good evening, everyone. we're following two big stories tonight. the boston marathon investigation is now a manhunt. the fbi needs your help finding these two men. we'll bring you the latest on that and show you more of those images. we begin with the tragedy that is unfolding all around us right now in this small texas town of west ever since the fertilizer plant here blew up last night. a search and rescue operation in places, recovery work elsewhere. scores of people being treated in area hospitals. as far away as dallas, 70 miles from here. earlier tonight state and local

authorities spoke to reporters about the enormous damage when this fertilizer plant exploded. they didn't give us fatality amounts but we know it's heavy. we're not speculating over numbers. there's too much riding on it. we've heard stories everywhere, people have been coming and telling us stories of incredible bravery in the face of fire. volunteer personnel who went to the blast, went to do whatever they they could. in a moment i'll talk with a paramedic on his way to recover the bodies of some of his friends. minutes ago -- well, we'll tell you the story ahead. he'll tell you himself as he wants to. there's a lot to talk tonight about. this is a town in mourning, a town which is banding together, supporting one another. first, let's just take a look at how we got to this terrible point. 7:29 p.m. the first reports of a fire. the flames are visible for miles away and the plant burns for about 20 minutes before this.

>> it, like, picked you up. it just took your breath away, and then it dropped you and exploded everything around you. i mean, gusts of wind. it was like a suction and then just blew it all out. >> reporter: this man and his two young daughters are about 300 yards from the plant when he stops to take video of the flames. >> you okay? >> dad, dad, i can't hear. >> cover your ears. >> get out of here. please, get out of here! >> reporter: the father and his young girls are unharmed. the blast is so powerful it measures as 2.1 seismic event. rumblings felt as far as 50 miles away. >> fire units. firefighters down. again, there has been an explosion. there are firefighters down. >> reporter: fair fighters are scene battling the situation -- >> we're a down of 2400.

we have three ambulances. and there are literally hundreds of people hurt. i know -- i don't -- i haven't been there, but i'm very worried that my ambulance that was on scene, those personnel are probably deceased. i think some of the firemen may be deceased. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: buildings near the plant are blown out by the blast, including a nursing home. >> the rest home has been seriously damaged. we have many people down, please, please respond. >> reporter: patients were already be willing evacuated from the nursing home because of the fire, but not everyone made it out before the blast. >> did you see it? were you trapped in there? >> yes, everybody was trapped. >> do you know how many people are -- how many elderly people are there? >> just a guess. i mean, i don't know for sure. i don't know. maybe like 150 or something like that. >> reporter: the plant continues

to burn, raising fears that toxic gases may be released into the air. the fertilizer plant had 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia, according to "the dallas morning news" which can cause severe burns and even death. by dawn local hospitals report more than 160 wounded patients, some in critical condition. in the light of the day, the devastation from the powerful blast becomes clear. >> over here there's a hot water heater. you can see the bathtub. this is, obviously, the bathroom of this home that is now gone. >> reporter: by 9 a.m. heavy rains helped control the flames and also helped dissipate any chemicals which may have been released. but residents of the town remain missing. emergency workers are in the middle of a search and rescue mission. authorities say they don't know how many people may still be trapped under the rubble. >> joining me now is west

paramedic bryce reed. how are you doing? how's your family doing? >> we're -- we're holding up. >> you're together. >> yes, sir. we're -- you know, everybody in the -- in ems and civil services is really binding together and being there for each other. and that's what we're doing right now, being there together and being for the people around. >> i don't want to put you on the spot so you tell me what you want to talk about, but can you tell me some of the things you saw last night? >> i can tell you there's absolutely no words that i possess that can convey adequately what i saw. i can tell you what i saw last night was it went from my

hometown and my reality and my existence to a war zone in an instant. and i don't -- i guess i haven't even had time to process that yet. >> your house is gone. >> gone. yeah, i mean, the overpressure from the blast actually blew the doors off the hinges. my daughter's room has glassing from thes -- fragments imbedded in the walls. it's gone. >> and you've lost close friends, colleagues. >> yeah, many. do you even know at this point, like everybody you've lost? >> no. it's -- west is a really small town. as i've always had to explain to people, they ask, where are you from? i say, west, texas. well, what part? no, no, no. west, comma, texas.

>> west, comma -- >> west is named after the first mayor of the town. >> yeah. you got me. i don't -- >> you're from abbott, which i know willie nelson is from. >> yeah, yeah. i'm actually from rock wall, so -- but moved to west. and i woke up this morning with the reality that i'm never going to say west, comma, texas, again in my life. you know, i'm not. and being with ems is -- you know, you don't know how people get your phone numbers. i'm on the board of west. hence, why i'm speak with you is with west ems, i've received phone calls from london, from saudi, from australia, from south africa, from literally all over the globe. of this outpouring of support. and it's absolutely amazing. >> and that's -- that's been important to you.

>> yeah, that's what we wanted to convey -- or that i wanted to convey as a member of west ems. >> you can feel that support. >> it goes beyond that. whenever you are at the worst time in your life that nobody can understand and you're in the one place that means everything to you, and you realize that the entire world takes a pause to say we're sorry and is there anything we can do, is all the way to ground zero, every one of us are incredibly humbled and grateful for that outpouring of support and thanks and love. and in a situation like this, you feel like you're alone, but it is incredibly humbling to

have everything that everyone has done for us. i don't know where to begin in saying thank you. and i don't know where to begin in saying, you know, we are west. and we'll get back to that. but -- >> you are west and will always be west. >> absolutely. >> you'll rise again. >> you know, this is a big -- it's a town, but it's more than that. it is -- it's the only place on earth i've ever been where if i have a problem, literally, all the stops are pulled out. where everybody will do everything they can to help you. >> down by the czech bakery, they are refusing to take any money today. they're giving away food. the drugstore, i stopped in there earlier, the pharmacy collecting clothes for people. folks are cooking a barbecue across the street from us now.

it's an amazing spirit. >> it is. welcome to west. >> yeah. >> that's what i'll tell you. is that's not just because of this incident, is that's -- that's the way these people are here. they are absolutely incredible. and a situation like this really brings out the true character of individuals. and i'm proud to live here. i'm proud to be a part of this community. >> i should just point out for folks, too, that don't realize that brice is a volunteer, everybody's a volunteer here, fire department, ems. people who didn't have to go to that blast, went to that blast. people who could have stayed at home, they didn't have to go. >> they were all volunteer. >> yeah. >> there was not one person -- there was not one person that got paid. not one person was told.

they all just went. >> people went knowing that could blow? >> that's their job. when other people are running away, by nature, our job is to run towards what people are running away from because we -- we have to -- we have to do what we have to do. by nature, that's what we do. >> it's also important, i think, that people realize because of the first responders who went there, you and the others who realize, you know what, we need to start evacuating folks out of here, that saved lives. the fires were burning before that explosion. and before the explosion, people started to get evacuated. >> we did our best to get people out of the area. in the beginning it was just a fire. and not going into too much operation detail because i can't disclose that at this point in

time. >> sure, sure. >> but what i can say is we -- you know, we had -- we did our best to keep everybody safe. nobody could have seen this coming. nobody. nobody. i've been doing this for 13 years. there's no way i would have ever dreamed that this would have happened. i mean, it's profound and it's dire and it hurts like hell, but, you know, the main thing is that we wanted to convey is that, you know, please keep the prayers coming. please keep the thoughts coming. please keep -- please keep everything going because it helps. >> thank you, brice, i appreciate it. >> thank you. >> it's really an honor to talk to you.

brice reed. ahead, what people are struggling to come to grips with, as you can hear from brice. people don't know the full extent at this point. we're not giving out any numbers because that's just speculation and the people here deserve more than speculation. until we have hard numbers, hard facts, we're not going to give them to you. but we want you to hear their stories. we want you to hear what people are going through and people here want you to know what they're going through and the changed reality they're now living with and they will be living with for weeks and months and years to come. also tonight we have to tell you about all of the stuff happening out of boston. two of the most wanted men in the world tonight. the fbi released these images today of the boston bombing concepts. coming up, all the new developments. we are getting details on breaking details on the shooting at massachusetts institute of technology. drew griffin joins us on the phone from boston with more information. what are you able to tell us?

what's happening now? >> reporter: earlier this evening in m.i.t., the university which is literally across the charles river, a police officer was shot, taken to the hospital and later died. this has become a much, much bigger story. the scope of which we're not quite clear of. there has been a huge sign of police force at the police officer shooting at the m.i.t. campus and now a huge incident at watertown just past harvard university on the way outside of boston, a suburb, but there are reports of ordinances on the street, a suspect who has been taken into custody, another one on the loose. and i can just tell you i'm walking up on the scene where there are dozens and dozens of police officers and ambulances

circling this little town square area where there seems to be some sort of large event that has taken place involving suspects that may have been connected to the m.i.t. shooting. but we don't know if they're connected to anything else that has happened in boston over this past week. so, as we are trying to ascertain what's going on, we have literally been passed by police officers speeding down very small streets to get to this scene, which i'm coming upon now. we hope to have more information as soon as we can ascertain what has happened from the local police here. >> drew, you mentioned the local police. do we know at this point if the fbi are involved? >> reporter: i keep looking for any kind of u.s. federal officials. the fbi or atf, alcohol tobacco and firearms, the atomic

explosives people. i do not see them. just boston police, state police, cambridge police, the local police, you would have to call it, along with fire departments and ambulances. >> all right, drew griffin standing by there in boston. if you would a moment, drew, we're going to go to our affiliate wccb to listen to what they have. >> officer at m.i.t. was shot several times around 10:48 this evening. rushed to mgh where he lost his life. they say a suspect is still at large. they are still searching for that person but we have not seen any more sweeps of this area at this point. there are two police trucks -- police cars, cruisers, that i can see at this point where i am. the perimeter has not changed. it's still quite a distance back. where i'm standing is still several blocks away from where that shooting occurred. at this point we are the only media at this site. and most of the police have left. it has quieted down quite a bit

and seems the focus has turned to the other areas. >> the m.i.t. website i keep going back to, the latest update came around 12 minutes ago, suspect remains at large, continue to stay indoors. so, even though as you say it's turned into a ghosttown and only a couple of police officers, they are still asking for their 11,000 students and faculty and anyone in that area to continue to stay indoors because they do not know where this suspect is. >> reporter: understandably because at this point we don't know that there have been any arrests or anyone is in custody. again, when we were down here earlier and there was a great deal of media in the area, there were many students who had come out, who had received those alerts from m.i.t., wanting to see, curious cats wanting to see with their own eyes what was going on. they cleared out as well. i think at this point the intrigue has kind of been lost. >> excuse me tore interrupting you. we want to get back to shane who works in the graphics department.

i know you only have a moment to us because they want to take the cell phones off, so talk to us quickly. >> yeah. i just witnessed -- there was a group of officers at the corner of laurel and dexter. they started heading down towards my house. they started taking their firearms out and pointing them down towards school street, looking -- they were looking at the houses on my side. i'm number 23. so, they were pointing them in the direction of my house and the house next to mine. and that's when i decided to hit the floor and i don't think it's worth while sticking my head up at this point. >> no. i think we should let you go. please take care of your family and be safe. and you can only call us when you know that it is the all clear at this point in time. >> of course. >> thank you. >> thank you. be safe. >> yes, please be safe. i want to share with you something else that shawn kelley has just informed us of that cell phones have been ordered off for police and media in the

area because of undetonated explosives. cell phones have been ordered off for police and media because of undetonated explosives. i'm not drawing any connection or correlation to what happened on monday, but there was a similar type of situation where initially after the first two attacks, law enforcement was asking everyone to not use their cell phones because they were concerned at that point in time that there could potentially be other explosive devices in the area that could possibly be triggered by cell phone activity. so, this would suggest that they are also encouraging everyone to not use their cell phones right now because of those undetonated things. shawn is on the phone now. >> where are you right now? >> we're in -- we're right next to the location where the first suspect was taken down. a fire truck has moved away from the scene. but only slightly. they have now -- the police have all rushed about a block away from here.

i can't quite make out the street. from where i'm sitting. but we're being told to stay in the car. but for the last several minutes police were pointing in the direction of another potential suspect. they were -- they were ordering that suspect to -- they were ordering that suspect not to move and then shouts from police officers that the second suspect was in custody. police officers moved towards some type of a vehicle and then we could hear on the radio that the police officers were being told to back away out of concern of explosives possibly being in this other vehicle. i can't tell from where i am what kind of a car it was. >> do you know if the -- if the first suspect, i assume, has been secured and is in custody and no concerns about him? >> we couldn't see the ambulance leave. we heard people yelling that one suspect was being taken to beth

isra israel. that's an unconfirmed report, though. people are yelling all kinds of different stuff but that's what we heard from police. i think we should be careful with a lot of this information, though, because there's a lot of screaming going on right now. we're dealing with police officers who just, from what we could hear, took heavy gunfire. we heard a lot of explosions and a lot of confusion they're trying to settle down. >> so, let's just -- >> let's try to sort it out here. >> let's rely on your eyes. when you look out the window, what do you see? >> i see a much calmer neighborhood at this point. i see police officers are in s.w.a.t. uniform. bullet-proof vests outside of their normal uniforms. helmets on, guns drawn, most pacing the neighborhood at this point. but for -- i'm not even sure how long this has been going on, but for quite some time those guns have been pointed in any number

of direction, between homes as they've been sprinting down the road. we witnessed police run around a corner to take down the first suspect, the first suspect that was taken into custody. we couldn't actually see the arrest from where we were positioned. we wound up stopping our car because there was so much gunfire going between these homes. we stopped our -- we stopped our car as police were telling everyone to stop where they were, to try to get this under control. a short time later, after they -- it appears they removed that first suspect from the area, they were able to find a second suspect, it appears, maybe a block to a block and a half away. they had guns drawn, pointed at a suspect. they were screaming something at him. and then it just seemed to calm down. and what we could hear over the radio was to back away from the vehicle in case there were more explosives. and that we were hearing police saying, second suspect in

custody. >> that's not yet been confirmed, by your eyes anyway? >> not by my eyes. the radio traffic is all indicating that. and just by the demeanor of the police officers, things are beginning to calm down. >> and agencies, shawn, from, i assume, watertown, i assume massachusetts state police. what else have you seen? >> i just saw one of the boston police superintendents just came running over to our car to make sure that we weren't -- that we weren't suspects of any kind. we had to roll down the window to show that we just got caught in all of this. >> i'm curious to know, we were speaking with todd wallace a little while ago and he said he saw a homeland security vehicle. have you seen any homeland security vehicles where you are located? >> i haven't. the vehicles i'm looking at appear to all be -- i'm looking at transit police, watertown fire, boston police, possibly

fbi, a handful of boston undercover. i can tell you from coming from the direction of cambridge, i have to believe at least a handful of these are cambridge vehicles. that's where this -- >> that may have been where it started, shawn. >> i believe -- i believe -- from what we could tell, from where we picked this up, it was on memorial drive at around 815 memorial drive, the area of the mobil gas station and shell gas station -- >> hold on. we have a live shot up of watertown. you can see the cameras are there. you can see there are a number of people are there. i assume a lot are reporters and a lot who live in the neighborhood as well. go ahead. i didn't mean to interrupt you. that's what everyone is looking at. >> i can tell you that people who have stuck their heads out the doors here on dexter have all been ordered immediately back into their home. >> watch out, todd. watch out.

>> we made efforts to get out of our vehicle and we have been ordered back in. >> so, i'm not sure which camera this is. this might be todd's camera. >> this is todd wallace's, our second crew. >> he was at mt. auburn and lloyd, which is not far from where shawn is speaking to us now. shawn is at laurel street and dexter street, at that intersection. but this camera is a little further away up on mt. auburn and lloyd. >> i don't know. hey, it looks like one of the suspects was removed -- >> okay, we're going to leave our affiliate wcvb and go to our other affiliate wdh to see what they're reporting. >> i got down behind the car door, behind the car. he got down, i believe, behind a police car. it was a matter of just getting down as quickly as you could at the nearest possible place. so, he was about ten feet in front of me. and then i believe that when they told us to get back even further, when i heard something of a hand grenade, he must have

followed me, but that's when i lost him for a short while. but he and everyone else has been moved back now on the other side of this yellow tape. i don't know what he was able to shoot videowise, but i think he was rolling right up until that moment where we were basically scaring for my lives. never in my reporting career have i felt so vulnerable. >> i'm glad you're safe. you did the right thing by trying to find cover. we're being told in this video we're watching here, at some point we might see the suspected gunman. at some point. we're not sure where. this is the part -- oh, right there on the ground. oh, okay. wow. that's -- you did a great job. this is where they're backing up here. does he have -- his eyes seem to be closed. arms spread out. >> on his stomach, on the ground. but that is the point where they were backing up. it's interesting they are backing up, adam. perhaps he was threatening that

he had some sort of a weapon on him. but doesn't appear to be anything in his hands. doesn't appear to be anything in his hand. >> this is unbelievable. >> this, again, happening just moments ago. adam, are you still with us? >> i'm still with you. at one point -- this is just what i heard from police. i can't go on record -- >> no, no. we're watching the guy laying on the ground, legs crossed, jogging pants with stripe up along the side -- >> laurel street. >> what did you experience tonight? >> well, i had heard -- first, i heard a loud explosion type sound and then just a massive police car heading down the street but there were so many, i couldn't tell which direction they were going. then about half an hour ago i heard a couple sirens on my street. i came out to check and there were like 20, 25 police cars. now the end of auburn street and spruce is blocked off. i hear a helicopter coming

overhead. police are telling people coming out of their houses to go back in. they don't want to be having anybody who has no business to be on the street. >> i want to give folks a reference to where you are, greg. you say you're on spruce street. it looks like spruce street runs into school street and then becomes laurel street on the opposite side of school street. >> yes. from a short distance from there it goes into dexter. >> exactly. so from where you are it looks like a very short distance to where this initial takedown took place at laurel and dexter streets in watertown. >> yes, it's very close. >> did you hear -- did you hear the gunshots? did you experience personally the gunshots? >> i did hear them from my window. >> right. >> and i was watching the m.i.t. news coverage. and then a short time later i heard gunshots out my window. and i didn't think they were related. i took that there was something

else. but then i kept on watching the news and -- and then all this started happening. >> let me just be clear, greg. we do not know if these -- >> there's the helicopter he's talking about, by the way. there's the helicopter. >> there's the helicopter. we have not connect the the dots between the m.i.t. incident and this incident, however they have all happened within a relatively close proximity to one another as well as distance as well as timing this evening. >> well, greg, thank you. you are safe. that is the most important thing, right? >> yes, i am safe. and my street seems to be safe. and everybody's inside and not creating any kind of commotion. >> well, it -- >> i just want to leave our affiliate whdh there for a moment. you saw the gunman there flat on his face on the road surrounded by police. i want to go to our cnn photo journalist gabe who's at the scene. tell us what have you been able to witness at this point. >> hey, i am in watertown near

the corner of dexter. trying to -- near the -- what's the street. i'm sorry. basically we rolled up here ten minutes ago, i did. police were in a standoff with a vehicle just down the hill. they all had their weapons drawn. as soon as they -- i could -- i could hear their orders to him to strip down all his clothes. he was ordered out of his vehicle. and he was placed under arrest. he was put into a police vehicle. there are multiple agencies here from watertown, newsom and state police. and i heard someone on the scene say second suspect was in custody and they needed a positive i.d. that's what i have here now.

i apologize. it's quite a chaotic scene right now, as you can imagine. >> totally understand, gabe. just to clarify there, basically you say both suspects there at m.i.t. are in custody. has any link -- >> no, no. i'm in watertown. i'm in watertown. one of the suspects involved in the police shooting here this evening was taken into custody. the implication -- the implication from police here is that possibly one of the two suspects -- they say they're looking for, they have not been clear on that point, obviously, but that's the implication. >> okay. so they have made that link? what gives you the feeling that that's -- that that person, that suspect, is linked to the boston bombings? >> matches a general description of the suspects they are looking for. however, i have -- we have no idea who these men are for sure, but this is what the police have -- the -- it was quite a

chaotic scene. police were yelling at each other back and forth across the street, radio chatter. all of this -- there's just a lot of confusion. the order was ordered to strip his clothes. it was quite tense. once the suspect surrendered, they moved him fully undressed into a police vehicle. >> he was fully undressed. he was told to remove his clothing? >> yes, correct. >> right. and do you -- going by the images you have seen, did he appear more like the suspect one or suspect two of the images the fbi have released? >> now, of course, the two images, it's difficult to see exactly what they look like, but from the images i've seen from the fbi press conference, definitely looked like suspect one. he more resembled suspect one. he was a thin, darker skinned individual. and he was fully undressed and

put into a police vehicle. shortly after that, however, the police chief was on the scene, they had a suspect, and needing a positive i.d. that's all i heard and that's all i know at this point. >> cnn photo journalist gabe ramirez there telling us at this point we understand that one of the suspects, we're going to just call him m.i.t. gunman suspect. we're not going to make this link to the boston marathon bombing at this point until we get some sort of official confirmation on that. at this point we understand that suspect was told to remove his clothing and was taken in custody. i want to go to our jake tapper who is there at the scene to bring us some more information on this. jake, what information do you have? jake tapper, can you hear me? we're live on cnn right now. >> reporter: i can hear you.

i'm sorry, i didn't realize you were talking to me. i'm standing near the intersection where the marathon, the boston marathon bombing took place. this is what's been going on in the last hour or so. first of all, there was a shooting at the campus of m.i.t. that's in cambridge. that is roughly about a mile, i believe, that way. >> just over the river. >> reporter: just over the river. there was a shooting there. an officer was killed there, according to local authorities. and then in addition to that there is a huge scrum of police officers in the watertown area. that is about four miles beyond where we are standing right now. right near where the boston marathon terrorist attacks took place. and the huge media scrum there. there are two suspects who have been apprehended. now, at this point we do not know if the two suspects who have been apprehended in watertown are related to either the shooting of the police

officer at m.i.t. or the boston marathon terrorist attacks. but, of course, this is a city on edge where there is a huge police presence. the idea that we're watching images of a big police presence in the watertown yaurarea, that an fbi presence, seems unusual for a situation like this. but in terms of the confirmed facts that we have, beyond the shooting -- the bombing that took place here in boston on monday, this evening there was a shooting of an m.i.t. police officer in cambridge, massachusetts. and then after that, there was a big police presence and a -- if you listen to police scanners and obviously not everything you hear on a police scanner is accurate information, but there were reports of guns. there were reports of explosives. and now we are told by the

police officer on the ground there in watertown that there were two suspects that have been apprehended in watertown, massachusetts, about four miles from the scene of the crime of the terrorist attacks here in boston, massachusetts. that's what we know as of right now, as of this minute. >> jake, although we don't know what sort of link there is, to as you suggest either the shooting, the deadly shooting of the m.i.t. police officer or the boston marathon, it is a comfort for people in boston to hear these two suspects have been apprehended. we were talking to cnn photojournalist gabe ramirez, who witnessed one of those suspects, apparently had to remove his clothing and was taken naked into custody. i'd just be interested if there's any more information on the other suspect and whether they were taken pretty much in the same area, close by to each other.

>> reporter: the information we have as of right now, and as we know, in situations like this, the first information is not always the accurate information, but the information we have right now is that there was an officer killed in cambridge, massachusetts, where m.i.t. is. there also was a carjacking in m.i.t. and then two suspects were apprehended in watertown, just beyond the m.i.t. campus in cambridge. those two suspects were apparently apprehended in tandem. that is, they were apprehended at the same time. as you can hear, there are a lot of sirens in boston right now. a lot of sirens in the area. you're going to see some coming by me right now. we do not know whether or not these two suspects apprehended by the police and the fbi at this early hour in the morning are necessarily related to the shooting in cambridge or to the

terrorist attack on monday. generally speaking, i think it's fair to say that a lot of people are very suspicious that they might be related. >> yeah, indeed. a lot of people making that assumption. but, jake, give us an idea if you have seen any fbi presence nearby. >> reporter: well, we haven't seen an fbi presence here, right now where we are. we are right now standing at the intersection of huntington and dartmouth. we're not far from the back bay area where the terrorist attacks took place on monday. it is a scene of a crime. it is a police -- you can't cross the lines here. the police tape. it is a crime scene. but there is -- there has been historically in the last week or so an fbi presence, a police presence, the joint terrorism task force has been there.

it's unusual that there would be fbi involved in a crime in watertown, massachusetts, if this were not a federal issue, obviously. and that's why we're now covering this and why i'm up in the middle of the night. but in terms of facts that we know for certain, we do not know that what's going on in watertown or in cambridge is necessarily related to what happened here on monday. >> and, jake, i do want to keep you talking on this because there is so much activity behind you. of course, so much interest. we're going right across the globe. a lot of people hoping, hoping that this would be a good conclusion to what had happened at the boston -- on monday at the marathon. of course, we emphasize that no link, no official link has been made here at all. but if we might just go back over what we do know, because there is comfort in knowing that these two suspects have been taken into custody, whoever they may be.

>> reporter: well, let's just go over the events since 5:00 eastern time this evening. right now it's roughly 1:30 in the morning here in boston, massachusetts. since that time the fbi has released photographs of two individuals whom they suspect to be suspects in the boston terrorist attacks. since the time that announcement was made shortly after 5:00 p.m. eastern this evening, there was another photograph that "the new york times" verified that teams seemed to have been an even better image of the suspect, the one with the white baseball cap as opposed to the one with the black baseball cap. that individual's face was seen better in a picture that was posted on facebook. and the person -- you're looking

at the picture right now. there you go. and that person who posted that on facebook said that the fbi had contacted him, said that that was the best quality photograph they had seen of this individual. "the new york times" verified that. then since that happened this evening, there was a shooting of a police officer at m.i.t. in cambridge, about a mile over the river, about a mile over that way. then after that happened, there was a carjacking on that campus as well. two suspects were apprehended in watertown, about roughly three miles -- four miles. i apologize if i'm not getting my geography correct. i think that's roughly right. we don't know if it's all related but we think it's suspicious that the fbi has been involved in apprehending two suspects in watertown, massachusetts, and this carja carjacking all took place hours after all this information was released about the suspects that

the fbi is looking for because of the horrific terroristic attacks that took place here in boston just a couple blocks away from me, killing three individuals and maiming seriously dozens of others. >> all right, yes, very interesting points there, particularly the one about the fbi, as you raise that. jake tapper, i want you to stand by there. we do want to come back to you. we want to go to our drew griffin now on the phone from boston. drew, what are you able to add to this? >> reporter: i can just tell you the scene in watertown is chaotic with a huge police presence. we just heard what sounded like a shotgun going off. i don't know if there was a misfire or what. but this is where all of the arrests took place and the police continue to push us further and further back from where we started. we're now five blocks away from the exact scene where one of the people was taken into custody. again, rosemary, i'm not seeing

any kind of federal presence here whatsoever. as we were driving up on the scene, police cars were passion us as incredibly high rates of speed but every one of them was either state or local police, no federal police. we have yet to have any confirmation from any official source on this scene as to whom was taken into custody here and for what crime. as jake was saying, you know, these are very close to the shootings at m.i.t. the shooting at m.i.t. was basically up the road, massachusetts avenue, several miles. but again, all we know is that a shooting happened there. the police ran to this location. we talked to several witnesses, and you've had on your air many reports of gunshots, but nothing linking any of these crimes. >> all right, our drew griffin there. still a chaotic scene where he

is. let's go back to our jake tapper because i understand, jake, you have an update on this. >> reporter: i wanted to clear up some of the information. obviously, in a situation like this it's very fluid. we hear things on the police scanner. just to clear up some things i conveyed that i've been told corrections of or different information. we're told now that it's one suspect that's been apprehended in watertown. one. and also that the fbi presence was on the m.i.t. campus, not in watertown. m.i.t. just to add to what drew reported from the scene. so, that is the latest information that we have. again, we're not making any assumptions here that there is a direct connection between what happened here on boston monday, what happened at the m.i.t. campus in cambridge this evening and what just happened in watertown. obviously, this is a city on edge. a lot of activity, a lot of police sirens. we see the police here who are at the crime scene of what took place on monday.

they are up, cars buzzing in and out, police officers talking to each other. that's the latest of what's happening exactly right now. >> so, just one suspect apprehended at this point. that probably explains why it is still a very chaotic scene there. jake, let's -- i do want to go back over what we know with you, if you don't mind f we can just walk our audience -- if people throughout the world have just joined us at this point, there's some progress made. we don't know, we're not making any links with the boston marathon bombing on monday, but as you mention, boston is a town on edge and we're getting word of a suspect apprehended. just go over what we know in the events that have unfolded in the last hour or so. >> reporter: the events of the last hour are as follows -- a shooting on the m.i.t. campus and an officer apparently, according to authorities there, was killed. in addition, there was a carjacking on the m.i.t. campus.

we do not know that that is related in any way to here in boston in the back bay area with the boston marathon terrorist attacks. we don't know any connection whatsoever at all. but after the officer was killed at m.i.t., a suspect of some sort was apprehended not far from the area of m.i.t., not far from cambridge n watertown, which is outside boston. one suspect was apprehended. you heard from the cnn photo just journalist -- you're going to hear a bunch more sirens coming my way. you heard what the cnn photojournalist said, that that suspect was apprehended in the way he was. that was one suspect, not two. obviously, the authorities here, with the joint terrorism task force, are looking for two suspects as they outlined earlier this evening at about 5:00, 5:15 p.m. eastern time here in boston. they put out photographic evidence, film and still photos,

of two individuals. one with a black halt, one with a white hat. whom they suspect having left the bombs in the area of the finish line of the boston marathon. since that time, when the nib and joint terrorism task force put out those photographs, one other photograph came out. that came out on facebook. "the new york times" verified its authenticity, which had a much clearer photograph, a much clearer image of one of the faces of the suspects. we don't know there's any connection whatsoever to the boston marathon terrorist attacks, those horrible bombings and what's happened in the last hour or so on the m.i.t. campus in cambridge and the arrest of a suspect of some sort in watertown, massachusetts. >> and, jake, what exactly is happening around where you are now? we've seen the vehicles, emergency vehicles pass you by. what is happening in the immediate area there? we know that that -- you are standing at the scene of the

boston marathon blast. of course, the action is taking place further away from you. but what is happening in that immediate vicinity? >> reporter: a lot of police are just coming and going. i want to share one thing. we have an update. we're told we have an fbi presence on the scene in watertown, massachusetts. so, earlier we said it was just local. police apparently now, the fbi has also come to the scene in watertown where that one suspect was apprehended. the significance of that, the potential significance of that, is that obviously the fbi is the federal bureau of investigation. that's for a national crime, not just for a local crime. if this were to be a serious crime that took place, and a suspect that was wanted in a serious crime, the fbi would be involved. that's not to say that the suspect is wanted in the boston marathon bombings. but that would increase the likelihood it's something of significance.

what's going on here, this is a crime scene that's been shut off since monday. we see investigators come and go into the area and we know that just yesterday we saw some of them inspecting one of the sites. but generally speaking, we don't have a great idea of what they are doing beyond our immediate line of sight and the media and the public is kept at bay, away from the investigation, as you might understand. >> all right. many thanks to you, jake tapper, there in boston. just -- he was clarifying there. one suspect apprehended in watertown. we are getting word there is an fbi presence on the scene there in watertown. that is potentially significant as jake pointed out. let's go to our drew griffin again. is he there in boston. closer to the actual scene there at m.i.t. campus. drew, what information have you been able to gather while we were away from you? >> reporter: i just wanted to piggyback on what jake tapper

said. immediately as he was just saying that fbi was present, an fbi officer -- or i should exactly what i saw. an person wearing an fbi jacket came out of a personal car, got stuff out of his trunk, walked toward the crime scene, which is about five blocks away. that's the first time i laid eyes on any fbi presence. that's one person. that's not to tell you there's not more down there. i was at the scene. i didn't see any at the exact scene. they kept moving us back, moving us back. now i have just seen one fbi -- one person with an fbi jacket. i will update you if i see any evidence of the same detectives i've seen on the boston marathon case. but as of this moment, i did not recognize him. he was just a man in an fbi jacket who's here. >> would you still describe the

scene as very chaotic? is this a sense this has not come to any conclusion at this point? >> reporter: i still see police cars coming up at high rates of speed and then seem to slow down. i don't know if these are just officers called to the scene and think there is still an emergency going on. certainly at the scene, there doesn't appear to be anybody running around with guns drawn or looking for any kind of suspects or anything like that. we have been moved back but it doesn't appear to be for any kind of danger. no i wouldn't describe it as chaotic in the sense that there's still an active crime scene. i think it's chaotic in the fact that we have multiple police agencies here now trying to figure out, what do we do with the investigation that must be going on. >> and, drew, earlier when we were taking our affiliates reporting on this, there was a mention that there was a fear of unexploded -- well, possible

bomb there. we don't know that. they were certainly guiding people not to use their cell phones. have you had any update on that particular part of the story yet? >> reporter: we have absolutely no update on that. but i talked to people who believe they heard two or three small explosions right about the same time there were gun -- there was gunfire going on. so, people do believe, these are, you know, civilian witnesses believe they did hear explosions here. i could not see or detect any, by sight or smell, any sign of an explosion. and we got on the scene after the shooting had subsided. so i can't tell you that right now. no one has come up to me and told me, turn the cell phone off. that's basically where that stands. as i'm standing here now, two ambulances have just pulled up. their lights are not on. they don't seem to be in any

kind of emergency status. perhaps just standing by in case they would be needed. but that seems to be the situation. >> and that's an interesting point, since the information we have is that one suspect has been taken into custody. so, he has been removed from the scene, so we don't know why those two ambulances are apparently on standby for some particular reason. but just describe where you are or near where are you, drew, if you don't mind, just to give us more of an idea of your location. i know you've been moved back somewhat. >> reporter: right, right. watertown is a suburb, you might say, of boston. it's across the charles river and up away, i guess it would be west west of the cambrid cambridge/harvard area of boston. and we're on the main -- what i would consider the main drag of watertown.

on daurl drilaurel drive. what appears to be a fire house in what i would call the center of town is right where the center of the activity is. we were up there. it's about -- it was about a block-wide area that was forged off when i first arrived. there must have been at least 15 different emergency vehicles packed inside just that one-block area, from police cars to some kind of a bomb detection vehicle to ambulance, and i believe i did see a fire truck as well up there. they were all packed in there. police walking around. suddenly we started to get backed up further and further and further. first a block, then two blocks, three blocks and now we're five blocks away. police have it all marked off the business district of watertown is completely roped off as activity is unfolding about two blocks down the street from where i can see. >> all right, our drew griffin

standing by there at watertown. bringing us some details. i want to go to juliette who lives in cambridge, also a national security expert, i might add. talk to us about what you're piecing together at this point, as this is happening in your neighborhood. >> yes. i left cnn earlier because i had been doing work on air for the boston marathon and heard about this. and was essentially delayed at the hotel because we had heard of so much activity. by the time i could get to cambridge off the mass turnpike, i had never seen anything like it. i want to make it clear that there was a cop killing, as everyone knows, at m.i.t. they are rare. very rare. and a response like this triggered by a police officer

being, you know, killed at m.i.t., at a university, where students are is -- would engender a significant police response, given that we have just faced the boston marathon attacks, the fact we see so much activity is only because -- may only be because, let me make that clear, may only be because everyone is activated, as they should be, because there are key suspects on the loose. so, this reaction to a cop killing, if it's related to what we're watching right now, cop killings are a big deal still and police officers send a lot of resources to them, even if their underutilized. the fact there's federal law enforcement may be just because everyone's on high alert. as jake was saying, because it's unfolding so fast, we see fbi, that might just be because simply we don't know right now.

and so what we're seeing is unfolding in real time and we'll see. but if a cop killing triggered this, there's always a huge police response to it. the fact that the perpetrators went from cambridge to a nearby suburbs means you'll activate a lot of jurisdictions in the process. so we'll see sort of how this unfolds. >> yes, we most definitely will. juliette, thank you so much. living in cambridge there, in the neighborhood, where this took place. a national security expert. juliette, we'll more than likely come back to you in the minutes, possibly hours ahead. want to go back to our jake tapper standing by again because i understand, jake, you have some additional information to add to this. >> reporter: well, obviously to reiterate what juliette said, any time there's major police activity going on, the fbi with the heightened state of security

and alert that is going on right now would necessarily go there. and the reaction to a police shooting, there was a police officer at m.i.t. in cambridge killed this evening, roughly at 10:30, i believe s when that took place, there would be naturally an fbi and big police presence for anything involved with that. so, again, there is not necessarily any relationship whatsoever with what is going on here in the boston area this evening with what took place here on monday. that said, just to give you an update on what is going on right now, in the last 15 or 20 minutes we were told that m.i.t. has put out an alert, telling students to please, and others who live on the campus, to please remain indoors. that police have not determined the campus is safe. that was roughly 15 or 20 minutes ago. so, even though there is this one suspect apprehended in watertown, not far from cambridge, the police have not made the determination that what's going on in cambridge at the m.i.t. campus is over.

so, that's something for people to keep in mind. i'm told there was also an alert that similarly went out at the campus of boston university, which is not far from there. that's going on. right now we're waiting to hear -- all sorts of reports on police scanners and other media suggesting someone has been taken to a hospital. we're not sure if it's a police officer or one of the suspects or the suspect apprehended this evening. as soon as we determine what exactly that information is, we'll let you know and bring it to you as soon as possible. >> indeed. i mean, there are so many pieces to this. we are trying to draw this all together. of course, for our global audience, you need to understand the significance of this story is we are dealing with a city, boston, that is really on edge here. and, of course, we've had this situation where an m.i.t. police officer was shot and killed. a suspect possibly related to that has been taken into custody. but we are trying to pull all of this together, to