dangerous. and he's believed to be driving a 2003 blue honda civic with new jersey license plate number d-63 eyb. he's a naturalized u.s. citizen born in afghanistan. at this hour, authorities are searching his last known residence. that is in elizabeth, new jersey, which is about 20 miles from where a bomb exploded in the chelsea neighborhood and where a second bomb was found. elizabeth, new jersey, also where thorlauthorities found a backpack. one of those bombs actually exploded accidentally as police robot tried to disarm that device. it's an intense manhunt as a result. there are four pictures now that have been released of this

individual considered armed and dangerous. this bottom right comes from surveillance video saturday night in new york's chelsea neighborhood and surveillance video shows ahmad khan rahami at the scene where the bomb exploded saturday night injuring 29 people and where another pressure cooker device was found a short time later just four blocks away. we have correspondence covering this entire story from top to bottom. let's begin though with msnbc's morgan radford at the search scene in elizabeth, new jersey. also, morgan, do we know if the family lives in elizabeth, new jersey? we found out anything about his family? >> reporter: we do know that his family lived here, tamron. i want to show you the chaotic scene here. it says first american fried chicken. to the mayor, the's currently speaking and saying the family owns the fried chicken and a

lawsuit in connection with that restaurant that was recently handled and that second floor just above. that's where authorities have been raiding this morning, and i also want to show you video of where recently, they just removed a car within the past hour that they believe was in connection with that 28-year-old suspect, ahmad rahami. and within the last hour or so, there was a fingerprint that led investigators to the place where we're standing right now. now, just a few blocks away, that's where we saw those five bombs that were inside of a single backpack. overnight, the mayor said that there were two men who discovered that backpack and thought perhaps this were valuables inside. they opened it up and found wires and pipes. when they saw that, called police and went to dissect one of the bombs, it exploded and if that explosion had gone off as intended, there was a nearby pub that was just 300 feet away that could have killed or maimed people, again, if it had gone on as intended but now police are combing through the surveillance video of that very pub to see if

they can get anymore images on the suspect we now know to be armed and dangerous. >> going back to the family business bind yehind you, does family or did the family live above that restaurant? >> reporter: yes, tamron. right here in the second floor, you can see there's a fire escape outside. that's where authorities have been focusing. but again, we're just learning now about this lawsuit in connection with that fried chicken shop that the family indeed did own. >> do we know what kind of lawsuit? >> reporter: we're just getting the details on that now. we know it was settled, i believe, 4 years ago but it was about an ordinance breach and we look into that as we speak. >> i know you get the latest information as fast as you can, now to the investigation in new york. again, that's in new jersey where the last report was reporting what happened in new york sunday, saturday night, in the chelsea neighborhood. rahama ellis joining us from the

active scene there. what do you see? >> reporter: despite the rain that's coming down, it's been coming down all morning here. police are still on scene investigating every single bit of potential evidence that they can. that explosion that went off on saturday night, it was a crowded warm night here in new york and as you pointed out, 29 people were injured in that explosion. the good part about it is that they have been checked out at the hospital and all of those who were injured have been allowed to leave the hospital. there was also from that explosion you just saw, there was another device found four blocks away from where the explosion occurred but police say that one did not go off and they were able to render it safe and authorities have been saying they believe that they can pull some kind of evidence, information from that device as well. i should tell you, out here right now, it is very busy. authorities are still having the

area cordoned off but this has caused them some concern, some pause, but it hasn't stopped them. despite the rain, despite the increased security, people are coming out and going to work, going to school and getting on with what they have to do, tamron? >> let's talk about some of the video that we're showing. the surveillance video of the explosion itself. it's also surveillance video that captured the image of this individual that thorlauthoritie looking for right now. here in new york between the businesses and their cameras and cameras that we know the city has in key areas like times square, one early guess was that there would be some type of video hopefully of the individual and here we are, monday morning with this surveillance video. >> reporter: authorities talk about the fact that new york city is a place that has lots of surveillance cameras around and it is to the benefit of law authorities right now.

it's similar to what happened, as you recall, during the bombing during the boston marathon. there was video that helped authorities track down the suspects in that case and ultimately find someone and tried and convicted people connected with that. cameras considered very helpful in this case as well. >> several law enforcement officials tell nbc news they are concerned that an active terror cell could be operating in the new york/new jersey area. the fbi is questioning five people taken into custody. this happened overnight after investigators stopped their vehicles shortly after it crossed a bridge into brooklyn. it is not yet known what, if any, connection those five people have to this weekend's bombing. nbc justice correspondent pete williams, we talk about the surveillance of video being a key part of the manhunt. we heard the reporting, the fingerprint as well. >> reporter: a couple of things here, tamron. first of all, i can update you on the folks stopped in the car

on the bridge. but those are members of rahami's family. that's the connection with them. they've been questioned. i think that questioning is over now. we're following some rapidly unfolding developments here now. and we don't fully understand the significance of them and you can understand where the police put out the idea of somebody and asked for public help, that changes the nature of things very quickly. now, this could be unrelated, but we're told that just a short time ago in lyndon, new jersey, which is about four miles away from elizabeth, new jersey, elizabeth, you recall, is the home of rahami's family. it's where the pipe bomb exploded this morning that was found near the commuter rail station. so in lyndon -- >> pete, apologize. i have to take the news conference to the mayor of elizabeth, new jersey. let's listen in.

>> to announce where we were getting $5 million to hire 36 new firemen. so the senators are still coming to elizabeth and we'll have a full briefing at that time. i will gladly brief all of you at some point after that. the two men, we believe, we are homeless individuals walking on north broad street at approximately 8:15 or 8:30 in the evening. probably thought there was something of value in that backpack. took it around the corner or under the train trestle and when they opened it up and found the wire and the pipe, they immediately walked the ground to the other corner to headquarters to turn it in. >> do they have the backpack? >> no, they dropped the bag behind the suv and immediately ran to elizabeth. >> the other bags also in the reseptemberablre meeting.

and i spoke with the father five, six, seven years ago regarding this incident and regarding the, when i say this incident, the noise incident and code enforcement which at the time, decide to file a lawsuit and not going there. >> tex ploehe explosion, were t disarming it or pulled the wrong wire? >> there was an attempt to disarm the bomb. and the attempt to disarm it failed and so there were, it exploded. and two of the robots were damaged in that process. >> with these devices? >> look at people in a very difficult position, yet, they probably saved hundreds of lives

by walking over to elizabeth's headquarters and also on the side of angels. they picked up that backpack and then walked over to the police headquarters but they carried that backpack 800 or a thousand feet before they realiz. >> any kind of reward? >> first of all, i haven't found out who they are. i'm hopeful at some point to sit down and talk with them and thank them at the very least. thank you. i have no idea. the briefing is going to occur at 3:16. fire headquarters so we have -- >> cable underneath? >> we're listening to a brief update from the mayor of elizabeth, new jersey. he was just outside this restaurant that's owned by the family of the suspect. the man that's the focus of this intense manhunt, ahmad khan rahami.

the mayor discussing a lawsuit that had been filed by the family in response to what he said was some type of code enforcement or noise complaint from the neighborhood. we'll get more information. we don't know if that has anything to do with what's going on but let's get back to the meat. we don't have pete williams. he was giving us an update on some of the information that led authorities to the individual before we had to break away from pete. he noted that several people were taken into custody overnight when investigators stopped their vehicle. as it crossed the varizano bridge and people were related to rahami. pete indicated that the interview with the family members, he believed, was over and i think we have pete right now. update the audience on the information regarding that vehicle and the folks stopped there going back to what you were reporting including this information on possible fingerprints recovered from the explosives that did not detonate. >> i'll get to that in a second

but let me go back to what we were about to state before the new jersey news conference. in lyndon, new jersey, which is four miles away from elizabeth, four miles away from where the rahami was living, four miles away from where the pipe bombs were found this morning and one of them went off while they were trying to disable it, a man has been taken into custody we're told after firing at police officers. we do not know if this is related to the search for rahami but it is a, it could be an important development here. we're looking for more information on precisely the nature of this arrest. you know, the fact that you put out public information, asking for help and finding someone leads inexorably to two things. a lot of calls and tips but also additional pressure on the person you're trying to find and

there was a shootout we're told with police. we don't know if police were wounded in the shootout but we do know as a result of it, a man was taken into custody and the bomb squad was sent for. so we're waiting for confirmation to find out whether in fact this has anything to do with the search for ahmad rahami, whether it's unrelated or but. but it's four miles from elizabeth, new jersey, lyndon new jersey. so that is suggestive and we're waiting for additional details to find out what the nature of this arrest is and whether this is the break that authorities have been looking for. in terms of your earlier question, what led them to rahami, it's a series of things. all getting back to the fact that three bombs were planted and only one of them went off coletely. another, the pressure cooker bomb, didn't blow up at all and the one left in the seaside park, new jersey, on saturday, sort of fizzled out.

only one part of that went off. so you got the cell phone that you see in the picture with the pressure cooker bomb. there was another cell phone in the new jersey one and we're told that that yielded information, secondly, we're told that a fingerprint was lifted off of one of these unexploded bombs and thirdly, you have the surveillance video that authorities say shows ahmad rahami walking in chelsea at the point where these bombs were dropped off. so a rapidly moving investigation. these are stills from that surveillance video. his home searched in elizabeth this morning. members of his family questioned. so all of that led to him, authorities have been searching for him for the past, well, 14, 15 hours now. and decided this morning to make his name public. >> the 15 hours they've been searching for and being able to identify him, have you heard from your fbi source any more about his background, any

involvement with law enforcement in the past? >> well, we're told he was not on any kind of terror watch list, not under any kind of surveillance. there was some brush with law enforcement that i don't know the nature of. i don't know fully what it was. but he's not somebody that was on any kind of terror watch list. >> thank you. let me bring in boston college professor. what strikes you about the information and what we get in from some law enforcement officials? >> well, i'd say a couple of things. there hasn't been a claim from isis or any organization but worth noting the reason they claimed the minnesota attack is because it's concluded the attacker has been killed. in this case, the attackers haven't been apprehended or killed so we don't know yet if this individual is a member of isis or potentially wants to claim that he is but the fact we haven't seen a claim by any organization is not necessarily surprising in that sense.

the other thing i'll add is even though the individual who created these bombs may be more sophisticated than, say, the bomb marathon bomber, in terms of delivery, not so sophisticated. putting the bomb in a dumpster, perhaps saving lives and the previous commentator noted left fingerprints on the bombs, had some of the flip phones not actually be exploded so they're able to get info from that. not necessarily terrorist mastermind by any sense. >> could this then have been a test run or some reports with the u.n. general assembly this could have been a way for them to see if they could initially pull this off if they're more involved with one individual? >> i think it's too early to tell at this point but i will say this. if it was a test run, a number of aspects of the system worked. it looked like from the bomb in chelsea, the shatter proof glass may have saved lives in terms of not turning it into shards with individuals and not have video of the suspect that seemed to help track him down and in

elizabeth, have individuals that saw something and said something to the authorities. so in that sense, if it was a test run, i think aspects of the system worked at least on the back end if not the front end. >> and quickly, your reaction to several law enforcement officials telling nbc news they are concerned and active terror cell could be operating in new york and new jersey area. >> i'll say a couple of things. the distinction of being a lone wolf. part of it is, are you acting alone or affiliated with an organization? i think the number of bombs here makes it very possible you could have more than one individual involved but i don't think we have enough information at this point to have the determination. i think that's the exact thing authorities looking for. >> we greatly appreciate it, professor. meanwhile, we wait for authorities to release the name of the man who went on a stabbing rampage in a st. cloud mall. calling the the attacker, quote, a soldier of the islamic state.

witnesses say the attacker was dressed in a private security officer's uniform and made references to allah during the stabbing. he injured nine people before he was shot dead by an off-duty police officer. local news outlets say the attacker was somalian and the local somali community in st. cloud has denounced this attack. >> we don't believe in violence. we don't agree, anyone, who takes a martyr to his hands and hurt other people. >> we condemn the acts of yesterday. it was an individual and we don't know what motivated that individual. we cannot, at this time, take the hate take over us. let's unite as one minnesota. >> nbc's blake mccoy outside of that mall in st. cloud. we wait to get more information on that individual but back to what we saw with members of the somali community.

there are critics in the past who say why don't members of the community become more forceful to clearly draw the line that their faith has nothing to do with isis. here we saw in strong words and strong terms yesterday from members of the somali community there. >> reporter: and very quickly before he was, this attacker was even identified by authorities, we're still waiting for an official named from authorities but they want to get out in front of this because minnesota has a very large somali america community and a large portion of them are muslim. and many live in minneapolis, st. cloud. they want to get out ahead of this so tensions don't flare up in this community with somalis and other minnesotans. other local media are already names the suspect and we're holding off until we get official word from law enforcement but a 22-year-old somali american, someone who's a college student here in st. cloud and was working part-time as a private security officer. we do know that they searched

his apartment and seen leaving with photographs and electronic devices looking into who he may have been communicating with, tamron. >> what's the delay behind authorities releasing the information on this individual? it would appear as in the case here in this manhunt when you get the identity confirmed, perhaps, you'll be able to get more details on whether he was getting help or what led to this. >> reporter: the reason authorities in new york have been quick to identify that suspect is because they're still looking for him. here in minnesota, this attacker was killed by police so under protocol here, just allowing the medical examiner to release that information instead of having it come from law enforcement. >> thank you very much, blake. great lly appreciate it. now to congressman adam shiff, on the house select committee. thank you so much for joining us. again, here we are in the situation of a manhunt in the new york/new jersey area. you have this incident in st. cloud while the individual was

shot there by an off-duty police officer, still very little known about him. let me get your reaction, congressman, i apologize, i'm told now that the local nbc affiliate is saying that the individual, 28-year-old ahmed khan rahami is in custody. this is, again, what i'm getting in my ear right now, so please forgive the disjointed nature of this but let me get your reaction to what has happened to saturday night, not just new jersey but also in minnesota. >> if the arrest is taking place, that's very good news. certainly a strong person of interest. the investigation has been moving very quickly, even if this person is in custody, doesn't by any means the investigation is over. we look into this and whether there's multiple suspects and whether this is a cell or a small group of people. whether they were inspired by al

qaeda or isis or any kind of foreign direction. this person of interest wasn't really known to the intelligence community beforehand. that is, he wasn't a person of interest before these events, but there may be other individuals involved who were. we simply don't know yet, but i can say that the forensics evidence is very substantial and i think that's why law enforcement has been able to move so quickly, the combination of what we got from the devices, the video cameras. there's a wealth of information that law enforcement is chasing down. it's why they've been able to move this quickly. so it may be this individual or group had no communication from overseas or maybe that had that. we don't know yet but in terms of the attack in minnesota, although isis is claiming credit, by describing him as a soldier of the caliphate, that doesn't mean they necessarily have any communication with him. it is maybe he was merely inspired to attack people as he

did. >> congressman, thank you so much for your time. i have to cut it short as we've now learned this individual was involved in a shooting with police many lyndon, new jersey. we heard pete williams reference there may have been an incident involving a shooting with police. it turns out that shooting was with ahmad rahami, the man the focus of the manhunt captured after a shooting incident involving police in lyndon, new jersey. he's en route to a hospital according to senior sources, talking with nbc news. let me go over to my colleague, cal perry, with more information for us. >> multiple sources now telling nbc news they believe, in fact, that they have ahmad khan ram hi in lyndon, new jersey, four miles from elizabeth, new jersey, where so much of the investigation has been centered around. >> i've got to interrupt you. the president has just taken the podium. let's listen in to president

obama. >> receiving frequent updates from my team and i've just been briefed again by fbi director comey. in addition, i've had a chance to speak with governors cuomo and christie as well as mayor de blasio. we've seen what was apparently a pipe bomb go off in new jersey in seaside park where it could have seriously injured our u.s. marines and spectators who were there for a race. the bombing in the chelsea neighborhood here in new york injured more than 2 dozen people. we are extremely fortunate and grateful that nobody was killed. our prayers go out to all of those who have been injured. we want to wish them a speedy recovery. i especially want to commend all the outstanding police and first responders in both new york city and new jersey for their extraordinary professionalism and their quick response which surely prevented even more people from being hurt, and ensure that people got assistance quickly.

the investigation is moving rapidly and as is my practice, i'm going to leave it to the fbi and law enforcement to provide details. i think everybody is aware, at this point, that there is a person of interest who is the focus of the investigation and the fbi can give you further details in terms of how that is proceeding. i told governors cuomo and christie and mayor de blasio they and their teams will continue to have all federal support as they move ahead with their investigations in tracking down every lead and working to keep the people of this city and of this region safe. law enforcement is asking for the help of the community, so to everybody in this region, i want to repeat what we've said before. if you see something suspicious, then you need to say something. contact local law enforcement. in the meantime, i would ask that the press try to refrain

from getting out ahead of the investigation. i am extraordinarily happy with the cooperation that's been taking place between the fbi and state and local law enforcement officials. they are moving smartly on this investigation. it does not help if false reports or incomplete informati information is out there. so try to, as much as possible, stick to what our investigators say because they actually know what they're talking about. meanwhile, i know the united meetings nation every year already create an additional wo workload for new york but given the u.n. meetings, we have a particularly high level of federal resources here to help as needed. we are going to make sure everybody is working together saec

seamlessly as one team to find those responsible and make sure that justice is done. meanwhile, while all this is going on in new york and new jersey, we're also focused on the stabbing attack at the shopping mall in minnesota. at this point, we see no connection between that incident and what happened here in new york and new jersey. our attention there is on the people who were injured. and again, we are very grateful that no one lost their life. thanks to the quick action of a brave off-duty police officer, the suspect was killed. and we avoided more people being hurt. i had a chance to speak with governor dayton this morning as well. i assured him we will provide all the assistance that he needs in the investigation. the fbi is investigating the minnesota incident as a potential act of terrorism. we will direct the full resources of the federal government to make sure that the investigation goes forward aggressively. finally, i want to take this

opportunity to reassure the people in this city, in this region, and americans across our country that our counterterrorism and law enforcement professionals at every level, federal, state, and local, are working together, around the clock, to prevent attacks and to keep us safe. they are the best of the best. over the years, they have warded many plots and saved many lives and we are incredibly grateful for their service today and every single day. we will continue to lead the global coalition on the fight to destroy isil which is instigating a lot of people over the internet to carry out attacks. we are going to continue to go after them. we will take out their leaders. we will take out their infrastructure. they are continuing to lose ground in iraq and in syria and later today, i'll be meeting with prime minister uae baa aba

iraq to continue to sustain that momentum. as we take more of their territory, it exposes isil as the failed cause it is and helps to undermine their ideology over time which will make it harder to recruit and inspire people to violence. and we're going to continue to enlist tech companies and community and religious leaders to push back against online extremism content and all messages of hate. you know, moments like this, i think it's important to remember what terrorists and violent extremists are trying to do. they are trying to hurt innocent people but they also want to inspire fear in all of us. and disrupt the way we live. to undermine our values. and so even as we have to be vigilant and aggressive both in preventing senseless acts of violence but also making sure that we find those who carry out such acts and bring them to

justice, we all have a role to play as citizens in making sure that we don't succumb to that fear. and there's no better example of that than the people of new york and new jersey. when i speak to governor cuomo and governor christie and mayor de blasio at one point, they said folks around here, they don't get scared. they're tough. they're resilient. they go about their business every single day. and that kind of toughness and resoluteness and a recognition that neither individuals nor organizations like isil can ultimately undermine our way of life. that's the kind of strength that makes me so proud to be an american and that's the kind of strength that is going to be absolutely critical.

not just in the days to come but in the years to come. by showing those who want to do us harm that they will never beat us, by showing the entire world as as americans, we do not and never will give in to fear, that's going to be the most important ingredient in us defeating those who would carry out terrorist acts against us. thank you very much, everybody, and as i said, you'll receiverireceive i'm sure ongoing briefings from the fbi and local law enforcement in terms of the details of the investigation. >> the president in new york for the united nations general assembly making remarks. vague though regarding the investigation. it's unclear if the president is aware of the breaking news that was happening just as he walked to the podium that the individual involved in the shooting, ahmad rahami was shot and in custody and officer also shot with non-life-threatening

injuries though. that's according to a senior official. let me go to ayman mohyeldin from lyndon, new jersey, where this all played out. ayman, what can you tell us? >> reporter: we just got confirmation from mayor derek armste armstead, he arrived on the scene shortly after what took place, according to mayor armstead, one officer, two officers have been injured. one shot at directly and the other appears to have been injured as a result of glas or shrapnel directed at him but the officer that was shot, we're told, was hit in the chest but actually was wearing his bulletproof vest so he will be okay according to mayor armstead. this began at about 10:30 a.m. local time according to the mayor. we do not know whether police were approaching the suspect or the suspect sees an opportunity to fire at police officers, but what resulted was a shootout and from where we are standing, we can see police have laid at

least seven different markers that are often used to indicate casings or bullet casings that are on the street and according to one eyewitness that was here, there were multiple gunshots, again, according to mayor armstead, the suspect has been shot. he said he was shot in the leg, and he is no longer on the scene. so possibly transported to another area. but in terms of the investigation that is taking place right here, police have cordoned off a few city blocks from where we are standing. the fbi is on the scene as well as the local lyndon police force that we've seen. the sheriff from union county police officers as well. so a lot of different agencies arrived here on the scene and as i was saying earlier, about a block away from where we are standing, we can see at least seven of those blue cones used to mark bullet casings to suggest that a gunshot did in fact take place here and as the mayor was saying, the two officers are okay. they do not know if he's been

released yet but know that they will be okay, tamron. >> and ayman, do we know anymore about what led them to that particular town and that area? >> that, we don't know yet. we do know there's several links to this individual to nearby elizabeth, new jersey, that's where we were actually heading to. that is where there was a home that was searched by investigators overnight. there was a restaurant in connection to this individual not too far away from here. we're maybe a mile and a half away from elizabeth to the township of lyndon where the shootout took place. i was talking to the mayor a little bit about this community and asking him. what can he tell us about it and saying it's a diverse community, shocked that this shootout for this particular suspect was taking place in his city. he did not know, as i was saying earlier, tamron, whether or not that shootout precipitated because police identified a

vehicle and we can't see from our vantage point whether or not there was a vehicle parked or whether the suspect was on foot. the police blocked off the area where several vehicles including a canine unit that's been deployed. we can't get a good sense whether or not there was a vehicle on the scene from where we are standing, but the, as i was saying, the mayor was not aware whether or not the police approached the suspect or approached the vehicle or perhaps he felt that this was nb opportune time that led to the exchange of gunfire between him and the police. >> ayman, right around the area of where this took place, would you describe it as a business area or more homes? describe the immediate area where this played out again. >> we are right on the corner of razel and ziegler avenue, a primarily residential area. there's a corner store and deli but the entire neighborhood is .

there's a main street that does have some small businesses. we've seen some local residents still very much in their homes. even from where i'm standing, i can see a few people looking out their windows. they are still in their homes, obviously, police have cordoned this area off so i don't think anyone has come out to talk to us but you can see a lot of residents looking out their window down the street from where this shooting took place. >> we are looking at images and waiting to confirm these images but as with life and news moving at a fast pace, we look at images online, reportedly of this individual in custody on the ground and looks like there's several vehicles in and around this. this individual who now at this point has been taken to a local hospital to be treated according to a senior source and the non-life-threatening injuries sustained to the officer but all

playing out in lyndon, new jersey. i'll go now to nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. from saturday to now, the rapid nature of the investigation and now at least one person believed to be directly linked to this attack in chelsea and these bombs that went off in new jersey is in custody. >> well, you may remember, tamron, we started to talk about lyndon, new jersey, what, about 20 minutes or so ago and that was, such a compressed time frame here. the police had been searching for him for the previous, the previous 15 hours before this morning. they decided to make his name public which obviously put additional pressure on him. that plus the search of his home, the questioning of members of his family. he was on the run. this poster went out about 7:30 this morning, eastern time. and what, roughly 3 hours later, just a little over 3 hours

later, he is in police custody. it's just astonishingly fast. >> it is. >> we're told in the shootout, two officers, two police officers were wounded. we don't know how seriously our initial information is, not seriously wounded. one shot in the hand. one shot in the tactical vest. and whether that produced a wound or not, we don't know but there was an exchange of gunfire. he is in custody. it's amazing. now, we've been talking about a little bit why this had sudden boosts and moved so quickly and the key factors are, number one, the bombs themselves that didn't go off, three were planted. authorities aren't saying for sure whether he was responsible for all three but if you look at this one, this is the pressure cooker bomb left on 27th street. it had a cell phone connected to it. authorities were able to exploit the cell phone for phone numbers

dialled in and other information on it. same thing with a cell phone attached to the device that was planted in seaside park at the 5k race that only partially went off, sort of fizzled out. that plus a fingerprint found on one of the unexploded devices and then the surveillance video police say shows rahami at the scene of the two places in new york city where bombs were placed on saturday night. these are still frames from that surveillance video that were released this morning. so that gave them a huge amount of evidence to work with. very rapid ly working investigation and now in custody. now the question, were others involved and we don't know yet. it's a key part to this investigation. >> if you could stand by, we have a new photograph. this is what i've been referencing. we've been able to identify this image of rahami on the ground. it's a gray top, very similar,

even though it's rolled up in the surveillance video. this is the image of the individual, ahmad rahami, on the ground there after this shooting incident involving police and going back, pete, just again to this exceptional nature of it and the police work that went in whether it was local or federal, when you think about it, so well, the compressed nature of what we're watching here this morning. people were remarking how, what, 8 million phones potentially went off with this alert saying this individual's name with a picture linked to that alert. that would put tremendous amount of pressure on any individual. there you are, millions of people, all collectively now looking at your face and your name and he's still in the area. >> so experience told law enforcement officials that this is the kind of thing that would likely happen if they made his name public and did so only after they tried for more than

12 hours to find him. remember that they believe up to three possible bombs were placed over the weekend. they found additional devices this morning in elizabeth, new jersey. they don't know whether that was another attempted boppimbing or attempt to get rid of stuff, closing in on him but you've got the u.n. general assembly, you've got somebody out there that could potentially plant more bombs. there was just an urgent, urgent desire to find him and get him shut down so they decided to make his name public well aware that would put additional pressure on him and might lead to something like this and now he's in custody. >> i understand there may be some video coming in as well of this individual on the stretcher but going back to and you know pete, better than anyone, 9/11 or other incidents, always a question about, does the system work? this investigation is not over by a long shot but certainly, pieces put in place to help the

system work and in this case, rather rapidly as this investigation goes on. >> well, think about this. the bomb parts were recovered from the street, flown down here to the fbi lab in kwaquantico aa fingerprint checked against the national database, phones exploited against a compressed urgent schedule to get evidence from the bombings. it's luck and skill. it's luck that the bomb that went off in new jersey on saturday did not go off very well. it was three pipe bombs attached together. only one of them went off and that one partially. there was a lot left to look at. luck that in new york, only one of the two pressure cooker bombs went off. luck that this person decided to set these bombs in a city that is bristling with surveillance

cameras and then the skill of the system to be able to exploit all these leads. >> it's been incredible just to watch, even in this last hour from when you reported a potential shooting in lyndon, new jersey. as you pointed out, 20 minutes or so, here we are with this information and confirmation that ahmad rahami in police custody. thank you so much. let me go over to cal perry. he has more information for us, cal, what do you have? >> we learn from the mayor of lyndon that the suspect rahami is now at a hospital that shouldn't take more than 5 or 10 minutes. as we look for a motive and start down that road, senior intelligence officials tell nbc news there is zero indication that there is any direction from isis and the quote they've given us is, quote, they should not be claiming credit for this since they don't deserve it. that doesn't mean by any stretch that isis is not going to sort of claim some responsibility.

that would be very typical of what we've seen in the past. so what we're moving into now is this area of isis inspired and specifically, are there anyone else, is there anyone else from this cell that we now know about out there and this is why we now know that this area around lyndon, new jersey, has been shut down by police, specifically, canine units on the scene and going and looking for more bags. we still also have this vehicle that people are looking out on the lookout for. that bolo, it's specific from 2003, a blue honda civic but from intelligence individuals, they believe there's no chatter, no direct link between isis and this attack, however, it could still very easily be an inspired attack and in some ways, that sort of more of a disturbing development. thank you, cal. let's go to ayman mohyeldin in lyndon new jersey still where this exchange of gunfire took place. the individual, rahami in

custody, shot two officers and injured, non-life-threatening in this case and what does the scene look like now? >> reporter: tamron, we try now to broadcast some pictures for you through our social media outlets and we try to give you a sense of what we're seeing. at this intersection where the shootout took place, you can clearly see the police markers. these are the blue cones used by investigators to mark the various shelling. and i would tell you from where they are marking, it's probably a good 15 or 20 meters. it seems that the shootout took place over the stretch of 20 meters and to suggest, perhaps that the suspect was trying to flee the scene from where it began. the the vehiclvehicles parked t there. as we showed earlier, there were dogs on the scene earlier sniffing some of the vehicles checking the area around. police seem to be more at ease

right now. obviously, the situation is under control. there's be no gunshots in the last 10 or 15 minutes since i've arrived on the scene. according to the mayor, the shootout took place at about 10:30 a.m. local time. it is also according to one eyewitness who filmed a little bit of that exchange. nothing really in particular powerful in the footage he showed but he did say that there were gunshots that rang out when he was trying to film that exchange of gunfire. and as we were reporting earlier, tamron, the mayor himself told us that the suspect has been shot, we believe, in the leg, has been transported away from the area where we are right now. and two officers have been injured. one shot as he was telling us, one was shot directly. that shot hit him in the tactical vest, in the gear he was wearing but he will be okay. another seems to have been injured as a result of shrapnel or fragments during that gunshot but was not directed or not the

target of direct fire according to the mayor that we spoke to a short while ago. >> i think we also have with us jim cavanaugh, fbi terrorism expert. you have this custody in taken alive and appeared he'll be able to be interviewed, interrogated, questioned by authorities here. if he is not the lone person responsible for this, how do police approach the next part of this investigation? >> the part under way is because they've been served a search warrant for a resident in elizabeth and affidavit likely sealed but certainly a lot of information out of there. computer, contact, ledgers, maybe bomb-making material. they've interviewed five people associated with them. they're going to know all of these associates. likely has another confederate or helper involved. could be done by one man but there's a lot of logistics to

this. even just delivering the bombs to manhattan. you can't park. we all know how tough it is. he might have had a driver going over there. so yeah, i think they're going to try to roll up his associates but his bombing terrorist career is over. he'll never be able to. >> jim, is it reasonable to assume though that he has sociabilities that would associates involved? why eliminate the possibility that this could be one individual with no support system or cell backing him? >> well, you're exactly right. he could be one person. there's no events that took place in manhattan or seaside park that one person could not have done. one person could have done this. but when you get into, say, inspired attack and internationally inspired terrorist attack, you can get confederates to join you. it's different than mental health issue or a revenge, it's

hard to list them in mass murder but when you get these inspired terrorist ideologies, you can get confederates and find like-minded confederates hall help you do that. so i think we have to look at this and in terms of task force, we'll look at this and who helps them maybe procure the materials, takes the bombs, transported them and helps them do anything along the way. it could turn out it's exactly right but could turn out that one or more confederates conspired or helped him along the way and so the focus of the joint terrorism task force will have to go to him. he'll be booked on federal warrants of terrorism and here's one of the good news things. he had knowlednot killed more t person. he's a loser. he loses everything he does. his bombs fizzle.

he loses his shootout. and now, you know, he's going to face justice in our courts, and we'll see who else is along wit though. that's just an assessment based on the logistics of doing what he did. >> but clearly the bomb -- and we can turn the video again over in chelsea. that could have turned fatal. thankfully it did not. but this individual's motive, we don't know the full story. however, that is a busy intersection with an explosive inside that could have turned deadly whether he's a, quote/unquote, loser or not. >> these all could have resulted in mass murder. but at some point he failed because either he couldn't make the circuitry right, couldn't solder the connections right, couldn't place the bomb right. he placed the bomb in the trash

bin or under it, it would have taken a lot of the blast and saved citizens from death and serious injury. all i'm saying is at every turn he failed at his goal of mass murder. they all could have resulted in mass murder, all of the bombs. but he failed at every turn in his goal. >> absolutely. thankfully he did fail in this attempt. jim cavanaugh, thank you very much. let's go back to ayman mohyeldin for more information from linden, new jersey. this is the latest image of the suspect involved in this -- police say involved in the bomb attack in chelsea as well as in jersey. ahmad rahami. we are told the mayor is now speaking. let's listen in. this again is the mayor of linden, new jersey. we are working to get the connection going to hear more of what he had to say or has to say

here. ayman mohyeldin is there and what can you tell us? >> reporter: as you can see, there was a short briefing taking place here by the mayor and local law enforcement official. they have shed light on what happened here and according to the mayor of linden, new jersey, he explained how this went down. it appears to be according to a tip the police received from an eyewitness who saw an individual sleeping in a vehicle parked on the side of the road. that individual, that eyewitness called police and this was a short time ago. as police approached the vehicle the man in the vehicle, according to the mayor, opened fire on the police officers. one individual, as we have been reporting, one of the police officers was shot. the other was hit by glass or perhaps shrapnel from the exchange of gunfire. according to the mayor of linden it began with a tip from a local

resident, a bar owner not far from where the vehicle was parked. he said he saw a man sleeping in his car. i'm not sure if he saw him as somebody suspicious but at least was troubled enough to call the police and when police arrived a police vehicle approached the suspect, the man sleeping inside the vehicle. that's what led to him being shot. >> we are looking for more information regarding why is suspect was there. how he ended up in linden new jersey. but how far is this from elizabeth, new jersey. his family owned a fast food restaurant there and they lived above it. >> reporter: we are two miles away. it was a ten-minute drive with no traffic. it is conceivable to understand why he would be here if he wanted to stay in the area if he

had a network of supporters or maybe accomplices. it suggests he was familiar with the area. his family has been here for a while. the mayor said this was a diverse neighborhood, a residential area where we are. it didn't take us long to get to the scene of the shooting once we learned it took place. a ten-minute drive. we don't know how long he was in his vehicle. it was not clear with whether it was there a long time. the bar owner noticed something suspicious about it. >> you may have made this clear and we missed it with everything going on. the vehicle police released the description of the car we posted earlier on the shows, is that the vehicle you saw near him or around there? >> reporter: i have not seen the vehicle.

it is not visible from where i am standing now. it is not yet clear and this was a question asked to the mayor, whether or not the bar owner who called the police tipped the police off because he was aware that was the suspect, the vehicle. i don't believe that was the case from the information i gleaned from the mayor. it seems he was either disturbed by the fact there was a man sleeping in a car. perhaps he peeked in there, saw something suspicious and called the police but it doesn't seem the tip that came to the police was specifically because this was the individual police had been looking for and issued a bulletin. we'll probably learn more in the coming hours as this public individual who tipped the police off comes forward with his story, talks to the media. as we understand it, it was his tip that let police approach the vehicle with caution, with suspicion and that led to the shoot out. i'm getting a note now just from the producer listening to the

mayor that the officer as he approached the vehicle tried to wake him up. he had a hand under his shoulder. when the come tried to, i guess wake him up, the suspect opened fire on him and that's when the shootout began. the mayor saying as a result of the tip that came from a civilian bar owner police approached the vehicle, tried to wake up the suspect. it was at that moment they tried to wake the suspect up in the vehicle that he pulled out a gun and opened fire at the police leading to the shootout. >> all right. some incredible details you have reported to us. pete williams is standing by. i believe we are going to pete right -- actually to congressman

jerry nadler. can you hear me? >> yes, i can. >> an incredible morning. when you look at the explosion in the chelsea neighborhood. waking up to more news of explosives found in elizabeth, new jersey. now a tip from someone who called authorities after seeing a suspicious vehicle and police walk up and the suspect is asleep. when he woke up, opened fire on the officers. thankfully nonlife threatening injuries. now the man is the focus of the investigation. >> the fbi, new york city police, other police and even citizens calling in tips resulted in this very rapid at least partial solution to this crime, this terrorism incident. >> and they are looking to confirm if he was acting with others or alone but to your point the system which has been

criticized by people in the past, a lot has been learned from whether it was the attack in times square to of course what we learned after 9/11. but today it appears at this hour and there is more to be done that the system, the federal, local, that it worked. >> it worked well from the time they found the second bomb and disarmed it before it was able to explode to clearing the area to getting the information, getting the bomb out in a safe vehicle, to getting the information from the bombment dna evidence, fingerprints, cell phone information. zeroing in on a few suspects and an individual suspect, broadcasting that information which resulted in a member of the public in linden calling the police and arresting the suspect all within a day and a half.

that's fantastic. now of course we'll interrogate the suspect. >> just to update the audience on where things stand now this individual, 28-year-old ahmad khan rahami taken into custody in linden, new jersey. okay. i apologize for what's happening here. we are getting a bunch of cross currents of information here. going to andrea mitchell. she will take over the coverage. ayman mohyeldin is standing by. andrea. >> thank you, tamron. a busy, difficult day for new york and the country. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," captured. the suspect in the new york and

new jersey bombings is captured. the latest bombs were discovered overnight. the suspect was shot and is en route to the hospital. president obama delivered a statement in new york city. we are expecting an update from new york city officials. i'm andrea mitchell in new york following late breaking developments after blasts that terrorized new jersey over the last three days. our team has it covered for you. ayman mohyeldin is at the scene in linden, new jersey, where the suspect was captured. pete williams following the latest of the investigation from washington and sean henry, formerly of the fbi and msnbc contributor in washington. ayman, first to you. >> reporter: i was just talking to captain james czarnecki who gave us a detailed account of what took place this morning and as the details come