this small tiny town well i mean let's just for a minute let's just listen to the texas department of public safety he gave their assessment of the tragedy. i can tell you i was there i walked through the blast area i searched some houses earlier tonight massive just like iraq just like the murray building in oklahoma city same town of honduras exploded so you can imagine what kind of damage we're looking out there. i know there was at least seventy five to fifty fifty to seventy five houses damaged his apartment complex that has about fifty units in it that was completely. just skeleton standing there's a nursing home there that one hundred thirty three people in the nursing home we've got them evacuated i don't know what their injuries are are there right now but all injuries have been removed from the scene and talking to local hospitals in the waco area we had numerous agencies helping us all the way from the dallas fort worth area mclennan county lines don't feel basi and almost around areas that we've had a great turnout. to come out to help us get through this tragedy that we've had in a small

we heard earlier this evening from a gentleman from the texas department of public safety and he said, quote, that there are still active ingredients, that's his term, for potentially dangerous elements at that fertilizer plant and at least at the time that he spoke that there was a fire still smoldering. of course their primary concern is in treating those who have been injured and in tending to the people of the community there. but then there is this secondary concern of more explosions and of continued damage. now, to that end to try to put in place some previous cautionary measures, the gas companies have turned the gas off to ensure that there are no gas explosions as a result of this. now, that blast was so powerful that it was felt up to 70 miles away. we just heard from nbc's own charles hadlock who felt it 60 miles away. the usgs said it was more powerful than a 2.1 magnitude earthquake. in fact, it did damage a number of buildings in the surrounding area. the estimates are that in a five-mile radius, 75 to 100 homes and businesses have been damaged or destroyed, and that in

area wildfires could be seeing burning for miles around a spokesman for the texas department of public safety described what he witnessed i could tell you i was there i walked through the blast area are searching houses earlier tonight massive just like iraq just like the murray building in oklahoma city same crowd exploded so you can imagine what kind of damage we're looking out there. four days on the flames yet there are reports that ruptured chemical tanks at the plan tonight are leaking tokes ins and sparking small fire as the air is also being quarantined with locals relay katie. for missing people under the dead brake it's also emerged that there may have been serious safety shortfalls at the plant hops encouraged by decades of negligence by inspectors dr jeffrey patterson is a professor at the school of medicine it was scones and university he thinks that lax federal regulation is to blame there's been this montreaux that we have to deregulate we have to take away regulation so business can thrive and obviously we see examples like this or fukushima for example where when we do that we suffer the conse

west leaving several schools in a nursing home in ruins a spokesman for the texas department of public safety was at the scene he described what he sort of. i can tell you i was there i walked through the blast area our search some houses earlier tonight massive just like iraq just like the murray building in oklahoma city same chrono exploded so you can imagine what kind of damage we're looking out there. the disaster is believed to be caused by a mostly of nitrate a potentially explosive fertilizer stored at the plant and large quantities fears over toxic leak and further loss lead then to mass evacuation but now the people start to return to their homes again and there remains a big question mark over how the plants slipped through the net of safety inspectors i spoke to dr jeffrey patterson from the school of medicine it was constant university in the week who thinks federal regulations are protecting business interests at the cost of human life. there's been this montreaux that we have to deregulate we have to take away regulations so business can thrive and obviously we see examples like this or fukushima

while far as could be seen burning for miles around with a spokesman for the texas department of public safety described what he witnessed. there are walked through the blast area are searching houses earlier tonight massive just like iraq just like the murray building in oklahoma city same crowd exploded so you can imagine what kind of damage we're looking out there. for days on the flames on yet there are reports that ruptured chemical tanks at the plant and i'm making another leaking talk sins and sparking small fires the area's also being quarantined with locals relocated while rescue is missing people under the dead it's also emerged that there may have been serious safety shortfall was at the plant perhaps encouraged by decades of negligence by inspectors investigative journalist david lindorff says that many other u.s. communities may also be at risk. over and over companies get cited for not having these risk plans in place and they get a small fine and then they don't do anything you know the day they maybe go through the motions of having the risk plan but the reality is. it makes absolutely no sense

of assistant district attorney hasse, why was he singled out? you have all these county prosecutors, all of the law enforcement, the police, department of public safety from texasthese groups for a long time. why was he singled out first? in the second case, the district attorney mclelland, as we just heard in the tape, he challenged them and basically, you know, they fought back. so if -- or whoever, whoever was the killer in this case, and it may not be the aryan brotherhood of texas. that's the other issue. it's an obvious pick that they may have been involved but investigators can't just rely on that. and when you don't have a particular group or person claiming credit it's going to make it very difficult for them to find out through sources, through investigation, in a number of states, including especially texas, to link them to it. so that's the problem now. it's going to be a very, very difficult investigation if no one comes forward. and you could have people coming forward, talking to each other, bragging about it, within their community, and somebody leaks that out to law enforcement, that a particular individual is bragging about having committed th

he was walking to work. and that the allegations of perhaps some arian brotherhood connection emerged after. that then back in december the texas department of public safetytatewide bulletin warning law enforcement agencies that perhaps they had intelligence that some of the members of the groups were actively planning retaliation. so all of that had been kind of floating around out there. but wfaa tv here in the dallas area reported last night that they had exchange e-mails with mike mclelland over the last couple days before he was murdered and in the e-mails he seemed to down play that connection. >> all right. thank you very much, eddie. appreciate your time. >>> investigators searching for links between the two murders, prosecutors across the state are taking extra precautions for their own safety. wfaa reporter rebecca lopez was communicating with mike mclelland before his murder. i appreciate you taking the time to speak us with. let me just start with this. i know you have been e-mailing with the prosecutor. did he give you any indication that he was concerned about his safety? >> not at all. in fact, we got an e-mail from him three days before he

along with his wife on saturday night, he made it very clear, we're going to go after you guys and find you. >> right. and the texas state department of public safetyof the arian brotherhood in texas in a federal and multi district indictment that they may be subject to mass casualties. the arian brotherhood was started in california in the '60s in response to desegregation of prisons there. according to the f.b.i., they are only 1% of the prison population burks apparently account for 18% of prison murders. >> steve: if they are involved in these cases, they're practically terrorists. >> you talked about extremism. it's a form of terrorism. it's a form of imposing fear. we talked about it this morning, how people in that community are afraid and the officials in that community are saying, no, you shouldn't be afraid because these people are targeted victims of whoever did it. they're also looking at any cases that mr. mcclelland and his deputy had worked on together other than cases involving the arian brotherhood. but we have the death of a corrections official in colorado. the death of mr. hassey may have been the same man that killed them both.