ii want to remind folks we watching this press conference in rochester. up and going get any moment now. as soon as it does, i ll bring it you to. we re seeing people walk out now. we ll continue this conversation until they get started. i want to go to you on this one, if it ends up with scotus we re going to go in, guys. let s go, to rochester. the arson task force is police detectives, fire investigators, and atf. it is also a normal part of the task force. they have been conducting extensive investigation into the tragedy that occurred on new year s eve outside the kodak theater on west ridge road. the following is a synopsis of the information we have learned thus far. ited must be noted we are still gathering information and all of this is preliminary. all evidence point to the suspect as 35-year-old michael avery from the syracuse, new york, area. the suspect passed away last
meanwhile, we know that we re getting the first look of the devastation as the sun started to rise this morning in japan. we re seeing homes and buildings that have been flattened, private roads and streets that buckled. some neighbors returning back home to get a first look at what s left. right now the focus for these officials on the ground now is this race against time to try and save anybody who is alive underneath the rubble. all right, meagan fitzgerald, thank you. captain john cox, thank you as well sir. appreciate it. we re also following everybody this breaking news in new york, any minute now we re expect a news conference out of rochester. officials there to give an update on the deadly new year s day crash that killed two people. we know the fbi is assisting the rochester police department in the investigation saying gasoline canisters were found in and around one of these vehicles. jim cavanaugh, retired atf special agent in charge here to talk about this. two peopl
outside of a concert venue. i want to bring back msnbc contributor and o retired atf special agent in charge jim cavanaugh. we were speaking a couple of minutes ago. we now have more information, we re n learning the suspect intentionally drove his vehicle through a group of pedestrians, striking a ride share vehicle first, possibly saving many mor lives because of that. what do youli make of what we jt heard? well, it is interesting, the officers and the chief doesn t have anyhe really political motivations that are up front. oftentime terrorist groups, they want to claim credit and so they can cause fear.ey so that s the reason they want to announce they did it. we re not seeing anything like that right now. we re not seeing some sign of a large bomb here, yasmin. this is not a high explosive device. it appears maybe from watching the videos and looking at the pictures that the actor started the fire in the vehicle, probably from all these gas cans, and then he rammed the car
ongoing investigation, and additional information may be developed. we re going to share his photo today and ask that anyone with additionalth information about thison tragedy or about the suspect s motivation please contact the rpd major crimes unit at 428-7157. there is also an email and this will be ono the written releas when we put it out. majorcrimes@cityofrochester.gov. mayor evans will say a few words and i ll come back and take a few questions. just let me again reiterate my thanks to our law enforcement partners and o to the rochester police department, rochester fire department, fbi, atf, all our partners here, for their work on f this unfortunate case. as the chief said, there are still many unanswered questions. we hope to continue to provide updates as we have them. i have been getting inundated with questions as to why this
nazi flag seized after a u-haul truck crashed into the white house security barriers. a law enforcement official tells nbc news that the suspect made threatening statements about the white house. joining us now, nbc s ryan nobles and jim cavanaugh, retired atf special agent in charge. ryan, what exactly happened, what are you learning, what do we know about the driver? reporter: yeah, ana, let me first show you exactly what the scene looks like right now. you can see these tire tracks here beneath me. this is where the u-haul came crashing into this barrier right here in front of lafayette park. you can see just how close this is to the white house. we re only about a block away. and this was a pretty substantial size u-haul and the concern in the meet aftermath was what was inside the u-haul and that forced security officials to clear a whole swath of area around lafayette park, they ended up evacuating a hotel nearby, just while they investigated to make sure that the security situ