what's the connection, is there a connection. right? >> reporter: of course. you know, it's hard to imagine when you look at it from the other side of the ocean that they're not connected but of course it's hard to say that for sure because of course the intelligence experts, the officials, the investigators are looking into this on the ground right now trying to figure out have there been any claims of responsibility here. this is of course less than a year after the charlie hebdo massacre in france. france is a hot bed of isis organizations. there's a very close pipeline. it's in it's there's travel between france and syria. forth between those two countries. that's been a concern for terrorism experts that we've been hearing about since that attack 10 months ago. now it would appear that we're in a similar situation but of

course it's hard to know for sure right now. the death toll still revising by the minute. when it comes to who is to blame that takes more time. >> of course the other question is, was the french president a target in this as well. we don't know that at this point. much happening over seas. thank you, josh. >> josh, thank you. joining us now on the phone is congressman peter king. what are you hearing about these attacks? >> well, even though there's nothing yet i say this has to be a terrorist attack. this has all the earmarks of it, the coordinated attack, the shootings and the bombing going off, the fact that the president was in the soccer state, now hostages being taken. this is very, very strongly coordinated. i would say this virtually has to be a terrorist attack, there's no doubt about it. >> congressman, do you think the french president was a target in this? >> i would think that it's

he was there since you have the coordinated attacks and the president being in the soccer stadium when the bomb went off. i would say, yes, you have to target. if not, it was a mass were planning. >> based on your knowledge right now of different terrorist groups out there, which groups do you think in france could be capable of doing this? >> it could be al-qaeda or isis. you've had thousands of french citizens go to syria to fight alongside isis and they can return back into france. >> okay. congressman, pardon me for inter rupting you. right now we want to go to a special report with abc news. >> okay, fine. a state of pan ic after at least three shootings in northeast paris where several people have been killed. at least 26 according to the

a shooting at a restaurant in northeast paris, another one near the route of cheron not far away where six bodies were found on site. i'm rear with brian ross. brian, we have to emphasize this is still an on going situation. there was explosions near where france was playing germany in soccer. the french president has been evacuated. there's on going situations including hostages at a concert hall. >> reports as many as 60 hostages being held. police don't seem to have a full handle of what's going on. this is exactly the kind of terror scenario the u.s. has long feared. coordinated attacks on soft targets. >> reports two gunman at one restaurant and another location five to six gunmen. >> a large team of terrorists

hit at the same time late in the evening on a friday night in paris causing great chaos in a city that's already shocked by what happened january at the charlie had he -- charlie hebdo. >> you see police around that concert hall right now still braced for more action. >> that's right. it's absolutely the time now when they're trying to figure out who they have, what they have, if there are hostages, are there negotiations, can they talk to there. that would be the primary concern immediately as people are being held hostage. >> the reports are at least three shootings in northeast paris. the associated press reported 26 dead, dozens more injured. separately a series of explosions near the stadium where france was playing germany in soccer tonight. yo you see the scene right there at a concert hall also in northeast paris. we're going to stay on top of this situation. a full report on world news tonight.

abc's life report of the situation in paris. the number of deaths has now gone up to 26. it could go even higher. hostage situation. we still don't know if there are people being held at gunpoint right now. >> it's a very frightening situation. diana, we mentioned 26 people dead. of course everybody remembers about what happened with charlie hebdo, terrorism on the minds of many today. >> yeah. >> let's not my -- let's now go back to josh. >> reporter: we have new information trickling in through the associated press. it's more detail about the numbers of the causalities that we've been hearing about. one particular location at a restaurant, 11 people were killed just at that location. there's also a report of 15 dead at a theater, a concert hall. it's not clear if

been told about at that location or a third site of this seemingly coordinated terror attack. there's a third report of a hostage taking going on. all of this is separate locations from the stadium, the french national stadium where there were reports of two explosions at a soccer match that was attended by the president of france. he is okay. it's not clear how many casualties have been unmasked at that location, at that stadium, which is not in central paris, north of the city of paris. a very, very large soccer stadium. the total according to the associated press at least 26. the reporting comes from just two of the locations and we've been hearing from as many as four sites where there was some

sort of attack. you know, all these numbers are very fluid and at times like this it's hard to sort through the clutter. that's what we have at this point. sade and diana. >> thank you. we're just getting information in that the nypd's critical response vehicles will be patrolling kilo indications in the area at the french consulate. the nypd does have a detective in paris right now. >> this is what happens in these situations is that the nypd will ramp up security in new york city around certain areas they have concerns about. also nypd sends a team over there to understand what happened, what went on in order to protect our city. >> reporter: the nypd not just might send a team there but they already have resources in hot spots throughout the world including a detective in paris

so no doubt that detective is gathering information to send back to one place plaza that could help them sort of steer their resources here in new york. you know, we see this sadly wherever there's a major incident over seas or elsewhere in the city the nypd has the most refined, the best homed set up to prepare to respond for something like that. it's not unlikely that we'll see a very large response of very heavily armed emergency service unit personnel gearing up and deploying at areas around the city. in fact, i can tell you that police commissioner bill bratton in the past year as a response to the charlie hebdo massacre developed a new unit called the strategic response group.

there's other officers who have been trained in tactical weaponry and they're able to patrol high areas and show a patrol of force to add to the spread of the law enforcement over lay they can provide in new york. potential targets here in new york. we actually now have new sound, another eyewitness from paris right there. let's listen to what this person saw. >> there was some people in cars that came into the bar. there's a lot of people being led out of the building right now by police. there's a lot of dead people. it's pretty horrific. it's difficult to

have this conversation right now, i'm not going to lie. >> reporter: a horrific scene for anyone to see. you're looking at brand new video that we received. you can see people running on the street. not sure where that is. it's one of the neighborhoods where all of this was just taking place. it actually looks like this was shot just early on before law enforcement, before police even could arrive there. this has been looped. just after you see those people running i think i could hear the sound of sirens coming. this was shot very, very early and there's one of the first ambulances to arrive on this particular scene. the homeland security department has released a statement saying they are closely monitoring the unfolding events in paris and they're in contact with counter parts in the region. they stress at this time that there's, quote, no specific or credible threat to the united states. but, of course, they won't hesitate to adjust security as appropriate to

protect the american people. of course a very robust presence of the u.s. government officials, fbi, cia already in france no doubt stationed there permanently along with as we said one nypd detective monitoring the situation from there. diana, sade. >> just to continue our coverage here, we are hearing -- >> okay, josh, i don't think you could hear me before. i think a lot of people as they look at these pictures -- you know, we've been told this is an brooklyn. i'm seeing the streets now relatively empty and closed off. it's kind of a different scene now that they closed off that area. >> reporter: diana, that's a very important point to put things into perspective for new yorkers. this is an area that

was recently redeveloped. it's become a very, very hot destination, hot place for people to live very much like a lot of neighborhoods in brooklyn actually. a huge demographic turn over in those neighborhoods. a lot of trendy new restaurants. it's a tourist destination now. a lot of americans walking around there. so there's -- yeah, you can imagine on a friday night the number of people who would be walking around there. >> and, josh, we know at this point nobody has claimed responsibility for this attack but clearly this was a coordinated effort. all of this happening at the same time. an ak-47 apparently used in one of the attacks. so clearly on the minds of many in terms of security there. was this an act of terrorism? >> reporter: i have new numbers that would potentially serve to start answering that question. we have new numbers. we're hearing now 35 dead at this

point in areas all throughout the city of paris. we are being told that there are 100 hostages currently being held. it's not clear where that is. we had been told that there was a hostage situation going on at a theater. we've been told there were 15 killed in that location. there's a fog of destinations of what's where. 35 dead, 100 people currently being held hostage in at least one, maybe more locations. >> josh, we're just looking at this picture here of the stadium. you can see people embraced in shock. the reports are coming in. people are views some -- viewing some of the information on their phones, through social media. a night of terror, a night of bloodshed. awful night for the people in paris. >> reporter: an awful night for

the people in paris and something that, you know, is obviously worthy of anyone's horror to begin with. here in new york you have to think about what the nypd is doing and what they do now to ramp up just to be on the defensive in case this is some sort of coordinated situation they need to be worried about. to that end i mentioned earlier this new unit called the strategic response group that commissioner bratton set up at the nypd. that's 350 officers taken from other units across the nypd and they've been specially trained in both disorder control and counterterrorism. so they're the ones who have been patrolling a lot of protest activity that we've seen but also they are trained in carrying out long weapons in their tactical gear. they're able to supplement the already pretty robust force of emergency services unit that in a

course fan out to high risk areas of a city like time's square and penn station. no that doubt is in the works if not already underway just to make sure. to be clear, the new york homeland security department told us there's no specific or credible threat at all that anything might be happening here in new york. of course, this being new york they can't take any chances. >> josh, as we look at that picture of the stadium there i'm wondering if police asked people to stay there for their own safety. it doesn't look like a lot of those people are in a rush to leave and get home. i almost wonder if that's what police are telling people, just to stay put. i would imagine that stadium was even more filled than the number of people on the field there. i'm making a guess and wondering if that's the case. >> reporter: i sort of had that thought also when i saw that video, diana. given that the president of france was in

if their security is anything like the u.s. security you would have to imagine that the interior of that soccer facility is pretty secure. people would have had to go through security, particularly given what france has been going through over the past year anyway. so perhaps you're right. perhaps there's something to that, that people were told to go on to the field and wait until further instructions. they're all on their phones trying to gather information. i'm sure it's remarkably nerve racking. it's not clear where these two reported explosions took place. it didn't happen in the stadium but how close was it, could people hear it? that's all the details we'll get soon. >> just to let viewers know, we are still getting much more information coming in literally moment by moment on this series of explosions that happened in multiple locations in paris, in france. the reports at least 35

we've been seeing that number go up and up over the last half hour or so. it started out as just, you know, a dozen or so and now we're up to 35 killed. there may be hostages being held in one location at this point. so that is the concern right now that this is not over, it is still a very active scene in paris, a very chaotic scene as authorities there try to determine what happened here in terms of is this a terrorist act. we do not know for sure at this point. indications are certainly that there is some terrorist involvement in this. are these events connected. we don't know that for sure at this point yet. clearly it does seem to point in that direction. we do have peter king, congressman peter king, on the phone with us right now. congressman, we have you live on camera here. good

to go back to what i asked you earlier because we had to break away to go to abc news. tell me who you think could be capable in doing this. >> part of al-qaeda or isis. nothing is definite. base d on what we've seen so far i would lean towards isis because isis has had thousands of french citizens go from france to syria to fight for isis. they can work their way back up into france. this has been the nightmare scenario all along that fighters would go there and back. there's a hostile population in france. it could be there affiliated with al-qaeda or isis. they're the two main candidates. i would lean towards isis. >> and congressman, can you talk about the temperament in paris right now.

to us about another terrorist attack there? >> the french police and security are very good. they have been ready for something like that. they could not stop this. if the french people with what they went through with charlie hebdo they built up a wall of strength and reserve. i would say that while there's an initial fear from this i think they will be more resolute and cooperating with authorities, to make sure there's no further attacks going to happen. it's a terrifying thing. it's a smaller version of what we went through on 9/11. it's a war on the streets of your city. this is so well coordinated, the shootings, the bombings, the hostage taken, the president of france being a potential victim and being able to get out in time. this could well be a city

that's why it's important that the police get control as quickly as they can. >> homeland security saying there's no credible threats against the u.s. but the nypd is ramping up here in new york city. if -- do you have any concerns about anything happening here in our area? >> well, first of all, you have no concerns about the nypd. they are the best in the world. having said that, they have to assume -- they always have to assume there's going to be a follow-up attack somewhere else and hope there's not. i can entire nypd is doing all that can be done. they always assume the worse at a time like this and that's how you have to be to prevent it from happening. >> have you heard anything more about president hollande? he was the incidents happened there. now?

various intelligence agencies. i believe if there's any talk of him being injured or wounded that would have gotten out. we should assume he's alive and well and that he is planning a counter attack if you will, planning a counterterrorism action against isis, against al-qaeda. also i assume he will be going to the communities where he thought this could have sprung from. >> i know this question is probably too early in the game but i wonder if there's any connection with what happened with jihadi john today. is these organizations? communication. i think it would be very difficult for them though to plan an attack like especially with the soccer stadium and the french president being there. now, this may have been an

attack which had the plans on the shelf and were ready to be used in case of an emergency and they looked on the killing of jihadi john of being the type that's required. right now i would say it's probably a coincidence because this is so well coordinated it would be difficult to put together on such short notice. >> thank you congressman peter king. appreciate having you here with us. josh, i'm wondering, do you have any questions for the congressman? >> reporter: i was wondering if you might be able to answer this question. we said the nypd has they have a detective on the ground in paris right now. do you know what that detective would potentially be doing right now as we speak in paris? where would he be or she? >> he would be talking to all his sources, the main sources at i can assure

you that this detective was in contact with all these sources, french intelligence, french police finding out anything about it and anything that could relate back to new york. that's what happened during the madrid bombing. the nypd was first on the scene, they were in immediate contact with commissioner kelly and changes were made to our transit system that day to stall any type of similar attack. that's what they're trying to find out here. how it was done and what we should be on our guard for as far as sporting events, broadway plays, anything of that type. >> thank you, congressman. >> congress man, thank you so we'll check back in with you. if you get any new information please let us know. thank you, again. we're getting a few

tweets that are coming in from governor andrew cuomo. he just said on behalf of all new yorkers our thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by the tragic and senseless attacks in paris. mayor de blasio said our heart is heavy with news from over seas along with all of new york city we are holding you in our thoughts and prayers tonight, paris. >> i think all of us are feeling that sense of great sadness there's so much loss of life in these series shootings and explosions happening in paris. again, the scene, the situation there still very chaotic. josh, i know you're keeping an eye on late breaking developments. >> reporter: they trickle in in large spurts and then it slows down. we have the information that we have, the astonishing information we were able to report about.

according to the associated press confirmed dead on the ground in central paris. as many as 100 hostages. we're not sure how many locations there are hostages being held, if it's just one. we know there were reports of hostages being taken in a theater, a music venue in paris. there's reports of an explosion at the stade de france, the soccer stadium in paris. there was a soccer match going on between france and germany that was attended by the president of france who has been evacuated and we are told is in a safe and secure facility. a attacks. seemingly coordinated on a friday night in a very

trendy and busy neighborhood. the news keeps trickling in . sgltsz -- >> i think we're all feeling saddened and our hearts are with everyone over there. to see this happening to a beautiful and wonderful city. it just hurts for all of us to see this. we certainly don't know how this is all going to play out over the next few hours. joining us now we have nick casel here at the desk with us, a former nypd first grade detective and security expert. what's your reaction first of all? >> the first information is this will be a coordinated attack. they hit three sites. they have hostages. they were fully armed. they know what they're doing. they have explosives. the paris police, the initial response will from the local prison. they're

going to bring in specialized units. they have to immediately try to contain it and be aware of other attack that is may be planned later on. as all the efforts go to these three sites also what's going to be there's hostages. >> they have a hostage situation right now. we don't know how many people are being held hostage. how do police handle that situation? >> difficulty with the hostage situation is you have to contain it and start some form of negotiation. they have to limit access to that area, secure the inner and outer perimeters and try to develop some form of dialogue with the hostage takers. as they're doing that they realize this is going to be a terrorist attack and they have to plan and get the resources there to immediately mitigate it but making some sort at some point of forced entry. they're going to have to do their plan.

>> right now we're told there's 100 hostages in this situation. what will that dialogue be? what will they be saying? >> from a hostage point of view 100 hostages is unbelievable. they have to rely on their instincts, their abilities. there's no play book that tells you how to deal with hostages. we saw this once before in russia. the idea again is to try to calm down the hostages and the incident right cut it off and make sure nothing comes in and try to neutralize it. get some communication going. try not to make it more fluid. >> recount my memory on that russian incident. i believe that was a theater, right? >> that was a theater, correct. >> i don't think that had a great ending. >> no, it didn't. one thing about our end

d my -- our enemies, they look at past successes. the police on the scene have to realize that, what went wrong, what went right and how to put this play book together. >> when you look at this and you look at these three attacks you believe are coordinated how much planning and how long have they been working on something like that in your mind? >> again, we are doing a lot of speculation here. we don't know all the facts. this is very early on. you clearly have dealt with this before. what's your taking on this? >> the police dealt with this in january with the charlie hebdo and also while that was going on if my memory serves me right we had the jewish grocery store blowing up. these multiple attacks are really stretch the resources of a police department. this was planned. everybody knew what to do so there was coordination.

the difficulty of situations like that and what's surprising is so many people had to know why informants didn't come forward, why eavedevelop -- eavesdropping didn't pick this up. this is an eye opener sadly. >> is there a difference between how european intelligence handles the fact that we do watch internet and we do watch conversations out there and not doing that as much in europe? >> no. the french police oo are excellent. we're not going to say just because this is an attack in paris or second attack this year in paris that the game. the paris police, i was there and they know what they're doing. the problem with their society is that they receive a

lot of these fundamental type of people and there's a lot going on in communities over there and it's a lot more demanding for them. all european countries are on top of their game when it we have to see how this plays out. i caution there may be more coming. >> you said there's already been three attacks. know if something else could happen. you have to be flexible in this kind of situation when force. >> right. you know, there's also -- the first thing you do in any incident like this is try to engage. after engaging then you have to have the rescue of those wounded. after that you have to establish a perimeter. you have to establish an interior perimeter which is going to be manned by your police at first and then relieved by your heavy weapons or specialized unit with which

you're going to have to start an investigative element to this. the detective element of this, the investigative element to this is got to start identifying these people, hitting search warrants on locations and start putting the evidence together. you know, airports, train leave. >> these are a lot of resources. they may need help >> right. they'll have a game plan book. i mean, they've done their red team, blue team exercises. so they're going to implement it. i mean, it's just -- you know, it's easy to develop plans as a reaction to an event. you know, implementing them takes a lot of effort. >> i want to add a couple pieces of information that we're getting in to abc news. unless france reporting this. these are multiple coordinated attacks, there may be up to 50 people dead at this point.

again, preliminary information. inside this concert hall there may be as many as 200 people being held hostage right now. up to 200 people. wow. >> now we're in the evening hours that makes everything much more difficult. tell us the strategy of officers in in situation. >> in the theater, we'll take that first. right now those terrorists -- i'll now call them terrorists. they're in there with their hostages. the problem is that they're getting their game together. are they going to booby trap door, hoping for a counter attack by police. police are aware of this. the police on their inner perimeter have to start making decisions. in order to make decisions they have to get resources there. they're calling in and flying in throughout the nation all their specialized services.

they will have a hostage or negotiation team, a heavy weapon's team and will get everybody over there. they're going to have to be very conscious in the fact that in the moscow incident with the widow bombers that there were live bombs in there. >> we're getting word that president obama has been briefed on the events in paris and spoke to president hollande today before the attacks to talk about the climate summit he was supposed to take part in november 29th to december 1st. he spoke to him right before the attacks. >> you know, right now i think the president has so much on his mind. i believe the story is coming out saying that he was at the stadium. >> he was at the stadium, right. >> his detail is concerned about his security but he also is going to go over to the command center there and he'll situation. >> yeah. i'm going to bring josh back in.

with us downstairs in the studios? >> reporter: i am. >> did you see the number about the death toll being higher and the hostages? >> reporter: i did. one thing that's trouble ing ing about that concert hall, diana is if you look on line at that concert hall you can purchase tickets for the show that was apparently scheduled to be on tonight. it was a 7:30 show. paris is five hours ahead of us. it was a show that was being performed by a california-based band called eagles of death, a metal band. i could go online and see the chance to purchase tickets for we haven't heard officially that that band was playing, that it was an american band but that is what you can find right now if you go on to the ticket sites that they were scheduled to be playing we have new video from the scene.

let me pause and show this to you right now. you can hear the chaos there after one of these attacks throughout paris. let me take a step back and tell you basically what we know at this point. it's scattered and there's a lot of information and it's difficult to sort through. there was a soccer match going on between france and germany at the french national soccer stadium that's a few miles north of paris. a soccer match going on attended by the president of france. there were two explosions reported at that location. it's not clear how many causalities took place there. the president of france was evacuated and anyone in the stadium it appears from video appears to be safe. at the same time there were at least two other mass shootings incidents, one at a restaurant and one next door.

these are trendy neighborhoods. it's unclear if that was a restaurant or at this concert venue where there could be as many as 200 hostages at this point. we have new sound that we have from eyewitnesses who have been in paris. here's what they have to say. >> i couldn't see anything. i just jumped to the ground. we were sort of held up in the bar because of the pile of bodies in front was too much for my wife to walk over. we waited inside until just now and we got let out.

>> reporter: multiple locations, seemingly all happening at the same time. these are some neighborhoods far very, very traen did -- trendy right now. it's 10:38 p.m. in paris. this started less than two hours ago. we're talking about the 9:00 hour on friday night in some trendy sections of the city of paris which have turned basically into a war zone. the police are trying to figure out are there suspects out there, are there gunman who are active shooters they need to find? there's at least one hostage situation that could have as much as 200 hostages we're hearing. a very complex and terrifying situation there in the capitol of france right now. sade and diana. >> thank you. we were just receiving word that president obama will be making a statement about the paris attacks that's supposed to happen around 5:45. right now let's go to marcus

consulate on the upper east side. there's been increased security there. i can see the officers behind you now, marcus. >> reporter: indeed. the nypd present here on 5th avenue outside of the french consulate. not the overwhelming police presence you might think. two officers stationed there standing guard. the consulate between 74th and 75th this is part of the response you will see from the nypd in situations like that. they will deploy additional officers not only to key areas, heavily traveled areas like time's square. they will be at place that is have a connection like french-owned businesses. there will be units patrolling there. it's all part of the nypd's strategic response group. it's

a group of 150 highly trained officers that will respond to situations like this. it's advanced disorder control and counterterrorism protection. there's cruisers in the area patrolling down 5th avenue. again, the first immediate presence we are seeing is two officers stationed at the front of the french consulate. we can see additional vehicles rolling up as we see across here. >> there an increased police presence in other parts of the city and where those are? >> reporter: we can expect that heavily trafficked areas, key tourist locations will have an increased police presence. there will be the patrols by french-owned businesses, anything with a connection to they will beef up

the nypd has a detective that's stationed in paris. you can bet he will be sending intelligence back to new york city and alerting officials they will assess the situation and take notes. >> thank you. now we go to time squares where dara miles is located. are you seeing an increased presence there? presence when there's something like that that happens internationally this is a place that the nypd

wants to assure is safe. i want to talk you through what you can see at time's square. we're going to walk around. you can see people going about their day, sitting here watching our live shot and looking north up times square. there's no credible threat. i do want to point out to you that this is one of those high risk places. normally on a high e vent like the dropping of the ball the nypd would have radiation detection devices in the area. the nypd typically has about 350 people assigned to the strategic response university, that counterterrorism unit that commissioner bratton announced in january. lots of visitors and people here watching just finding out what's going on in

paris. a lot of people don't know yet that there was an attack in paris. right now increased presence here in time's square, no threat. this is one of the place s that the nypd listen watching closely. >> darla, thank you. we want to bring you back into the conversation here. a few moments ago, nick, we were talking about the three attacks and you said two were a diversion and the main attack was at the theater. >> that's what it's starting to look like. you have the diversion area attack, especially where the president of the country is at. you have an attack there. that's going to send all your resources there. so that's a great diversion attack.

active shooter, someone who is engaging. they have to respond to that. they have to negotiate that situation. now you have the entry into the theater. 100 to 200 people there. >> what you would be looking at maybe sure that your theory would be accurate would be a events occurred, right? >> right. you want to take a the investigative units are going to put that together. you have to figure that the bombs that went -- >> nick, we've got to interrupt you once again. with -- we're going to go to abc news for more coverage on the president's

the president is being briefed right now. we have an on going hostage concert situation. i'm here with brian ross. this looks like a coordinated attack. the police are on the scene right now. >> this takes great sophistication to put together this kind of simultaneous attacks. >> [no audio] >> you can see the white house

president obama has also been briefed on this situation. earlier yesterday i was at the white house with the president and he was talking about the isis threat being contained. john carl in the briefing room. george, the president coming into the room right now. good evening, everyone. i just want to make a few brief statements about the attacks across paris tonight. once again, we've seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians. this is an attack not just on paris, not an attack just on the people but on the humanity and the universal values that we share. we stand prepared and ready to provide whatever assistance that the

france need to respond. france is our oldest ally. the french people have stood shoulder to shoulder with the united states time and again. we want to be very clear that we stand together with them in the fight against terrorism and extremism. paris itself represents the time less values of human progress. those who think that they can terrorize the people of france or the values that they stand for are wrong. the american people draw strength from the french people's commitment to life, liberty, we're reminded in this time of tragedy that the bonds of liberte are not only values of the people we care so deeply about but values that we share. those values are

going to be far beyond any act of terrorism or the hateful vision of those who committed the crimes. we're going to do whatever it takes to work with the french people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people. we don't know all the details of what has happened. we have been in contact with french officials to communicate our deepest condolences to the families of those who have been killed, to offer our prayers and thoughts to those who have been wounded. we have offered our full support to them. the situation is still unfolding. i have chosen not to call president hollande at this

he's having busy at the moment. i was by coincidence talking to him earlier today in preparation for the g-20 meetings. i'll be in contact with him and we'll help in any ways they think is helpful into the investigate -- into the investigate of -- into the investigation of what happened. this is a heart-breaking situation. we here in the united states know what happens wherever these attacks happen. we have been able to count on the french people to be with us. they have been a counter part in the fight against terrorism. i'm sure that days ahead we'll learn more exactly about what happened and my teams will make sure that we are in communication with the press to provide you accurate information.

speculate at this point in terms of who was responsible for this. it appears there may be live activity and dangers that are taking place as we speak. so until we know from french officials that the situation is under control and we have more information about it i don't want to speculate. some of president obama there in the white house briefing speaking about a heartbreaking situation. we know at least 40 dead. right now the most serious situation hundreds of people for a heavy metal concert with reports of hostages inside. >> this group already proving they will kill and that causes police to take action to go in there and not to wait it out. >> some reports already on twitter of people coming out covered in blood.

to brad garrett, former fbi expert and hostage situation negotiator. >> well, brian has it exactly right, they're not going to wait to go in. however, there is a point where do you have enough intelligence to go in and minimize the number of hostages that are killed and take out the bad guys. things like george have a mind in place. are there booby traps, all sorts of issues that the police and special operations teams would have to deal with if they enter the theater. how are you going to do that? you have to send in cameras and make a decision. >> i remember talking to you after the charlie hebdo attack on that grocery store, that deli in paris where hostages were being held and the police did go in. >> that's exactly right. you remember i told you at that point, george, this is not a

this is not about getting a hostage negotiator and trying to talk your way through. you might talk to them so see if you can gather more intel. the key here is time, what do we know and can we minimize the number of hostages that could be killed. >> would we seem if they got any indication that there was shots fired inside they would go in? >> probably. what do you have to lose at that point? one or two shot that's a different story. multiple shoots, that's entirely different. what's going to happen is they probably feel like they've got to barricade an audience. they want us to talk about them for a little while, the bad guys do. as a result what's going on is to collect all the intel that you can and then when it does you erupt because it will at some point then you make your entry. >> i want to go to john carl in the white house briefing room. president obama came into that briefing room.

to go to paris in a couple of weeks for this huge climate change conference as well. >> that's right. he's scheduled to be in paris at tend -- at the end of the month for two days. a large u.n. conference on climate change. the president mentioned he spoke to president hollande today to talk about that summit. the president is leaving on a trip to turkey and then asia tomorrow afternoon. first on the agenda in turkey would be a meeting about the threat of isis. terrorism very much front and center with the president. one big question is what happens in that trip and that big summit in paris. >> you are looking at scenes from paris right now. the mayor of paris is asking everyone to stay at home. right now police in the street as this hostage situation is developing. brian ross, this is the kind of situation homeland security officials here have been worried

about as well. multiple attacks on soft targets. >> that's right with no real advanced warning. isis over the summer said we're slaughtered for the streets of paris. they have done that a lot though. in this case they went off restaurants, concert halls. it appears to be extremely well planned so the police are at a disadvantage. they don't have the opportunity to have timing to make plans. >> we are seeing the police on

right now. >> it doesn't mean they directed by isis or al-qaeda but could have been waited for a trigger. >> it's coordination. four, five, six, seven, more maybe money gunmen involved in this attack. that's the trademark of a terror group like al-qaeda or isis. >> what can you tell us? >> well, you know, everything indicates this as others have said a well-coordinated attack that was planned for some period of time. it doesn't appear this was in direct retaliation for the jie had did john strike. this appears to be well planned. it is reminiscent of the 2008

hundreds dead. >> what is going on right now? >> they are scouring reports looking for any sign of any warning of this type of attack. that would help the intelligence committee understand who might be behind it. right now they're looking at any reporting that would have signalled that this was in the works. >> as the president mentioned, france is one of our older allies. they have been on the defense since the attacks at charlie hebdo. >> that's right.

stop an attack like this as this democrats. >> john carl, you mention that -- mentioned that the president was scheduled to go to turkey tomorrow morning. does it seem like it's full speed ahead? >> yeah. they said in change to your travel plans and i've seen no indication that his travel plans are changing. the big question will be in two weeks, in huge summit in the part of paris. 120 heads of state gathering in paris, the question is what will be going on with that. i imagine some enhanced security at the very least. >> brian ross, president obama just emphasized this is an on going situation right now. we just learned the french president hollande has closed all the french borders. >> that's right. there's an attack and the french president

is shutting down the country. >> shutting down the country. he was in the stadium this evening in paris. france verses germany, a huge soccer match >> they got him out safely. they don't know what's gop -- what's coming next. >> closing the board rders right now, gunmen in several locations what more can we do as president obama said he wants to provide anything possible to france. >> the u.s. will make sure that any intelligence that we have of any use is being shared directly with the french and that information is being shared in realtime. i think the other thing that's going to happen, george, is that we're going to be putting our own defenses on a

something that this could be carried out here in the united states. >> i want to go to our reporter on the scene. what can you tell us about what you're seeing there right now? >> reporter: well, we definitely feel the state of emergency right now in paris tonight. i'm about five or six blocks away from where the hostage situation is taking place. they closed the area so i can't go any further. the police -- we actually see french forces as well on the streets of paris tonight. there's about 100 people behind me watching and it's unclear what exactly is happening. we've heard reports that 200 people right now could be in the concert venue. >> have you seen anyone come out of the concert venue right

at the scene?