did they hire this guy? >> we had total confidence. >> wolf, it's an honor to work with you, thank you. >> wolf blitzer, that does it for us. here's "breaking news: 35 years of cnn" with wolf. >> the following is a cnn special report. >> i dedicate a cable news net work. >> good evening, i'm david walker. >> and i'm lois hart. now here is the news. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> approximately four shots were fired at the president. >> the massacre of hundreds of thousands. >> president reagan has endorsed german reunification. >> for 35 years we've been there every year. >> the skies over baghdad has been illuminated. >> this is one pocket of turmoil in the egyptian capital. >> on every story -- >> there's nothing subtle about

the horrors of this war. >> liftoff of the space shuttle mission. >> obviously, a major malfunction. >> i have to interrupt this broadcast. police believe that o.j. simpson is in that car. >> in danger -- >> let's go. >> and under fire. >> israeli officials say they're going to try to use restraint. >> you can see the people below trap ded on sinjar mountain. >> covering the devastation. >> i'm outside of this pediatric hospital. just take a look inside. >> we want out. >> some of these people have been waiting outside now for more than three days. >> i've been seeing dead bodies in the streets here in mississippi. >> as far as we can see under blue sky, ooilths it's totally leveled. >> the drama. >> princess diana has died. >> george zimmerman not charged with anything in this case. >> the terror. >> about a third of the building has been blown away. >> there has been a second explosion. >> what normally would be the world trade center is no more.

>> two possible suspects in the boston bombing. >> and triumph. >> the rescuers are making progress literally by inches. >> the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden. >> it is so rare that we get to cover stories that have a happy ending. >> making news. >> director hellman, can you talk you to us, please? >> and breaking news. >> i can't move. >> what is going on in ferguson, missouri, in downtown america. >> 35 years of cnn -- >> cnn. >> cnn. >> cnn. >> this is cnn. hello, i'm wolf blitzer,

there is a lot of memories in that sequence you just saw. when ted turner launched the first 24 hour news network in 1980, many thought it was a crazy idea. some referred to cnn as chicken noodle news. not any more. 35 years later, more people get their news from cnn than from any other global news source. cnn is the place where the world gathers to follow breaking news and to witness extraordinary events. some that impact the lives of millions. and others that focus on just one life. like the tense, 58-hour drama that played out live on cnn in 1987 after baby jessica fell down a well. >> what started as a child's innocent game turned into a a child's terror as a marathon rescue effort to save her life. >> when we found out a local station had a live truck, we jumped on it. >> jessica was playing hide and seek and she was trapped 20 feet underground.

>> i could see that it was a gripping story and that it's not going to be resolved quickly. below out all the commercials. stay until it's over. >> she's upset and crying. as long as she's crying, we know that we have a chance. >> it has gone frustratingly slow. >> when we got there, i started knocking on doors, and i would say, i'm tony clark from cnn. we're here to cover the rescue attempt of jessica mcclure, i need your help. we're trying to shoot over the fence. do you have a ladder we could use. you knock on another door, and say, i hate to ask you this, but can i use your phone? that was in the day before cell phones. >> cameras and microphones have been dropped down and jessica could be heard to call to her mother. >> you can not widen the well

that she was in. and you couldn't come in at an angle. >> they drilled a shaft parallel to the one jessica fell in. >> so what you had to do was drill a parallel well that someone could get through. >> the rescuers are making progress literally by inches. >> it was scary. >> lord help us always to remember that we're in your care. >> this is a gripping story because it's about a helpless little baby who had a name, who had family there. >> with the whole community gathered around, trying anything they could to get this baby out, it's a great story, a great human interest story. for the second night, flood lights have lit the backyard. >> as the hours went on, you thought that the chances of her surviving were less and less. - >> as the hours went on, you thought that the chances of her surviving were less and less. >> the ratings took a huge jump. people are calling their mother-in-law. hey, turn on cnn. people had never watched cnn before are now going to cnn.

>> a two-inch holes was drilled into the karchb where jessica mcclure has been trapped since wednesday. >> in midland, texas, they are in the final stages of what appears to be the imminent rescue of jessica mcclure. >> they sent a medical worker down who was going to recover. you could see the lines tightening, so you knew it was going to happen. >> we are expecting to see jessica just -- just any moment now. >> she's alive, man. holy [ expletive ]. >> i was very fortunate during all of my years at cnn to cover a lot of interesting stories. >> you can see then enthusiasm. you can hear the applause. >> this is one of those that is very special because it does have a happy ending. that helped solidify our

presence to the public that when there is a major news event you know cnn will stay with it. >> the applause for the paramedic who just -- who had brought her up. >> people have worked very hard to come to a very happy ending. i'm tony clark, reporting live from midland, texas. something is happening outside. >> you're damn right something is happening. war is breaking out all around you. fact. advil is not only strong it's gentle on your body too. no wonder doctors and patients have trusted advil...

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approaching lockabie at about 7:00. and the whole sky lit up. >> the witnesses on the ground didn't see how anyone could have survived. >> 11,300,000 gallons have spilled into the port city of valdez. >> a major earthquake registered between 6 and 7 on the richter scale in the bay area. >> game three of the world series has been canceled. >> the government has ordered us to shut down our facility. >> we are shutting down our facility. >> okay. we've heard the orders. we have our instructions from headquarters in atlanta. >> goodbye from beijing.

>> mr. gorbachov, tear down this wall. >> the events in east germany are moving ever more swiftly. >> after 27 years in prison, nelson mandela is now free. >> the skies over baghdad has been illuminated. >> in 1990, the u.n. ordered saddam hussein to remove his troops from kuwait or else. but he refused. as the troops prepared for war, so did cnn. in bagdad, a four wire kept them connected to the cnn newsroom, broadcasting live as operation desert storm began. >> an explosive development here in the persian gulf. >> there is no place for this sort of naikd naked aggression in today's world.

>> the failure of the geneva talk has convinced the pentagon that war is imminent. >> i don't think that the world really accepted cnn until the first gulf war. >> the president has laid down the gauntlet and he gave us a window of when it was going to happen and so we had prepared everything for it. i recall during this time of preparation i would wake up from my sleep at 3:30 in the morning and i would say this is ridiculous. planning to cover a war with television. this is unheard of. >> it was very, very worrisome for all of us at cnn because we have producers and camera crews in baghdad. three reporters, bernie shaw, john holoman, peter arnett, they were all there. the management at cnn, tim turner and tom johnson were under enormous pressure from

colin powell and probably from the president, get those guys out because once the air war starts, we don't know if they're going to be okay. >> but our responsibility is to our worldwide audience and we will stay and we'll cover this war as best we can and we'll report on the war. >> military experts say a night air attack is the likely scenario for start of any fighting. >> that night i was at the pentagon. >> i had a chance to see two senior pentagon officials almost running through the hall. >> they couldn't say when this was going to begin because that would endanger u.s. troops. >> it was shortly past midnight baghdad time. and i was walking past the open window and coming down from the sky, the black sky, it looked like silver paper. i knew instantly what it was. it was chafe. radar jamming chafe. >> tonight the battle has been joined.

>> and as soon as that chafe started filtering down to the ground, all hell broke loose. >> saudi arabia. >> i need the white house. >> i was walking by the control room and i could hear the r the commotion. i walked in and there it was. >> our team in baghdad was restricted. they weren't going to get much information. the only thing they could do was report what they were seeing. >> but it doesn't show me signs of it. >> we have to go to baghdad, secretary. we're going to bernard shaw in baghdad. >> this is -- >> of my mouth came the words -- >> something is happening outside. >> you're damn right something is happening. war is breaking out all around you. >> the skies over baghdad have been illuminated. we're seeing bright flashes going off all over the sky. >> the walls were shaking, the windows were vibrating. the concussions were blowing us against the wall. >> so we've now been on the air 20 minutes.

>> now the sirens are sounding for the first time. the iraqis have informed us. >> and the line goes down. >> they just cut the line. >> everybody is stunned and it is totally silent.aown. >> they just cut the line. >> everybody is stunned and it is totally silenown. >> they just cut the line. >> everybody is stunned and it is totally sileneown. >> they just cut the line. >> everybody is stunned and it is totally silenaown. >> they just cut the line. >> everybody is stunned and it is totally silenown. >> they just cut the line. >> everybody is stunned and it is totally silenown. >> they just cut the line. >> everybody is stunned and it is totally sileneown. >> they just cut the line. >> everybody is stunned and it is totally silenaown. >> they just cut the line. >> everybody is stunned and it is totally silendwn. >> they just cut the line. >> everybody is stunned and it is totally silenn. >> they just cut the line. >> everybody is stunned and it is totally silen. >> they just cut the line. >> everybody is stunned and it is totally silent. and you can feel the tension in that room. >> and john holoman said, it's the battery. the battery is dead. >> and, of course, our biggest fright was that the bomb had hit the hotel where they were. >> the line is dead. >> there was a hush in the control room. >> and we're running around trying to find the batteries. we find it, holloman does a work around and we come back on the air. >> atlanta, that is holliman. i don't know whether you're able to hear me now or not, but i'm going to continue to talk to you as long as i can. >> there is a collective sigh and you can see shoulders drop down as the tension leaves people's body. >> the whole world is watching

cnn mp. we're the only ones that have reporters in baghdad. >> i look up and cbs, nbc and abc are taking cnn. stations around the world are taking cnn. >> the iraqis shut down cnn. they invoke censorship. so on friday morning, we packed up, and we started to leave baghdad. news, especially television news, is logistics, logistics, logistics. you can go anywhere in the world to cover a news story. >> let's describe to our viewers what we're seeing. >> but if you don't have the capability of getting that story out, there is no news. >> we're going to a live picture in los angeles. o.j. simpson is in that car. >> we were the o.j. simpson network, period.

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judge thomas began to use work situations to discuss sex. >> as far as i'm concerned, it is a high tech lynching for uppity blacks. >> verdicts in the four polices charged in the beating of rod any king.

>> the horrors of this war. ethnic cleansing goes on within view of the united nations patrols. >> the sxloegsz going on in the garage section of the world trade center have killed people. and hundreds are being evacuated from the twin towers. >> the whole south side of the building is going up in flames literally from our eyes. >> 4 million people driven from their homes by war. >> the oklahoma govern's office says at least nine people are dead, hundreds are missing and people continue to search for survivors in the rubble of the oklahoma city building. in june 1994, football legend o.j. simpson was charged with the murders of his wife nickel and her friend ron goldman. what happened next? o.j., the fugitive from justice, the nine month trial and a stunning verdict that became the most watched dramas in cnn history.

>> this is cnn. >> we're going to interrupt this call. i understand we're going to a live picture in los angeles. this is interstate 5. police believe that o.j. simpson is in that car, but nobody is pulling this car over. >> they're metro. they're s.w.a.t. we have s.w.a.t. on the way. >> police helicopters trailing it, going south through orange county. >> 911, what are you reporting. >> i have o.j. in the car. >> and i'm sitting in washington describing this. now, i didn't know l.a. very well, so they gave me a map of l.a. >> the car is somewhere nearby disneyland. >> come on, man. just tell me. >> can you now confirm that o.j. simpson is arrested? >> yes, sir, he is in custody. >> finally after seven months of relentless publicity, the trial of o.j. simpson will unfold before the only people who count in deciding his fate, the jury. >> no one talked about anything else, but the trial.

that is all you could talk about in the coffee shops, in the restaurants, on the street. >> all right. counsel, please be seated. >> simpson's defense team. >> in other developments. >> the extraordinary nature of the simpson case -- >> between 8:00 and 4:30 we were the o.j. simpson network, period. it was the first reality show. it really was. >> kato mania is spreading across the nation's heartland. >> i knew the defense team. i knew the prosecution team. i would have dinner with one side and breakfast with another side every day. >> and you say on your oath that you have not addressed any black person as a nigger or spoken about black people as niggers in the past ten years, detective sherman? >> that's what i'm saying. >> he is the key witness in

their case. he is the one that found the glove. >> and the pivotal moment, of course -- >> and that is people's 77. >> was the self-destructive act by chris darden, the coprosecutor, who decided on his own to have o.j. simpson attempt to try on this bloody glove. >> boy, he was a great actor this day. oh, i can't -- oh, the gloves -- oh, it is hurting my hands. it was unbelievable. >> both of them told me that when yeltsin arrived from russia, he got off the plane and he said to clinton, do you think he did it? that is how much the world knew. well, when you think about it, he was the most famous person ever charged with a murder. >> o.j. simpson in a knit cap. >> i remember johnny cochran.

>> is still o.j. simptson. >> putting on this silly cap. that's an image forever in my mind. >> if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. >> will you stand and face the juror. >> orenthalj. simpson not guilty of the crime of murder in violation of penal cold section 187, a felony on nicole -- >> the next night, johnny chocran, his lawyer, was on the phone with me. >> if we had god on that day, we would have bumped him. >> and we'll take you and run you as soon as this is down. >> pretty soon, i'll have all -- i have enough to say to everybody and hopefully answer everyone's questions. >> he said i'm going to come on your show soon. i'll tell the whole story and never did. >> i've got to go. >> what was it like with the kids today? >> it was great. it's been great.

there have been attacks in two american cities at the pent done. a plane or a helicopter has crashed. >> i think we all knew it's the act of terrorists.

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it is believed that a 747 aircraft has exploded in mid-air into the atlantic ocean. >> the bombing at centennial olympic park this morning was an evil act of terror. >> the french government has informed all of us that princess diana has died. >> i did not have sexual relations with that woman, miss lewinsky. >> earlier today, two masked gunman wearing all black began shooting at least 18 people. >> now that the u.s. coast guard is conducting a search for a private aircraft that apparently has now gone overdue. >> what the election vote left what is called a hanging chad. >> a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the world trade center. >> it was a day that changed the skyline and the nation, 9/11.

a day unlike any other in cnn history. the collapse of the twin towers, the pentagon burning, a field in pennsylvania that became ground both horrible and hallowed. thousands of lives lost in the deadliest attack ever on american soil. amidst the tragedy, cnn's anchors and reporters shared with viewers the shock, the sadness, and the terrible images we will never forgot. >> a plane crashed into -- >> it was described as a 747. >> we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the world trade center. >> we heard a big bang and then we saw smoke coming out and everybody started running out. >> my producer called, said are you listening to the radio?

i said no. he said you should. he said a plane just crashed into the world trade center. i don't know if it was a big plane, a small plane, if it was an accident, if it was deliberate. >> but when the second plane hit the south tower, i think we all knew, it's the act of terrorists. >> i started driving towards the bureau. i could see people in washington were driving the other way. the people trying to get out of washington, people were freaking out. >> at the pentagon, a plane or a helicopter has crashed and the pentagon is being evacuated. >> ted also was a friend of mine. and his wife died on that plane that hit the pentagon. and she called him before they hit the pentagon on her cell phone and he had to tell her that two buildings had been hit

in new york. and they said goodbye to each other. she knew they were going down. >> the boston airport, like airports now across the entire country, is closed. >> all air traffic in the united states has come to a halt. >> and then we heard that there was another plane maybe going towards the capital. another plane wanting to go to the white house. people were running out of the white house, people were running out of the capitol. >> there has just been a huge explosion. we can see a billowing smoke rising and i can't -- i'll tell you that i can't see that second tower. but there was a cascade of sparks and fire and now it looks almost like a mushroom cloud explosion. >> and then what happened to me and what happened to every person on the planet earth who

had access to a tv is that a clock started ticking. because once that first tower fell, you knew that the second tower was going to fall. >> newark to sfa has crashed in pennsylvania for united airlines. >> some very brave passengers attempted to take control of that plane because they knew from phone conversations from family members that the world trade center had been attacked. can you imagine the courage? >> there have been attacks in two american cities, new york and in washington. the trade centers here in new york have been hit by airplanes. in washington, there is a large fire at the pentagon. the pentagon has been evacuated. and there's -- you can see perhaps the second tower, the front tower, the top portion of which is collapsing. >> good lord.

there are no words. >> it was so eerie to stand on the rooftop from where we were broadcasting from. >> you can see how tough it is for anybody to sort out the magnitude of what the city and what washington endured today. >> when the wind shifted, you could smell the jet fuel, you could smell metal burning. >> it's 1:00, 2:00 in the morning. it was late and i was tired. and i was crying. and i was thinking about -- my daughter was sort of in middle school, and i thought, god, her world is going to be totally different. it is going to be totally different. >> 9/11 forever altered the soul of our nation. we could never again take for granted our sense of security.

and life has never been the same since then. the winds have really picked up here. >> i had a satellite truck with me. i had a crew with me. and we were kind of on own own. you can see it, it's coming apart as we speak. the american dream is terrifying. american history is the history of the scary thing being the exact thing we have to do. cross that ocean. walk on that moon. sign a 30-year mortgage on a home.

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i reported a few minutes ago about a second wave of attacks, they are being described as more intense. >> on my orders, the united states military has begun strikes in afghanistan. >> have a little problem on the space shuttle "columbia." it has been out of communication for the past several minutes. >> my fellow americans, this day has brought terrible news. the "columbia" is lost. there are no survivors. >> more explosions have rocked baghdad after an unprecedented

bombardment moments ago. u.s. forces have unleashed their long awaited and punishing air assault. >> in spain, at this moment, they are still counting the bodies, at least 190 people are dead. >> hundreds are reported in dead in sri lanka as a powerful earthquake off indonesia triggers devastating tidal waves across asia. >> i deserve a fair trial like every other american citizen. i will be acquitted and vindicated when the truth is told. >> we tell jury find the defendant not guilty. four separate, yet simultaneous explosions striking the transit system there. the real concern is the wind and the rain and any flooding that may cause. >> katrina. to many it is a simple name. but for the people of the gulf coast it means so much more. for them it represents death and destruction and the nightmare of august 2005.

hurricane katrina. cnn teams were positioned across the southeast united states as the storm hit. when the wind and rain subsided they found utter devastation. homes, neighborhoods, families wiped out. more than 1800 dead in alabama, florida, georgia, louisiana and mississippi. it was more than some cnn reporters could even bear. the reports fill with dismay, grief and eventually anger. >> a powerful hurricane appears to be setting its sights on the central gulf coast. >> the winds are just incredible here in new orleans. we can see the roof of the super dome has been shredded. >> this is the easy side of the storm but it doesn't feel easy here on the banks of the mississippi river. >> it is a strange feeling covering a hurricane,

particularly one that was this size. got there just as the first rainfall was starting. >> the winds have picked up here. >> i had a satellite truck with me. i had a crew with me. and we were kind of on our own. >> yes, as you can see, it's coming apart as we speak. >> went to like a walmart, bought some supplies. i was in a wal-mart earlier in the day and they came up and said have you heard of my town? do you know -- the woman at the walmart said to me, you should go to the gulf coast of mississippi because we haven't been able to get in touch with our relatives in waiveland and no one is reporting from there. when i got to waveland, that was unlike anything i'd seen before. just block after block was gone. when i got to waveland, that was unlike anything i'd seen before. just block after block was gone. people were starting to return and see their lives gone. >> it is devastating. i mean, um --

>> i went out with this fema body recovery team. we went to the house of a family. their last name was bain. once you stepped on their porch, you could smell them. everything was ripped apart and things were on the floor and it was very chaotic and there was mud everywhere. and then they found them. these four people, a man and wife and two children have died in this home. >> they had drowned in their living room and it was a husband and wife and two of their kids were special needs kids. but there was nothing they could do. they marked an x on the door and put the number four for the number of bodies on the door that were inside and then they closed the door and they left. >> a levee break the size of a football field is slowly flooding new orleans. >> i am looking over the scene of utter devastation. water has come up to the eaves of the houses. >> we got out there, you could hear the screams of the people still being trapped in the attics.

>> we came across people punching holes in the attic spaces because water filled up, all the way up to their attics. >> what are we doing now? where are we going? >> we're going to charity hospital. >> is this area safe. we heard about the snipers earlier today. >> no. not really. >> we had to get a row boat and essentially row across from the parking deck across the street into the ramp at charity hospital. >> okay. well, we made it. safely. >> so this is what a charity hospital looks like in the middle of a natural disaster. >> when you get into charity hospital, you sort of immediately realize that it is as bad if not worse as has been described. it was completely crowded. there was a smell in the air. when you started to walk around the hospital and realize that the staircases now becoming filled with bodies as a result of what was happening there, that you needed to start reporting. >> this is the parking deck between charity and tulane hospital. patients here over the last

several days since katrina hit have been trying to get out of here. >> one of the images that stuck with me the most was people bagging patients who had been on vent lade laventilators that didn't have power. and they took shifts and the patient would be awake or cognizant to know that my life was depending on whether or not this person could keep bagging this life into my lungs. >> for the first time you can see and hear the choppers to try to take the patients out. >> when the helicopter landed the tulane patients started to be evacuated. keep in mind, these doctors sitting here with critically injured patients still. tulane got all their patients and staff out before they began to evacuate charity hospital. and we know that patients died while waiting. and that's something that, you know, i don't think ever leaves you. >> we want help!

we want help! >> some of these people have been waiting outside now for more than three days. >> we have no food, no water, helicopters flying, it is ridiculous. >> get off your [ expletive ] and let's do something and let's fix the biggest [ bleep ] crisis in the history of this country. >> you know, someone actually said this to me in the days after katrina. they said to me, you know, man, this is all going to be forgotten. it's all going to be cleaned up and washed away and forgotten. i certainly will never forget what i saw and i don't think a lot of people who were there, i don't think anything of them will forget, either. >> there's been an explosion at the boston marathon. >> it went from being an explosion to being a bomb. >> the fbi admits they don't know.

back from break in three, two, one, roll the open graphics. >> we'll be boarding shortly. >> all right, guys, we only have a short amount of time. we want to fast forward through this intro.

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>> and now another major story developing in the gulf of mexico, 11 people are missing an an explosion and fire on an offshore oil rig. >> this is one pocket of turmoil in the center of the egyptian capital, but it is throwing the entire country into a political crisis. >> we're following breaking news outs of aurora, colorado. 12 people have been killed and another 38 wounded at the screening of ""the dark knight rises." >> this is ocean water. there are waves in the streets of downtown atlantic city. this is where i am. >> there were thousands of law enforcement personnel on the ground. they do believe that he is in this area. they're bringing people in. >> marathon monday, boston's favorite day for thousands of runners and fans, a moment of cry oomph. but on april 15th, 2013, two pressure cooker bombs turned the marathon to murder.

three dead, hundreds wounded, suspects on the run. all eyes turned to cnn to witness an unfolding tragedy, a desperate manhunt and a city struggling to recover. >> thank you so much for being with me. i'm carol costello. more than 27,000 runners are running in today's boston marathon. more than a half million people are expected to line the course. >> let's go down to boston. apparently there's been an explosion at the boston marathon. i am told -- >> it was big, it was -- i saw a big amount of smoke come up. >> and you know you saw the moments after the blast people, civilians, you know, making attorn tourniquets and saving people's lives.

>> a lot of the injuries being on the lower part of the leg, which indicated a bomb that was close to the ground. >> i started working the phones because i've got a lot of sources in law enforcement. and one of the first significant pieces of information i got was that the power medics were seeing ball bearings fall out of some of the wounded. >> here on the ground in boston, the fbi admits they don't know. they don't know if this is domestic or foreign, they don't know if it's lone wolf or a group. >> it went from being an explosion to being a bomb to being something that was created based on an al qaeda recipe. >> president obama made it clear today, the bombings in boston are being investigated as an act of terrorism. >> and it was late tuesday/early wednesday that they were able to get an impression of who they believed the bombers were. the problem is, they didn't have the names of these two individuals. they had no idea who they were. >> but on that thurs morning, we got wind that they had a photo. >> good afternoon.

>> they were going to make this dramatic announcement and ask for help. find these guys. >> we are releasing photos of these two suspects. the photos and videos are posted for the public and media to use, review and publicize. >> this rules out the lone wolf crazy person scenario, if two people are together, practicing, potentially buying these products together or selling together, they're also planning their escape. >> we worked all through that night up until the 10:00 news and just about 11:00, our phones are going off, crazy. crazy. >> oh, my goodness. all units respond. officer down. officer down. >> get on it! >> over at cambridge, a cop was shot. >> police are investigating a fatal shooting of m.i.t. campus police officer by two men who then committed an armed car jacking in cambridge. >> we hear the scanner and it is

hels bells, everyone to watertown. >> because there has been a major shoot-out. >> guns drawn and the we have heard multiple gunshots. >> one of the bombers is dead, the other one had escaped. >> i was driving over 100 miles per hour. cops were passing us. >> we get to watertown -- >> the police here have warned all residents not only to not come outside, but not to open their doors to anyone. >> you had police cars, you had military vehicles. >> patrols of cops going through watertown that looked like army squads going through afghanistan. door to door, yard to yard. >> we heard numbers between 9,000 and 10,000 law enforcement personnel on the ground. >> it was an ongoing emergency. it was all happening in realtime, on camera. i think i still had my ear piece in and waiting to go on with wolf. and then all of a sudden i heard that -- just unmistaken.

rapid fire. what the hell was that? was that guns? knew exactly what that was. what sounded like multiple assault rifle shots to me. sounded like police emptying their weapons, rapidly fired and all of a sudden it stopped. we're seeing some police activity. i'm by watertown right by the arsenal and school intersection. and the next thing you know he says, drew, they're surrounding a boat. there's a boat. >> david fitzpatrick, our producer, is on the scene. david, what are you seeing, again? >> anderson, i see armed police units with guns still resting on the trunks of their cars. i see half a dozen, maybe eight guys in s.w.a.t. uniforms. >> it was about two hours later, i think 8:00, that he finally gave up. >> when dzhokhar tsarnaev comes out of that boat and he's surrounded by hundreds of officers and federal agents and he's got a red dot on his

forehe forehead, that's because he had a sniper's rifle trained at his head. >> captured, terror is over. it was a tweet from the boston p.d. it was -- it was intense. it was intense. >> i'm trying to find the real story. and getting that out and having people understand that, i think, is really important to me. >> that's what we do. we want to bring the story to the viewer. we want you to see it. >> there's very few networks that devote the kind of resources to tell these stories and that stay with the story and that arrive at the story as quickly as cnn does and stays at the story as long as cnn does, even after a lot of other people have left. cnn is there. i'm proud to be a part of that. >> where is malaysia airlines flight 370? >> this is the final resting place of mh-17. >> another very disturbing

video. >> an intentional act. >> and the protesters have moved all the way down there. >> democracy is not there without freedom and freedom is not there without freedom of the press. >> this is cnn. the fbi goes after fifa. arrests happening right now over corruption allegations involving the world football's governing body. in houston, texas, severe storms batter parts of the u.s. and mexico. and in iraq, a sectarian twist in the battle to retake a major city from isis militants. >> hello, everybody. great to have you with us. i'd like to welcome our viewers in the united states and all around the world. this "cnn newsroom." the center of corruption investigation for years,