But again, this playing out within the last few minutes. And of course, nbc news is scrambling and well bring you the latest as we get it. Chuck . Some of the Foreign Press is describing this as grenade attacks meaning using hand grenades and automatic rifles. Again, just underline what david said, the nypd is talking with its counterparts overseas as always. And as a precaution, the french consulate and the French Embassy city landmarks will be secured by extra patrols tonight. And the situation is developing. When we get updates, well bring them to you. And 4 investigates is digging into a new revelation in this weeks deadly house explosion here in new jersey. We have learned a gas line breach is likely to blame, and gas crews were called to the house just one day before the blasts. So was a critical step missed somewhere . Thats what news 4s Brian Thompson is working to find out. Brian . Reporter yeah, and indeed, Elizabeth Town gas said a technician was here 24 hours or last before the blasts, never smelled in any gas. The company says their own equipment was working fine. Evidence pulled out of the rubble of this magnolia avenue duplex. I was actually thrown from my bed, had some things collapse on me. Reporter price owns the house next door, disturbed by what he heard from may the mayor. The gas company arrived monday morning and found that the unit was already receiving gas. Reporter heres what weve learned so far. Tenants move out in september. Gas turned off. A gas dryer removed from its connection. October 1st, new tenants. In the next few days, gas turned on by someone. Tuesday morning, this week, the gas Company Comes for an official turnon. Finds the gas already on. Tuesday afternoon, residents smell a gas odor but no emergency call is made. Wednesday morning, the explosion. The roof literally blown off. The top of this home. The company now says its technician did check its own equipment and all was fine. But theres no indication on whether it checked the tenants connections inside the apartment. What did they do when they arrived here and found out that the gas was already going through the unit . The gas companys going to have to answer. Reporter 4 investigates found in the past year, the state board of Public Utilities has received a total of 490 complaints about elizabethtown gas company, most dealing with service or billing issues. Six complaints were for gas leaks. But one source suggested is not an abnormal number. But for the owner of this home im just not satisfied with what ive heard. I think the gas company is definitely negligent. Reporter elizabethtown gas tells me it never received a leak call and says it is cooperating with the investigation, unable to comment on these accusations. As for the victims, many have been released. Only two remain in Critical Condition at the st. Barnabus burn unit though the explosion caused burns both inside and outside their bodies. When the explosion happens, there is heat released, and that heat can affect your breathing. Reporter now, as upset as the mayor is, he admits there are many possible ways gas could have leaked including from an illegal conversion of an apartment down on that ground floor behind the garage area. Something elizabethtown gas says its technician never knew about. Live, im Brian Thompson, news 4 new york. Were also following a brush fire thats been burning through part of Staten Island for hours. Crews just got control of this. Michael . Reporter yeah, chuck, police and fire still on the scene in large numbers. The worry is this brush fire could spread to homes right here in the area not far away. We just got word that this fire is finally under control. And we want to show you some video and pictures sent to us by viewers here on the scene just a short time ago. Fire that occurred in a brush area was the wind. The wind is pretty strong and kept this thing burning for about three hours. The fire started out as a fouralarm, quickly turned to a fivealarm. More than 170 firefighters were needed. Again, though this happened in a brush area, its not too far from homes here in oakwood beach. And so the concern was that this would spread. But again, those firefighters were able to get things under control just in the last half hour or so. Now theyre telling us that fire is out. There were no reports of any injuries, fortunately. Ht now firefighters are still on scene making sure this doesnt flare up again. At this point it seems like things are under control. Michael george, news 4 new york. Michael, thank you. Police say they traced the threat at a College Campus to a teen barely old enough to drive. It was marist. At kuz ed the accused, a 16yearold. Sheldon . Reporter chuck, so many people in this community are wondering what was going through this teenagers mind when he threatened the security here on campus. And tonight police are telling us that that teenager has been charged with making a terrorist threat. Its a felony charge. Marist college looked like a ghost town. A threat made on social media forced the campus to lock down. Honestly, i was in shock. Like i always feel so safe here on campus. And then hearing Something Like that was just, like, why would they target, you know, this amazing small school . Reporter spokesman for the college says these are the tweets that led to the lockdown. Posted by twitter user otf nunu. A 16yearold boy from poughkeepsie. He threatened in one of those tweets, brb, going to shoot up marist college. Marist canceled classes, urging students to stay in their dorm rooms until further notice. My roommate has marist alerts that woke us up and told us that we couldnt leave. I dont know, like, its, like, scary. Its sad. Like people will do this. Its a very scary thing as a college student. You just wait to see whats going on. With everything that goes on, with social media and act i have been shooting, youve got to take everything seriously. You know, you never know what could happen. Reporter Poughkeepsie Police kept an eye on the campus but later in the day they lifted that lockdown. Students were surprised to learn that a teenager was behind the threat. Thats crazy. He caused this huge uproar for no reason. 16yearold probably just messing around. Reporter and some students were concerned that the Mens Basketball Team would not be able to have thur their home opener because of that threat. That game and all other evening activities are still expected to go on as scheduled. Live at marist college, in poughkeepsie tonight, sheldon dutes, news 4 new york. Whats going on in paris right now, the reports of three separate attacks with as many as 18 dead right now, a number thats likely going to rise. There are also reports of hostages being taken. This is unconfirmed. Talking about maybe 60 hostages at this stadium. Lets go to david ushery who has been following all of the developments. Yeah, sibila and chuck, lets update the numbers. Were going to quote the Associated Press on this right now coming in that two Police Officials say at least 26 people now have been killed in shootings and explosions around paris. This is being described as the deadliest violence in france in decades. One of the Police Officials said 11 people were killed in a paris restaurant in the mall which is a very popular area, especially on a friday night. And about 15 were killed at a theater, and as sibila mentioned, there are reports of hostages being taken. Again, this is very fluid. Getting word of this within the last hour. These incidents are being reported at 10 00 p. M. Local time in trance. Again, a popular friday night. Officials arent confirming this quite frankly they are sorting through this. Again, we had heard that there were incidents near stadium where the french president , francois hollande. He has been tak aen safe and secure location. It is too soon to connect these dots to global events. But again, paris which has been the site of other terrorist activities now once again the site of violence and described as the deadliest violence in france in decades. Were keeping an eye on it. Keel stay right here. Nbc fully engaged. Just a word of caution now, when news of this nature breaks like this, it often changes as the day rolls on and we get more facts in. All of this were telling you is what we believe to be the case right now, whats being reported around the world and what were finding out. But mind you that this could change as the day progresses here. One of the worlds most bloodthirsty terrorists is believed to be dead. Jihadi john, the masked man who made gruesome isis videos was the target of a u. S. Drone strike. Jonathan dienst is tracking the details. A man referred to as one of the isis groups leading executioners is himself now dead. Translator the spark has been lit. Reporter with his knife and british accent, jihadi john taunted the world as he made isis videos, killing american journalists like james foley, steven sock kloff. Then came word last night conducted an airstrike. Reporter it was a u. S. Drone strike like this, taking out two men as they entered a car near raqqa, an isis stronghold. Born in kuwait, he grew up in britain before joining with isis with several others calling themselves isis north london boys. Britains prime minister. This was an act of selfdefense. It was the right thing to do. Reporter u. S. Military Officials Say the strike, a symbolic one. This guy was a human animal. And killing him is probably making the world a little bit better place. Reporter the family of james foley said they feel a little comfort. His death does not bring jim back. If only so much effort had been given to finding and rescuing him and the other hostages who were subsequently murdered by isis, they might be alive today. In northern iraq, kurdish fighters regained about 50 miles of isiscontrolled territory, but isis bombings in lebanon that killed more than 40 show the terror Group Continues its murderous ways. The terror Group Continuing its murderous ways just like lie ly now without the help of jihadi john. Weve been following this breaking news in paris where there have been multiple shootings and explosions. Of course, youre all over this as well. 26 people now confirmed dead. What are you hearing about wha were doing over here . Over here, the nypd is monitoring the situation. They are deploying some extra units as a precaution. And i presume as the night goes on, as we have seen in the past, youll see a bigger flood of police hitting the streets here just to reassure the public. But the polic officials ive been speaking with say no new threats to this area. But obviously they are monitoring things joer sea overseas. Fbi officials also monitoring these events. Again, this is just breaking in the last hour. So they are getting information in realtime, much of the information theyre getting is from the public news media as they monitor french media as to what is taking place there. But the fbi officials weve spoken with also tell us theres no new threat information to the new york, new jersey area at this time. But their jttfs are monitoring the situations as they are progressing. And the nypd operates a global antiterror operation. Theyve got people in france right now, right . And so does the fbi. There are legal attaches for the fbpei. You have nypd officers in europe, in constant communication with the authorities over there. So they are getting updates in realtime. But right now the concern is, was this an organized terror attack as it appears, three stadium, a concert hall, a restaurant with more than two dozen reported dead now. Again, as you said, this is all preliminary. The details can and might change. But there are reports of explosions. Some sort of incendiary devices or bombs being used reports of automatic weapons fire at some of these locations. So clearly the concerh is that this is some sort of orchestrated terror attack. Perhaps carried out by isis or al qaedatype followers. Weve seen it before in france. Tcant jump to conclusions until you find out who the shooters are and what their motivations were. But obviously, that has to be a leading theory, given the world situation tutt. At this time. And obviously Police Responding there is some concern that in that concert hall that there may there may be hostages, dozens if the terrorists hands at this point. That is a concern. Theyre going to have to either begin negotiations or try to go in there and save people if there are hostages, in fact, being held. And obviously, as you see these images from the stadium that has been evacuated after whatever shootings took place in and around that stadium where there are reports that leading government officials were attending and had to be whisked to safety. The reports that i read said that they went off outside the stadium, and people were told not to leave the stadium. They were kept in there for a while. As you see, the evacuations. Obviously police confident enough that at least to clear those stands areas, it looks like tons of media and as well as spectators down on the field perhaps for safety and there you see players sort of in the runway to the stadium there. Yeah, looks rather like theyve moved everybody onto the field, doesnt it . I wouldnt say everybody because it was a packed stadium. So wa the question is, you know, where did they evacuate people to . You know, you have the hallways in the back. But obviously, youve got to secure the perimeter of that stadium. Youve got to search in and around for whoever carried out youve got to worry about this apparent concerg hall with perhaps a shooter o shooters there along with whatever took place in the restaurant nearby. And whether these were active shooters moving from one place to another to another or whether this was a coordinated effort with separate groups moving in different locations. Obviously that is something thats going to have to be looked into. This comes just one day after the u. S. Reported taking t jihadi john. And you wonder if this was a coordinaa d attack, it had to be planned. But if that ulled the trigger. You never know. I mean, as with the law enrforcement experts ive spoken with and the terror experts, is there ever a good time, and is there ever an anniversary . Is there ever a motivating factor . The fact is these dedicated terrorists if thats what happened here in par y are dedicated to attacking the west and there is never a good time, and thats why they are on running 365 days a year. We have the increased conunterterror pa rols in this city, given the nature of the threat that exists out there. We have known this since at least 9 11, if not before that in terms of the nature of the threat of these big cities, these nations are facing. And, you know, the rampup, we will see some of that here. Vi concern is whats happening over there rire ht now. Thixe t nonintelligence, thiny to suggest any threat or plot here inside the u. S. That being said, weve also seen numerous roundups in recent months of isisinspired lone wolf actors here, in new york, in new jersey, across this country who have been motivated through the isis movement, through whats been put online, e social media, to try to carry out attacks there and increasingly this group has been calling for, if you cannot come to syria and iraq and carry out attacks here with us, do it so it remains a majosh major concern and real concern obviously that that could be could be the motive for what is happening inside paris at this hour. Youve spoep ken to people in the past that said its not a matter of if but when. And thats what could be happening right now, and i was going to ask you about jihadi john and whether there was connection. But chuck got to that. We also were talking about an unconfirmed hostage situation. Where would that be taking place . Is it the stadium or is it the concert . I dont have the map at least what we were hearing from french media reports and i believe sky news was also one of the organizations, theres a concert hall. I believe theres actually an American Band is the report that was performing there when this attack targeted that concert hall in addition to the soccer stadium and unclear to me in terms of the restaurant where it took place. Were getting the latest numbers from the Associated Press that is now reporting the death toll is rising. Perhaps as many as 35 now reported dead. So this is going to be a major, Major Incident. You know, and unfortunately, it appears to be ongoing. And this is, you know, a nightmare scenario. The active shooter situation in multiple locations, how do you, as a Law Enforcement and open society handled this, respond to this, and what kind of response do you bring to bear when there are innocent civilians whose lives are at risk while you have armed shooters carrying out what appears to be a major terror attack . And these locations are precisely wh at weve been worried about in this country, too. You have a theater, a restaurant, the stadium. Targets of opportunity for terrorists where they can do an awful lot of damage . Well, you look at any weve seen here in new york the times square anywhere where you have people who gather is a concern for Law Enforcement, whether it be a conce hall,ndo stadium. Weve seen at all of the sports stadiums, you get frisked before you go in by the security to make sure you have no weapons. And certainly at major events like the super bowl, we see extraordinary and the world series, extraordinar security brought to bear to ensure that these events go smoothly, safely. So again, presumably the pa risian law enfor ament officials try to take similar precautions, throwing the threat that exists out there. But again, youre only as good as your intelligence. And this is a small cell that was not directed and acted on its own and came up with this plot on its own, its very hard to detect and to stop. What do we know about what the french intelligence did after Charlie Hebdo . Did they ramp things up . They certainly did. There was criticism because some of the suspects in that case were on a watch list and were known to authorities before. There were other incidents where folks were known. The problem in europe more so than whats here in the u. S. Is, one, the population here is not as assimilated as it is here. Thats part one. And part two, there are so many radical suspects out there who they are trying to monitor. They just dont have the resources to monitor all f them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and to try to keep an eye on them. So they have to make their best judgments, their best guess as to which group, which cell, which radical person who went online espousing hate for the west, which ones theyre going to look for or morton e monitor. I think were seeing right now i dont know, can the ntrol tell me about the source of the video is were getting now . Is this French Television . Okay. I think were seeing four locations pointed out right here on French Television. Why dont we drop the banner for a second. Yeah, it looks like actually five locations pointed out. Well, thats the stadium of france at the very top. Actually thats six if you count them, six different locations. I dont know if that means there were more locations where there were attacks or simply letting people know relatively where the attacks took place. But this is if im understanding correctly this is live French Television as theyre covering nonstop, covering these attacks in paris. And just one point to the New York Times reporting that some of the shootings occurred right here the headquarters of the Charlie Hebdo magazine which was the target, as you remember, this is the satirical magazine that published photos or sketches, drawings, cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that the radicals found extremely offensive and decided to carry out the attack. Now it appears at least some of the shootings that took place took place right here the headquarters of that satirical magazine. Whether theres a link, far too soon to know. But coincidence, at the very least. All right. John, well keep you here. In the meantime, we do want to go to david ushery. He has some details and an update on the possible hostage situation out there in paris. David . Yes, sibila, im sorry. We were trying and trying to Work Information here. Were still getting details in. There is a Police Source that has the figure that there are at least 100 hostages now in that theater that weve been talking about. A paris theater, and ive seen a reference to it. Its been on that map there as well. So 100 hostages. Again, as chuck pointed out earlier, these numbers likely to change. Police officials are trying to keep it updated. 35 dead. We see that. Thats the latest figure weve had. And unfortunately, it may change. It may increase. But multiple locations, as jonathan has described. This is a situation that is ongoing and fluid. And right now, theres no indication that paris police have a grip on it or that is to say they have control of whats going on right now. But as we understand it from the a. P. , there is a Police Official saying around 100 hostages at a paris theater. All right, david, thank you very much. Im looking here at something online. And were looking at a report that at least 40 people were killed now. Several shootings and explosions in central paris on friday. The band that was playing, there were two gunmen firing at least 20 shots in that concert hall you were talking about. And the band, the eagles of death, a u. S. Band, were playing there when the attack happened. And again, this report also indicates there may be as many as 100 concertgoers still being held hostage in that concert hall. The french authorities certainly have their hands full right now if this is the circumstance. Hostages at one place, attacks at multiple locations. In a situation like this, obviously the world is watching. Is there anything that we can do . Obviously were trying to coordinate intelligence with them out there, but physically do to help them out, not just us but obviously their surrounding countries in europe. All of the intelligence agencies are obviously digging into their files, putting up, listening carefully, going back over any sources and methods to try to find out who and what. Right now the immediate crisis at hand is what is most concerning. And obviously, on top of the shooting incident and the hostages, there are reports out of paris that there were at least two explosions near the soccer stadium. Again, suggesting unclear what kind of devices, but again, the death toll continuing to climb. At first we heard it was 11 dead. Then it passed 20. Now the Associated Press reporting 35 dead and along with 60 to 100 hostages apparently taken in a concert hall. This is, you know, apparently a coordinated series of attacks in the heart of paris on a friday night with innocent civilians being targeted in what appears and again, just to reassure some of the viewers that are watching right here that are probably thinking, you know, what could happen here in the united states. Weve spoken with the top nypd officials, top fbi officials who say as of now, there is no threat to our area, to our region. As a precaution, they are monitoring events overseas. They are in constant communication, getting realtime updates. And as a precaution, youll probably see some ramping up of nypd resources across the city as a precaution in certain locations. The French Mission to the u. N. Perhaps other diplomatic posts. Perhaps other landmarks or places along where there are numerous restaurants or bistros in town. Just as a precaution. Youve got to remember, the nypd already has 1,000 Police Officers assigned to counterterrorism every day in this city. So were already at our rampedup heightened state of alert given the nature of the threat that we face. But they respond and adjust time to time based on what is happening in world events. And obviously this is one major event that they need to be paying very close attention to until they get a better grip on exactly what is happening. But it appears for now for now it appears to be confined to paris, although it is a major, Major Incident and series of incidents in that city. Apparently that number has now increased from 35 to now 40 dead. Thats one report i saw here. We cant, again, guarantee any of these numbers, but these are this is the immediate coverage. There are news organizations that are reporting this, and we have one report here, this one happened to be the new york post. Its reporting 40 dead now, their latest information. Standing by right now at the french consulate in manhattan. Bryn. Reporter yeah, chuck, within the last ten minutes or so, weve seen two excuse me, nypd officers come here and stand post right in front of the french consulate. Of course, we know that there are also nypd officers and other highlevel authorities going to other areas at usually high risk for any sort of suspicious activity. And that is sort of the protocol that happens when these things happen overseas as we saw with the Charlie Hebdo incident also in paris. But here at the french consulate, no one has come outside or said anything. Its actually rather quiet here. We just have those two officers standing post, making sure that everything is okay. But of course, we know that there are going to be teams across the city. As soon as we get updates, jo sayinathan say there has not been any threats right now, but the nypd is monitoring along with the fbi, but certainly here it is all clear, were good here and weve got two officers standing post. Back to you. Thank you very much. Jonathan, you were talking a little bit earlier about the fact that in a sense, in france, they have a more difficult time than we have here trying to monitor the situation because they have a larger Muslim Population . And they dont the Muslim Population is not assimilated as well in france . Both economically, culturally the opportunities here in the u. S. And assimilation that takes place in the u. S. , arguably, is much better for immigrants than in some of these european countries. And that has been part of some of the difficulty both economic, social, cultural that has been roiling europe. Weve seen this in britain. Weve seen this in france. And, you know, the issue now is who are these suspects . How are they going to stop them . And if youve had multiple simultaneous or near simultaneous attacks in this city now, what might be happening in other french cities . I would imagine across that country, the entire nation is being put every major city is being put on a state of alert because just because its paris now, the question is, is there anything else thats going to come there that they need to worry about . As were seeing, a modest rampup here in new york as a precaution. In paris, there will or in france, there is probably a major ramping up all across that country in various villages and cities. All right. I want to point out now that we dont want to really thoroughly presume this is a terror attack carried out by jihadis. That is correct. We do not know it has all the earmarks of it, both the weaponry and the tactics, all of earmarks of it. We have not had that confirmed yet. And that is a very important distinction and reminder to make because if you remember after the Oklahoma City bombing here in the u. S. , the initial suspicion was that it was radical islamic terrorists, and it turned out to be homegrown domestic terror. Right. So you dont know until, you know, the officials come out and formally identify who the suspects are. But given the history, given the climate and the threats that have been made, it is a normal concern, a normal theory to have out there. All right. Jonathan, we do have congressman peter king on the phone with us right now. Thanks so much for being with us