Mass Shooting in Phoenix Office Building Hours After Gabrielle Giffords Testifies at Congressional Hearing on Gun Control [UPDATE]
Multiple people have reportedly been shot inside an office complex in Phoenix just hours after former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to deliver a statement on the need for more gun control.
According to local police, as many as four people were shot inside an office belonging to a mortgage company, and the suspect — described as a white male in his 60s — has fled the scene.
Details concerning the victims' condition has not been released.
The scene remains active, and police have shut down several streets near the area where the shooting took place.
UPDATE: According to the latest casualty report from officials in Phoenix, the number of people injured in the incident has increased to 5, three of whom sustained life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Police told Fox 10 News that the shooter entered the office "looking for individuals," and the attack itself was preceded by "some sort of altercation."
Gabrielle Giffords' husband Mark Kelly was testifying before Congress at the time of the shooting, and briefly mentioned the event, saying, in part, "while we were having this hearing, and we certainly don't know the details, but in Phoenix, Arizona, there is another what seems to be possibly a shooting with multiple victims."
UPDATE 2: The suspect in today's shooting has been identified by police as 70-year-old Arthur Douglas Harmon. He remains on the loose, though officers have surrounded his home in the 14600 block of North 28th Street.
He was not inside.
Law enforcement sources have also confirmed that one of the three people shot this morning has passed away. None of the victims' identities has been formally released yet, but lawyer Mark Hummels, president of the local Federal Bar Association chapter, is believed to be among them.