night goes on, but that's what the a.p. is reporting right now. and again that hostage situation, it looks like a s.w.a.t. team to me, brian, that you see on the left side. >> yes. >> appears to be ongoing at a nightclub in paris on a friday night. >> the music venue is the bataclan and cal perry, apparently an american band was playing there. >> a death metal band, eagles of death metal. it was a sold-out concert, a packed concert hall. so as kate said, it was ongoing. but you look for certain signs in the early minutes of attacks like this. and this one is checking all the boxes. soft target, crowded street, friday night, soccer match. you're hitting people when they're at their most vulnerable, when they're trying to do the things that people do in daily life. >> and we're right in the middle of the argument about balancing our freedoms, freedom to walk

around and eat where we please, and attend events as we please. knowing that this is the post 9/11 era. this is the era of terrorism. sadly, our language has grown to include terms like soft targets. a kind of nicely banal, gentle term, meaning human casualties and the potential for them. in cities like the one we're in in new york, in paris, that we're watching on live television, keir simmons is in london, another place where they have a history with this, and there are worries with this. and keir, the associated press, as i'm talking, as you see reflected in the banner at the bottom of our screen, has raised the death toll. it's jumped now in the past four minutes from 11 to 18 to 26. this has got to indicate information they're getting from the police in more than one

location on the ground. >> that's right, brian. that's what we're hearing, the a.p. figure is a combination of different incidents in different parts of paris. in just one of those incidents, there are reports from the poli police. this was a restaurant shoot-out, 11 people killed in just that one shoot-out. as you've been reporting, the afp are saying hostages have been taking, i am reading at a concert hall, so it's not clear exactly where this is happening, but the afp saying hostages taken and another incident. this one being reported by a french television network, saying that there is an explosion, or possibly multiple explosions at a sports stadium, and as you mentioned, our producer on the grounds saying this happened at a mcdonald's

restaurant. we assume the sports stadium is the one where there was a soccer match taking place, and reports that the french leader, president hollande was rushed from there and is now chairing an emergency meeting. they will be trying to ascertain exactly how many shooters there are and where they are now and what is happening on the streets of paris, so that they can deploy what will be a force of police and some people are reporting from the ground, even french army already on the streets to try to address what appears to be three incidents, brian. but as we've already said, it's such a chaotic situation, that it is difficult to be completely confident about how many incidents there are, or indeed how many shooters. >> indeed, keir. we've seen uniform markings that are consistent with the french army already on the streets.

some of our viewers may have seen the silver helmets of what look like storm troopers. they are armored special forces with backpacks and automatic weapons. one of the early reports mentioned specifically kalashnikov rifles in a restaurant venue. ak-47s as the weapon used in these shootouts tonight by the bad guys. that's one of the things we don't yet have confirmed, but at the bottom of your screen is the headline at this hour, just after 5:00 east coast time. at least 26 dead in what we believe is an attack on more than one location. there was a report of an explosion outside one of the main gates at the national stadium where a soccer match continues inside between france

and germany and some distance away, another attack apparently on a music venue in paris where a capacity crowd was listening to a metal band inside. and that's where these reports came that there were hostages taken. you see every emergency service and vehicle conceivable on this live coverage. france sadly has a lot of experience in this kind of thing in recent years. kate snow is among those on our team watching all of it with us. >> brian, so we are getting new reports now from the associated press. they've updated the death toll. i'm afraid to say that the associated press, based on two police officials, that they've spoken to anonymously in paris say that 26 people have been killed in shootings and explosions around paris, the deadliest violence in france in decades. one of the officials said to the

associated press that 11 of those people killed were in a paris restaurant as we've been saying in the 10th arrondissement, and about 15 people killed in a theater that we believe is the shot you're looking at on the left-hand side of your screen, that's a nightclub. separately from that, we believe there's been an explosion at a mcdonald's outside the stadium. i want to bring in the secretary of homeland security under george w. bush. nice to see you, but under terrible circumstances. when you hear what i just said from the associated press, your thoughts right now, and we're hearing from u.s. officials that so far, there's no indication of terrorism, but when you hear this and look at this -- >> so, you have to assume, absent a contrary indication that this is a terrorist act, because people don't take hostages and kill in multiple places if they're not motivated

by terrorism. exactly who's involved or whether there's a single plan or a number of kind of spontaneous plans by people who are acting more or less creating their own havoc, i don't think we know yet, but you have to treat it, absent contrary evidence, as a terrorist attack. >> as brian said, at that nightclub that we're looking at on the left side of the screen there, apparently an american band, an american metal band was playing tonight, it's a crowded area, where a lot of young people would be out on a friday night. separately we have this report from our producer on the ground, that a mcdonald's was targeted. are those just coincidences, or is this potentially anti-american sentiment? >> i recognize this is still early reporting and it may change. but it's something i warn people about, if you're an american, traveling in places where there have been terrorist attacks, including now in europe, you have to be conscious about maintaining a low profile. because the people who are involved in carrying out these

attacks view america as one of their principal enemies. if they can get at americans, even if it's in a different country, you're likely to become a target. >> another piece of information that i was handed, it's from flash point, a partner organization that we work with on terrorism issues. the hash tag paris is burning is now trending among isis supporters in arabic. what does that tell you? >> again, it's a little early to be definitive. it could indicate that there was a group that was waiting for this. but it could also be people watching. >> seeing this on live television? >> right. and assuming this is a terrorist act and that they're responsible for it, and that they're cheering for it. in much the same way we would get terrorists claiming credit for hurricanes. >> the leader of britain, david cameron on twitter saying, i'm

shocked by events in paris tonight. our thoughts and prayers are with the french people. whatever we can do to help, the president of france also tweeted, but it's in french. i'll try to get that translated. if you were in the administration right now, if you were sitting in the white house situation room, i presume the white house has been notified of what is happening here. what would be happening? >> we'd be offering our assistance to the french, although they have a very capable anti-terrorism force. we wouldn't want to get in the way of that. but i think something we did when we saw this, when i was in office, we immediately check to see, is there any indication that there will be a coordinated attack or a follow-on attack or a copycat attack in the u.s. i would expect if i were a police commissioner in a place like new york, i'd be alerting people to the possibility of something and asking them to keep their eyes open for a potential copycat or coordinating following. >> we're hearing from pete williams, who covers the justice

department and homeland security in washington, that at this point, u.s. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, as well as homeland security where you were the chief at a time, say they have no independent information of what's going on in paris. it's chaotic on live television. i can only imagine behind the scenes, they're still trying to figure it out themselves. >> remember when we had the subway bombings in london in 2005, the information came in over a period of time. but you do want to be prepared. so i think what you do, you put people on alert, you tell them to be watchful. the good news for the u.s. is, we have very competent police forces, so if something happens, you want to prepare for the wors worst, and hope for the best. >> kate, as we continue to watch this video, we're seeing a little bit of everything. police, i could be convinced

that we've seen some french milita military. in the center of your screen, you're seeing paris firefighters. they're getting a back board out of either a fire truck or an ambulance, and you see more back boards coming into the picture presumab presumably, let's hope, to evacuate wounded. but these are ambulances arriving. a very stern looking police officer with a kevlar vest, helmet, and an automatic weapon there in the foreground. what is clearly an active situation. the headline at the hour there at the bottom of the screen. 26 dead in paris violence. and we want to show you a still picture, before we welcome a guest in here. this is president hollande at tonight's soccer match, and he

has since been evacuated from the stands. his face appears to be in reaction to something, we don't know what. we don't know whether it was a moment in the game or the sound from outside the national stadium. lacking exact time code, the caption identifies that he's reacting to explosions outside the stadium. we just don't know that to be fact. laura him is with us, white house correspondent for the french television network canal plus. what can you add to our coverage? >> i can add that it's a terrible shock for the french people and at this moment, we know by fact, that there were two suicide attacks outside the stadium, bombers detonated

themselves. there are multiple injuries. the police is inside. the french president was inside the stadium when the two suicide attacks happened outside the stadium. that's the first fact. the other thing we have from our station and through multiple witnesses, there were a lot of shootouts near a very famous theater inside paris, which is called the bataclan, it's a very famous musical. a lot of french people are going there on friday night. and we have between 15 and 18 dead people at this shoot-out. also at this moment, i can confirm through my colleagues on site that the shoot-outs are not over in the 10th,

arrondissement, and for the moment, people are trying to figure out precisely the number of injuries and the number of dead people. >> laura, you said two suicide bombers outside the gates of the national stadium? >> yes, absolutely. it has been confirmed at this moment by a policeman to our station. he spoke to our station a few minutes ago and confirmed two suicide bombers outside the stadium. >> and these, as far as you know, were vest bombers, as opposed to vehicle or car bombs? >> i cannot tell you precisely what it was. i heard from multiple sources that the bomb was not sophisticated and the bombs, according to our sources, were full of nails. it was used on paris in previous attacks, but again, we just heard that. we're checking from multiple sources. >> and before i let you go, the

most troubling thing you said was this is still going on, that there are shoot-outs continuing? >> yes, it's still going on inside paris. you have to remember the location. the stadium is just outside paris. when you arrive to a french airport, when you come to paris, you take the highway to go to paris and on your left, you have the stadium. the suicide bombing attack happened just near the stadium outside paris. now, the other attacks, in those other attacks, it's still going on, it was near the bataclan, this famous musical. it was involved with a vietnamese/french ball. but we have other reports that it was inside the musical. as you can imagine, there's a lot going on. we know that between 15 and 18 french people died in the center

of paris. and we are trying at this moment to see how many people were injured outside paris in the suicide bottoming attack. >> laura haim, thank you, we'll let you go and learn what you can, and perhaps you can call us back with anything new. laura haim, white house correspondent with canal plus, the french television network. interesting and of note, perhaps we'll return to it, this live coverage from paris just showed what appears to be the, after the conclusion of the soccer match, look at that scene. everyone is on their devices and learning what has transpired. this is tape, apparently, learning what has transpired outside, including the players, as people are just gathering on the field, on the indoor turf. obviously learning that there has been something awful that

has transpired tonight in paris and outside the national stadium. cal perry, we're led to believe that these blasts were audible, despite the crowd noise, inside one of the largest indoor venues in all of europe. >> they were. video is coming out now on social media, and we are quick turning that, where you can see the explosion during the soccer match. so people inside the stadium knew that something was going on. we're now learning that the stadium was put on lockdown. people were not allowed to leave. they are now evacuating that stadium, section by section, according to authorities there on the scene. >> yeah, it appears that people just kind of filtered down onto the field with no other option as far as leaving. those are firefighters you see, again, running from right to left in your screen. it would appear just beyond the camera view, we have an incident

on the left-hand side of the screen, where they're bringing body boards in, back boards in to evacuate potential victims. it would also appear a lot of paris is kind of frozen in place tonight. again, so much of that city life takes place outdoors, weather permitting, on a night like this. it's a late city. plans and dinners tend to begin late and go late into the evening. this is a friday night, seasonally cool there, but still with a lot of people outside. we're seeing a number of officials arrive and go past police lines, police vehicles constantly passing by. this is live coverage on french tv that while we don't have a running commentary from them, a lot of these pictures speak for

themselves. it would appear those were city or security officials entering the cordoned-off zone. it would also appear that this is one of the active situations we've been monitoring and talking about. our colleague from french television saying that this was still an active situation. we did learn for the first time, again, this is being sourced through the french television network canal plus, that there were apparently two suicide bombers outside the stadium. blasts loud enough to be heard against the noise that was coming from the stadium, from the soccer match. but that would be a game-changer for the city of paris, two bombs apparently packed with nails. that is designed, cal perry, to bring about the maximum number of casualties. >> and designed to drive a wedge in french society, which is currently dealing with an

unbelievable refugee crisis. i think that this is certainly going to be something that will unfold of course over the next few days. we are learning now, really, that this is taking part -- or did take part in three locations. you can see the map there on the right side. you have the soccer stadium, the northernmost point, about five blocks south of that is where the cluster of restaurants is, where we are had that gunman went through and opened fire. and about three city blocks south of those restaurants is where this nightclub is, which we understand is packed full of people, and the associated press now sourcing french police saying that a very large number of hostages inside that club. >> among our guests here in the studio with us, former homeland security secretary, former federal judge michael chertoff. and mr. secretary, this happens as cal mentioned against the

backdrop of an incredible human movement across europe, across an entire region. the world is changing, and many countries are reacting in different ways to this influx of refugees. >> well, that's right, brian. we don't know who is responsible. we may surmise, we may have a suspicion, but it's not definitively proven. but i do think we're concerned about, first of all, are some people being infiltraletrated a the flood of refugees. there could be some that are dangerous. and is there a problem integrating these people so we don't have a situation where a year or two from now, people become frustrated and angry and possibly a target for recruitment. >> we're reading now from the

associated press date line paris, a paris police official said there were at least 100 hostages in a paris theater following shooting and explosions in two locations in the city. again, this is kind of -- it's been called a theater. it's certainly a music venue. you could call it a club, with you it's a popular place, especially for young people on weekend nights. multiple officials, including one medical official put the number of dead between 35 to 40 people. all officials spoke on condition on anonymity because they were not allowed to publicly comment, the u.s. department of homeland security, along with the fbi watching all of this, they say there's no reason to think this

extends beyond paris france, into the united states. we're watching this live coverage, a troubling image a few moments ago, when you saw first responders running from left to right. we last saw them running from right to left. but absolutely dire scenes on the streets of paris tonight as the last correspondent we talked to with canal plus, was saying that this is an ongoing active situation, that there is a shooti shooting, fire being exchanged still tonight in paris. and preliminary reports of two suicide bombers outside the central soccer stadium. it's not in central paris, but it certainly is a hub. and tonight, a whole lot of civilians had gathered there as cal perry was pointing out, reports that they have been kind

of sheltered in place. the last thing you want is to release, give or take 100,000 civilians out into the streets if there's trouble on the streets outside the stadium. >> yeah, and especially with a hostage situation ongoing. you can imagine the confusion as the situation unfolds. it's really, i think, important that we sort of do, you know, impress upon our viewers that these are ongoing. these are initial reports. but as you said though, this feels like a game-changer. you're talking about dozens of hostages. the initial report, certainly from the deputy mayor in paris who is just putting out some tweets, he said this harkens him back to the "charlie hebdo" killings. i think that's probably true for everyone in paris, and especially for the young people who take to this neighborhood on friday nights. it seems like this is just the beginning of potentially quite a

long situation. >> we're joined on the telephone by christopher dickey, a veteran journalist, veteran magazine writer, who these days is world news editor with "the daily beast." i understand you're in this country now, but as a long-time resident of paris, first of all, situate us, perhaps in terms of new york city or los angeles, where is the 10th arrondissement from the middle of paris, if you can draw any comparisons? >> it's still close to the center of paris, bataclan, the club or concert hall that is the center of a lot of the action right now is a place where a lot of young people are going to go on a friday night. it's, i don't know, what would it be like, maybe like soho, or the east village in new york. it's the kind of place where people go to have fun. it's also a kind of working

class neighborhood. it's interesting to see that the terrorists, whoever they are, were targeting venues that would be used pretty much by ordinary people in paris. they're not targeting the big shopping streets. they're not targeting the places where tourists would go. they're targeting the places that typically french people would be going right now on a friday night to have fun. and they're slaughtering a lot of young people. i'm sure that when we see the read-out on the people who have been killed, we'll see a lot of them were very young people. so i think that's an interesting choice of target for whoever these monsters are that are carrying out this activity. because it's not necessarily what you would expect. >> and, chris, what changes have you seen in paris in the days since the "charlie hebdo" incident? >> well, there's a high state of alert, but interestingly enough, the high state of alert is usually around places that are very high profile places. you walk down the champs elysee,

for instance, and you will see people in full battle gear walking up and down the streets as part of the security operations that are in effect. i think one of the reasons that the targets are being hit that are being hit, maybe with the exception of the stadium, is that these are venues that would not necessarily have extra security. they're not the kinds of places that would normally have lots of police and certainly not soldiers in full battle gear walking around, which you would be seeing if, for instance, you were at the eiffel tower. >> so in new york, to name one city, we see sometimes national guard in camo in the train station, grand central, sometimes in times square, sometimes visible weapons. you're saying in paris in the modern era, they're much more open about it? >> oh, yeah, if you go to the

eiffel tower, the arc due tree yomp, any of the places that tourists would go, you're going to see, if you pay attention, you will see people in full battle gear walking around. usually in groups of two, three, sometimes four people. these places that were hit are places that wouldn't necessarily have that kind of presence. in fact, i'm pretty sure they didn't have that kind of presence. except for the stade de france, the big stadium which was built where the world cup was healed in 1998, the finals were held. it's a great big modern stadium that you can't miss if you're driving into the city from the airport. there were 80,000 people in that stadium, and there are reports that three explosive devices went off. at least one of which may have been a suicide bomber. interestingly enough, one of the spectators in the stadium was president francois hollande, so he's been gotten out of there.

but now there's a question of how do you evacuate 80,000 people without putting them in more danger? because really we don't know what's going on. >> and chris, we are probably guilty of under-covering the kind of the slow march of refugees who have been deposited throughout europe. "the new york times" chronicled a story of a town in germany that was asked to take in more refugees than the sitting population of the town. this is really changing the face of europe, all of it, of course, because of strife and crisis in the middle east. >> well, yes, that's right. but i think i'd be very careful about linking these attacks to the refugee flow. i mean, it is true that europe is changing, and it will change really profoundly in the next few years, as a result of immigration. refugees, economic migrants, lots of people coming into

europe legally and a lot of them illegally. but when it comes to the question of terrorism and particularly terrorism in france, i suspect that we will find that the people who were involved in this are people who are legal french residents and perhaps even french citizens, which is what we saw in the "charlie hebdo" affair. i think that's really where the police are going to focus, not on the sort of the chimera of people coming in on boats with these refugees. that's really not probably -- i really suspect that is not the issue here. >> christopher dickey, stand by. cal perry, there's some discussion on twitter as to what type of american band this is, appearing at this concert. >> i guess the name say heavy metal name, maybe that's not the music that they play. and i apologize as i sit next to you, i'm just cycling through and monitoring social media. i want to show our viewers something. this is video from inside the

stadium during the soccer match. >> so you hear there, we have the video on a loop. you hear there the sound of an explosion. that was at the moment that people inside the stadium realized what was happening. that seems to have been the first attack in what appears to be coordinated attacks now. >> this is by the way on a loop, like a vine video, not multiple explosions. we're hearing the same explosion over and over, but still the unmistakable sound and concussion of an explosion just outside the national stadium. we have been covering this now for some time. the death toll has just expanded exponentially from what we first

thought. chris dickey is with us, an american making his home in paris as a veteran international journalist. chris, i imagine all you can do is think of these various landmarks and the streets of your kind of adopted hometown and how this is going to change life when you go back. >> well, yeah, it's going to change life dramatically and right away. i think paris is going to go effectively into lockdown. i don't think they have much of an alternative. they have the resources, a very efficient police force and military. they have been on high alert for a long time. but right now, with this kind of concerted attack, it's something we've never seen before. and let me just say, brian, we don't know if this will happen anywhere else. as you probably know, i wrote a book about the new york city police department and their counterterrorism operations. this is the kind of thing

they've been afraid of for a long time, that you would see some sort of concerted action, a coordinated attack with a group of different people. we've seen it in nairobi at the shopping mall, occasionally in russia. but this kind of thing on this scale in a western capital, that we have not seen. and i think it is a precedent that terrorists are going to look at and see how effective this is, in getting the attention that they want, and that in itself is an extremely dangerous thing frankly for all of us. >> chris dickey, part of our coverage of this ongoing situation that appears to include a hostage situation at a concert hall, a music kind of nightclub venue in paris frequented by young people. tonight they happen to be there for the performance by americans, an american band.

before we say goodbye to the former secretary of homeland security, michael chertoff, mr. secretary, we've been told the obvious word that president obama has been briefed on what is going on tonight. president hollande of france is inside a secure location. obviously having emergency meetings on how to deal with this. what's the level of communication and cooperation between these two countries, allies, in the fight against terrorism? >> i'm quite sure there's a lot of cooperation in a number of different respects. obviously the boots on the ground in this case, so to speak, are french, and they're quite capable. but, for example, our intelligence community is being tasked to see what they can find out in terms of our intelligence collection, that might shed light on not only what's going on at this moment, but what

might be following later. any assistance in terms of background material in terms of people who get identified is something we would be offering. so at this point, what's happening is mostly in french hands, but our tremendous intelligence capabilities are part of the asset that can be brought to support the french and also to make sure that we're being alert for possible follow-on attacks in other parts of the world, including the united states. >> and mr. secretary, this, if true, really does bring us into a new category, does it not? in big cities, we worry constantly about car bombs, about ieds, especially about suicide bombers, the kind of vests we associate with the middle east, not the kind of thing we associate with, among the world's great cities, paris, france. >> i think for some time we've been warning about the possibility of a style of attack that would involve multiple

locations, maybe even waves of attacks. again, not anything on the scale of a 9/11, but involving perhaps home-made bombs and guns. so i can't say i'm shocked to see this. we saw something similar in mumbai over an extended period of time, and of course there was the "charlie hebdo" case. but this is something that police officials in this country, in the big cities have been preparing for and have been talking about since my time in office years ago. secretary chertoff, thank you very much. kate snow among those gathering facts and watching the coverage along with us. >> brian, thanks. we want to go to the white house now. we know the president has been briefed about the situation. nbc's kelly o'donnell is over at the white house now. kelly, what do we know? >> well, as expected, kate, the president would be briefed. but that's also an important data point for the u.s. government in terms of this. lisa monaco, the president's national security adviser for homeland security has spoken to the president. i can tell by the marine who is

on duty at the west wing that the president's in the oval office. i also talked to a national security official in the administration who says there are no no one threats to the u.s. at this time and that as you would expect, our officials are in touch with counterterrorism counterparts, not only in our country, but in that full region, to try to assess where things are right now. information is limited. i can also tell you, though, paris is interesting in terms of location, because the president is due to visit paris later this month for a climate-related summit of world leaders, and he's also scheduled to leave the united states tomorrow for an extended trip to asia, for some of the annual meetings that happen there. so this international dimension is of course always a part of the president's life and work, but in terms of just heading out of the country, that timing is interesting. we have no other indication at this point if the president will make any specific comment or what may unfold in that regard.

but that briefing of the president, as expected as it is, is an important part of just getting the ball rolling in terms of coordinating what is known, how the u.s. can be of some help and trying to assess the parameters of what's happened here. >> the last time we checked in at the white house, it was with ron allen and he was talking about the president meeting with former national security officials, people like former secretary of state madeleine albright were there, james baker. do you know whether that meeting wrapped up and now presumably the president is in with his current national security team? >> i don't know if that meeting is completed in the sense that they don't give us a read-out necessarily when it is over, but it was a collection of luminaries in national security history for the u.s. of both parties, secretaries of state, and security advisers, a brain trust of knowledge.

they were here to talk about the trade agreement, which the president is supporting, but again, events sometimes overtake these things. so we don't have a specific read-out, but generally based on the president's schedule, that meeting would have been concluded by now and it was not, to our knowledge, set to be an extensive meeting. you can imagine there are officials here, many of whom would be also traveling with the president on this trip. so one of the questions, is everyone in their typical place to weigh in on this issue? >> kelly o'donnell, i'm going to send it back over to brian williams. >> kate snow, thanks. and because it's germain, a whole lot of concerns for so many reasons, including but limited to the world of music. the band playing at the venue tonight, bataclan in paris, is indeed an american band.

their name is eagles of death metal. it's being described as a humorous alias. they play blues, garage rock, they trace their origins to palm desert, california. their friends are obviously expressing great concern. we join them in that. they were playing a sold-out show tonight in paris. and obviously as soon as we learn more, in addition to hoping, praying for the very best, we'll pass it along to you. we want to bring in on the telephone, seth porgis, a freelance journalists who we've spoken to before, an apparent eyewitness to what has happened tonight in paris. seth, where are you located versus where the violence has been tonight?

i'm sorry, the cell phone contact with seth borgis in france, you can imagine cell phone capacity is strained, to put it mildly tonight. kelly o'donnell, we're going to in washington apparently at the white house. kelly? >> an update for you, brian. i'm now told by administration officials, president obama will make a brief statement at about 5:45 p.m. eastern time in the briefing room, that's coming up shortly. so as we are expecting to get a sense of what the president knows, i'm sure he will offer his condolences to those in france and give us whatever update he has at this time. soap that's a new development, brian. president obama to speak shortly. >> thank you, kelly o'donnell. what a gruesome business. we can hardly keep up with the changing graphic at the bottom of our own screen, which we are changing as we get new

information granted. associated press now saying 35 dead, and that's just at the one venue, if this is correct, at the theater, the music venue where the concert was going on tonight. again, we have just shown you what it was like during the soccer match tonight. france versus germany at the central stadium, at the national stadium in paris, a huge public venue. the teams were on the pitch when we heard the kind of gruesome noi noise, here it is, of the explosion outside. this is on a loop that you hear that noise. we have been led to believe that the still photo of president hollande was reacting to that

noise. we was spirited out of there and is chairing an emergency meeting, as you might imagine, of government and security personnel. there's the photo of the french president who was just there watching the game with everyone else. it then kind of, when the match was over, we saw pictures of spectators kind of co-mingling on the soccer pitch there, on the turf, we saw some players in the tunnel on route to the locker room, apparently looking up at television coverage on the monitors. we can presume that all of paris tonight is watching this on television, the 24-hour news networks there. many of them are -- have been kept indoors. and again, if reports are to be believed, this is happening at multiple venues.

at least one source has stated what may be obvious to people and that is that this is a series of coordinated attacks. again, a terrible, gruesome business, as we're talking about a potential hostage situation at a music venue in paris, where an american band was playing to a sold-out crowd late on a friday night. it's coming up on midnight there in paris. you see a mixture, we've seen firefighters, all kinds of different first responders. we've seen what we believe to be french military, paris police forces. police in riot gear. we've seen officials coming and going. we've seen a fair number of automatic weapons, police standing post. and all we lack is specific information about the exact

venue and what has happened here. let's see if we have a shot of the white house west wing briefing room. we're expecting the president to walk through the blue door and go to the podium. not yet. but the president is expected to brief the media and address the american television audience on what we've witnessed tonight in paris. cal perry is looking at social media. what more do we have? >> you mentioned there people in the streets of paris, trending now in france, open your doors. people would like people to get off the streets, shelter in place. 80,000 people left that stadium. so the residents in that neighborhood are opening their doors to anyone who needs a place to take shelter. >> yeah, that's the real public safety issue. here in the new york area last night, we had a jets game at metlife stadium. picture all of those people

coming out of the gate at the conclusion of this soccer match. and going out into the streets of paris, while we have this active situation ongoing. so the call on social media, open your doors to your neighbors, invite people in. because indoors is going to be the safest place to be in most of paris tonight. it looks like a veritable lockdown. these pictures we're getting in. oh, here's the president now in the briefing room. >> i just want to make a few brief comments about the attacks across paris tonight. once again we've seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians. this is an attack not just on paris, it's an attack not just on the people of france, but this is an attack on all of

humanity and the universal values that we share. we stand prepared and ready to provide whatever assistance that the government and the people of france need to respond. france is our oldest ally. the french people have stood shoulder to shoulder with the united states time and again. and we want to be very clear that we stand together with them in the fight against terrorism and extremism. paris itself represents the timeless value of human progress. those who think that they can terrorize the people of france or the values that they stand for, are wrong. the american people draw strength from the french people's commitment to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. we are reminded in this time of tragedy, that the bonds of

liberty and egal te and fraternity are not only values that the french people care so deeply about, but they are values that we share. and those values are going to endure far beyond any act of terrorism or the hateful vision of those who perpetrated the crimes this evening. we're going to do whatever it takes to work with the french people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people. we don't yet know all the details of what has happened. we have been in contact with french officials to communicate our deepest condolences to the families of those who have been killed, to offer our prayers and thoughts to those who have been wounded. we have offered our full support

to them. the situation is still unfolding. i've chosen not to call president hollande at this time, because my expectation is that he's very busy at the moment. i actually by coincidence, was talking to him earlier today, in preparation for the g-20 meeting. but i am confident that i'll be in direct communications with him in the next few days and will be coordinating in any ways that they think are helpful in the investigation of what's happened. this is a heartbreaking situation and those of us here in the united states know what it's like. we've gone through these kinds of episodes ourselves. and whenever these kinds of attacks happened, we've always been able to count on the french people to stand with us. they have been an extraordinary counterterrorism partner, and we intend to be there with them in

that same fashion. i'm sure that in the days ahead, we'll learn more about exactly what happened. and my teams will make sure that we are in communication with th it appears there may still be live activity and dangers that are taking place as we speak. so until we know from french officials that the situation is under control and we have more information about it i don't want to speculate. thank you very much. >> president obama speaking from some experience there leader to leader saying he has not wanted to bother president hollande of france. we have been told we can expect an on camera statement from

president hollande of france any moment now. i would be surprised if it is during a still unfoldingquation unless there was a public message he wanted to get out to the perpetrators of this, but i presume he is in the thick of it and receiving reports from first responders. we're looking at various incoming video feeds. these are fire trucks and an ambulance you see there now going by. of course, there has been the need for them, apparently, after two suicide bombings at or near the national stadium and picture this. to put this in american terms let's say president obama is attending an nfl game sitting in the stands and let's say that in the middle of that nfl game you hear the unmistakable sound and feel the unmistakable concussion of an explosion, imagine what

his expression would be, imagine how quickly the secret service would rush in, get him out and take him to a secure location. that's what happened tonight in paris. you see the score, 0-0 there. the game between france and germany and that horrible stomach churning sound filled the stadium. people probably did not know what to think. in sports stadiums these days you aren't surprised of many sounds piped in at peak volume over the sound system. let's try to talk to seth porge s, freelance journalist and an eyewitness to some of this tonight in paris. what have you seen and heard? >> reporter: so i'm sitting in anerment pa -- in an apartment

next door. stepped out of the building maybe 20 seconds after it happened i did not hear the gun shots. i saw somebody stooped hiding with a white rag of sorts wrapped around their hand. i thought they punched a window. mobile, standing conscious. firefighters s s hustled this g away. i see a large gathering of police and on lookers sitting on benches taking photos. it seemed like any sort of police activity. then i saw cops with guns hiding behind vans. it looked like a scene from a movie. dozens of firefighters swarmed the scene running around in every which direction and on lookers there. and then words talking to people asking what had happened and

various reports of numerous gunshots, five or six shots, looking online i saw it was an ak-47. >> seth, i have to interrupt you only for president hollande who is speaking. i am told we have simultaneous translation. >> translator: i decided to mobilize all the available forces so that we can apprehend the terrorist and that we can secure all of the areas that might be -- i also asked that the military bring some reinforcements and are now in paris. and we want to make sure that there is no other terrorist attack after these ones. also called all right now.

all the decisions in the state of emergency. a number of locations w s will closed to traffic. we need to make sure no one can enter france. we need to make sure anyone who might have committed those heinous crimes can be apprehended if they try to leave france. it's a terrible drama for france. and once again we are under attack. we know where it is coming from. we know where they are coming from, those criminals. we must in those extreme difficult moments think about

the victims, too numerous victims. we need to think about the families, as well. we need to show compassion but we also remain calm in the situation. france needs to be strong. we need to also call upon each and everyone of you and of us to remain responsible. what the terrorists want is to scare us and to instill fear. there are reasons to be afraid but facing fear the nation knows how to mobilize forces and it will know how to defeat terrorists. this is not -- we have a number of terrorist attacks.

security forces are launching as we speak i want you to -- because we do everything we can to stop terrorist attack. it was a long communique from the french president. >> this is helpful. we are going to listen in. this is a translation of the live french coverage. we just heard from president hollande. let's listen in to some of this. >> we talk about launching an assault. we don't know if it concerns the club.

he is immediately spoke about terrorist attack. there was no doubt at that point any longer. it is very clear that these are terrorist attacks. the french president didn't give us the number of casualties but we know there are a lot dead and a lot injured and he said this is the horror. he also mentioned that the french cabinet is going to convene in an emergency and is in paris right now. he has also decreed the state of emergency in the entire territory of france, the first time we see this measure taken since january attacks on "charlie hebdo." he closed borders from anyone

entering or exiting france at this point. it might help the terrorists who might try to leave with massive intervention from law enforcement and the military. the cabinet meeting should start in the next few minutes and the main information from the french president is that this type of emergency has been declared for the entire country of france. currently, you are at home in the tenth district and how have you witnessed exactly the events this evening in one of the locations of the terrorist attack tonight? >> i was in a park where i used to go there. and went to a cafe. i was waiting for a friend. a number of shots were heard. we felt in the beginning these

were fire crackers but when i saw the people i realized what was going on. we lie under the table. you are waiting for the end. and we are trying to think about where is the bullet going to enter me. you think that you are going to die, basically. there is nothing else you think about. you hear the shots. >> we have been listening as difficult as it is to discern some of it is live simultaneous transition, very difficult thing to do with any language of the live cable coverage 24 hour news network coverage going on in france. to sum up what president hollande had to say you just heard it summarized again. they have closed the