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CNN Sunday Morning
Car Bomb Found in Times Square
Aired May 02, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HOLMES: Last night, the president was updated and pledged federal support to whatever New York police could possibly need, whatever the city could need. Also, shortly before 3:00 a.m. this morning, the New York Police Department, they sent in a robot. The robot then goes in and it breaks the window of that SUV and tries to render whatever is inside harmless. And then, shortly before 6:00 a.m. This morning, just about a couple of hours ago, that SUV was towed away from Times Square to a facility in the Bronx where investigation and possibly -- since it was the last item down there -- possibly New York's Times Square could get back to business as usual. That business is busy, usually.
Susan Candiotti in New York for us.
It is starting to pick up.
Are the signs of that interesting night kind of gone away now and people are starting to go back about -- back to their lives?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You can definitely say that. In fact, looking over my shoulder, TJ, well beyond me, well, blocked a little bit now, as another sign of normalcy.
This fire truck is parked here on a completely different call, unrelated that they've responded to here. And, as it turns out, it's sort of blocking our view of what's beyond it.
Down at the end of this particular block -- I'm standing on West 4th Street and Eighth Avenue beyond us -- is where that SUV was parked. And if that door was shut, you could see that a little more clearly now.
But life is definitely getting back to normal here. You see more and more people on the street -- yes, early on a Sunday morning. But a lot of cars going up and down the avenues and the cross streets.
I just got off the phone a little while ago with a police official who gave me some more details about what happened last night. And I'm going to kind of march through some of those for you.
First of all, as -- as you know, the car itself has been taken away to one spot. But the components have been taken to another forensic lab where all these things are being gone over.
Of all the components that you've gone over that you know about -- the cylinders, the gas tanks, the fireworks, the clocks with the batteries that were inside that SUV, one thing has yet to be rendered safe, according to this New York City police official. That is the -- you can call it what appears to be an ammo box. It's a metal gun box. It was a box that was described to us in the early hours of Saturday night, when all of this went down, as one of the things that was found inside that car. They described a -- a box at the time, a box within a box.
Well, this metal box has not yet been opened by the police. Investigators are still working on that, so that's why they're saying it has not yet been rendered safe. Obviously, they want to see what's inside that thing.
Now, furthermore, just to clarify, the VIN number that we know is removed from that Nissan SUV, the Pathfinder, was not scratched off the car. It was on a metal strip. And that strip is what was removed.
but as we also know, VIN numbers are in different parts of the vehicle. There isn't just that one spot in it, of course. So they're working on that VIN number, naturally, to trace it back -- the history of this vehicle and eventually to get to the owner of it.
Some other information that we picked up. Let's see. We know that cameras -- surveillance cameras around the city are being looked at in this area. They want to look at every camera that they can get their hands on to see whether it picked up that SUV at any step along the way on Saturday. We already know and we've reported continuously that this vehicle was captured on a surveillance camera at 6:28 p.m.
Now, a few more details. A police official tells me that that showed the car moving at the time it was passing Broadway and entering West 45th Street at the time. And this was just before the car was parked. And as we have been telling our audience all along on CNN here, it was about six minutes later, at 6:34 that that mounted police officer was informed by the t-shirt vendor to -- that this was smoke inside the vehicle. And that's when the call was placed, calling in the fire department, calling in the bomb squad to immediately inspect this vehicle.
And here's something else that was kind of interesting that I'm told. This official tells me that the detonator, which would have been, of course, probably the clock with the batteries, that started to apparently ignite what was going on inside -- igniting the fireworks, that that actually might have acted as sort of defusing the rest of the bomb. That's one thing that investigators are looking at, whether that device -- and obviously it didn't perform as it was supposed to and they're looking to find out how it worked every step along the way.
So that they believe that it's possible that the elements have started to burn when people started to see the smoke and hear the popping noises, as have been described to us -- to our CNN correspondent, Allan Chernoff, by those vendors and other witnesses -- the popping noises might have actually been that effect of the defusing that was going on. And eventually, and we know, the New York City Bomb Squad brought along a water cannon that created a large pop that a lot of people heard and thought might have been an explosion, but that was actually one way to defuse what was going on inside that vehicle.
Once that robot was brought in and they were trying to break anything apart that might have been inside that car as part of that robotic movements. That was happening late Saturday night.
At this point, we were also told that an arrest was made on Saturday night but it was -- had no direct correlation to anyone that was believed to be involved in this incident.
There was a man who was in the area and apparently he was trying to cross police lines. And he was, in fact, taken away in handcuffs. But police tell me that this was a man who was known to them -- who was known to have some mental health issues. And so he was taken away but has no direct relation to any of this.
A lot of things have been developing. Part of this is, of course, what about that license tag?
We know that it was a Connecticut tag but we also know that it did not belong to that vehicle.
Police have said that they are now trying to trace the movements of that Connecticut license plate. They have already spoken to the owner of a Ford pickup truck and that apparently is where the plate originated. And the owner dumped this pickup truck at -- took it to a junkyard in the Bridgeport, Connecticut area. And apparently, the plate was still on it. Investigators still trying to piece out why the plate was left on the vehicle, because, according to state law, you're supposed to turn those in either to the Department of Motor Vehicles or to some other state agencies in Connecticut. That's also the case in New York State, if the car is being scrapped for metal at a junkyard.
So, however, at the same time, it does not appear, I am told, that the man who dropped off that pickup truck does not appear to have any direct involvement in the incident that happened here on Saturday night -- TJ, maybe you have some questions for now, because we've covered a lot of territory here.
HOLMES: You did.
There is a lot we're...
CANDIOTTI: But, obviously, there's a lot of work to be done.
HOLMES: There is a lot to get to, a lot of updates. But you gave us a lot of clarity on a few things we've been looking at. So we appreciate you. We appreciate your news gathering. So by all means, keep collecting and thank you for that report.
And we'll continue to check in with you.
Thanks so much, Susan Candiotti.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we're casting a wide net, hoping to bring in every bit of info -- piece of information that we can, as we've been covering this thing really literally overnight here.
And -- and one other angle of this story is -- is the response, not only on the local level -- you saw that the bomb response teams from NYPD but also on the federal level.
We do know for a fact that the president has been briefed on what happened. And he was briefed last night in what we could say is an unlikely location.
Kate Bolduan has been watching this part of the story, the Washington angle.
Joining me now this morning out of the D.C. bureau -- and, Kate, correct me if I'm wrong, you were working the red carpet at this very location last night, the White House Correspondents Dinner, where we know, of course, the president was a guest, as was the mayor of New York.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. Quite a change from our news coverage -- what we were covering last night to this morning...
ANDERSON: Right.
BOLDUAN: -- this morning, unfortunately.
But, yes, this was a -- it's a big annual event in Washington, is the White House Correspondents Association dinner. That was last night. Many journalists -- it brings together a lot of the people we cover -- Washington elite and beyond. And then people from Hollywood, as well.
But Mayor Bloomberg is -- was there. President Obama was giving a speech there. And so they were both there when that happened. Mayor Bloomberg, we now know, left very quickly afterward in order to get back to New York City.
But he really summed it up in that press conference that they held earlier this morning, saying that, you know, we have avoided what could have been a very deadly event. And -- and that is the good news.
It was a -- it was avoided. We need to say that over and over again.
But now, a major investigation is underway, as you can see, as we've been talking about all this morning.
The last word from the White House is that President Obama, as you've mentioned, Brooke, was updated at 10:45 last night. That was right around basically when the event was ending last night.
And he is now praising the very quick response of the NYPD. The White House Press Office adding that John Brennan, the president's homeland security adviser, he is working with NYPD and others to continue to keep the president updated on the situation. You can be sure of that.
But in terms of the federal response, federal officials are being very careful in their characterizations, as they really always are in the early stages of such an investigation like this. Officials have told CNN that it's too early to make any links to any terror networks, if there are any links. If there are not any links and that -- that there are also no clear indicators at this point that this could be an act of attempted international terrorism.
But that are among the big questions that are being asked right now. And while this investigation is just getting underway, this does underscore -- we've talked about this -- something that we hear from Homeland Security officials, specifically Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano quite often. They really say -- it sounds funny, but they -- their line is kind of see it, say it. And they emphasize how important the individual citizen is in helping to stop people when they want to target Americans on American soil.
And that's what really this underscores today, is how people on the ground, when it's your neighborhood, it's your stomping ground, you will be able to know when something is suspicious before maybe a law enforcement officer would in that same area.
ANDERSON: And just briefly, Kate, in terms of, as we say, a tick tock, I guess, a time line, if you will, the president's schedule today, as, of course, this is the priority for the president...
BOLDUAN: Yes.
ANDERSON: -- and the White House, but priority -- another priority also is the Gulf Coast.
BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Right now -- and we've been reaching out. We're waiting to hear back if there are -- are any changes to the schedule. But as of now, the schedule seems to be remaining as it has been prior to this event happening, which was the president is scheduled to go -- to fly down to Louisiana, to the Gulf Coast today, to -- to basically be there and -- and see firsthand, himself, this horrific oil spill that is going on right now and kind of looking at the -- the emergency response and to -- to kind of get his face down there and be down there to see it firsthand himself.
We've been asking -- and, of course, we're waiting to hear if the president -- if there's a change in schedule or if the president will be coming out to make any public comments about this situation as he's heading down there. You know, right now, we're just waiting to hear a little more about that. But, of course, you know, as soon as we hear it, we'll bring it to all -- to our viewers.
We are all watching and waiting. And, as you said, too early still to connect the dots -- is this homegrown terrorism.
ANDERSON: Right.
Back to the New York story -- or is it possibly international terrorists? We just simply do not know. It is too early to tell.
But, Kate Bolduan, keep us posted if you hear any updates with regards to the president.
BOLDUAN: Certainly.
ANDERSON: We thank you.
Folks, stay right here. We're not going too far, either from the oil spill story or the New York story.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Good morning, everybody.
Welcome back.
We have breaking news we're keeping an eye on today. All eyes on New York City and a scare they had overnight. That scare involving Times Square, the most popular tourist attraction in the United States, that sees some 40 million visitors every year. It didn't see and didn't host a single visitor for some 12 hours, from about 6:30 last night Eastern time until about 6:30 this morning, after a vehicle -- a suspicious vehicle was found. That vehicle contained propane tanks, gasoline tanks. It contained clocks, wires. It also contained some consumer grade fireworks.
All of this came together in some way and sparked some kind of a bit of a -- according to witnesses -- a bit of an explosion on the inside. Some even reported seeing flames inside that vehicle.
But now, the U.S. government is treating this as a terrorist attack or an attempted terrorist attack. And also, the mayor of New York says that a tragedy was averted.
And this certainly was a car bomb. They don't know who left it there or why. But they do believe that damage was the point of it all. That damage was averted by a man -- a vendor out there selling t- shirts who noticed it and brought it to the attention of a police officer, who then issued the alert. And from there, they cleared out Times Square.
You're seeing a live picture here now. It's daylight now and things are starting to get back to normal. We're starting to see a little foot traffic and also some -- some car traffic going through. But we saw none of this for 12 straight hours.
The president has been updated. He got the update about 10:45 last evening and he continues to get those updates. The president, who will be taking off going to the Gulf Coast a little later, but possibly expecting some comments from the president about what happened in New York when he goes down to the Gulf Coast. It's not official yet, but possibly he can make comments about this. But right now, hopefully, New York getting back to normal. But the investigation into exactly what was going on and what was the motive is ongoing right now.
ANDERSON: Well, the first time we did finally hear some comments, at least from New York, was from the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who had been attending that White House Correspondents Dinner. And you are about to see him in his tux. He had to make a quick turnaround to respond to the situation that was unfolding -- that began unfolding right around 6:30 p.m. Eastern last night.
He was joined in by the police commissioner, NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. And they essentially briefed the public as to what exactly had happened and some of their concerns that had been unfolding after the smoke started emanating from this car.
We want to play you their -- their press conference in its entirety so you can get a better sense of what was happening many hours ago.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK: Well, good morning.
I'm joined by Governor Paterson and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn; Police Commissioner Kelly; Fire Commissioner Cassano; FDNY Chief of Department Ed Kilduff; FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Steven Bukar (ph); Chief of Department Joe Esposito; Chief of Detectives Phil Pulaski; Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence David Cohen; Bomb Squad Commanding Officer Mark Torre; and Officer of Emergency Management, Deputy Commissioner John Scravanni (ph).
Before I begin, let me say that we are very lucky. Thanks to alert New Yorkers and professional police officers, we avoided what could have been a very deadly event.
I'm going to begin by telling you what we know and what we don't know.
At about 6:30 last night, an alert T-shirt vendor who is a Vietnam veteran noticed an unoccupied, suspicious vehicle on 45th Street just off Seventh Avenue, a few blocks from where we are standing. He alerted Police Officer Wayne Rhatigan of the NYPD Mounted Unit, who was on his horse Miggs, patrolling Times Square.
Officer Rhatigan saw the vehicle, a Nissan Pathfinder, which had smoke emerging from vents near the backseat and he also smelled gun powder.
He, with the help of police officers assigned to Operation Impact, immediately evacuated the area and called for the fire department and more police.
Firefighters, emergency service officers and the bomb squad responded. And the bomb squad confirmed that the suspicious vehicle did, indeed, contain an explosive device.
There were gas cans and bomb-making materials in the car. The experts at the bomb squad are removing them as we speak.
Who abandoned the car and why are under investigation by the NYPD. Commissioner Kelly will fill you in on the details, but I wanted to thank the professionals at the NYPD and the FBI, as well as the fire department and the Office of Emergency Management, for their work tonight. But most of all, the alert vendor and Officer Rhatigan of the Mounted Unit.
You know, we often say that when a terrorist is caught, he has a map of New York City in his pocket. And that's a conversation I had earlier tonight in Washington. And tonight is a further reminder of the dangers that we face.
Commissioner Kelly?
RAYMOND KELLY, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
The NYPD Bomb Squad has rendered safe an improvised car bomb discovered earlier this evening inside a dark green Nissan Pathfinder parked on 45th Street and Broadway with its engine running and hazard lights flashing.
NYPD bomb technicians have removed and dismantled three propane tanks, consumer-grade fireworks, two five gallon gasoline containers filled, and two clocks, along with batteries in each of the clocks, electrical wire and other components stored in the rear of the vehicle.
In addition, a two by two by four foot black metal box resembling a gun locker has been recovered from the vehicle. The bomb squad is in the process of rendering it safe. It will be removed to our range at Rodman's Neck in the Bronx for detonation.
At approximately 6:30 this evening, as the mayor said, an NYPD mounted officer was notified by a street vendor of a possible car fire -- a smoking vehicle -- and went to investigate. After observing white smoke billowing inside and coming out of the rear of the vehicle, he and two impact police officers on patrol in the area began to clear pedestrians from the vicinity while radioing for further assistance.
Visual examination of the vehicle by responding agencies, the fire department and police department, revealed suspicious-looking components in the rear of the vehicle. It has tinted windows and was parked approximately 10 feet from the corner, on 45th Street in front of the Bank of America.
The Connecticut license plate on the rear of the vehicle does not match the vehicle. And investigators are -- have spoken to the individual to whom the plates are registered.
The vehicle is seen at 6:28 p.m. On an NYPD surveillance camera traveling west on 45th Street. You know, we're in the process of identifying additional cameras which may have captured images of the vehicle and, more important, people seen driving or leaving the vehicle. NYPD, FBI and authorities are -- other authorities are actively pursuing all investigative leads at this time. And we encourage anyone with information to call our tips hotline. That's 1-800-577- TIPS.
From 43rd Street and to 48th Street, between Sixth and Eighth Avenues, are closed at this time to pedestrian and vehicle traffic. We expect that they will be reopened soon and we certainly appreciate the public's cooperation.
We did evacuate the south tower of the Marriott Hotel. Those people are in the auditorium in the hotel and we -- we hope to have them get back in their rooms shortly.
BLOOMBERG: I'll be happy to take any questions if anybody has any.
Yes?
Speak up. We can barely hear you.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: We have -- have no cameras so far. We are looking at all of the cameras in the area. It will take many hours. So far, we have no reports of anybody running away. Nothing on a camera yet. That doesn't mean that there won't be when we look at all the cameras. But so far, we do not see anybody running away. We do not know who drove the car or when they left the car.
Sir?
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: It was made up of consumer grade fireworks that you can buy in Pennsylvania and drive into New York. And the wiring was nothing that -- it looked amateurish, I think is a nice way to phrase it.
Sir?
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
We can't hear you.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: What?
We can't hear you.
You have to speak up. Sorry.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: That's correct.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: There is no VIN number. Nothing. Yes. It's been removed.
Miss?
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: We have no idea who did this or why. And until you find out, we can't say anymore than that.
Yes, sir?
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: Say again.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: Well, there were three propane tanks and two containers of gasoline. And it certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact. It depends on how close you were to it at a time.
Anything else?
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: Say again.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: We always change our security plans and we're certainly are not going to announce them. We have looked around other boroughs tonight just to make sure we kept the 4:00 to midnight tour on duty. And they found nothing suspicious in any other borough. And they'll be sent home very soon.
Yes?
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: I just said we asked everybody -- all our police officers to keep -- stay on another shift -- stay, keep the shift late. They've looked every place and there's nothing suspicious. This is a city of 8.4 million people and people should go about their business. If you see something strange, pick up the phone and call 9/11 and turn it over to professionals.
And that's exactly what happened here. You had a vendor who saw something, thought it was strange, said something to a police officer on his horse. The police officer looked and then the professionals took over. And that's why nothing happened.
Yes, Miss?
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: Miss, we have no idea who did this. As I said before, we have nothing to go on yet. The first thing is to make sure that everybody is safe, then we'll do our investigation.
Yes, Miss?
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: We -- our staffs were in touch with the White House and the other intelligence agencies while Ray and I were on our way back here.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) Viacom Building (INAUDIBLE) picture of Mohammed.
Is that part of the investigation?
BLOOMBERG: We'll always look at where it is. There's no evidence that it's tied to the Army recruiting or the VIACOM or anything else. It was at an intersection a block north of where we are. And you can see what is in the neighborhood.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: There's -- anything is possible. We just don't know.
Yes, Miss?
The last question.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: The plates, we are told -- we've interviewed the person to -- who had the plates. The person said they sent the truck that the plates were on to a junkyard. We're trying to identify the owner of the junkyard to see what happened. But there's no reason that that person -- there's no reason to suspect that he had anything to do with it or that his story is false.
We have a last question.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) video of the truck moving at 6:28 p.m.?
BLOOMBERG: Yes.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: I don't -- Ray?
KELLY: Seen in the video?
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
KELLY: No, it -- it's not that clear. We'll try to enhance that picture. But all you'll see is a vehicle, which we believed it to be. We're not 100 percent certain. But it's a Nissan -- it appears to be a green Nissan going across the -- the intersection. It's not, at this juncture, clear enough to see how many people are in the vehicle.
BLOOMBERG: All right, we'll give you the last question.
KELLY: It has tinted windows, too.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) how many (INAUDIBLE)?
KELLY: The -- the -- the call was made to 911 at 6:34. And the -- the vehicle was seen about 6:28.
BLOOMBERG: All right, the last question.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: Negative. Which not -- I said, we, so far, have no witnesses reporting somebody leaving the vehicle, running, walking, going in any other manner. And we will check all of the security cameras, of which there are lots, and some in office buildings that are closed at the moment.
So it will take a few -- you know, through tomorrow to be able to do all that. Perhaps it will show and perhaps it won't.
The bomb squad was called and they, in their professional ways, used a robot and used men dressed in bombproof suits and did the job that you would expect them to do -- the kind of job that they train for, keeping everybody safe. And thank God nothing happened to them, as well so.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).
BLOOMBERG: The message to New Yorkers is that we've been saying for an awful long time -- terrorists around the world who are -- who feel threatened by the freedoms that we have in this country and want to take those freedoms away from us, always focus on the symbol of those freedoms. And that is New York City.
And that's why we keep saying to Homeland Security and the Congress, Homeland Security funds should come to where there is a threat. And when these things invariably -- not every time, but most times -- come back to New York.
But the bottom line is we have the world's greatest police department, who focuses on anti-terrorism and intelligence and a public that understands that when you see something, you say something.
And that's why this city is safe and we should all go about our business tomorrow. The weather is going to be nice. It's a Sunday. And people should go and enjoy themselves and just be thankful. This is what we spend our money on. This is why we have all these people who want to work for the world's greatest police department and fire department and office of emergency management. And they're the ones that are going to keep us safe.
And you are -- there's no more danger here then in any other mayor city.
So that's it.
Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And you see the mayor, Mayor Bloomberg, again, in that tuxedo. He was just coming from that White House Correspondents Dinner in New York -- excuse me, in D.C. just a few hours before that press conference, which he did about 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning -- so in the middle of the night, telling New Yorkers to go on.
He said it's going to be a nice day in New York today. Well, take a look at the that day in New York. People are starting to get out again. This was shut down for some 12 hours, Times Square. But slowly but surely, we're starting to see more and more people get out and more and more foot traffic and more and more vehicle traffic on the streets of New York.
You saw Governor David Paterson in that video as well. He was part of that press conference. He did put out a statement saying, "Tonight we owe an incredible debt of gratitude to the heroic actions of the New York City Police Department and to a single vigilant New Yorker who identified a suspicious vehicle near Times Square in New York City. Luckily, no one is hurt and now the full attention of city, state and federal law enforcement will be turned to bringing the guilty party to justice in this act of terrorism."
We have had the honor of having Harold Copus, former FBI special agent with us this morning. Terrorism, it doesn't matter if it's domestic terrorist or if it's international, it's terrorism nonetheless.
But some things throughout the morning you're starting to pick up on. What have you pieced together from -- we have been sitting here with you it will since about 5:00 a.m. but now is -- what things are starting to jump out at you? And you start to kind of quite frankly piece these thing together like an investigator would.
HAROLD COPUS, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well the first thing is I wonder where that vehicle was parked. I suspect that he didn't pull into a parking spot, probably just went to and just put it there on the street. More than likely he knew it was a bomb. Obviously he knew it was bomb so he went right to the corner and turned the corner to get away.
We are lucky we have that vehicle because that vehicle will leave all sorts of evidence inside the vehicle besides fingerprints. You're now looking at hair fiber and maybe foreign material, dirt, whatever. Hair, you can always change the color but you can't change the DNA.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we were talking about the timeline of this whole thing. And I find this part of it just fascinating and I just want you to hammer home the point. You know we just heard the Mayor talk about how at 6:28 that is when that NYPD -- presumably some sort of traffic camera -- caught this car crossing across the intersection.
In the next timeline we have is 6:34, which is when the call came in. That vendor saw the smoke emanating from the car. So you have six minutes, this individual or individuals, we don't know because of the tinted windows, at some point parked and fled.
And you were saying earlier, it reminded you of Timothy McVeigh, because he would light the fuse as he was driving.
COPUS: Yes, McVeigh actually lit that fuse and what he said was he got stopped by a traffic light. And he thought that traffic light was never going to turn and he knew the bomb was behind him and the fuse was lit.
He was the most excited guy around. He was able to get over there, park the vehicle and get out. These guys work on split-second timing. That fuse was lit before that vehicle was parked.
HOLMES: And how is it -- how important is it now to track this individual down immediately and the chances that they will learn from their mistakes and might try this again?
COPUS: Well, they'll certainly try again. They not going to just give up and say, well, gosh, I'll go back home or whatever. So you have to hunt them down. And you want to find out how many people are involved in the conspiracy theory. Is this possible it's just one person? More than likely, not but you can't say you need to find out and just get rid of this network as fast as you can.
BALDWIN: I think it's worth Harold, just revisiting some of our conversation earlier for people who are just kind of waking up and scratching their heads over what in the world happened in New York.
I want to go through the different components of this bomb that was found in the car. You have any kind of fireworks you can buy in the state; you have batteries, clocks, wiring, gas, propane gas. These are all items separately that you and I could buy at the store but together potentially (INAUDIBLE) --
COPUS: Certainly and what's interesting is that this is the same type of material that's been used in some of the bombings in London and around the world. So what we have here are common, household items that anyone could pick up. It would not raise any suspicion.
It's not like when I'm going to have to buy 1,000 pounds of fertilizer or something. I've got some fairly common stuff. Propane gas tanks, gasoline, battery. There's nothing there that no one could pick up.
It's the ability to put it together and create the bomb is where the sophistication occurred. And no doubt about it, it may be amateurish as the Mayor said, but it was sophisticated enough that they had the intent, and the intent was to do harm.
HOLMES: You just used the word, I don't think I've heard yet as we've been covering this, this morning, you used the word, network. You said we need to find it and break it up. That's a scary word. It's one thing that one person is out there acting alone. But why would you say, first it is not just one person. But why would you go as far as saying it's a network of people that have put this together?
COPUS: There are always lone wolves, always have been. But most everybody will go and confide in someone and say, I need your help. I would suspect that this is going to be at least two people and maybe more.
So if they are that dedicated, you've got to find them and locate them and arrest them and get them to justice as quick as possible. You don't do not want this spreading. They were not successful. That doesn't mean it won't occur again.
BALDWIN: We have to track them down. Hopefully, like we've been discussing all morning. It was very easy to hide amongst the crowd of hustling, bustling 6:30 p.m. Times Square; very easy for that individual to just simply walk away.
COPUS: Perfect timing. If you want to do this, do it when there's a lot of people are around. You can blend in, if the bomb have gone off, there would have been no reason to be suspicious of anybody running. Most people would run away from something like this.
Whoever thought about it had planned it. And I guarantee you, they thought of all the convenience of -- they didn't expect it not to go off but they certainly planned on having their escape.
HOLMES: How difficult, that one -- that one element, we talk about the timer on these things. You can have all the explosive whatever in that vehicle, all the explosive devices and materials in there, but if you don't get that timer right, what's the point? And I mean -- I mean, how close were we to a huge disaster and a much different story we're covering this morning?
COPUS: Oh, we were extremely close. And you know, you don't know how many times this guy practiced but you know now, it's game time. In game time, he failed.
HOLMES: He screwed it up.
COPUS: So, he did. So we're very fortunate that regardless of whatever else happened, he just didn't have everything nailed down this time. Let's not give him a second chance.
HOLMES: This stuff is so scary. Sometimes you do have to -- it's better to be lucky than good. But man, it's nice to be good every once in a while as well. And the same thing with the underwear bomber, I guess you could say, he didn't necessarily execute his plan like he hoped to. But we have gotten lucky, some close calls.
But again, some very astute and people paying attention out there, some of our citizens. And we appreciate you having you in this morning.
BALDWIN: Harold Copus.
HOLMES: You're a -- you have been great.
COPUS: Thank you T.J.
BALDWIN: It's good to have to.
HOLMES: You've been great to have with us and thanks for getting up early and staying here throughout with us. Thanks so much.
COPUS: Thank you.
HOLMES: All right, we will continue to follow that breaking story. Of course, we've got weather breaking news. We've got the Gulf Coast --
BALDWIN: The oil spill.
HOLMES: -- which we're also keeping an eye on as well. And also our Candy Crowley, we're going to check in with her. Of course, she's going to be talking this morning with the Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano.
We're going to get a preview from Candy here in just a moment. Stay with us here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, we're going to have much more on the New York City car bomb incident at the top of the hour. Our Candy Crowley, host of CNN's "State of the Union" is coming up.
BALDWIN: Let's talk to Candy right now. Candy Crowley, there she is in Washington. Candy, I know you were lucky and got to go to that White House Correspondent's Dinner last night. How was it?
CANDY CROWLEY, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It was like one of those White House Correspondent's -- and you know it's a mega crowd, lots of, you know, of course, we are all interested in Michael Douglas and Ashley Judd and Queen Latifah. And they're all interested in the other people. Yes, exactly.
BALDWIN: Oh I would have been interested in finding you and getting my picture with you, Candy.
But let me ask you this, I know right around 10:45 I guess, when the whole thing was winding down, that's when everybody sort of getting word about this suspicious vehicle in Times Square. Who were you talking to today about that?
CROWLEY: I talked to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about it, talking about is there a possible international terrorist link here.
Too early to say, not a no, not a yes, but just a kind of, they are in the very beginnings of this. She did talk about that there was forensic evidence that they are picking up, not just from the car. I asked her about fingerprints. She seemed to say yes.
So they are still in the gathering evidence phase. I didn't get the sense that she felt, yes, absolutely, there is some big terrorist link. But obviously, that's not something they are going to say right away. But it doesn't have the hall marks of it. That amateurish description that other people have given sort of -- leads you to believe that.
And, she talked about what might have been the damage. She said, look, it's Times Square, it is New York. So a blast goes off. It's going to hurt somebody.
HOLMES: This will be a kind of a second go-around for this President in terms of a major terror scare after what we saw in December on Christmas day, that flight going into Detroit.
Put it in perspective just how important it is for a president, his number one job, no matter what's on his plate, when something like this happens your priority is protecting the American people? So how important his response is to this incident, how important it's going to be for him to get out in front of this thing.
CROWLEY: Well, you know, they're -- what they like to do and I think even what you saw with the oil spill, is they like the people who are responsible, their jurisdiction, to get out in front of this. And they have largely, certainly, left this to the people on the scene who obviously are going to get federal help or have had federal help.
But I don't -- this is not something being led out of Washington. This is something being led out of New York.
HOLMES: All right, Candy Crowley, we are looking forward to seeing you as always. In just a couple of minutes --
BALDWIN: Yes.
HOLMES: -- just about 17 minutes away. Good to see you. And we will see you again here in just a minute, 9:00 Eastern time for our viewers, 6:00 Pacific. Candy Crowley and "STATE OF THE UNION" right here. Stay with us.
BALDWIN: We want to go and talk to Josh Levs who's been keeping an eye on a lot of iReports we've been getting. I want to go back to the story unfolding out of Times Square, suspicious vehicle, bomb components have been taken out and are now being looked at by investigators.
But a lot of the information Josh, I know you are gleaning this morning is from people who were there on the ground --
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.
BALDWIN: -- they were evacuated in the midst of this whole thing.
LEVS: That's right and we're getting them every which way. What we're going to do now is take all of you inside this experience. You have been seeing a lot of aerial pictures; you've been hearing a lot of the basics.
Well, I want to do now is bring you the words of people who were there when this was happening starting with a witness who stood there and saw what happened when this car basically had a blast. Look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX VON DE BREGGAN, WITNESS: I was standing there. And suddenly, I saw a big flash light in the car. The explosion was not too big. It was like a small -- a small hand grenade in the car. The windows stayed in --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok.
BREGGAN: -- but it smoked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: The car filled with smoke. It was like a small hand grenade inside the car. He said he saw a flash, he said he did see it as that blast is happening.
What we've also gotten is a lot of tape over night from people who were evacuated from different parts of Times Square, which one of the busiest areas in the entire world.
Here's what some of them said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN RAMIREZ, WITNESS: We were walking (INAUDIBLE) at 44th right down Broadway. And we heard explosions down. And we honestly stopped. We didn't know what to do.
And that's -- you know, we saw everybody else start running and we started running too.
VICTORIA RODRIGUEZ, WITNESS: Everybody just started being backed up. Everybody was being pushed back. And the barriers started going up.
RAMIREZ: We knew something was wrong. We saw the ambulances and the cop cars. Everybody was facing towards the way we were.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: All right. Here's what we are going to do now. I am going to show you some pictures -- let's go to those -- of what it was like as this was happening. Keep in mind, Times Square is always so busy, always so bustling.
Those of you who are not sure if you know Times Square, you do. If you've ever seen New Year's Eve celebrations, if you've ever been to New York, you have probably been there. Millions of people go every year and the majority go through Times Square.
It is where all these Broadway shows are. You know this area. It never looks like this. This doesn't happen. For Times Square to stop, that doesn't happen.
So when your seeing these images, it is incredible striking. What you see there is a lot of people were evacuated and off to one area.
It always looks bright even if we are showing you pictures from 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 in the morning because Times Square is always completely lit up. So seeing those areas vacated there is really striking.
Now, what I want to do is show you how much things have changed. We have been reporting from the scene today. And things are moving again. And one thing you might be interesting in is this Web site here, Earthcam.com. This is kind of -- can you get way in here -- they have all sorts of live webcams of Times Square -- 13 of them right here at earthcam.com. We are getting a lot of traffic today.
And as you click around them, what you're seeing are live updated images and in this case, people are moving again. So it is starting to look much more like New York there. In fact it was our reporters, Susan Candiotti, Allan Chernoff who were standing in the only area this morning that could show us that was still blocked off. So things are moving again.
The mayor and the other authorities are really encouraging people to go back out; they say there's no fear, nothing to worry about. Go ahead and don't be afraid to go through Times Square.
I want to take you all inside with this map. Basically this is the very basic picture of New York here. You have big Central Park in green underneath it. That's where Times Square is.
And a lot of people know New York intimately. It is a place people know. So this is where we're talking about. This is Broadway along. This is 45th Street along there. And this is where that car was, right in the middle of Times Square.
You have a lot of shows that are going on there. You have various offices. You have, at any given time, a lot going on inside that section of Times Square.
One more thing I want to show you all before I go, and this is something that's very interesting and going to be very significant. We are hearing a lot about security cameras, right?
Mayor Bloomberg talking about it, police talking about it, gathering all -- culling all the images they can basically from various security cameras throughout Times Square.
Well, look at this, a year after 9/11 -- this was in September, 2002 -- the "New York Times" did this story and they were pointing out that already at that point, there were at least 120 different security cameras.
Let's show everyone this. Every little dot there is a security camera and all this is just in Times Square. And this is all the way back from 2002. So eight years later, when you are adding the government once and all the security cameras, the various shots that have been set up there, you have obviously, a very, very, busy section, filled with lots and lots of cameras which some parts of the year it comes up because people are asking, how much are they being chased by cameras. How much privacy do you have when you're out in public these days?
But right now, what authorities are doing with those images is helping to get a much bigger picture, maybe from beginning to end of this entire thing. They might actually be able to put all those images together and go back 24 hours, 48 hours. Who knows how far?
Maybe that same car had come through before. Maybe whoever the person is had come through and scoped out the location. We don't know. But all those cameras will play a major role in this investigation.
In the meantime, if you are in New York, if you are going to New York, it is good to see things moving and a busy Times Square. Again, today, authorities saying it is safe. It is ok to move around. And they are doing everything they possibly can to get this investigation through right away.
So Brooke and T.J., we're going to keep following all these images, also your tweets, your Facebook posts. I'm Josh Levs with CNN. Let us know what it is like for you right there in Times Square. We will keep it coming. Guys, back to you.
BALDWIN: Yes. We always love hearing from you and getting your pictures and video. Josh thank you for that update.
Also before we go, before we pass the torch off to Candy Crowley in about 10 minutes, we are going to get another check of the weather. The weather is still a huge story this week. And you won't want to miss this unbelievable video of a Mobile home getting swept away by floods.
Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Again -- updating you again on the story we are keeping an eye on out of New York City. New York City trying to get back to normal today after an abnormal evening with Times Square being shut down because of a car bomb. According to the mayor, an apparent car bomb was found down there left by someone. We do not know who and we do not know why it was left down there. The investigation now going on.
But let me tell you how this went down last night. At around 6:28 p.m. Eastern Time last night, a Nissan Pathfinder was captured driving west on 45th Street. It was captured by an NYPD camera. Then just two minutes later, a T-shirt vendor notices smoke coming from a Nissan Pathfinder that was left abandoned on Times Square.
6:34, just 4 minutes later, a 9-1-1 call is made to the New York Police Department about that very vehicle. Many witnesses reported hearing some kind of a pop and also seeing possibly flames inside that vehicle.
10:45 Eastern Time last night, the President of the United States was updated about what was going on in New York. He had just wrapped up the White House correspondents dinner. Many people were there; many -- of course, the White House correspondents and many other prominent people and celebrities. Including Mayor Bloomberg happened to be at that event in Washington, D.C. and then he immediately hightailed it back to New York City.
Then shortly before 3:00, this morning, Sunday morning, the New York police used a robot to break out the windows of that Pathfinder and tried to render whatever was in there safe.
Then 6:00 Eastern Time, 6:00 a.m., so just about three hours ago, that SUV was towed away to a Bronx facility where the investigation is now under way. You're seeing video of that robot I was mentioning just a moment ago. They sent that in to possibly diffuse whatever might have been in this car. They finally got the materials out and now they have moved the materials and also the vehicle elsewhere.
There is the picture of it that we just saw a little while ago of it being towed away from Times Square. When they finally got it out of there, they reopened Times Square and appears it may be getting back to normal like the mayor said to everybody in New York and all the visitors, "Go about your business as normal. It is going to be a nice Sunday. Get out and enjoy it."
BALDWIN: Yes. You mentioned the White House correspondents dinner last night in Washington, D.C., which is, of course, where the mayor, Michael Bloomberg was. You saw that quick turnaround. He was back in New York and he gave a press conference right around 2:20 this morning.
You can imagine NYPD and a lot of these New York City officials not sleeping at all last night including the governor of New York, Governor David Paterson. In fact, I want to read you something he released overnight, a response to this whole thing, quote, "Tonight, we owe an incredible debt of gratitude to the heroic actions of the New York City police department and to a single vigilant New Yorker who identified a suspicious vehicle near Times Square in New York City. Luckily, no one is hurt. Now, the full attention of city, state, and federal law enforcement will be turned to bringing the guilty party to justice in this act of terrorism."
That is what we are hearing from city officials out of New York.
We want to turn our attention quickly now to the situation that -- weather situation in Tennessee. A tornado watch is in Nashville and it's is flooding. This video I cannot get over -- Bonnie Schneider, unbelievable pictures. Inches and inches of rain there.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right. And it only takes a few inches, Brooke and T.J. to dislodge a car or an SUV. But how about a giant -- I mean a large -- RV? How much water does it take? Well, there was enough to dislodge an RV on I-24 in Nashville, Tennessee and take it flowing down a road that looks like a river now. The water is up to well over a foot. Those are cars you see, those little dots there -- that's the roofs of cars. The tractor-trailer there also almost submerged. And then finally the SUV -- rather trailer breaks apart from the force, the current of the water flowing.
It is so dangerous right now that civil emergency management officials in Nashville have advised, stay inside the roads. Many of them are closed or impassable.
Here is why. The water is streaming in, meaning it's going over the same path over and over again from Mississippi straight into Tennessee and it is not stopping.
The tornado watches, though, will eventually end. We are expecting them around noontime local to expire. But we are looking at some very tough conditions in Nashville.
This is a live picture of that same -- parts of that same road; not completely submerged but very wet out there this morning; courtesy of our affiliate, WZTV in Nashville. Thank you for that live picture.
Nashville is still under a flood warning -- the brighter green indicates warning. So is Memphis. Both cities received record rainfall amounts at the airports yesterday. And some of the unofficial reports are up to 13 inches of rain with two or more expected.
Here is what's going to happen. All of that water is pushing to the east. So Atlanta, Georgia, you are under a flash flood watch -- not a warning yet, but a watch because we are expecting this water and this rain to keep on moving eastward.
Now, it is going to die a little bit in intensity. But it is still is going to produce significant rainfall and possibly severe storms all the way up from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, through the Ohio Valley. Kind of really going to break the heat that's been occurring, of course, into the nation's capital where we have had temperatures into the 90s really over the past few days.
Here is the forecast as it breaks down. I will step out of wait so you can see. Look for another 2-3 inches of rain in Tennessee. Some places, especially right along the Alabama-Mississippi border. You may see another three inches of rain.
We are also looking at heavy rain into Mississippi down through the Gulf Coast into Mobile, Alabama; so a lot of rain working its way across that region as well.
Now, if you are wondering how is the weather down in the Gulf Coast, well, we can talk about that as well. The oil slick still in the Gulf influenced by the same weather maker, the same system that's bringing the heavy rain to the south right now is also influencing the winds down in the Gulf of Mexico.
They are still coming out of the south. They are still pretty intense. That's tapping into all this Gulf moisture and taking it up to Tennessee right now. But it's also steering the oil slick in the direction you see here.
Now eventually we are expecting a shift and the winds will start to move I say by tomorrow a little bit more towards the east and that will change the direction of where the oil slick may go.
Eventually a cold front will continue to push down Tuesday and probably most likely take this more of an offshore flow, rather than what you see here, which is an onshore flow.
But once again, we are tracking severe weather right now across Nashville. City and management officials advise not to go out because the roads as impassable.
So T.J. we are definitely looking at some very tough travel conditions. The tornado watches will expire in the next couple of hours but the threat for submerged roads will not. Those flood warnings go all day today and likely will be extended into tonight.
HOLMES: Southeast, the Midwest -- not the Midwest but the Midsouth as well with southeast where we are even here in Atlanta has just had a tough go over the past several days and weeks.
Bonnie, we appreciate you this morning keeping us updated about what's happening.
And we appreciate you all being with us.
Of course, the big story today has been the aftermath of that bomb scare in New York's Times Square. This was the scene last night as police shut down Times Square after a car bomb was found there. The person responsible has not been found. The motive, not exactly clear either.
But according to so many of the security experts and officials we talked to today, it was clear that the motive and the intent was at least to inflict some kind of damage; whether that was psychological, which still has to be done, but certainly physical as well.
There were propane tanks, there was gasoline, there was a timer. There were wires, there were fireworks -- all of this inside that vehicle. And that was enough, certainly, to set off some kind of massive explosion. It did not work. Thank goodness.
To the rescue last night, was an alert vendor. Someone who was down there selling T-shirts, who alerted police to what he saw, which was smoke coming from this vehicle. Several witnesses reported some kind of a pop. And also other witnesses reported even seeing a fire inside of that vehicle.
That video you are seeing there shows the robotic arm that police brought out in the middle of the night, about 3:00 in the morning. They used this thing to try to diffuse whatever was in that vehicle. Turns out nothing in there; they rendered it safe. The items in there didn't go off, I should say but certainly, everything in there certainly was not safe. They got everything out of there. The vehicle was removed a short time ago from Times Square. And they are hoping possibly to get back to some semblance of normalcy in Times Square on this Sunday.
We will continue, of course, to follow this breaking news story and the developments that come with it.
But for now, our coverage continues with "STATE OF THE UNION" and Candy Crowley.
