. >> reporter: lieutenant mike sullivan tells us the officer has just been released from the hospital. he will be okay. he has a broken leg and some other injuries. again, the officer has been released from the hospital. as for the suspect, he took off in a late model black tl acura integra. that is the vehicle officers are looking for this morning. he is described as a his responsibhispanic man with curly hair. since midnight, they have made more than half a dozen stop on similar-looking vehicles. they have not found him. lieutenant sullivan says they do have a partial license plate. he is confident sooner or later, the suspect will be taken into custody. live in san jose, marla tallez, "today in the bay." >>> they are set to present findings for a fire in richmond. the u.s. chemical safety board releasing a detailed report into the cause of the august fire. the investigation includes corroded piping led to the leak and the fire and blames the state's regulatory agency for not being proactive enough. they plan to discuss this at a news conference. a public meeting will be held friday

. >> neil: to a guy who prosecuted the shoe bomber, mike sullivan and former u.s. attorney. at do you think, mike? >> sounds like they are getting ready to charge him. hopefully they are going through a thoughtful process to determine whether or not designating him as an enemy combatant would not enhance national security or national interests. that is the reason why you are going to charge him in the federal district court. hopefully they have gone through that analysis to determine whether or not there is any value or benefit in terms of designating him as an enemy combatant. >> neil: and defer to your legal ease but i think i qualify as an ex pevtd -- serious, i'm curious when the justice department is about to announce charges, by definition they are certainly not going to be treating him as an enemy combatant. is that a given? >> clearly. otherwise there would be no reason to charge him. so they must have made a determination they will charge him federally and satisfy the federal interests. >> neil: what happens then if the state of massachusetts filed separate murder or

take care. >> joining me next, mike sullivan, former u.s. torney and acting director of atf and somebody who got a lot of endorsements from conservative groups. mr. sullivan, good morning to you. >> great to be on. thank you. >> you have received a lot of high profile endorsements for conservative republicans. this is massachusetts and if you get the nomination, you will make it harder for republicans to win the seat. what do you say to that? >> that's false. the claim is raised by democrats because i'm the only person in the tlas has taken on the career politicians and beaten them twice. the example of our having somebody represent the republican party is principals gets great support from the republican base. it's great support from independents and democrats alike. we bring a unique set of experiences to the campaign unlike anybody else from the democrat and republican side. it's a lot of pressure and rising up to the president and investigating international terror investigation. you have those types of experiences and the jobs and the na

lieutenant mike sullivan tells us he is not sure if it was a random crime or a crime of opportunity. >> at this point, all we know is that one victim was identified. he came upon the car after the concert, saw someone in it. the person gave back the property to the suspect. he ran to a different vehicle and then took off out of the parking lot at a high rate of speed, 30, 40 miles an hour and struck the officer. >>> lieutenant sullivan says that officer was taken to the hospital with a broken leg but the good news is, he has been released and he will be okay. the suspect, however, is still on the run. he is described as a hispanic man with curly hair. last seen driving a late model black four-door acura tl. police say they do he a partial license plate number. they are running that. so they are competent they will find this suspect sooner than later. live in san jose. marla tallez, "today in the bay." >>> 6:05 right now. we are keeping our eyes on the sky for you. give you a live look outside over san francisco. the sun slowly creeping up and illuminating the sky. it looks kind of ca

. >> reporter: mike sullivan, former head of the atf, gave me some insight tuesday near the boston crime scene. >> even the smallest piece of evidence we will look at and walk over, they were capture and say that's a treasure trove for them. >> even a little piece like that. >> critically important, it could be the one piece that would tell them exactly how the device was detonated. that might be the only piece that's left. >> reporter: as boston remans a city in grief tuesday with a 15-block crime scene at its center, president obama vowed those responsible would be caught and brought to justice. >> what we don't yet know is who carried out this attack or why, whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organization, foreign or domestic, or was the act of a malevolent individual. but we will find out. we will find whoever harmed our citizens. and we will bring them to justice. >> a lot of questions in the beginning of a major investigation. and brian, as if this wasn't enough, there is what appears to be another terrorist scare. this one in washington. what's going on? >> a suspi

mike sullivan joins me, former u.s. attorney and former acting director of the atf. one that prosecuted richard reed, the shoe bomber. looking at the

mike sullivan, thanks so much for joining us. boston is beginning to return to normal. we can get a sense of that at fenway park where the red sox are back in action now. before the first pitch, there was a solemn moment of silence. >> as we think of our 176 adults and children who were injured, including mbta officer richard donahue, won't you join us as we observe a moment of silence, contemplation and player, and in particular for the 58 who are still hospitalized. thank you. we wish each of you a speedy recovery. >> i got my red sox hat back on, and i'm going back to john berman at the ballpark. how many times do i have to put on the hat today? >> all day, it warms my heart. that voiceover before the game gave me chills. there were so many moments that gave so many of us chills. there was a moment of silence, there was the entire crowd singing the national anthem in unison. there were victims of the marathon bombings on the field, there were first responders on the field. they showed images on the scoreboard of the marathon itself, and people simply applauded and th

mike sullivan joins us, former acting director of the atf. mike beatty was talking about the operation, that is seems as if it was -- it was executed perfectly, even down to the point that they were able to apprehend the suspect almost -- a little after, but really in one day. >> sure. obviously you have to give them a great deal of credit for the tremendous work that they did in a short period of time. i know everybody was anxious about it, everybody was nervous about the fact that he was out and not apprehended. but law enforcement did exactly what they were supposed to do. and that's obviously to capture him. and they captured him a live. >> what about the technology? susan candiotti reported that they had a helicopter with thermal imaging ability. that's the most important thing. a regular person made it happen. then they had the helicopter that was able to determine that there was someone in there. >> right. and they've trained for this. they've trained in terms of search, they've trained in terms of rescue, they've trained it in terms of

fascinating. >> mike sullivan with us, former acting director of atf, he's here in boston with us.etty weird, and i know you're an expert on these kinds of areas. they go ahead and kill an m.i.t. police officer, they wound another one, they hijack a car. and then they let the driver go after telling the driver we were responsible for the bombings at the boston marathon. >> real no rhyme or reason with regard to the way that they just kill innocent people, maybe that was their way of getting their message out that they were responsible for the bombings. >> these bombs were described, i mean, they killed three people, the boston marathon, they injured almost 200 as supposedly two bombs crude and pressure cooker, if you will, is that a fair description? you're a former head of the atf. >> crude to the extent there was nothing sophisticated about the bombs. pressure cooker bombs. in fact, a lot like pipe bombs except using a pressure cooker, packed with low grade explosive material, having some type of detonating device. something that can initiate the spark that low grade material, bu

mike sullivan, the former head of the atf, the federal agency that investigates bombings, gave me insight tuesday near the boston crime scene. >> the smallest piece of evidence we would look at and simply walk over they would capture and say that's a treasure trove for them. >> reporter: even a little piece like that. >> yeah, critically important. you know, it could be the one piece that might tell them exactly how the device was detonated, and that might be the only piece that's left. >> reporter: brian ross, abc news, boston. >>> so many families toughed by the tragedy in boston. we will have more on their stories later in this half hour and, of course, complete coverage coming up on "good morning america." >>> and now we want to get to a brief check of the nation's weather. there will be clear skies from new england and the northeast. rain from the carolinas into the deep south. but violent storms stretch from texas all the way into the midwest, and then more snow from the northern plains and rockies. >> temperatures in colorado remain well below normal. low 80s across the southeast.

. >> reporter: mike sullivan is the former head of the atf. >> all the evidence they collect it is, it might not look like much. but to investigators, every small piece of evidence they collect will be a treasure trove. >> reporter: if the fbi belief about the pressure cooker bears out, it will be no surprise to counterterrorism officials who have warned about their possible use with readily available components for years. there are numerous descriptions online about how to build a pressure-cooker bomb, including this detailed one posted in an al qaeda internet publication. april is also a month with significance for domestic terror groups. the month of the waco raid and the oklahoma city bombing. as president obama made clear today, there's still no evidence of who is responsible for this act of terrorism. >> this was a heinous and cowardly act, and given what we now know about what took place, the fbi is investigating it as an act of terrorism. >> reporter: the fbi agents tell us they have tons of video, and somewhere in there will be a picture of the person who planted these two bom

mike sullivan, we'll stay in constant touch with you. mike sullivan formerly of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. the father of the boston marathon bombing suspects is speaking out. we are trying to connect with him in dagestan right now. the father insisting these two young men were framed. we'll bring you his comments from russia, dagestan, part of russia. authorities, also, here in the boston area are preparing to hold a news conference on the manhunt which has the entire boston area in lockdown. we'll take a quick break. much more coming up right after this. ♪ [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. [ male announcer ] the first look is only the beginning. ♪ ♪ this is a stunning work of technology. ♪ this is the 2013 lexus es and the fi

and we are joined from london by a counterterrorism expert, and mike sullivan here is a former acting director of the bureau of tobacco, firearms and explosives. let's start with you in london, will. the fbi talked to this man in 2011. it does beg the question, did they miss something when they talked to tamerlan tsarnaev? >> well, it's always very difficult to say. however, having said that, if you have an individual that is brought in by the authorities and questioned, again, without knowing exactly what the topic or agenda was that they were requesting him on, one would say that there was sufficient intelligence that may have been brought to them by this foreign government. and they could be a potential risk. and one would have hoped they would have been continually monitored beyond that point to insure that even if there was ambiguity in his absence, maybe they could prove it out as to whether they could discount them as a potential threat. >> apparently the united states fbi asked this foreign government for further information and the fbi says that information did not come. the

we have three republicans in here, mike sullivan is running.is a social conservative who is running in a way to say even though i'm a social conservative, i'm also an federal equatist. gomez is an interesting candidate. he's more of a moderate first timer latino. i think that he would be an interesting candidate. we don't really know that much about him other than his campaign has been very short. and then there is dan winzlow. he is more the profile of the massachusetts republican who has done well in recent elections in modern massachusetts. so i think he would have a shot if he won, but i'm not sure he has a shot to win the primary, but i think he could be competitive in a general election particularly against lynch. >> michael: one of the candidates that you mentioned is michael sullivan, a onetime acting director for the atf. he said this quote . . . and he didn't think requiring background checks for all gun show sales would accomplish much. do you think this could become a major issue for him? >> in he were to win the republican nominati

joining me, kevin miles, a former fbi bomb technician and mike sullivan, former u.s. attorney in boston there during 9/11. paul staple ton, president of the stapleton group. kevin, let me start with you. rich put together all the events of the day. do you think there is connection between these letters that are potentially have ricin in them and what we saw on monday? >> probably not. melissa: really? >> we got a lot of these kind of letters in los angeles when i lived there, when i was part of the terrorism task force. they come a lot to congressman and senators and most of the time they're not valid. melissa: based on what you heard do you think they have a suspect? >> well, i mean i was here when first announcement was made. these things happen when these gigantic investigations. it will be very extensive long investigation, will go on for a long time. even if there is suspect, no matter what if he is arrested investigation will go on quite a while. they happen on occasion. i have no idea. melissa: yeah. mike, let me ask you because you served in the atf you know f

but i want to fbi profiler, mike sullivan and former acting director of the atf in the conversation here with john and myself. mike, let me ask you what do you make of what john's reporting on here, that their possible second suspect. when you put all that together, what do you take away? >> okay, i can't hear me. let me go to you, john douglas, former fbi profiler. when you listened to what john was saying, right now there's a fast and furious scramble tonight whether to find this person or arrest this person, perhaps another suspect. who do you think this person is? >> well, that's a really the most difficult part in this type of case, it's not like a case such as the yuuna bomber profil in the early 8 0s. what you're trying to determine is the motive. it's not like going to a homicide and you're trying to do victimology on a specific victim, you analyze the specific evidence, the autopsy report. here the victims are so random you really then have to shift to the forensics. when i work a bombing case, i would go to our lab, tell me the degree of sophistication, or the lack of sophistic

these guys like markey, lynch particularly and the two republicans who were trying to challenge mike sullivanthe republican side, need more time to get into this race and get a challenge. build up a challenge to it. because they're not getting there. >> and that's what's amazing. i want to look at the republican side a minute. i talk to many democrats around here and they're only focused on one guy and that's gomez. that's the candidate they think if he gets out of the primary, he presents a real threat in the special general election. they're very dismissive of sullivan, who appears to be the favorite, because it all depends on who shows up an votes. >> i have picked that up in the last couple of days. the democratic leadership around here is getting very nervous and gomez winning that election. they want sullivan. he stands for everything that the massachusetts electorate is for or against. he is you know, social conservative. pro gun lobby. all that stuff. gomez is a moderate republican. he is allaty know. they see the koch brothers and karl rove coming in here with huge amounts of money t

lead or something that might be in the double digits and the other side, a trio of candidates, mike sullivan as well as gabriel gomez. some think gomez might give the republicans a better chance. all in a race to replace john kerry who is now secretary of state. >> the fact that they had to suspend for obvious reasons, campaigning for weeks because of boston. so they just picked it up this week. it was an awkward timing and the whole issue with the special election, especially at primary, are people going to come out and who is going to come out. >> it threw a wrinkle in this race. this is massachusetts, a very democratic-leaning state. republicans are hoping for a little scott brown magic that hoped for them in 2010. a lot of democrats see it was a perfect storm of things happening in health care law being implemented. the economy, the unemployment rate near 10%. democrats feel very good about being able to hold on to this seat. >> nia malika, there were a lot of fireworks last night. >> yes, indeed. she was very much the aggressor in that debate last night. that's not always an easy place

attorney and former atf director mike sullivan and state representative dan winslow.will face off. mark your calendar, june 25th. the obama administration now says applying for benefits under the president's health care law won't be as complicated. it has release ad new short three-page form for individuals, down from 21 pages. a second 11-page form has been released for families. but that's still better than the average application form for private insurance which runs around 17 pages. a lot of numbers. throws the thing we thought you should know. [ male announcer ] this is bob, a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but not anymore. bob's doctor recommended a different option: once-a-day xarelto®. xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescri

on the republican side, the more likely nominee will be mike sullivan. poll, ten points behind markey if he gets the nomination in a democratic seat. i don't think republicans are overconfident in this race but think they're in the mix. >> a generic prurepublican sn n running. >> that's a cheap shot. >> out of time. timed it women. >> kel. >> thanks for helping us bounce back from the segment before. >> either one of us are members of mensa. >> the two non-mensa members. >> three non-mensa members. >>> and a look back, when the music industry changed forever. first, though, moment highlight from last night's correspondents' dinner. >> so, yes, maybe i have lost a step, but some things are beyond my control. for example, this whole controversy about jay-z going to cuba. it's unbelievable. i've got 99 problems and now jay-z's one. your day to unplu. with centurylink as your technology partner, our visionary cloud infrastructure, and dedicated support, free you to focus on what matters. centurylink. your link to what's next. to find out we filled this car w

. >> reporter: mike sullivan is the former head of the atf. >> all the evidence they collect may notor the investigators every small piece of evidence they collect is going to be a treasure-trove. >> reporter: if the fbi belief about the pressure cooker bears out, it will be no surprise to counterterrorism officials who have warned about their possible use with readily available components for years. there are numerous descriptions online about how to build a pressure cooker bomb, including this detailed one posted in an al qaeda internet publication. but april is also a month with significance for domestic terror groups. the months of the waco raid and the oklahoma city bombing. as president obama made clear, there is still no evidence of who is responsible for this act of terrorism. >> this was a heinous and cowardly act and given what we now know about what took place, the fbi is investigating it as an act of terrorism. >> reporter: fbi agents tell abc news they have what they call tons of video of what happened that day and they are confident that somewhere on that video somewher

if we look back at the string of bombers, you just had mike sullivan on.ecuted richard reid, the shoebomber. abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber, he flubbed the bomb. the new york police and fbi interrupted a plot. there's been successes along the way and many others. so, you know, it's just a matter of we have to keep trying, we have to keep the resources going and always look forward. >> see something, say something for the public. that's for sure. james cavanagh, always a pleasure. thanks so much. >> thanks. >>> new words from president obama today on the bombing. joining me now nbc news white house correspondent kristin welker. i know the president was addressing the bombing in his weekly address. what did he say about it? >> reporter: well, alex, the president has been striking sort of a defiant tone both in his weekly address, also remember when he addressed that interfaith service in boston on thursday highlighting the resilience of not only boston but america as a whole, and that's really part of his main message in his weekly address which was rel