clayton sandell reports from littleton, colorado. >> reporter: have you seen this man?o you know what was in his mind at this moment? did he have a motive? or is he >>> first similarity, the date, april 20. 12 years ago, dillon lee bold and eric harris opened fire on columbine high school. second, the time. the hair at the mall and the school attack happened late morning. play were placed in similar locations. the small food court on wednesday. and both included similar devices. pipe bombs and propane tanks rigged to explode. we went back inside the mall. the bombs were placed in a hallway close to this food court. and if it had gone off when it was supposed to, this whole area would have been packed with people. >> they're just target-rich for somebody that wants to do something really bad. in a confined space with that many concentrated people, you can wreak havoc on a mall in ten minutes. >> reporter: and that is what worries law enforcement. malls like these where potentially thousands of people gather, sitting ducks for terrorists. this mall is open for business. c

and that is where we find clayton sandell tonight. good evening. >> reporter: good evening. we are already getting reports tonight there are tornadoes on the ground in alabama at this moment. you can already see what tornadoes have done here in oklahoma, destroying a school building, flipping cars. we are seeing scenes like that in different places. the punishing blows kept coming today. this struck near jackson, mississippi. >> this is not good, guys. >> reporter: sending eight people to the hospital and leaving massive destruction in its wake. it's sweeping across the south. >> large tornado in front of us. >> we got the tail. >> large tornado on the ground. large tornado on the ground. >> reporter: in arkansas, 7 people have died. a storm toppled this tree in a mobile home in crystal springs, killing a man and his baby daughter as they slept in their bed. >> didn't think it could happy to a friend of mine. we are talking about a loss of a friend and their little girl they will never get back. >> oh, man. >> reporter: in tushka, oklahoma, a twister tore a path one mile wid

abc's clayton sandell reports on the all-out search for a man seen in a surveillance photo. >> reporter: have you seen this man? do you know what was in his mind at this moment? did he have a motive, or is he an innocent bystander? police say he's their best lead in the investigation of a bomb planted at this crowded colorado shopping mall. >> the police chief reported that 6,000 to 10,000 people in that mall at mid-day. and so, if you really had your act together, you could have killed a lot of people. >> reporter: it was an eerie echo of the columbine massacre, and just over a mile from the school. >> the mind set was, okay, here we go again. and it's not a comforting thought. >> reporter: first similarity, the date. april 20. 12 years ago, dylan klebold and eric harris opened fire on columbine high school. they killed 12 students, a teacher and themselves. second, the time. both the fire at the mall and the school attack happened in late morning. the bombs were even placed in similar locations. the high school cafeteria, back in 1999. the mall food court on wednesday. and both includ

clayton sandell is in northern colorado with more. > reporter: good morning, juju. firefighters have been patrolling the perimeter of this 4500-acre wildfire all night. here's the main problem. lots of this, tinder dry brush. extremely dry brush. it's giving firefighters headaches in colorado and across the west. for firefighters, it's a busy spring already. in at least five states, over the last few days, wildfires have blackened tens of thousands of acres. the worst is still burning in the mountains 65 miles northwest of denver. at least 15 homes destroyed. >> we were practically driving through the flames to get out of there. it came so fast. >> reporter: when a snowstorm arrived, firefighters called it a gift. >> we're getting real good coverage in the snow. hopefully, this continues. >> reporter: in kansas, flames advancing on the small town of satanta forced police to briefly evacuate the entire city. >> got some pictures off the wall of the kids. threw some suitcases together. put them in our camper. headed south of town. >> rep

clayton sandell has the latest from littleton, colorado. >> reporter: have you seen this man? what was in his mind at this moment? did he have a motive or is he an innocent bystander? police say he's their best lead in the investigation of a bomb planted at this crowded colorado shopping mall. >> the police chief reported that there's 6,000 to 10,000 people in that mall at midday and so if you really had your act together, you could have killed a lot of people. >> reporter: it was an eerie echo of the columbine massacre and just over a mile from the school. >> the mindset was okay, here we go again. and it's not a comforting thought. >> reporter: first similarity, the date. april 20. 12 years ago dylan klebold and eric harris opened fire on columbine high school. they killed 12 students, a teacher and themselves. second, the time. both the fire at the mall and the school attack happened in late morning. the bombs were even placed in similar locations. the high school cafeteria back in 1999, the mall food court on wednesday. and both included similar devices. pipe bombs and pro

for "good morning america," clayton sandell, abc news, lakewood, colorado. >>> aidan and his mother, mandy, join us this morning. mandy, many people have been shocked to hear that the police pepper sprayed him. what did you think when it happened? >> i was angry. i couldn't understand. i was on my way. why couldn't they wait the ten minutes before pepper spraying him? >> how did your son look when you saw him? >> he was red, handcuffed. crying, screaming how much it burned. >> aidan, what happened that day? i know you got rowdy on the bus with some boys. how did things get out of control? >> um, let's see. of course, i was riding on the bus. and they didn't let me, like, do something i, like, wanted to do. and then, we, like, needed to do stuff. but they wouldn't let me. so, they put me, like, in the corner with chairs. and they called my mom and kind of told her. >> why did you get so mad that morning? you said a lot of really awful things to your teachers and to police? what made you so mad? >> it was really the teachers because i just got really upset at them. >> did you mean it,

and clayton sandell is in hard-hit oklahoma, for us this morning. good morning, clayton. >> reporter: good morning, robin. it's hard to comprehend the catastrophic power of this tornado. it left a path of destruction one mile wide and nine miles long. this is all that's left of the only elementary school and high school here in town. the students weren't here at the time. and it's a good thing. because this is all that's left of a grade school classroom. take a look at this over here. this tornado was powerful enough to overturn this car, and with it, overturning the lives of hundreds of people here. >> whoa! that's violent. >> large tornado on the ground. large tornado on the ground. >> reporter: the twisters rolled in right around dinner time. residents say it felt like a bomb. they had only moments to flee. >> we're here for the tornado. >> reporter: two public schools totally destroyed. literally a pile of rubble. >> anybody home? >> reporter: hundreds of homes are destroyed or damaged. residents were forced to conduct their own rescue missions,

clayton sandell is in littleton, with the latest. clayton? >> reporter: good morning, george. if this had happened in any other town, on any other date, the concern here might not be as urgent. but we're just a mile from columbine high school. and what happened at that school and what happened at this mall there are too many similarities for investigators to ignore. it was suspicious from the start. after an employee used an extinguisher to put out a small fire near the food court, an alarming discovery. two propane tanks that were rigged to explode. thousands of midday shoppers and employees forced to flee to the parking lot. bomb-sniffing dogs arrive. and soon, police discover another device, a pipe bomb. the fbi says it could have been meant as a trigger to blow the propane tanks. >> how can somebody in broad daylight walk in with that much stuff? and place it, light it, and get out and nobody knew? >> reporter: overnight, investigators released surveillance pictures of this mystery man they're calling a person of interest. he's older with silver-white hair and a mustache.