breaking news out of france. two ongoing hostage situations are linked. one involves the two suspects in wednesday's mass shooting. running water all night making an icy mess. the water main work taking place in bethesda. what's being done to stay ahead of the problem. and temperatures are only in the 30s right now. but it feels so much better than it did this time yesterday. unfortunately, we need to be ready for another big drop we're hearing. good morning, everyone. welcome to news 4 midday. police have two suspected

wanted for that deadly shooting at a french magazine surrounded. they're holed up at an office with one hostage near the airport in northern france. about an hour away in paris at least five people have been taken hostage inside a kosher market. news 4's richard jordan is at the live desk with how the situations are connected. >> the connection seems to be clear. the three gunman involved in these hostage situations all know each other. two of them are brothers. the other is a friend. let's start off, 25 miles northeast of paris. there are new reports just coming in of gunshots and explosions in the industrial town of danmartin-en-goele. that is where french police say said and cherif kouachi are holed up. holding at least one hostage at a printing factory. they have been in contact with hostage negotiators. they have reportedly said they are prepared to die as martyrs. these two brothers the prime

suspects in the shooting rampage earlier in the week on wednesday at the newspaper charlie hebdo. 12 people killed. hearing reports of gunshots there. that airport, one of the world's busiest, has closed two runways to avoid any interference with the standoff happening now. helicopters in the air, armored vehicles on the ground. some children at schools nearby are being evacuated. to get them out of that area safely. the second situation is at a kosher grocery store in paris. at least five people being held hostage there. at this market. the gunman is believed to be the same man that was behind a shooting yesterday. a policewoman that was shot and killed in the middle of a traffic stop in the southern suburb of paris. that man has been identified as a amedy coubali.

he says he will start to kill hostages if police storm the printing factory where the two brothers are now holed up. >> all right, thank you, richard. the sun is breaking through the clouds. temperatures are moving into the 30s. big difference from yesterday. storm team 4 meteorologist amelia segal. >> good morning, barbara. serve in the 30s, 34 in manassas 38 degrees down at the river. temperature change in the right direction. about 15 to 20 degrees warmer. washington 16 degrees warmer. temperatures continue to warm inside of the beltway. high temperatures will be in the mid-30s for those of you in the

suburbs. a temperature around 37. plenty of sunshine for the afternoon. once the sun goes down temperatures drop quickly. by 8:00 p.m. we're down to 26 degrees. tomorrow the chill returns. much cooler than today. i'll let you know how cold it will be on your saturday coming up at 11:30, barbara. >> all right, thanks amelia. crews just shut water off in the area of wilson lane and river road in bethesda. working to repair a water main break that's causing a big mess this morning. news 4's megan mcgrath has more on the repairs. how are they doing out there? good morning. >> reporter: we're seeing some improvements. we got word they shut down the water. so we no longer have that water going down on to river road. all the salt they laid down that has worked. all of the ice has melted. but they haven't started the repair work on this pipe so it's going to be with us for a good hunk of the day. of course this is just the start of water main break

season. ice and slush across the outbound lanes of river road in bethesda. crews kept busy plowing and salting to keep the lanes open. but mother nature isn't entirely responsible for the mess. you can also blame old pipes. >> the one down on river road, we're trying to -- >> reporter: he has been pushing water mains for nearly 22 years. he was out here last night in the below freezing temperatures. after a main broke on wilson lane. >> it was brutal. and wet with the water, cars coming by. >> reporter: brutal and just the beginning of the water main break season. >> well i'm expecting a lot more breaks coming in a few more weeks. once you get into the climate of warm and cold everything like

that. >> reporter: bishop is right. swings in temperatures specifically the temperature of the potomac river, can cause the pipes to burst. >> we watch the temperature of the river water. when we see the river drop we know the system is going to get shocked. >> reporter: last year there were 1958 water main breaks. an above average year. the five-ier average is 1,687. and just days into the new year we're off to a busy start. 70 breaks in just the last nine days. >> and all lanes of river road are open. the ice is gone. we still have some issues here at the bottom of wilson lane. you can see that all of the lanes here still closed. and we're told that is going to be the case for several hours. they're just now starting to pump the water out of the hole so they haven't started the

repair work yet. megan mcgrath news 4. >> is the traffic on river road affected by all this? >> no it's not. earlier this morning, we had a right-hand lane that was taken away. then we had the icy conditions which slowed things down. right now, we just have water and traffic is moving well. >> all right, thank you, megan mcgrath reporting live from bethesda. >> right now in fairfax county a former marine is being sentenced for his wife's murder. the trial was set to begin today but he surprised everyone by pleading guilty. he confessed to strangling his wife in 2013. news 4 obtained tapes of that chilling confession from police. >> i said good-bye. i knew once i went down that path i couldn't go back. she said please caleb. i started crying but i couldn't stop. >> reporter: after the murder crews says he dumped his wife's

body in the aqukwon river. today, the man linked to the disappearance of hannah graham will be in court. in an unrelated sex assault case. they will ask for a gag order to prevent the prosecution from making public comments. they'll ask approval to hire a dna expert. prosecutors said the fairfax county victim did not want cameras to be there. richard gordon at the live desk. a large fire burning in ash burn. if you live around redskins park there's no doubt you have seen the thick dark smoke in the air. this is the picture that has come into the live desk. a three alarm fire here on snitch swith road. a building under construction. chopper 4. you can see the smoke is clearing up. a little lighter and gray than

what we saw in that initial picture here. we're hearing no reports of any injureyies injuries. firefighters are putting out those flames. it's a building under construction here. we'll be monitoring it here watching it from the live desk. >> all right, richard, thank you. right now, new video into our newsroom of a smash and grab robbery at a maryland mall. the reward police are offering for your help. plus moving ahead quickly on a vaccine that could save thousands of lives. wh

breaking news as we continue to follow a hostage situation just northeast of paris. one of two happening now. these are live pictures. near the town of danmartin-en-goele. where for the past six hours there has been a tense hostage standoff. one person at least being held by the two crime suspects in the charlie hebdo shooting massacre from earlier in the week said and cherif kouachi, the two brothers there. reports of explosions. appears officials could be moving in storming the printing factory where the two men have been holed up. earlier we heard they were in contact with hostage negotiators. apparently they worked out some kind of deal to allow children at nearby schools to be evacuated. we know that evacuation has

taken place. a lot of the children that were barricaded inside those school buildings have been removed from that area. and then just minutes ago, the reports of the gunfire and explosions. it seemed the siege is coming to a head. we'll be monitoring all the developments. all the live pictures here that we're seeing. keeping a distance here some of the images. again, this is an ongoing standoff. we'll be watching it here from the live desk barbara. the u.s. denies it was behind a crippling attack on north korea's internet service. the service went down shortly after sony pictures was hacked here in the u.s. u.s. officials have blamed north korea for that attack. but they say the attack on north korea's network was not a u.s. operation. north korea's networks are not considered robust since they rely on a single internet provider.

how does this sound, free college. the announcement president obama's expected to make today. and who could benefit. plus golden globe favorites. >> and the sun is shining, the snow is melting, but tomorrow temperatures will be below freezing. and then we're looking at the chance of a wintry mix on monday. i'll have the latest on that system coming up at 11:30. webuyanycar.com has helped thousands of people let go of all the hassle that comes with selling or trading

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right now, we're going to join an nbc special report on the hostage situation in france we've been reporting on in france. it is already in progress. >> so there is they believe, a connection between these two hostage standoffs and between the now four people involved or at least three people involved and a fourth person a woman who is said to be a co-conspirator an association of coulibaly. her name is hayat boumeddiene. >> the woman on right, coulibaly, he's believed to be the person inside the grocery store, also believed to have been possibly the person who gunned down a policewoman in paris yesterday. another piece of this. so as i understand it we know according to french officials, these individuals are connected

in the sense that they know each other. what we don't know is whether or not this has been operationally connected. whether or not this grocery store hit was somehow planned in tandem with the brothers and what's happening with their situation over at the printing press factory outside of paris. >> absolutely right, that's been a key question. was this planned all along. or did this second seen we'recreen we're looking at now, did they decide to act after they saw the first attack at the newspaper on wednesday. and the people i've talked to said they simply don't know. >> i think i've got dan bar relly, former senior fbi official involved in situations like this. what we're seeing in france today is clearly unprecedented. don, we hear the gunfire, we hear word of explosions going on. actually both of these locations. what do you make of it? >> well it would appear based on the gunfire, the explosion, that they would have launched simultaneous rescue operations

to try to free the hostages and capture the terrorists, you know based on the fact that they're both happening at the same time. it's likely this was -- given the order to execute. we don't know why. maybe there was some intelligence gained. remember there's a lot of things going on behind the scenes. maybe they could have found some kind of manifesto or martyrdom video which basically might show negotiations are going to do nothing but prolong the inevitable so let's take action now. and hopefully, you know, we'll see what the outcome is and no more loss of life. >> stand by with me don. we're looking at video from just outside that grocery store. our producer is there. good morning to you. can you tell us what you're seeing? >> yes, about five minutes ago, we heard a series of explosion, followed by a hail of gunfire. the police who are minding the

cordon then were shuffling everyone back around corners. i'm standing next to a police officer now with his sidearm drawn, holding it in his hand. they've told people to leave the windows. they've told the people looking out of their windows, they've told them to close their windows and get away. it's been quiet ever since. the police are very tense right now. several police officers around the scene with automatic weapons. like i said it's been quiet since then. it appears something has happened in this hostage situation. also there were reports earlier that the gunman had said if they stormed the building he would shoot his hostages but it's unclear what occurred. it's unclear. something is under way or possibly over now. >> we know there's at least one gunman in the grocery store now. as you also know the french

authorities released two edd pictures one of the suspect coulibaly and the female suspect, but it's unclear if she was thought to be inside that grocery store, is it just one an salientil assailant there, is it two? do you have any information about that? >> i don't. it's been described as one gunman. there's been so much information coming out. police have also been very tight-lipped about the number of hostages. there were reports earlier that two people were killed at this location. we've seen ambulances leaving with their sirens on. but it's really unclear if this gunman is alone or if it is as you said possibly a pair. >> okay. we'll keep an eye on this scene. this is scene one on the east side of paris. a grocery store. a gunman inside with hostages. our reporters on the scene saying they just heard gunfire and explosions. at the same time, almost simultaneous

simult we' got a scene that is outside of paris. about ten miles outside of the airport. the paris international airport. where the two brothers suspected in wednesday's massacre at the satirical magazine have been holed up all morning long about seven hours now, saying they want to die as martyrs, holding at least one hostage, having been on the run for the last 48 hours. an incredibly complexion dragnet that french authorities had set out for them over the last 48 hours. looking house to house trying to find them. they were holed up chased inside this printing press. something clearly is going on in both of these locations. these are individuals who know one another who have consorted with one another, but we don't know just how much detail there is how much planning and coordination between these two attacks. i want to go back to bill neely. he is at the vein outside the factory. good morning, bring us up to date. >> good morning to you. there's a helicopter just going

past me now. we've just had a convoy of red cross ambulances and police with their lights flashing. going past heading straight to the factory. there are reports by the french news agency that the two brothers, the two gunmen suspected of the massacre at the charlie hebdo magazine have been killed in the police storming of this factory. also french press reporting that the hostage the men took has been freed and is in police custody. i'm afraid that's just from one news agency. that has not been confirmed by french police or any other authorities. but certainly from what we heard just a short time ago, i heard a burst of gunfire and then colleagues heard explosions. there are pictures on social media now of flashes around the printing works where this siege was taking place. clearly, we are -- it's probably over although i cannot confirm

that because french press is just one agency and the police are not made an official statement. >> we'll stand by for any official worldd. nbc's lester holt on the phone. tell us what you know. >> we're several blocks from t taking in paris itself eastern edge of paris. we were delayed, suddenly someone said there's guns, we were surrounded by police officers with guns pointing across yelling. it turned out to be a false alarm at a bank. we talked to people on the streets. they're at the breaking point. their nerves are fraud by all of what's happening here. the streets, there are still people on the streets in this area of eastern paris. traffic getting close to the scene of all this. so we're working our way there, trying to get a better picture of what's happening on this end. >> okay lester stand by. you're making your way slowly to the scene. you can imagine how the city of

paris feels today. many people being told to shelter in place near that factory where the brothers were holed up. there were reports that schools were being evacuated. that in some cases, students were being read nursery rhymes to calm them. that's the scene where a gunman walked in is holding several hostages. just moments ago, reports of gunfire, reports of explosions. and then separately on the outskirts of paris, that factory, the printing factory where the brothers suspected in wednesday's attack have been holed up. let's go to pete williams working his sources in washington. clearly, the president has been briefed this morning several times. i know your sources are watching this closely as well. >> yes, and one of the things savannah in the last couple of days, ever since the paris shooting that's been going on virtually around the clock. now with the addition of two new terror associates that were

wanted put out the poster by police today, is whether there's any connection between any of these people and people in the u.s. telephone, e-mail contact, travel records. any checks at the borders. and we've been told as recently again, as just an hour or so ago, that they have found no connection. between these people in france and anyone in the u.s. that is one of the many reasons why the decision has been made not to make any change in the posture of the terror alert level in the u.s. the second reason for that is they believe these attacks in paris were directed specifically at parisian targets. and there was no known threat to the united states. last night, the president convened a telephone conference call on his way back to washington. aboard air force one. he talked to officials from the fbi, homeland security the intelligence agencies. asking them for the latest. whether there was any reason to change the security posture in the u.s. and they all said no there was

no reason to do so. really the only change we've seen in the united states since all this happened savannah is increased security at french diplomatic compounds. the french government asked for more security at its embassy here in washington. there's been a increased police presence at the french consulates and some of the other french consulates half a dozen of them around the country, have had increased police patrols, but that's been the only change in the u.s. >> all right, pete, stand by. want to go to richard engel, at the scene just north of the paris airport by the building where the brothers were being held. i'm sure you know this there are multiple outlets of french media now reporting that the brothers have been killed. something not independently confirmed by nbc news at this hour. we see multiple reports of that. richard what are you hearing

now? >> we're less than one hour from the industrial park where the kouachi brothers were holding at least one hostage. about 20 minutes ago, we heard two explosions. they were about five minutes apart. in between the explosions we heard a burst of gunfire. one police officer said that at least ten shots were fired. then we saw helicopter flying in the sky. a lot of activity. all of this was taking place just as it is getting dark here. just as local officials are completing an evacuation of a school that is quite near to this area. that's what we have been able to see. people here are very busy. they are continued to protect the area. they have not been able to give us official confirmation -- >> richard -- >> the french press is specifically reporting the kouachi brothers have been killed and perhaps also the attacker at the supermarket. >> let me pick up on that. the associated press is now

citing a police official saying the kouachi brothers have in fact been killed and the hostages freed at that location near you. we're still waiting to hear what happened what is going on inside the grocery store that's in the eastern outskirts of paris itself. so we are seeing a situation. you see the live picture on the screen right there. heavy police presence. i've got don barrelly with me former fbi official. you look at what's happening to paris. this is such an extraordinary moment for that city. and i think a lot of people are wondering, as pete alluded to this is this the new flavor of terrorism, is this the very thing people like you in those jobs have been worrying about for years. >> sure. especially in paris and france and other countries in europe. where they've seen so many of these foreign fighters want to go and join isis and other groups. we've had less of that in the u.s. maybe have done a better job of assimilating people in mainstream society. clearly, when these people go they get trained, they get kind

of that mental indoctrination and want to take the fight to their home turf that's a huge concern for officials. especially given the fact these guys were with aqap the al qaeda group in yemen. and that's been their main focus, is to attack the west. we've seen that with their bomb maker, ibrahim al siri that's been trying to protect a bomb to put on airlines the underwear bomber for example. aqap is dangerous because of their intent to attack western targets. >> the french have been facing a lot of threats recently because of their involvement with the coalition fighting isis in syria and iraq. there's also an operation under way in mali that the french have been involved with. so there's a lot of reasons why the french -- france has been a target of these jihadists in recent weeks, days and months. i want to go to lester holt. he's on the phone with us.

he's in paris. lester good morning again. what can you tell us? >> we're at the edge of the perimeter around the store here. they're still holding people back right now. there's ambulances that pulled out. unclear if anyone was in them. police are still holding their position here. as we wait to find out if it's -- back over on this end, the eastern edge of paris, where that other hostage standoff is going on. we're just trying to get some word here. >> okay lester i'm just getting a note from our producer that rueters is reporting the supermarket hostage taker is dead as well. once again, that's from the wire service. reuters. nbc news work to confirm this independently. as i said our media partners ap reuters, two wir citing police officials, the hostage taker in the supermarket, as well as the

two brothers accused in the wednesday massacre at the paris newspaper all have been killed this morning. we continue to follow this situ turn to richard engel who's outside the scene. kind of northeast of paris where the two brothers were inside that building. these were two men who were known to french authorities. in particular the older brother, we've learned, spent time in yemen. around the same time that anwar al awlaki the american-born cleric was there. a lot of people are wondering if he was inspired by awlaki directed by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, these are questions people are going to be asking in the coming days. >> absolutely. i can tell you right now, the mood here is already starting to calm down. it does feel like something has happened. there was a lot of activity over the last half hour or so. you can see in the body language of the counterterrorism

officials who are here. the police they're starting to be a little bit more relaxed. i wouldn't say dropping their guard entirely. the cordon is still in place around here. but it does feel like a moment has passed. now, the intelligence piece. what were the connections between all of these militants? who sent them? and why -- and do they have other operatives in this country or in other places? and add lot of this does seem to be going back to yemen. one of the kouachi brothers who now there are multiple sources saying had been killed in a raid -- that took place not far from here just a short while ago. one of the brothers the older brother, said kouachi, traveled in 2011 to yemen. he received months of training from the al qaeda affiliate in yemen, the al qaeda affiliate in yemen, one of the most active one of the most aggressive al qaeda divisions in the world that is seeking to carry out international attacks not just in europe but also in the united

states. the situation here we are told that school has been evacuated. there are no more buses. for the last hour or so buses had been coming in and out bringing children. as that evacuation was just wrapping up you can notice it's getting darker here as that evacuation was just about over and the light was starting to change, that's when we heard these explosions. almost simultaneously within minutes, there were reports of explosions also at the supermarket in paris. so either simultaneous or near simultaneous raids. >> okay richard, we'll go back to you in a moment. i want to go to bill neely, our international correspondent, also at that scene, as night falls in paris. what can you tell us? >> standby. >> well all the major french media networks here are now reporting that all three gunman both the two here at the factory and the one in the kosher supermarket in paris, are dead. we are also hearing that all of

the hostages have been freed. but there's a huge caveat to that number. nbc news can't confirm that. number two, there were reports at the supermarket two people had been killed earlier on. now, all of that is one thing. french police earlier on put a wanted notice with two pictures on that. one of them is a woman. if the three gunmen are indeed dead that still leaves the woman who french police describe as possibly armed and dangerous, free. that's the first issue. number two, the inquiry will begin now into how the three gunman were not tracked, were not being tratracked by french intelligence. just passing he now, another

convoy. [ sirens ] this situation may be over but the follow is going on. the questions that will be asked are how did french intelligence not keep track of people who ten years ago were on the fringes? they had matured ten years later into assassins. of these people. i think if these sieges are now over, that is the next step as well as tracing that woman who was an associate of the gunman who took the hostages at the jewish supermarket. still, a lot of questions to be answered. >> a lot of soul searching, i'm sure. french intelligence sources, i'm sure as we go into these coming days. i want to recap for everybody what's been going on in and around paris this morning. the two brothers accused in the wednesday massacre at the newpaper were cornered into a factory, a printing press on the outskirts of paris. according to multiple media outlets in france they have now

been killed. the hospitaltage they were holding freed. that is one piece of the puzzle. we have also learned simultaneously there was a hostage taker, an attacker who went into a kosher grocery store, inside paris itself on the eastern edge of the city and took hostages. we learned this morning that all three men were known to one another who came up together in essentially the same jihadi cell and at one point, the grocery store hostage taker had threatened to kill the hostages he had if the brothers were not set free. but, again, according to multiple sources, including ap and reuters, media outlets, all three of those men had died in the standoffs that have taken place this morning. all of this being watched closely around the world and especially at the white house where our correspondent kristen welker is this morning. you reported this morning the president has been briefed this morning and is watching this very closely. >> he's watching this very closely, savannah. he's currently aboard air force one traveling to knoxville,

tennessee where he's going to talk about college affordability but his press secretary just updated reporters, saying president obama has been briefed extensively this morning. and also the top officials here at the white house have been in contact with their foreign and french counterparts on an almost minute by minute basis. while all of this has been developing. now, of course the white house, the obama administration has continued to stay up to date on the crisis in france. president has been on the road quite a bit this week. but yesterday aboard air force one he convened a call with his national security team not only to get the very latest out of france but to get update on the security posture here in the united states. we know security has been stepped up in major cities. new york boston chicago. and again the white house continuing to monitor this situation. president obama on the road to preview his state of the union address. what's happening in france

continues to dominate the conversations. the white house calling france one of its oldest allies. obviously a key ally in the fight against isis savannah. >> cystkristen, thank you very much. richard engel outside the scene, the factory where the two brothered had eds had been holed up and now acording to other media are dead. >> reporter: this all began here this morning. this hostage scene began this morning around 9:00 a.m. the two brothers the prime suspects of the murders at the satirical newspaper two days ago had been on the run for 48 hours. they came here. this is a fairly sleepy town. very close to the charles de gaulle international airport. they were spotted, people weren't looking for them here but police spotted them in an industrial area. a gunfight broke out and then those two brothers pulled

themselves up barricaded themselves inside a printing press. they took we now know one hostage. a hostage who is now free. and for the last seven hours, they had been holed up inside that building. and we hadn't heard much from them. just a short time after they bare dated themselves in the building that is when the second incident took place. that's when the other militants, a friend of theirs went into the supermarket, into the kosher supermarket in paris, took several hostages there. and demanding, linking these two situation, demanding the kouachi brothers at the industrial site be released or he will kill his hostages. then two simultaneous raids or almost simultaneous raids, according to multiple sources, killed the hostage takers. >> richard, please stand by. let us know if there are any further developments. i want to turn to don bareli

former senior official with the fbi. you think about this week what happened in france the worst terror attack on french soil in at least 50 years, and it's not just the human toll and the carnage we saw on wednesday and thursday and now today but also the propaganda victory. because now you have terror suspects inside the grocery store, inside that factory, who were able to terrorize who got the attention of the world for all of these hours. and that's exactly what they want. >> absolutely. that's part of their goal is to just get the world focusing on them. to get new recruits to join. it all goeses into that equation. the tactical aspect of this operation might be winding down but now comes the long tedious process of the intelligence piece, trying to figure out basically what is the life story of all these guys. who have they been communicating with where have they traveled, what does their network look

like. was this a plot that was completely hatched by the brothers themselves. this could take weeks or months really before we know the full aspect and the full spem trumpctrum of this investigation. clearly the french authorities are going to be busy. >> also the terrifying possibility there could be others others who know them who are inspired by them who think, well maybe this is the time for maximum effect to try to attack a soft target. >> absolutely. you always worry about that copycat effect. if there's somebody on the fringe and they see what's happened. they think, okay this is my turn i'm going to do the same thing. >> let's go back to bill neely at the scene. >> good morning. clearly, within the last hour we've had explosions and gunfire. there are wide-spread media reports here in france that the two brothers the kouachi brothers here are dead and the

single gunman in the kosher supermarket in paris is dead too. that has not been confirmed either by french police or by any authorities. there are also images on social media of the hostages from the paris supermarket being carried, literally carried, on people's shoulders and backs out of that building. they are all reported to be alive. again, the police have not updated us with anything. as i said before there are a couple of questions here. chiefly, is this really over because there were four suspects altogether. the kouachi brothers the man at the kosher supermarket, and his partner, a woman who waspicture pictured so the question is where is she. police said she is possibly armed and dangerous. have they really ended this or is she -- well she clearly is still on the loose as far as we know because her presence wasn't detected at any of these locations. they also said there will be an

inquiry now after the massacre the manhunt, now the inquest. how did police and intelligence manage to let these guys out of their sight, if you like. it's always very difficult. we remember back ten years ago to the london bombings. the 77 bombings in london. police knew who these people were. but it's difficult to guard them to wrap them to have intelligence follow them all the time. one intelligence official here told us earlier on that will be the problem. simply a manpower problem. you might identify someone as an al qaeda suspect or as a recruiter, but can you follow them 24 hours a day. but on the loose still at the moment is a woman the french police described as armed and dangerous. i support before this can be declared over they need to catch her too. >> absolutely bill stand by.

we'll head back to you with any developments. i want to go to andrea mitchell foreign affairs correspondent, in washington this morning. >> good morning, savannah. talking to american intelligence officials, to white house officials and ot at the state department they are very sympathetic with what france is undergoing because here in the united states as we saw with the tsarnaev brothers after the boston marathon bombings there are people who are on the no fly list as these french were there are people who are on the watch list who are not under surveillance. it would be impossible to keep under surveillance all of the people who have come up on nsa intercepts overseas as well as domestic intelligence. so we don't have the manpower. and we've seen the political reaction against na surveillance especially in france also here in the united states. so there is a real push/pull here politically. the practical effect is there are a lot of potential lone wolves here in america.

and it is tremendous concern. they go through immigrant communities. but no one profiling or with invasive kinds of surveillance if they don't have a real threat or any real reason of an intelligence nature. >> you've put your finger on some of thecomplexities. it's bad enough when you don't know who might be targeting a soft target. but don, as andrea mentioned, it is a huge task to try to surveil any one person. you need ten people just to do that one piece of surveillance. >> ten people probably and an aircraft and what other technical equipment. sure it takes a lot of manpower. it's very resource intensive. the other aspect of it is there are legal issues that are in place. for example, you get a nugget of information that says somebody might be plotting something. do you have enough to arrest them? no. so you do your investigation and

you come up to the point where, you know you've gone as far as you can go and then what. do you follow them 24/7? you can't arrest them. you can't, you know, do anything with them. and there are guidelines that dictate how long you can keep somebody under investigation. these are the constraints that law enforcement has to deal with. >> as we ask those questions that bill posed about what the french officials do was there some inadequacy in their investigation and their following of these suspects you have to take with a grain of empathy for the enormity of the task. and clearly this is something that they will be looking into very closely. i think bill is still with us. i wonder put you on the spot i wonder if you can clarify one thing. on wednesday with the two brothers there was a report of a third gunman potentially. there was the young man who turned himself in. then there was some reports of yet another person. is there any indication that the man inside the grocery store might have been involved wednesday as well?

>> sorry, savannah can you repeat that, i beg your pardon. >> no problem, i know it's a loud scene there. on wednesday, there were some early reports that not just the three people that there was yet another gunman who had gone into the sat tir ral newspaper. i wonder if there's any thought or any suspicion that the man inside the grocery store, thisa amedy coulibaly, may have been involved on wednesday at the satirical newspaper offices? >> this is what french police are doing, trying to join the dots. if you go back to the attack on the magazine all we ever saw were the two black-clad heavily armed gunman but police suspected there were three suspects. you'll remember an 18-year-old had gave himself up to police. he had been named as a third

suspect. he said hey, i have nothing to do with this. we believe they're still holding him. then we heard of the shooting of the policewoman. again, it didn't seem to be related. french police didn't relate it. it was, again, a black-clad man with a callkalashnikov killing a police officer. clearly, he according to french police is the man who has just been shot dead at the kosher supermarket in paris. but yes, who was the third suspect at the charlie hebdo magazine and how does this woman who french police have named as armed and potentially extremely dangerous, how does she fit into the jigsaw? one thing i should just say is that nbc news is now just getting confirmation that the two brothers here have in fact been killed. and also the mayor of danmartin the town where this confirming that. we're hearing officially from police that the hostage here has been freed. that's just within the last

minute. >> okay and let me add to that bill i'm told there's a tweet from the french ambassador to the united states who says the kosher supermarket has been stormed, according to this tweet. the terrorist is dead. the hostages are alive. once again that's the tweet that comes from the french ambassador to the u.s. regarding the situation. you see that unfolding as we speak. this grocery store, the eastern outskirts of paris where a man walked in this morning with a gun, held hostages all morning long. this is a man who now officials say is connected to the the two brothers responsible, believed responsible for wednesday's attack in paris, that massacre. so we continue to follow all the developments here and -- do i still have andrea mitchell with me? i do have andrea. >> yes, you do savannah. >> andrea let me ask you, when we talk about france being a target we mention francois hollande the president of france said they had thwarted several attacks recently.

that is no coincidence. france has been aggressive in its fight against militants. not just with the united states and allies against isis in syria and iraq but also in mali. >> in mali the french were critical in helping to put down an islamic insurrection there and stabilize mali. the french have been very aggressive militarily and very close allies to the u.s. of course against isis in iraq and syria. they've been flying. their pilots have been going alongside u.s. pilots as well. they've been very strong militarily. also, the tingeensions in france. not only the large i po but the political tensions the anger of the muslim community against restrictions the head scarf controversy there. this goes back to their al swreerian ian algerian conflicts in the '70s and always it's metastasized.

there's been a lot of tension. the jewish community has been on guard for quite some time this of course we're seeing an outbreak of this in this incident near the moure district today. just in the last year wealthier jews buying property in tel aviv a hedge, in case something becomes more critical because of their fears of the anti-semitism that's been growing in france they fear it and those less advantaged just moving to israel and giving up their property. it's been quite extraordinary. more jews from france have been immigrating to israel than from russia for the first time historically. a lot of tension between those communities and a lot of civil unrest in france in the last year. >> bears repeating of course that one these attacks happened at a kosher grocery store on friday just hours before shabbat dinner a time when one would expect that grocery store to be filled with customers. of course we're reporting now

from multiple outlets that the hostage taker at the group ofry rygrocery store, as well as those two brothers, has been killed. we're also told the hostages have been released but we wait for further details on that. i want to turn to the former official with the fbi, don bareli. the older suspect, the older brother, has traveled to yemen. that is absolutely key. clearly, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, one of the most aggressive of al qaeda, the most operational now. they tell their followers, go after western targetings. >> we see this magazine called "inspire" magazine. they said we don't need to come over and get training in yemen to be effective. you can use simple thing, your car, your house, do what you can do to promote the cause. and they've been very aggressive against the west against u.s. against our allies in trying to recruit people to take action at home. >> i should mention, in inspire

magazine several occasions where the call went out to attack this particular newspaper because of its perceived affronts to islam and the prophet muhammad. >> absolutely also mentioned anwr awlaki being part of this that he had met at least one of these brothers. back when i was doing my fbi investigation, anwr awlaki was prominent in any every investigation we saw here of these homegrown extremists watching his videos inspired by his teachings so really no surprise he's popped up again. >> the american-important cleric who was in yemen, extraordinarily influential, killed by an american drone strike. but as you say, still having an impact. i want to turn to pete williams on this issue. this is something you're talking to your sources a lot about. >> well in >> well, in fact, al awlaki was central in several plots around the world and against the u.s.

he's thought to be the operational leader of the underwear bombing plot, the plot to attack a plane coming to the u.s. to detroit on christmas day. that young man ultimately pleaded guilty. thought to be involved in -- at least to have been a major inspiration for the attack on the u.s. army post in texas. his name came up over and over and over again. you were talking about this issue of surveillance. talking to law enforcement folks here in the u.s. the past couple of days, there's a real sense that, you know, there but for the grace of god because of this the u.s. faces the same problem, in a different way though. two factors. one is, you know, perhaps five or six years ago the french authorities would have been able to keep better tabs on these two, but a former u.s. intelligence official says they're just overwhelmed by the number of would-be jihadists,

people coming back from syria, from iraq, from algeria, from around the world. they simply have a massive challenge now trying to decide who are the highest priority targets. apparently the information is that the two brothers, while at first seeming virulently anti-semitic, then tried to put on a happy face basically and tried to look like they weren't a threat. and how difficult it was to know that they were plotting this. i'm sure it's something that will come out in the next few days. but it is a massive operation to try to keep people under surveillance. you have to make decisions. the u.s. faces this challenge every day, constantly churning the list of people they want to keep under surveillance in the u.s. it's an enormous challenge for law enforcement. perhaps nobody faces it more right now than the french. >> and you've heard it a million times. i've heard it from people we know in the terrorism community saying, you know, they only have to be right once, where the

officials trying to stop them have to be right 100% of the time. always bears remembering in times like these. pete, stand by there. i want to go to nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel, who has, i believe, some new information. richard, good morning again. >> reporter: good morning. we just spoke to the deputy mayor here who told us he believes that this hostage siege is over. he believes that there was one hostage who was inside the printing press. he has been recovered safely. but there are french media reports that three police officers were injured here. four police officers injured in the raid in paris at the supermarket. the french media have been all over this and have been ahead of us in many ways. they have been -- the associated press -- i'm sorry, the french press has given a quite detailed account of what happened exactly at this location.

they say that the two brothers, the kouachi brothers, were spotted in a separate room from their hostage and that when they were separated from their hostage, the french counterterrorism authorities decided that was the moment to go in and begin the assault. we heard that assault from where we are. we heard two explosions separated by about five minutes. we heard gunfire. police officer told us he thought there were at least ten shots. as this gunfire was taking place, the press reports that the two brothers came outside and engaged the police in a gun battle. >> all right, richard. that's the situation where you are in that factory where the two brothers were. as you know, there are two scenes here. the other one we see in the corner of the screen outside the supermarket, the kosher grocery store where a hostage taker went in and was holding several people. we don't know how that ended in terms of the hostages.

again, several media outlets, including french tv, reporting that the hostage taker amedi coubali has been killed, but there were reports all morning that hostages had been killed too. so we do not know the fate or the status of the people inside the grocery stores. as we mentioned, it must have been a rather busy time when all this happened. night has now fallen in paris. what a day it has been there. you see three men on your screen, all accused of launching attacks. the one on the right, amedi coubali accused of going to this grocery store and taking hostages. the two brothers that attacked the magazine. as we approach noon eastern, we're going to pause and give some of our stations the opportunity to return to their local programming for. for otherings, our live coverage will continue. thanks for being with us.

multiple outlets reporting from france, including the associated press and reuters, the hostage takers, the gunmen, have been killed. there were two separate scenes. cherif kouachi, said kouachi, the two brothers believed to be behind the killing, the massacre wednesday in paris, there was a dragnet through the woods and house to house through the last 48 hours and they were found this morning barricaded inside a factory outside of paris, about ten miles, actually, from the