts or broken, you know, arms or legs. And that's what we're hoping for on this and, you know, until we know more.

There is a -- you know, there are some other ambulances, I know I see in some of the videos that they are pulling up. I don't know how old that video is but this is something where they'll keep them at bay just in case they discover indeed an active shooter and there are more victims, that they'll be able to, you know, get them to the necessary hospitals.

And it's not unusual that they split up -- yes, it's not unusual that they split the people up to go to different hospitals either. You know, we have to know which one, there's the major trauma center and that would be a good indication about maybe what's going on, too.

COSTELLO: Yes. I was just looking at Ohio stadium. That thrilling Ohio State-Michigan game just over the weekend. And the campus was probably elated because Ohio State won, and now this had to go down.

In case you're just joining us this morning, there's an active shooter at Ohio State University. The university's emergency management team sent out a text message and also they tweeted for students to run, hide or fight. This gunfire apparently erupted at 19th and College on Ohio State's campus.

All right. I got Matthew Horace on the phone. I want to go to Deb Feyerick first, though, to see if she has any new information. We know that eight people have been transported to area hospitals. One is in critical condition.

Deborah, what more can you tell us?

FEYERICK: Well, what we can tell you, Carol, is that as you know, this is a large open campus. I spoke to somebody who used to do security there, who says it is very difficult to secure this particular campus because it is so large, so spread out. It does look like a lot of the law enforcement is localized at that one building. I've spotted some sheriffs, some police. The fire department obviously is on scene to transport anybody who is wounded. So a huge presence there right now as this is ongoing, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Deborah Feyerick, you stand by because I'm sure you'll have more new information for us in the hours to come on CNN. That does it for me. Thank you so much for joining me.

"AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND BOLDUAN" starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. John Berman is off today. We're continuing to follow the breaking news coming in unfortunately at this hour. An active shooter reported on the campus of Ohio State University. We're going to continue to show you live pictures as we get them in. A lot not known, we need to say straight off the bat of what is going on the ground right now.

The Columbus Fire Department, though, has just confirmed eight people have been transported to area hospitals. Gunshots have been heard. The first message to students and faculty and employees came via tweet and a text earlier this morning --