surae chinn is live in arlington with more on that and a vip visit to the pept gone today. >> reporter: the vice president will be visiting here meeting privately with 9/11 victims and participating in a wreath playing ceremony. at the same time the president will be traveling to new york, doing the same thing, meeting with 9/11 victim at ground zero. these visits come after the president says he will not release pictures of osama bin laden after he was shot to death by navy seals. he explains all of this in an interview with steve croft of 60 minutes. >> it is important for us to

surae chinn is live in arlington with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to both of you. vice president joe biden will be visiting the pentagon later on today. he will be meeting privately with 9/11 victims and also participating in a wreath ceremony there. also, at the same time the president will be traveling to new york at ground zero. he will also be meeting with 9/11 victims and participating in a ceremony. well, this comes after president obama says he will not release pictures of bin laden after he was shot to death by navy seals. he explains why in an interview with steve croft of 60 minutes. >> it is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an in sight. to additional violence, as a propaganda tool. you know, that's not who we are. >> reporter: the president says he has seen these photos and the world will not. he said without a shadow of a doubt bin laden is dead. he knows this through dna testing, facial recognition and those on the compound who identified him. meanwhile, there are bog

it has people across the country and in our region on alert. >> surae chinn live at dupont circle nearro station where it is more on the safety measures now in place. surae, good morning. >> good morning to both of you. increased security is the natural response and with good reason, with the potential of retaliation. so, what you'll find is heightened security everywhere you go. we'll see more people come through the metro and they'll also see more uniformed officers also at government buildings and that's exactly what we found here at the u.s. capitol. we saw beefed up security there. capitol police officers are patrolling with automatic weapons although that's not unusual. you'll see more of them. meanwhile, d.c. police officers are also on guard for any suspicious activity. terrorist experts caution government buildings, public transportation such as metro and airports are attractive targets for terrorists and that the killing of osama bin laden could inspire homegrown terrorists and factions of them to avenge his death. in response, d.c.'s metro system and airports have beefed up

surae chinn joins us live from there this morning. >> good morning, andrea and mike. this was a massive explosion. there is nothing left of this home. wait until you see these pictures. i have steven here whose friend took this picture you're about to see, a ball of fire and you actually ran toward the fire. >> yes, i did. >> tell me about that. >> well,ives in the house and we heard a loud rumble and it sounded like thunder. came down or something. next thing you know, we see a ball of smoke and fire and my thing was to come and see what happened. they said there was two people still inside and everything and upon coming, i noticed they were off to the side. it was a miracle they were out. the explosion blew them away. there was another neighbor over there helping him out. it was fire. you could hear propane. it was just -- it was very intense. it was wreckage all the way down to almost to my house. >> you came before firefighters and first responders got here. you're talking about this neighbor whobd into the home, tried to save the woman who is still trapped inside

. >> surae chinn is live outside the white house now where things have calmed down but what a night they experienced. surae, good morning. >> it has been a momentous and historic occasion here at the white house. we are some distance away right now because the crowds were so enormous overnight, we were pushed back out this way. if we zoom across lafayette square here, you might be able to see a few people still gathered in front of the white house and most likely, there will be more reaction and spontaneous celebrations to come throughout the day. but here is a taste of what it was like just a couple of hours ago after finding out the news. the large crowds gathered here upon president obama announcing that the leader of al-qaeda was killed by u.s. forces. thousands gathered, chanting u.s.a., cheering and waving their flags in jubilation. and one of those in the crowd was proud father of senior airmen sumner cohen who was killed in iraq. >> i'm very proud of all of our military servicemen out there. i really appreciate that. this is my boy. he was killed. he's buried at arlington and i l

surae chinn joins us now from metro's chinatown station in northwest washington with more information. >> reporter: j.c., we witnessed a heightened sense of security here. what you'll find are more uniformed officers and what you'll also see and what they'll tell you is that they are more vigilant whenever and wherever throughout the transit systems. a robbery suspect was hiding out at metro brought additional police coming against traffic within seconds. canine and extra officers on high alert throughout the transit system. and customers appreciate it. >> i totally expect it. after something like that happens, there's definitely going to be heightened security. >> reporter: folks are reacting follow the attack that killed terrorist leader and the mastermind behind the 9-11 attacks, osama bin laden. >> they finally got him. >> i don't think that it is right to be joyous over the death of someone. >> we're waiting for this moment. that's the best way to say it. >> i think it is a great accomplishment for the american forces. >> metro says there is enhanced security both seen and unseen

surae chinn is at the white house this morning with some of the reaction from this momentous occasion. surae, good morning. >> for this historic moment, people gathered here at the white house, hundreds and hundreds, this enormous crowd gathered here and the has spontaneity. president obama announcing the leader of al- qaeda was killed by u.s. forces. after the globalwide manhunt that has gone cold in recent years, thousands came here, gathering, chanting u.s.a.! waving their flags in jubilation. one of those in the crowd was proud father of senior airmen sumner cohen, killed in iraq. >> i'm very proud of all of our military servicemen out there. i really appreciate that. this is my boy. he was killed. he's buried at arlington and i love him, i miss him every day. >> a lot of people put their lives on the line like my husband. and look at this. this is one of the greatest days of my life. >> i'm proud to be an american. this is a very historic evening. >> this is a night that will define our generation. no doubt whatsoever. >> i'm very happy i'm attending college if d.c. when osama bi

surae chinn reports from northwest washington. >> reporter: students and faculty hoping for a calmer day today as new letters arrive at different d. c. public schools. >> they may have been some letters in the pipeline that hadn't been opened yesterday that may have been in the mail. >> reporter: a subdued response at bancroft elementary, one of a handful of schools this morning that received suspicious letters with powder on it consistent with corn starch. >> knew nothing about it. >> reporter: the d. c. fire chief says there will be little class disruption and in some case, no one but the front office will know anything is wrong. no evacuations? >> not that i was aware of. >> reporter: a very different response yesterday when they were evacuated. >> we were running and all the teachers were like this isn't a drill. this isn't a drill. go, go. go. >> reporter: duke ellington school of the arts among 30 schools cleared out after receiving the letters yesterday which reportedly had the words fbi, al-qaeda and usa on them. >> to do something to this nature for children? that's really a

the heightened state of alert continues across our nation and here in the district, surae chinn reports from union station. >> reporter: from the air to the ground, law enforcement is trying to keep us safe as we conduct our daily travels. >> i feel safe. >> union station is extra vigilant. >> i always feel good on the train. i like the dogs and the way they do things here at amtrak. >> reporter: on capitol hill, an increase in heavily-armed guards, stepped up patrols at the pentagon and heightened security and more scrutiny at our airports. >> more than what i normally see on a regular basis. >> reporter: d.c. police chief cathy lanier says keeping the district safe will take all of us. >> this fight, it is not just police and intelligence and the military. we really need our community to step up their game and report anything they see that's out of the ordinary. >> i always keep my eye open. i think as they say in the security video here, suspicious behavior, not suspicious people. i keep my eyes open for people who are doing odd things. i'll keep my eyes open and probably more. >> me

we go live to surae chinn near the spent gone in arlington, virginia.ing. >> reporter: good morning, the president says he has seen these photos and he says without a shadow of a doubt it is osama bin laden and he is dead. but the world will not be able to see these photos, at least by way of the white house. the president said he does not want to do this and he explains it in the 60 minutes interview which will air this sunday. he says they don't want graphic photos to incite more violence here and abroad. he he's even if the photos were released it wouldn't convince some who believe he is alive. jay carney. >> these are graphic photographs of someone who was shot in the face -- head rather, it is not in our national security interest to allow those images as has been in the past been the case to become icons to rally opinion against the united states. the president's number one priority is the safety and security of americans citizens at home and americans abroad. >> reporter: the decision also applies to the burial, which press secretary jay carney s

to retaliate has many law enforcement groups in washington taking action now. 9news now reporter surae chinn is live outside the dupont circle metro station with more on this side of the story. surae, good morning. >> good morning to both of you. across the nation and here in the district, security has been stepped up. we're talking everything from the airport to the capital to here at metro and throughout the transit system. folks are working double time to keep you safe. we had cameras in key areas such as the pentagon. we saw more uniformed officers there with high-powered weapons. i saw more at the cia at lappingly, more than -- at langley, more than usual there. airport, security has been beefed up. the fbi cautions public buildings are attractive targets for terrorists, homegrown or otherwise. d.c.'s metro system is beefing up its police presence until further notice. that goes for both the buses and rails. metro was asking passengers to report anything suspicious including packages left unattended. but chief michael taborn tells us this increase in security is a precautionary measure,

. >> the scene is in the 11200 block of ashley drive. 9news now reporter surae chinn is at the scene with more. >> reporter: i want to show you the sheer destruction here at the 11000 block of ashley drive. a massive explosion that shook this house, destroyed it and the neighboring house also received some damage. we have chief richard bowers here to tell us the very latest of what happened. >> good morning. around 3:00 a.m. this morning, fire rescue units were called to a 911 call in the 11200 block of ashley drive for an apparent explosion or emergency in the house. units arrived on the scene to see a house that was completely destroyed. apparently by some sort of explosion. right now, we've transported two adults to the local burn center. they're in serious condition but not a life-threatening situation for them. right now, we're going to conduct an initial investigation probably around daybreak with other local authorities to determine what may have caused this incident. >> tell us also, we heard that people felt the impact a mile away. >> i don't know about the exact area that t

surae chinn joins us live from outside the white house with more on the reaction to the news. surae? >> well, good morning. you know, people wanted a place to celebrate. they wanted this historic moment to go somewhere and they chose in front of the white house. there were spontaneous crowds that formed here. things have since quieted down but most likely, formed back throughout the day. here's what it looked like a couple of hours ago as people heard the news after obama spoke. an enormous crowd gathered in front of the white house after president obama announcing the leader of al-qaeda was killed by u.s. forces after the global wide manhunt that had gone cold in recent years, thousands gathered chanting u.s.a., u.s.a., waving their flags in jubilation. one of those in the crowd was proud father of a man who was killed in iraq. >> i'm very proud of our military servicemen out there. i really appreciate that. he's buried in arlington. i miss him every day. >> a lot of people put their lives on the line like my husband and this is one of the greatest days of my life. >> i'm prou