Today show is nearby, savannah, what are you seeing and what are you learning . Reporter im standing on the corner of greenwich saand chambers. Its near the west side highway. And theres a bike path. Im with probably 100 people or more just sitting on the corner, not being permitted to go through. Theres a lot of police sirens. I just saw one of those big nypd hostage negotiation vans go through, im not suggested that its a hostage situation, but its the kind of Emergency Vehicle you might see in a situation like this. But theres plenty of police activity. This is a very residential area of tribecca. I was just about to pick up my daughter from school and take my kids trick or treating. This is an area that would have been filled with kids leaving school. My pastors son goes to school right here at p. S. 289. I heard from his mom that he heard gunshots and ran all the way home. Thats all i know at this point. But this seems like an active scene. New york city is known for its rapid response, can you describe if you have the sense that people are still rushing to the scene, or if they have already reporter youre cutting out a little bit, but it is absolutely it seems to be an all hands on deck situation with regards to the First Responders, i see ambulances over there, i see police vans, im about a block away so my Vantage Point isnt great. This is more and more people and a lot of us are schools and preschools, my daughters school, theyre all on lockdown and not allowed to leave. They put the kids in the basement because no one knew what exactly was going on. Im seeing police chase and that kind of thing. Obviously more questions than answers at this point. A moment ago i smelled someone that smelled a little bit like burned rubber. Now it seems to be have dissipated. Its just confusing here and everyone is wondering whats happening over there. Theres a bike path, theres a school right there. Its not far from the river, its not far from the World Trade Center. But as new york city blocks go, its not close, its not right there. So anyway, nicole. Thats the best i can tell you right now. Savannah, stay with us, were going to add louis bergdorff, could you describe what youre seeing . Reporter yeah, i was standing just outside of my building, its where canal street really meets the west side highway. Moments after this truck plowed down the bike path, you could see cyclists and pedestrians badly injured. Emergency responders were very quick on to the scene and they were there trying to work on people, there was one woman giving a cyclist cpr just on the ground there, and it looked like it had started blocks north of where i was. Even as far north as i think west howston street, and seemed to stretch very far south as well. So it seemed like this went on for an extremely long time, and in the beginning, First Responders were literally combing through the brush thats just along the bike path on the west side highway to see if they could see pedestrians or anyone hurt in the brush there. So it was a terrifying scene to say the least and it looks like theyre still people are still trying to figure out what exactly happened here. Louis, you said you saw a truck plowed down the bike path . Did you see it . Reporter i came to the scene just moments after it passed but there were a lot of people standing in the middle of west side highway, construction workers that were working at a nearby building that were giving me that eyewitness kind of account. We have a picture up right now, louis, of the after math of what you described, badly damaged bicycles on that path and members of nypd walking along that scene youre describing. Youre describing what sounds like triage, people evaluating the injured. Reporter it was triage, and the first to arrive at the scene were Police Officers and there were Police Officers on the ground with victims doing their best to help them. And like i said, the one cyclist who was right in front of where i was standing, seemed to be very, very badly injured and they were performing cpr on him, you know, three Police Officers were there with one, looked like a paramedic or emt, ambulances had not arrived on the scene yet and they were trying to bring this person back to life. Just terrifying and very difficult to watch. Louis, do you have the sense, i mean i cant hear any ambulances of the back ground of your shot, but do you have a sense if the First Responders have transported the victims to area hospitals . Or are you still hearing and seeing ambulances leaving the scene . Reporter ambulances have been coming and going and i did witness them loading two pedestrians, im not sure if they were pedestrians or a cyclist, that was lying on the ground in the brush by the bike path put on stretchers and taken to the hospital. So i have seen them transport victims from the location where imed a. If youre just joining us, we are covering breaking news on the Lower West Side of manhattan. We have reports that multiple people are dead, several are injured, thats korlaccording t senior new york city official. We have with us louis bergdorff this was on the scene just moments after. Can you describe the sequence of events this afternoon . I was standing just outside my building and i heard obviously people running and screaming and, you know, that kind of gets your attention, doesnt normally happen, its a pretty quiet area down here in Lower Manhattan and there is a bike path that just runs along the west side highway that is normally around this time, usually its you know, 3 00, 4 00 in the afternoon, then it was probably 2 45, it seemed to be fairly still busy, people were out walking about. What i saw was terrifying, i saw mangled bikes and people, pedestrians lays on ting on the ground, and i saw First Responders, Police Officers driving up and frantically running up and down that west side highway bike path for a long stretch. Tending to multiple people on the ground, and so stunning was it wasnt in just one location. You know when somebody gets hit by a bicycle a car, it stops at that spot. But im at canal street where canal meets the west site highway, and there were First Responders and Police Officers going up north of where i was up to howston down to below where i am. They were trying to bring people back to life, there was a man they were giving him chest compressions and mouth to mouth, cpr, and it was a very, very tough situation. Now it seems like there are a lot of ambulances on the scene, but at this time, there really was only Police Officers and maybe a few emts, the fires trucks are just starting to kind of roll into the scene, and the street wasnt blocked off so traffic was still kind of rolling through, so it was a kind of chaotic scene. Louis, thank you for the firsthand account. Im joined now by nbcs Investigative Reporter who has joined us on set. What are we learning from new york Law Enforcement officials, are there more questions than answers at this point . I saw earlier at the scene, we saw the chief of detectives robert boyce, i saw james waters at the scene, these are the officials you would expect to respond. You see that home depot truck that seems to be the truck that was involved in this incident. What we dont know at the time is whether or not this is some sort of an accident or something thats intentional. It sure appears, based on the length of that this person was driving on that bike path and im very familiar with it. And the distance that he traveled, it would be a little bit difficult to believe that this is an accident but officials have not ruled in a motive at this point. Right now were seeing that multiple people are dead, plu multiple people are injured. Theres no indication that this is involving the World Trade Center. But if you know where the World Trade Center. Thats almost exactly where this truck stopped, about a block north of it, what youre seeing right on scene. And based on louiss description of where he is we know that this vehicle travelled a good 15 blocks before it came to a stop. Obviously we know from the injuries, talking to people, senior new york city officials that theres several injuries to pedestrians and bicyclists. We have been looking at a picture where there were bikes that were mangled on this bike and pedestrian path. And this goes all the way from the west side of man hhattan an new york city. So it appears this person drove along this way for some distance, my colleague jonathan dean from wnbc, its reported that the suspect is in custody, but that hes at Bellevue Hospital, which is a Trauma Center. We dont know how the drivers injured. The two preliminary things were hearing is there may have been some sort of gun Fire Exchange involving the suspect as this ended in Lower Manhattan. The other thing that were hearing is that he was obviously driving on that bike path and we have that video to show you as well. Right now speaking with people as i came from the fourth floor down to join you in this studio, theyre trying to figure out why was this person driving there, we have had things like this before that have been medical incidents. More frighteningly, more vehicles have been involved in terrorist attacks around the world. And we have to talk about that as a possibility here. The first thing the nypd has to figure out here what exactly happened. Theres been conflicting reports of whether this person had some sort of weapon that they had fired prior to this incident occurring. I know they have multiple helicopters that are always on stand by and they have them overhead right now to help in the search along the water front. Lets bring in to the conversation by phone manny gomez, a retired nypd sergeant and retired fbi special agent. Thank you for joining us. I wonder if you could tell us what the process is under way from nypd and any other Law Enforcement officials that would be looking into this, is the fbi on scene as well . The fbi is absolutely on scene, in fact i have seen several wind breakers from fbi agents that are on the scene. Now theyre trying to discern what this is. Is it a crime of what happened in times square recently, where you had someone who was high on drugs and went on to the sidewalk and killed people. Or is this a motivated, perhaps terrorist inspired event. And so we need to find out what the motivation for this individual was in order to discern is this a terrorist act, and are we safe . Because if it is a terrorist act, the concern obviously is was he acting in concert with others, was he part of a cell, did he gets resources or training . Did he travel abroad . These are all the things that the fbi and the nypd are analyzing as we speak. Theyre also checking video because obviously down in Lower Manhattan in that area, every square inch of that area is covered by some sort of video so they will try to get the Historical Data from videotapes as to what transpired throughout this incident. Its reported that he traveled numerous blocks, so well see what the final injury count is, but it seems to me that if he really did travel multiple blocks, that this is going to be worse than initially reported. The good news is that he is under custody and that he doesnt pose a threat to others. But the investigation is going to continue as to who this person is, is he part of a bigger group, was he acting alone, was he inspired by some sort of terrorist group . And they will get to the bottom of everything that this person is and has been throughout his entire life. And im sure your sources are telling you this already, but let me just share with our viewers something that you alluded to, the driver was shot by police, taken to bellevue as we have discussed. Hes being treated by the police as someone who acted intentionally. It was an zenintentional act. So they have ruled us the scenario that there was any kind of medical emergency that could have caused him to drive his truck on this very, very crowded bike lane full of kids, its halloween here in new york city, kids and families and adults, we see the wreckage of the twisted bikes that he hit. If you could talk to us about how that changes an investigation, that its been determined that this was an intentional act by Law Enforcement. Its an intentional act motivated by what . And thats the ultimate question, the motivation, the intent was to hurt as many people as possible, obviously, but what was the motivation . Was it because he was under the influence of narcotics . Was it because he was inspired by some sort of terrorist organization . Was it because he was angry because he was fired . Once we get to the motivation, then we know what we have in hand and right now i have ever confidence that the fbi and the nypd are getting to the bottom of who this person is, theyre sending agents and detectives out to investigate who this person is, neighbors, colleagues, coworkers, theyre going to go back to this persons entire life to try to ascertain how did he come to this point an hour ago and having these numerous casualties and fatalities. And tom winters is here, were hearing that theres six people dead from this tragedy . Im going to hold back details right now because the investigation is a very sensitive point. But Law Enforcement believes talking to a senior Law Enforcement official that this was an intentional act and that the individual who was involved in this who is now in Bellevue Hospital did this purposefully, that changes the investigation considerationab considerably, we know the perpetrator ran over several people, this is a bike path, this happened just before 4 00 today and my colleagues at wnbc are reporting six dead, i had heard that earlier, so that appears to be confirmed now and at least 15 injured and it was told to me to expect those numbers to possibly increase. At this time of day, with this type of weather, that would be a pretty crowded bike path and the Headline News now is this is an intentional act, police are investigating it as that and this is going to be a very involved investigation at this point, as which confirm some of the details that were hearing, we want to be very cautious, well get back with you right away on that. Savannah guthrie who had occasion to be there, described schools being on lockdown, should we read anything into that in terms of if theres an ongoing threat in new york city . Some new york city officials have said there is no threat. But is that something, schools being on lockdown is that standard procedure after an event like this . Or is that a clue about what the ongoing threat to the citizens of new york city . Numerous people have been injured. You dont know what youre dealing withi inright away, thes numerous schools, several Large Schools that are in lower manhatt manhattan, first thing you want to do is keep all the kids inside, even if this is just a horrible accident from a medical condition, these a very active scene, with police, fire, responders getting down there, you want to keep the kids inside, now that youre looking at this as an intentional act, is there another actor, is Sergeant Gomez, or Something Else there that could be being looked at. We know one person was in custody, and police didnt believe that anybody else was involved, but certainly in this sort of circumstance, when you know its an intentional act, you got to do whats in the best interests of public safety, especially kids, you dont want them around an active crime scene saand it could be potentially dangerous. We understand that the governor is en route to the scene, the mayor was en route to the scene, we know this was an intentional act, that a truck was involved, that the driver of that truck traveled seven blocks, six people, at least six people are dead, 15 are injured. All of this taking place on halloween, in a busy time of day in new york city. Almost every time of day is busy, but this was a bike path traveled by kids, traveled by commuters, and this happened in sort of the after school hours. What kinds of questions would Law Enforcement be asking of a suspect even if he is injured and being treated at bellevue right now . Well, number one why he did it, number two, if theres anybody involved, and if so who are they and where are they at and number three, everything about the individual, theyre going to find out everything whether he tells them or not because once they find out who he is. Even if he doesnt have any id with him, theyll check his fingerprints, theyll find out who this individual is and think have thousands of detectives that are going to be working round the clock to find out if this person was a lone actor, trained, inspired, received instructions or resources from a terrorist organization, if so, who, what, when and where . And if so, theyre going to ensure this is an isolated incident. Though tragic that it is an isolatesed incident and that there is no threats of another such incident. A big concern is a copycat. This person did it, so maybe i can do it as well. So the fbi joint terror task force, commonly referred to as the jttf is responding and is assisting at the scene, does that tell you anything about the direction that this investigation is taking Sergeant Gomez . It tells me once the jttf takes over, that they are going to potentially treat this like an act of terrorism and so this changes direction because once we have that in hand, now we know that its not only intentional, but that it appears that indeed, it was an act of terrorism and that is will be a concern because, again, there could be another lone wolf out there that could be watching this and saying, hey, i can do this as well. So theyre going to get to the bottom of who this indi