>> that breaking news from we are beingonight

told of those explosions were no accident, they were bombs planted near the finish line. >> at least two people dead and at least 23 more injured. the explosion came just as hundreds of runners were approaching the finish line. >> developments continue to pour into the newsroom. reports coming out of the boston -- thisme horrific according to the associated other at least one explosive device has been found.

witnesses said they heard two explosions near the finish line of the boston marathon late monday afternoon about 10-15 seconds apart, just minutes after the four-hour mark of the race. just getting some new video of the explosion as it happened. that was an intense explosion. look at the reaction. one, and then there were two. there was the second explosion near are just hearing. >> the scene was chaos, pandemonium. this witness was only feet from the finish line. >> i heard a huge boom, boom, literally steps behind. one of the loudest things i have ever heard in my life. people to start a freaking out, screaming. >> medical personnel are already in place at the finish

line. medical personnel were quickly able to set up triage units inside the medical tent and on the sidewalk and quickly transport the injured off to the hospitals. >> there are reports of severe injuries, severed limbs, and serious burns. >> this man's father was among those being rushed off. >> i helped carry him to the ambulance. what we could not put him in a wheelchair, there was no way. we were trying to keep him talking, keep him alert, and put him in the ambulance. he was conscious, but he was going in and out. >> keep in mind, more than 20,000 people came to compete in the race with some half a million lining the streets to watch. >> abc news is reporting through a source that their work more bombs, slightly small portable

devices. it certainly has all the markings of a terrorist attack. they are confirming a third explosion at a library in boston. they don't know if it is related, but they are treating it as such. no one at this hour has taken responsibility. >> because of those markings that it could be a terrorist attack, boston security has been tightened down. >> a lot of metropolitan areas taking note. jaffa's at the capitol. >> we got here about 30-45 minutes ago. we are seeing what appears to be an increased police presence outside the capital. people are strolling, taking pictures, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary other than that.

is police officers closing down pennsylvania avenue outside the white house to pedestrian traffic as a precaution. the police chief telling abc 7 news the moment word came down about boston, the department on a heightened level of security and will remain -- will remain that level until more information is obtained. metro transit police increasing patrols during tonight's rush- hour. all active patrol officers will remain on duty for the time being as a precaution. >> did you feel concerned in front of the capital right now? >> no. there are police everywhere. >> i am not really concerned. there's nothing i can do about it. is our country and our capital, and hopefully it is well protected. >> this is what we are seeing here right now. police officer slowly riding around on my 6 -- on motorcycles

taking a look at dowthings. remaining calm and confident that it is safe down here. we'll have live reports coming up in the 6:00 hour. jeff goldwork, abc 7 news. >> we continue to keep an eye on things as they develop in boston. let's check in on the impact in our area. we have been working the phones, talking to people who were participating in this race, including some of our colleagues that politico who there. erik nelson is the text editor and he was waiting for his wife near the finish line. here is what he told us. >> everybody heard this gigantic explosion. soon after, there's a second explosion, and it was really eerie and quiet. people were confused, but there was a sense that something bad

had happened. a lot of people were asking, did some trains crashed, did something fall off a building? there's a real sense that something very eerie had taken place. i even said, i grabbed my wife and gave her a hug and said i think something bad happened. see herst relieved to because in that time waiting, i got a text that she had finished, but she had not shown up yet. you just for so uncertain about what had happened. after about five minutes, that is when the sirens started going crazy. people were just trying to get out of the downtown area. it took a long time to get out. just real chaotic here. it is just really emotional and hard braking. it is such a great event and it is just really sad when something like that happens. is unreal. >> i also spoke with rachel

ackerman, a 29-year-old woman from washington who had finished the race and was walking back toward the finish line when the explosion happened. she was very shaken when we talk to her. she heard the sound and saw people running in her direction. she turned around and got out of there. thankfully she is ok. jennifer donilon just spoke with a couple who were there sitting in the stands when these explosions happened nearby them. we will have that story as he was frantically trying to find his wife after the blast. >> we will hear more and more stories like that. frantically trying to track down their loved ones there. >> the red cross is already at work. >> they are working to connect those with their loved ones.

a website has been set up, and well.r/safe service, as you might imagine right now. >> that press conference from boston, authorities said they had started suspending cell phone service to try to prevent any remote detonation of explosives. that could also be a factor with people trying to get in touch with their loved ones. you can count on abc 7 to continue to follow the story vote on air and online act wjla.com. we will bring you any updates as they happen. >> let's go back to abc network news live coverage.

>> struck by all these reports from eyewitnesses. eyewitnesses how quickly people moved in to help, law enforcement moved in to help. and we heard earlier that between the two explosions police had already moved in. so we're talking ten to 15 seconds before they reacted and immediately deployed. i want to go to martha. >> they just evacuated the -- at the harvard academy. they are clearing out that school of government there. everybody in the area is supposed to leave that school. i'm also hearing that the explosion at the kennedy library was small. again, they told us no injuries. but that is an absolutely beautiful building. it is all glass front.

it is in front of boston harbor. all glass, a huge american flag hanging down in the center of that library. we're trying to get more details on exactly what happened there whether something was dropped in a trash can, we don't know. but certainly they believe it is related somehow to these marathon bombings as well. >> and, martha, we heard the police commissioner say they don't know yet whether this explosion was related to the two explosions at the finish line. getting conflicting reports about what might have set it off at the jfk library. >> i'm getting the same thing too, george. but many believe it is probably related. and setting off a bomb like that, again i have to harkin back to iraq and how they set off explosives there and that was actually a radio controlled device. if someone actually drops something into a trash can, it could be a timer or it could be radio controlled meaning it was set off by a cell phone, they

have a number of ways to do that. but those were so closely timed, it was probably either on a timer or some sort of radio controlled device. >> again, we heard our own consultant dick clarke say this would have been about the size of an ied in iraq or afghanistan. >> it probably was. again, it was a powerful blast. and people felt that. but it wasn't enormous. and those blasts in afghanistan and iraq that do so much damage look to me to be about the same size early on in the war. you could probably put them in a backpack and no one would really notice. they obviously got bigger and bigger as the war went on, but a very small device can do so much damage. >> and we're following breaking news development at jfk library. they've just tweeted fire in the building is out, appears to have started in mechanical room of new building, all staff and visitors accounted for. >> yeah, but no injuries

reported. again, some people think it's related. who knows, it may be some sort of electrical fire. anything today after that bombing at the boston marathon would be suspicious. >> and, martha, going forward, officials taking nothing for granted. you see the helicopter over the scene there. the federal aviation administration has closed down the air space above the bomb site in boston. we've reported as we said earlier pennsylvania avenue in front of the white house is closed down as well. major cities across the country taking security precautions now at major public events set for this evening and at other locations across for example across new york city mayor bloomberg saying they are going to put enhanced security measures in place right now. >> i think you'll see that all across the country exactly as you said, george and diane. it's the safest thing they can possibly do at this point. they don't know who did this. they don't know why it happened. so they want to look out across

the country. i mean, it's the same reason they're evacuating the kennedy school of government. that was just a smart thing to do after some explosive device or something happened at the kennedy library to just associate those two names. we've also got the national guard again apparently more than 400 massachusetts national guard they're probably continuing to secure the area, continuing to look for any suspicious devices. >> yes, but it gives us a sense of complicated it is to decide where to go, which packages to check, how do you deploy the 400 national guard and the 2,100 police all called in. >> especially, diane, when you had no idea this would happen. you have all these national guards men, all the massachusetts state police, they're there for an event that's supposed to be wonderful, that's supposed to be the boston marathon. they're trying to keep order there. but again it is also a real blessing that all of them were there and the emergency medical personnel to go into action

immediately. and they were of course waiting for anyone who might have trouble in the race, instead they had trauma on their hands. >> i want to go back to peter brown, another eyewitness on the scene now moved to one of the hospitals in the area. peter, first of all i've been told you're not injured, correct? >> that is correct. and what, george, i think i want to put a couple points on is that what we're not talking about is really the walking wounded that have walked into some of these hospitals. the hospitals in boston have declared emergency situations at this point as you can imagine. there's also seeing a lot of emotional trauma for those people who witnessed what they saw today. by the way, just so you know, i've been involved with the race for the last 30 years. and today i started my day in hopkinnington. i was the spotter on the men's lead media truck. and know that area very well. so if you have any specific

questions about the area, i can speak to that. >> i do want to first of all on the -- let me just ask you about where you are now. you're at a hospital? >> no, actually i'm a little bit -- a little distance away from that. i'm actually at the prudential center which is closer to the finish line. and talking to some of the people in the prudential center they heard the explosions throughout the building. >> was there any glass shattered at the prudential center? >> no. it's too far away. but they certainly -- but they were loud enough to be able to hear the explosion from here. >> and what else were they able to tell you? what else did you see? >> just the plume of smoke that came out. and it's really very crowded space down there. the area that they chose is as dense of a population as there is at the marathon.

it's at the finish line. it's directly across the street from the v.i.p. seating where hundreds of people are located and where they crown the winners of the race. >> how many people are we talking in that area? >> gee, george, you could probably put a couple hundred people in there. so these numbers that you're hearing, you know, in terms of 23 injured, i wouldn't want to speculate on the number of those who lost life, but in terms of injuries i would think this number is going to go above the current 23. the other thing too that's very interesting is right after the finish line you have a pretty decent size medical tent that normally is helping people who were dehydrated or just feeling pain in their back that are normally taken care of in this medical tent. and it quickly became a triage center. that is literally feet past the finish line. >> i know you're not there, but what kind of reports have you been getting from mass general or other hospitals in the area? have you been able to talk to people on the scene there?

>> yes, i think one of the things that certainly is most disturbing is the term amputation or lost limbs. we've heard that. i don't have a number to put on that, but we've certainly heard that from the hospitals. >> a lot of leg injuries. >> yes, definitely. in fact, in some of the video you see that people just collapse when the explosion happens. it almost seems as if they're being taken out at the legs. >> again, these are just shattering reports. we thank you peter brown. i would like to go back if we could to that last video we received which seems to be the clearest yet. and let's just stop for a moment once again the instant before, the instant after.

>> we get the sense right there of what we've been hearing from these eyewitnesses all afternoon the power, the volume of those explosions right there. terrifyingly loud explosions setting off a scene of chaos right there before the finish line at the boston marathon at 2:50 p.m. this afternoon. >> so con kusive that it actually lifted the baseball cap off the head of one of our eyewitnesses who phoned in. i want everyone watching to know we'll have a special one-hour edition of "world news" tonight. i'll be leaving to prepare and join you at 6:30 ooesh e eastern time. we will have all of the latest video and details. >> we're going to stay on the scene right now. all reports coming in from boston right now from the medical centers in the area. several different medical centers now treating the wounded, treating the casualties right now.

two confirmed dead so far according to police commissioner ed davis. we've also heard from the governor of massachusetts deval patrick also been in touch with president obama ordered all federal assistance that will be required by the police and other authorities in boston in the wake of those two explosions that occurred near the finish line in the boston marathon at 2:50 this afternoon. we've been gathering information from eyewitnesses since that story broke. coming up on three hours ago. also our chief justice correspondent pierre thomas checking in with law enforcement officials in washington and across the country. pierre, just bring everyone up to speed right now on what you have learned about what happened from federal and other law enforcement officials. >> sorry, george, i couldn't hear you. >> i was just saying bring everyone up to speed right now on what you've been able to gather from federal and other law enforcement officials. >> what we've been told is that they're treating this as a bombing.

that they believe this was done by small multiple devices. we've been able to see the new video that's come in that it was pretty contained where the blast emanated from. they were powerful in that they injured the people close to them. we're also being told that they believe at least two people are dead, multiple people injured. they are in the process of, again, swabbing the scene trying to get residues to get information about what type of bombs these may have been. the fbi, atf, all federal agencies are being brought there to help the boston police and state police with this particular investigation. again, it's being treated as a crime scene, a terrorist act. they don't know whether it's domestic, they don't know whether it's international, but it's being treated as a terrorist act. >> what we do know from commissioner edward davis s is o explosions, the third explosion at the john f. kennedy library, they're not saying whether that was related or who or what might have been behind that. but they're also taking now security precautions in

washington, d.c. and across the country in the wake of these explosions. >> yes, washington, d.c., philadelphia, you just heard the new york city mayor bloomberg is ordering the police department to step up security at major transit locations. any particular event which is involving large numbers of people in the next 24 hours in major cities is likely to get increased security. >> okay, pierre, thanks very much. i want to go to david now another eyewitness who was there when the explosions took place a little before 3:00 this afternoon. david, thank you for joining us. what did you see? >> not too much actually. i just saw the smoke and heard the explosions pretty much is what i saw. >> how far away were you? >> well, i had just crossed the finish line of the marathon and maybe about two or three minutes after i had crossed a woman was handing me gatorade and that's when i heard the first explosion, turned around, saw the smoke and heard the other explosion. >> so you were actually running

in the marathon and as you said you just crossed the finish line. could you tell how far these explosions were from the finish line? and what could you feel from where you were? >> i couldn't really tell exactly how far it was. i don't know, maybe a mile, maybe 700 -- i don't know, 600 or 800 meters, something like that probably. and, i don't know, i just saw everybody was panicking and going around. all the aides, the marathon aides were trying to usher everybody out away from the explosion. yeah, i mean, that's all i could really see. >> okay. david, thank you very much for sharing that with us, for calling in. congratulations on finishing that marathon on what has turned into a horrific day and started out as a day of such celebration. i want to go to john carl now at the white house, john, because you've gotten more on what the president has done in the wake of this bombing. >> the president has brought together his homeland security

team. as i told you earlier, he's been in touch with the governor of massachusetts, the mayor of boston, they are tracking the situation here. and, george, we've also noticed that the security perimeter at the white house has been expanded. we see yellow police tape out beyond over by lafayette park, you can't see it from here but right behind the camera the public has basically been pushed back aways from the white house as a precaution. but the president bringing together his homeland security team here tracking this basically minute-by-minute. >> we just saw that empty pennsylvania avenue. john, thanks very much. we want to go to another eyewitness now called in. david, where were you when this happened? >> i was on the second floor of a bar called forum which is right near the finish line. we heard one very loud explosion. i mean, you felt it right in your gut. everybody looked around. a few seconds later a second very loud explosion went off at which point i decided it was

probably terrorism. i headed out the back of that bar and walked up the street a few hundred yards away from the charles river. so i walked that way. and it was fairly reminiscent of 9/11 where people were walking around trying to use their phone and wondering if they should go over the bridge to the charles river to get to cambridge. >> so this is just everyone streaming away from the scene. about how far from the explosions were you? how far were you when you began? >> we were right there 10, 20, 30 yards. i think people that aren't from boston should understand this section of the back bay where the finish line is is filled with bars and restaurants. and many of them are rented out by companies or by charities. so it's really not runners finished, it's more like 2:00 or 3:00 when the party gets going which is the reason i think this was deliberately planned so the

bomb would go off around that time. >> this would be the time when people are gathered the most in that area. >> if you wanted to do damage, that is when boylston street is very, very hard to move up and move down. which is why i went out the back door towards the charles river. >> okay, david, thank you very much. glad you got out of there safely. let's go back to martha in washington. martha. >> just a few details, george. there was no indication of any threat beforehand before these bombings today. also, the type of bomb, again, as we've been talking about even though it caused a lot of damage, it appeared to be fairly small, a fairly small explosive device, not a large military-style bomb, but because you had all those people there in shorts and t-shirts, they had absolutely no protection. they had absolutely no idea anything like this would have happened. so no matter what size that device turns out to be, that caused a lot of damage just

because this was a soft target. >> martha, help us out here. you have experience from afghanistan and iraq. i'm not an expert in this, but it's not all that difficult to put together an explosive device like this? >> no, it really isn't. and you saw that evolve over the decade in iraq. at the very beginning they were very small devices, very small ball of fire kind of like we saw today. and they advanced obviously because the u.s. military did as well. they had better body armor, they had armored vehicles, but those early explosive devices were really pretty rudimentary. >> and this one as you said we know now there were two, we don't know about the third explosion that went off in the john f. kennedy library whether it was related, what exactly caused it at this point. but you gave us important information right at the beginning of this report right here. pierre thomas had given similar information earlier. there have not been a widespread

threat alert in any sense of any kind of specific threat against the marathon before today. >> no specific threat whatsoever. but clearly this was well-planned, george. clearly somebody knew what they were doing. they knew they were going to do it by the finish line. there were two devices. again, we don't know whether that third device at the jfk library was in fact related although many people in boston believe it probably was. we'll still have to wait and see. but very well planned, just to be able to get by all those police officers, to be able to get by the national guard, someone knew what they were doing. >> and pierre thomas, if i can go back to you at this point as well.

>> as martha just said, and we said earlier, no specific threat -- this is the scenario that law enforcement officials have been prepared for. >> you have been puzzling for some time that hasn't happened more often here.

>> you have been watching abc's continuing coverage of what is unfolding in boston at this hour. we will continue to monitor its development as well as its impact on our community. ?> what is the latest, jay >> it turned into tragedy for too many. bombs went off near the finish line of the boston marathon. also have new video of the original explosion. is just coming in. >> as you can see, a huge plume

of smoke billowed into the air as runners came pouring in just after the four-hour mark of the event. dozens have sustained injuries. there are reports of deaths. fortunately, a lot of medical personnel were already at the scene. they went into overdrive to attend to the injured. the injuries are similar to those seen in a war zone, severed limbs, horrific burns, shrapnel wounds. >> large plumes of dust, smoke, glass, everybody was going crazy. it felt so strong it literally almost blew my hat off. >> authorities are reporting their was also an explosion and fire at the jfk library in boston. there are no injuries. we do know if it is related. the bomb experts are poring over the scene looking for evidence,

because any information they can get about the makeup of the bomb will give them a sense of who carried out this potential terrorist attack. no one has taken responsibility for the explosions but there does appear they are coordinated attacks. will get back to you in just a bit. >> a firsthand account of the moment the bomb exploded at the finish line of the boston marathon. leon, many people here are asking who do i know there, and are they ok? i just spoke with stewart and his wife rhona. they are from bethesda. she is a retired doctor.

he is an employee at the world bank of canada. she had almost finished the race and he was at the finish line waiting for her. >> i was waiting for my wife to come across, which would have been any moment. .e heard a boom it was not a massive boom. it was across from where i was sitting in the bleachers. there was a lot of smoke and there was another boom further up the street. ,here was a lot of glass obviously people were hurt. people started running. >> cell phones are not working there in boston, but he eventually got a text message from his wife that she was ok. >> he was just 50 feet away from the first explosion.

we asked if he realized what could really happen to him, he said i cannot even put this into words. denver donilon, abc 7 news. >> the d.c. mayor is going to be speaking in about 30 minutes from now to talk about this city is improving security in response to what happened to boston. extrare were a lot of protocols being put into place, they shut down pedestrian traffic in front of the white house. jaffa's outside the capitol with what is being done here to protect people what we have been seen by the capitol is an increased police presence. motorcycle officers riding by, just slowly taking a look at things. it really looks like business as usual, people scrolling, taking in the sights and taking a lot of pictures. take a look of this video outside the white house on

pennsylvania avenue. police closing the area to pedestrian traffic as a precaution. police telling abc 7 news the moment word came down about what happened in boston, the department went on a heightened level of security and will remain so indefinitely. metro transit police increasing patrols during tonight's rush hour. they will keep all the bayside personnel -- daytime personnel on through the night as an extra precaution. here, we haveseen spoke with plenty of people who are shocked and horrified about what they have heard. will hear from some folks from boston here visiting washington d.c. about their thoughts about what happened back home. that is coming up tonight at 6:00. on abc 7 toount continue following this story

both on air and online at wjla.com. will instantly bring you any updates in our area as soon as that happens. >> folks in boston are in the hearts and minds of many folks here. the george washington campus will hold a special ceremony tonight, candlelight victim -- candlelight ceremony at 10:30 p.m. between 22nd and 23rd street. it is open to all faiths. let's go back to abc news coverage. precisely what has been feared. the presidenti director just a short while ago. >> and the news did hit hard in the capitol as we said for a moment of silence.

congressman daryl issa. >> i would ask that the house take a moment to recognize the loss of life in boston as this tragedy continues to unfold. >> thank you, mr. speaker. >> moment of silence for the victims of these two explosions in boston. the boston marathon being run this year in honor of the victims of newtown, a special flag with 26 stars for the 26 victims of newtown. now several dozen injured in boston today after those two explosions, two confirmed dead. i do want to go to fbi -- former fbi special agent brad garrett and pick up on the conversation we were having with pierre thomas just moments ago. brad, take us to what exactly the fbi is going to be combing through right now and what kind of clues they're going to be looking for.

>> well, obviously as pierre mentioned they're going to be looking at the bomb and the make up of the bomb. that may give you some indicators to a particular group. i will tell you, george, this maybe has more the flavor of a domestic extremist group than it does an international group. now, we don't know that. >> why do you say that? >> well, the reason i say that is you're not -- it appears to me with preliminary information that you're not looking at somebody that was trying to cause mass casualties because of the nature and the explosion itself that they were trying to make a statement. and i add to this and this is just me, george, is that you are in that window of april 15th to april 20th when we've had a number of domestic extremist events. oklahoma city, columbine, virginia tech. some people say they are driven to a certain extent because hitler's birthday is on april 20th. i'm not suggesting that's connected to this, i'm merely

throwing it out that this would not surprise me if this was some local extremist group trying to make a statement because of this particular day. >> does it surprise you or does it say anything to you that no one, no group, no individual has come forward in the almost three hours since the explosion to take responsibility? >> no. because extremist groups, local ones like let's say a neonazi or a patriot group are not going to come forward initially. and the thing of it is this may not be well group-driven, george. this may be driven by an individual or two people who align themselves with a particular domestic extremist organization and decided to do this on their own, which also would not surprise me. >> but at this point, the fbi and law enforcement officials, they would not rule out any possibilities, correct? >> oh, absolutely not. i'm not suggesting the window needs to be narrow, but i would look intently -- intensely at what information they had about

different extremist groups. there's a lot of public service information about demonstrations on taxes, on a number of other issues that are hot button issues for extremist groups who don't like either what the government's doing or what the government represents. >> okay. well, brad garrett, thanks very much for that. we are continuing to get video from the scene there. that was in the moments after the explosion. i don't know, is richard clarke still with us? let me get back to pierre thomas instead. pierre, from what you're talking to we just heard brad garrett and he's carefully calibrating what he said right now, but are you getting any indication from law enforcement officials right now that they have any idea who might have been behind this? >> again, too early according to my sources. they will have a list of the usual suspects that they will

put on the table. but really the key is to try to get that information from the scene to point them in a particular direction. but until that happens, when they have a particular avenue to pursue. what they will look at is they'll go back over all intelligence, some of it which may have been deemed not credible, did they miss anything? they'll comb back through the previous intelligence leading up to today specifically anything that came into the boston area or the east coast. and they'll begin to look back. did we discount anything? did we blow anything away that we thought was not credible that we now know may be credible? that will be part of this. >> believe now they hadn't gotten any specific threat or warning on a second or third or fourth look they might be able to find the kind of clue that perhaps they missed the first time. >> exactly. they always do post particularly

when something like this happens did we discount anything that shouldn't have been discounted? it's literally all hands on deck. the intelligence community is pulsing right now and trying to get additional information, looking back at the information flow for the last few days to make sure they didn't miss anything. also, there will be public and internet postings they will look at to see if anyone's claiming credit or anyone is expressing joy at what happened. every aspect is going to be looked at. >> and, pierre, help me out here. i'm trying to rack my brain as you think of the recent domestic bombing occurrence. we've seen them on military bases. we've seen it in times square. we've seen it in front of federal buildings and other targets, but to the best of my memory i can't remember one at a major sporting event like this. >> i cannot recall. that's long been a concern. but as we talk about earlier today, it's tax day, it's patriot day.

this is a time, a situation where anti-government rhetoric is high. again, you have the waco conflict, oklahoma city bombing happened around this time. all that will be looked at as well as international threats. everything, again, is on the table until they can point it in a specific direction to pursue. >> okay. pierre, thanks so much. i want to go to john karl right now as we're learning the ground toll in logan has been lifted. we expect to hear from the president? >> that's right, george. we're going to hear an address to the nation from the president at 6:10 eastern time here talking about what's happened in boston. and shortly after that there will be another moment of silence on the house floor this one led by the speaker of the house. but we expect to hear from the president at 6:10 p.m. here at the white house. >> so we'll learn -- already we've heard from the governor of massachusetts deval patrick, the police commissioner of boston

telling us what they knew shortly after 4:30 all they could confirm were the two explosions near the finish line of the boston marathon. a third explosion at the john f. kennedy library. no injuries or no other devices according to the police commissioner of boston have been found at this point. but authorities taking no chances. the federal aviation administration closing the air space above the explosion site near the finish line right after took place we've seen the mayors of new york and los angeles and baltimore, washington, d.c., all taking security precautions as well. pennsylvania avenue in front of the white house has been closed as well. and, martha, again we're hearing from pierre and brad some speculation that perhaps this is an incident of domestic terror, but this would also be law enforcement officials, mass security officials would also post all of their sources and

ties to international terrorism as well. >> absolutely the widest net possible i would imagine, george and diane. they were looking for specific people. they are looking for specific causes. they are looking for specific beeves against whoever they're targeting. so i think they will cast a very, very wide net worldwide. as pierre said, all the usual suspects, that means worldwide. and then they will try to narrow that down, rule that out. they will bring together everybody they possibly can to try to figure out who did this. >> and brad garrett, you know, we seed video on the scene. everyone's got a camera these days. and we've seen so many surveillance cameras on streets, in stores, in malls all across the country. this is going to be a tremendous effort in the next 24 hours, we've also heard the police commissioner of boston calling for more video to be sent in as officials go through all of this tape from the scene to sift through every possible clue. >> well, that's right, george.

i think it's somewhat likely they will have captured someone placing the device in a trash can or some other fixed object where this went off unless it was just a backpack that was dropped. because i'm going to guess that it had not been there very long. and to go back to what martha said earlier, this is probably either a cell phone or a delayed bomb that goes off and they went off about five seconds apart. so i suspect there is some rich intel in either cctv or what someone locally has captured perhaps on their cell phone. >> so you think there's a decent chance they might actually be able to see something like this being done in the moments, minutes or even hours before the explosions went off? >> yes. i do. obviously it depends on how cameras are structured in boston, but i think it's very possible that they can see an individual walk up, drop a backpack and go on. and, you know, obviously this

could be very good leads. >> and we're just learning now the boston police, brad, are tweeting the john f. kennedy library incident appears to be fire-related. would that suggest to you that this is unrelated and perhaps not part of the same kind of event or coordinated action in different parts of the city? >> it sounds like it's just coincidental. that they had some sort of electrical fire issue at the library and it's not related to these two. but, you know, that certainly remains to be seen. i suspect we're really going to deal with these two primary explosions, they are related. and who is behind these two? >> and help me out here as well. with something like assuming for the moment and we just don't know but assuming for the moment that it is limited to these two, is that the kind of thing that can be done by a lone wolf? or would someone need help to pull that off? >> absolutely a lone wolf could do this. to build a bomb like this and

load it up with nails, barbed wire, anything readily available in an hour or two on the internet you could build one of these and put it in a backpack. >> so just isn't that difficult to do. >> no. and we've just been lucky over the years that other people have not tried this. >> that's what i want to talk to you because pierre and i were talking about this a few moments ago. there's been so much concern among homeland security officials for the last several years that this would be the next step by terrorists whether domestic or international. they would go after these small targets with lower, less sophisticated devices trying to create some kind of chaos even if they're not going to maximize killing. how do you explain why we haven't seen more of it? >> because i suspect they feel like it just hasn't been worth it. to blow maybe a bomb, two bombs up like this one doesn't get them enough bang for the buck. now, if you separate that from

an al qaeda-driven group to a local extremist or domestic extremist group, they're of a different mindset. and so they would use a lower compression, lower impact bomb that's something they could make on their own. again, we don't really know. i would say that they really got to look at what is the makeup of this bomb and it's going to give them a lot of information. >> that brings us to our next guest. thank you, brad garrett. kevin, you serve on the new york bomb squad. try and give us some insight into what boston officials on the scene right there are going to be doing, what they're going to be looking for in that area. >> right now their biggest concern is any secondary or additional devices that may be along the route. public safety is the most important at this moment. they're most concerned about the public. once they've cleared the entire

area, they'll go to examining the scene of the explosion. and they will bring up everything that is forensically recoverable. this will be an all-out effort led by probably the joint task force from fbi and boston. but all resources within the u.s. will be put into this investigation. >> help me out with a definition here. forensically recoverable, what does that mean? >> that means fragmentation, if there's any timing device or what the container was, whether there was an outside container that it was brought in disguise enter the perimeter of the parade. any dna, fingerprints, kevlar residue and anything else to find out the source of the explosive and built it and where it came from. >> and where to find information like that, little pieces of information, how do they go about tracing it back?

>> they can actually recover as much of it as they can and recreate and actually -- if it's a pipe bomb, they can actually get enough fragmentation and rebuild it and put it together, identify the size of it, possibly the manufacturer, then go back to the sources where it was purchased. all that is pain stakingly done by the teams on the scene. >> and what you've seen from the explosions and we've had this report from pierre thomas of two portable devices according to federal law enforcement officials, what does that tell you about what might have happened here? >> from what i could see in the video, i haven't had a clear view of the exact location, but the device if placed up against the building, the building enhanced the blast by pushing it out towards the crowd that was facing the runners. it appears to me that from the smoke and fireball that it may have been either smokeless

powder or black powder as the explosive filler. >> and then so you're saying it was most likely outside the store and then the concussion would bounce off. >> yes. the explosive effects, the energy would the first thing it would do is hit the solid building behind the crowd and then it would force it to bounce over that wall and go in the opposite direction. >> and we've heard from brad garrett that perhaps this wasn't a bomb designed to maximize casualties. clearly dozens have been injured and two dead as well. anything you can tell about the power from what we've been able to see? >> well, the fact is you do have fragmentation which may indicate that it had a heavy steel container, possibly a pipe bomb, possibly a cast iron container. and that withheld the explosive

charge. and it builds up enough energy to cause it to fracture. and then it adds to the blast injuries. it effectively tries to increase the kill ratio. we don't know yet whether there were nails or ball bearings added to the device. those are added by bomb builders for shrapnel and kill rate. >> and talking about this as well. a device like this perhaps not all that difficult to make? >> not at all difficult to make. the information is out there on the internet. but any device that functions is deadly because you know it works. >> okay. kevin, thank you very much for your expertise there. gives a lot of context into what might have happened here. i want to go now to dr. allen painter, a doctor treating patients coming in in the emergency room. doctor, thank you for joining us. which hospital were you working at? >> actually, i was not.

i was on the street where the bomb went off. >> on the street where the bomb went off. tell us what happened. >> about halfway down the stands opposite of the stands apparently a bomb went off about 20 feet from where i was standing. i couldn't tell where it came from store front or the trash can. i was told it was maybe the trash can. about 60 people went down on my left and i was the last one in the line, so i did not get a scratch. >> even though six or seven people next to you went down? >> yes. >> with what kind of injuries? >> most of them were leg injuries. one gentleman had both legs blown off. the girl that i treated i could not find any obvious injury to her torso, but she arrested. >> oh, my goodness. i'm so sorry. how old a girl? >> she looked to be between 24 and 30. >> and just the concussive power of the explosion. >> that's what i assume.

it was kind of unique that the people had singed facial hair and stuff, which didn't seem to fit on their face, but the injuries were on their legs. and not much injury between the torso at all. i have to assume this was a blast injury to her chest. >> that is so hard to hear. i am so sorry. what you're reporting is consistent with what we're hearing from so many of the hospitals in the area. so many injuries to the lower legs and limbs. remind me again how far do you think you were from the point of the explosion? >> probably 20 feet, one store front and down. my ears were ringing. one store front down from me. like i said, everybody to my left basically went down. and like i said, almost everybody had leg injuries, but the girl arrested and i could not find any on her torso. >> wow.

well, that is as close as we've heard from anybody right now just 20 feet from the scene. dr. painter, thank you very much for sharing that. with that i want to go back now to martha at this point we're seeing these things continuing. of the area around the blast, two blasts at 2:50, we just heard from dr. panter right there, injuries that were concentrated for the most part injuries to the lower limbs, but a lot of power there. he was lucky simply to be able to get away from this. what more have you been able to learn from federal officials about these explosions? >> basically, george, exactly what we've seen. i mean, they are on the scene trying to find out whatever they can in terms of shrapnel, in terms of evidence that they're finding on the scene. but those kinds of injuries are exactly what's consistent with that type of blast, those lower

leg injuries. i know soldiers on patrol often suffer those lower torso leg injuries because of the blast, because of the power of a blast like that. and its concentration. and, again, these are people who are out there in shorts and t-shirts, absolutely no protection. and placing a device in the middle of a crowd like that, you are going to get terrible, terrible injuries like that. >> we heard from one eyewitness on the scene. lived in boston for a long time as well. it seems to be timed from the moment when more and more people would be congregating near that finish line several hours after the winners have crossed though a lot of friends and family members would be coming and a lot of the parties would be starting in late afternoon in all of those bars, all of those restaurants, all of those hotels around that scene. we've already heard several of the hotels in lockdown and evacuated. >> it is exactly the time when

friends and family would be gathering. there's the crowd that comes early. there's the crowd that wants to see the winners. and there's the crowd that loves it for fun. the crowd that really wants to finish one of those marathons and see their family member cross that finish line. looking at that blast to me and seeing those people just about to cross the finish line is really heartbreaking. but that is precisely clearly what the bomber was trying to do, get those spectators, get those runners, place that bomb or those devices right in the middle of a crowd that was coming together to do nothing but celebrate. >> and, martha, we're also hearing from senator diane feinstein, the senate chair of the terrorist committee, she has called this a terrorist incident, but that doesn't necessarily describe who might have been behind it. >> it doesn't really. i think anybody is going to look at an incident like this and say it was related to terrorism some way because they were going afte