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Explosion in Manhattan, No Obvious Nexus to Terrorism; Officials Say 29 Injured in Explosion. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired September 18, 2016 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Twenty-nine people, officials saying 29 people now have been injured in this explosion that occurred around 8:40 pm Eastern time, so just about three hours ago. One of the injured considered in serious, possibly critical condition; 24 of the injured with more minor injuries have been taken to area hospitals.
The cause of the blast, Don, not known at this hour, though they are calling it intentional.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, they are calling it intentional. That's according to a top city official who held a press conference a short time ago.
One of those included the new police commissioner on the job just today for the first time, James O'Neill, on the job for outgoing commissioner Bill Bratton who just retired Friday. They held that press conference a short time ago.
We also heard from the mayor, Bill de Blasio, who said there is no evidence as of now that this was an act of terror.
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BILL DE BLASIO, MAYOR OF NEW YORK: There is no evidence at this point of a terror connection to this incident. This is preliminary information, it's something we will be investigating very carefully, but there is no evidence at this point of a terror connection.
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LEMON: So again, it's -- this is in the preliminary stages of the investigation. They also said that the NYPD and other law enforcement agencies are on full alert right now.
HARLOW: We're also hearing, this is important, about law enforcement investigating a secondary scene. They will only say an investigation is underway. We don't know for what or why or what they have found or have not found.
It's just a few blocks away from the original explosion. That was at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue; this investigation is at 27th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenue, four blocks away only.
With us tonight, full team coverage, we have our CNN correspondent Jean Casarez on scene. Our Rachel Crane is at the hospital where the injured were taken. Our Justice reporter Evan Perez is working his law enforcement sources from Washington.
And our senior law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes, is with us as well as our national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem.
And with us here in New York is Errol Lewis, anchor of TimeWarner cable news, someone who knows this area inside and out, that's where their studios are, we're glad you're all with us.
Let's go to Rachel Crane joining us outside Bellevue for an update on the victims.
What do we know?
RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know that several of the 29 victims have been taken here to Bellevue Hospital. Outside of the hospital, there is very much a heightened security presence.
We've seen a steady stream of ambulances coming into the hospital, coming into the emergency room this evening. Every one of those ambulances has been checked by those armed officers.
We also spoke to somebody who was inside the emergency room at the time of the explosion. He said that all at once, about 30 officers were inside the emergency room. And he also was told that his treatment would take longer than normal because there had been a situation that had unfolded.
He also said that he saw two young women who were speaking to FBI agents as well as the police, one of which had a minor injury above her eye -- Poppy and Don.
LEMON: All right, Rachel, thank you very much. We'll get back to Rachel at Bellevue Hospital, where some of the injured were taken.
On the scene is Jean Casarez. She was there quite early on after this explosion happened in Chelsea on 23rd Street.
Jean, you saw some of the people who were pouring out of businesses and their homes right after this happened. Take us to the scene.
You were also at the press conference this evening, what do you know?
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They just made us go a little further away from the crime scene which they are now processing, but behind me you will see all of the emergency vehicles, and some emergency vehicles have gotten closer to us.
But this is a crime scene, it was designated as an intentional crime that was done at this point.
We believe they are processing it, they say they do have video from that scene and they are currently collecting more video but they said that it is too early to give out any details, so the most they would say was that it was an explosion.
They also said that it was outside of a Dumpster, a trash can, a receptacle of some type. Beyond that, they would not say any more details; of course, they are also now at a secondary scene which is at 27th Street, which is to my left, just a few blocks up, between 6th and 7th.
They would not delineate what's happening there but at this point we don't think there's been an explosion at all. They said it happened about 8:30 tonight and the Fire Department of New York City was actually in the vicinity they didn't see it but they heard it.
Emergency vehicles then, all hands on deck is what they said is happening right now, were there immediately after this happened. But we're waiting to see if we can get anymore details right now.
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CASAREZ: But it's an active crime scene, they're processing it, I'm sure they're looking at all other parts of the city to see if anything else is happening or what they can prevent.
But at this point, we're right here on the scene, we're waiting for more details -- Don, Poppy.
LEMON: All right, thank you, Jean.
HARLOW: All right. We're going to take you to that second site in a moment where Richard Quest is.
Before we do that, let me bring in CNN Justice correspondent, Evan Perez.
Evan, just how was the site for what we've learned in the last hour?
The fact that Mayor de Blasio said no nexus to terrorism, no connection to terrorism at this point but it was intentional.
Tom Fuentes, Don and I were just speaking with him, said he can't understand why you would say there is no terrorism connection already yet know it's intentional.
What are your sources saying?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right, exactly. I think folks I'm talking to, Poppy, I think it's just way too early for anyone to make any statement about whether or not there is or isn't a nexus of terrorism.
I think the mayor is probably trying to reassure the citizens in New York City. And that's understandable. Obviously he's a politician.
But you notice you didn't hear that from the New York police commissioner, because I think what they're dealing with is trying to first figure out what this is and see whether or not it's related to the other device that was found just about four blocks away on 27th Street.
I think one of the things they're trying to see is perhaps if it looks like the similar type of device. It's interesting that they actually refrained from using the word "device."
We've heard people say -- some sources have told us that it appears to be an IED but the mayor and the police commissioner at that press conference were reluctant to go there just yet I think just because they want to make sure the bomb squad has the time to put together what this is.
It's interesting to think, they're calling it intentional, which, I think, Don -- and you guys have been talking a little bit about this, with Juliette Kayyem, that they've got to have some reason to be using that specific language.
One of the first things that comes to mind is that they did mention that they have video of the explosion, which very likely means that they would have a very good picture of everybody who was near that scene in the hours before this explosion happened.
That means that they might have seen someone dropping it there or leaving something behind or at least have some suspicion of who they might be looking for.
So that's very much what makes them believe that this was an intentional act. Again, if you have video of the explosion, it's very likely you're going to have video if someone might have left something that then caused this explosion.
Again, this is all very early in the process, I think we're going to be working this all night until we hear officially what exactly the cause of this explosion was.
LEMON: Yes. All right. Evan, thank you very much. I want you to stand by again.
All our correspondents, reporters or producers are out in the field and we're working on this story tirelessly for you. We'll be on the air until it is warranted.
But also, Poppy, you mentioned that there was a second scene at 27th and 6th, the first one is at 23rd and 6th. And that's where we find our Richard Quest, who reported on this earlier.
Richard, you said that you saw a number of law enforcement officials there. They were telling you to get back and they have cordoned off the area.
We have heard, what is going on there now?
Richard Quest, are you there?
RICHARD QUEST, CNNMONEY EDITOR AT LARGE: Yes, I beg your pardon, Don, I am here. Forgive me.
Can you hear me, Don?
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LEMON: I can hear you. Go ahead, update us.
QUEST: -- noisy -- yes, I do apologize, Don.
At around 27th Street and 7th Avenue, this is the location, 27th between 6th and 7th, the location of where the second supposed IED or device -- whatever we want to call it -- has been located. What we've seen in the last 10 or 15 minutes is a bomb or a device containment contraption, a large circular device on the back of a truck, which was brought in by the police.
It was then backed down 27th Street and then hurriedly left shortly thereafter. We don't know and they haven't confirmed what they put into the containment device. We don't know if they actually left with anything at all.
But within very short order from that, Don, an enormous amount of fire brigade effort was coming in, host pipes, stem pipes (ph) were all activated. And that's the situation.
Now in the area around here, which is near the Fashion Institute of Technology, FIT, Don, the entire perimeter of the cordon for security has been widened considerably. People are being told to stay in their dorm buildings, their dorms are not being evacuated. But people are being told, there are loudspeakers in the area telling people to stay in the buildings -- Don.
LEMON: And so they're saying stay in the buildings --
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LEMON: -- in that area?
And so, Richard, here's the thing: earlier we saw one of the robotic devices they send in, that can help either identify or help to detonate whatever type of device that it is.
Did you see that -- you saw the containment device, you didn't see that robot that goes in and picks it up, correct?
QUEST: No. If you look down the road there, you can see where the blue and red and the very bright lights are, that is the scene where they have the focus, the locus, if you like, of attention, so we haven't been able to see what's been taking place in that area.
But we did see the containment machine arrive. It's basically dragged in on the back of a very large low loader. It was then -- the tarpaulin was then removed and it was backed in, we don't know and they haven't confirmed
to us whether they actually did put a device into it when they took it away. (CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Did they clear -- when they moved this -- a good indication would be, if, when they moved this device out, did they clear everybody out of the area when they moved the device out?
QUEST: The area has already been cleared, Don. We're closer to this scene or position, if you like, than we were at 23rd Street and 6th; so we're four or five blocks further north than that.
This area came as a complete surprise, having had two or three hours with the attention focused around 23rd Street.
Then all of a sudden, it became clear that there was something taking place at 27th Street -- now, I can tell you, Don, because I've seen it with my own eyes, the police have been combing these streets ever since with their flashlights.
They're looking under cars, they're looking in Dumpsters, they're looking in trash cans, they're looking in doorways. So they have no reason to believe that there's any other devices. But they're leaving nothing to chance tonight, Don. They are doing a full scale search in this area to make sure it remains or is safe.
LEMON: OK, Richard. Don't go anywhere, because we're going to talk to some folks who may have some questions for you.
Right, Poppy?
HARLOW: Yes, absolutely. Let's bring back in Tom Fuentes, Tom Fuentes is back with us, CNN senior law enforcement analyst, also former FBI assistant director, has a lot of experience is exactly this, as does Juliette Kayyem, CNN law enforcement analyst, national security analyst as well.
Juliette Kayyem to you, Richard Quest said that this area has largely been cleared out.
But the device that he described going in on the back of the truck, can you talk to us more about what that would be brought into a scene like this for?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Basically to isolate any potential other devices. Once again, very careful with
the term "device," because we actually don't know if there was in fact a device or something else. They clearly found something that they're nervous enough about, that they want to get out of a very dense area.
So this is usual -- and, once again, just sort of putting this in perspective, after every incident, there will be about a half-dozen to a dozen false positive reports. So that we're seeing this in real time and Richard's reporting on it, there may be multiple ones of these over the course of the next hours.
It always happens and this is what we want from our law enforcement and our first responders is for them to be over-inclusive. So that -- the one thing, Richard, that I actually wanted to ask
Richard, is, I think you and I know and can describe Chelsea and the area as very vibrant, very diverse, very welcoming to different communities, including the gay community.
Where -- I'm curious; are there bars around there?
Is it -- exactly what is it like in terms of the neighborhood right there?
LEMON: Did you hear the question, Richard Quest?
QUEST: Forgive me, I didn't, could you repeat it for me?
LEMON: She says we know, because we're New Yorkers, exactly what's in the neighborhood and what it's like, and that this neighborhood is very welcoming to a diverse variety of people, including the gay community.
She's wondering if there are bars, what is in the area, bars or restaurants. What's in the area?
QUEST: OK. So 23rd Street is the heart of Chelsea. The gym I used to go, funny enough, is on that Street. I know exactly where this device was planted, opposite the Garden of Eden grocery store.
The area is eclectic; yes, it has a very high percentage of the gay population, but the truth is, of course, as prices in this area have risen dramatically, so it's become much more --
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QUEST: -- gentrified and much more general part of the community. It is different; it is slightly -- not as bohemian as maybe some would have thought in previous times.
But there's no doubt, Chelsea, it's also, I have to say, one of the most expensive areas in the city now because of the influx of serious money, but is still very much regarded as being the gay community, there are still gay bars down here, it's a place of extremely big night life.
LEMON: But neither of these two scenes -- and not that there's anything close because now there are areas -- I mean, especially like BBQ on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday night, there are lots of gay people hanging out, but no specific gay bars or no specific anything that would lead to maybe a possibility of someone would want to target this particular -- those two areas?
QUEST: No, no, no. No, you wouldn't hit 23rd Street in that particular place, if that was -- and my gut feeling is this: if that was your target, as you'll know as well as I do, Don, in that sense, 23rd Street, it would have been full of just young people, noisy, movies, restaurants, bars.
If you were going to aim specifically more to the gay community, you would have gone more across towards 8th Avenue or you'd have gone up towards Hell's Kitchen, where you now find most of the gay bars rather than 23rd Street.
To bring you up to date just very briefly, we're starting to see slightly less police action. But they're continuing to move the cordon further. The dogs are being brought in. They're continuing this detailed search of the area to make sure that there's nothing else that needs to be monitored.
To give you an idea, Don, just to what you were saying, the building next to where I am is FIT, which is the major Fashion Institute of Technology, it's the major fashion university in Manhattan, one of the world's famous fashion colleges. That shows you the area where we are, 7th Avenue and 27th Street.
LEMON: Yes. And you are exactly right, it would be, as you said, closer to 8th Avenue and a little bit further south if they were targeting that particular community.
Juliette, did that answer your question?
KAYYEM: Yes, it did, it's just for someone who wants to -- once again, we can't rush to judgment. I know that's the inclination. But just to give people as sense of the feel of that Chelsea area, those of us -- I don't live in New York. (INAUDIBLE) New York, know the feel of it, also just to remind your viewers, the U.N. General Assembly is this week.
So a lot of this -- the fact that the response was so strong is both because of fears of all these VIPs in and around New York City, needing to protect them but also because everyone's on high alert for that.
Once again, that's why you can either call it inconsistent or curious or maybe they know something they're not telling. But saying that there's -- the exact language, no evidence of terrorism at the get-go, despite the fact that the U.N. General Assembly and other things are occurring, just -- you know, I have this -- I have, based on my experience, that there's probably more information on who may have done this.
LEMON: The president also here tomorrow night --
HARLOW: Yes, exactly. The president here, the U.N. General Assembly kicks off this week.
Richard Quest, are you still with us?
QUEST: I am indeed.
And, Poppy, I just want to point out, while -- before you ask your question, in the last few moments, we've seen ATF people -- Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms -- experts arriving. And this, of course, has arrived, which is the fire department hazardous materials technician unit. I'll get out of the way so you can see this -- and now the police are moving us slightly -- I'm not sure -- slightly over this way.
Yes, Poppy, what the question?
HARLOW: So the question is, this is also a very residential area both, where you are at 20 --
LEMON: They're moving Richard now
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Go ahead, Richard, if you have to move, because we don't want you to --
QUEST: No, we should be OK. I think we're...
Are we OK here for a second?
No, we're not.
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: All right. We're going to take a quick break. But before we do, just to update you on the breaking news, 29 people injured, one possibly in critical condition after this explosion went off in the middle of New York City at 23rd Street, on a busy Saturday night.
The mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, saying it was intentional but saying there's no nexus to terrorism, a lot more of our breaking news, Don Lemon and I will be with you here throughout the night. Stay with us. Back in a moment.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
LEMON: Don Lemon here, along with Poppy Harlow in New York. We're following the breaking news here in New York City. An explosion happening 8:40 this evening in the Chelsea neighborhood, specifically on West 23rd Street and 6th Avenue.
We have recently gotten the reports from city officials saying that they don't believe that this is an act of terror at this point. They don't believe that it's connected to another explosion that happened earlier in New Jersey today. They says there's no credible threat but they do believe that this was an intentional act.
HARLOW: Our Jean Casarez has been on the scene from moments after this all took place. She joins me now right from that 23rd Street and 6th Avenue intersection. Jean, one important question for you, this is really a largely residential area, there are obviously businesses around, restaurants, et cetera. But there are a lot of apartment buildings here.
And my question is whether or not any of the residents have been evacuated or conversely are they being told to stay inside of those buildings?
CASAREZ: We're being told that all of New York City is told to be vigilant at this point and we are not being told, however, what was around that Dumpster. They're saying that they're investigating now whether the explosion initially took place inside, outside. We also heard outside of the Dumpster and that correlates with the injuries: 29 injuries is what we were told at --
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CASAREZ: -- the press conference. The New York Police Department is now saying 27 injuries but I want to tell you that we are hearing a lot of sirens, I think you just heard one that went by. We're hearing a lot more sirens, I'm seeing more ambulances go by right now where I am. I'm on 23rd Street. Exactly about a block away from where that crime scene, an active crime screen, an active investigation is going on where that Dumpster was.
And as you know, the mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, said at this point there's no indication at all that this is an aspect of terror. But we also heard in that press conference that all terror units are on the scene, all hands on deck, from the federal partners to the local to the state.
All are here right now and I will tell you that the scene is really stationary. Emergency vehicles are going nowhere. The people of New York City that were out and about on this Saturday night are still standing here. Everyone is just waiting for an update to see what is going to happen next in all of this -- Poppy, Don.
HARLOW: And just to be clear, Jean, no one evacuated from those residential buildings at this time that you know of.
Is that correct?
CASAREZ: Not that we know of, no. But we also haven't been told exactly what was around that area.
HARLOW: Very good point.
As we get our Justice correspondent, Evan Perez, back in here with his information from law enforcement, take a look at this video. We have some new video into us that shows police officers going around to the trash cans on -- it's really hard to see here -- but on the corners, searching those trash cans with flashlights.
LEMON: As Richard Quest first reported, he said they were going from -- looking under cars, not only looking in trash cans but looking under cars. And I think it's important to point out, because they said that there was no connection here and if there isn't indeed a connection, that means that there are two people who planted bombs close to New York City and New Jersey.
But out of all of this, Poppy, the important thing is, we look at this video, 29 people are injured, that's a heck of a lot of people. And as we learned from that press conference, one person is in serious condition right now because of a puncture wound, which you -- one would assume is from shrapnel or something from that bomb.
They said that this bomb was placed outside; it exploded outside on the street. At the initial location they're looking at. Nothing has exploded at the other location but one location, 23rd and 6th, that's where the initial location is. And that's where the bomb exploded outside of this facility for the blind.
HARLOW: Exactly and a largely residential area as well, a ton of high-rise buildings there, thousands of people live on that few block radius alone.
Evan Perez, our Justice correspondent, with us throughout the night, coverage this.
Evan, I just wonder, you know, it's interesting, they said they have video of this explosion and that it's intentional?
But they didn't say what exploded.
PEREZ: Right, exactly. They did not say what kind of device -- look, I think what happened is, if you have a device that exploded, not very much of it survived, so that's one of the aspects that is probably preventing them from being so declarative of what exactly happened with -- what caused this.
Obviously, they did make reference to a possible second device that is now being investigated by the NYPD; we still don't know exactly what that is turning out to be, but, as Richard Quest pointed out, there was a bomb containment unit that was brought to the scene there, near there.
And it's clear they're taking that device and they're going to examine it to see exactly what it is and whether it may be the same type of thing that happened earlier on 6th Avenue.
One of the things you keep referencing, you keep making reference to is the mayor saying that, at this point, sort of discounting the possibility of terrorism. I think it's a little early for him to say that.
Certainly because as you see the scenes of these officers going through different parts of the city, looking for possible additional devices, I think there's something that has him extremely worried at this stage. It's a Saturday night in New York City.
The streets are packed with people. And even though we have the scene in Chelsea, you know, different parts of the city are still moving on with their lives, a lot of people are still out on the streets. So what you're probably going to be doing is every officer out there
is going to be looking to see if there's anything left on the streets, any bags, anything that might be a possible additional explosive device. That's what's going on right now.
LEMON: All of New York City has been placed on high alert this evening. So Evan, you are exactly correct. Of course, all of this is coming at 8:40 in the evening, where people are out and about and enjoying themselves.
And we have been speaking as well as our affiliate, have been speaking to people who were there and who witnessed the explosion or if not, were nearby, here's one of them.
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[12:30:00]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it sounds like, when you hear those metal steel plates, the ones that are like an inch thick and they're 20 foot by 20 foot or 10 foot by 10 foot. And it just flattened full straight on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where were you at ?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was on 23rd Street and 10th.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you're pretty far away?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm about three blocks away. I didn't know it was three blocks away, it sounded like a block away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which is pretty amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's an explosion and then you start -- I'm an architect -- then you get concerned. You heard about gas explosions; I've lived through 9/11 and, yes, it was a concern for humanity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell me about the scene afterwards, once you heard the explosion --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- first responders coming. So a lot of the blinking lights, first responders, a lot of police and then as they started, fire trucks, emergency vehicles, undercover emergency vehicles. I spoke to one ambulance man, he says, I go, "What's going on?"
He goes, "I haven't heard anything yet."
He goes, "We're still investigating."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it chaotic? Was it calm? How would you describe --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty calm. There's a lot of people at the corner because there were still vehicles, surprisingly. There was many vehicles still coming down 23rd Street that they had to clear out. And as they started -- and then I just saw the first police car block
everybody on 23rd Street and then get rid of all those cars. So after all the vehicles were gone, then you see the people congregating on the corner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you concerned at all for your safety, knowing that this explosion just happened, what, three blocks away from you and not a lot of information?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Initially, yes, you always have that concern, because you don't know if it's three blocks away or if it's about 100 feet away. And you just never -- you don't know -- and these days, you just don't know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: So an eyewitness who's four avenues away, he's at 10th, 23rd and 10th. And this happening at 6th and 23rd.
HARLOW: Our Jean Casarez is on the scene right around 23rd and 6th Avenue, where this happened. She has been there since the moments after it occurred.
Jean, I understand you're seeing some sort of development there.
What is it?
CASAREZ: We're seeing a lot more emergency vehicles go toward the crime scene right now. We just saw a very large unit. It appears to have a structure on the top that could be lights, I think, of course, it's evening here, it's dark.
But it just came on 23rd Street to go toward where that area is, about a block away, an active crime scene at this hour, expected to be like this all evening. But they are processing the crime scene to see what they can see. They are collecting more video. We were told that they had video at the time of the explosion. But they are in the process of collecting more.
But more units going in; obviously, this is getting a bit more intense on the investigative aspect of this because they want to find out the answers to this, of what it is, what it is composed of and obviously there are units around the city, especially 27th Street.
And one thing I wanted to say, and I heard it a minute ago, but in the press conference, could have been a slip of the tongue, but on 27th Street in New York City, where there is also an investigation between 6th and 7th, it was referred to as a device.
So it could have been a slip of the tongue; they would not explain what the -- this is not the time or place, they said, to explain what they meant by that statement. But the word "device" was used in regard to 27th Street.
LEMON: Then they did say you picked up on that, Jean, that was very savvy of you. They also said the street was cleared, which is an indication that there may be something there that we don't know about and that's causing some harm.
Because as live on the air, we saw Richard Quest being moved back by police officers and he keeps getting moved further back. You were moved further back. Jean, I have a question for you. At Richard's location, he said that he saw police officers looking under cars, searching trash cans, we have the new video of police officers searching Dumpsters and trash cans.
Have you seen anything like that where you are?
CASAREZ: Well, what I saw initially when I got here, I saw the dogs were out, and we know that the bomb squad was out. But at this point here, we're just seeing emergency vehicles, official vehicles, investigative units going into exactly where that scene is a block away from where I am.
I'm not seeing dogs at this point. But we're definitely seeing vehicles and more personnel going to the exact area where that explosion took place.
HARLOW: Jean, thank you for the reporting. Please stand by for us, bring the latest when you have it. Let's get to Rachel Crane, our correspondent outside of Bellevue Hospital, Bellevue Hospital on the east side of Manhattan, where often they bring victims, people from situations like this, emergency situations.
Rachel, I know through the night you've seen a lot of emergency vehicles, --
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HARLOW: -- ambulances pulling in. You spoke with someone in the E.R. at the time that some of these victims were being brought in, 29 people injured, we know.
Any update from the hospital, on their conditions?
What have you seen?
CRANE: No update yet from the hospital, Poppy. But that individual that was in the emergency room when the explosion took place, he said that suddenly there were about 30 officers that were in the emergency room. He was told that his treatment would take longer than normal.
He also said that he saw two women who appeared to have been at the scene of the explosion, one of which had a minor injury above her eye. And outside of Bellevue, there's been an increased security presence all evening.
Behind me is where the ambulances have been coming in a steady stream all night. And armed guards checking every single one of them before they're allowed in. Certainly, they're taking extra precautions here at Bellevue.
HARLOW: That's interesting, Rachel.
Are they saying why?
Obviously we know from our reporting that there's some increased security and police officers across Manhattan. But armed guards checking all of these vehicles.
Do we know any specifics, any threat?
Because Mayor de Blasio said no credible threat against New York City.
Are they just being very cautious?
CRANE: I think that they're being extra cautious. We have not heard from any hospital officials saying why this increased security presence is here.
But as I pointed out, checking every single ambulance coming in, and that is not typical here at Bellevue, they normally do not have armed guards on the street checking ambulances as they come in.
Of course, as an ambulance is coming in, Poppy, it's an emergency, so they're not looking for roadblocks in order to get those people into the hospital. So certainly it's meaningful that they're taking that extra precaution to stop those ambulances and double check them.
LEMON: All right.
HARLOW: Rachel, thank you very much.
LEMON: Rachel, thank you.
I need to get to Shimon Prokupecz, CNN crime and justice producer, who is in Washington, D.C.
Shimon, I understand you may have some new information or confirmation on something that has been going across data miner (ph) for a while but has not been confirmed regarding this second location of 27th Street?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE PRODUCER: That's right, Don. We've confirmed from multiple law enforcement officials, both federal and the local officials, that the second device that had police talked about earlier is a pressure cooker. What it appears to be a pressure cooker with wires sticking out of it, it has some kind of a -- what appears to be a cell phone and there's some writing, there's some notes there.
And obviously it's bringing back some memories of the Boston bombing, certainly for the bomb technicians, who are very familiar with those pressure cookers. Now law enforcement and the FBI and NYPD bomb squad are trying to find out whether or not this is actually something that can explode, whether it's inert or whether there's explosive material in that pressure cooker.
By all accounts, they're treating it seriously. We at CNN have seen an image of this pressure cooker but we've been asked by law enforcement not to show it, so we're not doing that. But it's this sort of -- it looks like a pressure cooker, there are wires sticking out of it. There's tape around some sort of a what looks to be cell phone and then there's some paper with writing on it. And it looks like it was in a plastic bag.
And so how law enforcement found this, I don't know; they have not said and whether or not this is actually a bomb or something that is -- a hoax device, they have not said otherwise. But they're treating it very seriously.
LEMON: And just to -- we wanted to be careful about this as we have been saying all night our security analysts as well as the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, saying to wait until we get more information. And the folks who held a press conference, but this came out just about an hour ago, at 11:38, saying that there are authorities believe that they may have found a pressure cooker device with wires and timer on the 37th Street scene in New York City.
And one would imagine that's why that they were -- well, obviously, that's why they were moving back Richard Quest a little bit earlier.
So wires, a timer, so you've seen it. Talk to us a little bit more about what it looks like, how big the device is, is there a timer, a cell phone, wires, so on and so forth?
PROKUPECZ: So it looks like a pressure cooker, there are wires, they are protruding from it, there's black tape over something that looks like a cell phone. I spoke to a law enforcement official, who confirmed that there was a cell phone attached to this device, to the pressure cooker, there are sort of what looks like electrical tape, right?
Black electrical tape around and there are just a bunch of wires kind of hanging out from it, there also appears to be some tape over the glass portion of the pressure cooker. There's a handle, so we just don't know what's inside of it now, but certainly it's causing a lot of concern for law enforcement.
And this would certainly change the game here, absolutely change what's going on there.
[00:40:00]
HARLOW: It certainly would.
You said that there is a piece of paper with some writing.
Is that a note?
PROKUPECZ: Perhaps, I don't know; the official I spoke to would not say. But all -- they would just say that there's some sort of writing, some sort of note that they found. And we just don't know what it says.
HARLOW: All right. So let's set this all up for our viewers who are just joining us here; it's almost 1:00 in the morning and police have just confirmed -- sources, I should say, have just confirmed to our Shimon Prokupecz that there is a second device found in Manhattan, just four blocks away from the initial device that exploded.
And Shimon, this comes on the same day that a pipe bomb went off with a timer not that far from here, in Seaside Park, New Jersey, during a -- what was supposed to be a military 5k run. But Mayor de Blasio just said last hour there's absolutely no connection.
Now you're talking about three different devices, explosive devices, on the same day.
PROKUPECZ: Yes, so I think everyone's just being really cautious. We've talked to law enforcement all night. And everyone is just being really, really cautious. No one wants people to set sort of this fear among folks.
But this is why, what's going on, what the FBI and the NYPD are doing behind the scene, they're working. And we know that the FBI's joint operations center in New York, is now what they call -- they sort of -- they step it up, they kind of open it up.
And this is where law enforcement is working to gather leads and find out what's going on. And they only do that in these kinds of situations or in a situation where there's some big event like the UNGA. So all that is going on now. I mean, every senior official you can imagine is working this.
But I think the mayor really just wants to urge calm and he doesn't want people to get nervous and he does -- but, look, law enforcement is taking this seriously; I think if this turns out, this pressure cooker turns out to be a bomb, I think it's going to significantly change how they treat this.
And keep in mind when the mayor came out and spoke, I think they were just learning about what this device was. So I think that's why he sort of used some of the language that he used.
LEMON: The perfect person, though, to talk about this is really Juliette Kayyem.
Juliette -- I mean, Shimon, stand by. And again, as he said, the joint terrorism task force working on this. New York City is on high alert now.
Juliette, who's our national security analyst, I want to bring you in here and I just want to -- this is new information that's coming in, that second scene now, where we saw Richard Quest earlier. And this is Shimon's reporting.
The item found at the 27th Street location appears to be a pressure cooker, OK, Juliette?
Dark colored wiring coming out of the top center of the device and connected by silver duct tape to a small, dark-colored device, attached to the outside of the pressure cooker. This is according to multiple local and federal law enforcement officials. None of the officials would say at this point what was inside of the pressure cooker.
When you hear that, what do you think?
KAYYEM: Well, I think many things.
First of all, I have a series of questions, what is -- what level of sophistication, at least in the description, sounds like it could be a very likely homemade device.
Was it ready to be detonated?
Was it prepared to be detonated?
And this is where the clues start to come in, so you're looking at the investigation.
We have evidence now from the first -- I don't want to say explosion; no one has confirmed -- but from the first incident earlier this evening, and that is there are fragments probably in bystanders' legs, all the people in the hospital.
There is proof on their bodies of what it is that detonated. So we'll be able to determine whether there's any -- or the similarities between the potential devices, so that's the first part.
The second is getting to what we know and what we don't know. There's a series of circumstances that are occurring over in New Jersey maybe and New York, of course, tonight.
There's a bunch of people who know, right, who are charged with coming out and telling us what, in fact, they know at that stage. I've written down, because obviously people want to call this terrorism already.
What we know, both the mayor and the New York counterterrorism center tweeted this out. "There's no evidence of a terrorism connection."
Now we can parse words as much as we want. But at least from what they're saying is you can't just go and say this is now, we know that we're under attack in New York, it's under a -- it's not the case. Explosions happen, people cause intentional attacks. Their motivations that vary.
So as your analyst, I sit back and I interpret all of this, that what may seem obvious to viewers right now may end up being true.
[00:45:00]
KAYYEM: But that's not my job for you, as I've actually been in these situations, the people communicating are communicating these words for a reason. They may have physical or photo evidence of the person or people involved. And so I'm just much more comfortable waiting out the evening with you before we can say what it is.
I know that's a long answer but I think it's important to say.
HARLOW: All right, Juliette Kayyem, stand by. I want to bring in our Richard Quest, he's on the phone, he is at the location right near where authorities found that second device, that pressure cooker.
And just to be clear for our viewers and control room, correct me if I'm wrong, but the images you're looking at on your screen are from the location of the explosion today four blocks away there, not of the 27th Street location, where that pressure cooker was just found.
Once we do have those pictures for you, we will let you know and we will show them to you.
But, Richard, when you were live on the air with us, you were told by authorities to move, move, move. And there was a real urgency to it and that was just moments before we learned that this is a pressure cooker.
QUEST: And in the last 10 or 15 minutes, an emergency alert has gone out via the cell phone network -- I don't know whether you've seen this, Poppy.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Out the windows.
QUEST: -- saying the suspicious package, residents on West 27th between 6th and 7th, stay away from windows.
Now in the last two or three minutes, Poppy, we've seen some very large police emergency service trucks, along with the fire department and hazardous materials, their units.
They've moved their trucks across 27th Street and 7th Avenue, so we can't be down the road anymore. But the helicopters are now flying overhead 27th Street.
Now the rumor here -- and it is a rumor -- is that whatever pressure cooker device has been located is to be transported from here at some point. There have been suggestions and rumors, some people say they heard a noise of a controlled explosion. Let me scotch that. We have no evidence, none that that has taken place. The noise here is so great I'm not sure you'd hear it anyway.
But that's the situation, is that the word here is that they are going to move that pressure cooker device. Certainly, Poppy and Don, more resources have come into the area. And I would definitely say that the -- not the tension as much but the tempo here has risen several notches.
LEMON: Yes. Here is the alert, Richard, I was going to say that, as you were saying it, as a precautionary measure, we're asking residents who live on West 27th Street, between 6th and 6th Avenues in Manhattan, to stay away from windows facing 27th Street until we clear the suspicious package. So, again, as a precautionary measure, we're asking residents who live
on West 27th Street between 6th and 6th Avenues in Manhattan, to stay away from windows facing 27th Street until we clear the suspicious package.
You are absolutely right, according to this alert and according to a source who also gave me the information just before you went on, Richard, this device is still there and, again, it's a suspicious package, they don't know what it is. But I don't know if it's the same thing, which is the pressure cooker or if it's a different one, we don't know, Richard, but, again, this is why they're moving you back.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Right. And I think we can now -- I think our picture is now available to you, Don and Poppy. And certainly, I think it's on 501 -- 502, I beg your pardon. We're now offering you a picture of the scene of 27th Street. So we're literally only half a block away from what is taking place.
But because of the way they constructed the police and fire vehicles, we can no longer see, except that I can see the extra lights that have been brought in overhead to help illuminate the situation.
There's now two or three helicopters that are over 27th Street at the moment. And so you're right, Don, the word here is it's not confirmed. So I'll put it there. But the device is still here.
And according to some people monitoring radios, it is to be removed from here in a convoy, which would also include an ambulance, and we've seen an ambulance arrive here. And it will be taken to a disposal area, a device disposal area in the Bronx.
HARLOW: All right, Richard Quest, stay with us, the control room is working to get that shot up as you said, of the location that you are at. We'll show it to our viewers as soon as we have it.
In the meantime, CNN senior law enforcement analyst, former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes, still --
[00:50:00]
HARLOW: -- with us.
Tom, what do you make of what we have learned from our Shimon Prokupecz, the fact that, at 27th Street, authorities have found what appears to be a pressure cooker, with dark-colored wiring coming out of the center of it, connected by silver duct tape to a small, dark- colored device to the outside of it.
Is that a phone, is that a timer?
We don't know. And they said that there is some sort of paper with writing on it, we don't know if that's a note and we don't know at this time from the officials what was inside the pressure cooker. Your thoughts as we bring this all together this evening?
TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Poppy, my sources told me probably a couple hours ago, that when the police first discovered that device, the second device, the pressure cooker, they immediately called for the bomb robot and the containment vessel.
So I'm surprised that that would be still on the street and not disposed of or taken away by now. So that kind of surprises me.
But I have another concern here and that is that we have this constant mantra of, if you see something, say something, and if the police have known for hours that they had a pressure cooker with wires and a cell phone taped to it, something that suspicious and don't put that out to the public, shame on them.
The public needs to know what's going on in Manhattan right now and possibly in other neighborhoods nearby so that they can be safe, so they can be prepared. If they see something suspicious, they really need to say something. They really need to call the police.
And how are they going to do that if they don't know what's out there and what threats are being posed to them?
LEMON: Hey, I'm being told that this devoice, because we're wondering if it was -- the suspicious device was the pressure cooker. We just don't know at this point. And we don't want to speculate that it is a same device.
But it's interesting, Tom, because Richard said he saw the containment device move out of the area, unless it was going to go in a different way or to something on a different block.
But we did -- Poppy and I were sitting here and we both saw the robot that goes in and checks for these things --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: And can detonate it if necessary.
LEMON: -- can detonate it if necessary. Yes, but we didn't see the containment device.
FUENTES: Well, Richard said he saw it a while ago. So we know that you had both a robot and a containment device on scene for presumably for that secondary device that was found.
So what they're doing as far as that, but I'm not saying whether they should immediately remove it or put it in the vessel and detonate it there or take it to another location.
I'm saying that once they knew they had a suspicious pressure cooker, somebody deliberately put tape around it. And so if it turns out there's no explosive, they sure wanted it to look like one, they sure wanted it to terrorize the community and cause all of us to be talking about a pressure cooker again, the same device that was used twice in Boston.
So I think to me, why hasn't that threat, why hasn't it been broadcast?
Why haven't they put all the information out instead of trying to diminish what might be the situation there?
LEMON: They have put out alerts, though, alerting people in the area, and they have removed people from the area and I would imagine locally, they're able to target certain areas as well as to not disrupt the entire city with these emergency alerts, as you're well aware of -- Tom.
HARLOW: And, Tom, I just wonder, what happens come sunrise tomorrow morning?
How has New York City changed for residents here?
And, in terms of security, given the fact also that President Obama is supposed to land here tomorrow night and world leaders descend on this city tomorrow morning for the United Nations General Assembly, how does this change things?
FUENTES: I don't know. I don't know what they can do much differently. You know, one of the things, when you walk around New York City, especially in Manhattan, there are a lot of Dumpsters and boxes with garbage that are put out on the sidewalk for the companies to come pick up, the disposal companies.
So if you're walking down the sidewalk in Manhattan, you're going to be walking past a lot of boxes, plastic bags, plastic containers, Dumpsters. Every one of them could be holding a device, you just don't know.
But if they had -- if this pressure cooker was discovered a long time ago, they should at least say so. They should at least say, this is what we had.
LEMON: Yes. Listen, the situation is moving so quickly, I don't know if they didn't do that and maybe it just hasn't trickled up or down to us.
(CROSSTALK)
FUENTES: -- when they held that press conference --
LEMON: -- when they held the press conference.
FUENTES: Don, they knew that information hours before.
LEMON: You think they knew it was a pressure cooker?
Or do you think they knew that it was something that may have just been suspicious and not --
FUENTES: The officers that -- (CROSSTALK)
FUENTES: Well, when would they have found out that it was?
They saw it early enough to call for the robot and the disposal device a couple of hours ago, and that timeframe --
[00:55:00]
FUENTES: -- was before the press conference.
LEMON: Yes. (INAUDIBLE) want to get close enough; maybe they saw it from afar, but who knows, I mean, maybe you're correct. I just want to be careful as to what we -- you know, because we don't really know about the investigation and the timeline will play out. They will give us a timeline once they can update us here.
HARLOW: And very, very quickly, Evan Perez to you, the second device now located.
Are they looking for any others, do we know?
PEREZ: Well, absolutely. Now you have to think that somebody -- certainly if this is a -- even if it's not a real device, someone wanted to scare the public, wanted to terrorize people. They left it. The image that we've seen at CNN shows this pressure cooker, it's probably in -- it's hard to know from scale but it's probably in the 8- to 10-quart range. That's my guess just from looking at the image.
And it looks like it was probably placed inside a garbage bag, a white garbage bag. And so whoever left it there, it was intending to cause panic on the streets.
LEMON: OK, Evan, we have got to get to a break, thank you.
Our live coverage continues of the explosion that happened in New York City earlier this evening. We'll be right back.
