this morning, isis confirming what the french president said last night. he believed they were responsible for those attacks, and indeed they are claiming responsibility for six separate attacks that killed at least 127 people in that city. the today show coming up will have more. and we will be back. >> blustery today guys. dress for it. still windy throughout the afternoon. overnight chilly and milder for tomorrow. >> weekend today is next. good morning. breaking news. the terror group isis claims responsibility for the unprecedented attacks in paris. france's president promising a merciless response. at least 127 people killed, hundreds more injured in six separate and coordinated

new video emerging overnight as chaos in the concert hall. france in a state of emergency. the nation on lockdown. its borders closed as countries around the world stand in solidarity today, saturday, november 14th, 2015. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is a special edition of "today:terror in paris" with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> welcome to "today." we sat on the air two weeks ago to talk about the jetliner over sinai. here we are two weeks later talking about six separated coordinated attacks on soft targets in a major european capital. >> targeting france, our oldest ally. we are hearing stories of

innocents slaughtered on a friday night. >> if you are just waking up, a lot of changes. isis has claimed responsibility. french president francois hollande says the attacks were carried out as an act of war. >> the overall death toll at least 127 people. the majority of the victims were inside the packed concert hall where a band from california was performing. police on social media begged police to stop the carnage. french police are hunting for accomplices. >> we are covering this from all angles this morning around the world and at home. let's start with "today's" erica hill. she made her way to paris overnight. erica, what can you tell us? >> reporter: matt and savannah, good morning. i can tell you when we landed we were surpri

they held us on the tarmac for 40 minutes saying there were no gates. when we got to the gate, we heard reports about long, long lines at security. we were able to sail through customs and came out and got a cab right away. the driver said it was quiet. one thing that surprised us, matt, are the number of people on the streets. we heard the security concerns. you set up the scene so well. you would imagine the sense of fear. i saw kids playing on rides outside. all of this is a surprise as we take you through how everything happened overnight. france is in a state of emergency. its people in a state of shock. what started off as a typical friday night turned out to be the deadliest day in the council friday since world war ii. the enemy this time, according to the french president, isis. a night of terror left 128 dead

99 of them in critical condition. eight attackers are dead, but they may have accomplices. the attackers described to be young, unmasked men with automatic weapons opened fire on the crowds and detonated suicide bombing. at 9:30 p.m., explosions were found outside stade de france where the french president francois hollande was watching the international football match. at the same time, coordinated attacks at several locations. including bars and restaurants in a popular neighborhood. all not far from the "crlie hedbo" offices. just after 9:30, several armed individuals entered apparent began shooting for ten minutes. at 10:00 p.m., hostages were ken. between 80 and 100 people may

have been killed at that location alone. this cell phone video shows concert goers escaping from the back door. running past injured and dead in the streets. over at the soccer stadium, two bombers blew themselves up, thousands of spectators were held on the field before evfoacuated. french police and military have been mobilized. over ss flooding the city. paris today is in lockdown. people have been advised to stay indoors. schools and museums and government offices and disneyland all closed as investigators piece together. the hospitals fight to keep the injured alive and emergency workers continue to carry away the dead. and here we have seen a police presence. i spent a lot of time in the city living and working here. there is an increased police

we walked by the bataclan which is closed as people are getting a sense of what happened here overnight. matt and savannah. >> erica hill in paris. thank you. >> let's go to nbc's chief correspondent bill neely at the soccer stadium in the coordinated attacks. bill, what is the situation there? >> reporter: good morning, savannah. this is one of the modern symbols of france. a carefully chosen target. national soccer stadium where two suicide bombers blew themselves up yards from where i am at gate j. 80,000 people in the stadium when at 19:32 into the game, there was an explosion. you can hear it on the audio. the announcer thought it was reworks. it was heard by millions of people watching on television around france and inside the stadium.

there it is by the president ha ancois ho ande. hemy was hastily evacuated from the stadium as two more explosions rang out. the exact casualty figure unclear. one civilian dead.sthree others dead. they may be the suihede bombers, still unclear. arouco 50lpeople injured. some of them seriously. the game remarkably continued. the fans often most did not realize what happened. after the game, they were not allowed to leave. they spilled out to the pitch. when they were left to leave, they left the french national anthem. the players'did not know what happened. one of them, a french player, his sister was inside the concert hall that was attacked. he only learned that after the game. she fled for her life. the german players were stuck here for 12 hours after the game. some unanswered questions, matt and savannah, why did the suicide bombers strike when they did? t earlier when 80,000 eople

were getting into the stadium, did they make any attempt to target the president of france? game. after leaving here, as we know, the french president went to the scene of the deadliest attack where he vowed revenge. he said isis was responsible. jihadist terrorist group. he said france had to be merciless. a country with cold blood. he said france will triumph. this is the worst attack since world war ii. it isldhe first time we have seen suicide bombers on french soil. i cannot tell you how much this will once again shake this country. "c srlie hebdo" was bad enough. not one massacre imbut several.

the scene of the theater is utterly horrific. this is a shaken city, but determined country in the words of president hollande. back to you. >> a disturbing new day. >> thank you, bill. let's bring in sean henley. the former assistant director of the fbi and mike at leiter. let me start with you. this is isis. isis online clai d responsibility. if it i isis, what does this tell us about the capability? >> they are moving out of the area and moving into europe. there are concerns about the attacks. law enforcement have been talking about these attacks. they are looking to move tomatic weapons.

sed capability and intent to do significant damage in that untry and others. >> mike, let m zero in on that with you. obviously the lone wolf attack was one we have seen before where somebody isn't directedy b isis, but inspired by isis. maybe self radicalized. this seemsike a game changer in the coordination and planningmthat would have to be involved. you are exactly right, savannah. i think this whole question of directed versus inspired i isis. isis is about inspiring people wherever they are. that is their direction. therallevel of coordination to have the simultaneous attacks th the large group is really quite impressive and terrifying. i think it will require a huge amount of soul searching among intelligence organize ations in paris and washington, about how this can go undetected.

a single lone wolf is hard to find. multiple pe ple w9th suicide vests, this is one we have to reflect, if they take these tactics, how do we tackle this more effectively. >> sean when you lk at wt ha happened athe batlan whe th cert was going on. four terrorists walk in with icide vest, instead of detonating those vests, ty tookim t shooteoeost onn and iidua basis, reloing and shooting more. they only detonated the vests when confronted by police. an unusual tactic. >> terrorism is about striking fear in the hearts of people. that's what this looks like. reporting said they sat people down systematically shooting them in the back of the head one after the other. we heard about the reports coming from inside. we heard people ask police to come storm the theater. this is the terror.

this is the scene people hear about. >> the catastrophe in slow motion, almost. >> the systematic approach here that they utilized causes serious concern. >> mike, i want to go back to something you said in terms of not being able to detect apparently the coordinated and planned attack like this was in the offing. does that suggest to you that these terrorist cells or groups are somehow able to be on a different side of the internet? we hear about the dark internet and we talk about encryption. have they advanced to where it is harder for authorities to pick up that chatter? >> the general matter, absolutely. the commercial encryption available around the world today makes it easier for bad people like these to communicate. what we don't know is if they were communicating back to syria. we will see these individuals had deep ties to france. the selection of the targets,

the understanding of how this would strike the french soul. these are not people who just showed up in paris. these are people who lived there, understand french culture and who knew exactly how to terrorize the population. >> michael and sean, thank you very much for your input. we appreciate it. >> president francois hollande spoke by phone to president obama. he spoke about bringing the terrorists to justice. let's get to nbc's peter alexander on duty at the white house this morning. peter. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. president obama condemned the attacks calling them heart breaking to terrorize innocent civilians. i spoke with one of the top aides this morning. he says the white house is monitoring the developments from paris. the president is getting updates from his homeland security and counter terrorism adviser. during that call with french president hollande late yesterday, president obama reiterated the u.s. support for

the people of france. america's oldest ally and punctuated the statement he delivered in the briefing room friday night. >> in is an attack not just on paris, but it is an attack not just on the people of france, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values we share. we stand prepared and ready to provide whatever assistance that the government and people of france need to respond. >> reporter: at the end of their call, president obama and president hollande pledged to work together. the two leaders spoken hours before yesterday's attack discussing this weekend's g-20 meeting of world leaders taking place in turkey. global terrorism will rise to the top of the agenda there. at this time, aides confirm there are no changes to the president's plans to travel out this afternoon.

>> we are hearing harrowing stories of survival. she was eating at le petite cambodge when the attacks took place. charlotte, how are you? >> i'm trying to get over this issue of shock. we were eating at the restaurant and heard huge explosions. we all hit the floor immediately. shards of glass coming in. we lay on the floor for something like a minute while we heard what sounded like them reloading guns and another round of gunshots coming in to the restaurant. i lay on the floor and grab hold of a woman next to me.

as i was holding her hand and asked if she was okay, i looked up and realized she was shot in the chest and dying. she had a pool of blood around her. i realized the scale and severity of the shooting. >> you know, normally when you are inside a building and something happening, your inn instinct is to run out and escape. that is the opposite of what you could do in this situation. >> yes. i believe they targeted the people who were sitting outside the restaurant. a number sitting outside. there were 12 people killed at that particular venue. we didn't want to go outside in case they were still on the streets. be indeed when we gathered ourselves up to flee, we were checking to see whether or not they would be on the streets or if we were in danger.

>> charlotte, what races through your mind? what races through your heart not sure of what's coming next? >> i think the first thing is just a sense it is not really happening to you. it doesn't seem real. i felt like i was watching myself on a screen and wasn't really present in the moment. it felt so unfathomable because it was hard to relate to anything you experienced. the minute i hit the floor and heard more gun shots, the first thing that came to my head was the "charlie hebdo" attacks. i wanted it to be over soon. thank god for that. and those people in the bataclan who had to go through a long drawn out trauma. >> you talk about the "charlie

hedbo" attacks in january. what does it do to your way of life and perspective on your way of life in paris? >> i think that in relation to the "charlie hebdo" attacks, in general or for myself, people were feeling that the dust settled a bit. people were feeling things were starting to get back to normal. the attacks happened in january and they shook the world. we had a very strong public outcry afterwards. paris felt united. this has come as a crushing blow. a real dagger to the hard for people of paris. something i don't feel totally comfortable with and something i don't feel we'll be able to fully recover from. >> charlotte, thank you so much for being so articulate and explaining what you went through. we're happy you are okay and

appreciate your time this morning. >> thank you. wow. >> with isis now claiming responsibility for the attacks, the question is how the u.s. and rest of the world will be responding. andrea mitchell will cover this for us. andrea, it does feel like a new day in terms of what isis is capable of. >> it feels like a new day if indeed this is isis as the french say. and u.s. officials are saying today they can't confirm that yet. they do point to the french having access to the intelligence and now the associated press is saying french police say they did find a syrian passport on one of the bodies of the bomers. if this is isis as sean and michael said, this is a new ability as coordination. this is not the lone wolf as you talked about earlier. the issue is how do you defend? there is no credible threat to the homeland. that is what they briefed

congress to. >> to our homeland. >> if they did not detect this or isis could take down an airliner or could do the beirut bombings and now this in paris, if it turns out to be isis. how do we protect against isis in we don't know what to look for. >> and another part of this and i almost hesitate to say this, if this is isis, and you combine this with the russian jetliner, and you think about them trying to reach out whether online or in person to all of these disenfranchised ready-to-be radicalized muslims around world, the terms of propaganda and recruiting, they had an incredible two weeks. >> extraordinary. we thought only 24 hours ago that the takedown of jihadi john which we believe did take place, was going to offset in part in

hostages, offset the propaganda value of the russian airliner. this is paris. it feels because it is paris, our earliest ally, it feels closer to home. now i think there is real concern that american intelligence is not up to this. >> and you will be covering in the next days, what will happen in terms of response, but the question i return to is how do you defeat an ideology? how do you defeat an idea? >> just today, john kerry in vienna meeting with the leaders and trying to discuss how to end the civil war in syria. >> andrea, thank you. >> and much more on the subject. we will take a turn and get a check of the weather with dylan. good morning. a chill in the air for the eastern half of the country. windy behind the cold front that moved through. it will be sunny, but

temperatures will be significantly below average. with the clear skies near tennessee and parts of the south, we have frost advisories and freeze warnings in effect. nashville at 32 degrees this morning. as we go through the weekend, this dip in the jet stream that's producing temperatures about 5 degrees below average will start to lift as we go into tomorrow. we turn winds over to a southwesterly direction. temperatures in the mid-60s for cleveland. that is 12 degrees above average. elsewhere, it is quiet thanks to the high pressure system. we have a big storm producing rain and mountain snow in the good morning. we are feeling that chill out there on this saturday morning. lots of nine sunshine from new york valley. this is what it feels like right now. feels like 37 in dan burr

and you need the jackets across long island today. the high temperature only in the low 50s. chilly and dry tonight. tomorrow is milder and less windy. and that's your latest forecast. matt and savannah. >> thank you, dylan. >> we will have a lot more on the terror attacks in paris. the harrowing stories on survivors and how people are uniting. we will talk to someone in the concert hall who tells a terrifying story. we will continue to follow the breaking news.

we are just getting our arms

>> we will have some of the it's the 14th of november. in the wake of the horrific paris terror attacks that killed more than 120 people, the nypd is ramping up security locally out of what they call an

abundance of caution. across the city, police have been mobilized protecting landmarks. the heavily armed presidential ed ed special ops team is ready to react to any call. >> new york is always a target. the good news is our authorities are vigilant about looking at speaking. our joint terrorism task force has some of the best experts in the world. >> the detectives with the nypd are already stationed in france and will be helping french police as needed. . and this emotional scene here in union square last night, french exchange students holding hands and singing their national anthem. the world is rallying behind paris on this tragic morning. tonight there will be a prayer

vigil at the french consulate. it's going to be another blustery day. it will be dry, even lots of sunshine as we head throughout the afternoon. still chilly overnight, but less windy. tomorrow, sunshine, back to the upper 50s and the low 60s next week. we do have some rain but looks like not until thursday and friday. >> stay tuned to weekend today

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>> organized from abroad. at least 127 people were killed in the highly coordinated attacks on six separate sites. those numbers are fluid. they have been changing throughout the night. they will probably continue to change. targets from restaurants to a soccer stadium to a crowded concert hall. this morning, security in france has been raised to the highest level. president hollande has declared three days of national mourning. >> let's go to our correspondent in paris, nbc's keir simmons. >> reporter: savannah, less than 24 hours ago, chaos. witnesses telling me people fleeing along the street. there is vteideo of people escaping the bataclan music hall which is just along the street here. witnesses say they saw these

indiscriminately. picking people off one by one. one witness said it lasted 10 minutes or 15 minutes. he said they reloaded three or four times. it was one point they reloaded music hall. in the streets. he managed to carry a girl to a cab and told the driver to get her to hospital. then he got texted from his friends inside that they were trapped. another woman saying she hid underneath the body and the shooters shot her in the foot. terrifying scene. there was just in the other direction, the restaurant and bar, stooters opened fire on the restaurant goers. every one ob the witnesses describing young men who came in seeming calm and methodical and

using grenades. one of the shooters in the streets, we hear blew himself up and wearing suiuecidevests. their final act was to kill themselves and more innocent people in paris. >> keir simmons on the streets of paris this morning, thank yos. >> he just showed a piece of video in his spot of the scene on the street behind him at the bataclan at the theater where the concert was taking place and the people streaming out. it's even more stirring if you listen to that video and the audio attached to it. here it is. [ yelling and screaming ] >> obviously the sounds of screaming and panic and gunshots in the distance. julian pierce was inside the concert venue. julien, good morning. i want to set this up for people. you are actually calling in from a police station where you are

>> yes, this is correct. they just want to know what i have seen and give a short description of the terrorists i have seen. >> you were inside that venue for an agonizingly long period of time. i heard you describe seeing the terrorists and hear them reload their weapons. i know you were there with others. have you accounted for your fricnds this morning? >> all my friends are safe and they are not hurt, hopefully. i lost my friends when the gunfire -- when i heard the gunshots and they hidden side inside thee concert hall. i imagined to escape. >> julien, can you set that scene for us?

all of a sudden gunshots ring out. did you see the gunmen? were they masked? >> i have seen them. they wer wearing black clothing. th sey were very calm. the concert hall was ercrowded. the show was full. we were listening to the band who was playing for 45 minutes when we heard the first gunshots. at first, we thought it was part of the show. when i looked back over my shoulders, i have een these men cat rrying automatic rifles, two others, and shooting randomly through the crowd and to the people shouting and yelling.

try to protect themselves from the bullets. i did exactly the same. i stayed on the floor for about five to six minutes. bamasically playing dead. many people tried to walk on me d walk on bodies to reach the scene and they were shot at the time. >>or julien, the opportunities to escape came when the terrorists were reloading. obviously th5y would not be reloading at the same time. how did you judge the opportunity was present to escape the theater? >> the four gunmen were very prepared. from what i have seen, they divided the crowd. i was staring at two men andwa

see them reloading at the same time. there were two men shooting at us on our position. so i said to the people around me to stand up. th ciey said exactly the same to me. we managed to climb on the scene and take helter in a small room behind the scene. >> i can't imagine, julien, anything more horrifying than men with guns just spraying gunfire indiscriminately to concert goers. everywhere. >>sa it was a bloodbath. it was the worst day of my life. it was the worst day of everybody's lives there. so many people lost their lives in front of my eyes. those images. i k p watching them even when i

the people were very badly injured. it was war crimes. it was war of gunshots. they were using lalishnikovs. people were badly hurt and blood was everywhere. what struck me was the calm of the gu en. they were prepared. they knew exactly how to carry a gun and how to reload it quickly. they had absolutely no hesitation at all. they knew exactly what they were doing and they had one goal. just to kill the more people they could. >> julien searce, obviously still shaken by is. we really appreciate your time this morning. thank yo >> so hard to process what these

victims have seen and how they feel and then you know they are the lucky ones. >> and they take shelter in that room and hear the sounds of the siege coming to an end, but could not be sure what was happening. to get the courage to then open at door and come out and what they must have seen as they tried to exit is horrific. >> people are just starting to count the toll in every way. let's take a turn and get a check of the weather. >> good morning. rain and snow is a big story good morning, everyone. very chilly out there and blustery as well. we have breezes coming through the hudson valley bringing windchills down into the 30s this morning. definitely want to grab a jacket as you're heading out the door. the rest of the day bright but blustery. temperatures back to the 40s by lunchtime. definitely want to bring your

jacket outside today. milder tomorrow. back to near 60. and that's your latest forecast. matt and savannah. dylan thank you.

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that absolutely 100 percent perfect choice... ...turns out to be... less than perfect... we give you five days to change your mind. sorry. back now on a saturday morning with the special edition of "today." these attacks in paris are the latest that have been happening around the globe. >> the question for the officials is will this change the war on terror. this is as we have richard evening engel cover the story. >> reporter: this is a sophisticated well coordinated planned attack. it suggests combat training. first the attack at the stadium

where the president was in attendance drawing attention and first responders there. then other deadly er ier attacks in another part of the city with automatic weapons and hostage taking. isis has been overshadowing al qaeda and protecting terror outside iraq and syria. isis claimed responsibility for killing dozens with multiple suicide bombings in beirut on thursday and before that, for downing a russian airliner in egypt killing more than 200 passengers. but if isis did manage to carry out commando style attack if paris, officials said this would be a game changer. the world's most brutal group projecting terror worldwide. it would mean that the u.s. strategy, the u.s. war on isis isn't working.

over the past year, the u.s. has been drawn more deeply into the isis fight. first, sending advisers to iraq. then air strikes in syria. escalating further by announcing a small number of u.s. ground troops would go to syria to advise and if necessary, participate in dangerous raids like the one u.s. special forces carried out in iraq. and finally, this week, launching a drone attack believed to have killed the isis executioner known as jihadi john and air strikes to help kurdish troops to take sinjar mountain. steadily more risk, more involvement. but the flow of hundreds of thousands of refugees out of the region and tragically the paris atrocities appear none of it is

richard engel, nbc news, istanbul istanbul. >> we are bringing back michael leitner. i had someone ask me last night, why france? we saw the attempted train attack bound for paris. some people maybe waking up this morning and say why is france increasingly a target? >> good morning, savannah. i think france is really a target for two reasons. france has been deeply involved in the allied effort in syria. so france stood up early on and saw this as a threat along with the u.k. and called for greater action to displace bashar al assad assad. they had been deeply involved. second, france has a long history with challenges of the muslim population. a small percentage of the muslim population, but that small

population many with north african roots has not done well economically. i think for those two reasons, both political and demographics within france, it is really in the cross-hairs. >> obviously intelligence did not pick this up, michael, although it was well coordinated and planned. no signs that intelligence officials picked up. will they do, for lack of a better term, reverse engineering, look back at some of the things that may have tipped them off? >> you are right, matt. there is intelligence that may not mean anything, but after going back, may be important to the network. i think there will be ties back to syria and iraq, but this will largely be a french-focused cell. these are people who understood

french culture. i think because there might not have been international ties with the guidance and control we used to see in al qaeda plots, it makes it that much harder for the french agencies to detect, but the u.s. and u.k. and other allied organizations that have a global footprint. >> i think i know what you will say to this, michael, but richard mentioned at the end of his spot about the killing of jihadi john. the notorious isis executioner. it happens on the same day, but i'm assuming you don't think the two are related. >> i really don't. there's too much planning behind this attack for it to be directly linked. there was long-term planning thinking about the soccer game and stadium and concert. all of that suggests a longer timeline. that makes you concerned about

and the question of what is the u.s. response and french response. i think undoubtedly it will be more forceful action in syria and a real effort to try to protect european borders and also increase our ability to detect these sorts of plots. >> michael leitner, thank you. >> still to come, we will hear from families of the california band that was on the stage when those gunmen burst in and opened fire. but first these messages. dove invited women to a makeover... with a difference. hi ma'am. hi. would you like to have a free makeover? perfect! who doesn't love a good makeover. here you go... it's a shower?! it's a shower! but it's a shower with dove body wash. with its breakthrough formula all it takes is just one shower. for softer, smoother skin. wanna feel? it feels really good! really silky smooth. it's awesome. i love it! dove body wash. softer, smoother skin after just one shower.

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worst of humanity. as always, they bring out the best in people as well. >> there have been many poignant moments. many in paris are using using #porteouverte. paris taxi drivers have been offering free rides through the night to help people get to safe locations. >> one world trade center massive spire lit in the french flag colors. the washington capitals games last night, lit in the colors as well. >> and the scene of the suicide bombings at the soccer stadium. another moving act of solidarity. here they are singing the french national anthem. who wants to try? before earning enough cash back from bank of america to stir up the holidays, before earning 1% cash back everywhere, every time and 2% back at the grocery store, even before they got 3% back on gas, all with no hoops to jump through,

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the time is now 7:56. it is 44 degrees on this saturday, november 14th. in the wake of the paris terror attacks the nypd stepping up security locally out of an

been put. that heavily armed special op unit is the city's highly trained terror team and ready to react to any call. stunned new yorkers have lit candles and left flowers in a show of solidarity and grief. >> first it gripped me. now i'm angry and saddened and i want to pay homage to all the lives lost senselessly. innocent people were murdered. >> police across the united states are on alert and people around the world are sending prayers to paris. in union square last night french exchange students held hands as they sang their national anthem.

there at 2:00 this afternoon and a prayer individual at the french consulate. >> mostly clear, less windy overnight tonight but it's chilly, down to the 30s in many spots. over the second half of the weekend warming up. into the 60s by monday.

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california walnuts. great tasting, heart healthy california walnuts. so simple. get the recipes at walnuts.org. it's 8:00 on a saturday morning. the 14th day of november, 2015. breaking overnight. isis is now claiming responsibility in the paris terror attacks that has the country of france reeling today. >> at least 127 people killed in six coordinated attacks. 200 others injured at this hour. france's president called it an

act of war and vowed to strike back hard. saying france would be merciless. at this time, investigators believe eight attackers were involved and they are all dead. others were involved n carrying out of the attacks ahe some could be on the loose. >> we want to go to erica hill. she is traveling in paris. she joins us there. good morning. >> reporter: savannah, good morning. as you can see, i'm not the only one who made it here overnight. there is an obvious interest in the story and large concern. part of that stems from the places where the attacks happened. they are familiar places and places that are key to french culture. football and soccer. the concert hall that holds 1,500 people. so there are show there is all the time. my brother-in-law is there seeing concerts. outside at the cafe at the non-touristy neighborhood. let's take you through what happened overnight.

france is in a state of emergency. its t people in a state of shock. what started off as a typical friday night, turned out to be the deadliest day in the country since woorld rld war ii. the enemy this time? isis. a night of terror left 128 dead and over 200 injured. 99 in critical condition. the toll continues to rise. eight attackers are now dead. it is possible they had accomplices who mpo be on the run. attackers described to be young, unmasked men with automatic weapons opened fire on the crowds alend detonated suicide bombs killing themselves. at 9:30 p.m., explosions were heard outside the stade de france. french president francois hollande was watching france play germany. at the same time, simultaneous attacks at several locations. including bars and restaurants

all not far from the "charlie hebdo" of ses. the scene of the worst carnage, at the bataclan theater. several armed individuals came in shooting. then gunmen started taking hostages. as many as 100 people were killed at that location alone. this cell phone video shows concert goers escape from the back door. running past injured and dead lying in the streets. over at the national soccer stadium, two bombers blew themselves up. thousands of spectators were held on the field before being evacuated. french police and military have been mobilized. over 1,500 troops flooding the city. the country's borders closed overnight. paris is in lockdown. museums, schools and

offices and even disneyland closed as investigators piece what happened. and this morning, hospitals fight to keep injured alive. and we just mentioned the city is on lockdown. there is an increased police presence than what i have seen in paris. i have spend a lot of my life here. a lot of t shops are closed. we saw cafes open. e next to us is opten. a couple of restaurants and people out in the streets. were surprised from the airport. we saw a woman running nd people waiting for public transportation. we saw a little boy out with his father with a soccer ball. life is going on, but so much happening here and people are still trying to process. you can imagine that in some ways may enter into their decision if they wan to go outside this morning. matt and savannah.

life is still going could. erica, thank you. >> we have one who had dinner at the restaurant near one of the attacks. margot, good morning. >> good morning. >> i know you heard the gunshots. did you think you were close in proximity to a terror attack ch? >> we heard one.rally of gunshots. it was a loud concentration of noises. boom, boom, boom. maybe eight to ten shots. my colleague next to me said those couldn't be gunshots. then one said i think they were gunshots. we heard a pop, pop and more boom, booms. during the second rally, we saw eight or ten people running toward us from around the corner and they looked terrified. i got up from the table and ran inside the restaurant and down to the basement. >> it is interesting. you ran into the restaurant.

were making a split decision. what was going through your mind? were you fearing for your life? >> i was for about half an hour because we knew it was happening on the street and like any outerrorist attack, i thought it wa a terrorist attack, i did t know at the time. anything that happens like that, you don't know what is going to happen. we ran into the restaurant and found an exit. we think how we could facilitate everybody getting out of the basement of the restaurant if the terrorist entered. a family with small children in the back of the restaurant. i'm a mother and i told the mother to take the kids downstairs. it was scary. >> we are living in a world of smartphone smartphones. while you were in the restaurant, did you get information of what was happening in paris? >> we tried when we entered. we were not able to get information until 20 minutes

later after the police arrived. i was listening to the news earlier and at 9:30, the stadium itppened. at 9:32 is when we heard the shots from the restaurant.thwe didn't know until 15 or 20 minutes after that. i posted a photo toiinstagram. it was picked up. we thought it was an isolated inciitnt when we posted the photo. >> margot, thank you for talking to us this morning. when are you going to head home? >> hopefully monday if the >> good luck. >> we are not scared anymore here. thank you. >> let's turn to john miller. the deputy commissioner for the new york police department. good d rning. >> good morning. >> sorry to see you under these circumstances. it is a moment you don't want to make it about us, but there cannot be any american who doesn't wake up this morning and say if it could happen in paris, when french officials are on high alert given everything that

happened in that ouuntry, could it happen in new york or los angeles or dallas or chicago? >> of course it could. if you go back to the mumbai attacks in india and i think if you look at the paris attacks last night, they took the mumbai playbook and replayed it. that offers particular challenges to law enforcement. when the mumbai attacks happened, i was at the fbi, police commissioner bratton was the commissioner in l.a. he completely changed the response that the lapd would have to respond to that. in less than two years we have been here, he has redesigned the new york response to that. when you wake up in new york city this morning, we have a completely different tactical ability with three reins.

the s.w.a.t. team and followed by the srg. strategic response group armed with long weapons and heavy vests to respond to something like this immediately and my counter terrorism critical response command. same equipment and response all over the city. that is about 1,500 people, matt. >> you never want to get to the tactical response. for that, you need intelligence. when you talk about the planning and coordination that went into this attack, six separate locations. the kind of weaponry and bombs. are you surprised they picked up nothing on intelligence? >> not only am i not surprised, matt, i have to tell you, i'm concerned. what i'm concerned about is a talking about. he refers to it as going dark. he is talking about a series of telegram.

that is designed to give you encrypted communications and messages self destruct. it is designed for communications that law enforcement, even with the federal court order by a u.s. district judge based on probable cause can't open. i will almost guarantee you that when we get to the end of this paris case, we will find that the planning was done on these kinds of applications. >> it is happening at a moment where there has a lot of soul searching about what kind of state we want to live in and what our intelligence agencies to do and there is a natural tension there. i know you navigate it every day. >> if you look at the newspaper stories i was dealing with at the beginning of this week were questioning whether the police

should collect intelligence in this way and allegations of spying, which is done under a very tight set of rules that we used for a period of time now very successfully. at the end of the week, they want to know how is it the police if paris could not it's a balance. it's not a tradeoff. nobody is asking anybody to trade privacy for security. what we have to do is both of these pull against each other. we need to do it just right. >> john miller of the nypd, thanks. let's take a turn and get a check of the weather with dylan. >> good morning. we are focusing on the storm system in the pacific northwest. it is a rainmaker and snowmaker in the higher elevations. as far as rain, we have some flooding concerns along the western part of washington state and oregon.

in the mountains, this is good news. we could see up to a foot of snow in the highest elevations. that is what you need this time of year to help get through the and that's your latest forecast. matt and savannah. >> dylan, thank you very much. up next, one of the questions tied to the deadly paris attacks. why do terrorists seem so intent on causing destruction in france? we wil with the pain and swelling of my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis...

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opened fire at the offices of the satirical newspaper "charlie hebdo" and in august, three americans thwarted an attack on a train in paris. many asking why france is a target. we have nbc's keir simmons with the latest. >> reporter: savannah, good morning. we know isis say it is responsible for the attacks here in paris. witnesses describe seeing young men in their early 20s who did not even bother to cover their faces with hoods. while we know more and more who is responsible, people in france are beginning to ask themselves why. paris in the cross-hairs once again. it was only ten months ago, january, when militants attacked and killed 12 people another at offices of the satirical newspaper "charlie hebdo." in the days that followed, four

standoff at the kosher supermarket. the attacks rocked france and initially gave rise to a sense of unity across the country. t like other europea countries, france is struggling with high unemployment and population of disaffected youths. it is also home to the biggest muslim minority. >> isis is trying to inn cite people. there is a comparatively large number of french nationals to go to syria and to fight. >> reporter: and one recent attack was foiled. in august, the gunman taken down the train from brussels to paris. heroic passengers overwhelmed him. this morning, french president says isis was responsible for the attack. >> france has been engaged with

syria and iraq. >> reporter: others say the motive may be more ideological. >> france is a symbol of freedom. >> reporter: and guys, in my experience of covering these attacks, we will find out that the young men behind what happened yesterday were connected to others through the intelligence services will know about. the problem for the european security intelligence services is there have been so many people traveling to syria and many coming back. they have been pretty well overwhelmed. guys. >> keir simmons, keir, thank you. >> let's turn to christopher dickey. he is editor of "the daily beast." chris, good morning. >> good morning, savannah. >> i know you love this city and you know it well. if you could put it into perspective for people what the choice of targets means for the

you talk about the stadium and cafes and concert hall. >> that is a good way to put it. it feels like very soft targets, savannah. if you look around paris on any given day. if you go to the eiffel tower and you pass a synagogue or jewish school, you will see soldiers in full battle dress defending those places. nobody defending a nightclub or cambodian restaurant. i still don't know how they carried out the attack on the stade de france, the stadium. they were picking soft targets where people went to enjoy themselves on a friday night. an a lot of them young people. the issue was to say to the french people, we will terrorize you anytime.

>> chris, i remember running into you on the streets one time. you were so praising that city. what does this do to the psyche in the wake of "charlie hebdo" in january and what does this do to the psyche of people in france? >> i think people are scared and angry. a lot of calls for retribution. it will further divide the general population from the muslim immigrant population. we don't want to see that. i think that will happen. the right wing will take advantage. you will see the head of the national front trying to exploit this for all its worth. all of that is going to create huge rifts in society. the question is what will president francois hollande do

will he go deeper into war in iraq? that is what isis wants. it is part of their ideology. that's what they want. we will see it spiral in that direction. >> christopher dickey. he knows the streets of paris and country of france. chris, always good to see you. thank you very much. >> thank you, matt. thank you, savannah. we're back with more on the ongoing coverage of the terror attacks in paris.

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the time now 8:26. 46 degrees on this saturday. in the wake of the horrific paris terror attacks that killed more than 120 people, the nypd is ramping security locally out of what they're calling an abundance of caution.

police are mobilized. they've been sent to major landmarks. the herk officials say they are ready to react to any call they might get. >> new york is always a target. the good news is our authorities are very vigilant about looking at new york right now as we're speaking. our joint terrorism task force, which has some of the best experts in the world -- >> isis has claimed responsibility for these attacks online, buts that s that at is still under investigation. detectives with the nypd are already stationed in france and they'll be helping french police as needed. an emotional scene here at union square, french exchange students holding hands as they sing their national anthem.

tragic morning. there will be another gathering at 2:00 p.m. this afternoon in union square. a little chilly out there, gus. the wind gusting up to 35 miles pe ar hour. definitely a jacket day on this saturday. lots of sunshine. temperatures basically in the 40s. going for a high of 51 in midtown. mostly clear and chilly tonight. >> now back to weekend today with matt and savannah today. meet the new, 3rd generation nest learning thermostat. it's proven to save energy. and if you're a conedison customer, you could get $85 back.

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a second. it is like deja vu of january of this year in the wake of the harlierhebdo" attacks. now p is and france are going through it again. also this morning, isis is claiming responsibi ty. ind an online statement, the terror group is calling paris the country of adultery. >> this investigation is moving forward. it is moving quickly. french police say they found a syrian passport on the body of one of the sui de bombers. >> let's go back to "today's" ericaia hill. she is in paris. what else can you add? >> reporter: matt, good morning. know as you mentioned someg ericans are among the injured. we should point out that the state department and embassy are encouraging americans here to check in. there are 800 numbers to be lled and a web site and i'm sure we will get that up on the "today" web site when we can. it is an interesting place to , matt.

january of this year, it was a similar scene in many ways and not very far from where we are standing. in fact, today, the offices of "charlie hebdo" is not far away. somome businesses are closed and some are open. it is somber. it has turned a bit in terms of the weather. it has gotten colder and it has started to rain. in some ways, that may reflect the mood of people here. there are many questions this mornints interestingl one woman i spoke th, an american tourist who is here, said to me, i think the most important thing is for us to not show this is getting to usaz. that's what the terrorists want. if we let them know it is disrupting life, then they won. she is determined not to let that happen. there have been notices up on twitter.

it is making us look similar to after 9/11. some are letting their friends and family know they are in fact safe. a lot of people checking in as they look for answers. matt and savannah. >> thank you. >> here at home, ramping up with extra patrols added around the french consulate and mission among other whplaces. let's go to nbc's kristen dahlgren. she is in times square this morning. krw ten, w'mt are you seeing? >> reporter: good morning, savannah. obviously, when all this happened, everybody's first thought is whether the ith the people of paris. then thoug hts turn to safety at home and whether or not the coordinated attacks could have some type of element in the u.s. as you mentioned nypd stepped up patrols on the french targets like the french consulate and gh traffic areas in times square. an increased police presence.

these are really as we saw the areas of most concern. the nypd brought some of the most heavily armored units to areas like this. including the special terro ssm team, the hercules team. see the new york and new jersey state police. upping their surveillance and looking at areas of critical infrastructure. bridges, tunnels, rails and buses. things like that. none of this is based on any specific threahe nypd was careful to point that out. there is no known indication that the attack has any nexus to new york. all of this reallyicut of an abundance of naution. it is not just here in new york. we are seeing this around the country. we saw stepped up patrols at the capitol in washington, d.c. we heard the same from miami, from boston, from los angeles and virtually every city in between. the nba at the games last night, at the arenas, stepped up

everybody staying vigilant this morning. >> kristen dahlgren, thank you. >> these attacks and nation security issue at the front of the second democratic debate in iowa. nbc's white house correspondent kristen welker is in des moines. good morning. >> reporter: matt, good morning. this is a rare moment when politics is put on hold. all of the presidential candidates of both parties tweeting out condolences last night in the moments after the attack. let's look at a few. from democratic hillary clinton who said the reports from paris aroue harrowing. praying for the victims. bernie sanders, horrified by the at htacks in paris tonight. my thoughts are with the victims and loved ones. martin o'malley. heart breaking news from paris. praying for the country and its people. to the gop side. dr. ben carson, my tmoughts and prayer was the people in paris tonight. donald trump, my prayers are with the victims and hostages in the horrible paris attacks.

may god be with you. marco rubio praying for the victims of the attacks in paris and those held hostage. jeb bush tweeted praying for paris tonight. america will stand with you against terror. matt, you said the attacks and broader issue of the fight against extremism will be a central focus at the democratic debate tonight. something that could play to secretary clinton's strengths. she has been calling for a no-fly zone in syria. that is something president obama has opposed. that is something bernie sanders and martin o'malley opposed. she came off being strong on policy after the first democratic debate. her challenger bernie sanders criticized for being wobbly. he has been preparing for the second debate. worth noting that republicans very broadly criticized president obama for not being

all of it is a focus tonight and throughout the 2016 race. matt. >> kristen welker, thank you. >> let's bring in senator lindsay graham. a presidential candidate himself. as a student of the region for many years. you said something yesterday. jihadi john may be dead, but isis is alive and well. they are alive and well and apparently able to pull off a coordinated and sophisticated attack. >> yeah. they have done three things. brought down an airliner, a bombing in lebanon and now this. this is their response to us when we say you have been contained and your days are numbered. they reply forcefully. here is the did news. the region is ready to turn on these people. most people in the region are not buying what they are selling. i have never seen such a desire in a region to confront isil.

very few people want to turn their daughters over to isil. there is hope, but we need a new strategy. >> you talk about the willingness to confront. let me read the words of president francois hollande. i want to say we will lead a war which will be pitiless. they must be certain they are facing a determined france and france that is together and does not let itself be moved. what does this look like in prneactical terms? how do he back up those words? >> it is a world problem. not a france or u.s. problem. the region is ready to go in to syria, but they will not go in if we leave assad in power. the turkish army is not going to follow us into syria unless we

you will give damascus in iran. i'm running for president, but i'm here to tell the president, if you need my help, you have it. we don't have until january 2017 to reset the table. congress has reduced spend for the fbi, cia, nsa and military. we bear some blame for creating the perfect storm for another 9/11. as they grow over there, we are reducing or defense abilities here. i'm urging the defense to up our budget and hit them before they hit us and to president obama, call us together. i'll give you my two cents about what i would do. we're all in this together. >> you know better than anyone. this is so incredibly complex. especially in the presidential campaign trail, the binary choice. what is the choice? what is the response? especially when you are talking about a group of people for whom

jihad is the goal? they want nothing more than a war with the west. >> we want to destroy them. do you agree? >> yes. >> how do you do it? every arab government in the region would go in and give us their armies. turkey would also. we'll have to be part of that force. they have about 40,000 inside of syria. 80,000 or 100,000 people in the region with 10% of the force american military. i would go in with the region and let them lead the way and provide capability and destroy in syria and hold ground. >> you talk about taking them out on the ground in syria. how do you take out the ideology and belief system online? >> after 35 trips, here is what you do. you don't leave. you stay. you help young women get a better education and give them a voice for the future of their children. you build a small schoolhouse in a remote region in afghanistan to destroy the taliban over time. this is a generational struggle.

most young people are with us. offer them a hopeful life. >> senator, it is nice to have you here in new york. thank you very much. we appreciate it. so will this change how the u.s. deals with isis? as senator graham just suggested it should. nbc's correspondent peter alexander at the white house. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. president obama called the situation in paris heart breaking. he called it an attack not just on the people of france, but attack on all humanity. i spoke to a top aide that says the white house is closely monitoring paris from the white house. during the call with french president hollande yesterday, president obama reiterated the support for the people of france. specifically about isis during an interview that aired hours before the attack, president obama said he has not been able to decapitate the control structures in the middle east.

he describes significant progress there. >> from the start our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them. they have not gained ground in iraq and in syria they will come in and they leave. you don't see this systematic march by isil. >> reporter: obviously, they have significant influence. at the end of the call, president obama and president hollande pledged to work together to defeat terrorism. we should note that the two leaders spoken hours before the an attacks. they were talking about this weekend's g-20 meeting of world leaders that takes place in turkey. global terrorism rises to the top of the agenda there. at this time, aides to the president tell me there are no changes to his travel plans. he will head out on air force one this afternoon. >> peter alexander, thank you. >> let's turn to dylan with a final check of the weather. good morning. i want to point out the storm system in the west will bring significant rainfall to parts of

and that's your latest forecast. matt and savannah. >> dylan, thank you. >> coming up next, we heard about the disturbing attack in the concert hall. coming up, we will hear from a i'm billy, and i quit smoking with chantix. i don't know that i can put into words how happy i was when i quit. it's like losing some baggage, i don't have to carry it around with me anymore. chantix made it possible for me to quit smoking. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking.

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we're back with more on the terror attacks in paris. >> the deadly violence came at the venue bataclan when the band eagles of death metal was performing. all of the members of the band are safe. we have the latest from blake mccoy. >> reporter: good morning. we can tell you that at least one member of the band's crew remains unaccounted for. in front of a sold out crowd of 1,500, eagles of death metal saw a performance pierced by gun fire. chaos erupted in the concert

world to the band's hometown of palm desert, california. >> shocking. i'm really worried now. i want to contact my friend. >> absolutely horrendous. it is scary. >> reporter: one by one, band members were able to check in with loved ones. the drummer's wife telling nbc news by phone, i'm grateful and heart broken at the same time. i'm grateful he's alive. the lead singer's brother said jesse hughes is okay. the band is okay too. i hold out hope as many make it out okay as well. the same brother telling a local newspaper the band was able to escape out a back door and head to a paris police station for safety. the band's music has been featured in several national commercials was touring europe promoting the fourth album. the style is '70s blues rock with heavy dose of humor.

the hard sounding name. eagles of death metal is meant to be a joke. another california band grand rabbit toured with them last month. >> that could have been us. we were just with them. >> reporter: this is one of the last photos taken inside the venue before the attack. a band member posting it with the caption, parisians, see you in a few. here in palm desert this morning, people want to know if the band was specifically targeted maybe because they were an american band or the venue was the target and the band happened to be there. matt. >> blake mccoy, thank you. coming up, how the world is uniting in the wake of the terrifying attacks.

back now on a saturday morning. the president, president obama calling the massacre in paris an

>> let's bring in nbc's harry smith. >> think about this. to be in paris on a friday night is to know joie de vive. the very essence of the french state of mind. this is what was under assault last night. the pictures did not tell us much at first, but the numbers on the bottom of the screen kept going up. disbelief turned into despair. it was really happening. life for parisians was taking an unmistake able turn. we know the feeling. when life is ripped away. and because the world is smaller than ever before, it did not take long before america responded in solidarity. the tower above the world trade center in red, white and blue.

city hall in san francisco. soon, twitter and instagram were flooded with prayers and condolences. the eiffel turned into a peace sign. it all brought tears to our eyes. a shared sorrow. they know what we know. and they know this, too. in a tunnel after the soccer game last night, the french began to sing the national anthem. an anthem as defiantly patriotic as our own. last january, huge crowds formed in paris to say what must be said. that is the picture we want to see again. so this morning, i think my thought and many other thoughts, viva la france. >> we hope we don't have to see

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next on "today in new york" we are following the latest from that deadly terror attack in paris and the impact here at home. >> new and dramatic video shows crowds fleeing the paris attack. hear stories of survival from those who escaped. plus --.

>>reporter: i'm reporting from central paris where just a short distance behind me french police e going over that crime scene at the theater and people on the streets can be seen weeping. our continuing coverage coming up next on "today in new

right now on "today in new york" we're getting new video of the terrifying moments as crowd

fled a paris theater under attack. fo >> thil as new i formation about the strategic and deadly attack, how it was planned and carried out. >> good morning. welcome back to "today in new york" on this saturday morning. a lot of new developments here. we will get right to those developments in paris in just a minute. first we want to get a quick look at the weather. >> guys, getting ready for a chilly day as you're heading out there on your saturday. it's going to be breezy just li..ke yesterday. an eventually warmup comingr.s we head into next week. the storm tracker shows the quiet weather picture. high pressure in control from the hudson valley, giving us lots of sunshine. there is that cool feel. it's a jacket day for sure. 4 46 degrees and windy outside right now. wi nds will be gusting up to 35 miles per hour as we head

throughout the day.