Morning. So thats the latest here. The nypd bomb squad is inside our offices at Columbus Circle. The package was addressed to 10 Columbus Circle. We dont know who specifically it was addressed to. It did arrive. It was received in the mail room of the building. The staff there alerted authorities, alerted Building Security to the device, and thats when the nypd responded. Obviously they became really concerned almost immediately. Shimon, just very briefly, what do we know about the package that was delivered to the Time Warner Center . Why was it suspicious . What raised the alarm bells . Right, wolf. So what raised the alarm bell is when they xrayed the package, they found what looked like metal material, perhaps a pipe bomb. Weve talked about other pipe bombs or other bombs inside Metal Construction that have
been delivered to other locations. That immediately had everyone concerned. Then also were being told that there were wires, what appeared to be wires inside this package. That also concerned authorities. Obviously thats what an xray showed. Once they get inside it, once they feel safe enough, The Bomb Squad does, that they can go in it and unpack it and see whats inside, we may hear a different story. But given the response here by the nypd and the fbi, also the atf on scene, this is a pretty serious situation. They do believe that theyre dealing with what looks like a real explosive. So thats why were seeing this kind of response. Obviously the nypd bomb squad probably one of the best in the world. The other thing to keep in mind is that the nypd, their bomb squad is so good at this in that they get briefed in realtime in situations in other cities. Lets say theres a suspicious package, a bomb found somewhere else like we know of these other
three locations. The nypd and their Intelligence Division and The Bomb Squad gets briefed almost immediately on what to look for, on what these other packages contained. So going into this, you can be assured for sure that the nypd, along with the fbi bomb squad in new york, probably knew immediately what they were dealing with given what they had to deal with in the other situations, really since monday night. So thats the latest, wolf. Were just waiting on word that theyve actually contained this, that they actually have this device and know what theyre dealing with and that its okay for people to go inside. It could be just a little more time before people are allowed inside here, wolf. They want to certainly air on the side of caution right now given the nature of this suspicious package, presumeably containing projectiles, metal. Ka
kate, youve also been evacuated. Tell us what youre hearing. Im on the corner of 58th and 9th right now. What weve been seeing is increased Police Presence, fdny, what looks like an explosion Containment Device. From our perspective, its been more Law Enforcement vehicles coming into the area around the Time Warner Center than leaving. At one point, there was some confusion on the ground how far away you could be from the building, how close we could all be. We cleared the block as fdny and nypd were pushing us back. Probably about ten minutes ago, they wanted to push us back a half a block further. I have not been able to get a good read on exactly what that indicates, if that indicates anything at this point. Right now i can show you im going to try to walk a little closer, get as close as we can. What weve been seeing in the last minute is fdny setting up a
command post past this metal stand. Were standing here waiting. Ive been trying to get updates from fdny, from the nypd on the ground. What they say is right now the situation is serious, it is active. No someone getting anywhere, in or out. Let me show you right here, wolf, if we can. These are Construction Crews who are stuck in the middle of this because this is how this all went down today. Everyone is still waiting to find out whats been happening. What happened this morning, you knew it was something unusual. We all have these drills. Every Major Company does, of course. The Fire Alarm System goes off, but it happened during my colleagues show. Jim sciutto, poppy harlow on air. You know that it was something different. We were all told to evacuate. Everyone very orderly came down
the five, six flights of stairs we were on and left the building. When you saw the Police Presence thats been out here, wolf i mean, im telling you, theyre taking it very seriously. You can see the looks on their faces. We now know from the great reporting of Shimon Prokupecz what the Time Warner Center is dealing with. Theyre taking this situation very seriously. Its been quite a sight to see. You can see the men and women of the nypd and fdny and how quickly they can lock down this block. It is locked down, no question. Command posts being set up right behind me as were speaking, wolf. I want to get some updates from some of my colleagues that are also in the same situation. Athena jones, if you can hear me, where are you . I havent been able to see you yet. Hi, kate. Im at the other end of the block from where you are. Im at 58th and 8th avenue on the corner here. You can see behind me the policemen. Im not sure you can make it out now. Were seeing the other end of that Containment Truck you mentioned. It looks like a cement truck, a Concrete Truck Mixer thats been cut off at one end. That is called a Containment Truck. Thats where they will put this device and most likely take it to a place called rodmans neck. Thats a facility in the bronx that The Bomb Squad uses to handle these sort of potential explosives. Thats what were seeing. As you can see, theres this huge Police Presence. Were in the heart of new york. Were in midtown new york, a very, very busy area. The Time Warner Center, the entire center next to me has been evacuated. This is not just Office Buildings containing your cnn, time warner media, the offices of tnt and turner. Theres also an entire Shopping Mall here and a whole Foods Grocery store in the basement. Were talking about dozens and dozens of stores and business
establishments, all of which have been evacuated. All right, athena. Thank you so much. Im trying to get a sense let me just find out. Is there any plan for my any briefing . Have you heard anything yet . Just trying to get a sense if theres any plans for briefings. Im standing here near this command post. This doesnt look like this is going to be ending any time soon. Let me turn around and show you the roadblocks were looking at. We cannot get any closer, as ive told you. This is 58th and 9th. This is the heart of new york city. This is closed off. This was closed off. Theyre still trying to let traffic go Down 9th Avenue, but as you can see, its intense right now. There are apartment buildings, hotels all along this block. Theyre all trying to get in Parking Garages. Everyone has been asking to go
in. Obviously no one is going anywhere any time soon. This is where we are right now, outside the Time Warner Center. I want to go back over to washington and bring in Shimon Prokupecz. Shimon, i have not been able to get a sense of timing here. Obviously they have this under control. You dont sense anything is out of control. But i havent been able to get a sense yet of the timing, where they are in terms of disposing of this device, clearing the area, clearing the building. What sense are you getting, shimon . Yeah, im talking to nypd officials there on the ground. The sense im getting is they believe they do obviously have this under control. They dont think anything is about to explode. Theyre dealing with a very real situation, what they believe is explosives in this package. Were told that one of the things thats concerning
authorities is this device theyre looking at in new york is similar to other devices that authorities have been investigating. Really right now we dont have a sense of when this is going to wrap up. This could go on for hours. This could be over any minute. We dont know. How The Bomb Squad works is theyre meticulous. Theyre obviously extremely careful. They do this in teams. Sometimes, you know, weve seen those kind of moon suits that The Bomb Squad, Police Officers, and fbi agents wear, these technicians. It gets very hot in those suits. So sometimes what happens is you have to move people in and out so that one may work on something for 20 minutes, you then move him out, and bring in another person. So they do this in teams. They do this slow. Theres no reason to rush here because they dont believe that theres anything about to explode. Theres no imminent danger. Obviously theyre dealing with a very dangerous situation, but they dont believe anything is about to explode. Also, its important to point
out that earlier we had been getting some information, certainly our Cnn Evan Perez was getting information there was a package that had been intercepted that may have been going to the white house. Were being told by the Secret Service thats not the case. There was some confusion over that. Weve now cleared that up. It was not a device or a suspicious package that was being sent to the white house. Just to recap, we know of at least three other devices which authorities believe are linked to this device. One was sent to the home of george soros in new york, Hillary Clinton and bill clinton, and then obviously the one that was sent to former president barack obama. So now authorities i can tell you the Fbis Joint Terrorism Task force, along with the nypd, the atf, police, and fbi here in washington, d. C. , along with the Secret Service are all the working this extremely hard. Theyre trying to figure out who is sending this. The other thing very, very
important to point out, kate, is there could be other device out there. Thats whats got authorities really concerned. Police across the country now looking at this carefully, studying to make sure there are no other devices being sent to anyone else. Obviously the big thing here is this seems to be someone thats targeting political folks. That has authorities concerned. Theyre looking at other people in the political world who may be targeted, sending out word to be cautious. The nypd in new york stepping up security at certain areas. Certainly the police here in washington, d. C. , the Secret Service. So this is going to go on for quite some time. Its an ongoing situation, really an ongoing threat that were all really under at this point and that authorities need to work through and figure out exactly who is sending these pipe bombs. On everyones cell phone here
in new york, we all received the same alert. An Emergency Alert talking about the situation here outside the Time Warner Center. It says police activity, on 58th Street Between Columbus and 8th avenue, shelter in place immediately. One of those alerts we all get on our phone like amber alerts, weather alerts. This one very different, as you can see. You can see it on my phone. Also seeing i want to go to jim sciutto in one second, but im seeing police dogs about. I havent gotten a read on if theyre being used or how theyre being used, but were seeing that as well. Again, more vehicles, more Law Enforcement coming into this area, not leaving this area. Something i think is important to note. The presence is building, its not diminishing right now. Let me get over to jim sciutto. Im told you have new news. Youve been talking to police. Hi. Just to get a sense of this, this is an all Hands On Deckresponse from new york authorities. You saw The Bomb Squad here right away, of course. New york police, Strategic Response unit. Firemen here as well. Just as a measure of how seriously they take this, they were just checking this fire hydrant to make sure it had Water Pressure in case it would be needed. Theres no indication they do need it now. Theyre responding inside the building. On the righthand side of your screen, you see that device that looks sort of like the back end of a cement truck. Thats the Containment Device where once they feel secure, theyre going to move the explosive device into that for transport. Poppy was learning they take it to a place for Precaution Up in the bronx, well outside the city. Thats where theyll take it to examine it further. This is very much an all Hands On Deck response by the new York Police Department. Were hearing from the nypd that The Bomb Squad will transport whatever the device is to a place called rodmans neck,
where it will be detonated if it cannot be defused on scene. It would typically be transported to rodmans neck, well away from this area, if they cannot defuse it here. The one thing we keep hearing, and i know my colleagues in washington are hearing the same, but the new York Police Department telling me this device so far, based on what they know, is similar to the devices theyve seen sent to the other locations that we were reporting on, on the air, as we got taken off the air because of the alert inside cnn. So thats the operating assumption, that theres some connection. I have also been trying to reach the Mayors Office for comment. We believe he may be on his way here. Of course, well try to bring you whatever we can from mayor de blasio as soon as possible. All right, guys. Thanks so much. Im going to go back to washington, d. C. Shimon, i think you have any
reporting coming in. What do you have . Yeah, kate. Obviously youre asking questions of whether or not the police are going to do any kind of briefing there. We dont know yet, but a little update here. Im told by officials in new york that they do expect to move this package within the hour. So it looks like theyre pretty optimistic theyll be close to a point where its safe enough to remove this package. Im told were probably going to see people either pushed further back or more street closures. Im told that the entire area is going to be frozen once they move this package and place it where we believe will be in this Containment Truck and driven to the bronx where The Bomb Squad is located. Then theyll probably detonate it there and start their investigation into really trying to figure out what this is. So just a small update there for folks that are out there and for our viewers so theyre aware we could see some movement here within the hour. Well see it here first, but
i will tell you from the angle were at, shimon, everyone is being kept far away for very good reason. I saw more vehicles go in just a short time ago. Unclear what it can tell us. I want to bring in josh gamble right now, former fbi agent. Can you hear me . Yeah, kate, ive got you loud and clear. Were here at the los angeles bureau. Theres obviously been a Security Presence at news outlets around the country. I just came in. There was a presence here of lapd officers. No indication of any threat, but it shows you how Law Enforcement around the country monitors these types of situations. They will provide resources as a precaution. As we look at our screen here, obviously weve seen a number of Police Officers that have been coming and going. Lets talk about what you see and what you dont see, kate. What were seeing on our screen right now is the threat mitigation phase. This is officers setting up a perimeter. Theyre attempting to obviously
mitigate any potential threat here. We saw earlier this bomb Disposal Chamber brought in by the new York City Police bomb squad, which will attempt to either render this device with safe or move it to a location where they can do so outside the vicinity of a large population. While thats going on, Behind The Scenes theres also the investigation thats going on right now. Obviously we know now of a number of events that are likely connected based on some of the reports were getting, at least reports suggest that. So that will be taking place right now also, while the Pointy End Of The Spear is on the screen trying to render this device safe. These Law Enforcement sources are trying to determine what clues they can find in these different crime scenes to figure out if they all point back to each other. Then obviously move to that phase to try to apprehend whoever the p