it is and let the spanish moss grow. that's all for this edition of "dateline." there's this pile of leaves, and it's where everything else is clear and flat. my heart is racing a million miles an hour. i was using my boots to move leaves, and that's when i screamed this blood-curdling scream. >> nique leili, a corporate exec. who made time for romance and her three daughters. >> she was the best mom.

>> then she disappeared. dozens joined the search. >> we need nique to come home. >> reporter: then they found her. >> you can't, baby. >> reporter: launching a mystery that would divide this family. >> i suspected him from the beginning. >> reporter: one daughter thought her stepdad matt did it. the other said no way. >> it's ridiculous the lies they're spreading. >> reporter: and matt, he had a theory all his own. >> this is not the first time she's run away. okay? >> reporter: had nique taken off and found trouble? >> so now you're thinking someone gave her date rape drug? >> that's a possibility. >> reporter: the trail would lead to this house of cameras. >> there's a big server tower. that would indicate a large amount of data being stored. >> reporter: what they discovered, thousands of hours of tape. >> let me out of the frame. >> absolutely a torture to listen to. >> reporter: and would reveal one shattering truth. >> i got down on my knees and just started crying.

>> reporter: welcome to "dateline extra" i'm tamron h l hall. friends and family quickly organized a search team. mean while detectives turned to those closest to nicky for information, including her husband, with a lot to say, and an astonishing discovery, her last few months were caught on camera. here's dennis murphy with "the house on sidney's cove." >> reporter: there's never a good day to search for a missing woman. but this rainy, muggy saturday in the heat of july made an unhappy task all but unbearable. >> take some fliers with you. >> reporter: they'd decided, the friends and family, that they'd all wear red-shirts. they got themselves organized in the parking lot of a walmart in lawrenceville, georgia, about an

hour outside of atlanta, and then set out to find any trace of a petite corporate executive named nique leili. >> she's been missing for a week now. she's got three kids that would love to see her home. >> reporter: amy robinson told reporters that her 44-year-old sister, mother of three, was hardly the kind of person who'd just up and disappear without a word to anyone. >> i'm just so worried about my sister, you know. we just have no idea where she is or what -- what's happened to her. >> reporter: as fate would have it, the question of where nique was would be answered soon enough. but even now, five years later, the question of what happened to nique remains unclear. >> i'm sick of playing your games! i'm sick of -- >> reporter: what is clear from the recordings she left behind is that nique leili lived a troubled and tormented life. >> this is what i live, day in and day out, is keep my mouth shut, my head down, and do exactly what's expected of me. >> tell me about nique's

personality. >> she was very funny. you know, she and i used to laugh all the time. and she was very -- she was very feisty. she -- she would say what she meant. you know, she -- she didn't mince a lot of words. >> reporter: as sisters amy robinson and nique leili were 10 years apart. but according to amy, they were always close. >> boy, you two look alike in the old photos. >> we do. >> i was thinking maybe you're swapping out each other's clothes, but of course you're 10 years apart. >> well, that didn't stop it i wore a lot of her hand me downs. >> reporter: by the mid '90s, nique had been married and divorced twice and she and her young daughter, alex, were sharing an apartment with amy. >> we had a good time with that too. we used to -- we just laughed, putting up pictures in the apartment and stuff. >> this sounds like a sitcom. >> yeah. oh, yeah. and it -- at times it definitely was. eventually, nique moved out, remarried and had two more daughters with her third husband, matt leili, a new yorker she'd met on line. >> he made my sister laugh. and so, you know, we would all laugh.

>> reporter: after brief stays in oklahoma and mississippi, nique and matt returned to georgia and settled into this house on sidney's cove in lawrenceville. nique, a well-regarded corporate money person, was the primary breadwinner. matt, a computer guy, ran a small business out of the house. >> he started going to, like, government surplus auctions and buying these big pallets of old used computer parts. and then, you know, rebuilding them and selling them on ebay. >> by this ring -- >> by this ring. >> reporter: when it was amy's turn to get married in 2003, her big sis was there, serving as matron of honor. >> i just want to raise a toast to amy, my best friend, my confidant, my sister, and to the love of her life who makes her head spin. to amy and dallan. >> reporter: then later that night, boogeying to what else? "we are family." ♪ we are family

>> reporter: as the years passed, the sisters remained close. in late june 2011 amy organized a spa day out for nique and her three girls. >> no boys allowed, only -- you know, we're going to go have a girls' day. >> where did you go? >> we went to go get our nails done. and -- >> day of beauty at the spa, huh? >> uh-huh. yep. we got -- we got manicures and pedicures and we went and had lunch. >> reporter: nique had had her toenails painted pink that day. and though she'd sometimes had a difficult relationship with her teenaged daughter, alex says that day at the spa felt like a turning point, a fresh beginning. >> snapshots, everybody looks pretty happy. >> yeah. >> good girls' day out. >> yeah, it was fun. and i'm beyond grateful now that we'd done it, so. >> reporter: two weeks later, nique had apparently left home in the middle of the night without a word to anyone. when the family reported her missing two days later, the police advised them there was little they could do. >> their response was, "we don't

even know where to start looking." >> she's not on the 11:00 news every night. >> no. because frankly, you know, grown woman having left her house wasn't that interesting a story. well, 100 people getting together all wearing red shirts, though, there's an interesting story. so they covered that. >> so then the cameras were out? >> then the cameras came. >> reporter: and this is what the cameras saw -- searchers, armed with maps, literally beating the bushes around nique leili's subdivision for clues as to what might have happened to her. >> well, keep your eyes open if you see her or see anything, definitely call 911 and let them know you've seen her. >> reporter: every searcher had an assignment. >> oh look, we got blue sky. it's going to smile on us. >> reporter: harriett garrett, nique's mother, had the job of going door to door, leafleting the neighborhood with fliers picturing her daughter. >> i don't think anybody is at home, but we'll find out. >> reporter: even though southern hospitality may have been in short supply that day -- >> get out of here before i call the cops. >> reporter: harriett pressed on. >> good morning, sir. my name is harriett garrett. >> what is the camera for? >> my daughter's missing, and

they're trying -- we're trying to get some news coverage. >> reporter: like so many of the volunteers that day, alison rockwell wasn't a relative. she was looking for nique, her co-worker. >> i loved nique. nique was great. she was just such -- so great to work with. very smart. lots of energy, positive, wonderful. just a wonderful person. >> reporter: on the morning of the search, alison recalls that she and another colleague from work, a man named derek, were running late. and that would turn out to be an important twist of fate. >> 40 minutes late, actually. everyone else had started searching. >> so were you given a grid, or an area to look at? >> yes, we were given the front of the neighborhood, the very front of the neighborhood on the right. >> reporter: it was one of the last unassigned sections of the organizers' search grid, a patch of woods near a busy road. >> derek and i went into the woods together. and i remember having to walk up

and go over a large tree. and there's this pile of leaves. and it's in the middle of where everything else is clear and flat. and my heart is racing a million miles an hour. i go up to the pile of leaves. i was using my boots to move leaves at the -- at the bottom of the -- of the pile. as i was doing that, i said, "derek." derek came over. and he heard the panic in my voice. and he started helping me. and that's when we saw blonde hair. and i screamed this blood-curdling scream. >> and there was no question? >> no. >> coming up -- >> she said it's her, we found her. there's her hair. >> how awful for you. >> yeah. >> a body and a vital clue. >> the telling factor was the bottoms of her feet were clean. >> what did that mean?

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runstaying in a differentns hotel every night. so i use the hotels.com rewards program to earn free nights. which i can use for my new friends here. thanks, captain obvious. you're welcome. roger that, sir. my name isn't roger. supported by hotels.com. a very good evening to you. secretary hillary clinton now speaking at an event in washington, d.c. president obama also expected to speak tonight, too. this is the annual black caucus phoenix awards that happens in washington. let's stop by and listen in to hillary clinton and her comments. >> congressman charles wrangle. he is one of a kind and we are grateful for your years of service. and what can i say about one of

the best presidents this country has ever had, barack obama? i is made the point over and over again, president obama saved our country from a second great depression, he brought osama bin laden to justice. and so much more, i don't think he gets the credit that he's done for our country and the world. and it's not just the president he's been, but the man he is. even when hateful nonsense is

thrown their way. barack, michelle, their two beautiful daughters have represented our country with class, grace and integrity. as michelle says, when others go low, we go high. i know i speak for not just everyone in this room, but so many tens of millions of americans, mr. president, not only do we know you are an american, you're a great american.

and you make us all proud to be americans too. let me thank the cbc foundation for this great honor and to thank all of my friends in the congressional black caucus for it as well. i dedicate it to all the trail blazers who came before me, that blazed trails that i kourld follow in their footsteps. shirley jordan, and sandy chisholm, generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and cleared a path for all of us. this award is also for everyone out there to break down the barriers holding americans back, to leaders, like all of you and to a rising generation of young

activists, to all those on the front lines, dedicated to the proposition that in america every single child deserves a chance to fulfill his or her god given potential. this has been the cause of my life. ever since i went to work for the children's defense fund all those years ago. and i'm going do close my campaign in the way that i began my career, and the way i begin as your president, focused on opportunities for your children and fairness for our families. we have so much work to do together. i have heard many heart breaking stories, over this campaign one from was a working mother from northeast philadelphia, she testified at the dnc platform

meeting in june, and told us how her husband had been laid off and she worked in a part-time job. she said she had been hungry more times than she could count and life fell like a maze because she faced barriers no matter which way she turned. but despite all this, tiana has hope, she still believes that her 8-year-old daughter will be president one day and she believes that this election can make all the difference in the world to her and her family. let's prove her right. as a country, we have a moral obligation to give her family and every family a chance to rise up and reach their dreams. that is what's at stake in this election. it's not about golf course

promotions or birth certificates. it comes down to who will fight for the forgotten, who will invest in our children and who will really have your back in the white house. we need ideas, noninsults. real plans to help struggling americans in communities that have been left out and left behi behind, not prejudice and paranoia. we cannot let barack obama's legacy fall into the hands of someone who doesn't understand that. whose dangerous and divisive vision for our country will drag us backwards. instead we need to come

together, to get incomes rising with a higher minimum wage, with efforts to help the community, to get guns out of the hands of dangerous people, to fight for a criminal justice system that actually delivers justice and to make sure that all kids have good schoolings and good teachers no matter what zip codes they live in. when you really think about it, the choice this move is about so much more than democrats and republicans. it's about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four years of their lives. it's also about the kind of country we want to be, what we want to leave behind for future generations. i thank everyone here, who has

been fighting for this vision over so many years. i'm working every single day to earn your support, and i'm working every single day to bring our campaign across the finish line together. barbara jordan famously said that a government is invigorated when peach of us is will be to participate in shaping the future of this nation. so to everyone here tonight, but also help to register voters, tell others about the clear choice in this election, in some

states, early voting is nearly here, so we need to keep the pressure on, let's send a loud and clear message once and for all. we are songer together. and no matter what, remember this, love trumps hate, thank you all very much. >> and there secretary hillary clinton, the democratic nominee, speaking for about 7 or 8 minutes at the democratic black caucus awards ceremony tonight. we will be covering barack obama who will be speaking. really the headline being that she is not taking votes for granted and that she's asking for help from this influential group there at the awards

dinner, this following what was a very -- where they used words about donald trump calling him disgusting, racist, fraud and bigot and other words. she not bringing up the republican nominee in her comments there at the phoenix awards winner in washington, d.c., we will go back to that location there, when president obama does speak, we'll expect that to happen in the next hour, we'll be doing that in washington, d.c. we're also following breaking news coming out of new york city, we're getting initial reports from an explosion that happened at 23rd street between 6th and 7th avenue. the information is sparse at the moment. i would like to go to, i believe we have richard engel who's on the scene right now, you're there, we don't have much more information at least where i am at, other than what i have just described, an explosion there in

that vicinity, what are you seeing there? >> reporter: so i am right now on 24th and 7th avenue and police have just evacuated the block between 23rd and 24th street. a police officer told me as he was evacuated me and others from the area, that there had been an explosi explosion, and it happened just there as he was pointing to 23rd and 7th avenue, so it could be between 23rd and 7th and 6th avenue. unclear what happened. i am not smelling smoke, i am not seeing a lot of panic. i have seen one injured person on the scene right now. there are dozens and that is a very conservative estimate, maybe there is 100 officers here, from the fire department, from the police, i'm seeing a few members in uniform of the

national guard, they're pushing me back as i'm talking to you right now. there are helicopters in the area, 24th street, however, is still moving, people are watching, people are talking on their phones. the officers from the fire department, from the police department, aside from clearing a perimeter do not seem to be in a panic, there's no bloody injured people here. there's no stampede. the police told me i had to get back because of the possibility of explosions. i don't know what the origin was, i don't know the extent of the damage, i just know there's a very massive, police, fire department, even some national guard presence here, but it does seem to be a calm situation

aside from the mass security presence. >> richard, just for our audience that is just joining us and looking at what we have on screen. it is a picture that was tweeted out that we have on screen of what appears to be a garbage dumpster, a common, every day one related to the explosion that we are getting reports on it clearly looks like it is deform deformed. you're saying there's national guard and law enforcement on location, widen the cordon which has been reported to be on 23rd street between 6th and 7th avenue, this would again be close to the chelsea area in the southern half if you will of

manhattan, if you are familiar with this space. and richard, i can hear some of the sky republicans right now. the number of people around you you are saying are a walking away. are any of them giving you any first person accounts of who may have actually heard this explosion? >> people are talking. i'm not sure how accurate their information is. people did mention a ied, an improvised explosive device in a dumpster. people are on their phones. i saw people in a bar on 23rd street, huddled by the television set. they are actively trying to find out information. let me give you a sense of this neighborhood. chelsea, on a saturday night, is one of the most popular districts in manhattan, one of the most active nightlife areas in this town. 23rd street is the main thoroughfare that cuts through

chelsea and west chelsea, the street is full of bars and restaurants and it was very crowded, it's very crowded right now. # they have just set up police tape, the police line do not cross area, between 24th and beyond. i don't know how much further it goes beyond 23rd street, i'm on 24th street right now. you can probably see some of the helicopters. i heard from people talking, that there was some sort of ied in a dumpster, i did see one injured person who was taken away in a stretcher. his condition seemed moderate, i would say he looked like he was being treated for shock. he was not bleeding, he was conscious, so i would classify that as a very light or minor injury. to give you a sense of the mood here, i'm looking at three uniformed officers from the

national guard, they are looking at their cell phones, apparently trying to figure out what is going on. there are fire department person nell, looking up at the helicopters that are shining their spotlights down, they're shining their spot lights down right now at a building, between 23rd and 24th on 7th avenue. but it seems to be more of an inspection site and a heavy security presence than an ongoing panic situation. they're very clo. >> they're very close to the sight of an explosion, in the chelsea neighborhood area, streets cleared by law enforcement, national guard, still people in the area, they're widening the cordon, is

what richard engel, chief foreign correspondent who is today in new york city giving us the very latest there. do stand by, thank you for that reporting, we'll continue to watch that breaking news, concerns of course here what is behind all of that, we now want to take you back to washington, d.c. for a moment where president obama at the moment is addressing the congressional black caucus's annual legislative congress. >> under the wire, we got that resolved. that's a boost for me in the homestret homestretch. in other breaking news, the world is round not flat.

lord, this is of course my last cbc denver as president. next time i show up, i have to buy a ticket. now, don't get me wrong, we have got so much work to do, and we are springing all the way through the tape, but the days are winding down. i notice whenever michelle or i travel around the country, folks go up and say, we're so sad to see you go. and i really appreciate that. and michelle says, that's right. she gave a speech yesterday, a bunch of young people were chanting four more years, and she said nope, nope, nope. she's ready.

but we do want to take this opportunity just to say thank you, to say thank you for your support over the years. to say thank you for your friendship, to say thank you for your prayers, as i just look across this autd for yum, there's so many people here who lifted us up. when we began this journey about 10 years now, it wasn't about me, it wasn't about michelle, it wasn't just to be a black president or the president of black america, we understood the power of the symbol. we know what it means for a generation of children of all races to see folks like us in the white house.

and as michelle said, we have tried to be role models, not just for our own girls, but for all children, because we know they watch everything we do as adults, they look to us as an example. so we have take on that responsibility seriously. and i'm so blessed to have a wife and a partner on this journey who makes it looks so easy. and is so strong and so honest and so beautiful. and so smart. but we're all, we're just thankful, because you guys have lifted us up every step of the way. now we know however, that what matters most for our community is not just the symbol, not just having an african-american president.

it's having a president who's going to do his or her darnedest to make the right decisions. and fight the right fights. and think about the fights that we have waged together these past eight years. together we fought our way back from the worst recession in 80 years. turned an economy that was in free fall, helped our businesses create more than 15 million new jobs. we declare that health care is not a privilege for a few, but a right for everybody. secured coverage for another 20 million americans, including another 3 million african-americans. our high school graduation rate is at an all-time high, including for african-american students, more african-americans are graduating from college than ever before.

together we have begun to work on reforming our criminal justice system, reducing the federal prison population, ending the use of toll tesolita confinement for juveniles, reinvigorating the justice department's civil rights division, pushing to make sure that police and communities are working together to make sure that our streets are safe and that our law is applied equally. we're giving opportunities for kids so that they don't get in the criminal justice system in the first place. i want to thank all of you that have helped us reach more than 250 my brother's keeper communities across the country. and just this week, we learned that last year, across every ration and age group in america,

incomes rose and poverty fell. typical household incomes rose by $3,000, lifted 3.5 million people out of poverty. including children, the largest one-year drop in almost 15 years. by so many measures, our country is stronger, and more prosperous than it was eight years ago. and none of it has been quick, nung of it has been easy, none of it has come without a fight and so much of our work remains unfinished. but then we knew that we would not solve all of our challenges in one year or one term or even one presidency, not even in one lifetime. because we understand better than anybody, that this is the story of america. that the project of america is

never finished. it is constantly a work in progress. and what has always made us unique is our capacity to change. our conviction. the change doesn't come from some ruler, but it comes from the bottom up from us, from the actions we take, whether it's women seeking the right to society or young john lewis organizing a mighty march in selma, we drive to make our world a little bit more perfect, and we know that, and that's what we have done these past eight years and now that's what we have to keep on doing. you may have heard hillary's opponent in this election say that there's never been a worse time to be a black person. he missed that whole civics lesson about slavery and jim

crow, but we got a museum for him to visit. so he can tune in. we will educate him. he says we got nothing left to lose. so we might as well support somebody who has fought against civil rights and fought against equality. and who has shown no regard for working people for most of his life. well, we do have challenges. but we're not stupid. we know the progress we have made. despite the forces of opposition. despite the forces of discrimination.

despite the politics of backlash. and we intend to keep fighti ii against those forces. when governors refuse to expand medicate, that hits the folks most in need, we'll fight. when folks block an increase to the minimum wage or refuse to expand paid family lead or won't guarantee equal pay for equal work that hurts the pocket books of every family and african-american families, we will fight. when we're not investing in the schools that our kids deserve, when one group of americans is treated differently under the law. when there are those who many how think it's wrong to make sure that folks have access to affordable housing or are

unwilling to do what it takes to make sure that our veterans get the benefits they earned or are helping ing ting to sign folks health insurance. we will not stop our march for justice, we will not stop pushing for the security of all people. that doesn't stop with my presidency. we're just getting started. and when people -- when across this country in 2016, there are those who are still trying to deny people the right to vote. we have got to push back twice as hard. right now in multiple states, republicans are actively and openly trying to prevent people from voting, adding new barriers to registration, closing polling

places in predominantly minority communities, refusing to send out absentee ballots, kicking people off the rolls, often incorrectly. this should be a national scandal. we were supposed to have already won that fight. we're the only advanced democracy in the world that is actively discouraging people from voting. it's a shame. and then they try to justify it by telling folks that voter fraud is rampant, between 2000 and 2012, there were ten cases of voter impersonation nationwide, people don't get up and say i'm going to imperson nature somebody and go vote. they don't do that. meanwhile, some of the same folks who are trying to keep you

from voting turn a blind eye when hundreds of thousands of people are killed by guns, imposing voter id restrictions so that a gun license can get you on the ballot, but a student id can't. apparently more afraid of a ballot than a bullet. no, our work's not done. but if we are going to advance the cause of justice, and equality, and prosperity, and freedom, then we also have to acknowledge that even if we eliminated every restriction on voters, we would still have one of the lowest voting rates among free peoples. that's not good. that is on us.

and i am reminded of all those folks who had to count bubbles in a bar of soap, beaten trying to register voters in mississippi, risked everything so they could pull that lever. so if i hear anybody saying their vote does not matter, then it doesn't matter who we elect, read up on your history. it matters. we have got to get people to vote. in fact, if you want to give michelle and me a good sendoff, and that was a beautiful video, but don't just watch us walk off into the sun set now, get people registered to vote. if you care about our legacy, realize everything we stand for is at stake, on the progress we

have made is at stake in this election. my name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot. tolerance is on the ballot. democracy is on the ballot. justice is on the ballot. good schools are on the ballot. ending mass incarceration, that's on the ballot right now. and there is one candidate who will advance those things. and there is another candidate who's defining principal, the central theme of his candidacy is opposition to all that we have done. there's no such thing as a vote that doesn't matter. it all matters. and after we have achieved

historic turnout in 2008 and 2012, i will consider it a personal insult if this community lets down it's guard and fails to activate in this election. you want to give me a good send off, go vote? and i'm going to be working as hard as i can these next seven weeks to make sure folks do. hope is on the ballot. and fear is on the ballot too. hope is on the ballot and fear is on the ballot too.

you know, a few days ago, michelle and my mother-in-law and my girls and i, we snuck over and got an early look at the new smithsonian national museum of african-american history and culture. we looked at the shackles that had been used to bring folks over. we saw the shacks where slaves had been trying to make a way owl of no way. and then with each successive level, we saw the unimaginable courage and the struggles and the sacrifices and the humor and

the innovation, and the hope that led to such extraordinary progress, even in our own lifetimes. and it made us proud. not because we had arrived but because what a road we have had to travel. what a miracle that despite such hardship, we have been able to do so much. and i know everybody in room understands that progress is not inevitable. it's sustainment depends on us. it's not just a matter of having black president or first lady,

it's a matter of engaging all of our citizens in the work of our democracy. it was that slay who said, you know what? despite the risk a lash, i'm going to learn how to read. it's harriet tubman saying despite the risk to my life, i'm going to free my people. it's fanny lou hamer saying despite the ostracism, the blow back, i'm going to sit down here in this convention hall and i'm going to tell people who it's like to live the life i have led. i'm going to testify as to why change needs to come. it's a young john lewis saying

i'm going to march, despite those horses i see in front of me. all those ordinary people, all those folks whose names aren't in the history books, they never got a video providing a tribute to them. that's why we're here. that's how progress is sustained. and then it's a matter of electing people to office who understand that story. who feel it in their hearts, in their guts, and understand that government can't solve all of our problems, but it can be a force for good. to experience this incredible new monument, this museum that's to be reminded, we're just a

small part of a long chain. generation after generation, striving against the odds. what an inspiration they are. and what an inspiration all of you are. especially the young people who are here. >> that's why i'm still fired up. that's why i'm still ready to go. and if you are too, if you're ready to continue this journey that we started, then join me. register folks to vote. get them to the polls, keep marching, keep fighting, keep organizing, if we rise to this moment, if we understand this isn't the end point, this is the beginning, we're just getting going, we're just getting moving, then i have never been more optimistic that our best days are still ahead, thank you for this incredible journey, cbc, god bless you. god bless this country that we love. we love you.

>> president barack obama there at washington, d.c. at the cbc caucus, is phoenix awards, that breaking news happening there, his final address. we also have breaking news coming out of new york city, we are watching at the moment some pictures coming on the left of your screen, an explosion in manhattan, what we're learning from the police department, 15 minor injuries as a result of this explosion, no fatalities, that is the good part of the news, however a lot of questions exist. this happening on the 23rd street between 6th and 7th avenue area, a very busy area on a saturday night, they have cleared a cordon around the suspected location of the explosion. we have pictures of a garbage dumpster that has been widely circulated that seems to show deformity as well, whether that is where the explosion emanated from, you can see on your

localer right hand screen here, so the information that we're getting at the moment, this explosion happening around the 8:30 p.m. local time, which is about an hour and we are seeing reported earlier by richard engel who was on location. we not only have new york police department and law enforcement, but national guard. it seems to be a calm situation. the concerns though that might exist could be follow-on explosions. let's go straight to former atf agent jim cavanaugh. jim, what is it that you are watching at the moment. we have the pictures here in front of us. it gives us a sense at least of what appears to be farther in the cordons here of what police are doing. what do you think has happened based on the information available so far? >> well, determining the cause

of the explosion is going to be task one for the fdny and the nypd. and of course, they've got to decide, you know, what they think caused it. explosions can be caused by a lot of things. of course, everybody bomb runs to the forefront of the mind. it can be gas canisters. something could have been discarded. first thing they have to decide is what caused the explosion. if they think it's a bomb, the vernacular we use is ied. if they decide it is that, they want to sweep for secondaries. but they're going to do an initial incursion in there. the firefighters have already done that, looked pretty quick and gone what is this. was it something in the dumpster

next to the gas main? was it some kind of other canister or could it be a criminal act? that's the first thing they've got to find out. >> jim, stand by, if you can. we also have tom winter from nbc investigations who is close to the scene that we're reporting on. tom, you were saying earlier in your communications with us some very heavy police presence, but let's go back a little bit by an hour and a half. did you hear these explosions? were you close enough for that? >> i wasn't close enough to it at that time to hear it. i have an update. there are 25 injuries. 25 injuries from this explosion. again, we don't know exactly what caused it. we don't know exactly where it occurred with respect to was it in a building, was it in some sort of canister, wherever it may be, that is still very preliminary and is something that has the nypd's full attention. here at the scene near 24th and

7th avenue about a block away or so the fdny is here. they've staged to be able to provide any sort of medical treatment if need me. the nypd, their canine teams are going very deliberately, very purposely from car to car, from trash can to trash can. basically anything that could contain something they're running the dogs by and checking it out. that's a scene filled with new york city's emergency officials, rescue companies, medic companies. over head the nypd chopper with the spotlight. it begins the investigation, but it appears as far as getting the injured out of here that's something that's happened a long time ago. >> if there's one location where the police department as well as the fire department and all the other associated pieces of an ecosystem that needs to respond to something like that, that is

manhattan. that is new york city. if you can, tell me where you're at and exactly what you see, perhaps the number of law enforcement vehicles, the number of personnel. a rough overview of what's happening around you. >> as i'm standing here at 24th and 7th right next to my colleague richard engel, there's a number of units here. the fdny has brought in their field com community to help out with radio communications. they have their hazmat on, but that's a standard response. for the nypd, they have their critical response group, strategic command groups. those are the groups that are going to come to something like this when there is a question of exactly what the nypd is looking at. they're going to send their units that have a little bit more armor, have training for potentially more nefarious type events. you've got two things going on.

you want to make sure there's nothing else in the area. you want to make sure there's not another explosive device, if that's what this was. the second thing you need to do is figure out what it was. the detectives and folks that are trained to look at this and examine it, those folks are here. it's a pretty significant response. >> tom, we were looking at some pictures that were provided to us coming in looking at what appeared to be windows that were broken. as you look up and around you -- i know you said you're on 24th and 7th. the reported location is 23rd and 7. just one street away. any visual damage that you can see and also what are you hearing? any sirens, any smell because we're reporting an explosion? >> we're not smelling anything

that would indicate any sort of a smoke. as far as emergency officials, now that we're inside some of the preliminary barriers we're not getting the sirens obviously. this is more of a work scene right now for the emergency folks that are here. on my way uptown traffic was obviously quite heavy, and there were a number of police officials in marked and unmarked cars on their way to come in as well as some of the vehicles that might correspond with more senior nypd leadership. >> as we do go around these locations, there is that sense of urgency, the quickness by which those are moving on the ground through the streets. secondary explosions, perhaps an initial explosion then followed by others as we saw in boston during the marathon there. what's that sense of pace that you're seeing of those who are

on the ground? >> right now, the pace is really seems to have calmed down a little bit. the reason for that, i think, is -- look, the fdny and the nypd, they train for this. they go through extensive training and it is nonstop, just as all major police departments do these days. boston had a tremendous response for the boston marathon. they get the injured out. then they look at the other potential issues they're dealing with, and from there, they can start to sweep and search the area. right now, businesses are open just a block or two from the scene, but closer to it it's obviously much more contained and locked down. >> we're looking at pictures here, tom, of what looks like streets that are clear with people walking on the sidewalks.

i'm going to get your thoughts on what you're seeing there, but first we have some eyewitness sound of individuals that may have heard this explosion directly. let's go straight to that. >> any groceries or anything. when i came and saw an ambulance, then there was another really big truck that was carrying cots. >> describe anything what this sounded like. >> thunder. it was really loud noise and it felt -- it was scary at first. then it sounded like thunder. it just sounded really heavy. if you're close, it did kind of -- you felt it in your heart, you know. when you're hearing fireworks, it felt loike fireworks. >> did you imagine it was an actual explosion. >> i thought it was a car accident or a truck or something. >> now that you're hearing it's an explosion and people have

been injured and this is a major deal, how are you feeling now. >> right now i'm scared. i don't know what happened. if you live here, like the other guy said, it's going to be scary to walk around just to get groceries now. >> where do you live? >> this building. right here. >> what's your name? >> sonia. >> how do you spell it? >> s-o-n-i-a. >> there you see an eyewitness account of the sound that was heard by her. she said it sounded like thunder, fireworks, that the explosion after that she was somewhat concerned about what that might mean and that now the question is what is next. for those who are just joining us here on msnbc, we're covering some breaking news. we have 24 injuries as a result of a reported explosion that happened about an hour and a half ago in lower manhattan.

there are no fatalities. that is the good news. what we understand at the moment is that they are continuing to look garbage to garbage can, car to car in a systematic fashion. this picture on the left-hand side is what we had earlier on of what appeared to be a garbage dumpster which appeared to be deformed. unknown if this is where the explosion or one of the explosions happened. you can see it is broken in some way and there's some items that are still inside. in the upper right-hand part of your screen, you get a sense of what is happening right now in the streets. again, lower manhattan. 24 injuries. that number up from what it was about 45 minutes ago when it was 15 injuries. that is what we know right now at the top of the hour at msnbc in t