>> deb feyerick, thank you. joining us is national security analyst and former homeland security adviser fran townsend. also on the phone, dr. sanjay gupta. they mentioned the gun debate, the joint terrorism task force is investigating. it could be more of a political threat than a terror threat, really. >> that's right, anderson, but as you've mentioned, that's not really at the moment the most relevant piece to the investigators. they don't much care about motive at the moment. they want to know who. and so, to determine the who, they will look for the forensics. they'll look for things like saliva, hair, fingerprints on the letter or on the envelope. they'll analyze, ultimately, the handwriting. but all these things take time, which is why the first thing they're going to focus on is, one, the lab analysis. you heard deb feyerick, the first field test was negative, the second was positive. oftentimes, these field tests are wrong, which is why they're getting a real thorough lab result. that will take a little

deb feyerick is "outfront" tonight. >> one of the things we're learning is it appears the two letters were sent by the both person, the same individual and they did contain threats for michael bloomberg. it's not clear what the nature of those threats were though it did reference the debate on guns, something the mayor is very out front and very vocal against, one of the reasons the letters was sent to the organization mayors against illegal guns in washington, d.c. we're told that investigators from the jttf and the mayor's protection detail are looking at the postmark of that letter which was sent outside of the two cities from which they were sent. they're investigating now not clear whether there is any sort of return address. clearly this is a serious threat to new york city's mayor. investigators are looking very closely at it now. the initial tests showing that there was the presence of ricin. and three of those, jake, who were in new york from the emergency services unit that responded apparently did have some symptoms of ricin exposure when they opened the letter over the wee

you just heard deb feyerick's description of the substance. she said it was an oily or advice could you say substance. that doesn't soundize weaponized. usually they're small particles that can get deep into the lungs. >> what happens when a particle goes into the lungs? >> well, the particular poison works sort of at what we call the cellular level, so the most basic level. the cells -- all over the body are constantly doing things, performing metabolic functions. ricin sort of interferes with that. it breaks down some of that machinery at its most basic level. and what happens, if someone inhales it, they will have difficulty breathing. some of the earlier symptoms. ultimately, their lungs will just start to fill with fluid, and in response, that poisonous insult, as the lungs will try and respond, that ultimately is what can can cause death. >> if you know what you've en hailed, though, is it treatable? >> there is no particular antidote for ricin. so usually we say that people are treated symptomcally. so, for example, if you knew someone

deb feyerick, thank you so much. "outfront," cnn's national security analyst fran townsend and the person behind the movie "contagion." they mentioned the current debate over gun control. would that mean that this would be qualified as a political threat over a terror threat? how are the designations made? >> it's really hard. frankly, whether it is a sort of terror threat or political threats is going to be treated the same for the moment. they're going to get the confirmation of the preliminary tests that it is in fact ricin. they'll look for the strength. they'll also look at the forensics. they'll try to determine whether or not on the envelope or on the letter is there hair? is there saliva samples? there are fingerprints? one of the reasons i think you see the joint terrorism task force is investigating this, is because that's where the federal government coordinates with state and locals and pulls all the federal resources together. including cia and other intelligence resources to help them understand what is

let's get right to deb feyerick in boston. deb, why did they move up the attack date?rter: what's so interesting, cnn's susan candiotti has learned from a law enforcement official that in fact one of the reasons they moved up attack dates is simply that the bomb was ready, and that information is apparently coming through questioning of the younger brother, dzhokhar. he said the bombs were meant to be ready for july 4th, but since they were ready sooner, they decided to step up their attack. it's always been a question as to where they built these devices. but now that u.s. law enforcement official telling susan candiotti that in fact they were built in this apartment. and it was a small apartment where both the -- where tamerlan and his brother, dzhokhar, both of them lived with the wife and the child. and so all of that looking -- being looked at very closely, erin. >> obviously raising a lot of questions. we'll talk to aaron pike given the new information. the bombing suspect, tamerlan tsarnaev, everyone was wondering would he actually be claimed? finally the body w

deb feyerick joins us live. deb, it's fascinating to see this mere hours before that attack was carried out. did this manager have any more obs vagues about the relationship or the -- observations about the relationship or the dynamic itself? >> reporter: he said they seemed calm, relaxed. it was clearly tamerlan the manager had a big problem with. because all he was asking to him do was to remove his shoes. tamerlan was arguing with him, arguing with him, wouldn't do whatever everybody else in the gym was doing, his younger brother is easy going, listens to authority. the older brother not so much. there is nothing else about the dynamic. he said the younger one didn't come to the gym very often. he said he only came a couple times in a two-year period. >> so he wasn't able to shed light on the way he treated his younger brother or whether he ordered the younger brother or anything like that? >> reporter: no, not really t. manager's primary interaction was with tamerlan. he led the boys down the stairs. he was t

deb feyerick is "outfront" tonight.

deb feyerick on the story reporting live, thank you, deb. >>> a split-second decision as you heard debeport, life and death consequences and that is what was facing this police force when an officer decided to enter andrea rebello's home. i want to bring on legal panel, defense attorneys. brian, i want to begin with you, if i can, look, there are a lot of questions we still need to answer to what the police knew before they went into the home. but at this point if they only knew there was a robbery and they didn't know there was a hostage, did this officer do anything wrong? >> well, ashleigh, if the officer thought it was only a robbery, i think there are still solace specs of the apprehension an shoot tag are questionable. first of all, two police officers arriving at a scene, they should never separate from each other, no. 1. they should be communicating. there should be a primary officer and a secondary aefrs e officer. they're there together to progressive conservative one another. so when one officer goes into the house, the other officer stays outside the house, you are escalati

deb feyerick is joining us now. what do officials know?n, right now they believe both were sent by the same person. the postmark was the same, they contained the same kind of substance, and they also both threatened mayor michael bloomberg for his positions on the

deb feyerick is live in boston with more. another dramatic development in this. that the boston marathon was their plan "b" if you'd like. these two brothers originally planned to strike as possibly a suicide attack on independence day. tell me more about that. >> reporter: one law enforcement official who has talked to susan candiotti, apparently dzhokhar tsarnaev told investigators that he was being questioned by them following the arrest. he apparently told them that july 4th was plan "a," that's what they were thinking about doing. they were thinking about using some sort of device like a suicide -- the question is whether the evidence was actually recovered or whether they went and found plan "b," which were the devices, the pressure cooker devices they ended up using, but apparently they were able to build them and build them quickly and therefore they moved up their attacks to the boston marathon, a daytime attack. piers? >> his interrogation revealed more information about the kind of videos they've been watching involving some radical clerics. what can y

our deb feyerick is "outfront" with more on the investigation. >> reporter: the anonymous ricin letters contain a warning, what's in this letter is nothing compared to what i've got planned for you. three letters sent to three men at the forefront of the gun control debate. president obama, new york city mayor michael bloomberg, and the head of his gun control group. in two of the letters, they threatened to shoot anyone who tried to confiscate his or her guns. "you'll have to kill me and my family before you get my guns." "anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face." "the right to bear arms is my constitutional god-given right and i'll exercise that right until the day i die." >> in the text of the letters themselves, in the greeting in the letter, it just says you. so we're assuming that the letters are the same, from the same machine or computer. >> reporter: police say two of the letters contained an orange, pink oily material within which were traces of ricin which is derived from castor beans. all were sent to the national bioforensic analysis center. investigators

deb feyerick. >> it's a huge development. that's what's so interesting about this. investigators are looking into this particular phone conversation, because she did phone her husband after the video. and after the images were released. she calls her husband, not clear what was said, what is clear, is that she had an option or an opportunity to call law enforcement and that's not something she did. that put her in a whole heap of trouble. what did you do? all of that is something she's being questioned on, she's talking about the agents as well as well as attorneys and prosecutors. she is not a suspect. she's not a suspect until she's a suspect. that is how they approach this. the suspect until she's not a suspect. but, for example, investigators are at her home. they did take dna samples. so that may mean she is creating distance between herself and the tsarnaev family. also, you have to think about the association. she is very, very close to what went on in that house. she would be a great state's witness. there are so many other questions about when he was travel

deb feyerick has the latest. what have you learned?> reporter: we were able to speak to the funeral home. they read us the death certificate. it has not yet been filed with the city of boston. according to the death certificate, the cause of death is gunshot wounds to the torso and to the extremities, also blunt trauma to the head and also to the torso. this is very consistent with what happened early friday morning, the night of that brutal shootout in which tsarnaev and police officers exchanged gunfire and during which the younger brother, dzhokhar tsarnaev, allegedly hit his brother with the car that they were using to escape. we are told by the funeral home that tsarnaev's body is being prepared there but as of yet, anderson, they have no grave site, no place to put this man. anderson? >> is it clear at this point who is going to conduct a service or anything like that, or who's paying for this? >> reporter: no. it's not. that's an excellent question, because the family in russia has called for an autopsy to be performed. they wan

joe johns and deb feyerick, as well. follow me on twitter. i'll be tweeting throughout the hour. >>> we'll take you next to the fire lines, hundreds of homes in jeopardy, hundreds of firefighters doing battle with a wall of flames that grew out of nothing in a few hours. and later, lost and found then and now. how one woman disappeared. that's her 11 years ago. she was a mom back then, she abandoned her kids and that's what she looks like now. she was discovered on the streets in florida 11 years later. i'm going to talk to her son find out whether he wants to even talk to her, wants to get some sort of explanation from her, even an apology from her. he was 12 years old when she abandoned him. we'll talk to him ahead coming up. else. ♪ who's that lady? ♪ who's that lady? ♪ sexy lady ♪ who's that lady? [ female announcer ] swiffer sweeper's electrostatic dry cloths attract and lock dirt, dust, and hair on contact to clean 50% more than a broom. it's a difference you can feel. swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning. and now swiffer wet and

take time, which is why the first thing they're going to focus on is the lab analysis, you heard deb feyerick, the first field test was negative, often times they're wrong, which is why they're getting a thorough lab result. that will take a little bit of time, that will tell them something, they'll understand the strength of the compound. how competently it was mixed, analyze whether the two letters, whether it was from the same batch of mixture of the compound of ricin, all those things will help investigators lead down the path to who, and once you determine the who you'll be able to understand the why. >> how dangerous is this stuff, ricin? >> it can be very dangerous, it's a potentially toxic substance. a couple things that are important to note is that in and of itself, this is a poison that comes from caster beans as a lot of people know, you can get that ricin, the poisonous substance out of the caster beans without a lot of difficulty. the challenge is to actually turn that into something that can get into the lungs and make someone sick or even kill them. that's a much more difficul

>> deb feyerick, thank you.u to that federal courthouse live here in boston on the other side of the break. we'll also take you to new bedford, a town here in massachusetts where these young people were arrested, and it is not too far from umass dartmouth where they're attending school with this younger suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev. special coverage here in boston after this. you have the potential to do more in business. by earning a degree from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to make an impact in your company and take your career to an even greater place. let's get started at capella.edu. of mild to moderate alzheimer's disease is exelon patch. now with more treatment options, exelon patch may improve overall function and cognition. your loved one can get a free 30-day trial. and you can have access to nurses. it does not change how the disease progresses. hospitalization, and rarely death, have been reported from wearing more than one patch at a time. the most common side effects are nausea, vomiti

deb, thanks so much. deborah feyerick in new york. >> you're not going to want to miss anderson cooper's special report back to boston, that is tomorrow night. you're going to hear incredible stories from some of the photographers who captured some of those iconic moments from last month's bombing. that is this friday 10:00 p.m. eastern. >>> and happening around the world right now, a suicide bomber has hit a nato military convoy, this is in afghanistan. >> yeah, actually in the capital kabul. a nato spokesman says two service members were killed. nato has not said what their nationalities are at the moment. and there are also four civilians, contractors who worked for nato, who also died in this attack. >> an afghan government spokesman says that 30 other people were killed or injured including some school children. an insurgent group has now claimed responsibility. >> and the violence never stops in baghdad. in iraq there have been shootings and explosions there and in elsewhere in the country. at least six people dead

deborah feyerick joins us live from boston. deb, what more have we learned about this supposed plan to strike on independence day? and is there any evidence to support that? >> well, right now investigators are looking into this theory that in fact it may have been july 4th, but there's still sort of an absence of hard evidence to suggest that in fact that was their number one target. why they decided to change their plans. initially wi heard reports that they were building the bomb and they built it too quickly. they didn't realize how fast they would be able to build it. so they sort of moved up their plan to attack the boston marathon. people that i'm speaking to say they just don't believe that that's true because of the way they executed it in terms of what they call the trade craft, the way they sort of approached their target points, the time in between the detonations, the way that the whole thing was done pretty methodically suggested that there was more training involved than, gee, hey, we're done, let's go bomb the marat

our deborah feyerick's in new york with some of the details. debakes this letter suspicious. >> what we're hearing now according to sources that fbi or they're analyzing a letter sent to president obama. it was received at an offsite facility but it appears to be similar to the two letters sent to mayor michael bloomberg, one of those letters in washington, another in new york. we're beginning to learn more about what was in the actual letter specifically the writer says "you'll have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. the right to bear arms is my constitutional god-given right and i will exercise that right until the day i die." now, the two letters sent to mayor michael bloomberg and the organization he heads which is mayors against illegal gun violence, those letters were mailed from shreveport, louisiana. it is not clear whether in fact the one received or sent to president obama was also sent from the same address. but officials are telling us that it does appear that the

deborah feyerick is joining us now with more on what's going on. deb, all of us want to know how the laptop was found, what the investigators hope to learn from it? what are you learning? >> well, here's what we can tell you. we know that the computer was here at the university of massachusetts dartmouth in dzhokhar tsarnaev's dorm room the night he went on the run. he and another friend, dias c d carder bev were texts each other. at that point dzhokhar tsarnaev said if you want anything, come to my room and take it. the friend came with two other men, all of them now facing charges, but the friend came to dzhokhar tsarnaev's dorm room here. and they took a backpack which was filled with empty fireworks container. the black powder had been removed. they also took the computer. now, kadyrbayev was questioned as early as april 19th even before the bomb suspect was discovered hiding in that boat. he was already in custody. he was already being questioned by investigators. and one of the reasons they're doing a whole electronic trail of people that the two

cnn's deborah feyerick is in new york. and, debk and reset how all of this unfolded, and how quickly all of this actually happened. >> yeah, and ashleigh, what is amazing is this was a crime of opportunity, but the home intru intrude, the gunman, a career criminal who got out of prison three months ago after serving nine years for attempted robbery with a firearm, he was already violated, he already violated parole and was wanted on a warrant. well, friday, around 2:00 a.m., he walks past the home where andrea rebello lived with her twin sister who you see there, they shared it with two other roommates. police say the front door was open because one of the roommates was getting ready to move the car. well, that's when 30-year-old dalton smith with a ski mask over his head walked in demanding cash and valuables. when there wasn't enough, one of the roommates said to go to a nearby atm, smith allegedly threatened to kill her friends if she didn't come back quickly. two officers arrived. one entered the home. the others stood just out

deborah feyerick has been working her sources on this story. debthat if, in fact, we can prove it is ricin, it will take the gun defwiet a whole other level. one was sent to washington, d.c., specifically the gun group the mayor heads the mares a -- mayors against illegal drugs. they target mayor michael bloomberg because of his views on gun control. force believe the letters were written by the same person. they were posted by the same area. both contain what a police source is describing as an orange-pink material. that material initially tested negative. then it tested positive for trace amounts of ricin. the mayor was never in immediate danger. he said he didn't feel threatened. there will always be people doing stuff like this. the analysis center in maryland should have the conclusive results back today or the end of the week. law enforcement acts we are told are being briefed on the status of the investigation. police agents and officers on the joint terrorisms task force were mobilized to go and basically question people in the town from wh

deborah feyerick has been working her sources for us. what else are you picking up, deb?wolf, one thing that we do know is that this young man, dias kadyrbayev, was always of interest to investigators. and there are a couple of reasons for that. he had been taken in for questions even before dzhokhar tsarnaev was captured. so he was taken in in handcuffs by fbi agents. he was clearly sort of woken up a little bit early because he was wearing just a sweatshirt and his boxer shorts. he was taken in, again, the friday before dzhokhar tsarnaev was captured. and the reason he was of interest is really because of activity that was on his facebook page. the photograph that you showed earlier, the one of them sitting there at the table together, the two friends sort of arm-in-arm, well, that was of particular interest because that photograph was removed from dias's facebook page 3:00 early friday morning. the same time that his friend there in the red was on the run. also, there was some activity that was taking place according to an intelligence source and that is between 4:50 a

office in providence, rhode island, and i want to go to cnn's debra feyerick who joins me where these young people had attended school. deb, what are you learning in terms of the specifics of this phone call that katie russell had with her husband, and what might this potentially mean for her? >> it's very interesting, whenever we see pictures of katie russell, normally we see her accompanied by her lawyer. there's some serious talks going on right now strategizing because she is considered a suspect. look, everybody's considered a suspect until you're no longer a suspect, so right now we understand she's having meetings with her lawyer. she is key to all of this, because she can tell investigators, for example, who her husband was associating with, where he traveled, how long he traveled for, whether he was sort of leaving the house at certain times of the day or night. also, we have not heard anything about a computer belonging to tamerlan tsarnaev or a cell phone, for that matter, that was uncovered belonging to tamerlan tsarnaev. so, the suggestion is she would know where the two items are. also, she herself has a com

our national correspondent, deborah feyerick is joining us from new york. what is the latest, deb?nning out looking for the individual or individuals who sent these letters. the letters are frightening not only because of what they contain inside, but also because of the threat they make. the anonymous ricin-tainted letters contain an ominous warning. what's in this letter is compared to nothing what i've got planned for you. three letters sent to three men at the forefront of the gun control debate. president obama, new york city mayor michael bloomberg and head of his gun control group. he threatened to shoot anyone who tried to confiscate his or her guns. quote, you will have to kill me and my family if you want to get my guns. anyone who wants to come to my house will get shot in the fairs. i will examiner my right until the day i die. >> in the text of the letters themselves, and the greeting in the letter it just says you. we're assuming the letters are the same, from the same machine, or computer. >> reporter: police say at least two of the letters contained an orange/pink o

feyerick is in new york with more on this. and what is the video at least telling investigators, deb?ideo does is fill in a hole on the timeline, which is very important because investigators are so keen to understand exactly what these two men were doing in the days leading up to the bombing, where they were, where they went, clearly this places them in boston, a suburb called austin. but it also -- there is new information on the tape. for example, when the brothers are entering the gym, they're wearing what appears to be the same jackets they were wearing the day of the bombing as well. when investigators are going to look at other surveillance tapes, they know that chances are likely that they were doing a dry run, they might have been wearing the same clothes. but all of this is something that is offering up clues. it is always in the details, brooke. 72 hours before the bombs detonated, almost to the minute, suspects tamerlan and dzhokhar tsarnaev worked out together at a gym in boston. security cameras at the y crew mixed martial arts center show the brothers arriving with a fr

feyerick now on the phone with me. she's in boston getting new information from law enforcement as far as something very specific that they have found inside this cambridge apartment, debse two brothers shared. what did they find? >> well, one of the things they found and one of the reasons they believe that either it will pressure cooker bombs or pipe bombs they had were built inside the cambridge home is they found bomb residue, residue of explosives in the kitchen sink, at the kitchen table and also in the bathtub. they believe the bombs were built in the apartment because of the residue that they did find. they have found no bombs elsewhere but they believe some of the devices were, in fact, made in the home that tamerlan tsarnaev shared not only with his brother but with his wife and small child. also, we should tell you there are some searches going on at the university of massachusetts, dartmouth, and those searches specifically investigators following leads that they've received, tips they've received, that there were loud explosions over the last couple months, so they're looking to see whether, in fact, the explosions, a, happened, and whether think could be