but there's no one in custody at this point. we're compiling that information there are fatalities and i won't get into the details. i said i wouldn't get into the details on that. there have people that have expired as a result of this incident. >> the devices in the trash can or mailbox? >> we don't know. >> there are police guarding victims at mass general? >> police have been dispatched to all hospitals to secure the area and also to make sure we get every witness statement we can possibly get. there's a heavy police presence at venues throughout the city. you shouldn't read anything into that. >> garbage cans and other

possibilities? >> anything that is unattended right now is being treated as potential problem, any parcel and item. >> we're going to call this for now. we'll be back with more information when we have it. thank you for coming. >> you people should expect a lot. thanks for joining us. we are watching as boston officials conclude another press conference here on this horrific day in boston. we're standing by to hear

president obama address the nation after today's events. today is one of the biggest sporting events of the year. the boston marathon attended by half a million people but on this day it was a scene of tragedy. two explosions detonated near the finish line, and we are seeing blowing out of window as nearby buildings and causing people to run for their lives. boston globe showed the moment of the blast.

[ screaming ] >> here's what we know at this hour. two blasts just seconds apart. authorities now say a fire at the jfk library was not related. two people are confirmed dead. at least 100 are being treated for their injuries. also, the faa has restricted the air space around the air of the explosions. president obama will address the nation in just a few minutes. his first comments since the blasts. that first explosion occurred near the finish line of the race around 3:00 p.m. about ten seconds later, the second blast went off just up the block. fire, police, and police and medical responders are on the scene. as we speak, people with

horrific injuries are being treated at nearby hospitals. joining me now by phone is boston.com sports writer steve silva. he recorded that video we just showed you at the start of the show. steve, thanks for coming on the show. steve? >> hello? >> i'm trying to connect with steve but we are watching the video. the seen, an absolute out of nowhere attack. no information on what was the cause of the attack, no calls or threats. we are witnessing with someone would not imagine at the boston marathon and nbc contributor,

mining barnicle, mike? >> reverend? >> no one knows that city better than you, mike. today is patriot's day in boston for people around the country. that's the day schools are closed there. they celebrate the lexington and concord that day. tell us what this means in the context of this horrific act, mike. >> well, reverend, patriot's day in boston is the day when they have a red sox baseball game that begins at 11:00 on the morning, monday morning, patriot's day, today. the marathon goes off simultaneously with the red sox game being played. you'll get 35,000 people spilling out of fenway park, which is about six city blocks from the finish line on boylston street where thousands upon thousands of people gather to root home their relatives, their

friends to see cross the finish line. today, it's a day when the entire city wears a smile. no one goes to work, schoolins e out, kids are abundant within the city. as you indicated, shortly after the winners finish the marathon, normal people come across with their relatives and friends waiting for them and cheering them on. there were two explosions. i speak to an eyewitness standing on the boylston street at the finish line, about 50 yards to his right he heard the first explosion, saw the first explosion and estimates within 10 to 15 seconds later to his left, about 50 yards across the street heard a second explosion that. would place both explosions within about 30 seconds of one another in about a two-block city radius. the explosions appear to be set

at low level, on the sidewalk, perhaps in a trash can. that's speculation. perhaps in a mailbox. speculation because they really haven't located -- >> but we know it's low level, mike? >> low level because of the multiple, multiple leg injuries of those wounded and the two you referenced died. this person, andrew, a lawyer saw a tourniquet being applied. the triage unit geared up for marathoners who may be in some difficulty, were there to immediately respond and probably

saved many people from even further injuries. >> hold on, mike. joining me now by phone is boston.com sports producer steve silva. steve, footage is what we've been watching. steve, what can you tell me that happened? you were there. you were filming while this was going on. >> yeah. i was filming near the -- right across the finish line. those are the charity runners running for the various charities around town coming in around the four hour mark. when just out of the blue, bam, a loud explosion off to the right of the sidewalk on boylston street just. i rushed over there and saw a horrific scene of blood, a lot of glass flew into people and

leg injuries. i saw a gentleman with his leg severed. and then 20 seconds another explosion took place up boylston street. it was a complete scene of chaos. >> so you, steve, were out there and you're standing there watching this. >> as you stood there, there was a blast 10 to 15 seconds later across the street? >> yeah. >> where did it seem that second blast was in proximity to where you were? >> further up the street. so that's in the street.

it's right near the finish line, next block up is where fairfield street intercepts with boylston street. they were about 100 miles apart near the finish line simultaneously. >> i mean, this is horrible. mike, i'm going to have to go in a minute. the president is going to address the nation. mike barnicle, if someone we have no idea, no confirmation at all on what is behind this, but if someone domestic, foreign wanted to make a statement to -- let me come back to that. the president is coming. let's go live and listen to president obama. >> we're continuing to monitor and respond to the situation as it unfolds and i directed the full resources of the federal government to help state and local authorities to protect our

people, increase security around the united states as necessary and investigate what happened. the american people will say a prayer for the people of boston tonight and michelle and i say our deepest thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims in the wake of this senseless loss. we don't yet have all the answers. but we do know that multiple people have been wounded, some gravely, in explosions at the boston marathon. i've spoken to fbi director muller and director of homeland security napolitano and they are investigating and responding. we have reaffirmed on days like this, there are no democrats or republicans. we are americans concerned for our citizens. i've spoken with mayor menino and governor patrick to make sure that they have every

resource necessary. i made clear that all americans stand with the people of boston. boston police, firefighters, and first responders as well as the national guard responded heroically and continue to do so as we speak. it's a reminder that so many americans serve and sacrifice on our behalf every single day without regard to their own safety and dangerous and difficult circumstances. we salute all those who assisted in responding so quickly and professionally to this tragedy. we still do not know who did this or why. and people shouldn't jump to conclusions before we have all of the facts. but make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this and we will find out who did this. we'll find out why they did this. any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice. today's a holiday in

massachusetts. patriot's day. it's a day that celebrates the free and fiercely independent spirit that this great american city of boston has reflected from the earliest days of our nation. it's a day that draws the world to boston streets. boston is a tough and resilient town. so are its people. i'm supremely confident that bostonians will take care of each other as one proud city and as they do, the american people will be with them every single step of the way. you should anticipate that as we get more information, our teams will provide you briefings. we're still in the investigation stage at this point but i just want to reiterate. we will find out who did this and we will hold them accountable. thank you very much. >> that was president barack obama live from the white house

making his first statement since this horrific occasion this afternoon, 3:00 p.m. in boston. mike barnicle who is in boston, you heard the president say several things. one, that he has spoke to the leaders and the congress that no republicans or democrats today, we're all americans but also confirmed we do not know who did this and we don't know why it was done but he committed that we will get to the bottom of it and they will feel the full weight of the u.s. government and they will be held accountable. your reaction too the president as he's called on the nation to, of course, say a prayer to those in boston and said he and the first lady will be praying and he spoke to the governor and mayors giving all the resources they need. mike, do you have any response to the president's statement?

>> well, reverend, this is an act of terror. it's intended to inflict fear in an open and free society. we live here in boston in a wounded city this evening but we're still a free society. it's very difficult to stop people who are intent on doing things like this. we all know that, we all realize it. and we should be cognizant of the fact that it could happen in a society such as ours. and the intent is to make people afraid as they gather at the boston marathon. that will not happen. we will have a marathon next year. we will go to ball games and collect at many events, at schools, athletic events, because that's who we are. two terror bombs in this city,

while horrific and having killed two people and perhaps that death count might rise, we don't know, it will not stop us because this is who we are. we are a free people. >> and we still have no idea of who is behind domestic, foreign, or what, but clearly to choose today, whoever did this, is a day that we celebrate patriots' day there. we have half a million people in boston. someone could easily want to use some jaded, insane way to make a statement. that is also very troubling. >> yes. according to my report about an hour ago, no one has yet to claim responsibility for that, at least the people i have spoken to. so we don't know. >> all right. joining me now is dave abel.

thank you for coming on the show. >> thank you. >> can you recall for us what happened? you were there ten feet away. tell us what you recall this afternoon. >> so i was standing on the finish line, right at the center taking video of the runners as they were coming in when all of a sudden there was a massive boom. there was a sort of blow that pushed a lot of people back. i could see runners falling in front of me. moments later, of course, as everyone now knows, there was a second explosion. when the smoke started to clear, i could just see -- i could see lots of bodies. i could see one woman staring

basically into the sky. >> wow. >> i could see a lot of mangled limbs, a lot of blood and glass. it was probably the most horrific thing i've ever seen and hope -- >> my god. to just one minute you're standing there, end of the race, people who won the race jubilant, people coming in for charities and then the next thing you're standing there at a scene with bloodshed, limbs having been severed. >> it was incredible jarring scene. you know, i've run three boston marathons and i know what it's like to cross on to boylston street, the last leg of the race, and it's this incredibly exciting moment. you have this war that washes over you. i compared it to like hitting a home run at fenway park and

everybody's cheering for you and you have this moment and suddenly in a flash everything, everything changed. >> it's indescribable. as the president gave credit, first responders immediately on the scene running in the face of danger because no one know what is is going on, whether it's one, two, or more bombs coming. they are immediately trying to get them to some kind of medical attention. >> it was a pretty amazing thing to watch. marathon volunteers, all kinds of folks, runners sudden lie pulling the grating down that was a barrier separating the

speculators from the runners and people just carrying the wounded to medical tent that really helped quickly. but it was also really awful to see the aftermath. >> now, in the middle of this awful, unbelievable scene and we're just a couple of hours, a few hours away, it's already an amazing story how other runners and spectators and first responders even in the middle of all of this didn't panic but went and helped the injured and you are there observing this. i mean, this scene must have been unbelievable to you. >> yeah. really uncovered words and the

shocking scene of seeing what is such a peaceful and wonderful moment of people cheering complete strangers on an old man was saying, you're all winners and then -- >> can you hold for me, dave? i want to bring in -- joining me now is the former police commissioner and you know boston better than anyone. you were commissioner there. seeing at this stage of a horrific act. >> ed davis referenced that he had already received a call from the head of the fbi and as he indicated in that press conference, they are on their way. that's the full resources of the

federal government, homeland security, fbi, various intelligence agencies, to work with the boston police department, massachusetts state police to very quickly secure that crime scene, get as much information, get as much evidence as they can to basically begin what will be a massive coordinated investigation. i'm also just listening to your previous speaker and watching the scene that he's describing, there was phenomenal heroism in the midst of that chaos, in the midst of what could have been a panicked situation. >> no question. >> watching that video, everyone is running away from the situation, pulling the fences apart and getting to the wounded. and you can't help but be amazed and impressed at the initial reaction of not only the law enforcement, national guard resources that were there but the runners and spectators and media running to help.

it's to be applauded in the moment of chaos. >> what steps would be taken, commissioner? you know better than anyone the kinds of procedures. what steps would be taken to make sure that you lock down every possible way to cut off whoever or whomever may be responsible from getting away from the area before they can be apprehended? >> well, effectively what the federal agencies would be done, one of the things that they would be checking, for example, is flight manifests, people coming into that city, leaving that city. this is a huge event for boston so the planes coming in and exiting yesterday, today, tomorrow, would be booked fully. 500,000 people come in for this event. you have 20 something thousand runners coming from all over the

world. they will be certainly examining the intelligence that has been gathered that shattered, -- the if you will. they had no previous threats against the marathon. they will attempt to analyze the intelligence that they normally gather to see if there's something going on that they might have missed prior to this event, an increase in chatter. i think mike barnicle reported from one of his sources that there was no claim or credit for this event at the time he was reporting to you about 15 minutes ago. >> yeah. >> i'm hearing the same thing from my resources at the boston police. >> commissioner, in the coming hours, what will they -- i'm talking law enforcement now, what will they be looking for? how will they gather evidence? what will begin to happen in the coming hours from a law

enforcement point of view, both from the police as well as the fbi? >> well, initially it's a rescue mission. it's secured as a crime scene and then they will keep everyone that doesn't need to be there out of there. they will retrieve evidence from the scene, the various devices that they might have been hit with. they are trying to identify what is the nature of the bomb, what was the explosion, device used, the makeup of the bomb, if you will, so that will be moving very quickly. the fbi, in particular, the atf will be working with the boston police on that. additionally, boston and other cities around the court can anticipate there will be an

increase in see something, say something type of calls and alerts that any suspicious package from particularly in boston but elsewhere you can expect it occurs after these events that that will be a pressure upon police to respond to the calls coming in. additionally, while there may not have been any claims of credit for this event received as of this moment, over time you can anticipate there will be a number of them. that has been the history. most of them, if not all, will be false. they will attempt to identify if this was an initiative external to our shores or a homegrown terrorist, if you will. >> now, the president just addressed the nation moments ago. he said that we will get to the bottom of this. those responsible will be held

accountable. is there any doubt in your mind that that will be the case? >> not at you will. we have preventive capabilities that, unfortunately, instances such as this it's always a matter of not if but a matter of when and also after one of these events occur that there is almost always the capability to identify those responsible and almost always the ability to, no matter how long it takes, to get them and bring them to justice. we have the event of the past year with the killing of osama bin laden after the event. >> thank you for your time, as always, this evening. >> thank you. >> let me go back to mike barnicle. you heard the president and the commitment that he made that we will get to the bottom of this.

you're there in boston. you're there obviously great trauma and uncertainty. how will this resonate in boston, mike? >> the same way as omaha. people are resilient. people are also aware of the constant danger. we live in a world of blogging and tweeting and news becomes available to everyone. we find out about everything as it happens and we are not fearful people. as the commissioner just explained, there was a triage unit right at the finish line. three, three world class hospitals, mass general, boston medical center, all within a two to three-minute ambulance ride from the scene. so many people who were probably

would have been wounded much more badly, much more critically, perhaps their wounds were adhered to, taken care of in a situation that they would not have been taken care of had it applied elsewhere. people know this is a free and open society. people know that there are lone wolf terrorists out ut there, organized terrorists out there, that these things can happen. i think al, we're probably fortunate in this country that things like this have not happened more regular leagly or more consistent basis. >> i must say, we're under four hours sense it happened but you got to say that there is some real heroes in terms of not obama the first responders but so many other runners and spectators, there was no panic breaking out that we have heard

of and they were actually helping running towards people. i think that is a real statement that should be made even as early as now. >> well, one thing to remember, one hopeful, optimistic thing to remember is at that finish line, while you were waiting for perhaps a sister or brother-in-law, whatever, running for cancer awareness, running for lou gehrig disease awareness, whomever you were waiting to finish, when this incident occurred, it was basically a community of strangers, people who did not know most of the runners and the runners did not know most of the people. in this horrific moment of violence, two explosions on a city sidewalk, people join together. you had complete strangers tieing tourniquets.

this is eyewitness testimony. helping strangers. that's who we are. that's what is to remember. not the terrorist explosions. the fact that we come together in times like this. >> that's truly, truly important. let me ask you to hold one minute, mike. joining me now is neo gottleib. he was running the marathon and observed the explosions. what did you see out there today? describe what you saw. >> thanks, al. in the previous interview said it really well. my heart and prayers goes out to those who were injured and killed. it was a tough day. i ran a pretty decent race and had come across the finish line and there was a long corkrch

corrale-type situation. any slower, my family would have been standing right there. luckily i was running at a nice pace and it's funny that sounds for an athlete, at the end of the day, it became about that which is quite disturbing but also very interesting as well. and as i was getting the blanket wrapped around me, hung up with my daughters and i was about 100 yards away and an explosion rocked the area. of course, everyone has seen it by now on tv. we felt it. it clearly wasn't just a firecracker, obviously. and then about -- it couldn't

have been more than three to five seconds later, an explosion 3 to 500 yards, the ultimate high where the runners come around the corner and they know they have about .2 miles left in their race. it's a horrific spot to place a bomb where people are at their most adrenaline-filled happy moment. >> now, neil, let me ask you this. you said that the fact that you were at the pace you were at made your daughters not be where you feel the bomb went off. that has to be a chilling thing for you to realize. >> it is. i mean, it's a very chilling thing and fortune was on our side. it became all about that. and they shut the cell phone service down very quickly in the city to prevent any cell

phone-type detonations. it was a very intense moment in time for sure. it was tough but we're all fine and safe and i'm sitting here in my hotel room at the fairmont with all of the other elite runners and everyone is safe and we're sitting here. >> when you saw the second -- heard the second bomb go off or felt it, we're hearing that people were actually running toward people that were injured helping people. some of the early reports we're getting of some of the heroic responses from some of the first responders as well as other people in the race and spectators were not panicking and were not running away but running towards trying to help people who had been obviously injured in this atrocious attack. >> yeah, al.

that's a very accurate account. we all tried doing that and probably within three to five seconds of heading back towards that direction, that's exactly what i was doing, they -- the police and fire reacted very appropriately and started to send people in the opposite direction. there was a lot of unknown at that time. there were two obvious explosions that went off. it was clearly a deliberate action versus something that just happened, a gas leak, for example. so, yeah, there were several guys, me included, we did start heading that direction and -- but we did see those who were on the other side of the police really react very heroically and head towards the folks who were -- head right into the smoke which was amazing. i think it's just the nature of this event, the nature of the people who are here, we all know each other, 27,000 runners, we don't know each other personally but see each other all over the

country at races and families go et get to know each other. it's a family of athletes. this has not happened before and puts a black mark on the 117th running of the boston marathon which is the oldest marathon in the majors that exist out there and kind of puts a damper on the fact that i'm supposed to be running in berlin, germany, in september and i'm not convinced that's what i want to do. >> neil gottlieb, thank you and god bless you and your family. thank you for taking the time today. i know this is a very troubling time for you to talk about it. let me go back to mike barnicle. the white house has said they will be investigating this as a terror attack. we are hearing from everyone, including you, the hero -- the

heroism demonstrated at the scene. you just heard neil wanted to run -- people were actually running into the smoke trying to help people. i mean, you can't be more heroic than that, hearing another bomb going off, not knowing if there's fire in the smoke you're running into. this is absolutely a demonstration of the kind of solidarity and the people trying to bind together that you were talking about, mike. >> well, it would happen anywhere, too. not just boston. i choose to happen it would happen in el paso, i don't care what you are talking about. it's who we are. there's a couple of things that neil was talking about, al, that struck me and it struck me for the past couple of hours as the coverage of this has ensued and it is this. given our society, given our culture where everything is instantly available on cell phones and on tv and cable news, on tweets and everything,

somewhere out there this evening, probably right now, whoever did this, whatever group, whatever individual is watching this. >> right. >> and you have to wonder what goes through their mind, his mind, her mind, we don't know obviously who they are, if it is an individual, but what's going through that mind? because one thing is certain, and the commissioner spoke to this early. it's not if the person or the group is apprehended. it's when. and when that occurs, we get another anecdotal tale of people who seem intent, groups who seem intent on inflicting harm and trying to inflict fear on collective joy. this was a day of collective joy in the city of boston and the attempt obviously in addition to maiming and wounding and kill people was to inflict fear on people, to prevent them from gathering.

that's not going to happen in this city or any city. >> i think that on top of that, that you have raised -- and i think what you have said is very important, that we also have to remember -- as the president said, that we put aside all of our differences, political differences or whatever. whomever is responsible, domestic, foreign, one person, group, whoever it is, clearly they didn't care about the race, the politics, or the religion. the attack was made on people indisdiscriminately. and we've got to learn how to respond and learn to work together in that same fashion because people see us as one even though sometimes we rarely see that ourselves. we have no idea where this is coming from but we do know that wherever it was coming from, they did not seem to care about

what the color or the politics or the gender of the people that was coming across that finish line where these bombs obviously were targeted, who they might kill, harm, or affect for the rest of their lives. >> yeah. and there were a lot of small children out there, too, on boylston street along that finish line. young children with their parents waiting for perhaps another parent to finish the race. i saw numerous, numerous children as you do every day on patriots' day, one of my sons had he not stopped for a drimnk coming out of the ballpark with his girlfriend, he was three blocks up from the first explosion. maybe i should be giving thanks that he stopped for a drink. >> that's chilling right there. your son. and then we heard from neil

gottlieb saying that if he had run at a different pace, his daughters might have been right at the explosion. i mean, this is real, real stuff. that close. to this kind of disastrous behavior. two people have died. mike, it's just one of the unexplainable things in life and you claim to find meaning in it but there's really no rational at all for people behaving in this fashion. >> no. and the other thing you think of and, unfortunately, i've covered several events in the course of my career, where people have been maimed and wounded and are dead. you wonder about the freeze frame of a 7-year-old who was perhaps out there with his parent today or a 9-year-old, a young child who saw things that no young child, no adult, really, should ever see. i think steve spoke to that

earlier from bostonglobe.com. >> right. >> about a severed leg in the street, the victim being wheeled away in a wheelchair. and you wonder, you know, a child witnessing that, what impact that has on a child, what impact that has on the collective society around us, actually. >> and i remind our viewers that the schools were closed in boston because of patriots' day. there was no school in boston today. so when you're talking about children, you're not just talking about two or three, a small number whose parents kept them home, schools were closed. this is the big day in boston. >> you have people from all around the world there gathered at the marathon and, again, it's a collective, circus-like

atmosphere, street-like atmosphere. crowd of innocence. no one ever, ever expected anything like this. >> mike, stand by for a minute. to learn more about the investigation, i want to bring in richard, senior productive unit and what the finding out of that device might mean. richard, what can you tell us? >> they look like small devices laying low to the ground. you can tell that by the buildings being slate and injuries to the legs of people. it's not clear but that's what they are thinking right no. >> small devices, low to the ground because of where the wounds are, you could tell it was low to the ground. how can you tell they are small devices? >> well f. you look at the buildings, you'll see what the

physical damage is to the buildings. you see a white cloud go up but not heavy damage to the facade of the building. >> that would mean that the devices were most likely small. we could not then tell whether they were planted, transported. could it be devices that could have been detonated from somewhere other than the persons involved being there present? >> i think that's what they are going to look at, whether it was a cell phone, whether it was controlled by an alarm on the device itself. any number of ways that they can do controlled explosion like that. >> we're told that there was a couple devices that may have been -- that did not go off. can you tell bus that? >> there are reports as many as six suspicious packages that some people are calling suspicious devices, as many as six of these are being

investigated right now. >> do you know where they were located in proximity to the two that went off? >> several were found further away from the two that went off. i'm not sure but one is reported at least half a mile away. >> all right, richard. thank you for your time this evening. >> thank you. joining me now is former fbi profiler clint van zandt. clint, thanks for coming on the show tonight. >> good to be with you, al. >> clint, tell me what do you -- can you share with us would be going on at this point in the investigation? it's very early but we know that the fbi is either there or on their way. what can you tell us that you think would be going on right now in the investigation? >> well, you've got both. number one, the fbi would have had a team assembled already. there would have been fbi and other federal agencies.

additional fbi bomb techs are coming in from new york and other places, too. one of the things they are trying to do, al, as your guest indicated, trying to identify the type of device. we've heard it referred to as small ied, small improvised explosive devices. you and i spoke back in 2011. we remember the martin luther king parade in spokane. that device was a six-inch pipe bomb filled with black powder and fishing weights. he had connected that to a car starter, something that you would start your car in the winter or something, a remote car starter and he was going to use that device to detonate it. he was no rocket scientist but he was a bomb builder. these devices used in a low

order explosive unfortunately don't take a great degree of sophistication to set off. >> now, the ieds can be detonated from far or near. in terms of an investigation as they move in, why is that important to find out whether or not the person or persons was there or not? will that determine how you try to track down or try to in some way freeze the areas that you are looking for your suspects? i mean, walk me through what all of this means immediately to an investigator. >> yeah. for investigators, real quick, let's say you find small pieces of a cell phone that were there where the cell phone was used to send that debt nation signal to the device. you and i know you can call another cell phone. you can be in afghanistan and call a cell phone here in the united states but if it was

something like a garage door opener where you have to have almost a line of sight, then we know that the subject or subject, whoever sets this device off, if they did it by hand or a timer, they would have had to be right there to watch it. sometimes within the psych key of an individual, he or she wants to see the damage. they want to be there firsthand to see the may ham they create. that part of the investigation is going to be very important to investigators to determine just how close that person was when they set the devices off. >> now, given that, as you say, the psych key of some is to -- and no matter what their motive is clearly sick and in the sense that they would do something this horrific, you would also wonder if they would be

concerned that you're at an international event, you're near the finish line and there has to be all kinds of videos and cameras all over the place that could pick something up. wouldn't investigators be combing through as quickly as they can every video and every street video and any kind of video that was possible around that area of pedestrians, of spectators, of other runners? >> yeah. this is -- you were here very quickly, a call go out to the boston police and other agencies asking anyone who had an iphone, a video camera, anybody who took pictures at all the morning prior to the race or at the time of the race, anybody who had that, police come to investigators. they will have dedicated groups of police officers and federal agents that will sit there and review these phones looking for some indication.

if we have two different devices planted probably within the length of those football field, somebody would have to quickly set down that device. one person, two people, this is what we need. there will be photographic evidence that shows this person or persons setting these devices down. we just have to get our hands on this film and we have to get our hands on these pictures as quick as we can before this person perhaps, if he or she or they are not from the area, before they get away. you made the point earlier that i think is important. the faa stopped air traffic coming in and out of boston. that's out of concern, of course, for safety and it's also to make sure if we've got a bomber trying to get out of town, we're not going to help him by letting him fly out of town right now. we want time to be on our side, not the bad guy's side. >> now, in light of what you said a few moments ago, that

would mean anyone watching this program that was around the marathon today at all, no footage, no cell phone picture, nothing is unimportant. am i correct? >> you are absolutely correct. somebody within ear sight, eyesight, somebody in boston has got a video footage or still footage pictures that is going to show something. al, it may be one shot of somebody setting a bag or something done but if another person -- the next 500 people we interview, somebody comes up with another camera, we've got the bomber. now all we've got to do is match the photo opp to whoever he is. law enforcement are doing

interviews right now of people who may know something. they may develop this in the suspects. this is a sole vabl case, al. the type of person who would do something like this would talk about it. if he had a grudge against the government, society, he would talk about it. this is somebody who would take joy of it taking place and action of others, all going to help law enforcement and profilers when they start to look at who would be capable of this horrific action. >> clint van zandt, thank you very much for joining me tonight. joining me now by phone, universal sports dean walker. he was covering the race today. he was right at the finish line. thanks for coming on the show, dean. >> hi, al. >> can you tell us what did you see? >> well, at the time that we --

the first device went off, we were in between our shows. we had just wrapped up our show covering the elite runners on the course and preparing for our 4:00 p.m. wrap-up show. i was currently in the production truck on the south side of boylston and exodur and we were probably about 75 to 100 feet away from the first explosion. that first explosion went off very loud, rocked the truck violently. at that time i turned to my video monitors and ten seconds later i saw the second explosion go off. the thing that you were talking about earlier about cameras and being able to capture footage, we do know that since that time we were immediately evacuated from our production trucks and cleared from that area but since that time police have gone into our production truck to look to see if we have any footage of

what actually happened. >> so you actually -- the truck you were in was actually rattled by the explosion? >> absolutely. >> and when the second explosion went off, you also felt the impact of that so you were right there in the danger zone, so to speak? >> yeah. like i said, the explosion occurred across the street and a little bit diagonal from where we were. it was directly across from the grandstand. the second explosion occurred about 150 feet down the course before the finish line as the runners were coming up at that time. and at that time, the explosion -- we think it was about 10 to 3:00 east coast time. and at that time, many runners were still on the course. basically, runners have until 4:50 eastern time to finish the

course. there was still another two hours of runners on the course because not all the runners start at the same time because there are 27,000 people running the course so they send them out in waves and a lot of time the people -- when the elite athletes start at 10:00 a.m., it can take an hour or two hours for the runners to get at the start line and start their race. >> dean, we've just confirmed that one of the two people killed today was an 8-year-old. i mean, which only makes this even more sickening. one of the two people killed at this -- by these explosions today at the boston marathon was an 8-year-old. dean, thank you for your time. >> absolutely. thank you. >> mike barnicle, let me go back to you. i just reported shocking news.

i mean, this is getting worse and worse, that one of the two that died as a result of these bombs today was an 8-year-old. >> yeah. al, we were talking before you spoke to that last guest about exactly this, about the number of children out on the streets on patriots' day waiting for a parent to finish or relative to finish, many, many young children. there were also in attendance today many of the victims running for newtown, connecticut, running as well as observing. and, you know, there's just nothing you can say about that, really. it strikes to the heart of the deepest sadness that we could ever feel. children are our most valuable

and precious kmcommodity. we spoke with fears in our hearts about what would be in the mind's eye of a 9-year-old, i think we indicated who witnessed such a horrific scene and now we find out that an 8-year-old is dead. there's nothing you can say. >> no. and when you think about the fact that an 8-year-old is among those are that dead, that people that were there, among them, people that were running for charities, running for people that needed that run to help support programs that help those that are injured or those that need help. running for victims of newtown. the best of our american citizens is that they care about other people and face this kind of explosion. it's the dispeckable and ruthless mentality whether it's one person, ten people, domestic or foreign that we're dealing

with here, mike. and i would think that we all as americans, we all need to look and say no matter how we differ, no matter how much we debate, no matter how much we have passionate disagreements, none of us would stoop as low as this and all of us must stand together, mike. this is a call for unity in this country that the president right fully made. >> well, al, today, the worst among us, whether they were home-grown or imported, whoever committed this act of terror, the worst among us enflikted great harm among the best of us, the best among us, including killing now, we know, an 8-year-old. the absolutely best among us, the ones with the brightest futures. but think about that, no matter the horror or sadness, they were

far, far more the best among us than there was the worst among us. >> and nbc has now confirmed that there's no one in custody but they are questioning people and there's no one in custody people with any footage at all that in and around the scene of the marathon is unimportant. i think that any and everyone should come forward and help to capture whomever and who is responsible for this. mike, the fact that we can say when our heart is broken for the two victims, onen