tonight. 15 said to be in critical condition at least 10 people lost limbs in these explosions and many more have been scarred for live. again, the fbi has the lead in this investigation and they re asking for anyone with information to call them. their number 1-800-call-fbi the investigation will go on for some time to come. if you re there today, the marathon and took video on your cell phone just take a look and see if there is anything unusual. the sfib looking for tips and you never know who might have a tip on camera. rick, thank you very much. sure. greta: joining us is someone running in the marathon today joining us by phone. where were you when the bomb went off? roughly a quarter mile from the finish line where the bombs went off. changing out of my
photographer sir dar azturk at the scene photographing the marathon today. where were you located? caller: i was about a half block away. away from the finish line? yeah, away from the finish line where the explosion had happened. my part of the marathon, who i was shooting had finished. i had gone back to my hotel right at the fairmount right outside right next to the medical tent. the medical tent was literally 15 feet from the front door of my hotel. dropped off my camera, all my equipment, went back to get a bite to eat, to get lunch with the rest of my team. as soon as we sat down, boom, the first explosion went off. and what did you do then? instantly, i just stopped. that first after the first explosion, i heard it, i felt it through my feet all the way up to my chest. and everyone in the room,
we were at the lennox hotel which is right at the corner of boylst boylston and exiter, a half block from where the bombs exploded. we were waiting for my friend who ran the marathon to meet up with us. me and a girl friend were having lunch. at 2:50 this massive explosion occurs. we could feel the ground shake below us and everything on our table shook. ten seconds later a second blast hit and we looked outside and saw a plume of smoke up in the air. we saw the building across from the spectator stands which was a mirrored tall office building shakes. and that s when panic struck everyone in that restaurant. that was alicia layne from knbc in los angeles who was in town here in boston to cheer on a friend running the marathon today. the investigation began today
john kerry gave up his senate seat in order to be secretary of state. the race to fill his seat included somebody running in the marathon today. gabriel gomez crossed the finish line within minutes of the explosion. joining us now is will ritter, the press secretary arranging a party for mr. gomez when he heard the blasts going off. thanks for being here. thanks for having me. where were you? i was at the corner. we were going to have a press conference, we were going to talk to the media. we were assembling the media. he already cleared the finish line? he had, fortunately ten minutes earlier. he heard the blasts and turned and saw the smoke from boston public library 100 feet away. in terms of the scene and how people reacted, most people s instinct is to run away.
because one of the things that we have done over the years is we have created a system where everything starts with the state and local law enforcement and i can promise you, it works. i ve seen it myself. so are we prepared as we should be? the answer to that is probably never yes. do we need to take a step back as a nation, take a step back as the federal agencies that are responsible to the president and to the people for protecting it to say, have we done enough? are we doing the right thing and can we do more? those are questions that need to be asked in the coming days and we should all hope that today, though unfortunate, doesn t lead to tomorrow and the next day. charles payne, former chief of the office of bomb prevention at the department of homeland security, charles, we really appreciate your time and expertise tonight and all nights, thank you. thank you. if you know someone who was running in the marathon today, you can go to raceday.daa.