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Latest on Boston Bombing Investigation; Recap of the Timeline of Area Activity; Police Have Taken a Man into Custody
Aired April 19, 2013 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, FMR. U.S. ASST. SECY. FOR HOMELAND SECURITY: So it is very rare. And that's why you're seeing all this activity and all these precautions.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right. I want to take a moment now to update people who are tuning in right now, both domestically and internationally.
We're coming to you live from Boston, Massachusetts. Obviously, this is the site just a couple blocks away from where I'm standing where the terrorist attacks took place at the Boston Marathon, killing three individuals and maiming dozens of others -- of individuals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER (voice-over): This evening, the FBI, law enforcement here in Boston, Massachusetts, released new photographs, images of two individual suspects wanted for questioning. They're presumed armed and extremely dangerous. Those who see them are asked not to try to apprehend them or approach them themselves, but to contact law enforcement.
Just in the last hour or so, two new photographs were released by the FBI. You're looking at those right now. The individuals wanted for questioning appear to be young men, one wearing a white hat, one wearing a black hat. And even more photographs, and here are still newer photographs just released in the last 15 minutes or so by the FBI.
You see the two individuals standing next to each other in the top photograph and there is another photograph of the young man in the white hat wanted for questioning in these terrorist attacks. These were just released in the last few minutes, interestingly, in the middle of the night by the FBI.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: To recap about tonight's activities: at roughly 10:00 or so this evening on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a prestigious university here in the Boston area, specifically in Cambridge, there was a shooting of a police officer. The officer was killed. There was also a carjacking in Cambridge. There was a chase.
Two individuals have been arrested in Watertown, Massachusetts. There has been a big police presence, both local law enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, which would suggest that this is not your average local crime, even though the shooting of a police officer is taken very seriously.
The FBI would not necessarily be involved in the manhunt for somebody who shot a police officer.
The FBI has said, they have acknowledged to CNN, that they are trying to figure out if there is any connection whatsoever with what is going on this evening on the campus of MIT in Cambridge and in Watertown where the two individuals were apprehended and what happened earlier this week on Monday just a couple blocks from me.
I'm going to now go to Drew Griffin, who is on the scene in Watertown, where these arrests have taken place.
Drew, what can you tell us?
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We just got a note apparently from state police spokesman David Prucopio (ph), who -- well, I don't want to go with that just yet.
I can tell you that we do believe from the eyewitness account of Gabe Ramirez, our photojournalist, that two young men have been taken into some sort of custody here in Watertown. Both of them taken into custody in the area behind me, which is now about a four or five square-block area that's cordoned off. And there's a huge, huge police presence here.
And actually, we're going to have Gabe (ph) step right in here, because he was -- Gabe (ph), you were positioned over behind us.
GABE RAMIREZ, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: Yes, Dexter and Nichols.
GRIFFIN: And tell us what you saw from the moment you stepped on the scene.
RAMIREZ: So, I followed a couple of squad cars down Nichols Street towards Dexter. It was immediately a chaotic situation. I jumped out. There were a couple of other journalists there. We ran towards the scene. The police had, from multitudes of agencies, all had their weapons drawn, pointing at a vehicle that we could not see from our vantage point.
They were screaming for the man -- for somebody to put his hands up, to get out of the car. At some point he did do that, because then we could tell that the officers were relaxing. We still couldn't see the car or the suspect.
Then at some point they brought him from his vehicle to a police car. He was completely naked. He had been -- during the confrontation, I did hear him and I believe you may be able to hear this on the tape we shot. He did -- they did -- they were ordering him to remove all his clothes, including his underwear. It was clear. It was clear.
GRIFFIN: You heard the police officers say, remove all your clothes? RAMIREZ: Yes.
GRIFFIN: Remove your skivvies?
RAMIREZ: Exactly, exactly. So that's when they brought him completely naked into a police car.
GRIFFIN: Was he in handcuffs?
RAMIREZ: I believe he was cuffed, yes. He was being escorted, put in the car.
So about 10 or 15 minutes ago, the FBI arrived. When they --
GRIFFIN: When you say the FBI arrived, what kind of vehicle and who came out of that vehicle?
RAMIREZ: Several FBI agents in various states of either civilian clothes or tactical gear, wearing their blue FBI jackets. They came out; they went to the vehicle where the suspect was seated and removed him from the vehicle at one point. Now at this point they had gotten him dressed. He was still barefoot, he was wearing pants and a jacket, handcuffed from behind.
They led him away from the vehicle, towards a wall of a business. They shined flashlights in his face and it looked like they were taking photographs, like couldn't tell exactly what they were doing, but it looked like they were taking photographs of his face.
Once they completed that, they walked him back to the vehicle and started to question him extensively for about five to 10 minutes. Then they put him back in the vehicle.
GRIFFIN: Let me just ask the control room. Are we rolling any of the arrest video? And if we are, please say that in my ear when we're doing that. We are taking care not to show a naked man on TV, obviously.
TAPPER: Drew, can I --
GRIFFIN: You said --
TAPPER: Drew, if I could -- Drew, if I could interject for one second. I want to show the video that Gabe (ph) is referring to right now. We're going to pixelate some of it, obviously, because the individual had been stripped naked by law enforcement, presumably out of caution to make sure that he didn't have any explosives on him.
This is the individual. CNN photojournalist, who you had heard just a minute ago, shot this in Watertown this evening. Police handcuffed a man. The man you see in this video, getting into the police car, he's believed to be associated with the shooting at MIT and the subsequent chase through the streets of Greater Boston Thursday night into the -- into Friday morning local time.
The man was handcuffed. Here you see him again and walked naked to the police vehicle. At this time, I want to caution, CNN does not know what this man has been detained for. We do not know whether it is connected to the MIT shooting of the police officer or anything else that has taken place in the Boston, Massachusetts, area this evening.
But clearly, he's of interest to local law enforcement. The FBI is trying to determine if there is a relationship between what happened at MIT and is going on in Watertown this evening and what happened here just a couple blocks away from me at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
And, Drew, I know you're going to ask Gabe (ph) to explain a little bit further. But we understand he reported earlier, Gabe (ph), that that individual, the naked man in the police car, was taken out after he had been detained and a photograph was taken of him.
We assume, according to Juliette Kayyem, a homeland security analyst we have at CNN, that is to try to make a connection or see if there is a connection between these -- this individual -- and we understand there was a second arrest as well -- and the individuals who, earlier this evening, Thursday night after 5 o'clock, images of them were released by the FBI, individuals wanted in relationship to the Boston Marathon bombings.
Drew, I'm sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to make sure that video could be shown and people could understand what they were watching. Please proceed, asking Gabe (ph) about what happened and what he witnessed this evening.
GRIFFIN: Absolutely.
So after that arrest took place and questioning took place, I shouldn't say arrest. After that person was taken into custody, there was a second person that you noticed, who came out in handcuffs.
RAMIREZ: Yes. It was interesting.
So as soon as they had -- FBI had finished questioning the primary suspect and placed him back in the squad car, another man came around the corner from Dexter Street on to Nichols, towards the squad car where this first suspect was seen.
They questioned him, he was cuffed and then they took him away. We don't know who he was, what he had to do with the situation. But we all find it very interesting that they would bring him towards the first suspect and walk him away.
GRIFFIN: Was he dressed?
RAMIREZ: He was dressed. Now, I'm not sure what he had to do with this. I will say that, in the chaotic early moments of the scene, a lot of neighborhood people were in the -- out on the street and the police made a few arrests from rowdy neighbors. It could have just -- it may have just been that. I -- we don't know.
But it was suspicious only because they brought him towards the vehicle where the primary suspect was seated.
GRIFFIN: Obviously the first arrest you saw, the man who was asked to strip naked, they were very concerned about their own safety, the police officers' safety.
You didn't sense that with the second arrest?
RAMIREZ: They did not seem -- they didn't seem as worried about the second person.
But, you know, who can say?
GRIFFIN: Was there any FBI involvement, like with the first person you saw arrested, with the second person?
RAMIREZ: It -- no, I couldn't tell, only because it was very dark and the FBI agents who had been questioning the first suspect were not questioning that suspect, but there were many FBI agents there. So the men that were with him, the second suspect, may have been FBI; they may have been local police. I'm not sure.
GRIFFIN: And many FBI agents?
RAMIREZ: Yes, between six and 10, at least, at that vehicle and probably around the scene itself. And there were also men in EOD tactical gear. It looked like, walking towards the vehicle, the suspect vehicle, which was down a slope, out of view, again, of the journalists that were there. And they were yelling various orders to each other.
I'm assuming that they're searching for devices. Now another interesting thing was that at some point, the state police came out and asked us to turn off our cell phones as a precaution. Having been -- having worked for CNN (inaudible) a telltale symbol -- a telltale signal that there were possible bomb.
(CROSSTALK)
GRIFFIN: Was that early on?
RAMIREZ: That was just maybe 20 minutes ago.
GRIFFIN: All right. And then did they come and give you the all clear, you could use your phones?
RAMIREZ: Then they stopped enforcing the rule. Now they were telling police officers that were arriving on the scene, as they were approaching the scene, to do that. But I think they thought that we were far enough back that we weren't posing any risk.
GRIFFIN: All right.
RAMIREZ: Now, just as I was leaving, the state police spokesperson did tell the assembled press there that, at this time, they believe they only have one of the primary suspects in custody. They could not confirm that a second suspect was in custody. A second suspect --
(CROSSTALK)
GRIFFIN: (Inaudible).
RAMIREZ: -- that was involved in the chase, they could not positively confirm that he was in custody and that they were -- that we should assume that he was still at large and that people in the neighborhood should stay in their homes. That's all he said.
GRIFFIN: OK. And I just want to reiterate, Jake, what we both have been reiterating, that the two suspects here are just that. Two suspects here, connected to whatever event took place behind us and we don't have any idea whether it connected anywhere else.
But that's the firsthand account of our photojournalist, Gabe Ramirez, who witnessed whatever it is that we hope to have an explanation for sometime later this morning when the police are ready to brief us on this. Jake?
TAPPER: All right. Drew Griffin, I appreciate that. If it's possible at all, it would be great to get Gabe wired up so we could interview him and do that live in a second whenever you have a second to adjust that.
I want to recap and show some of the video that Gabe managed to shoot this evening. I'll show that on the screen if the producers will put it up.
It is video of an individual in Watertown, Massachusetts, being arrested -- you see him. We have pixelated some of it out because he was asked to strip naked, talking to homeland security analysts earlier, we assume that's because of a presumption of caution, wanting to make sure that the individual didn't have anything on him, perhaps explosives.
The Massachusetts police said that explosives were used in Watertown this evening. So out of an abundance of caution, asking him to take off his clothing. Later on, we'll show the video again later on. But the individual, according to Gabe Ramirez, the photojournalist from CNN, was asked to get out of the car again. Pictures were taken of him.
We presume that this is because the FBI has said to us on the record that they are trying to establish whether or not there is a connection between these individuals who are -- one has been apprehended and one has, I believe, is still being pursued in Watertown, Massachusetts, whether or not there is a connection between these individuals and what happened in Boston at the Boston Marathon earlier this week.
I want to bring in either Susan Candiotti or Juliette Kayyem, if either of them are available right now.
Juliette, are you there?
KAYYEM: Yes, I'm here.
TAPPER: So right now, the latest information, I assume, Juliette Kayyem, former homeland security -- Department of Homeland Security official with the Obama administration, also worked for Governor Deval Patrick for his local version of the Department of Homeland Security, you heard Gabe Ramirez's report.
You know that the FBI is trying to figure out if there is a connection, this individual has been asked to strip naked. None of this -- you are a Boston resident -- you know that none of this is normal activity, even for a high -- a big pursuit of a major criminal. None of this is normal, even for that scenario.
What are your thoughts as the story unfolds? Obviously, we want to keep away from speculation as to what we don't know.
But what is the information you're waiting to hear from law enforcement?
KAYYEM: Well, we'll hear a definite determination, I think, that, if it's not a match; in other words, they have no interest in everyone, including the public -- it seems like everyone is awake right now, based on my e-mails. They have no interest in having the public believe that the marathon bombers, the marathon culprits are caught.
So if it's not a match, that will come out faster than if it was a match. That's just simply -- because you know, why get everyone all worked up that these guys have been captured.
If you know, and then if there is a match, which will be determined by whoever is in custody of these people right now, and it's not quite certain, then that will be known.
But it seems -- or it doesn't seem -- right now there is only one person in custody and as the FBI said just a couple hours ago, they are looking for two people.
So this is unfolding -- when I say that this is not typical, it is because Boston is a pretty peaceful town. We do have a violent crime problem like any city, but the statements about the use of explosives and IEDs and -- or other activities like that, let alone the Boston Marathon attack, are obviously something that this city has never experienced.
And so this massive police presence, coupled once again with the police officer shooting -- and we don't know if that is related -- is the reason why, you know, the streets are literally filled -- I live in Cambridge -- with just a massive police presence. And that makes people nervous. I mean, it makes me nervous. It is a little disconcerting.
TAPPER: All right, Juliette Kayyem, national security -- homeland security consultant for CNN.
If you were just tuning in, just to recap on what's been going on this evening, obviously, this is a city, an area of the country that is in heightened state of alert because of local law enforcement on the lookout for two suspects.
Earlier this evening at roughly 5:15 or so pm Eastern time, Boston time -- pardon me, Boston police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Joint Terrorism Task Force came together and put out photographs, images of two suspects wanted in relation to the terrorist attacks on the Boston Marathon. They were two young men, one wearing a white hat, one wearing a black hat.
Just in the last few hours, the FBI has put out new photographs, new images of these individuals. Those are the photographs you're looking at right now that were put out at roughly 5:15.
You see the individual there -- and this is one of the new photographs put out earlier this evening. And this is a still newer photograph of the two of them together. So the law enforcement community seeking the help of the public, asking for help, if anybody can identify these individuals.
That is yet another new photograph put out this evening overnight by the FBI; that one, too. One of the newer photographs just put out in the wee small hours of the morning, people seeking help.
Now, perhaps completely unrelated to the Boston Marathon terrorist attacks, there was a shooting this evening after 10 o'clock Eastern time, Boston time, pm, of a police officer on the campus of MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, right outside Boston, just over the river.
There was also a carjacking in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And then since then there has been an arrest made, an individual in Watertown, just a few miles away. That is where Drew was reporting from.
And I want to now go to Gabe Ramirez, who is the photojournalist who took images of the apprehension of one of these individuals. We believe that there is a second individual also being pursued.
Gabe, can you hear me?
RAMIREZ: Yes, I can hear you.
TAPPER: Gabe Ramirez, thank you so much.
For those people just turning in, because you saw so much of this with your own eyes, shot the images of the individual being arrested, if we could actually show the video. You don't need to show me. Show the video that Gabe shot earlier of the individual being arrested -- there he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER (voice-over): He's been pixelated because he's naked. He was asked to take off all his clothes.
Drew, as we show -- I'm sorry; Gabe, as we show this video, tell us what exactly you saw.
The officers told this man to take off his clothing? Please explain what happened before the video you shot was filmed.
RAMIREZ: Well, we were at the MIT campus, responding to this report of a shooting of a police officer. And while we were there, we saw the state police and -- local and state police leave the scene very, very quickly.
As we decided to pursue -- we decided to pursue the location they were going to. En route, we had heard that there had been some sort of activity involving gunplay and as we got into Watertown, I followed a couple of state police cars from a distance, but was able to see where they were going.
I drove down a small street in residential Watertown called Nichols Street. And at that point, at Nichols and Dexter, the police had just swarmed the area, both in plainclothes, in uniforms and in tactical gear from probably every municipality in this area.
And as I got out of the vehicle and ran towards the scene along with a handful of other print journalists, I -- we could clearly hear them yelling orders to somebody. We could not see the vehicle they were yelling at, but they were pointing their weapons at somebody. They were yelling at them.
At some point, I guess a commander took charge of the scene, was yelling orders at him.
As this is all unfolding, everybody was extremely tense; neighbors were peering out their windows, trying to see what was going on.
Then what happened was I heard an order being given for this man -- the police commander, I assume, was ordering him to remove all of his clothes, to put his hands up, to remove all of his clothes and walk towards them. I assume that's what he did because then maybe five minutes later, he was escorted by police fully naked to a squad car and put in the back of it.
TAPPER: All right, Gabe. Stay there. Stay tuned.
We want to now go to Susan Candiotti, CNN's own Susan Candiotti, who hopefully can shed some light on the activity.
Susan, you told us earlier this evening that the FBI was trying to determine whether or not there was any relation to the activities on the campus of MIT, the police officer shot there, and the individual, one individual as far as we know -- and we believe a second individual is being pursued in Watertown not far from Cambridge, the FBI trying to determine if there is any relationship with those individuals and that activity with what happened earlier this week, just a couple blocks from where I'm standing.
What are you hearing, Susan?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, guys.
TAPPER: OK. We lost Susan Candiotti. I'm going to --
She's back, OK.
Susan Candiotti, can you hear me?
OK. Susan Candiotti not there. Let's go back to Gabe.
Gabe, there were reports earlier that a second individual had been apprehended. Can you shed some light on that? There -- you also said that a police officer told you to presume that that second individual was not apprehended. Explain exactly what happened there.
RAMIREZ: Right. It's a little confusing, as you can imagine.
I'd say shortly after the first individual was apprehended, put away in his vehicle, the police came out -- a police spokesperson came out and told us, were giving us instructions as to where we should be and where a possible press location was going to be -- a press command center would be set up.
Then somebody asked if these were the individuals involved in the bombing on Monday. He would not answer that question directly.
Somebody asked if he had -- if these people had thrown explosives during this chase that ended in Watertown. He did say that the explosive -- that they suspected that explosive devices were used against their police officers during this chase. He would not confirm -- he could not confirm that those were actual explosive devices that were being used. But they suspected that they may have been.
As a result, they were being very cautious in their movements in the streets around the neighborhood.
Then shortly -- then a little bit later, after -- and I had mentioned earlier that the police had removed the original suspect from the vehicle. When the FBI arrived, the FBI appeared to photograph him and question him for five to 10 minutes. They put him back in the back of the vehicle.
Then another individual was brought out of nowhere, it seems. I -- it was very dark. I couldn't exactly see what he looked like. It was hard to see through the viewfinder even. But we weren't -- nobody there was sure what the relation to this first suspect was of this second individual.
They took him away and there was not much fanfare around this second individual. I mentioned to Drew earlier that several neighbors in the area had come out and were causing a problem for the local police and they were arrested by the local police. And these were just people in the neighborhood. So that may have been one of those people.
However, they walked him towards the vehicle where the first suspect was being detained. So it's just very curious.
Once he was gone, then the state police spokesperson came out again, did not want to be on camera. He was going to give us more instructions about what we could expect later. But he was asked again if this second person that we saw was the second suspect. He would not confirm that.
In fact, he said that they believe the second suspect involved in the chase tonight that ended in Watertown was still at large and that people in the neighborhood should stay in their homes because he's considered armed and dangerous.
Now, he was asked again do they have the second suspect, is that second suspect alive, is he in custody. He would say he does not know. He could not confirm that. So as you can imagine, it's very tense up there. And nobody quite knows what's going on with the second suspect.
TAPPER: All right. Gabe, thank you so much. Stay tuned. We want to come back to you shortly.
But I want to go and check in right now with Susan Candiotti.
Susan, what are you hearing? The FBI obviously trying to establish whether or not there is a relationship between the activity in Watertown and Cambridge this evening and what happened at the Boston Marathon earlier this week.
What are you hearing?
Now we have no Susan Candiotti.
All right. Well, I'm going to bring in Juliette Kayyem, our "Boston Globe" columnist and national homeland security official.
Your impressions first of all. I know "The Boston Globe" is reporting something that we have not established for ourselves. You work for "The Boston Globe". So if you want to share it, it's fine with me.
KAYYEM: No, well, I'm not going to share it because things are unfolding so quickly. We do have to be cautious.
As I said just a few minutes ago, if they are not related, in other words, if the two men -- or at least the one that's in custody -- is not the people that we're looking for from the terrorist attacks on Monday, we will know that very, very quickly.
And that's --
TAPPER: They took photographs of one of the individuals. They took a picture of one of the individuals, presumably, that was to see if there is a match between him and the individuals who are being sought in relationship --
KAYYEM: Right. At least one is still being sought.
So that's just important to know because they have no -- no one has any desire to work the city up again. It's been a very, very long week for the city.
But what is unusual is the amount of weaponry, bombs, explosives that were all -- that you're reporting about that has been ongoing in Watertown, which is a very small suburb and started in Cambridge. That is unusual. That is something that this area has not seen.
So the fact that people are thinking that they're related or the fact that there is this massive police presence is not unusual. And I think we will know whether it's not them, I think, relatively soon and they may have to wait out whether there's a definitive match or we'll have to wait out a definitive match.
TAPPER: OK.
Is Susan Candiotti with us?
Susan, can you hear me?
CANDIOTTI: Yes, I do.
TAPPER: Susan Candiotti, great.
What are you hearing from your sources? The FBI has said that they're trying to establish whether or not there's a relationship between the Boston Marathon terrorist attack and, of course, the criminal activities, the cop shooting, the police officer killed this evening in Cambridge and the individual detained, arrested in Watertown, Massachusetts.
What are your sources telling you right now?
CANDIOTTI: Well, you really need a guide to get through all of this, don't you, Jake. And thank you for trying to reach me. We had problems with the phone lines.
No, I'm still working on that. I've been reaching out to a number of different people and universally, they are telling me we are still trying to work on a connection. We're looking into it. That includes the FBI, the FBI's spokesperson here, the FBI office here.
And they, of course, are leading this investigation. Quite clearly, in a case of such huge importance, they want to make sure they get it right.
So at this time, they are not saying anything and we are prepared to wait until we can get this straightened out one way or another.
It's hard to piece all these things together, but it certainly seems to be coming together slowly one way or the other. I expect that we would get an answer. Hopefully, we'll get the answer sooner than later. Jake, I'm still working on it. I'm going to go back and work the phones and keep working it until we can get a little bit more.
TAPPER: All right. Susan, thank you so much. Obviously, we don't want to report anything prematurely.
Just to recap for individuals who are just tuning in, perhaps they have an early job and they're up at this hour or perhaps they have insomnia or perhaps they have -- they're nursing children.
What has happened this evening is pretty striking in what is normally a very quiet area outside of Boston, Massachusetts.
There was an individual arrested, this followed the shooting of a police officer on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT in Cambridge across the river.
I am standing here with Juliette Kayyem who is a columnist with "The Boston Globe" and also a homeland security analyst for CNN. We are just a couple blocks from where the terrorist attacks at the Boston Marathon took place on Monday, killing three individuals, maiming others.
Earlier this evening, at roughly 5:00 pm or so, the FBI and law enforcement released images of individuals, two individuals, two young men --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER (voice-over): -- and we'll put their images up for you -- who are wanted in relationship to the terrorist attacks.
Just in the last few hours, they have put forward even more images, those two that you just saw -- there's the individual in the white hat; you saw the individual in the black hat. There they are together. These are photographs that were just released after midnight.
So the FBI is still seeking the help of the public with even more images that have come across their desk, even more images perhaps shared by the public, perhaps shared from surveillance cameras.
We're also going to take a look at -- we're also going to take a look at a picture shared by -- on Facebook which "The New York Times" ascertained was an authentic picture of one of the individuals. You're looking there at live photographs.
There's the picture from Facebook which had been posted on somebody's Facebook page and then through crowd sourcing, individuals on the Internet, millions of Americans and people from around the world looking at pictures, trying to help piece together this case, that individual, that photograph, a remarkably good photograph of the face of the young man with the white hat was taken -- this is after the bomb took off.
It's just in the corner of this picture that was on the Facebook page of an individual who -- Piers Morgan interviewed him earlier this evening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: In addition to this investigation and all these photographs, we've also had big law enforcement activity this evening, a shooting of a police officer on the campus of MIT, an arrest of an individual on the campus of -- in Watertown, which is not far from Cambridge, from the campus of MIT.
The Massachusetts State Police saying that explosives were there, being used by the individuals they were pursuing in Watertown. We do not know if there is any relationship whatsoever between the criminal activity this evening and the terrorist attacks on Monday at the Boston Marathon.
The FBI is looking into it. Law enforcement is looking into it.
Juliette, you were telling us that the reason Gabe Ramirez, one of our photojournalists, said that he saw the individual who had been put in the car, he had been made to take off all his clothes, that was done because... ?
KAYYEM: Because if there's explosives that people have been reporting and the state police have been confirming that, the person might actually be carrying something or wearing something that could detonate and hurt the police officers approaching him.
So having him disrobe is sort of just standard practice for a situation which you're going to have the potential for explosives. It is standard operating procedure that this is -- and the picture being taken is obviously being done so to ascertain whether it's the same pictures that are now coming out, both from the FBI and then, of course, all this crowd sourcing on Facebook.
And this is -- you know, all of this activity was what the FBI intended by coming out at 5 o'clock. In other words, all these pictures, so that if others are apprehended, you can ascertain whether it's the same people, right. So if the two guys tonight who did all this mayhem in Watertown are not the same two people who bombed here a couple days ago, we will know that relatively quickly.
TAPPER: Let's go back to the map that our graphics department wanted to show, even though we weren't talking about it specifically.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER (voice-over): I want to show exactly, explaining the geography of this area to everybody.
So let's first go into Boston. This is the Boston area. Let's first zoom in on Boston and show where the Boston Marathon took place, where the terrorist attacks.
Now let's go -- OK. So this is Boston. This is Beacon Hill, Downtown. This is -- you get an idea of where the terrorist attacks took place.
We'll zoom out now. And to the left of your screen, you'll see Cambridge. This is the area where the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is.
KAYYEM: Right.
TAPPER: Just over the river. Just over --
(CROSSTALK)
KAYYEM: And so if you look at this, it's a little bit more to the right. And so what's important here --
TAPPER: There's MIT. There's the Charles River. Yes.
KAYYEM: So it's very, very close, even though it's Cambridge, it's literally just a bridge away. You could actually see the bridge from here. And so --
TAPPER: And this is where the police officer was killed this evening?
KAYYEM: Right. And when I left you a couple hours ago, I got into a car and there were about 30 police cars that passed me on the Massachusetts Turnpike, which is a longer way to get home on Cambridge.
And I had never seen a police presence like that before. And I've been in the field a long time. That was a massive -- whether it was related to the police officer shooting or obviously what's going in Watertown, I didn't know.
When they got closer to Cambridge, they turned towards Watertown. So clearly, this was unfolding at about 10:30.
TAPPER: Now, we're going to zoom to the west and we're going to show where Watertown is in relationship to Cambridge. In Watertown this evening is where this arrest was made and one of the individuals arrested -- and he may have absolutely no relationship to what happened at MIT and he may have less of a relationship to the terrorist attacks.
But in Watertown is where this one individual was made to -- was pursued by law enforcement, the FBI showed up, he was made to take off all his clothes, a photograph of him was taken. The FBI trying to determine whether or not there is a relationship between the arrest of the individual in Watertown and the terrorist attacks earlier this week in Boston, downtown here in the Back Bay area. So --
KAYYEM: Right -- and regardless of what happened on Monday, the activity that's being described in Watertown tonight, explosives, gun shootouts, fleeing, carjacking -- is very unusual for this city, very unusual for Watertown.
So this is something that would have such a massive police presence. And I'm pretty confident that we'll hear something relatively soon from formal channels about whether -- who they have. I think that that's true. And we're hearing lofts things --
TAPPER: And when you say who they have, you mean whether or not specifically somebody related to the FBI's request for information about suspects who were involved.
(CROSSTALK)
KAYYEM: And you're seeing -- you're seeing people who like to follow this stuff in real time, there's a lot of things that are being read about -- that the Boston police have on scanners that it's disclosing whether or not or that they are the same folks as the Boston Marathon culprits or terrorists.
TAPPER: (Inaudible).
KAYYEM: And that is something that we can't confirm because you're hearing all of this in real time. You don't know who is saying it. You don't know whether they're actually in the know and you just sort of have to wait it out because, in real time, these police officers are all talking to each other and we still have a suspect on the loose.
And so we'll see relatively soon. As I've been saying, if it's a no match, that we'll know relatively quickly.
TAPPER: When you say this, we still have a suspect on the loose, we still have one suspect on the loose in Watertown, reportedly from Gabe Ramirez, our photojournalist who was there, who saw and heard about one -- another -- a second suspect. We may have more -- I mean, that's just -- you're talking about the case in Watertown. There may be two other suspects having to do with the terrorist --
(CROSSTALK)
KAYYEM: Yes. It seems hard to believe, given that people are watching TV right now, it is possible that the MIT shooting is an outlier and that all this activity unfolds in a really weird way. It's hard to tell right now because -- OK, because there's no -- we certainly don't know how the chronology went overnight.
TAPPER: All right. I want to bring in Drew Griffin, who has been on the ground, on the scene in Watertown all evening for us and gave up his earpiece and microphone to Gabe Ramirez for a second.
Drew, I'm glad you're back with us. What are you hearing?
GRIFFIN: I just want to clarify a couple of things. Gabe Ramirez, the photojournalist who was caught up in all this chaos, I had him walk back to our satellite truck and take a good look at the video he shot.
We now believe that the naked person, the person who was taken into custody naked, which we showed earlier and the second quote-unquote "suspect," whom Gabe had described being arrested but we have not shown. We believe that's the same person.
So one suspect. They put his clothes back on, brought him out, put him up against the wall and took his photograph. That, I can tell you, was done, because I saw it myself from the video.
But now we're talking, Jake, about one person in custody here. That matches the reporting from the Massachusetts State Police spokesperson, who said there was one person in custody here that he knows of. But I just wanted to clarify that as soon as we had that information for you.
TAPPER: All right. Great. So that's a good point of clarification, Drew. I appreciate you and Gabe consulting and figuring out what exactly it is, putting pieces together.
We have on the phone now, the journalist, Seth Mnookin, who is a widely respected journalist. He works at MIT and also is a witness. He lives in Watertown with his family.
Seth, what did you see this evening?
SETH MNOOKIN, JOURNALIST, WATERTOWN WITNESS: I actually -- I was over at MIT right after the shooting there. And I was looking at the police scanner and there was a report of a carjacking about a mile away in Cambridge.
And when I arrived at that scene, the police officers that were there, there were about a half dozen police cars, left very quickly and headed over to Watertown. So I followed them over.
When I got to Watertown, the suspect had not been apprehended and, in fact, the police officers who were on the ground had been instructed to turn off their cell phones and were asking me for directions.
This was in the middle of an extremely residential place.
Over about a half an hour, they got the suspect out and then, as you've been reporting, they stripped him and got him to the ground. That was an extremely tense and chaotic situation and there was a lot of concern by the officers on the ground at that time that there were not only explosives on the suspect, but explosives on the scene.
And at one point there were people who were trying to get out of their house and the police officers, in no uncertain terms, shouted at them that they should not leave the house, that they were in extreme danger if they left the house.
TAPPER: All right. And, Seth, I don't know if you've spoken to any police officers or just been yelled at by them.
But are you hearing anything about why these individuals were being pursued? Are the individuals in Watertown the same ones wanted and being pursued for activities at Cambridge, at the -- at MIT? Is there anything else that law enforcement has said to you or anyone else?
MNOOKIN: So the most recent report we had -- initially the police at the scene were reporting that there were two suspects in custody. They then walked that back. The most recent report, and this was about 20 minutes ago, a police officer, a spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police said that they would only confirm that they had one suspect in custody and that that suspect had actually been transported to a hospital.
He said -- and this is not an exact quote -- but essentially said it was reasonable to assume that there was a connection between this and the situation at MIT and the marathon bombing, but could not confirm that.
The impression that he gave was that that was the assumption that they were working off of at that time. Certainly there's -- the amount of force that was on the ground in Watertown was indicative of something way beyond any normal kind of situation.
There were well over 100 police in tactical gear there. There were at least half a dozen different agencies, including the FBI, on the ground. There were multiple SWAT trucks and bomb squad trucks. There were officers in camouflage gear. So this was a very, very major operation. My car, when I actually arrived there, I was in what then became the crime scene and my car is inside that perimeter and they said that I would not be getting that back tonight.
TAPPER: All right. So the police saying that it is a reasonable assumption that the individual you saw arrested and detained and taken away, and that Gabe Ramirez filmed, that that individual, it's a reasonable assumption, according to this law enforcement official, is that that's related to the MIT shooting, the police officer killed.
And according to this officer, if I'm hearing you correctly, he said it was a reasonable assumption, although not a fact, not a confirmed fact, but a reasonable assumption, according to this law enforcement officer, that there is a connection between this and the Boston terrorist attacks. That is -- I just want to make sure I'm hearing you correctly.
MNOOKIN: Yes. Yes. The reason I said it's not a direct quote, he said something along those lines, like either one could assume or it would be safe to assume that that is the working theory that we're operating under.
But he did also go out of his way to say that we cannot confirm that this is definitively connected. So -- but certainly it seems to be what they're operating under.
But I should also point out that just within probably a 60- or a 90- minute period, he went from saying that they had two suspects in custody to only one suspect in custody.
So I think that gives some sense of how -- just how fluid the situation was on the ground. There were times there where there were new police officers arriving, who had been essentially out of contact and -- for whatever reason, and clearly did not have a very clear sense of what was going on and what the situation there was, that that was still an active crime scene or if that was essentially a mop-up operation.
TAPPER: It's an excellent reminder, Seth. And we appreciate it. Stay on the line.
Just to bring people up to speed, we just got new information from the Massachusetts State Police, saying that residents in and around Watertown, Massachusetts, should stay in their residences. Do not answer the door unless it is an identified police officer. That is to residents of Watertown, a rather chilling warning.
It also says, if any concerns, if you have any concerns about anyone at the door, call 9-1-1 immediately. Repeat, do not answer your door. Stay away from windows. Keep your doors locked. This is a message from the Massachusetts State Police to residents of Watertown. Let me repeat it just because it seems rather important, especially if you happen to be in Watertown and you're watching this or if you know anyone who lives in Watertown. Let me just read this again from the Massachusetts State Police.
Residents in and around Watertown should stay in their residences. Do not answer your door unless it is an identified police officer.
In addition, if you have any concerns about someone at your door, call 9-1-1 immediately. Repeat, do not answer your door. Stay away from your windows. Keep your doors locked.
Seth, I hope, if you're on the phone, you're going to take that advice. That is rather chilling.
It seems to suggest that, Juliette Kayyem, Boston globe columnist, homeland security analyst for CNN, it seems to suggest, there is at least one individual on the loose and they think that this person is extremely dangerous.
KAYYEM: Right. And this is no messing-around message. I've seen a lot of messages from the Massachusetts State Police. This is serious. And just -- people are getting this message likely through something called reverse 9-1-1. Phone calls are being made to individual homes to cell phone numbers to tell people to stay inside.
We probably have about an hour and a half or two hours until sunlight. That's going to make it easier if someone is running around, if someone is trying to hide. But that also means more people are going to be going outside, going into their cars.
So just as a message, just be wary of going into cars or where someone may be hiding out. This is a manhunt. Is it the manhunt that we've been hoping for in some way to get the people who are responsible for the Boston Marathon?
As Seth said, their working assumption is yes. I think that's both obvious and sound because given what happened here, you either -- just this is not a normal investigation. Two men are accused of either being responsible for the Boston Marathon and that there are -- is talk of explosives and gunfights and carjackings. This is unusual.
TAPPER: Yes. And this one other piece of information, sad information this evening, which is that a spokesman for the MBTA -- I assume that means the Metropolitan Boston Transit Authority -- confirms that a transit police officer was wounded this evening. He's being treated at this hour at a local hospital.
Pardon me.
Just to reiterate what we heard from the Massachusetts State Police, if you are in or around Watertown, Massachusetts, which is a community outside Boston, Massachusetts, do not let anyone in your house unless you know the person is an identified police officer. Do not leave your house. There is a manhunt going on in that area right now. This individual is being sought, we believe in connection to at least the killing of one and the wounding of another police officer on the campus of MIT and a Metropolitan Boston Transit Authority police officer in the Watertown area.
And police are operating and this is not a fact, but if police are operating on an assumption that these individuals may have a connection to the terrorist activity at the Boston Marathon on Monday, that does not mean that they are definitively linked, that they are the same individuals, but the police are operating on that assumption.
That gives you the idea of the force and the aggressiveness and the seriousness with which they're treating this incident.
Juliette?
KAYYEM: I absolutely agree. This is an incident that is unfolding in real time. And that's what viewers have to realize.
TAPPER: As we turn on, I just want to interrupt. I'm sorry, Juliette, but these are new photographs that the FBI released this evening of the two individuals wanted in the -- for questioning in the Boston Marathon --
KAYYEM: Right. And the pieces we're trying to link are the release of these pictures at 5:00 pm today, which may have -- is a link to the killing of an MIT cop, a police officer, to the events in Watertown.
Everyone is trying to narrow or to get those links very solid. And as I've been saying, you know, if it's not them, we will know.
(CROSSTALK)
KAYYEM: So the longer it takes, they are working on the assumption that this is just very unusual for this city to have this kind of violence alone, standing by itself, coupled with what happened on Monday. Then it starts to fold into a narrative that, at least is the assumption they're working under, as Seth said.
TAPPER: One of the things I want to ask you is a lot of the pictures that we just saw, that our viewers just saw, were released after midnight by the FBI. The earlier ones were from surveillance footage and they were released between the hours of 5:00 and 6:00 pm.
KAYYEM: Right.
TAPPER: There have been -- this -- these photographs right here of the two of the suspects standing together and some of the close-ups, at least four photographs have been released after midnight.
KAYYEM: Right.
TAPPER: Why? Why would they -- do they just want to get them out there as soon as possible? KAYYEM: So what's happened is they make the announcement this afternoon and all of these -- and they're asking for more pictures. Remember, that is what they're asking for. So more pictures are coming in to verify that these are the two gentlemen that they're looking for on Monday for the attacks on Monday.
So all this activity is unfolding in real time. It is because of the 5 o'clock press release. And I'll say, just on this issue, this is very fast, it's unfolding very fast. And the fact that the press conference was at 5:00, this is the very activity, the kind of pictures that they wanted to come out over time. And you know, even after midnight.
TAPPER: And we have no idea why any of this activity we're watching this evening and this morning, we should say now at this point, why it happened. But certainly one of the things that law enforcement was hoping for by releasing the photographs was to smoke these guys out.
KAYYEM: Well, to know that we had pictures of them, which would be odd if they didn't know it, given how photographed the Boston Marathon was.
If they were hiding out, maybe they didn't think that they would be identified so quickly by the FBI. And if this is unfolding in Boston, then theories that they might be in another state or another country are being disproved, that they decided to stay close to here.
As we've been saying, we knew that this would be a Boston investigation. We just didn't know how it would end and whether it's actually ending tonight. That's what we don't know.
TAPPER: I want to bring in this one other big piece of information from the Massachusetts State Police and then Seth Mnookin, who teaches at MIT, I want to go back to you. You're a witness to what's going on this evening.
But Massachusetts State Police have announced that police are going to actually be going door to door in and around Watertown, door to door. Police will be clearly identified, they say. It will be a fluid -- it is a fluid situation.
This comes -- this announcement comes after the Massachusetts State Police announced that nobody should leave their house if they live in or around Watertown, Massachusetts. And nor should anyone even answer their door unless they see that it's a clearly identified police officer.
Seth, you teach at MIT in Cambridge, but you live in Watertown. Is that correct?
MNOOKIN: No, I actually live in Brookline, but a couple miles away.
TAPPER: OK.
OK. So you just happened to be in Watertown right now because your car is in the crime scene? MNOOKIN: I mean, I'm here because I was following the crime scene over here because I was following the --
TAPPER: No, I understand. I understand. Yes, no, you're a journalist. I should acknowledge that I've known Seth for more than a decade.
You're a journalist and obviously you hear something like this going on and you follow it. That's a normal impulse. You're a journalist and you're curious and you want to see what's happening.
But you followed this pursuit of an individual who may have shot and killed somebody on the MIT campus, killed somebody on the MIT campus, followed the pursuit to Watertown and then in the midst of this going on an individual being arrested, detained, your car was stuck in the crime scene and now you're kind of just in this area where there is a manhunt is going on.
Where exactly are you right now?
MNOOKIN: Now, I went over to the -- to a staging area, what's sort of become a de facto staging area in the parking lot of the Watertown Mall, which is roughly half a mile from where the crime scene is. So this entire area is now also cordoned off by police. There are police checkpoints at a number of places just along the street.
And it's really, really striking. I mean this is an incredibly residential neighborhood. And one of the things about Boston, because it is such a small city, is that you can go from being essentially downtown to being in what is, for all intents and purposes, a suburb in a matter of miles. And that's exactly the situation you have here.
To see SWAT teams, to see police walking around with automatic weapons, is a very surreal sensation for this area.
KAYYEM: Right.
TAPPER: I want to just -- we've been told, CNN has been told that there's going to be a controlled detonation in Watertown in the area where this individual is being pursued.
So if anybody in Watertown is watching right now, Seth Mnookin in the staging area in Watertown, there is, we're told, there will be a controlled detonation that is purposeful. That is law enforcement, I presume, finding an object that they're not comfortable with and wanting to get rid of it and detonate it.
Does that -- that's not technically how one would describe it if one were a homeland security official.
KAYYEM: Right, but that's actually a good description for people watching. And we don't actually know if it's an unidentified box, if it's a suitcase or what it is. Might as well detonate it in a controlled manner than waiting or having someone approach it.
That would be -- this is all sort of standard operating procedure in a time that is not very standard, I will say that.
Just to pick up on what Seth was saying, Watertown is close to Boston but feels like a very intimate suburb; that this is happening there is very unique for that community obviously.
TAPPER: All right. Just to recap before we switch out and bring on John Berman and his team with the early, early morning anchoring, this is what's been going on since you went to bed, if you're just waking up.
Obviously, at roughly 5:15 or so this evening, the FBI seeking the help of the public released photographs of two individuals wanted, suspects in the bombing, the terrorist attacks at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
Since that time, there has been a tremendous amount of activity, related or unrelated, we are not yet sure. Police are operating under the presumption that it is related. But that does not mean anything other than these are two dangerous individuals they are pursuing and they could be -- could be, not necessarily are -- related to the suspects being sought in the Boston Marathon terrorist attacks.
What has happened is on -- in Cambridge, Massachusetts, about a mile outside of where I'm standing right now, just a couple blocks from where the terrorist attacks were, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the campus of MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, there was a police officer shot and killed.
There was also a carjacking. There was a high-speed pursuit, police officers pursuing two individuals for killing that police officer.
Since that time, there has been a tremendous amount, a tremendous amount of police activity in Watertown, which is roughly four miles outside of Boston. It is a quiet community and there has been a tremendous amount of activity.
And one individual was apprehended. He was made to take off all his clothes, presumably just to make sure in case he had explosives on his person so that a police officer would not be harmed. The Massachusetts police said that there were explosives used in the situation in Watertown.
We're told that there is another individual still on the loose in Watertown. Massachusetts police have said and cautioned individuals in Watertown, stay inside your homes, do not leave your homes, do not answer your door unless it is an identified police officer.
But they also have said that identified police officers will be coming to their homes. They are doing a door-to-door search in Watertown, Massachusetts. So for anybody in Watertown, Massachusetts, that is a tremendous amount of activity going on in your area.
Understandably, it is something that is not exactly reassuring, but law enforcement are there in force. They say if you stay in your home, you lock your door, you do not leave your home, you should be OK. Do not answer your door unless it is an identified police officer. One of the suspects is in custody. And that individual -- again, we do not know if he's related to the Massachusetts -- to the Boston Marathon, rather, terrorist attacks -- but one of these individuals is in custody.
We have footage of that individual being put in custody. If we could show that footage that CNN photojournalist Gabe Ramirez shot earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER (voice-over): He's naked. We've pixelated some of it so that we can show it on television. It is him being led naked to a police car. That individual was photographed. The FBI is trying to figure out whether or not there is a connection to this activity and the Boston Marathon terrorist attacks.
So far we do not have word yet whether or not there is any sort of connection. But given all this police activity, given the huge law enforcement presence in Boston right now on the case, we surely will know soon whether or not there is a connection one way or the other. I want to bring in John Berman to come in when he can.
No, he's not ready to come in. OK, well, we won't go into John Berman yet. I'm wondering if -- is Drew Griffin there? Is he in Watertown, Massachusetts, right now?
GRIFFIN: Yes, Jake, I can hear you. It's -- Jake, I can hear you --
TAPPER: OK.
GRIFFIN: -- from Watertown, where the situation --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
GRIFFIN: Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, ready?
TAPPER: No, please tell us. What do you -- what are you seeing in Watertown?
GRIFFIN: Jake, the situation is pretty much the same as it has been for about the last hour or so -- significant presence down the street of police.
