All that can be done. They have various plans that go into operation right away. They assume the worst, and thats how you avoid the worst. They have 1,000 police dedicated to counterterrorism. And they will be used appropriately i would say starting probably an hour ago, doing all that can be done. So while we always have to be concerned when youre in new york, you also can be reassured that you have the best Police Department protecting you. Congressman king, is there something that we arent doing that we could be doing to defend ourselves as a nation against this . Chuck, yeah, to me its part of a larger effort. I think we should be doing more overseas as far as going after isis to put them more on defense than we are right now. I think the person that may be doing some of that lately, the fact that we saw a city being taken back from isis in northern iraq, the killing of jihad john, i think we also to be mindful of whats going on here in the United States and not be apologizing for it. Some of the restrictions that have been on the nypd and fbi cause some concern. Having said that, i dont want to be alarming anyone because the nypd, no matter what the situation is, they can get it done. They are monitoring whatever has to be done right now. All right. Peter king, thank you very much. Thank you. For joining us. We appreciate it. I saw there was a banner up on our screen a moment ago, i dont speak french, but i did see 60 morts, 60 dead on the banner. Yes, i can see it right there. Anybody here speak french . I do a little bit. Can you read that, jonathan . The series of attacks in paris, near the stadium of france, has at least 60 dead, and dozens injured, i believe is the translation there. That is my best effort after all right. Well, it looked good to me. While were talking about this, periodically the french coverage of this has thrown up that map of six locations, and i have not yet gotten an answer about why were looking at six locations because weve been talking about exactly. If we can get the newsroom working on that to see if we can find out why French Television keeps emphasizing six locations, that might be helpful. And also, when we first saw that graphic, it showed three, and then it went to four, and now six. So its as if something is happening. On the maps . Yeah, on the maps. Definitely want to get that information in. So if youre just joining us now, as you can see on your television now, there has been quite a terrible evening on this friday evening in paris where there are attacks in multiple locations, reported attacks with both automatic weaponry, in some reports described as Ka Kalashnikovs and grenades or other explosive devices in multiple locations. The three we know about are a restaurant, a theater where there was a concert going on with an american heavy metal band apparently playing at the time, and also a soccer stadium where there was a soccer game between germany and france going on. Were showing obviously some earlier parts. This may be when it happened. Lets watch and just see if theyre looking at this in france. Replaying the point when the explosions s s went off. This is sort of a repetitive video going on. Im not quite sure what this is. Maybe theyre hearing the audio. Im not quite sure. Lets listen. Oh, yes. You hear an explosion. You can just hear an explosion there. There it is. Thats what they picked up the explosion in the coverage of the game. And this is just loopings you can see right now. Theyre playing it over and over on French Television right now hear the explosion when the assault happened at the soccer stadium in paris. That was one of the cases. Now, the number of dead, as we saw on the screen there, that was in france, theyre reporting 60 dead. 60 dead. Well, we need to be clear on that, too, because the bbc, for example, with that number 60 is saying its 60 hostages and the bbc is now reporting just 15 dead, but the number is climbing. So perhaps theyre not as caught up with others. I think the number we have is 35 dead. About that. At least nbc quoting the a. P. Has 35 dead and at least 60 hostages along with dozens of people possibly injured. The bbc reporting that there are their own reporters and witnesses are reporting as many as 10 to 12 injured people lying in the streets near this bar near the soccer stadium where the explosion happened where at least one gunman armed with an automatic or semiautomatic rifle and dozens of rounds fired. That according to this bbc report. So youre going to have shooting victims. Youre going to perhaps have people injured from whatever explosions were set off. The bbc reporting there were at least three explosions near the bar, near this soccer stadium along with the whole separate nearby hostagetaking situation at a concert hall where, again, at least 60, perhaps as many as 100 people inside a concert hall being held by gunmen. I would imagine that that is probably the scariest thing that they have to deal with right now because thats the immediate, and thats the unknown, whats happening with these people. And we have seen i believe, a few years back, there was the russian theater where the terrorists took over the theater. And it was a violent ending in terms of the troops going in as the terrorists s the innocent civilians inside. So it is a very, very difficult situation. Obviously, Law Enforcement and Security Forces train for these kinds of scenarios for these responses, for these eventualities, but, you know, now they are going to need to put all that training to work to try to go in and save as many people as possible. And thats extremely difficult when you have suicidal terrorists in charge. Its very difficult. The school, the russian school, remember that, where so many children were killed by terrorists who held them hostage in there for a while, and the assault was there was not successful. Right. Chuck, you have been doing this so many years, obviously more than 40 years. You have seen some of the craziest situations including, you know, what happened here during 9 11. Have you ever seen anything quite like this, paris under siege . This is a bit reminiscent of 9 11. Not on the skate cale, obviously. That was a sudden shock with the aircraft flying into the twin towers and the island of manhattan being shut down and suddenly it was terribly chaotic. But this may im sure the french feel this is their 9 11 right now. Yeah. The scale of the attacks, the coordination of the attacks, paris, im certain, is locked down now. And nothing there is no normal life going on right now in paris as they try to save lives and track down the terrorists and find out how large the plot was. We didnt know on 9 11 how large it was. We didnt know. We didnt know when the attacks happened here if there were other terrorists, other attacks in the wings. And we didnt know for days that that was the end of the threat. So in france, theyre going to be doing the same thing. They dont know whats going to happen next right now. And you can bet that all the resources of the republic of france are devoted to deterring that. Clearly, they have a lot on their hands. We do want to go back to david ushery whos been following the situation as well. David . Sibila, the president has been briefed by his Homeland Security advisers, and we understand now that he will make a statement at 5 45, a few minutes from now, and you can understand why because in the face of this, which we still dont know the full magnitude of it yet, theres obviously going to be concern. Paris has been the site of prior terrorist attacks. Again, officially we dont know whether these attacks are coordinated, but as jonathan and chuck and sibila have been discussing, there are indications which would suggest so. And in fact, reuters quotes u. S. Security officials as saying they believe the attacks were coordinated. And again, we dont have that affirmed because this is still unfolding. Again, multiple attacks. The explosion which we heard there in the video could be heard at the soccer match between germany and france. Also an ongoing hostage situation. The numbers tend to fluctuate anywhere from 60 to 100 hostages. The numbers of the dead continue to fluctuate. Weve heard at least 36. Weve heard higher numbers. Again, its going to change. French officials on the ground there kind of reporting this information with multiple media outlets, trying to get it. And three shootings. Three separate shootings at popular locations in france. The french president , francois hollande, was at the soccer match. Hes been evacuated. Hes said to be safe. Again, this situation fluid, ongoing. President obama expected to address our nation here in a few minutes, chuck, sibila. All right, david, thank you very much. And we continue to watch this video out of French Television, and the numbers continue to change as we look at this. And there are some french media reports now quoting witnesses that at least one of the gunmen was screaming in arabic god is great. Al akbar as this attack took place. That is unconfirmed but that is what some witnesses are telling french media. These same french media reports ar now raising the death toll moment ago, chuck, 39 is the number in some french media repouss with dozens wounded, dozens of others believed to be held hostage in a concert hall. The french president was at the soccer stadium at the time that the explosions went off outside that nearby bar fear the soccer stadium. We were told he has been rushed to safety and is okay. Again, the investigation continuing into who is behind this attack. And obviously, the speculation has to be there given the struk on j adi john. The icist terrorist, whether there are sleeper cells in paris that were activated, the timing, perhaps just coincidental. Lots of questions, not enough answers. Were just an hour and 45 minutes or so into this attack. Were going to have generalities. Lots of thee dial taz will change over time because you taking place with people being ordered off the streets of paris as police are responding en masse to deal with this major ongoing crisis. You have to understand that if, indeed, the trigger was the attack on jihadi john, the drone attack, that the logistics of the attack we saw in paris, multiple locations, weapons, explosives, had to be in place. You cani organize Something Like that in 24 hours. Sleeper cells is a concern. Weve had focused a lot in recent time here in new york on the lone wolf actor because ere was a belief, at least here, that our intelligence is good enough, the resources are now in place, and there arent that many, comparatively speaking, who would be able to organize some sort of cell. And as we saw with the isis group in new york and new jersey, when they did try to form, wh they did try to get weapons, the fbi moved in and they dont wait very long. Theyre not taking any chances. When they have enough evidence to arrest and charge, they move and they do that h re. Again, the problem overseas in paris is lone actors or cells, you have a much larger pool of radicals, still a very small mi nority, a tiny minority of the pulation, but still a number big enough that is extremely hard for Law Enforcement to track all of them. And obviously, in the days and weeks ahead after the initial crisis passes here, the question will be who are these guys . Wh did you know about before hand beforehand . Al lkis is premature. Right now you have worry about the safety and security of that city, of that country and what else might be out there and ge tting things under control. There are also implications here for the refugee crisis going on right now. Pouring into europe. This has been controversial anyway right now, but if this proves to be, as the evidence continues to pile up here, proves to be a massive terror attack by jihadis, i think yokaure going to see more friction over the reception for legitimate refugees flee ing ing the homeland. And you have a movement in france on the right that is not tolerant of this immigration issue in paris and takes a very tough hostile line to this and the question is what does an event like this do to the politics of thatnation . But right now, again, the standoff continues. Continues at this time. Okay, were going to go to a special report right now with lester holt. Lets go to that right now. This is an nbc news special report. Heres lester holt. And good evening from new york. We continue to follow the breaking story in paris where there are multiple attacks that have been under way, shootings, explosions. There is a report from French Television as many as 60 people have been killed. There are also reports of an ongoing hostage situation at a concert hall. Perhaps as many as 100 people held hostage there. Were expecting to hear from president obama in just a few minutes. But before we go to the white house for hi statement, lets go to nbcs Kelly Cobiella monitoring all this from our london bureau. Kelly . Lester, we understand this started around 2 1 2 hours ago, apparently coordinated attacks throughout the city of paris started with a shooting at a paris restaurant. 11 killed there. Then two explosions heard at a bar outside the French National soccer stadium a little bit outside of the city. The president of france, president hollande, was at that soccer match. And germany. He was quickly taken away and taken to a safe place and into an emergency meeting. A third incident in paris at the concert hall where a concert was being held performed by an american band. At least 15 killed. That is where there is this ongoing hostage situation as we speak. Anywhere from 60 to 100 people held hostage inside that concert hall. And lester, were hearing now of a fourth incident in central paris. Zbha we heres president obama. Attacks across paris tonight. Once again, weve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians. This is an attack not just on paris. Its an attack not just on the attack on all of humanity and the univer l values that we share. We stand prepared and ready to provide whatever assistance that the government and the people of france need to respond. France is our oldest ally. The french people have stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States time and again. We want to be very clear that we stand together with them in the fight against terrorism and extremism. Paris itself represents the timeless values of human progress. Those who think that they can terrorize the people o france for the values that they stand for are wrong. The American People draw strength from the french peoples commitment to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. Tragedy that the bonds of liberte and legalite are not only values that the french people care so deeply about but they are values that we share. And those values are going to endure far beyond any act of terrorism or the hateful vision of those who perpetrated the crimes this evening. Were going to do whatever it takes to work with the french people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people. We dont yet know all the details of what has happened. We have been in contact with french officials to communicate our deepest condolences to the families of those who have been killed, to offer our prayers and thoughts to those who have been wounded. We have offered our full support to them. The situation is still unfolding. Ive chosen not to call president hollande at this time because my expectation is that hes very busy at the moment. I actually, by coincidence, was talking to him earlier today in preparation for the g20 meeting. But i am confident that ill be in direct communications with him in the next few days and will be coordinating in any ways the investigation of whats happened. This is a heartbreaking situation, and obviously those of us here in the United States know what its like. Weve gone through these kinds of episodes ourselves. And whenever these kinds of attacks happened, weve always been able to count on the french people to stand with us. They have been an extraordinary counterterrorism partner, and we that same fashion. Im sure that in the days ahead, well learn more about exactly what happened, and my teams will make sure that we are in communication with the press to provide you accurate information. I dont want to speculate at this point in terms of who was responsible for this. It appears that there may still be live activity and dangers that are taking place as we speak. And so until we know from french officials that the situations under control and we have more information about it, i dont want to speculate. Okay . Thank you very much. President obama acknowledge ing the concern about whats happening right now in france. But notably has not contacted his counterpart in france, still dealing now with what were hearing four different locations of attacks in the paris capital, in the french capital. The last, the fourth one that recently about the shopping area in paris where there has apparently been more attacks. There was the hostage taking at a concert hall, a shooting at a restaurant, and explosions outside a football or soccer stadium. Nbcs ron allen is in the White House Briefing room there. Ron, can you tell us whats been happening there over the last couple of hours in terms of what the president has been learning and what the white house has been learning . Reporter well, interestingly, he had a conversation with the french president this morning because there is a g20, a major summit of the worlds wealthiest nations coming up this weekend in turkey. The president is set to head off there tomorrow. We asked if his plans will change. Obviously, he didnt want to answer that at this point because the events are still unfolding. But clearly, global terrorism will be an issue on that agenda now much higher on the agenda. The event will actually happen a few hundred miles from the Syrian Border in a turkish mediterranean town. Here, the president , of course, monitoring the situation. Hes been in touch with his advisers, obviously. Earlier today there was a meeting with the former National Security experts, former secretaries of state. The issue there was the president s trade initiative, the Transpacific Trade Partnership which is he is trying to push on this trip as well. But certainly the issue of isis and the attack earlier announced earlier today on jihad john and the other developments there in iraq and syria, no doubt on the agenda. The president certainly trying to get as much input and information and advice, probably. But here events still unfolding and well see what comes next. Back to you. Ron allen, thank you. Back to Kelly Cobiella. And kelly, as i go to you, that last casualty figure we heard of 60 dead, that is coming from French Television, correct . Correct, lester. Thats from bfmtv, a paris media outlet. Theyre reporting 60 dead, in the fourth, a Shopping Mall in central paris. That number has not been confirmed by french authorities. In fact, the French Police number is slightly lower at 35 dead. But still, extraordinary and sad numbers here, lester. Including that hostage situation which is still ongoing at the paris theater. The badaclan where an american rock band was playing tonight. We dont have a clear number on how many gunmen may be inside or how many hostages may be held. We have numbers anywhere from 60 to 100 inside that theater. And others who were killed in the initial attack, reports of at least 15 killed in the initial attack on that theater. So once again, lester, the details are changing almost by the moment. Still no Firm Information on the now in central paris. Lester . And this, of course, follows the trauma of last january, the attack of the offices of Charlie Hebdo newspaper and the terror that followed there. This city, paris, no stranger to this kind of terror. But certainly never, in recent history, on this scale. No one is officially connecting the dots, but lets put it in perspective. All this comes about two weeks after the bombing of a russian plane over egypt, possibly by isis. Thats still being investigated. Of course, yesterdays twin suicide bombings in beirut. Isis claiming responsibility for that. And it comes just the night after the u. S. Took out the jihadist known as jihadi john. The infamous isis executioner. He was taken out by a u. S. Drone yesterday. No one officially connecting any of those dots, but to give you some perspective of the environment right now, certainly in the middle east and certainly weve seen these sorts of things play out in france before. Again, as we had noted, the president making the statement a short time ago acknowledging he does not have a lot of specific information from france. They obviously have their hands filled at this moment. The hostage taking, trying to get a handle on where and when all this stops. This is still breaking as were on the air. These are the pictures coming in from different parts of paris right now of the Security Services now scrambling to different locations, sealing different areas off. The first two attacks were in the 10th and 11th and forgive my pronunciation, the districts just to the north northeast of central paris. Again, more pictures here that are coming in. Two explosions outside the soccer stadium. And then you see theres the shots from outside the restaurant. Were continuing to put all this together. We are going to have full extensive coverage. And we see just a short time here on the east coast for nbc nightly news. As events warrant. For now, im lester holt. Nbc news new york. News 4 new york begins with breaking news. Good evening once again, im chuck scarborough. And im sibila vargas. We continue to follow this breaking news of the deadly attacks in paris. Were getting conflicting reports on the number of dead. According to French Police if you were watching lester, about 35 people have been killed so far. Confirmed in shootings and explosions there. There are other reports of french media of 60 being killed so far. There was one the explosions, two of them outside a soccer stadium, but one of them loud enough to be heard over that stadium full of soccer fans. Listen. And there are also reports of hostages being taken. The multiple attacks have all the hallmarks of a terrorist attack but no group has yet claimed responsibility for this. And the situation is unfolding. Information keeps coming in and were continuing our coverage. Brynn at the french consulate. We begin with our jonathan dienst with the latest on whats happening in paris. Jonathan. What we know is that these are a series of attacks, four. We believe there are numerous gunmen armed with automatic or semiautomatic rifles. There were several explosions set off and that the main concern now obviously is that there are dozens of hostages potentially being held inside this theater and that the french Law Enforcement and Security Forces are doing their best to deal with that situation while still dealing with an enormous crowd that had to be secured and protected at that soccer stadium which included the french president who had needed to be escaped or taken away to safety as they now look into who is behind this. Here in the u. S. , here in new york, we have spoken with top jttf officials, top police officials. All tell us there is no threat to new york, new jersey. At this time no intelligence to voice any concern here. Everything is happening over there. As a precaution, the nypd will boost up some security around this city at certain sites, certain landmarks as a precaution. But the worry for now is what is happening in paris where the death toll ranges, French Police putting out the number 35. French media reporting that that number has now grown to 60. There are reports of literally bodies in the street of dead and wounded of victims who have been shot at a restaurant. Victims who have been shot outside that stadium. Victims who have been shot at a Shopping Mall. This is a coordinated series of attacks. Who is to blame . Unclear. Unconfirmed reports from witnesses say they heard people screaming, the shooter screaming al akbar, god is great. Again, we do not who or what group is responsible for this shooting. That major part of the investigation just getting started. Why . They need to know, were there sleeper cells sitting in paris . Were there terror groups inside paris ready to strike, and were they triggered by an event . And what is the event that happened in the last 24 hours . A wellknown british terrorist named jihadi john was killed by an american drone strike inside syria. He is the man who has been known to behead american and other western reporters and aid workers in gruesome videos. Speculation at this point. Thats all it is. There is nothing to say that theres a direct connection there. But the concern remains that there is some sort of terror group inside paris, inside france. That activated tonight and carried out a series of shootings and bombings, and this, as you said, chuck, earlier, support something that happened spur of the moment. It does require some planning,