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Learning about the Boston Bombing Suspects; Manhunt Continues for Younger Brother;

Aired April 19, 2013 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN: We have been trying to just glean a little bit more information about this 19-year-old, Dzhokhar, that everyone is obviously trying to find today.

This is Sanjaya (ph).

Sanjaya, step on in.

We have talking on and off. We have been here in Cambridge

We have been trying to glean just a little bit more information about this 19-year-old, Dzhokhar, that everyone is obviously trying to find today.

This is Sanjaya (ph). Sanjaya (ph), step on in. We've been talking off and on. We have been here in Cambridge for hours and hours here.

You knew Dzhokhar, he was your -- you were on the wrestling team with him, he was the captain of the team his senior year.

What kind of guy was he?

SANJAYA (PH), KNEW BOMBING SUSPECT: He was a very nice guy. I knew him for about four or five years.

Every time I seen him, he would keep smiling. I don't remember a single time he was mad.

The Only time I've seen him mad is when he lost a wrestling match. That's about it. That's pretty obvious. If he just lost a wrestling match, obviously, he's going to be mad.

Other than that, always smiling, he's always happy.

BALDWIN: Let me step back for a second. You learned that it was Dzhokhar who was one of these two suspects in this horrendous bombing here in Boston on Monday because you woke up this morning, what, your mother called you, and you saw a picture.

SANJAYA (PH): When I woke up in the morning, you know, my mom woke me up, I saw a picture, at first I thought it was a joke or something. I couldn't believe it was him. It was so shocking to me.

And then my friend, he called me, he told me, let's go down -- because he told me he's in Cambridge. That's where all the people are, so let's go down there.

I didn't take a shower. I didn't brush my teeth. I just came down here.

The reason I came here is because I want people to know he's a really nice guy. Because everyone -- I went to Facebook when I woke up and, everyone there, they're saying he's a bad guy and all that stuff, you know.

BALDWIN: What has he said ever to you about his older brother?

SANJAYA (PH): He never mentioned his older brother or his background at all. Back in 2009, I asked him where he was from. And he said he was from ...

BALDWIN: Chechnya, Russia.

SANJAYA (PH): Russia, yeah.

BALDWIN: Interestingly, Anderson, you were asking me earlier today, do we even know definitively this 19-year-old lived in that apartment complex, just a block away from us on Norfolk Street here in Cambridge?

And, so I asked you, you know, had you ever been to his apartment, seen him walking into the apartment, and you said, he always had you drop him off around the corner.

SANJAYA (PH): Yes. So after wresting practice, we would -- I would drive him down here in Cambridge Street. He would tell me to stop my car down there and he would just walk down there and pointed me, and I asked him where he lived, and he just pointed down the ways. And I was, like, oh, OK. That's fine.

BALDWIN: Down Norfolk Street.

Finally, Sanjaya, if he is watching, we know apparently he's taken to social media. I want you to look in the camera and give him a message.

SANJAYA (PH): I mean, all the people from Cambridge, all his friends and everyone, they know he's a nice guy.

I just want, you know, like if he has a gun or anything on him right now, I want him to drop the gun, come forward, and you can resolve the situation, you know. You don't have to take it the wrong way. Just come forward.

Everyone loves you. Everyone here in Cambridge, they love you. He's a great guy.

BALDWIN: You still maintain great guy, even though a lot of fingers were pointing his way because of what happened on Monday.

SANJAYA (PH): He's always been a great guy. For me, for me, he's always motivated me. In wrestling, he always motivated me. One of the reasons I won sixth place in Greater Boston wrestling is because of him. He pushed me hard all the time.

BALDWIN: Yeah, Anderson, that really jives with a lot of the stories we heard, that he volunteered in the community, he volunteered with the group called Best Buddies for kids with special needs here in Cambridge, that he was a leader, and people here are absolutely shocked.

Anderson?

ANDERSON COOPER, ANCHOR, "AC 360": We have been hearing that really throughout the day. We're getting new updates about what police found on the scene in Watertown.

We'll take a short break and get those to you as soon as we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And welcome back to our continuing coverage of this massive manhunt under way in Boston.

We're just getting word from Susan Candiotti. I'm going to read it to you off my iPhone here.

Massachusetts state police spokesman David Precopio tells CNN investigators were covering a significant amount of homemade explosives from last night's Watertown scenes.

There is no proof yet of accomplices, a significant amount of homemade explosives.

This goes to what eyewitnesses had heard, explosives going off on the scene of the shootout between law enforcement and the suspects in which one of the suspects was killed.

We're getting some audio sound, some sound from another uncle of these two suspects. His name is Alvi Tsarni, a different uncle than you heard from earlier in the day. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALVI TSARNI, UNCLE OF BOMBING SUSPECTS: America, I didn't do this, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure, of course. We're trying to understand what happened.

TSARNI: all over news, everything, we said everything. My brother said, I said, whoever took this (inaudible). Please, leave me alone, huh? I want to go myself. What's going on there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE when did you see them last? Can you tell us that?

TSARNI: I saw him a couple of years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was there any indication this could happen? What is it? What is it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you ever had trouble with them before? Have they ever ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anything that worried you or did anything that worried you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that why you haven't seen them in a while?

TSARNI: I'm tired. I told you, talk to my brother. He knows. His English very good. He can talk, tell you everything. Already he make statement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you think they were going to get in trouble?

TSARNI: Huh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you think they were going to get in trouble?

TSARNI: Of course is trouble. Trouble, yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, when you last saw them three years ago, did you think --

TSARNI: Of course not. When I saw them, they were very small children almost.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did they ever visit you here?

TSARNI: My son (inaudible). He was maybe -- I don't know -- 15, 16, I don't remember now, you know?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was there a rift in the family? Did you talk with them? Was there a break in the family? Is there a reason you hadn't seen them for a while?

TSARNI: We will talk now. You will leave everybody, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure. Of course.

TSARNI: OK. What you said?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was there a rift in the family?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why hadn't you seen them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trouble in the family?

TSARNI: We got problem between family. That's it. I don't know how to say it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know the police are looking for your other nephew right now.

TSARNI: Yes, I know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you feel?

TSARNI: How I feel? I don't know how to say. I don't feel anything. I'm just tired of everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you worried for him, what might happen to him?

TSARNI: What can happen to him? They will kill him. We know it. Right? We saw what (inaudible). You don't have to worry about it. What is done is done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think that ...

TSARNI: He's already dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have the boys ever visited you here? What are they like?

TSARNI: No, they never visit me in this house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when you saw them, which one did you see three years ago, the name?

TSARNI: I never see them before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three years ago, you ...

TSARNI: I talked to them three years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You talked to them three years ago. OK.

And do you think that this had anything to do with Chechnya or what they were feeling?

TSARNI: I know like you know. I have to question you, not me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. Did they ever talk about that stuff at all, though?

TSARNI: No. We were not talking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you talked to them now, what would you say?

TSARNI: It's too late now to talk, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still, they're on the loose. At least one is on the loose. Any message for him if he sees you here?

TSARNI: What can I tell him? He's not going to listen to me.

What do you think we're separate family because they're not listening. They argue with us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. Do you -- were they close with their parents at all? Do you know?

TSARNI: What parents?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Their parents, your brother or sister.

TSARNI: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were close? They talked to them a lot or did they like their parents?

TSARNI: Excuse me again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did they have a good relationship with their parents?

TSARNI: They children with their parents?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

TSARNI: Yeah, they've got relationship, used to when they was young. After this, I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: You're listening to one of the uncles who doesn't know much about these guys. I'm not sure how helpful that was, but interesting nonetheless, I suppose.

Again, just trying to get as much information about these two, particularly about the young man, the 19-year-old man who is still alive, still out there, still being searched for, house to house right now in Watertown and elsewhere, by law enforcement.

A law enforcement spokesman telling CNN just a short time ago that a large number of -- a significant number of explosives, homemade explosives, were found on the scene in Watertown.

We're going to take another quick break. We'll have more coverage ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And welcome back to our continuing coverage.

I want to go to our Susan Candiotti, who has been working her sources, and also just got some information from the Boston police.

Susan, what are you hearing?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Anderson.

We're finding out now that investigators, who have been working, obviously, for hours since everything started to come down last night into place, are recovering what they're strike as a significant amount of homemade explosives from the various scenes in Watertown, where I'm reporting to you from, last night. So they have been working on putting all these things together, itemizing everything, to let us know at a future time when this will be, and I think it will be relatively soon and we'll hear some of these additional details.

Perhaps as importantly, I understand as of now there is still no proof that these two men had any accomplices.

But we do know, we certainly know that they created those explosives themselves, according to authorities, that is their belief, and now we know they have been recovering a significant amount, that's how they describe it, as -- of homemade explosives, some of which may have been used during their attempted get away last night during some of those chases that wound up here in Watertown.

Anderson?

COOPER: So, Susan, we don't know exactly the nature of those homemade explosives, whether they were other pressure cooker devices or smaller or larger. We don't know.

CANDIOTTI: Yeah, still working on that detail as well, but we do know that there were certainly -- believed to be reports -- kind of reports that we had from -- that weren't verified yet, not confirmed that something like that occurred.

But we do know that they're finding a lot of it, not only there, but at various scenes.

So during the chase where that was happening as well, but we know they have been looking at obviously where they lived. They have been looking at a lot of other locations here.

They have been following up a lot of other leads as well as responding to, as you know, various scenes of alleged trouble at houses in the Watertown to area.

We have watched them go on a number of calls where they cordon off a number of streets and go in with a SWAT team and as many as five Humvees and two dozen officers going in and out of restricted areas and, as you know, they have been doing door to door searches of a lot of these neighborhoods as well.

Everyone has been asked to stay at home, for the most part, so there is very little traffic on the streets here in Watertown, mainly it amounts to a few locals walking around and news reporters and the like.

But the police are scheduling, hoping to schedule fairly soon, of course, a press briefing where we hope to get more of those details.

COOPER: Susan Candiotti, appreciate your updating us on that.

Jason Carroll is also standing by in Watertown. Jason, what are you seeing? JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, Anderson, like so many people, trying to put together some sort of profile of what Tamerlan (inaudible) and his younger brother were all about, why they did what they did.

And not only are we learning as everyone is learning now that this man was an aspiring boxer, wanted to be an engineer, he was also very interested in martial arts.

Just about a few miles from where from where I'm standing now, there is a martial arts school that he actually attended. And when we were there, our cameras saw agents from Homeland Security go inside.

They were inside that location for about 30, maybe 40 minutes, started carrying out possible evidence. We saw them carry out boxes, bags, envelopes, once again possible evidence.

When I questioned the agents and the police that there what they had found, who they had interviewed inside, they said all of that information will be part of the case and obviously was something they couldn't answer at this particular point.

But, also, in speaking about Dzhokhar, his 19-year-old brother, his younger brother, all throughout the day not here but in Cambridge, speaking to his friends, once again trying to find out about the motive because these are the questions that everyone is going to be asking in the following days. Why did these men do what they did?

And their friends have no answers at this point. They have lots of questions. When they talk about him, they say they remember the mentor. He mentored some of these younger students as he was himself an all-star wrestler.

He mentored the younger ones. He said he was always there to help out when help was needed.

Spoke to one of his friends, Ashrashful earlier today, and want you to listen to how he described how he learned about what happened and what he said about someone he one time called a friend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHRAFUL RAHMAN, FRIEND OF DZHOKHAR TSARNAEV: Now, yes, he's a bad guy. You know, who knows what happened? Who knows his reasoning? As of now, he is a really bad guy.

But the way I was trying to portray his image was of a good person. People that know him, no one would ever expect him to do something like this and the way they're portraying him was just some dude that ...

CARROLL: So what you're saying is what he is being accused of is not the person that you knew.

RAHMAN: Yeah, basically, pretty much.

CARROLL: How would you describe him?

RAHMAN: Like I said, a passive guy. He was a nice guy. You talked to him. He wasn't all really that enthusiastic, but if you talked to him, he was cool. He was chillaxed. He was very laid back.

CARROLL: No signs at all that would indicate he would be capable of something like this?

RAHMAN: No. He never said anything about -- we would -- whenever we would hang out, he would just -- we would just joke around lots. So we were normal teenagers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Ashraful told me that when he actually saw the video, like so many people did, he thought he recognized his friend, but he just did not want to believe it.

Anderson, he said, he started calling other people saying, did you see the video? Did you see the pictures? And everyone was starting to call everyone else. They all came to the agreement that it was him and then eventually someone did, in fact, call authorities.

Something else that was interesting. He spoke to another one of his friends who said -- I said when was the last time you spoke to him? Have you spoken to him recently?

He said, I spoke to him in about February. I said, what was the conversation about? He said, we just talked about sports. That is why it is so hard for so many of the friends here to believe that this guy, Dzhokhar, is capable of what he did.

But obviously now, as you heard from Brooke's live shot a little earlier, they are appealing for him to come forward and to do it safely without harming anyone else.

Anderson?

COOPER: Yeah, and we've heard that from multiple people who are his friends, even his acquaintances, saying just come forward. Come forward. Give up now.

For more than six hours now, Boston and some of the suburbs have been on lockdown. We're getting used to hearing police cars and sirens going all around.

Public safety protection, it's a kind of public safety protection this country has never seen before. No doubt people here are feeling like their city is under siege to some extent.

CNN's Brooke Baldwin shows what they've been through since waking up to the hail of gunfire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is an active incident in Watertown right now.

BALDWIN: A city in terror after a night of chaos and violence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Advising all Watertown, East End residents to remain in their homes.

BALDWIN: Residents of the Boston suburb, Watertown, woke up in the middle of the night during a shootout between police and the Boston marathon bombing suspects.

They say it was like being in the middle of a war zone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard gunshots and then saw the explosion. I actually saw a black SUV come down Laurel Street, cross over Dexter, looked like it hit a police car, and then they were just shooting at that and then just loaded with that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I freaked out. I called 911. And they were like we don't want to freak you out, but there is a shooting right outside your house. He's like, you need to get down and away from the doors and windows.

So I was like freaking out. I just heard explosion after explosion. So I crouched down in my doorway and I saw the bullet come from here through there. It was so scary. It was so loud.

BALDWIN: Police rushed into homes with guns drawn, many family's lives disrupted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Families are still out here on Laurel Street, roughly eight families who were abruptly woken from sleep, many of them. These are families with little children.

They saw a SWAT team, a group of police officers banging on their door. They were awoken.

I had one gentleman who said he awoke to long rifle guns with (inaudible) and police officers saying, get out, get out.

BALDWIN: One suspect, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed, his brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, on the run. Prompted a massive manhunt and a lockdown of the entire city of Boston and its suburbs.

COMMISSIONER ED DAVIS, BOSTON POLICE: We believe this to be a terrorist. We believe this to be a man who has come here to kill people. We need to get him in custody.

GOVERNOR DEVAL PATRICK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Stay indoors with their doors locked and not to open the door for anyone other a properly identified law enforcement officer.

BALDWIN: The streets? Deserted. Public transit? Shut down. Schools and universities, closed, as heavily armored police urgently search for Tsarnaev before he can hurt anyone else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I say, Dzhokhar, if you're alive, turn yourself in and ask for forgiveness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's uncle that we heard from earlier.

We also heard some sound from his father who's currently living in Dagestan.

His father did live with the family here in the United States, but traveled back to Dagestan.

Here is more of the interview that we haven't heard before. He was interviewed, I believe, by Russian TV. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANZOR TSARNAEV, SUSPECTS' FATHER (via translator): Someone framed them. I don't know who exactly did it, but someone did, and being cowards they shot the boy dead. There are cops like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): When you try calling the younger one, the phone is off?

TSARNAEV (via translator): All phones are switched off. I can't even get through to my brothers. One of them is a great lawyer and I can't get through to him.

I want to get more information. Those are my kids. You understand? I'm afraid for my other boy. Maybe he will be shot dead, too. They will say, well, he had weapons. Kids with weapons? You don't find weapons in a garbage dump.

I have nothing more to say. It's all because I'm afraid for my son and his life. They should arrest him, maybe, and bring him, but alive, alive.

And justice should decide who's right and who is guilty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): You've been living there for a long time. Have you ever had any complaints about the justice there?

TSARNAEV (via translator): No, never. But I didn't ever face it so how can I know about the justice system there? I didn't have any problems.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): The day before you spoke to your elder son. What did he tell you?

TSARNAEV (via translator): He said everything was OK. I even asked him, how is Dzhokhar? Did you help him, look after him and make sure he is studying well, so he would spend less time with friends and more time studying?

You quit the university because you got married early. So let the kid at least graduate, because in this life a person who doesn't learn is working, working hard. That's why I'm always telling them -- study, study, study.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): Did you talk about this explosion and what happened there?

TSARNAEV (via translator): No, not at all. Thank Allah, that they were not there and didn't suffer. This is it.

So what explosion? I honestly can't imagine who could do this. Whoever did it is a bastard. I have nothing more to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Our Phil Black is standing by in Moscow.

Phil, what else did the father say?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Anderson, that interview was conducted in the Russian Republic of Dagestan and the father, Anzor Tsarnaev, confirmed that -- he described the family as refugees from Kyrgyzstan, the Central Asian country which is poor and unstable.

He says they initially moved to Dagestan and then from there, after less than a year, moved on to the United States claiming asylum because he wanted to give his children a better life.

He said he returned to Dagestan not that long ago because he was feeling a little nostalgic.

As you heard there, he said that spoke to his sons only a few days ago, spoke to them about the day of the explosion.

But that interview, it is interesting to note, was only so short because the network that was conducting it say the Russian security forces showed up just after just a few minutes and took the father away for questioning.

Anderson?

COOPER: Interesting.

Phil Black, I appreciate that reporting.

Our coverage is going to continue. I'm going to step away. I'll be back tonight at 8:00 and 10:00 Eastern for the latest information.

Jake Tapper and "The Lead" is going to take over after a short break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)