Today, terror in new york. With matt lauer in studio 1a in Rockefeller Plaza and savannah guthrie, live in tribeca. Good morning everyone, welcome to this split edition of today on wednesday morning, im matt lauer in studio 1a. Savannah is the the scene of this deadly attack in Lower Manhattan where an otherwise quiet halloween evening was turned into a night of chaos and carnage, savannah. It was, this was a neighborhood that was about to be full of kids trick or tre treating and enjoy the holiday. In a moment, everything changed. We have new information just this morning, matt, and i want to get to the latest on the investigation. As we know, eight people were killed, 11 seriously injured. This makes this the first deadly terror attack in new york city since. Sayfullo saipou, he drove his truck right on to a bike path, going nearly a mile before being shot by police. Hes under close yard in a hospital this morning. He is expected to survive. We have now learned that he entered the u. S. Seven years ago and sources are telling nbc news this morning, he left a note in his rented truck and just breaking, just a few minutes ago, we have learned exactly what was written in that note. Allegedly, saipou wrote, isis lives forever. Federal terror investigation is being elude by the Fbi Joint Terrorism Task force. This morning investigators are questioning the man behind a deadly terror attack in Lower Manhattan. An attack he apparently committed in the name of isis, just blocks from the World Trade Center. We got multiple casualties. This is a mass casualty situation here. 29yearold sayfullo saipou is in custody. Hes responsible for killing eight people and injuring more than a dozen others. This was an act of terror. And a particularly cowardly act of terror. Shortly after 3 00 p. M. , Authorities Say saipou drove a pickup truck rented at a home depot in new jersey along manhattans busy westside highway. He drove nearly a mile from houseton street to chambers street. Mangled. One gentlemans leg was hanging, the other gentleman had tire marks going across his chest. The suspect crashed into a school bus carrying special needs children, two of them were injured. There, he got out of the truck, brandishing a pelt gun and paintball gun. A Police Officer is being credited with taking saipou down, shooting him in the abdomen. Were there kids around . There were a the love kids. I first found out about it from a young, probably five, sixyearold girl yelling he has a gun. Then the mother was very, very scared. I ran to the window and i see a car, i see people dead, i see bicycles on the floor. Witnesses say saipou shouted ala akbar. So far, Police Believe saipou was acting as a lone wolf and not part of a larger terror cell or plot. Saipou, an immigrant from yoouz beck stan moved to the u. S. In 2010 and held a green card and florida drivers license. A friend, telling nbc news, saipou has been living in new jersey working as an uber driver. Uber says its cooperating with the fbis investigation. After the attack, President Trump tweeted, the suspect is a very sick and deranged person. Hours later, he tweeted again, i have just ordered Homeland Security to step up our already extreme vetting program. Being politically correct is fine, but not for this. Governor andrew cuomo focussed on new yorkers resilience. Weve lived with this before. We felt the pain before. We feel the pain today. But we go Forward Together and we go forward, stronger than ever. Overnight the spire of one World Train Center lit up in red, white, and blue, in honor of the victims. And with us now are two people who witnessed the attack and its aftermath, we have gene and anthony whos asked us not to use his last name, and good morning to both of you. Im glad to be with you. We met yesterday. You work here. Your son goes to school here. This is our neighborhood. Anthony, tell me what you saw. I was waiting for my son to pick him up from school. And i was in my car in the passengers side, the back door, and i heard a big smash so then i looked up and i saw the bus after it hit the pickup truck hit the bus, its coming right at my car. But then the driver swerved uphill. On chambers street and then i looked back down to the pickup truck to see if the guy was okay and you thought it was an accident. I thought it was an accident. He had his hands up in the air and i saw guns in his hands, waving them, and coming towards me, but then went around the truck and then went towards westside highway. At that point, i literally just went and started grabbing kids and saying get back in the school, get back in the school. Theres a shooter, theres a shooter. And i was just pushing kids back in the school. Looking for my son to make sure hes not out. I didnt see him and i pushed the kids back in and i ran up to get the police that were at stiverson to push them down in the right direction. Police asked you to identify the shooter later. Can you tell me about that . Yes, i was escorted down to the ambulance, the perpetrator was in the ambulance and i just said yep, that was him. He had a red stripe on his shirt and he was all bloody and he was in the ambulance. Gene, you and i met yesterday on this very corner. You work near here, you were walking home. Can you tell me what you saw. When i got out of the work, i was crossing the street. For some reason behind me i heard screaming, loud screaming, so it was a different kind of scream, so i went back, there was a female yelling really loud. I went back and i looked, i seen the white pickup truck in the bike path. And all of the sudden, i knew something was wrong. When i got closer to the lady is when i seen that there were people on bikes that were run over. And, you know, they were not with us no more. They passed away. And thats what she saw. And she was hysterical, crying, screaming, she was on the phone with somebody. And it was all the cops came running. They dont even know whats going on. They were just as confused as i was. I didnt expect to see Something Like this. You know, i just came out of work, im trying to get home and seeing this is its crazy. And when you saw that you saw two individuals i saw two individuals you knew in your heart. I knew they werent with us no more. You could just tell the shape they were in. Their body wasnt like if somebody gets hit bay car going 20 Miles Per Hour theyre okay, theyre moving. These guys, they had no movement, nothing. How fast do you think the car was going . About 50 Miles Per Hour. I didnt know where he got on until later on when i sat down after all of this happened and i found out he got on the path at houseton street, thats a long ways. I just came out of work here at 26. And i dont know if he missed me or i missed him, but, you know, somebody was looking out for me because that could have easily been me. Anthony, i know its so emotional. Listen, theres a school right there. Youre going to pick up your son. How, how are you processing this this morning . How is your little boy doing . He went trick or treating last night, he was like okay, normal day, went trick or treating, it was fine, did his homework. And it was back to school today. Like a normal day. You know, and now they have to put more barricades up on these bike paths so no cars can be on that. You know. To prevent this all. Well, it was quite a day. And i thank you both for being here early this morning and sharing your story. Youre welcome. Back to you, matt. Savannah, thank you so much. Jonathan is the deanst is the chief investigator here in new york. Good to see you. Why are officials so convinced so early that this guy acted alone . The best information is because theyve spoke within him in the hospital. He is boasting, apparently, from his bedside about his activities. Everything that they have detected so far on his social media, they have found that he has gone online and visited isisrelated websites. So every indication so far is that he has acted alone. Of course theyre going to run down Everything Else to make sure that he had no financial help, no supporters, this isnt part of a larger cell, but less than a day into this, they are reasonably confident that he is a lone wolf and over the last overnight hours, theyre increasingly confident that hes a lone actor. When you say hes boasting, they did speak in the hospital, apparently he is proud what have he did on that bike path. You talk about talking about his friends, his family, they are talking to his wife right now. Have they learned anything from her yet . I dont know what. I know that she has been met by fbi and Police Officials in paterson, new jersey, i dont know if she had any knowledge of his plan or how long this plan was in the works. Remember, lone actor, came to this country seven years ago, traveled from ohio to florida, been in paterson only since january it appears. Hasnt been here very long. Working as an uber driver. They know he drove over the george wav bridge at about 2 00 after he rented that truck. Drove down on the highway. And carried out the attack just an hour later. And they know he had been in that area many times in the past. Are they suspecting that is because of his work as an uber driver or perhaps that he was casing this location . Its very much part of the investigation. They want to know, did he do test runs. Theyre concerned he did test runs, how did he know how to hit is that site . But, again, because he worked as an uber driver, they also know its possible he went down the west side highway to that area many times in the past as well. What they do know, he knew that area. Doesnt seem he had any kind of escape plan, pelt gun, paintball gun, knife in the truck, left the note behind. Was this a Suicide Mission that didnt end the way he thought it was going to end . I would believe thats probably a very good summary of exact lay what was going to take place. He was going there to kill and possibly be killed. Wnbc, jonathan, thank you very much. Savannah. Im joined now by today National Correspondent craig melvin who is covering the victims of this terrifying attack, good morning. Good morning to you. Were learning a little bit more about those who were killed, about those who were hurt. Were also learning a little bit more about that hero nypd officer who stepped up to likely prevent even more bloodshed. Reporter five of the victims killed in the manhattan terror attack are from argentina. They were visiting and were in new york city celebrating the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation, another one of the People Killed was from belgium. Thats according to to the nations Foreign Affairs minister. Traffics shut down on the west side highway at this time. Its going to be a crime scene. Reporter the devastation could have been even worse if not for quickthinking nypd officer. The uniformed Police Officer assigned to the first precinct confronted the subject and shot him in the abdomen. Reporter according to reports, officer ryan nash sprang into action opening fire and ending his rampage. New york city councilman identifying nash in multiple tweets calling him the hero cop the world should be talking about. Command response for nypd officer that was on post near the location who stopped the concernage. Reporter just hours after the attack, resilient new yorkers attending the citys annual halloween parade. Among the tens of thousands dressed up in their costumes, a beefed up Police Presence to keep them safe. Some parade goers saying they wanted to honor the spirit of those who lost their lives. Its terrible. God bless everybody. Its terrible what happened. Thousands of new yorkers here. In your neighborhood, undeterred by what happened here last night. Weve also learned that the hero cop, five years on the force. In the exact right position that he needed to be in no to spring into action. Thank you very much. Stick close as we continue to cover this story, but for now matt back up to you. Okay savannah and craig, thank you very much. Other news to get to this morning, including new developments in the investigations into russias election meddling. This as fallout is growing after the first criminal indictments. Peter alexander at the white house, good morning. Reporter hey matt, good morning. The white house again tried to distance itself from that former Foreign PolicyCampaign Adviser who pleaded guilty to misleading the fbi about his contact with russian officials during the campaign. The president himself belittling George Papadopoulos as a proven liar. With President Trump trying to shift the spotlight to tax cuts. I want the house to pass a bill by thanksgiving. I want all of the people standing by my side when we get ready to sign by christmas. Reporter the russia investigation appears to be gaining momentum. The president breaking his silence about George Papadopoulos. Dismissing the former volunteer Foreign Policy advisor, arguing, few people knew the young low level volunteer named george. In fact, mr. Trump knew him, saying this to the Washington Post in march of 2016. George papadopoulos hes an oil and energy consultant. Excellent guy. Reporter that same month papadopoulos had a seat at the National Security team with candidate trump and then senator jeff sessions. Former campaign manager, Cory Lewandowski down playing papadopouloss role here on today. George was never a person who was part of the team that was interacting with the Senior Management on a regular basis. Reporter but Court Documents contractor that detailing after russian officials had dirt on hillary clinton, papadopoulos exchanged emails and calls with Highranking Campaign officials, including according to sources familiar with the matter, Campaign ChairmanPaul Manafort and the chief policy advisor, sam clovis. Clovis was questioned last week by muellers team. The lawyers said he never encouraged papadopoulos to ensue relations between the u. S. And russia. The White House Press secretary offering this pushback. Papadopoulos is an example of somebody doing the wrong thing while the president s campaign did the right thing. Reporter still papadopouloss guilty plea is shedding new light on the inquiry. According to Court Documents when papadopoulos pleaded guilty on october 5th, one of the prosecutors described it as quote, an Ongoing Investigation of which this case is a small part. Speaking of that investigation, this morning, politico reports President Trumps longtime aid and Current Communications director hope hicks is scheduled to speak with Robert Muellers team in the middle of this month after the president s trip to asia. Nbc news reached out to hicks lawyer who is not commenting, matt. Peter alexander at the white house, thank you very much. Take a turn now, we have mr. Roker here with wet weather down south. Yeah, were looking at our friends in texas and all the way up, extends on up into parts of the ohio river valley with a little light snow. You can see right now, weve got heavy thunderstorms in Central Indiana with light snow stretching into parts of western pennsylvania and new york state. Ahead of the stationary front, moisture pushing on in. Were going to look at scattered showers, thunderstorms stretching by thursday into chicago. The heaviest rain will be down around texas, louisiana, on up into parts of tennessee and kentucky and the showers extend all the way up into Northern New England with a little light snow as you get to mi at petsmart, were so close to donating 60 million meals to pets in need. That definitely feels good with your support, we provide meals for pet shelters and food banks to feed hungry pets across the country. This holiday season, buy any bag of dog or cat food at petsmart. Any brand, any size and well give a meal to a pet in need. 60 million meals thats so much food. Petsmart for the love of pets. And good wednesday morning to you. Im first alert meteorologist steve sots that. More clouds in the sky on this wednesday. It will not be perfectly sunny. In fact, we could see a few sprinkles or showers. Berks county through the Lehigh Valley today. Temperatures getting into the upper 50s. Tonight, temperatures staying steady in the middle 50s. The springboards to a nice, warm afternoon tomorrow. A mixture of sunshine and clouds. Temperatures in the lower 70s. Planning your day, chilly to start, then a nice, mild afternoon. And thats your latest weather. Thanks very much. Coming up in the allegations against kevin spacey, new questions about the future of his hit show house of cards. The future in hollywood, savannah. And matt, from here were going to have a lot more on the terror attack in Lower Manhattan. What were now learning about the suspects past and the renewed fears of lone wolf attacks. But first on wednesday morning, this is today on nbc. A bridge shut down over politics. Their biggest triumph was a traffic jam. Chris christie and kim guadagnos failures shortchanged our future. After 8 years incomes are down, costs are up and our economy is crawling. We are better than this. Im phil murphy together well