Return to Transcripts main page

Piers Morgan Live

Landfill Searched for Laptop; Interview with Clerk Who Saved Carjacking Victim

Aired April 26, 2013 - 21:00   ET

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

PIERS MORGAN, HOST: This is PIOERS MORGAN LIVE. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world.

We have a lot of new developments tonight in the Boston bombing investigation.

First, the surviving suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is no longer in Boston. He was moved from the medical center where he was being treated to a federal bureau of prisons hospital about 40 miles away.

Also tonight, the case against Tsarnaev. Where does it stand now and what about the intelligence breakdowns in tracking down his older brother?

Russia warned the CIA and the FBI about him and about his mother. So what went wrong? I'll talk to Rudy Giuliani in a moment.

But, first, let's go to CNN's Deborah Feyerick with the very latest on the Boston bombings. Deb, bring us up to date.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Piers, a busy day for investigators here in Boston. First of all, we're being told that agents from both the FBI and the ATF, they have been looking very closely at the bomb components. They have laid them out on a table, looking at them individually and they compared everything they had with bombs made by "Inspire" magazine. They found them to be virtually the same.

The explosive that was used in this particular explosive -- this particular bomb was a firework powder. That was the explosive that was used -- the switch that was used involved a circuit board.

Also, we are being told that dozens of agents, more than 50 agents from FBI, Massachusetts state police, as well as Cambridge police, they are at the New Bedford landfill. They are knee deep in garbage.

And one of the things they're looking for is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's computer. The computer was not found in his dorm room where they believed it was supposed to be. They are also looking for a black backpack which they believe Tsarnaev may have carried some of the bomb components in. So those are two key pieces. But, of course, they are also looking for things like receipts for pipes, anything that might be tied to bomb-making, including things like fuses, the hobby components as we have been calling them.

Now, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was moved from Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital today. He was moved in the very early hours, about 3:00 this morning, heavily guarded by U.S. Marshals. He was brought to the Devens Medical Center, Bureau of Prisons.

He is now in prison. He is there. He's got a medical team and he is going to be recovering but he was stable enough to move. We got a message about 6:00 from the U.S. Marshals that in fact he was well enough to be moved.

Also moved today, the boat, the boat where he was hiding during the moments of his final standoff. That has been essentially taken as evidence. The response teams will be looking through it to gauge the bullet holes and see how that firefight played out.

And finally, Piers, miraculously, landing gear from the plane of 9/11 was found wedged in between a building.

So, a lot happening today in the investigation along with those landing gear -- Piers.

MORGAN: Deb Feyerick, thank you very much indeed.

Now to the incredible story of the Boston gas station worker who may have saved the life of a suspected bomber's carjacking victim. Tarek Ahmed was working in the store when the victim literally crawled in screaming, "They're going to kill me." What happens next is unbelievable.

Tarek joins me now, along with James Alan Fox, criminology professor at Northeastern University, who's interviewed the carjacking victim.

Welcome, gentlemen, to you both.

Let me start with you, if I may, Professor Fox. An astonishing read in the "Boston Globe" today about what happened to this poor guy who was in his car driving along quite happily when he suddenly gets carjacked.

Tell me about it. We're going to call him Danny. It's his American name. He's a Chinese student who doesn't want to have his Chinese name known.

But tell me about this man and what he went through.

JAMES ALAN FOX, PROFESSOR OF CRIMINOLOGY NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: Well, 90 harrowing minutes of trying to survive. He immediately, the older brother approached him and told him do you know who I am, have you heard about the Boston bombings. He said he did. He said, well, I did that and I just killed a cop. And from that point on, it was a struggle for survival. Danny was very shrewd, very smart. Played up the fact that he was Chinese and not the kind of person that these bombers were out to get.

MORGAN: Right. This goes on as you said for 90 minutes. At one stage he's just with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older brother, in the front car with the other brother Dzhokhar behind in another car that they had, but then they all come together, they're all in his Mercedes, and he's fearing for his life.

At what stage does he get away from them?

FOX: Well, they go from Brighton to Summerville to Cambridge looking for gasoline because apparently there was this plan cooked up to go to New York City and the tank only had about a quarter full. So they double back to Cambridge and all the while, Danny's trying to find the right time to escape.

He recognized that he may not see tomorrow and he had to do something. So they pulled into a shell station. Fortunately, it was cash only which meant the younger brother had to go inside and once they were separated, Danny saw his opportunity. He unlatched the seat belt, pushed open the door, and ran to the Mobil station and saved his life.

MORGAN: I want to read exactly what Danny told the "Boston Globe" in his own words because it's quite extraordinary. He's there, he's at gunpoint with these two brothers, he knows they've done the Boston bombings, he knows they've killed a policeman.

And he says, "I was thinking, I must do two things: unfasten my seat belt and open the door and jump out as quick as I can. If I didn't make it, he would kill me right out. He would kill me right away.

I just did it. I did it very fast, using my left hand and right hand simultaneously to open the door, unfasten my seat belt, jump out and go."

Danny sprinted between the passenger side of the Mercedes and the pumps and darted into the street. I didn't know if it was open or not," he said about the station. "In that moment, I prayed."

Really quite extraordinary, dramatic account there of a man who used incredible initiative to get away, but then he finds you, Tarek Ahmed and you also come to his rescue. You're just working a shift but you've seen the news about a policeman being shot and then you see this man, you don't know who he is -- we know he's Danny now -- but he arrives, he's screaming, he's agitated. Tell me what your reaction is.

TAREK AHMED, GAS STATION CLERK WHO HELPED CARJACKING VICTIM: He was -- he was scaring and screaming. He opened -- the first thing he was -- I was checking the news on the phone. I found the door open nervously. Someone tried to hide in the front -- the front of the counter. He fall down, screaming, "Please, please call the police, they want to kill me, they have a gun, they have a bomb." The first thing I did, I tried to check his face, is the same face like I saw in the picture of the suspects. But it wasn't the same face. I was sure he was drunk.

When he left the front area to cross -- to cross the cashier area going to the back area to protect himself in the storage -- the storage door was open, the middle door.

He entered the storage, he closed the door. After that, I believe he's honest, he tell me the truth so I have no way to call the police at this moment. I didn't try to do anything wrong.

I was very cool. I took the phone, called the police. At this moment, I didn't try to look out of the window. I have no way to turn my head to see what happened, what happened outside. I called the police. I was waiting someone to shoot me at this moment. I was looking to die at this moment. I wanted to finish my call very fast with the police.

After I told the police what happened -- what happened, they told me, OK, let's talk with the guy. So I move very slowly, go to the back area along the door, opened the door and I give the guy the phone to talk with them.

I come back -- I come back to the front -- to the front area, I want to appear as if nothing wrong, everything normal. Less than five minutes, all the area was protected with the police team.

MORGAN: Professor Fox, I mean, obviously, Tarek, this is an incredible situation he finds himself in. He doesn't know who this guy is, doesn't know that Danny actually is a hero at this moment. He thinks he may be about to kill him.

Even when he realizes that Danny is a good guy, he knows there are two murderous people sitting right outside in the car as well. Pretty terrifying. Danny, though, had the presence of mind to do all this and it worked, and the police raced to the station.

What was his account of that?

FOX: Yes. Well, police came, he spoke to the state police, local police, telling them what happened. He was with them for almost a whole day. When he felt really relieved was when he recognized that one was dead and the other was in custody, because after all, they had his wallet and they could always find out where he lived. So he could only relax really once he knew it was over.

What's important is that he doesn't like to see himself as a hero. After all, he says I was only trying to save myself. But of course, his actions, his composure, his smarts, were what led this case to a close and may have indeed saved thousands of Americans, if we believe in fact that they had plans to do more bombings in New York City. MORGAN: Right. I mean, some of the detail, this "Boston Globe" account from the interview that you sat in on with Danny is really remarkable, not least for the mundanity of some of the conversation that went on with these two who had just blown up the Boston marathon and killed a policeman were talking about the marvels of the Mercedes Benz car, about credit limits for students, about girls, about the iPhone 5, asking him to play CDs. I mean, quite extraordinary detachment from the reality of what had gone on that day.

FOX: And critical. You see, whereas in the marathon bombings, these two suspected terrorists would have seen these victims as nameless, faceless anonymous people, targets, but what was happening that night with Danny was establishing a connection, and that connection meant that Danny to them was a human being, and they didn't hurt him. Maybe they had planned to, but they certainly hadn't hurt him yet.

So I think this dynamic and the interaction, the fact they were both 26 years old and talking about girls and music, established this relationship and buffered him from harm.

MORGAN: Yes. Absolutely extraordinary.

FOX: At least long enough until he could find a way to escape.

MORGAN: Yes, absolutely extraordinary story.

Professor Fox, thank you so much for joining me. And to Tarek Ahmed for your role in this which almost certainly prevented a lot more people being killed. Thank you, sir, for your service.

FOX: Welcome.

AHMED: You're welcome, sir. Thank you, sir.

MORGAN: And joining me now is former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Rudy, every day that goes by, we hear more extraordinary developments, testimony. When you listen to that, I mean, these guys were apparently, according now to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev talking to the FBI, on their way with bombs in the back of this car potentially to here in New York to commit another atrocity in Times Square.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NYC MAYOR: Amazing developments. And also, amazing how much more is coming out and coming out and coming out. I think there's probably a lot more to come out. That story is harrowing. Amazing story how Danny was able to get himself out, think clearly enough to do it. He did save a lot of lives by doing it.

And I don't know if they appreciated, meaning the two brothers, how critical a witness they left behind.

MORGAN: Yes.

GIULIANI: I mean, they made a confession to him. This whole Miranda issue we're worried about and talking about is almost irrelevant given the fact that they made a confession, a spontaneous confession, far more credible, really, to me, than a law enforcement confession.

MORGAN: I mean, this is an amazing bit of detail again in the "Globe" piece where at one stage, Danny's iPhone buzzes and it's his roommate wondering in Chinese where he is, and Tamerlan Tsarnaev responds using an English to Chinese application and texts back a clunky reply saying in Chinese, "I am sick, I'm sleeping in a friend's place tonight," and then the phone rings and Tamerlan says to him, "If you say a single word in Chinese, I will kill you right now."

Danny, because he's a smart guy, understands what's going on here, speaks in English and the Chinese aspect of this probably saved his life, because they thought he's not an American, OK, he's Chinese. He says at one point, "Chinese are very friendly to Muslims". Danny said, "We are so friendly to Muslims" and all that human connection, if you like, seems to have saved his life which enabled him to get to the police which enabled the rest to follow. Amazing.

GIULIANI: Which prevented them from taking off and we don't know what would have happened, and we don't know if they were serious, we have to take them at their word. But could have prevented a lot of killings here in Times Square.

MORGAN: Absolutely amazing. Let's take a break, come back and get into the detail of the FBI and CIA's fingerprints on this investigation, because it doesn't look very good.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Bin Laden may be dead but the war against radical Islam is very much alive. Radical Islam is on the March and we need to up our game.

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: I did not know that the U.S. attorney was coming, that the judge was coming, that the magistrate was coming and Eric Holder is responsible and he is ultimately responsible for the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office.

Clearly, this was -- this is a total mismanagement at best from the top.

GRAHAM: Between Benghazi and Boston, our systems are failing and we're going backwards.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

MORGAN: Republicans taking on the Obama administration over the bombing suspect and the intelligence breakdown and the comparison to Benghazi, politicizing the tragedy, is it justified?

Back with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Rudy, a lot of heat now up in Washington about all this. Lot of heat on the FBI and the CIA, who clearly had received warnings from the Russian authorities several times about Tamerlan Tsarnaev and also about his mother. What do you make of this?

GIULIANI: This is entitled to a complete independent investigation, as opposed to any kind of partisan charges back and forth, because this is very, very serious, that we didn't identify this man properly is something that we shouldn't allow to happen in the future.

You've got to study this so this never happens again. From my experience in law enforcement which is a lot more significant than my experience in politics, it's hard for me to understand exactly what happened here, why they didn't follow him, why they didn't take it more seriously, why the fact that he went to Russia resulted in his being taken off the list as opposed to being moved much further ahead on the list.

His going to Russia is a potentially incriminating act. This is a man that's not going to Russia because he loves Russia. He's not going to see the Moscow symphony.

MORGAN: Right. Also, he's leaving his wife and baby behind.

GIULIANI: This man is going to Dagestan. It's clear.

MORGAN: For six months. And for people who don't know about Dagestan, people talk about Chechnya being very violent. Dagestan is a very violent place.

GIULIANI: Chechnya was violent in the early part of the century. I was in Moscow two days after the Beslan killings when all those young people were killed.

MORGAN: Hideous.

GIULIANI: I was told by the Russian authorities then, including the foreign minister, he was impressing on me how much more dangerous the Chechens are than even the other Islamic extremist terrorists and how we, America, should take them more seriously.

Now, what's happened in Dagestan is Russia crushed the revolt in Chechnya. It's moved to Dagestan. These people are extraordinarily vicious killers. Kill children, kill innocent people, blew up a theater.

So, you're dealing with extremely dangerous people. When you get information from the Russians that this man may be connected to something like that --

MORGAN: That is unusual for the Russians to do this.

GIULIANI: It is. I know they're saying when we get information, we get information, it is unusual to get that kind of information, particularly about -- particularly about Dagestan and Chechnya, which has not really been a problem for us.

MORGAN: Rudy, also, with all your experience again, it's not likely, is it, that these two brothers have just got all this knowledge off the Internet and the first time they try and let a bomb off, they let two bombs go off in perfect technique, perfect execution.

GIULIANI: Impossible.

MORGAN: It's not likely, is it? Much more likely is that Tamerlan, older brother, in Dagestan, attended some sort of training camp.

GIULIANI: Think about the aborted bombing attempts when trained terrorists weren't able to execute correctly, the Detroit Christmas morning bombing, the bombing on Times Square. Both those guys weren't able to detonate the bomb correctly.

Their being able to detonate that bomb correctly in a crowd under pressure indicates they were trained.

MORGAN: They're both very cool and calm about it, as if they have seen this kind of explosion before.

GIULIANI: Right.

MORGAN: So, they've experimented with it, at least one of them has.

GIULIANI: Well, I would have to assume that some of that training took place when he was in Dagestan.

MORGAN: Is that where you think the secret of all this really lies?

GIULIANI: I would think so. I think that's at least a lot of the training, a lot of the expertise got developed, in Dagestan, which puts the onus now on the FBI. Why wasn't that trip followed up on immediately.

MORGAN: Right.

GIULIANI: Why didn't we go find out. The minute he went to Dagestan, here's a guy, we're warned by the Russian government this is a guy that's a jihadist, this is a guy that could be a terrorist. Now, he goes to Russia, i.e., Dagestan, now we should be following up on that immediately.

We should be -- we should be pinging the Russian intelligence service, what's he doing there, are you following him. The Russians must have followed him. They were interested in him for sure. They must have followed him when he went back to Russia.

So what did they see him doing?

MORGAN: On a wider point, Rudy, what does this now do to American security? You've got these two brothers who have committed this terrible atrocity and brought Boston to a standstill for a week with a couple of pressure cooker bombs, and you can see that the potential for this now is there, and may happen again. What can Americans do to secure itself?

GIULIANI: As Senator Graham said, America needs to step up its game. The president set some of the tone for this. The president has to talk more directly and less euphemistically about the danger of Islamic extremist terrorism. Because unfortunately, he's sending a signal in to the bureaucracy that they've got to be very, very careful. They've got to be about designating people as possible Islamist terrorists.

And when you do this with the bureaucracy, I saw this with the New York City Police Department, a bureaucracy that I ran. I saw it when I was in the Justice Department with the FBI, the CIA, the signals that come from the top make them either hesitant to act or give them confidence to act. And this looks to me like a group of agents who were hesitant to act on things that common sense told you should act.

MORGAN: Rudy Giuliani, as always, thank you very much indeed.

GIULIANI: Thank you, Piers.

MORGAN: Coming next, Boston heroes. I talk to a trauma surgeon who ran the race, then helped the victims, and another man who saved his friend. That's all coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLYNN CATES, BOSTON BOMBING SURVIVOR: I'm going to rise above this. It's always going to be a scar but I'm not going to let them win. Not going to let them stop me from living a normal, happy, healthy life, especially here in Boston, because Boston's a great city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: That's Kaitlynn Cates, a survivor from the Boston bombings. And she was saved by Leo Fonseca, a friend who was also injured.

Leo joins me, with Dr. David King, a trauma surgeon at Mass General Hospitals, who ran the marathon, then went to hospital to treat the wounded.

Welcome to you both.

Leo, let me start with you. Where were you when these bombs went off?

LEO FONSECA, BOSTON BOMINBG SURVIVOR: We were on Boylston Street, not far from the finish line, and after looking at the photos that I've seen from that day, we were probably only three or four feet from where the first bomb went off.

MORGAN: And what was your instant reaction after they had gone off?

FONSECA: Well, after the first bomb went off, we were knocked to the ground and my first reaction I guess maybe I watch too much TV, my first reaction was to climb on top of Kaitlynn and I was yelling at her to stay down. At that point, the second bomb went off and, you know, she told me that she was injured and she said you know, I'm hurt, you have to get me out of here.

MORGAN: Was it the first or second blast you think that caused her injuries?

FONSECA: It was the first blast.

MORGAN: You were uninjured, fairly miraculously, given where you were. But we all look to these photographs of you carrying her away from the scene, really quite remarkable heroism on your part. Your first thought then was to get her to hospital as fast as possible.

FONSECA: Well, frankly, it was her first thought, not mine. She, even though she was injured was sort of calling the shots, and you know, I don't know that I would have been able to keep my cool and be able to actually get her to safety if it wasn't for her telling me to do just that.

So my car was parked just in the alley around the corner and you know, I was looking at that point when I picked her up, I was just looking to get her away. And I was looking for emergency personnel in the area and she said just take me to your car, drive me to the hospital. So I got her into the alley near where my car was parked, and I did my best to, you know, stop the bleeding with my shirt and with my sweatshirt to try to tie it up the best I could, and I put her in the car and we had an interesting drive from there to Mass General.

MORGAN: I bet you did. You were so fast in the action that you took that actually the doctors at the hospital were not even aware there had been a major incident, is that right?

FONSECA: I don't know that nobody at the hospital was aware, but when we pulled up, you know, I came sort of speeding into the area outside of the emergency room and we told those people outside the door, the ambassadors that helped get us into emergency, that a bomb had gone off and we told the people that we first came in contact with in the emergency room that she was injured in the bombing and they had no idea.

I mean, I assume that whatever, you know, the hospital was reacting pretty quickly at that point. So I'm assuming that other people in the hospital knew and they were just putting their plan in place. But when we first got there, the people we first came in contact with didn't know.

MORGAN: We understand, Leo, that your quick thinking almost certainly saved her life, and almost certainly saved her losing a leg as well.

FONSECA: You know, to be honest, I don't know that I really feel like I deserve much credit in that. I was just trying to help somebody that I really care about. And, you know, like I said, she was -- she was remarkable. She was the one who really kept her cool and really told me, you know, listen, you have to help me, you have to get me there.

You know, she even said at one point, there's going to be a lot of injured people and there's not going to be enough emergency personnel, you have to get me to the hospital.

So, honestly, I don't know how much of it was my thinking. It was mostly hers. As far as saving her life and her leg, you know, that credit goes to Dr. King and the people that were at Mass General that day, because you know, they were truly unbelievable. You know, I don't know that she would have died, but I certainly know that she was in great hands when she got there.

And I couldn't have done that for her, that's for sure.

MORGAN: Dr. King, that neatly brings me to you. You were running in the marathon when these bombs went off. What was the first thing that you did?

DR. DAVID KING, TRAUMA SURGEON AT MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL: Well, actually I wasn't running when they went off. I had finished running when they went off. I was on my way home with my family, who was also at the finish line watching me finish.

And I got a text message notifying me from a friend about the bombing and I immediately went to the hospital.

MORGAN: You are an army reservist. You served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

KING: That's correct.

MORGAN: When you got to the hospital and you saw the kind of injuries coming in, was this reminiscent to you of a battle zone?

KING: Unfortunately, it was. You know, I've seen this pattern of injury before in more than one war zone, and it's unfortunate that I have to come into my own hospital in my own city and see patients who are injured in a bomb -- a bomb attack not just in my own city but in my own marathon.

MORGAN: The big problem apart from amputation for those who have been seriously injured can be the phantom pain that comes afterwards. Tell me about that.

KING: Well, there are certainly different types of pain that not just amputees but anyone with a severe limb injury can experience. Surgical pain is the pain that really comes from -- from the wound itself and the nerves that go to the skin, and honestly, that's relatively easy for us to manage.

The neuropathic pain, the pain that comes from nerves getting confused about how to regenerate and how to connect and sometimes spontaneous depolarization of injured nerves can be somewhat more problematic to treat. We have a variety of ways to do that. And in a multi-disciplinary team at the hospital that helps manage that type of pain, which can be quite a bit more of a challenge than ordinary surgical pain.

MORGAN: Right. Did you actually have anything to do with Kaitlynn at all during her time there?

KING: So I have to -- I have to correct Leo in only the nicest way, of course. I participated in her care, but her life and leg were saved not by a single individual but by a system at the hospital that if I can say, I think responded incredibly. The emergency department, the operating room, the intensive care staff and the floor staff, especially the nursing staff, were just outstanding really from the word go.

It's not an individual success by a long shot. It's a team success for the hospital. I'm really proud to be a part of that team.

MORGAN: In terms of the speed with which Leo managed to get Kaitlynn to the hospital, would that have played a significant effect perhaps on saving her leg if not her life?

KING: There is -- there is no doubt that the time -- the time from injury to surgical intervention, particularly for bleeding wounds, is a key factor in preventing greater disability, loss of limb and loss of life. So there's no doubt that her showing up as fast as possible played a role in her rapid recovery.

MORGAN: Leo, the president, President Obama, came to see both you and Kaitlynn. That must have been quite a moment.

FONSECA: It sure was, yes. There was certainly, I wish it was under different circumstances, but it was a real pleasure and honor to meet him.

MORGAN: What did he have to say to you?

FONSECA: Well, you know, to the room, there were some other victims and their families and friends there and to the room, he delivered what was a very inspirational speech, if you will, about seeing people who were victims of these type of injuries at Walter Reed in his visits there, and in monitoring their recovery and seeing them all, you know, recover fully or get better. It was very inspirational I think for everybody to hear. He told them all to have faith in their doctors and their nurses and their family and friends, but mostly to have faith in themselves. And I think that that was really something that, you know, was inspirational to everybody that was there.

To Kaitlynn and I personally, he made a couple of jokes and he gave me a big hug and he whispered something in my ear that he told me was a matter of national security so I certainly can't share it with you.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: I'm not going to share that, either.

MORGAN: Finally, L, how is Kaitlynn doing?

FONSECA: She's doing better. She's home now, which is certainly lifted her spirits, although you know, to Dr. King's point, she was cared for very, very well at Mass General. The nurses on her floor were unbelievable and all the doctors were great. But I think there's a lot to be said for being in your own home and she's home now and is in much better spirits and, you know, she is a bundle of positive energy and if anyone can get back from where she is, it's certainly her.

MORGAN: That's great to hear. Leo, you were a hero that day.

And, Dr. King, you and your entire team at the hospital were all heroes too.

I thank you both for joining me.

KING: Thank you.

FONSECA: Thank you.

MORGAN: Coming up next, in the face of tragedy, a story of hope. I talk to Tatyana McFadden, a Paralympic racer who won the Boston marathon. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: The attack in Boston couldn't stop the spirit of the city or the people that were there that day. We're seeing that in so many ways, especially with Tatyana McFadden, who's a true champion. On the day of the bombing, she won the Boston marathon in the wheelchair division and a week later, she went to London, did exactly the same thing.

Tatyana joins me now.

Welcome to you.

TATYANA MCFADDEN, WINNER, BOSTON AND LONDON MARATHONS, WHEELCHAIR DIVISION: Thank you.

MORGAN: First of all, congratulations on this extraordinary double success and we'll come to that a little later. You finished the Boston marathon, you won it, you were feeling presumably jubilant about that, and then you hear that these bombs have happened. Were you still on the location? Did you hear them live or were you watching somewhere?

MCFADDEN: I just missed the bombs. I happened to leave Fairmont Hotel which is right at the finish line at 2:30, so I just missed the bombs. I got out of the shower and I saw my parents and my teammates just staring at the TV and telling me two bombs went off and I said what? Like, is this -- is this really happening?

And so luckily, I was back at the hotel room at Sheraton which is only four blocks away from the finish.

MORGAN: You then decided right, I'm going to go to London as I planned, I'm going to take part in the marathon there, want to do it for the people of Boston but it's a very courageous thing to do. I mean, no one knew there wouldn't be another attack in London. What made you do it?

MCFADDEN: You know, it's about when I was there in Boston, you know, after the tragedy happened, you saw how the community came together. You saw people helping people and strangers helping strangers, and I wanted to go to London and I wanted to run for Boston. I really -- you know, we weren't going to let this tragedy stop us. You know, it's about bringing hope and it's about bringing light to the future.

And we're not going to let this tragedy win and London was amazing. I couldn't ask for a better support system. They were -- I saw banners up and crowds cheering my name and saying way to go, run for Boston.

You know, the London coordinators got black ribbons for us and 2 pounds was donated to Boston for every runner who finished across the finish line, and the support that we got was amazing. And the whole weekend was just about Boston.

MORGAN: You're an interesting character because you were born in Russia and you were then adopted by an American woman and brought to America. When you heard that these two bomb suspects were ethnic Chechens, went what went through mind?

MCFADDEN: You know, what went through my mind is it could have been anybody. It can be anybody. There is always going to be a few bad people in this world but majority are good, and you saw that in London, how you know, just crossing the ocean, the support that we got, and you saw it in Boston, how the community came together and how people were helping people, and that you know, we weren't going to let this tragedy win. We weren't going to let the bad people win. And it's about bringing hope and light into the future.

MORGAN: Your adoptive sister is an amputee and also a Paralympian and you're planning a trip to go see some of the victims of the Boston bombs. Tell me about that.

MCFADDEN: Yes. You know, as an elite athlete, an elite athlete with disability, I felt that I am a role model for life and I faced many challenges, you know, in the past and probably many more challenges in the future.

And I wanted to go back to Boston and really -- and really visit those who were injured and say you know, there's hope and there's light into the future and if you're missing limbs, you know, you're still not missing out on life. And so, my sister is also an amputee and so, it's just, you know, we were going to go down there and just to bring hope and just really show how to live life, and that life is not gone just after this tragedy and to help cope with broken heartaches.

MORGAN: Well, if anybody can inspire those poor victims in the Boston bombs, it will be you and your sister. You are remarkably inspiring people. You've won two of the four major marathons so far this year. You've got New York and Chicago left. Are you feeling confident?

MCFADDEN: I'm feeling confident. It's going to be tough races. There's fast elite women out there. I have plenty more training to do and really buckle down and get ready for those last two marathons.

MORGAN: Well, I wish you all the very best of luck. If you win in New York, then come on my show and let's do an interview face-to- face. It would be great to meet you.

MCFADDEN: I would love it. Thank you very much.

MORGAN: Tatyana, thank you very much for joining me.

MCFADDEN: Thank you.

MORGAN: Remarkable woman.

MCFADDEN: Next, capturing the tragedy of the "Boston Globe" photographer whose pictures of the attack are seen worldwide. He's here, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: There have been countless pictures of the bombings but the most iconic were captured by John Tlumacki. He's a "Boston Globe" photographer who was there when it happened. And John joins me again now.

John, it's been an extraordinary two weeks since we first spoke in the aftermath of the Boston bombings. What is your reflective thought on the last fortnight?

JOHN TLUMACKI, BOSTON GLOBE PHOTOGRAPHER: There's been so much to digest, so much to comprehend of the themselves, not even thinking about the photography. But when I look back, and it seems like an eternity ago, I'm just grateful that I'm OK.

I had a really tough week dealing with the tragedy myself, dealing with all of those photos and I'm so grateful for all of the e- mails I got from around the country and from around the world. And I've actually got e-mails from some of the families which I'm grateful for, also.

MORGAN: Unusually, because we've seen disasters at Sandy Hook and others, very little photography taken during those. In fact, nothing. In this case, obviously, you were right on the scene, as were some other photographers, able to capture the full horror and beam it to the world.

Do you think that's had an effect on influencing public opinion? The fact that people could actually see the horror, firsthand?

TLUMACKI: I think it put a face on this -- it put a face on news bombings. It brought it to a personal level. You're able to see the people who this affected.

And I think -- I did my job as a photographer, as a journalist. And I look back and I go, you know, I'm glad I did what I did. I know it was difficult for people to see these images, but we had to see it. The world had to see the horror that was there, that, you know, this was terrorism. And I felt that my duty, as a photo journalist was to capture those images.

I didn't even know if any other photographers were there. I just kept shooting what I could shoot.

MORGAN: And of all of the images you took, so many powerful images, which of the ones stand out for you in your mind?

TLUMACKI: There's a photo that I keep looking back at and it's a picture of a Marine. And I finally got to talk to his family. His name is Joe Evans (ph). And he's from New Orleans. And he's the gentleman wearing a red shirt.

And he's comforting Sydney Corcoran. He's holding her hair. He's whispering to her. He's kind of holding her head off the ground.

And I talked to Joe's mother. And she said that he was shook up, he didn't know how she was. I relayed a message that she was doing better. She was able to walk a little bit, and that they wanted to send some get-well wishes and cards to the family, especially to Sydney.

But I think that image just shows that, you know, in that moment, you know, seconds after the explosion, that this marine, who didn't even talk about it when he got home, he just said he was at the marathon finish line. He never mentioned to his family what he did.

MORGAN: Quite remarkable. We're looking at that image as you're speaking. And it really does sum up the extraordinary reaction of so many people after the bombs, to an act of pure, malicious terror.

So many showed heroism, courage. But, also, this kind of inspiring kindness and generosity to complete strangers.

TLUMACKI: Well, I think, you know, I didn't want to do it, but I went to the finish line yesterday. I was -- I didn't know if I had the, you know, emotionally handle it. But when I got there, I just couldn't believe the amount of people that were there. And I felt that, you know, just the memorial itself was a tribute to all of these heroes, like Joe, who helped out.

I mean, it wasn't something they had to do. They just jumped into action. They were there, in most cases, before the EMS and the firefighters were there. And, you know, I think my photos are a combination. If you put them all together, they show that human compassion that Boston has for each other.

MORGAN: And, John, you left something at the memorial site, I believe?

TLUMACKI: I went to the memorial site and I saw the three crosses there for the three victims. I went back to my car and I had my photographer -- bib that I wore that day, a yellow bib that says photographer on it. And, you know, I usually save all of my things as memorabilia from events that I've been to.

But I just felt I had to give something back of myself. There was so much that everybody gave. But, you know, in the littlest way that I could, that was just something just to show I wanted to connect. I had to leave part of me and that was the best I could do.

MORGAN: Well, John, you're outstanding photography has been like a lens, really, on this whole disaster, for the whole world to see. And, has, therefore, got incredible importance, never mind anything else. And I really appreciate you coming onto talk about it.

TLUMACKI: Thank you so much.

MORGAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD PREGRACKE, CNN HERO: Sixty-seven thousand tires, 951 refrigerators, 233 stoves. It's crazy what you find in the rivers.

I grew up right on the Mississippi River. Around the age of 17, I really started to focus on the problem.

Eighteen million people get their daily drinking water from the river. I'm thinking this should not be like this.

This stuff just collects here and it goes on for blocks like this. It's a bad deal.

So I said, you know what, no one's going to do anything about it, I will.

I'm Chad Pregracke.

With the help of over 70,000 volunteers, we've removed more than 7 million pounds of garbage from America's rivers.

You guys ready?

CROWD: Yes!

PREGRACKE: Yes!

Our primary focus is the Mississippi River.

You guys will be amazed, in two hours, how much stuff we get. In all, we've worked on 22 rivers in 18 states. We do everything in our power to get people excited about it, because at the end of the day, it's just -- you're out there, picking up garbage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you just find a basketball?

PREGRACKE: It's yours. Totally yours.

Little by little, we're getting' it.

But, you have fun, they'll have fun.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew I would be sledding, for sure, but I didn't think I'd be singing karaoke on a boat.

(CHEERS)

PREGRACKE: People want to see change, and are stepping up to make change.

That was the last bag. Come on. Let's give it up! Yes!)

This is a problem that people created, but a problem that people can fix.

(END VIDEOTAPE)