the official says investigators they know of from overseas and no conclusions about what may have radicalized them. there's that, but that's only the beginning. in a moment, you're going to meet the man who came face-to-face with the bombing suspect in his boat. his account different from what we've all been hearing. just imagine what you'd do in his shoes. you go into the backyard and see this, only not from a chopper, not in black and white, up close. in bloody, living color. your' going to hear from him in the hour ahead. you'll also hear from a watertown man who photographed the firefight on the street outside of his house. this is the fight that took place very early morning. the images, utterly breathtaking. this one showing the two suspects taking aim at police at the end of that chase thursday night. another shows the police suv that a police officer used in a

move straight out of an action film putting it in gear, letting it roll empty to draw fire and give fellow officers a moment to get in better position to take down the older suspect. much more on that tonight. we have other developments, as well. the local d.a. here saying massachusetts will not sur sue state charges against the surviving suspect, leaving all prosecution to the feds. additionally, the 19-year-old may soon be relocated from the hospital because some families' of victims being treated here object. we're also learning that the suspect brother's in wars were motivation for himself. that's what a government official is telling us. also under the heading of unanswered questions, some new information on a mysterious potential influence on the older suspect. tamerlan's alleged turn to radical islam. we learned that he bought a large amount of fireworks leading up to the attacks which may help explain the process of perfecting their bombs.

again, we're learning more about that. we'll tell you what we know. in addition to all of that, people who live and work on this stretch of boyleston street were still no go today. and in a private ceremony, family members held a funeral mass for 8-year-old martin richard. we laid our son martin to rest, his parents said. and he's now at peace. it has been quite a day, but nothing compared to the night that david henneberry had on friday. that's his backyard. and that is his boat. it's where he discovered the younger suspect and then quickly called police. you may have heard the story of how it happened. that story, the one we've all been hearing, is not quite true. tonight mr. henneberry is telling it like it was speaking to the affiliate wcnbb. >> i know people say there's bloods in the boat, he saw blood when he went in. not -- >> not true? >> not true. >> the word is you saw the boat, you pulled back the wrapping, you saw a body, it moved and you called 9-1-1.

>> oh, no, no, no. >> no? >> no, no, no. >> so he went to the garage and grabbed a stepladder. >> i got i think three steps up the ladder and i rolled it up and i can see through now the shrink wrap. i didn't expect to see anything. and i look in the boat over here and look on the floor. and i see blood. >> a lot of blood? >> a good amount of blood. >> and my eyes went to the other side of the engine box. the engine box is in the middle. there was a body. >> and, at that moment, what did you do? what were you thinking at that moment? >> oh, my god. >> he couldn't see suspect number 2's face. he was glad he couldn't see his face. >> well, i know i took three steps up the ladder. i don't remember stepping down. this hits you more afterwards when you think my god, we probably slept last night.

this guy could be -- that -- i don't know. it's surreal. >> in that instant, police responded and he and his wife were taken away. >> people are calling you a national hero? >> if people who got killed can get something from me -- >> reporter: you know, in many ways, they do. >> then i'm at peace with them. you know? >> so earlier, the story had been that there had been blood that was visible. he said that that's not the case at all. that some of the plastic wrapping was off and that's what made him peer inside the boat and the alleged suspect. mr. hennenberry doesn't want to be reimbursed. he wants all money to go to the bombing survivors and families and says he has a perfectly good canoe in the garage that he can use. as i said, we do have a lot to talk about tonight. let's get you up to speed from drew griffin and jake tapper who join me now.

do you have more information as to what might have been a motivating factor for these brothers? what are you learning? >> well, anderson we told you yesterday according to u.s. government officials dzhokhar tsarnaev is talking to investigators, communicating with them. and one of the things that he is saying, and investigators making sure it's all accurate, they acted alone, the two brothers. there was no foreign terrorist group they were self radicalized from the internet and, also, that their motivation was jihadist with the islamist extremist that that entailed. i also learned today from the same official, that part of that, part of the jihadist sentiment that they were acting because the way to defend islam from being you should attack in their view, one of the ways that came to fruition in their view was the wars in iraq and afghanistan. so, in other words, dzhokhar is saying that is one of the reasons they carried out the

attack. and it is likely, he said, that anwar al alacki, the cleric who was killed by u.s. drones a couple of years ago, that his sermons were among those used to radicalize those among others. anderson? >> and what have investigators been able to learn as to whether or not he and his brother were in contact with any foreign terrorist groups or foreign jihadist groups? >> as of now, no investigators have found any evidence that that has happened. and dzhokhar has claimed that there are no contact with foreign groups. this is just the word of one guy who a lot of people don't have any trust for. and, of course, the older brother, tamerlan, spent all of that time abroad. so he spent all of that time abroad. and people are looking to his time in dag gas dagastan and if

there was anything there. it was self radicalization from watch watching the internet, although they are looking into investigators whether or not that al kwa da in the arabian pi nin sue la magazine "inspire" played any role, teaching people how to make bombs in the kitchen. they were looking into that, but so far, nothing definitive. anderson? >> we're going to check in with our correspondent nick robertson. we want to bring in drew griffin. we're learning in the last hour or two, after our 8:00 broadcast, more about a person here who may have influenced the older brother. >> you know, the wars in iraq and afghanistan have been going on for a decade. when you see somebody who's self radicalized, there's usually another turning point. somebody who influences them. now we're learning from tamerlan's uncle, who says there was such person, a person here in cambridge, 2009. self-proclaimed preacher. a guy who went by a very, very

common nickname of armenian dissent who was a recent convert. and the uncle said that this person was really getting into tamerlan's head and telling them all about radical islam. he was worried about it so much he actually called a family friend here in cambridge to see what it was all about. here's what the uncle told us. >> i called one of the gentlemen living in that area. i said listen, do you know what is going on with that family? with my brother's family? i heard that talking from milan. where that might be coming from? and he says, oh, yeah, there is a such a thing. there is a person, some of new convert to islam from armenien decent. armeniens, i have no intention to say anything about. it's a neighboring region.

and i said, this person, he just took his brain. he just brainwashed him completely. >> since that interview that was given to shannon travis over the weekend, ourselves and a lot of reporters from cnn and everywhere have been trying to find this mysterious person, the name misha, red beard, anderson, we haven't been able to find anything about this person at all. this, again, is coming from the uncle of the suspects. and this is what he's telling us. so maybe there was an influence. certainly, it's something that investigators will be looking at. >> and the dynamics in this family are fascinating. they are all over the map. there's some sort of division in the family. some of them are saying this is a conspiracy by the government against these young people, clearly, this uncle seems to think this misha was involved. their credibility is obviously a huge, open question. and there's a lot we need to figure about that. you also spoke to the chief of police in watertown who told you

about that shootout on early friday morning. >> which is such a better tale to share with you about the heroism of your local cop next door. the chief sat down with us and told us some interesting fine points of heroism that i just couldn't believe of what happened thursday night when these two killers come barrelling into their town and open fire and the police there respond without knowing anything about it. take a look at what happens to just one sergeant. >> oh, yeah. there's a serious gun fight going on. the second person on the scene, one of my sergeants, he pulled up and he immediately gets at least one shot right through his windshield. so he's under fire as soon as he shows up and he, again, just great -- you know, they don't teach you this stuff at the police academy. you don't plan for this. you don't train for this. he has the -- i don't know how to describe it, the courage and determination to keep fighting. and he decides to put the car in gear because his car is taking the fire.

they're shooting right at him in that car. >> the chief wouldn't tell us this sergeant's name. yet. but what happens next is absolutely fascinating, anderson. here's this guy, he has a bullet through his windshield. he realizes he and all of his mates are under tremendous fire. he's got to get out of there but he can't figure out how so this is what he does. he takes his car and decides at that split second. this is not a military soldier. this is a local police, decides to use that car as his open weapon. and here's how the chief described it. >> and he puts it in gear and lets it roll down the street while he's able to get out and take up a position so he's a little bit safer. at the end, he said to my captain, i hope the chief isn't mad at me, that cruiser is a little bit damaged. i said, sarge, are you kidding about me? they're going to be writing about you in textbooks. that was brilliant under that

situation to be able to think that through and do that. >> let me make sure i understand that. he gets out of the car and lets his car float on in to the dudes? >> right. so they think he's still in the car and they're unloading on the car while he's able to take up a position to the side inside returning fire. >> it's amazing the heroism of the officers on the scene. jake, you caught up on the guy from the window of his apartment during the shootout and took pictures of it. what do they show? >> they're incredible, anderson. andrew kitzenburg took these pictures. he had the presence of mind when he heard the gunshots and grab his iphone. start taking pictures. live tweets of the shootout. here you have the two bombing suspects firing at police right outside his house in this lovely neighborhood in watertown. the circle there is circling the pressure cooker bomb, that third pressure cooker bomb that the

brothers ignited and threw at police leaving a big, you know, ignition stain on the ground after the explosion. so that's one of the pictures. he took about 15 or 16 that we have. the next picture i want to show you, this is after the older brother, tsarnaev, fires upon the police and then he gets taken out. nd you see the car rushing towards him, that's dzhokar, the circle is where the older brother is. the car rushing towards him and the police, that's dzhokhar. he is in the car and driving towards the police in the car. and then the last picture we're going to show you, this is a car that they left behind in which there are a lot of bombs and a robot looking for volatile substances in this car. anderson? >> amazing pictures. amazing he had the presence of mind to do that. drew, you're getting some information about fireworks or pyrotechnic devices. >> yes, february 6, tamerlan, the older brother, goes to new hampshire where fireworks are legal.

he goes into the store and says what is the biggest, loudest thing you have. he buys two of these. they are called lock and load kits, reloadble mortar kits. $200 cash is what he spent. easily traceable, anderson. you have to write down your identification, your driver's license number when you buy this stuff in new hampshire. so the guy -- after the bombings, the guy at the store calls up law enforcement and says hey, i've got him right here. he's buying this now. >> and we don't know how these were used, if they were used at all, we don't know the purpose of them? >> no, we don't, but that will be part of the investigation. >> police did find some sort of pyrotechnics in the young der brother's dorm room? >> yes, a large pyrotechnic is how it was described in the criminal complaint. >> the planning goes back several months. >> absolutely.

>> appreciate the update. you can follow me on twitter @andersoncooper. coming up, what the fbi knew about tamerlan's possible overseas connections. and when they knew it, what was he doing over there? he left his wife, he left his little baby here for six months to go to russia? why? we're trying to figure that out. details on that ahead. a statement from tamerlan's wife katie russell, what she is saying and what we've learned about her today and whether or not she's really cooperating and sitting down with the fbi to answer their questions. that's still to come.

breaking news tonight. a federal official tells cnn that the suspects brought pressure cookers from macys. they've yet to uncover any hard evidence of accomplices or other extremists overseas. casting doubt on that is the older suspect's trip last summer for six months including some radicalism. there's a lot in that time line of what he did for six months. there's also interest, a year earlier, that russians showed

interest in his activities. >> tamerlan tsarnaev first hit the fbi's radar in 2011 when the russian government told the agency they should check him out. >> they sent a letter to the fbi and other agencies and said we think this guy has become radical. you need to watch him. >> was based on information that he was a follower of radical islam and a strong believer that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the united states for travel to the country's region to join unspecified underground groups. the fbi says it checks u.s. government data bases, telephone communications, online activity and actually interviewed tamerlan and family members. the fbi says it did not find any family activity so it gave that information to russia and asked for but did not receive more specific or additional info. case closed. >> because additional information didn't come in, the fbi says for our purposes and

our system and all the investigation we're allowed to do here, it hasn't risen to the level to warrant further investigation or full time surveillance. >> a federal law enforcement official agrees and says tamerlan was not on a federal watch list or no fly list because the u.s. never deemed him a threat. so there were no alarm bells when he came back to the u.s. six months later. >> by the time he returned, all investigations, the matter had been closed. >> but even so, it's not clear whether the department of homeland security even knew that tsarnaev was on the fbi's radar. feds failing to talk to each other was supposed to be a lesson learned from 9/11. >> we're trying to make sure that all of that information that was available was shared. if it wasn't, then there may be somebody who dropped the bom. somebody who dropped the boall.

somebody who dropped the boalal. >> a u.s. official said everyone even when there's a hit in the suspect, it's just monitoring for suspicious travel. >> well, let's dig deeper now. peter bergen, former cia officer there. cnn international correspondent nic robertson in dagestan. nick, what i cannot figure out about this six-month trip tis guy had to russia, this is a guy who has a newborn baby. he leaves for six months without his wife. i don't know how many married couples get to do that. he doesn't have much money. he doesn't have a job and he's able to spend six months over there. what period of time do we know about? and what period of time do we not know about in that six-month window? >> it's very hard to nail it down precisely. there have been accounts that he's helping his father renovate an apartment in the city here. that's what kept him busy a lot of time. his aunt said he spent two days in chechnya.

neighbors and people that run local stores say that they've seen him around, that they saw him around, that he was there for some of the time. but trying to nail down the specifics of did he leave town? did he take a bus ride? did he take a plane ride somewhere? those details just unavailable or perhaps didn't happen so far. and the family are just not saying more than these generalities. they're still in shock through a state of denial about what's happened. so it's very unclear to have done that. the mosque that he was reported to have attended, a radical mosque, say he wasn't associated with us. he wasn't coming here. you get a lot of denials from people rebuffing what other neighbors and people might have already said, anderson.

>> bob, the other thing i don't understand, if the russians had some concerns to actually contact the fbi and ask for an interview and said he was involved in radical islam, how closely would anyone have been monitoring him during that six-month window in russia? >> they would have, but russia is as inefficient as american authorities are in terms of getting people on computer lists. if there's a slight change in the name, any number of ways you can get through moscow airport or get into dagestan. we just don't know. normally, the russians pull these people aside. but they do make their mistakes just as we do. he just slipped through the system. anderson, let's go back to the fact that the 2350i fbi interviewed him. they should have put him on a list. when he came back into the country, this is standard, interviewed him, gone through his computer if he had one, his

address books, his cell phones, asked him where he was simply to add to the piles. there's all this stove piping and no one after 9/11 is talking to each other and this is how the guy got through. >> peter, i try to think back to other american citizens or naturalized citizens. i come back to a number who have ended up going back to somalia. the first suicide bombing was actually by an american in somalia. what did we learn from those cases in terms of how they became radicalized that might apply to this? are there any lessons to learn? >> i guess the first lesson in comparison to the somalis is obviously the parents of these somali americans who then went back to america, their parents were fleeing somalia and were trying to put that behind them.

in the case of the somali americans, all of them found identity with the somali americans. in the case of the bombings in boston, it's a case of a revert. it's someone who grows up and reverts to a much more fundamentalist way of islam. that may have been informed by the chechen struggle, as well. many people revert without necessarily going down the line. but that is a necessary precondition to get to that point. the kinds of things that is we've heard about the older brother, his political religious views. we've seen this pattern before. and, unfortunately, you know, it produced this result. >> we're hearing more now from the uncle who is in the united

states who talks about this misha character who may have been an influence on the older brother. a lot remains unclear about a, how believable this uncle is. but if there was sort of this character here, that is obviously something law enforcement wants to look into. >> absolutely. so the question is, when we get to how do we figure out the motive, was it from abroad, was it through the internet or were there individuals here? that's relevant for the investigation, if nothing else to find out if there are more individuals here. before we can determine whether there's a failure, we have to figure out what the intelligence is. where is it leading to the more important thing, while this is a relevant discussion to learn how did this happen? and did the government fail in anyway, is that the legal case is just going to continue. one of the great things about charging the younger brother with a wmd case is that you don't have to prove intent. so all of the questions about

where and why and who are real are irrelevant to the case. that makes that part of the investigation, the legal side, advancing everyone if it may take years as nick was suggesting what happened in russia. >> peter bergen, bob behr, nick robertson, all of you, thanks. coming up, we're going to play you a conversation their mother had with cnn's anything peyton walsh in dagestan. also, tamerlan czar naef's wi tsarnaev's wife, katie is making a brand new statement. we'll tell you what she's saying and how she's actually cooperating with law enforcement. more on my interview with a remarkable young woman, a dance instructor who lost her left foot, part of her left leg in the bombings. she's determined to dance again. tonight, she tells me she is not going to let what happened to kill her dreams, even though it was a night mare that she relives every single day.

>> i looked at a couple of people and i said, can you help me, can you help me? and a couple of people were just in a state of shock and just looked at me and said, oh, my gosh, and ran the other direction.

welcome back. we're hearing more from the mother in dagestan. she knows her son has nothing to do with it and she thinks they're framed. cnn's nick peyton walsh spoke with with their mother on the phone and then briefly in the street. take a look. >> my sons were innocent. i love them. i want the whole world to hear about it. i love them. and i will love them.

and i want to go -- i mean, i want to join them. if they're going to kill me today, i will be happy. happy. okay? okay. and i will say allah. >> they killed them just because they were muslim. nothing else. >> we're also learning more tonight about the wife of tamerlan. her name is catherine russel. she goes by katie and her attorney says she knew nothing about what her husband was allegedly planning. smee she's doing everything she can to help in the investigation. chris lawrence has more on exactly what we've learned about her. >> tamerlan tsarnaev's widow ran out of her home. investigators want her help as they piece together the alleged boston bomber's plan. >> there were reports that came as an absolute shock to them all.

>> her attorney says kathryn russell lived with tamerlan in a cramped cambridge apartment as authorities try to determine when and where he may have assembled the bombs, investigators want to find out what, if anything, she knows. >> she is doing everything she can to assist in the on going investigation. >> they say she last saw tamerlan before she went to work thursday before the fbi released this video. they say she worked as a home health aide while tamerlan stayed home with the young couple's daughter. >> very outgoing, very friendly, very smart and very talented. >> that's the katie russell amos traut talked about. she was earning her college degree. >> are you surprised to find out that she had dropped out? >> i was surprised. i hadn't seen any indication of a particular interest in a lot of religion.

>> russell was raised christian. she moved to boston for college and met tamerlan and dropped out. attorneys say she converted to islam. chris now joins me live from north kingstown, rhode island. just to be clear, her attorney says she's doing everything she can to cooperate. has she sat down and had interviews with the fbi? >> at this point, we don't think so. and if she has, her attorneys certainly aren't saying that publicly. they keep telling us that they are talking to authorities on her behalf. but they still haven't confirmed that she's ready to sit down and talk to investigators herself one-on-one. >> for them saying that she's doing everything to cooperate, that's lawyer speak if she hasn't sat down to talk to them. how much -- i mean, do we know that she was living in that

apartment? i know you said she saw you on thursday after the bombings. was she living full time? or was she also sending time with her parents? were they living together? >> well, the attorneys say that they were living together in that apartment in cambridge. that was the apartment that the brother's parents got when they first came to this country. basically, she would see a lot of her mother-in-law, the brother's mother. she wouldn't see quite as much of dzhokar, the younger brother. anderson, for all the talk of tamerlan being so isolated and not having any american friends, let's remember that he married an american girl named katie from the suburbs of providence, rhode island. so not everything there is square. >> we've talked to a number of people who have said everything is not square. chris, i appreciate the update.

more ahead on my interview with a young dance instructor. dance teacher who will not be stopped by what she lost in the bombing. doctors had to amputate her leg several inches below her knee. but she says she is not giving up. >> i look at this as someone trying to stop me from realizing my dreams and i thought that ballroom dancing was something that i was never going to do in dance. it just seemed like it was a tough arena to be in and i've conquered that, and i'm not ready to stop. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter.

welcome back tonight. eight days after the bombing, 43 remain hospitalized. at least a dozen are remaining recovering from amputations including a young woman, adrian davis. doctors had to amputate her leg four or five inches below her knee. she's dancing for her life. she can't imagine not being able to dance. i met her in the hospital yesterday. she says she will dance again. she's determined to do that and is getting started right away. tonight, we want to play you more of my interview with adrien. this is what she and her husband did after the explosion just to save themselves. >> i crawled on my elbows to try to get into one of the nearest

businesses, i believe it was forum? i could be wrong on the name. i looked at a couple of people and looked up and said can you help me? can you help me? i was just covered in blood. a couple of people were just in a state of shock. they just looked at me and said, oh, my gosh, and just ran in the other direction. i don't believe that they were ill intended. i just think that they were just in shock. and then i grabbed the door open with my elbow and crawled into forum dragging blood and asked a couple of people for help, and finally received it. >> how long were you there for? >> we were there -- it seems like forever. >> the timing could have flown. my guess would have been five to ten minutes. >> yeah, maybe ten to 15. it's hard to tell. it seems like it crawls by. we definitely had some people there. and i kept saying tighter and tighter. the pain was unbearable. i was asking for whisky or

vodka. >> is that the real reason why you crawled into a bar? >> yeah. >> did they bring you whiskey? >> no, they didn't. i thought this was going to be a long process. i knew there were bombs going off. i didn't know if there were more, but i didn't hear them. i wasn't paying attention. i thought i'm going to be here forever. and losing all of this blood because it was in the middle of a marathon. there were bombs going off that were probably hundreds of thousands of people hurt. and i didn't think that they would get to us as fast as they did. before we did, a doctor came pushing his way through the crowd and he said, i'm a doctor, i'm a doctor. and he immediately tied a tourniquet on my leg so i couldn't feel it anymore. i thanked him a lot, but i'd love to find those other people that i could say thank you to. >> you didn't know who they

were? >> no. i'm not sure. good samaritans. >> at what point i know your -- your mom and dade came and you woke up the next day. >> they were there the next day. when i woke up, i thought they could still save my foot. they said wiggle your toe. do you feel your foot? i could still do it. so i thought in my forever optimism and thinking positive that i would still have my foot and i woke up and i didn't. >> do you still feel your foot? >> i do. when i have a sheet over it, i can feel that feeling of the sheet on top of your toes. i still have phantom itch which is weird. you can't scratch it. >> you're determined to dance again? >> i am. >> what's your favorite dance? >> it's hard to say. it's like saying what your favorite song is. on sunday mornings i want a

waltz, a fox trot but on saturday nights i want the cha cha or mambo. what's the first dance you want to do. vienese waltz. it's one of tougher ones, but it's fast and it's beautiful and it's a wonderful, wonderful dance. >> how are you coping with this new reality. >> it's minute-by-minute. overall, i look at the challenge as someone trying to stop me from realizing my dreams and i thought that ballroom dancing was something that i was never going to do in dance. it just seemed like it was a tough arena to be in and i've conquered that. i'm not ready to stop. i feel like somebody has come along and said, oh, we're not going to let you do that anymore, and now i'm going to prove them wrong. i take it day by day.

i have moments that i get angry and mad that someone did this to me and to adam and that i won't be able to have the same dancing and the same movements that i had before and dressing takes longer and showers take longer and i get angry. i definitely get angry. but i try and stay on the positive side. >> she's an amazing young woman. there's a website set up to help her achieve her dream. she's going to need a prosthetic device, they're very expensive. you can find out how to help her as well as many others in need. also to the web site, her family has set up to help her raise money. eve the past eight days we've seen incredible examples of resilience. boston strong is the phrase.

i'm joined by the reverend liz walker of boston church. you see somebody like adrien. she says she's excited about the challenge of this new phase in her life. >> she's amazing. she's inspirational. that's the kind of spirit that gets the rest of us. she's a woman that's in the midst of the held and she's surviving. she's not only surviving, but taking on the challenge. >> she's about to start rehab already. and she's already practicing walking down the halls. we've seen this time and again. and traveling sudan and traveling around the world, you've reported a lot of stories where you see people at their worst. but you also see people at their best. in the midst of horror and hate you find compassion. >> it's something about the human spirit. i think that's why i left television news and got into spirituality and religion, anderson.

there's something about the human spirit that wants to go up and reach up. you see stories like this in the middle of death where people are living and in the middle of trauma where people are striving. i don't know exactly what that is, but i think it's in all of us. we see something like that, she will help all of us heal. >> people are saying to me, when i come back from a place, it must be hard to see all of that. and i say actually, it's harder to be back here. when you're in a place like boston this week or overseas somewhere, haiti after the earthquake, people are loving each other and they're talking about real things and they're looking you in the eye and shaking your hand and hugging you. they're talking about life and death. nothing is fake. and i feel that in boston this week. people are bound together. i wish it was like that all the time. >> i know. i worked in sudan for 12 years as you know. and working with people who have nothing. whose lives are a fight every

day to survive. but who have relationships that are real. i think it's because they have nothing else, if you know what i mean. >> yes. >> i think sometimes we have the advantage of so much that we're distracted about what real is. i don't know if we can manage this all of the time, but it would be really good to try to work on having this attitude, despite it all. to remember these kind of situations. >> i feel to have been here in the wake of all of this and to have seen the compassion, i feel it's a blessing, i mean, for me and everybody here feels a sense of, you know, boston strong. it's a slogan, but it's very real. >> it's very real. i think people are holding together and people are going to get through this together as a community. it will be interesting to see how long we'll get back to where we were.

maybe it won't. evil hit, but good rises up. >> i kind of don't even want to go home. i want to stay here because i kind of want to make the -- i want to be part of this. >> well, i think you are a part of it because you're doing these stories and i think that's important. and people need to see this. they need to see that young woman. >> she was amazing >> thank you, anderson. okay, god bless. >> the reverend liz walker. it's been a time of healing not only here in boston, but in the town of texas west where i was last week, also. the fertilizer plant exploded and it was an incredible story next. we're going to introduce you to a man who was an eyewitness in both tragedies. we'll explain why ahead. u 8

now, an amazing story. two settings, here, in boston and in the texas town of west where a fire explosion killed 14 people. you're looking at exclusive pictures. incredibly, one man witnessed both this and the tragedy in boston. gary tuckman has that story. >> reporter: joe and amy look at this past week of disasters in boston and west texas from a very different vantage point than others. so unique, it's hard to contemplate. they also look back with a deep sense of gratitude. >> we just feel blessed that we're both okay. >> joe's story begins last monday in boston. the austin, texas, resident was

running his first marathon for a charity called champions for children. this picture of him was taken at the finish line. just seconds after he crossed. >> amy was ten feet from the first explosion. >> his wife, amy, was so very close, but not injured. >> that doesn't seem to make any sense when the person who was standing beside me in boston was so maimed. >> meanwhile, amy had no idea where her husband was. and grew panicked when she couldn't reach him on his cell. >> for an hour, it was the worst hour of my life. i didn't know if he was dead or alive. >> amy went back to her hotel. >> all the way up the elevator, i thought dear lord, just let him be there. i opened the door to our hotel room and i thought my god, there he was. the not knowing was the worst things. on the next day, wednesday, joe had a business trip so he drove from austin to dallas. after a few hours, he started

heading back home. to get back to austin you have to drive on the interstate through this town, the town of west, texas. >> joe was minutes away from the west fertilizer plant when he was stunned to see huge plumes of smoke. he pulled his car over. >> right out of the middle of the black smoke came a giant explosion. i saw a fireball and then i saw a giant cloud of smoke. it was just so big and it was so loud. it shook my car when i was driving. i was worried about dust falling out of the sky. i kept looking up and i heard something hit the top of my car. i quickly jumped out and took a picture. >> you must be thinking to yourself, i just went through this on monday. >> yeah, the first thought i can't believe this. what is it? is it another terrorist attack, is it a bomb? what is this explosion? it's so massive. >> how old are you? >> 43.

>> in 43 years have you ever been near a bomb or explosion? >> no. never. >> then it happened twice in three days? >> yeah. >> joe got back in his car and in a jittery voice he called his wife amy. >> i said, you'll never believe this. i started to explain it to her. her first reaction was, get home as quick as you can. >> and that, joe did, returning to a wife and children who wanted him to stick around for a while. gary tuchman, cnn, austin texas. >> very lucky man. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work.

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