world business today starts right now. >> we're going to continue our coverage of the boston marathon bombings starting right now. an act of terror at a uniquely american event. >> boom, and then another one, boom. and then another one, boom. it was like one after the other. it was one big cloud of smoke. >> it's just really, really bad. >> the city of boston bloodied but not broken after two bomb blasts at the finish line of the iconic boston marathon. the attackers taking life and limbs but not the wilf a city or a nation. >> make no mistake, we will get

to the bottom of this, and we will find out who did this and why they did this. bostonians will pull together and move forward as one proud city and as they do, the american people will be with them every single step of the way. good morning, everyone. welcome to this special edition of "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm brooke baldwin. it is 4:00 a.m. on the east coast. downtown boston, this beautiful city is a crime scene this morning after a terror attack at the finish line of the boston marathon. normally such a joyous event that brings the city together. this is what we know at the moent, at least three people are dead this morning including an 8-year-old boy. "the boston globe" identifying that boy as martin rich char ri door chester, massachusetts. 17 of these people are said to

be in critical condition. the fbi is leading the investigation right now. there's no known motive and no one is in custody but authorities are looking into several active leads. overnight they executed a search warrant at revere, massachusetts. 2:50 p.m. was the first explosion. the second explosion coming just 12 seconds later. this is what it looked and sounded like. that scene, you can see it, just chaos, confusion. police scramble to respond. >> get all units in this city to

this scene now. >> i have multiple people down here, okay. i don't know what the cause is. stand by. >> okay. all available. >> tango 911, we have another unattended backpack at boylston. get people away from it. >> some of those people who witnessed the carnage, i have talked to many of them, they have tried to help. >> this big explosion took place in front of me and then i saw this big cloud of smoke and my first instinct was to just run across the street and start helping people. >> your sleeve is bloodied. >> my pants, my clothes. >> show me that flag. >> the flag, that was the flag i was holding the whole time. >> let's go now to poppy harlow. she is live at brigham & women's hospital, where dozens of victims are being treated at this moment. two of them are in critical condition. good morning, poppy. what's the latest? >> reporter: good morning, john.

well, the number, the tally of those injured in this tragedy is at its highest number since this occurred. 144, that is the count of those injured. three fatalities that we know of thus far. 31, the most of those injured are right behind me at brigham & women's hospital. 17 of the total injured are in critical condition. at least 17. 25 are considered in serious condition. we know that at least eight of the injured, john, eight of them are children. we can also tell you that at this point ten people that suffered so much in this attack had limbs amputated through all of this. one person that witnessed it that was literally between the two bombs described it to me like a war zone. he said, i picture things like this, i hear about it happening in iraq or in israel, not in america. he talked about running away from it, and in terms of those that were injured in this, we

know that they vary widely in aid, from 2 years old, the youngest victim, 2 years old up into their 40s and some into their 70s. in terms of the injuries that they have sustained, doctors are telling us mainly that their lower extremities where they have suffered the most pain. two hospitals, the one behind me and massachusetts general held press conferences late last night. their trauma er speaking to the about what they had seen. i want you to listen to sound from both of those. injuries. >> a number of patients will require repeat operations tomorrow and serial operations over the next couple of days. a lot of the injuries are combined, combined bony, soft

tissue, vascular injuries. they have to be approached oftentimes in kind of a step-wide fashion. >> reporter: and a trauma surgeon at massachusetts general telling nus that press conference that there will be some repeat operations. some injured will have to come back again and again for multiple surgeries. if he has seen anything like this, he said he has never seen this volume, this quantity come into his emergency room, john. >> poppy, as you said, a number of the injured are children. it's tragically no surprised because what you do on marathon monday in boston is go watch the race with your kids, with the entire family and now we do know the identity of the 8-year-old boy who was killed. what have you learned about him? >> reporter: we do.

he's a young boy from dorchester, massachusetts. his name is martin richards. "the boston globe" is reporting that late last night community members gathered at a local restaurant there in dorchester to remember him. his mother and his sister were severely injured. that is what the paper is reporting. they're saying the father's name is bill, that he is a community leader there, that the entire community has come to rally around them to support them. i want to read you a quote, john, from the paper. this comes from one of the other leaders in the community talking about the boy and that family, the richard family saying, quote, they are beloved by this family. it is surreal. it is tragic. and it is tragic beyond words. john? >> you know, it certainly is, poppy harlow. dorchester is a close knit community.

poppy harlow at brigham & women's hospital. we'll talk to you in a bit. as we mentioned, the fbi is in charge of this investigation right now, and the agency has its marching orders. president obama promising the nation we will get to the bottom of this. susan candiotti this morning on the first steps that are underway in this growing, very large investigation. good morning, susan. >> reporter: good morning, john. yes, there are a lot of active leads to follow up on, many, many witnesses to talk with. remember, they've got all kinds of surveillance video that they've collected from buildings right around where those explosions went off, that they will be closely examining for any clues, not to mention cell phone videos that they are surely collecting from all kinds of people who were taking videos, not only after the incident occurred but, of course, might have had photographs or videos before the explosions and the blasts went off. they'll be looking for any clues

and suspicious activities before that. they're examining not only the exploded devices for more information but also the unexploded devices to try to learn more about this. this investigation is being led by the fbi working with the boston police department. of course, help from other agencies including the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. this is what they said during their latest press conference last night. >> this will be a combined federal, state, and local effort. it will be an ongoing investigation. it is a criminal investigation that is -- has the potential -- is a potential terrorist investigation. >> now what we're also hearing is that it is what's called a bolo, be on the lookout. this was from law enforcement agencies, a law enforcement bulletin given to other investigators and all police in the area to be on the lookout

for what they're describing as someone who is dark kskinned, possibly a foreign accent. they have no suspects in custody at this time. this person might have been carrying a black backpack and wearing a sweatshirt and may have been trying to get into the restricted area around where the blast went off before the explosion happened. now doctors are also, according to our sources and information learned by colleagues, are removing ball bearings from some of the people being treated, one of the victims at one of the local 4078hospitals there. this could indicate what the explosive devices were made of. it's described as screwed and sometimes small. there were said to be at least two unexploded devices. my sources are telling me one of the things they're doing, john, are to pick those apart.

they would to get the dna evidence for the way they were constructed. as of now, no one is making any claim that we are aware of, claiming responsibility for these lasts as well. john. >> susan candiotti. thank you. the unexploded bombs, there could be several of them. they could be a treasure trove. it is very much a crime scene, i should tell you, in boston this morning. a large swath of the street, boylston street, two blocks behind me, we are expecting that to be closed this morning. it will be largely empty so that the police, the fbi can continue to do their work. the bombings there are the domp nant story not gist here but around the world. this event really draws people from all around the globe. let's take a look at some of the

front pages this morning. the washington post has a bold headline, it says an acts of terror. the houston chronicle talking about a father and daughter who ran the race say seconds may have saved families. the telegraph says the clock shows 4:09:44 then the shock wave hit. london has a marathon this weekend. police are taking another look at their security plan right now to see if they need to make any other changes before that race begins. you'll want to stay with cnn throughout the morning for the most comprehensive coverage of this terrorist attack. we'll bring it to you and all the developments as they come in. ahead this hour, the fbi taking the lead raising its mobilization effort to level one. we'll tell you what that means. plus, the latest on the search for suspects. major u.s. cities like miami, new york, chicago, all on

heightened alert this morning. how the bombing could impact your town. a lot of concerns around the country. what about america's psyche? how tough will it be for america to bounce back after these bombings? stay with us. [ male announcer ] away...

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well koom back to a special edition of "early start." it will be anything but business as usual today in boston. this city as we were driving around last night and this morning, taxi drivers were saying it was a ghost town. you'll see people on the street celebrating, not so right now. everyone is quiet at home spending time with their families. the runners, they can't celebrate because of the disaster. the runners who didn't finish the race, frustrated but so grateful they're doing okay. all the people hurt and wounded. as we said, a big area behind me, the crime scene shut down today. three people killed including a young boy. he's been identified by "the

boston globe" as 8-year-old martin richard of dorchester, massachusetts. 144 people were wounded, 17 critical in the two bomb blasts. they were just 12 seconds apart. police are going to beef up security around the city today. so far there has been no claim of responsibility. right now authorities have no motive, no suspects, they say. the fbi is taking the lead in the investigation. they're calling it a level 1 mobilization. in other words, it really is all hands on deck this morning. joining us now to talk about this is julia cayan. she is a cnn contributor, a "boston globe" contributor. she has a rich history in counter terrorism. give me a sense of what's going on right now? >> right now, the fbi is the lead. they're getting all of the information together with the public information. all the cameras are going to disclose who might have been there.

they're running it through domestic intelligence as well as international. we have no idea does this have a foreign threat and foreign terrorist organization ties or is it domestic and home grown? we're not going to know that until more information comes out. right now we went from response, recovery, to investigation very, very quickly. >> let's stick with the investigation for a moment, because one of the big advantages it seems they have here, cameras everywhere particularly right at the finish line. that's number one. number two, possibly several unexpoeded bombs. that's a great place to start the investigation. >> right. the boston police sort of kept that quiet yesterday. the numbers got up to five or six. >> even if there's one. >> that is true. with the fingerprints. even the detonated devices will have possibly fingerprints, trace materials. that's going to be the forensic side. then there will be the eye witness and camera side of it.

so there's going to be a rich amount of material that's now just being processed. an investigation this big this fast is really a management issue at this stage. it's not like there's a dirth of information. >> you work in homeland security in washington. you work at homeland security security in boston. the response was extraordinary. there were hundreds of thousands of people involved watching the marathon. 20,000 people running the race. >> right. >> when there was this disaster right in the middle of the race, things seemed to work so smoothly. is there a plan for this type of event? >> yes. the whole point of the planning and the training, it goes on four or six months before the marathon starts. two key moves made by responders yesterday. the first was get those runners out of the finish line. whoever made the determination to pull them over to commonwealth, that was

brilliant. the second is securing the crime scene, very, very fast. we see it here. if you have a lot of people milling around, evidence would be ruined. we wouldn't know what we were looking for so those two first moves are lessons of the training, lessons of post 9/11. ed davis, governor patrick manino, he was in the hospital, the tone was important to set the sort of moderate tone of resiliency, we're not going to panic, it really did calm the city and a nation in a way that is beneficial. it means we're not terrorized. that's beneficial. >> one of the big remaining questions, a lot of people want to know, domestic terrorism versus foreign terrorism. >> it's so hard to answer right now. everything is in different directions. it was probably an unsophisticated device which makes you think home grown. we know foreign have used unsophisticated devices. no one has said they've done it.

there's no attribution. that makes me think it might be domestic criminal. there have been some rumors about investigations into local homes. i tend to be a person we need to wait and see. right now it is really giving the investigators the space to figure out what's right and where they want to lead it. if we go too fast down one way, then we mislead it. everyone remembers oklahoma city. if tim mcveigh hadn't been stopped, he would have gotten away. >> thank you for being with us. stay with us. >> i will. >> there is a lot to talk about. coming up, we could have a vote in the senate this week on gun control legislation. there is other news in the world. that measure could face another potential roadblock. we're going to have the details. we'll also, of course, have the very latest on the deadly

bombings at monday's boston marathon. we're live at the scene. stay with us.

i want to go back to brooke baldwin in new york for the other stories. you were just here over the weekend. we were just talking about what a special event patriots day is in boston and the boston marathon. what a shame that such a

wonderful day like that was just ruined. >> i was in the boston public library as the stairs were prepared and all the excitement was in the air. it is absolutely tragic. john berman, we'll come back to you momentarily. i want to get you some news on north korea. the leaders are turning up the rhetoric. they are now saying they won't give any warning at all before attacking south korea. they say they are responding to an anti-north korea rally in seoul. south korean leaders say the north's latest threats are regrettable. also in south korea this morning, a u.s. marine helicopter taking part in annual military exercises made a border with the north. the military says all the marines will be okay. also out of washington, four republican senators who thought about supporting a compromise on gun control now say they will vote against it. the so called toomey manchin bill will expand background

checks to gun shows and online sales. senator chandlis, richard burr, roger wiker says the measure goes too far. the senate could vote on it later this week. wall street, look at the stocks. they did take quite a tumble yesterday. the dow plunged 266 points, 2%. allys alison kosik is in for christine. >> it's been a solid year. when you see a selloff like this, it can be big. you look at how stocks are doing so far. dow's up anywhere from 11 to 13%. same with the s&p 500. you look at how the day transpired. stocks were already lower before the opening bell, before the bombing in boston. it was on some bad news out of china showing that growth there slowed on some bad or weaker economic data, home builder confidence. then you saw the selloff excel

ler ra ler ra-- accelerate. there was volatility. yes, it shows that reaction to the terrorist attack or these kinds of attacks are more emotional than fact based. look at how many points were because of what happened in boston. about 120 points of that 266 happened right after those explosions were reported, but you didn't see panic. you're seeing stock futures up and you're seeing recovery in commodities. >> alison kosik. we're going to get you the latest out of boston. john berman knows boston. he grew up there, went to school there. he is on the scene. as we are reporting this morning, three dead, more than 140 injured. the fbi leading in the investigation along with boston police, atf involved.

we're going to get to the latest here on a search for possible suspects this morning. 26 minutes past the hour. special edition of cnn "early start." [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work. and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him,

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celebrations turn into chaos and turn into carnage. two bomb blasts at the finish line of the boston marathon. they leave a city reeling in a nation recoiling from another terror attack on american soil. >> the awful thing is right at the finish line. it was right at the point where a lot of people were -- the average joes were just coming in. >> reporter: the fbi is heading up the search for whoever pulled off this act of terror. how the suspect or suspects found and exploited a gap in the city's security. welcome back to "early start," everyone. cnn's live coverage of the boston marathon's bombings.

i'm john berman live in boston this morning. it's about 30 minutes after the hour. no more than 13 1/2 hours since this bombing took place. this is what we know about the twin blasts that happened just at the finish line of the race. at least three people are dead this morning, including an 8-year-old boy. "the boston globe" identifying this boy as martin richards. other family members hurt in that blast. some 144 people were wounded. 17 of them are hospitalized in critical condition this morning. 25 in serious condition. the fbi is taking charge of the criminal investigation telling the public, no detail is too small to share. right now no motive, no suspect at this point but law enforcement sources say there are a number of active promising leads. the crude explosive devices were said to be with nails, blades, ball bearings. gruesome descriptions of leg

injuries all around. there have been ten amputations. the area surrounding the sight of the bombing which is normally a busy bustling area, shopping and the like, completely shut down this morning. the national guard is patrolling the streets. president obama said whoever is behind the explosions that killed these three people and injured more than 140 others at the marathon will feel the full weight of justice. investigators right now combing through the evidence this morning with the fbi and the boston police asking anyone who may have seen something, heard anything, share na information with authorities. i'm joined by pamela brown. >> good morning to you, john. this area, the heart of boston's back bay, very popular area. still closed. the residents being asked to stay hyper vigilant. also there is a heavy law enforcement presence. authorities are investigating who's behind this act of terror, how they were able to carry it

out and why. >> reporter: just before 3:00 p.m., more than 4:09 into the race, a thunderous boom. celebratory cheer turned into screams of horror. seconds later, at least 50 yards away, another. runners and spectators at the finish line stunned. that shock rippled through the crowd, many running from the scene, others towards it. >> we heard just one massive explosion, a huge boom. obviously we didn't know what it was. then when the second one went off, we said, that's a bomb, and it was -- we could smell the smoke. we saw people lying on the ground. runners were crying and the police were on it. >> reporter: blood everywhere, people without limits, the wounded crying, confused. >> it was the most serious thing i've dealt with being on the fukushima daiichi in 26 years. it was a terrible scene.

>> rescuers, many already there for the race, rushed to victims tearing away the debris, using stretchers and wheelchairs. ambulances lined up near the finish line. >> get all units in the city to this scene now please. >> reporter: others treated in tents. police told runners and spectators that the area wasn't safe and sent them on their way. they ran and walked in a daze. >> everyone's sort of scrambling to get out of the way, scrambling off of boylston on to side streets. i was able to get another vantage point. i thought there were six or seven people strewn about on boylston avenue itself being treated by emts or police officers. >> reporter: soon the reports came in from hospitals of fatalities. one of the dead, an 8-year-old boy. as a shocked nation watched, president obama spoke about the attack. >> make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this and we will find out who did this, we'll find out why they did

this. any response -- any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice. >> reporter: the bombings, classified as a terror event by federal law enforcement, a level 1 mobilization with all hands on deck. the fbi is in charge of the investigation working with boston and massachusetts police agencies. a federal source told cnn they have gone through packages. >> something just blew up. >> reporter: in the hours after the blast there were reports of other devices not detonated. in the wake of the attacks, sports cultural events were closed and the airport went on high alert. police departments across the country went on alert as well as the nation focused on boston. at 5:09 p.m. the u.s. house of representatives paused for a moment of silence.

overnight, the finish line of the boston marathon, usually a busy area filled with bars and restaurants, shut down. it's now a crime scene bustling with investigatesors looking for clues as to who is responsible for the terror. >> reporter: at this point the death toll stands at 3. that includes an 8-year-old boy. 144 people still in the hospital. we're told 17 in critical condition. john, it's not clear at this point whether the bombings were domestic or foreign. we are told there were no credible threats ahead of the race. >> you talked about the crime scene which is two blocks down this way. this is normally such a public, busy area. the boston public library, copley place, prudential shopping area. these areas will be shut down today. it will not be business as usual. >> reporter: we heard the governor say that yesterday. he's asking residents to stay vigilant today.

>> reporter: pamela brown, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> reporter: in the aftermath of the bombings, the fbi took control right away. the head of the boston office said it will be a combined federal, state, local law enforcement effort right now. national correspondent susan candiotti is following all of these parts of the story for us. good morning, susan. >> reporter: good morning, john. one of the things they're looking at is the fact that so far there is no one claiming responsibility for this, but they are very -- spend ing a lo of time going back over, for example, people who are coming into the united states within the most recent period of time, maybe the last couple of weeks before. they said there were no credible threats leading up to the marathon. they're going back over everything to make sure they didn't miss anything while also looking ahead at anyone trying to leave the country looking at any communications they might be hearing from overseas.

keeping in mind this may very well be an act of domestic terrorism. certainly it's being treated as an act of terror. that's why the fbi is leading the charge here with of course help from the boston police department. here's their commissioner. >> this cowardly act will not be taken in stride. we will turn every rock over to find the people who are responsible for this. >> reporter: now one of the other things they're also going to be looking at are cell phone towers. they're going to be getting subpoenas to go after cell phone records so they can look at every phone call that was made. imagine this. with all the people that were using sfoebs at the time of the marathon. they'll be looking at cell phone records to try angulate, find out which calls were being made at which time, right around copley plaza where the initial

two blasts were made to see if they can trace whether it's possible that a cell phone could have been used to trigger those explosive devices. we have no indication one way or the other right now. we can also tell you this. an interesting piece of evidence that authorities are looking at, that they're tracking down every possible lead. we know they've spent at least eight hours in revere, massachusetts, five miles north of boston. we can show you police activity again last night around 5:30 in the evening, we know police were on the scene until at least 2:00 in the morning. our brian todd who was on the scene tells us that he did not see them leave with any evidence in particular. he didn't see them leave with any suspects in hand, but he did see them talking to a couple people in the lobby, people who had walked in while they were already on the scene who presumably will in that apartment. it's just an example to try to

track down leads, evidence, informants who are giving us information as well. >> reporter: susan candiotti, a huge amount of work going on from the cell phone records, to cameras, old-fashioned police work knocking on doors in revere, massachusetts. forensic teams will be closely analyzing the evidence left behind at the boston marathon finish line. they're hoping to find the bomb makers' signature from what remains of the explosives. they're saying it looks like an ied attack that you might see in iran or iraq. the navy is helping. cnn's barbara starr is live at the pentagon with more on that. good morning, barbara. >> reporter: good morning, john. the navy helping in a small but important way. a three man explosive ordinance

team sent by the navy to boston at their request to help them with disarming some of these devices. you're absolutely right. after years of war in iraq and afghanistan, the military and the fbi working side by side have collected thousands of so-called bomb signatures, the very thing that they're looking for in this situation. what is a bomb signature? well, bomb makers over time tend to put their bombs together the same way and when they train others to make and carry out bomb attacks, they train them most of the time we are told in the same signature, the same way of putting a bomb together. so what we know is the fbi because of years of military assistance and their own work have phenomenal expertise in this. they are able to look at these fragments, and what are they looking for in the signature? what type of material? how it was put together.

where it might have come from. they can trace explosives. what kind of fusion or detonator was used. these very precise details that they're going to look at, and then go back and see if it matches anything they already know. does it match a signature possibly of a foreign terrorist that has carried out attacks in war zones or in potential al qaeda attacks? does it match the signature of a home grown terrorist? these are the kinds of things they're starting to look at. we know that from the expertise that they've all assembled. it may take some time but this is what they're going to focus on at least in the coming days. john? >> reporter: you know, it sounds cliche, barbara, but no detail is too small because you don't know where that break might come from. we should also say there's news from pakistan this morning with the taliban. what's the taliban saying about this right now? >> exactly right. you know, this is the other

thing we're going to going to look at. the pakistani taliban is claiming they didn't do t. let me read you a brief part of the statement that they put out. quote, wherever we find americans we will kill them, but we don't have any connection with the boston explosions. that coming from the ttp, the so-called pakistani taliban. what's so interesting about this is this group claims responsibility for the failed 2010 failed times square attack. there will be -- obviously we think, you know, claims of responsibility, claims that, no, we didn't do it, they're going to look at all of that to see what it tells them. and they will scour, as susan just pointed out, this he will scour everything they have for home grown perpetrators, but they will look at everything overseas as well. >> reporter: you know, as you said, barbara, one of the defining things right now about

this investigation, there are no claims of responsibility. fascinating that we have a claim of nonparticipation already from the pack kiss stap any taliban. barbara starr at the pentagon. thank you. joining us live from washington is james carafano. he's a security expert. he's a vice president at the heritage foundation. thank you for being with us. you heard the report from barbara starr. the idea that investigators are looking for signatures that might be left behind that could lead them ultimately to the people who pulled off this attack. what are you seeing right now? >> well, this is really the most important thing for people to understand is a lot of us think investigations go the way we watch on these tv shows, but the reality is is you don't start with who are the suspects and then see if the evidence fits them. you start an investigation by laying out all the evidence and asking what suspect might that lead us to. that's going to start very broad and narrowed down. it's the right way to do that,

otherwise you can wind up spending a lot of resources on dead ends. in scenes like this, as chaotic as it seems, they're going to get a lot of evidence. in the first 72 hours they're going to have a lot of information. they may not share it with us, but we'll know early on, within 72 hours, where the likely candidates are. so as frustrating as it is for all of us, we need to step back at this point and let the professionals do their job. >> reporter: let's talk about some of the specifics that we know or we think that we know. we're hearing that the devices seem fairly crude, fairly simple. we're hearing from a medical official, a doctor, was pulling metal from people below the legs. i talked to a cop who made a point of saying that it didn't seem like the explosive blasts spread very high. it was very low on the ground. finally, we know that there was more than one device.

so given those specifics, what do they tell you? >> it doesn't narrow it down very much. you can go on the internet right now and probably get enough information to organize this kind of attack. you can read "the aspire" magazine and get enough information to do this. people have said it before, it's absolutely true. at this point on what we know, it could be anything from a lone wolf to a well organized terrorist organization. >> reporter: so many broad possibilities right there. what about these unexploded devices? we don't know exactly how many there are, but we have been told there was at least one, maybe more. what can investigators find out from them? >> if it is, indeed, an unexploded device and it is related to these two incidents, it will be a gold mine. the fact that they got that bomb intact led them so quickly right

to the perpetrator. the thing with unexploded devices is much more likely to find fingerprints and other kind of dna evidence. you can deconstruct the signatures of who might have made the bomb or what kind of bomb it is much, much more quickly. so if they do have that kind of information, that is going to tell them. and it is related to the two explosions. that is going to be early on probably one of the most powerful sources of evidence that they have. >> reporter: you know, right now everyone is concerned with the investigation not to mention taking care of those who have been hurt. at some point there will be questions about how it happened and whether more security or different security could have prevented it. what do you think about that? >> well, public events like this are absolutely the hardest thing to provide a very secure environment. you literally can't do it. if your standard is nobody can be at risk at a large public event, we're never going to have

another u 2 concert. there are basic procedures for events like this. they're well established. we've learned from everything from the '96 olympic bombings to what you should do. are this they going to do a review? did we do the due diligence? they'll have to. it will be pretty clear whether that was done or not. and then we'll move on from there and we may learn some things to improve. we've got a pittsburgh marathon coming up, other things. you can't stop these public events. you can't make them perfectly secure, but you can do due diligence. the key point is the best way to stop these attacks is good intelligence, good police enforcement that goes out and finds the perpetrators before they do something. >> you can't protect every inch of a 26.2 mile race of course, that's for sure. james carafano, security expert in washington. thank you so much for being with us. really appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> reporter: thanks so much. we're going to take a look at

security at other major cities. there are so many events that happen every week. sun's coming up. what are they going to do in the wake of the boston city bombings. stay with us.

welcome back, everyone, to this special edition of "early start." the boston marathon the target of terror. those twin bomb blasts near the finish line killing at least three people, wounding 144. that is a huge number. one of the dead, a young boy identified by "the boston globe" as 8-year-old martin richards. eight years old. his mother and brother also said to be hurt this morning. there are a number of people in critical condition right now in hospital. some 17, 25 are in serious condition. the fbi is now taking the lead

in what it says is a, quote, potential terrorist investigation. in the meantime, boston police will beef up patrols around the city today. it is still a crime scene. about a mile of boylston street is shut down. president obama addressing the nation last night vowing that those responsible for the carnage will feel the full weight of the justice. let's go back to brooke baldwin. >> john, it's a heart wrenching story around boston. cities around the country immediately went on alert. specifically our nation's capitol at a heightened level of security. in new york city police have stepped up patrols in prominent locations including the extensive subway system. shannon travis has more on this nationwide story. walking around times square, you can see the police presence. they're out and about this

morning. >> absolutely. you can expect to see that there in that and other cities. want to be careful and saying we're not hearing about any credible threats in other cities from law enforcement. however, out of an abundance of caution they're obviously, as you mentioned, introducing this heightened state of alert. you mentioned new york city. obviously there's an increased alert on subways and hotels. you'll see more police on the ground in time square there. they're also deploying these critical response vehicles until they learn more about what's happened in boston. here in washington, the sidewalk outside of the white house has been taped off since last night out of an abundance of caution and today there's a parade called the emancipation day parade. we're told, brooke, that it will go on as planned, but they're hoping police and people will be especially vigilant. in los angeles, some of the airports there including lax,

you can expect to see those bomb sniffing dogs and heightened police presence. police and officials r asking people to remain vigilant of the mayor. he said he'll be watching sporting events, him and police officials. in terms of sporting events, major league baseball underway. games are underway. could they be a target? major league baseball's statement, quote, our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected about i this horrible occurrence and we are monitoring the situation. the safety of everyone that comes to our ball parks is always our top are priority and we will continue to do everything to ensure a safe environment for our fans. now it's obviously situations like these, soft targets like these, baseball games, sporting events, that officials will especially be looking out for. >> just when you think no one would target a marathon of all places.

shannon travis for us in washington. john berman is standing by. john, we were talking about boston, patriots day and the famous boss stone yans and now you have them reacting. >> reporter: patriots day is the celebration. the battle in lexington and concord. that's why they call it patriots day. it's more than that. it's boston day. marathon monday. the red sox play early. families flock to the city for that day. if you know someone from boston, they were either here or they know someone who was here. there are no degrees of separation from this disaster right now. there are stories big and small. "the boston globe" is reporting about a mother whose two sons each lost a leg in the blast because they were both here watching a friend that they have. those are the stories that people are telling that i'm hearing from my friends and family right now. as you said, there are a number of celebrities who call boston home. they've been reacting to the

tragedy as well. let's listen. >> boston is my hometown. that's where i grew up. it's where my family lives. i wanted to take a moment to say that like everybody here, my thoughts and prayers are with the people of boston and everybody who's been affected by this absolutely senseless act. >> now before we officially begin the show. we want to take a moment. our thoughts are with everyone in boston tonight. i have family members and many friends there. my heart is with you. >> conan o'brien, tom bergeron. actor mark walhberg, thoughts and prayers with my hometown boston today. maria menounos, praying for everyone home in boston. devastated at the news. even former new kid on the block, joey mcintyre, he is from the boston area, he was actually running in the marathon. he tweeted this moments after

the bombs went off, he said, there was an explosion by the finish line about 5:00 after i finished. i'm okay but i'm sure there are many hurt. boy was he right. 144 people injured, 3 people dead including one 8-year-old boy. stay with us. our live coverage of these deadly bombings in boston will continue here on cnn.