Police update on hockey game shooting

Did this happen in the stands? Can you just describe the layout in there and where this all took place? So because we're in the initial stages of the investigation, I can't get into detail. Obviously, we're still investigating that. We're talking to all the witnesses. Like I said, there were several people within the Lynch Arena because it was a high school hockey game. So we're talking to all those witnesses. We have several witnesses that were here and then some that we have brought to the police station where we're talking to them there. We also were able to take everybody inside the building and we reunitified them with their families down by Walgreens. We used RIPTA buses to be able to reunite those kids and people in the stands with their families.

Was the shooter related to the other victims? You said a family dispute. Yes. So because it's a family dispute, I don't know the relationship exactly at this point, because it's still initial. But yes, it is family related.

Are you releasing any other information about the other victims, the ones in critical, juvenile, adults, any other-- Not at this time, until we speak to the families and we get more information.

I thought the mayor said it was a young girl. Is that correct or not correct? It was a female, is what we know.

Just a female is all you're saying. No age. Yeah, no age. We don't know.

[INAUDIBLE] from NBC 10. Can you confirm that the victim is actually the daughter of the suspect?

The victim is a daughter-- OK, so I'm not going to confirm who actually is the casualties at this point, because again, we want to speak to the families and make sure the families are well aware of what happened before we release any information. Again, we're still only at the initial stages. It only happened at 2:30 this afternoon. Again, we went in-- like I said, there were several people in there. We have several witnesses that are at the station. So we're going to put together a story before we release information to make sure that the information is put out there is accurate and correct and there's nobody--

Four victims that are hospitalized. Were they hospitalized because they may have been trampled or pushed down but they actually were not shot? No, so we have-- so we have three deceased victims, right. We have three deceased, the suspect, and then we have two victims. And then we have three at the hospital that were part of the incident that no, they were not trampled, that they were shot. Yes.

Was the suspect shot by police or was it self-inflicted? I'm sorry, there's multiple people. So what I can say right now is that that's the information that we're going to put out. We're going to obviously probably have more information as the day progresses. Again, we want to speak to all the people that were witnesses so that we can get an accurate story to put out there. I can tell you that we're probably going to have another press release tomorrow. We have a lot of people that we want to talk to today. We want to make sure that we get accurate statements. We want to make sure we put it together. We want to make sure we speak to the families. And again, we have to go to the hospital also. And if we can speak to those victims at the hospital, we obviously want to make sure that we do that also.

Do you expect--

Do you know what model the weapon was? So that's the information I'm going to give you for right now. And then again, I will give you more information as we get it. But I am not--

Just want to be clear there's a suspect. Is the suspect is dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound? So again, what I can say is that no, the police were not involved. What I can say that, again, we're putting all the pieces together. It appears from a self-inflicted gun wound, but we are going to investigate that fully. The police were not involved in that.

The suspect was dead. And there are two victims. Are those teen victims? Well, I'm not releasing their ages but it appears that they're both adults.

Are they both related to the suspect? Again, I'm trying to-- That's OK. I just-- I know, and I want to make sure that the information we're putting out there, because again, there are family members at home. We want to make sure that we speak to them first before they hear it on the news or in the media. It is very important for us to make contact with the families and get an accurate depiction of what the family dynamics look like so that we can be able to put it out there accurately.

Is there any way that you could do another press briefing later tonight so that we can see? Because otherwise, information gets kind of squabbled. That way-- No, we're going to try, like I said, we're following the police investigation. Right now, it's about the families. There were multiple families involved. This was high school children. So our hearts go out to the families. And we'll give you as much information we can. We know it's important to get it out there, but they want to get it out there accurate so there's no misinformation.

Mayor, are you able to speak to that, just the trauma these people suffered today? I mean, I haven't seen anybody. I can just-- I can't imagine. I'm watching some people as they're getting put on buses. Oh, sorry. It has to be traumatic, right, to everybody. I haven't had a chance to talk to anybody. We're trying to piece it together. They're all being shipped out to have conversations with, to keep the investigation going. And we're dealing with the families. We have a lot of our services, family services, the Nonviolence Institute, a lot of our partners, they're all in there. They're doing grief counseling. So we're working close with them as well.

What are some of your concerns when you hear about a shooting inside an arena like this, with so many young-- Of course, when you get the call, you think it's the worst thing. And I mean, it's very serious. Having said, this was an isolated incident in some ways. It's tragic. And you think about that. The family, all the resources. We have men and women out there. So your mind goes in all different directions.

Were any of the players on the ice targeted or hurt in any way? I don't know that. I know they were on the ice, but I don't know if any of them were on the ice.

The shooter was in the stands?

Chief, on that?

Mayor, we heard that it was also live streamed so that other people may have seen this [INAUDIBLE]. That's what they're piecing together and we're getting for the investigation, yes.

You say that it's an isolated incident, but it's been just two months since that tragic shooting on the campus of Brown University. Can you speak to how traumatic it might be for the people in this community to be experiencing two mass shootings within such a short span of time? I mean, the fortunate thing is, they're not related, but it is very tragic. You're thinking about, these are high school kids that were doing an event. They were playing with their families watching. Fun time. And it turned into this. So it's got to be traumatic.

Mayor or Chief, are there any [INAUDIBLE] step in that you know of to help. So again, I understand that there's live stream out there. It's in the initial stages of the investigation. So if there are witnesses or people that stepped in, we're going to leave that information will be confidential until we speak to them. But at this point, what I can tell you is that there were several people in there at the time.

[INAUDIBLE] Again, I'm trying to see him over it, and it's a little difficult. You guys have it a little higher. But OK. So obviously, there were people inside. So I can say that people did assist. But as to the level of the assistance, again, we want to speak-- All right. A little disruption in the signal there. But we did hear the headline, which was effectively at this shooting at this Rhode Island hockey rink during a high school game, the suspect has been killed, apparently by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. There have been two other victims shot and killed. The police chief in Rhode Island did reference that they were adults, and there were three other people in the hospital. One of the big pieces of information to come out was that this was some kind of family dispute that erupted inside of this ice rink at this high school hockey game. They did allude to the fact that they would be providing more information about the circumstances once they had the opportunity to notify more family members. Of course, this is a breaking news story, lots of information coming out after that news conference and many more questions to ask. We will bring you updates on that breaking story as soon as we get them.