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FBI: Investigating Stabbings As 'Potential Act Of Terrorism'; Man Shot Dead After Stabbing 9 At MN Mall; Mayor: Off-Duty Officer Who Killed Suspect 'Heroic'; Surveillance Video Captures Chaos After Explosion; Officials: Investigators Find Similarities In New York And New Jersey Bombs; Witness: Bomb Shook Apartment Walls; U.S. Expresses "Regret" Over Deaths Of Syrian Soldiers. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 18, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] WILLIAM BLAIR ANDERSON, St. CLOUD CHIEF OF POLICE: And I will defer some of those to the lead investigator on this case, Lieutenant Lori Elleri. So feel free if you --

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, sorry. But we lost that signal out of St. Cloud, Minnesota. But you heard there, the press conference unfolding, describing that there are now nine victims, stabbing victims, when this man who they are not yet ready to reveal the identity of, simply walked into a shopping mall in St. Cloud about 80 miles outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota and started stabbing people.

Nine victims in all, two women, ages 15 and 50. Seven men ranging in ages of 20 and 53. There was no elaboration from authorities there as to the security, private security firm uniform, that was earlier reported, that this stabber was wearing. But we do know that investigators have said they have now found the vehicle that was parked in that shopping mall. They have looked through it and of course they have search warrants for at least one address.

Let's talk more about this with my returning panel. Evan Perez is joining us out of Washington DC. Art Roderick, Matthew Horace, Shimon Prokupecz and Paul Cruickshank all with me now.

All right. Let's talk about what we heard and what we didn't hear here. So Sir Matthew, we heard from investigators there that it's quite clear, this off-duty police officer really prevented the or saved the live of many by unloading on this stabber, he just indiscriminately walked around and stabbed nine people.

What more needs to be determined in this investigation in order to figure out the motivation behind this assailant?

MATTHEW HORACE, LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well I think the chief mentioned that they had done a couple of search warrants and there maybe many more to come. They're going to be checking social media, trying to determine what the suspect was communicating, who he was communicating to, who he was communicating with and what they were planning? And in the most recent cases, we've always going back and reviewed cell phone record, Twitter, other social media and it seems like they usually leave a path on social media. So that will be the first thing that they're focused on today.

WHITFIELD: No further comment, Paul Cruickshank on ISIS claiming that this man was a soldier of the Islamic State. Obviously, investigators are going to look further into that but how will they be able to determine whether he was a lone wolf so to speak, whether indeed he was trained, directed by ISIS? Why ISIS would want to take credit for this?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, TERRORISM ANALYST: well, they're going first of all look, is he radicalized? Has he got a network of radical contacts? We already heard about that they will be going through all the social media history of this individual but the ISIS affiliated news agency, Amaq, just in the past few hours claiming that he was a soldier of the Islamic State answering their call for followers in the west to launch attacks. And just recently, one of their top commanders instructed followers to stay home, rather than travel to Syria and Iraq, stay home to launch attacks.

But ISIS offering no proof that he was following their orders. They may be just opportunistic here, seizing on early media reports that he supposed to have said, 'Allah' that he perhaps asked the religion whether they were Muslim, some of his victims or it might be that they do have some information that he reached out to them before giving them some confidence to claim that he was inspired by them.

But ISIS are not saying he was recruited in Syria and Iraq and sent back. We got to make that make that distinction very, very clear. That just saying that he was inspired by their cause.

WHITFIELD: OK. And Art, what are you hearing in this press conference that elicits more information for you as to whether indeed -- it looks like we're going to take you right back to St. Cloud there because they're now taking some questions. So let's listen in to what's being said here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVE KLEIS, ST.CLOUD MAYOR: -- prevented additional injuries and potential loss of life through his or her rouge action.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you describe what you see in that video?

KLEIS: In that video, what I've seen in that video is the suspect is entering with carrying a knife into Macy's and that's where the video that I had an opportunity to see last night.

Clearly, he has knives in his -- a knife in hand. You can certainly see the officer, Officer Faulkner, when he came in, clearly and from witnesses say, you can't hear the audio in video, but what I've heard from witnesses, he identified himself as a police officer. And asked him to -- you could actually see him going down by command and then immediately lunging towards the officer. And this is something, somebody, you know, I'm a layperson to law enforcement, but in witnessing, what may have been 20 feet or beyond covered in less than two seconds with the knife.

So you saw him lunge at the police officer. The officer then fired a few rounds. You see him fall. And then you see him get back up. Again, fired upon, you see him fall. You see him get back up. Three times. And then even after that, to the point where he still was attempting to get back up again within the officer with fatal blow but -- and then you also see our officers, St. Cloud PD, entering the scene at that moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you describe the knife, was it a large knife, a small knife or definitely a knife?

KLEIS: It was definitely a knife. You know, I would, from my vantage point, would be certainly something that would be more of a kitchen type knife that took away. Certainly, the type of knife that created injuries on nine individuals so it didn't really matter what the size of it, it was a knife that was dangerous and caused a significant amount of injury to a lot of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much distance was it at the end of (inaudible) ball park on the distance to -- did he get close enough to the person that --

KLEIS: You know, I'm watching the video so what I see is, what I can look at, it looks like 20 feet from the first lunge and in each one getting closer, even to the point where close enough that the officer actually was almost to the point of falling backwards, he was that close if not -- there's clearly, clearly, the officer's life was clearly in danger and he made -- to me, in watching it, it looks like a training video for law enforcement, what law enforcement should do.

Clearly, he made a decision. And if not for him being there, clearly, this would have been much worse than it was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the officer (inaudible) he has some background in (inaudible)?

KLEIS: My understanding, he does.

ANDERSON: a couple more questions, folks. And then at the conclusion of this, briefing, we will continue to disseminate information the old fashioned way, via our media releases. And so, if there's a need for us to convene you again, we will give you ample time to get here so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was the (inaudible)?

ANDERSON: Not to my knowledge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) show that he was carrying a bag (inaudible) carrying it inside the mall?

ANDERSON: The video shows exactly what the mayor said. He's wielding a knife. And he closed the distance on that officer in the blink of an eye. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) inside that all of suspects

(inaudible) may have been living in our community or have you had contact with them in the past or (inaudible)?

ANDERSON: We have had minor contact group. I believe we have three in-house contacts with this individual, nothing more serious than traffic violations thus far. How long this individual has lived in St. Cloud, I don't know that yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anything with the FBI?

ANDERSON: I would refer that to the FBI.

RICHARD THORNTON, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: So, at this early stage in the investigation, I'm not going to comment on that. You know, part of our process, again, is searching, you know, the entire repository of databases on, what we know about somebody, to include immigration records if they're applicable to include.

Yes, as you mention, you have terrorism watch records, our own internal databases, criminal databases, that's an ongoing process. It just takes a little time to, you know, to kind of put together a definitive package on that. So I don't want to comment prematurely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) question about kind of (inaudible) terrorism aspect that you're looking, what initially (inaudible) in looking at (inaudible)?

ANDERSON Well, first of all, there's a certain amount of irony given what else happened yesterday. Again, we don't know that there's any nexus between these events but that's a good start right there. One more question, you guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the age of the suspect?

ANDERSON: Not releasing any information about the suspect right now. We're deferring to the medical examiner on that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yesterday's comments about what the suspect may have said in relation to Allah and in relation to asking people if they were possibly Muslim, can you clarify exactly what has been (inaudible)?

ANDERSON: No. That's exactly it. That's all I know right now. I suspect I will get another briefing after we are done here. But what I said yesterday is all I know for right now that there was at least one victim who was asked if they were Muslim. And beyond that, I don't have any more information on that right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) a guard at the mall (inaudible) has a gun.

ANDERSON: To our knowledge, the suspect was not an employee of the mall. Suspect did have on a private security uniform and, again, we're in the process of figuring out if the suspect was actually an employee of private security firm or former employee or what. That's all I got you guys. Right now, unless, the mayor want to add something.

KLEIS: I just want to, just again, reiterate the response and I want to thank not only, you know, again, the St. Cloud PD, the FBI, the BCA, the other law enforcement in our area, our St. Cloud Fire Department, the Gold Cross, the ambulance, the EMTs and all the folks at a crossroads that came to here tremendously a rapid response, their efforts --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right: Once again, we just lost that signal there out of St. Cloud, Minnesota but once again, we're not hearing a name, the identity of this now dead suspect, someone who stabbed nine people in a shopping mall there in St. Cloud, Minnesota just about 80 miles or so outside of Minneapolis. We also did hear a little bit more information from the heroism of the off-duty police officer who helped prevent anymore serious injury of the people there.

He was described by the police chief and the mayor there. He saw this suspect stabbing victims in the shopping mall. He identified himself as a police officer. And then that suspect then lunged at him. And the mayor descried that three times, even after being shot by the off- duty police officer, that suspect lunge at him, tried to get back up and that he was using, in the words of the mayor there, it appeared to be a kitchen knife.

Let me bring back my panel now to talk more about what we just heard about all that transpired in St. Cloud, Minnesota. One investigators are willing to share with us right now, Evan Perez in Washington, DC. Art Roderick, Mathew Horace, Shimon Prokupecz and Paul Cruickshank. All right. Welcome back to all of you.

So, Art, let me go to you first. Because the mayor said it seemed insignificant, perhaps not important about the specificity of the knife, but perhaps learning more about the knife, the weapon used here, might be able to tell a little bit more about the sequence of events leading up to this. What other kind of information will investigators try to learn about this suspect?

ART RODERICK, LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, where was he employed? Is he actually a security guard? I mean, as I have mentioned before, I think Bob had mentioned earlier too that this tactic, this stabbing tactic, was used over in the Middle East quite a bit and then Europe, where they couldn't get to a handgun or couldn't obtain weapon, so, where do they go? Well, they go to a knife.

Where the knife come from? I think who has he associated with, where's his family members? I think Matt had mentioned something about the social media aspect of it, which is very key as to determining if he's been in touched with over the internet, been looking at Web Sites for inspiration or what were his associates right there in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Is he from the area there? How long has he lived there? So they've got a lot of information to go on and luckily enough, because Officer Faulkner's actions, they can now go back and take their time at piecing this together because you don't have an act of threat here because of Officer Faulkner's heroic actions in the particular event.

WHITFIELD: This off-duty officer, Jason Faulkner, he's a part-time officer in nearby Avon, there's a former police chief of the Albany Police Force and you heard the mayor there say that he prevented loss of life. A pretty extraordinary instincts and his training really kicking in. The mayor even saying this really should be training video used here.

So, incredible policing on the part of this part-time police officer. What more are you hoping to, you know, hear about the suspect, the motivation, what the inspiration, especially after ISIS claiming some responsibility that he's a soldier of ISIS.

HORACE: Over the next several days, investigators are going to be working to validate or invalidate all that information. I still think this was an incredible act law enforcement bravery. And just like the chief said, exactly what we're trained to do, engage that suspect. He saved lives by his quick and decisive action. Amazing.

WHITFIELD: Paul.

CRUICKSHANK: Yes. I mean, and just imagine if this perpetrator had a gun. I mean we could have been talking about an Orlando sort of sized event. I mean law enforcement have been very scared about exactly this kind of scenario, a shopping mall in middle America. I mean that's an attack on the everyday life of a lot of people here in the United States. But it's not clear at this point of the motivation whether this guy was motivated somehow by some kind of Islamist ideology or some completely different ideology or there's another set of explanations linked to mental health or so on. The authorities have really not revealed much at this point.

WHITFIELD: All right. The police chief only really touching on the earlier reports that this suspect asked if you're a christian or if you're Muslim to at least one of the victims and even in the name of Allah, stabbing one of the victims.

CRUICKSHANK: Yes. And we've seen that in terrorist attacks from other groups in Africa, in the middle east before, where they've tried to single out non-Muslims and actually separated them out. So that remains to be seen if he was motivated by Islamist ideology. Certainly, on the face of it, according to those eye-witness reports, you kind of going in that sort of direction.

WHITFIELD: Okay.

HORACE: I think from a law enforcement perspective though, we really don't care what the motivation is. When things come down to that level of violence, we're going to take the action and we're going to do it swiftly and that's exactly what you saw happened here today.

WHITFIELD: All right. So, we're going to continue our conversation a moment. We also want to talk about the commonalities or lack thereof, whether this is purely coincidence to be investigating an incident that unfolded there in Minneapolis and now New York authorities and New Jersey authorities also investigating incidents so we're going to come right back and we will have discussion about all of those things.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in New York. We're following two major breaking news stories. Today, you just saw the press conference out of St. Cloud, Minnesota, where authorities were bout now a dead suspect, someone who unleashed terror in a shopping mall, stabbing nine people before being taken out by an off-duty police officer.

And then, of course, investigations going on in the Chelsea community of New York City where a explosive device went off injuring 29 people and then an unexploded pressure cooker located just blocks away. And then, of course, there is a third story that we're following in New Jersey, which is devices that were located there on the weekend that what would have been a marine corps 5K run. Let's talk about all of these things.

First, the St. Cloud, Minnesota, investigation. Our Nick Valencia is following that. And Nick, it was very clear that investigators wanted to spend less time on the suspect and more on the heroics of the off- duty police officer. It will not reveal the identity of the suspect but he has been taken out.

NICK VALENCIA, CORRESPONDENT: We've reached out to Mr. Faulkner to try to get comment but so far have been unable to get in touch with him but just really a phenomenal details provided at that press conference, Fredricka, that Mr. Faulkner, this officer who was off duty but at the mall, engaging this suspect, shooting him multiple times. The suspect apparently getting up at least three times before eventually being shot dead.

This suspect now the online media wing of ISIS called Amaq has claimed responsibility for this individual who stabbed nine people at the mall in St. Cloud as report CNN has been unable to authenticate this claim, but it does follow a similar pattern of this online media Web Site for the terrorist group claiming responsibility for individuals inspired by ISIS.

Just a short time ago, at this press conference, the special agent in charge there in Minneapolis, Rick Thornton, saying hat this act is being investigated as a potential act of terrorism. However, they are unsure if this suspect had any communication with the terror group.

They did mention they've executed at least two search warrants at one residents of this individual. His car also found in the parking lot impounded. There does not seem to be an apparent or eminent threat to the community there, but they did mention, William Anderson, the local police chief there in St. Cloud, an irony that this happened on the same day of explosions in New York as well as New Jersey, we know from our Shimon Prokupecz that the investigators are looking at clues there in New Jersey and New York for similarities, perhaps if there is any coincidences. That also brought up at this press conference in St. Cloud to see if there's any connection to what happened yesterday on what turned out to be a very horrific, tragic night that could have been a lot worse, Fred. WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Valencia, thank you so much. Keep us posted on the ongoing investigation in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

All right. Let's talk about now, what CNN is reporting as similarities between these explosions. On the left, you're seeing in Chelsea. This is the dumpster at West 23rd and 6th avenue. It caused significant damage there and injured 29 people. All of whom have been released from the hospital. Then to your right, you're seeing the remnants, the damage caused by another explosive device in Seaside, New Jersey, over the weekend, about the time when a 5K Marine Corps run was to take place there.

I've got an incredible panel back with me now and back with me, you've seen them all afternoon long, Evan Perez in Washington, DC. Art Roderick, Matthew Horace, Shimon Prokupecz and Paul Cruickshank.

All right. So Evan, let me go to you first because we're talking about through your sources, and our crime and justice producer, Shimon Prokupecz, that you're learning that there are similarities investigators are looking at between what happened in New Jersey and in New York.

EVAN PEREZ, JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right. Let's go through those similarities. I mean, first of all, the cell phone, which is the detonator that was used in the devices in New Jersey. Three of them, only one of them went off. It was an older model type cell phone. And we're told that it's a very similar type, brand of cell phone was also found in the two incidents in New York, the bomb that did go off on 23rd Street as well as the pressure cooker device that was found on 27th Street.

And we now know that the authorities have established that the 27th Street device, the one did not explode, the one that was found on the street there was a device that would've killed people. It was a real bomb. It wasn't a hoax device. That was something that was still up in the air late last night.

So, we now know that these devices, the type of detonator, was using a cell phone as some type of an alarm or a timing device. So there wasn't any phone call to detonate. This wasn't set off by making a phone call as perhaps some people might assume if you're talking about a cell phone. Instead, it was simply a timing device. And there's tons of recipes I think some of our panelist have talked about this online that, you know, have this type of device that have this type of detonation.

We've also learned from talking to sources, Shimon and I, that they found the use of black powder in the devices that were recovered in New Jersey, the devices that did not go off in New Jersey, where primarily made with black powder. Again, that's a very common ingredient. You can buy that at any hardware store, you can buy it at Wallmart, in around the country.

So again, a very common type of explosive device that you can make at home. Clearly, there was some expertise here because at least a couple of these devices were able to go off and hurt people like the ones in New York. But some of them did not go off. So perhaps whoever was behind this, if there were multiple people here behind these things, there were some just limited expertise in putting them together.

WHITFIELD: And Shimon, while there are similarities underscored by the cell phones, their great differences in these devices but how might that further complicate things for investigator?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CRIME & JUSTICE PRODUCER: Well, I think, certainly would -- I mean it complicates them because really they can't find a direction link. So no one really has told us that there is a direct link with any of these devices. Certainly, it has raised some suspicion among investigators, like, why would you have a similar phone on all of these three devices.

So that's what they're focusing on right now. The material that sort of -- the material in the bombs on 23rd Street and 27th Street doesn't necessarily match what's in New Jersey so that's a little different.

The cell phone is the key right now. That's about the only thing that links these three devices. And right now, they're really just trying to run through some systems out to find out where some of this material was purchased, if they can sort of do some forensic work to find out where perhaps the material to make the bombs were purchased so that's what's going on now.

WHITFIELD: And Art, do you see real significance in these similarities and of course the difference of these devices New Jersey and New York?

RODERICK: I mean, to me, the differences in the devices means there's maybe more than one individual that even creates a more scarier scenario. But I think from an investigate -- purely an investigative standpoint, you have to assume that there's some connection and law enforcement will gather evidence to show there's not a connection although there is a connection. If you do it the other way around and look at these two incidents in a vacuum, you could miss some information here. So you've got the JTTF in New York City, you've got the JTTF in New Jersey working together and I truly believe they're also coordinating with the JTTF in Minnesota to see if there's a connection between these incidences that all occurred within 24 hours of one another.

WHITFIELD: OK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're going to take a short break for now. We will be right back with more coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:44] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. We're on top of a couple of breaking stories today. Nine people stabbed at a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The FBI is investigating the incident as a potential act of terrorism.

ISIS now claiming the attack was carried out by a, quote, "soldier of the Islamic State." The suspect was shot dead by an off duty police officer.

And police now saying they have found similarities between the device that exploded in New York City last night and the one that exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a Marine Corps 5k charity run. However, it's not been conclude according to authorities that the incidents are connected.

CNN's Jessica Schneider is following all of that for us --Jessica.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, this investigation very wide ranging. You can see a flurry of activity behind me as police vehicles come in and out of what was a crime scene.

We're at west 23rd Street where the explosion went off at 8:30 last night. The commissioner here in New York City saying one of key components to this investigation is video.

Commissioner James O'Neill saying that they have obtained surveillance video from all around this area from the two distinct crime scenes, right here and also up West 27th where the unexploded pressure cooker was found.

The commissioner saying that they have looked at that video and we've gotten a look as well. This is a very busy business district with bars, restaurants, businesses, a lot of them, most of them having surveillance cameras.

So what we've seen, we see moments when that explosion went off, you see the burst of light from the explosion. You also see the reaction from the people on the street here. This happened at 8:30 on a Saturday night. This is a very busy district.

A lot of people live here. They come here for entertainment. There's clubs and restaurants and bars. You see the explosion going off. You can see vantage point from inside one of the businesses where you see the shattered glass of some of the windows and the doors.

And then also the startled and disturbed and upset reaction from the people who are on the street, on West 23rd right here as they scatter and move to get out of the way to flee this explosion site.

So now, police investigators are looking at all of this video, piecing it together. They're asking witnesses for additional video as well.

And we're also learning that one of those surveillance videos that they got a hold of does feature an individual in the general area of this explosion.

Investigators are trying to figure out if the individual is associated with this explosion, trying to identify this individual as well.

The other key component in addition to the video is also forensics. The state police have also taken the remnants of explosive device from right here at West 23rd. Also, that unexploded pressure cooker state, police are looking at that, the bomb squad is looking at that right here in New York, but it's also being looked at FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, so many different agencies.

In addition, the assistant director of the FBI field office here in New York saying that this crime scene will be as such until well into this evening.

These streets around in the Chelsea neighborhood will be locked down for some time today. Governor Cuomo was here earlier today. He did say that the subways around here should be running by tomorrow.

He also stresses he will be deploying 1,000 additional National Guard members as well as New York state troopers into the subway terminals, bus terminals and also at the airport, so obviously a wide ranging investigation with a lot of precautions as well -- Fredricka.

[14:35:10]WHITFIELD: All right, Jessica Schneider, thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

Let me bring back our panel now. We've got Evan Perez, Art Roderick, Matthew Horace, Shimon Prokupecz, and Paul Cruickshank. All right, so we have talked about the reported similarities from Shimon and Evan's reporting.

We are talking about similarities of cell phones in these devices, but there are a lot of differences of these devices in New Jersey and in New York.

And so Matthew, we're talking about some of the components of the substances, substances seem like they're very different and we're talking about pressure cooker versus another kind of device.

MATTHEW HORACE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, there are several things to keep in mind. Number one, black powder, commonly used in the use of pipe bombs. When there are black powder explosions often times you'll see a white cloud of smoke.

That becomes important because first responders are people who are early witnesses to incidents, they may say that we saw a white cloud of smoke when the explosion occurred.

Investigators know right away that black powder may have been used. The pressure cooker bomb is being sent to the FBI lab. They are going to examine that to see and determine what type of explosive was used and they will even examine the different types of explosions.

The other thing is the fragments from the pipe bomb that exploded and fragments from the bomb that exploded in New York will be examined to try to determine what type of explosives is on the inside of those pieces of the fragments and they'll pull this together fairly quickly for us.

WHITFIELD: So are these all things that can essentially be homemade, which would make it that much more difficult to trace, the components, the purchase of these components to find the suspects?

ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes. If it's all black powder, I mean, that's easily obtainable at Walmart or Kmart or any department stores that sells weapons or ammunition. The key part here that I find interesting when you look at three of these events is that we had a good combination of police work, luck and maybe a little bit of incompetence on the part of the bomb makers.

Either in placement of the bombs or thinking that there would be a sympathetic explosion with the device in New Jersey, where only one of the pipe bombs went off, the other two didn't. That's key.

Those other two pipe bombs were attacked. That's a very key part of the investigation as is the other device that didn't go off up in New York City.

So you've got some great police work, a little bit of luck and maybe some incompetence on the bomb maker's part, all coming together to really make this an event where we could have had a lot of fatalities and did not.

WHITFIELD: Shimon, there may with a thinking there because devices are so different that they can't be from the same group or influence, but is that really the case?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE PRODUCER: I would say right now no one really knows I think to be honest. I don't think anyone really knows. I think there are some folks who we've talked who've say they don't think it's related and then there are some folks who think we just don't know.

They are just being very cautious. I think that's probably the best thing to do right now. There is a lot of work that is going right now. Some folks are telling us this could go on for weeks. I mean, it could be weeks before we know who is responsible for all of this.

WHITFIELD: This in a very busy week in New York particularly with the U.N. General Assembly meeting this week and now this.

PROKUPECZ: The security around the office are already tight. This now they're adding extra, extra layers and subways all over the city, we are going to see a lot of extra cops, a lot of extra dogs. They're going to be out in force.

A lot of it is to make people feel safe, too. They want people to go about their business and sort of conduct their daily life, and there's going to be a lot of work.

I'm just sort of looking at 23rd Street and where the blast occurred in Chelsea. It's hard to believe that they have not found any good surveillance video to see who did this.

It's crazy to think that, but that's where we are right now. They just don't really have any good leads of who was behind this. There's a lot of work that's going on. PAUL: And Paul, you've got three, three very pivotal huge incidents happening this weekend. Minnesota, we heard the investigators there. The suspect, they're looking further into him. ISIS claiming responsibility, calling him a soldier. It's silent as it pertains to what took place in New Jersey and New York. Does that say anything, indicate anything to you?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Maybe. There's been a deafening silence from ISIS and many other terrorist groups when it comes to the incidents in New Jersey, in New York. They would love to claim some kind of ownership before the world leaders come to New York for the U.N. General Assembly.

So far, they have put off no kind of statement at all suggesting that this individual was radicalized or a follower. That may change in the hours ahead.

[14:40:01]But if they had any inkling whatsoever that this guy was doing it in their name, I think we would have had a statement out from them already. Every hour that goes past and there's no claim from a group like ISIS will tell us something.

WHITFIELD: All right, we've got a lot going on. We are going to continue our conversation. We'll have a break right now and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in New York. So we've learned that all 29 victims injured in that New York explosion have now been release from the hospital.

Witnesses say the powerful blast blew out windows sending glass and debris flying in all directions. Here's how some survivors and witnesses described the moments and the aftermath.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I felt a loud explosion, felt like a lightning bolt struck the building like shook the ground and everyone ran out of the restaurants. The whole city was in the street. I've never seen so many cops drive the wrong way.

Fire truck, undercover cops, cops driving the wrong way aggressively like 20, 30 miles an hour up 7th Avenue. Closed everything down. People smelled smoke.

First, they thought it was a building collapse. Then we heard it was an IED and everything else, but the whole neighborhood shut down.

DAVID MARTINEZ, INJURED BY EXPLOSION: I was driving a car and next thing you know, I felt an explosion and the car just tilted over halfway. Came back down. And what happened was I just blacked out and the next thing you know, I'm in an ambulance.

AIDEN LESLIE, WITNESS: I just heard the loud explosion. It literally shook the walls of my apartment. So I knew in that moment that it was abnormal. This is not something, you know, this was not right.

Something was terribly wrong and at that moment, I looked at out my window. Just to see if I could see anything. There were other neighbors looking out their windows, asking me if I was OK. It was a very chaotic situation.

People were scared, on their phones. I was around for 9/11. You know, I remember walking down the west side highway and seeing kind of you know, obviously not to this extreme, but it was very reminiscent of that kind of a feel.

[14:45:12]People were scared and you could see it on their faces.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. A diplomatic fire storm has erupted after a U.S.-led coalition airstrikes killed and wounded dozens of Syrian soldiers. The bombing prompted Russia to call an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council last night.

The U.S. is expressing regret over the incident. Central Command says they were after ISIS targets at the time. CNN's global affairs correspondent, Elise Labott, joining me now.

So, Elise, you had an exclusive interview with the secretary of state, John Kerry. What is he saying about this incident and the diplomatic showdown now that has followed?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, Secretary Kerry said that the U.S. clearly regrets what is happening, but it was kind of a cynical plot by the Russians to call this U.N. Security Council meeting when in fact, they've been aiding the Syrian regime and bombing the Syrian people for the last several years.

[14:50:14]And the U.S. has not gone to the Security Council in terms of that. I asked Secretary Kerry about whether this would jeopardize the ceasefire that was just put in place last week that he negotiated with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in Geneva. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The biggest judgment they need to make is to stop Assad from bombing people indiscriminately, which he continues to do. If you are serious about having ceasefire and they say they are, then they should keep Assad from flying right now and prove their sincerity about a ceasefire.

But to allow Assad who is a spoiler, he doesn't want a ceasefire, to allow him to continue to go after opposition pretending that the Al- Nursa is in and of itself a huge challenge to this effort.

So we call on Russia, stop the grandstanding, stop the show boating and get the humanitarian assistance going. It is now Sunday morning. This started Monday night of this past week and the humanitarian assistance is supposed to be flowing.

The regime once again is blocking it. So, Russia's client, Russia's supported friend is the single biggest blockade to the ability to move forward here.

And the opposition feels threatened because the bombs continue even as there is supposed to be a cessation of hostilities. So let me just say this clearly.

Russia signed up to a cessation of hostilities. Assad said he would live by it. Then he needs to stop and let the joint implementation center get set up so Russia and the United States could coordinate in order to avoid the kind of terrible thing that happened yesterday which we all acknowledged and regret.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: So, there you have Secretary Kerry saying that the U.S. regrets that incident, but really put the onus on Russia to stop the regime from doing those bombings. You saw more barrel bombings today in Aleppo against civilians.

So it really remains unclear, Fred. The ceasefire was put in a week ago. U.S. and Russia, tomorrow were supposed to start working jointly, kind of a joint military cooperation on targeting Nusra and ISIS and other groups.

But because there hasn't been quiet and because no aid has gone through, which is really a condition on this agreement, it remains to be scene when the U.S. is ready to start working with Russia. Secretary Kerry told me they are not ready yet.

WHITFIELD: So, what is the feeling this point forward about the stability or any assurances of this ceasefire?

LABOTT: Well, I asked Secretary Kerry, I said, listen, you said you wanted seven days of quiet. You haven't had one. No aid is getting through. How much longer are you going to let this go on? Is the U.S. going to keep knocking its head against the wall since the ceasefire is not working?

He doesn't seem to be ready to pull the plug yet. He said all of the other options are very ugly. The ceasefire may not be perfect, but it's really the -- there is no alternative to trying to work with the Russians to stop the violence on the ground because clearly the U.S. is not interested.

The president has kind of said he is not going to launch any military actions so U.S. really has no choice but to try and reduce the violence as much they can.

WHITFIELD: Elise Labott, thank you so much.

All right, straight ahead, that New York blast and of course, the ongoing investigation in Minnesota. We'll have more information on all of that straight ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:57:57]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Here in New York trying to piece together clues to from that explosion on West 23rd Street in a dumpster in Lower Manhattan, the Chelsea area, injuring 29 people.

And also a pipe bomb explosion in a garbage can in Seaside Park, New Jersey. Reporting from Evan Perez and Shimon Prokupecz saying that investigators are telling them there are some similarities between those two explosions as it pertains to cell phones being used as detonators.

Our Matthew Horace is back with me now. And this investigation unfolding this week where there is a very big security week here in New York where the U.N. General Assembly taking place. How does this further complicate or perhaps compliment an investigation of this caliber?

HORACE: Well, I think it both complicates and compliments the effort as security practitioners, we know all too well what we have to do to prepare for the known. These things that happen like what happened over the last 24 hours or the unknowns, but we prepare for that in a security industry, making sure that people were vigilant, were on point and ready for anything.

WHITFIELD: So much unknown. However, you feel very confident that whenever there has been an incident of this kind of caliber, investigators are able to get to the bottom of who's responsible.

HORACE: One of the things I'm most proud of to have served in federal service and law enforcement, I can't think of one incident that's happened in the United States of major proportions like this that we haven't solved.

When you bring the best of the best to the table, the ATF, FBI, tremendous intel assets, state and local bomb squads, we will determine what happened here.

WHITFIELD: All right, Matthew Horace, thanks so much. We'll have much more from you and other panel of experts coming up. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

All right, hello again and thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in New York. We're on top of major breaking news stories today.

Nine people stabbed at a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota. We heard from the FBI, they're investigating the incident as a potential act of terrorism. ISIS now claiming the attack was carried out by a, quote, a soldier of the Islamic State," end quote. That suspect was --