thanks for joining me. don't forget you can follow me on twitter if you can spell smerconish. see you next week. good evening. you are in the "cnn newsroom." i'm jim acosta in washington in for poppy harlow tonight. we're learning new information about a deadly terrorist attack in denmark. authorities now believe there was only one gunman in that rampage. witnesses say they heard 30 to 40 bullets fired during a free-speech event in copenhagen. a 40-year-old man was struck and killed three police officers wounded. the possible target of today's attack cartoonist lars bilks. he's faced death threats before for his portrayals of the prophet muhammad. this is the man police are looking for, and this is the car they believe was used in hi getaway. moments ago we heard from

ashford sonburg, a reporter in copenhagen. police are searching a nearby lake hoping to find a weapon. we'll hear from an eyewitness in just a moment. first we are tracking a dangerous blizzard tonight. it's barreling toward the northeast fueled by hurricane-force winds and it will ham ter massachusetts coast all night long. this makes four count them four massive snow-dumping storms to cover new england in just a month. it's a record that nobody wants, and the governor of massachusetts is already telling people in his state to stay indoors and off of the roads. more than 1,000 flights have been canceled going into or out of boston new york and newark. let's bring in cnn's will ripley covering the storm from cape ann, massachusetts, and cnn meteorologist derrick van dam in new york. will you're right in the bull's-eye of this newest blizzard. are you ready? >> we are ready, as ready as you can be jim, but the next 12 hours are going to be critical because along the coast high

tide hits about 7:30 a.m. 12 hours from now, and even though we've only seen light snow and light wind you can see the road already treacherous right now. of course this on top of all the huge piles of snow in this area. i want to give you a sense of just how dangerous these roads are as we get into our suv. keep in mind we're driving a ford expedition a large vehicle used to dealing with a lot of snowfall and yet we are already at this early stage of the game having a difficult time getting around definitely important to stay buckled up. we're going to show you the front view because this is really what is so dramatic here. this is the road that takes us to our hotel, a hotel that like many in this resort town of rock port massachusetts, are full right now of people here for the holiday weekend, it's valentine's day, a lot of comes have come here, basically told if they are here for the night, they have to stay here. look at the snow drifts on the side of the road up almost as high as our suv. we have at some points just a couple inches on either side of

the vehicle, jim, a situation that's only expected to get more treacherous throughout the overnight. jim? >> that is unbelievable will. stay safe out there. we appreciate that. almost looks like the snowplows have to carve a tunnel between these huge drifts on either side of the road. what's it like? snoofr >> reporter: you're exactly right. these roads are like tunnels. in some places they have made tunnels. it's heavy snow pack icy. they've actually run out of places to dump of the snow jim. parks are filling up beach parking lots are filling up with snow. they'll have to start putting it in the ocean, especially after this expected to be a major snow event. >> let's go to derrick van dam in new york. i suspect these are not the days to tell friends and neighbor what is you do for a living because i'm sure they're just

fed up with this stuff up there in the northeast. are they going to get a break from this anytime soon? >> don't hate the messenger, right, jim? i think will is really in that perfect bull's-eye position to get the strongest of winds and the heaviest of snow. no wonder why they have sed, the national weather service has said that roads will become nearly impossible to drive on overnight tonight. we can blame three storms leading to that tunnel of snow that will was driving through just a moment ago with our fourth storm upon us at the moment. several millions of americans currently under some sort of winter weather advisory or a blizzard morning that stretches from eastern long island through the shores of the cape and into the coast of maine. this storm hasn't even moved off the coast just yet. it's currently just near our nation's capital, but as soon as it interacts with that very warm, relatively warm atlantic water, we are expecting this thing to strengthen. you can see the snow bands moving through. new york city, lots of

activities in the big apple this weekend, including the nba all-star game. they'll have to deal with subfreezing temperatures in terms of windchill and very strong wind not to mention the blizzard conditions for the new england coast including boston. here's our snowfall totals going forward, just 2 to 4 inches for big apple and philadelphia 4 to 6 inches for rihode island and connecticut. we extend the 8 to 10 inches of snowfall near boston with upwards of a foot to a foot and a half for the coast of maine. the other concern is the strong gusty winds, near hurricane force for cape cod, 40 to 50-mile-per-hour gusts, plunging the windchill values this sunday morning. by the way, jim, a lot of us very active on twitter this weekend out in the storm, using the #cnnsnow hoping some of our viewers will join us as well. >> very good. i can report that it is snowing here in the nation's capital. derek van dam, thank you very much. back in denmark, authorities have mounted a massive manhunt for the gunman responsible for today's deadly terrorist attack. earlier i talked to a witness about what he saw.

>> we were all of course terrified and panicking inside the room and trying to get out of different doors. but we could also hear shots in the street afterwards so even though we were -- we stayed inside and was just hiding behind tables that were turned over and anything we could hide behind. >> dennis how were you able to escape? what was that like? >> we didn't escape from the room at all. we stayed inside the room and you were just hoping the ae ing theing the gunman wouldn't get into the room. after a few minutes a person came into the room with a gun and we all panicked very much but it turned out to be probably a person from the danish intelligence service who wasn't interested in doing us any harm and was just securing a

different door. he was shot. we could see he was bleeding. then another i think maybe five minutes later we heard the police cars all around. so we stayed inside the building. >> dennis if i could jump in when this all started happening, was it fairly clear to you who these attackers were coming for for this cartoonist this artist lars vilks? >> well, it's because lars was there, there was a lot of security before. there was like a security check system like the one you go through at an airport, and therefore of course we knew that it might be an issue, although nobody of course expected something like this. but when i heard the person yell in what i think was arabic at that point i thought it was

probably some terrorist or something who wanted to kill lars. >> and police of course are hoping to find the gunman before he could carry out more attacks like we saw in paris last month. we're getting reaction from washington to that terror attack in denmark. the spokesperson for the national security council states the united states condemns today's deplorable shooting in copenhagen. we offer our condolences to the loved ones of the deceased victim and our thoughts are with those wounded in this attack. we have been in close contact with our danish counterparts and stand ready to lend any assistance necessary to the investigation. a cease-fire is now in effect between prorussian separatists and ukraine's military forces. will it hold the former president? [ male announcer ] we know they're out there. you can't always see them. but it's our job to find them. the answers. the solutions. the innovations. all waiting to help us build something

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the cease-fire in ukraine passes the two-hour mark. will it hold? mistrust is obviously high on both sides. the u.s. wants putin to stop meddling in eastern ukraine. the kremlin for their part they deny that russian fors are even inside ukraine. my next guest stood up to russia when tanks invaded his small country back in 2008. the president of georgia at that time hell his ground until russian tanks retreated. that former president, mikhail saakashvili, joins me now from kiev. president saakashvili, thank you very much for joining us. what do you think the prospects are for the cease-fire? do you think it will hold. >> thank you for inviting me. first of all i have tell you i've joined me in my new capacity as adviser to president

por shape coe. i accepted this position a few days ago because i believe that he's a man of peace, he's somebody who wants to cease this war. i come as you rightly said from the experience from the background of know kwhag the war with russia look like. and there is no normal person or especially presidents who would like his people to die or to send his soldiers into the harm's way. having said all that i spent a whole evening tonight with president poroshenko and i have to tell you that he is pretty realistic about the prospects. we know that putin is after the ukrainian democracy, wants to undermine them. he thinks ukraine gets time for the reforms, for change for all kind of, you know -- for issues with economic problem, then pew tip will consider he has failed. so we are pretty realistic about the chances and we know that he

might -- it might not hold but we'll do our best to keep it. >> you said that you believe that vladimir putin is trying to undermine ukraine's democracy. what is his end game? what is he after, do you think, in the end here? >> in short term he wants to inflict military defeat on a key railway juncture. amazingly so, ukraines have put up heroic resistance. and putin has been doing his best to advance the last days. but the ukrainians have counterattacked, liberated some of the places in southeastern ukraine and holing pretty well under very very heavy ar till hi shelling in this place. putin basically -- there were talks in minsk as you might know and actually putin was trying to cease-fire because he

needed more time to take more territory, to control more to have better place from which he could get ukraine. so actually he failed to get that. that's why i think he's continuing to shell or ha continued to shell in the last few hours. >> do you think he is trying to stall the west from sending defensive arms to ukrainian forces? as you know the obama administration is weighing that decision atz we speaks we speak and they have said the cease-fire doesn't really change that calculus, that that option remains on the president's desk. do you think the president should exercise that option? >> this is absolutely crucial, and actually hillary clinton, former secretary and my good friend says ukraine deserves to get defensive weapons because of the heroic resistance they put up in their fight for freedom and for western values. john mccain had been a vocal proponent of sending ukrainians the weapons.

i think ultimately the decision lies with the white house. and secretary kerry has been also, you know expressing his support for us. so there is a consensus bidding up. there is a new secretary of defense, ashton carter, who basically advocates -- >> that's right. >> want him to say that ukrainians are not asking for attack weapons. they are asking for defensive weapons because they're asking for anti-artillery weapons to defend the advancing russian tanks so russians would not take over new cities and places. they're asking for unmanned flight twices so that they could monitor advance of russian troop, and they are asking for artillery tracking radar so they know from which place the russian firings are coming. >> something we'll have to obviously watch as we move forward here whether or not the obama administration exercises that option. and president saakashvili, we have limited amount of time. we're going to have to leave it there and move on. but thank you very much for your time. we appreciate your perspective,

especially after your dealings with vladimir putin. that perspective is crucial. thank you very much sir. we appreciate it. breaking new developments from a deadly terrorist attack in denmark. we will bring you there live next. alright, so this tylenol arthritis lasts 8 hours but aleve can last 12 hours. and aleve is proven to work better on pain than tylenol arthritis. so why am i still thinking about this? how are ya? good. aleve. proven better on pain. i make a lot of purchases for my business.

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breaking news. there's a huge police gathering near the scene of the deadly terrorist attack in denmark today. our reporter joins me on the phone. ashford, from what i understand there's been another shooting and that this one may be close to a synagogue, although that is early information. want to caution that. it may be near a synagogue. what can you tell us? >> reporter: it is a new shooting. it's not even ten hours after the first shooting where one man was killed and three police officers were hurt. at this new shooting i just heard from the police one man

has been hit in the head by bullets and two police officers have been hurt as well. we do not know it is connected to the synagogue or to the former shooting today. most of copenhagen is evacuated and there are armed police officers in the center of copenhagen. >> ashford, you and i were talking about this earlier, these kinds of crimes are not common we don't typically see shootings like this in copenhagen so why we don't want to say it is definitely connected it is certainly suspicious and could be connected to what happened earlier today. >> reporter: that is true. it's rare that police officers are involved in shootings in copenhagen. and it's very rare that it happens twice a day. >> what does the police activity look like right now as far as

you can tell? >> reporter: i talked to the chief head of police in copenhagen earlier today, and he told me that every available police officer in copenhagen has been called to work tonight and the police officers expect they will not go home and sleep. right now it's 1:00 in denmark and the center of copenhagen where normally people would be partying and walking about drunk to the bars it's only people you see there are police officers and they're armed an shouting to people that they have to hide. >> this must be a terrifying situation in copenhagen. this is a time when people should be out having a good time in that city. has copenhagen dealt with anything like this before? >> reporter: no we haven't, actually. we have been aware for some years that copenhagen might be a place to attack for terrorists

but this is the first time we have had a real actual shooting where people have been hurt and killed and our prime minister has said to us that we consider this to be a political attack to be a terrorist attack and we will have to band together and we will not accept violence in denmark at this point. >> and one thing we have heard about denmark is they have had a problem with rad lal sclaumists, extremeist extremists, going down to the middle east, training in place like syria, getting that training and coming back and this is a major concern for counterterrorism officials across western europe in the united states. >> reporter: this is true. we do not know at this point who is behind the shootings and we do not know the shoot rgs connected. but it is true that the police investigation teams, they know and they are aware that people have been coming back from syria. and it may also be people who

will be have access to weapons in denmark. if they want to do something, then they might be able to. >> all right. ashford sandberg with tv-2 there in copenhagen. we appreciate your time very much. thanks for talking to us and keeping us up to date on that unfolding situation. coming up boston has been buried in nearly 6 feet of snow and more is on the way. ♪♪ (playful growl) vo: because every moment matters, so does your network. verizon. this valentine's day get $100 off a swarovski crystal battery cover or the samsung gear s.

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i'm jim acosta in washington. we are following developments in copenhagen. there has been a report and we believe it's been confirmed by thundershowers there, a second shooting, a new shoot inging in addition to the shooting we saw earlier today at the free speech event. we believe a confirmation of a second shooting in the center of

copenhagen. we were on the phone just a few moments ago with ashford sandberg a report we are tv-2 there, and i want to go back to her. ashford, what more have you learn about this investigation? i assume this is unfolding as we speak. >> reporter: it is unfoaling as we speak. the latest news from the police is that it is not safe to be out in the center of copenhagen so they ask people to stay indoors. we know just before the second shoot ing shooting which happened not even ten hours after the first shooting, a lot of police were going to a part of copenhagen the northern part of copenhagen and we supposed it was because they had some information about the man who could be behind the fist shooting. we still do not know if the second shooting is connected to the first, but we do know that the center of copenhagen is right now shut down.

>> obviously we're hearing reports of potential people being injured in the second shooting. do we know anything about the identities of those people, how many have been shot any details you can offer there? >> reporter: we don't know if there are fatal injury bus one person has been shot in the head and we do know that apart from him or her, two police officers have been wund wound, one in the arm and one in the leg. >> we were talking about this earlier earlier. this is highly unusual for something we saw earlier today, this shooting this -- it appears to be a terrorist attack on that free speech event involving the artist lars vilks, who obviously is known for draw ing caricatures of the prophet muhammad. that event happened earlier today, that incident happened earlier today, police are investigating that and it's also highly unusual for a second

shooting as the one we're seeing right now, unfolding right now where somebody as you said but shot in the head. this is all very unusual happening in copenhagen isn't that right, ashford? >> reporter: it is. we have known for several years that we might have some kind of terrorist attack in copenhagen or in denmark, but it hasn't actually happened before now. there has been situations before where people was planning to do some kind of attack but the police have been studying them every time. this is the first time that the prime minister and the head of police actually tells us that we consider this to be a terrorist attack that has been happening. >> what has the prime minister said today, authorities said today to try and keep people calm and safe?