SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
We've been following events in Pittsburgh this morning, where multiple people have been shot after a gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life synagogue. Three police officers have been shot and injured. And officials confirm there are fatalities inside the building. The service that was taking place at the synagogue this morning was a bris, a baby-naming ceremony. Wendell Hissrich, who is public safety director of the city of Pittsburgh, described what he saw at a press conference just moments ago.
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WENDELL HISSRICH: It's a very horrific crime scene. It's one of the worst that I've seen, and I've been on some plane crashes. It's very bad.
SIMON: A suspect described as a white male has surrendered and is in police custody. President Trump addressed the shooting this morning. He was about to leave for an event in Indianapolis. He called the shooting devastating. And when he was asked about gun laws, he responded this way.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Nobody knows exactly what took place yet. It's too soon. But this is a case where they had an armed guard inside. They might've been able to stop him immediately. So this would be a case for - if there was an armed guard inside the temple, they would've been able to stop him. Maybe there would've been nobody killed, except for him, frankly.
SIMON: We don't have a confirmation whether or not there was any security in the synagogue. We'll continue this - cover the story and have more on the shooting throughout the day. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
