here. there are number of bars that should be packed right now but they are completely empty. everything is shut down because people are trying to figure out what happened. right behind me two blocks away is the finish line. that area is completely frozen as they continue their investigation. there s about a 15-block radius where they are stopping any cars from entering this area. the commissioner the police commissioner has asked everybody to go home, to stay inside, to stay safe, partially because they are not sure if there are any more threats. everything dropped along the race route is being considered a suspicious package. as you can imagine, it s a marathon. people are dropping things left and right and when everything started to happen, people were dropping more stuff as they were trying to get away from the scene. initially people thought it could have been an accident but 15 seconds later once that other explosion happened, people started to realize this probably was not an
boston. it s so much a comeback region for the last 50 or 60 years, i don t think it s going to hurt it. this is a terrible tragedy. this is a time to think about the victims, figure out who did it and catch them. but i m with you, i lived and worked in boston for four years, i was just up there last week. this city like new york did, like pennsylvania did, like washington, d.c. did, will recover and do great, and my prediction the boston marathon will be bigger, stronger and more emotional than ever. i happen to have run the marine corp. marathon in 2001 just a couple months after 9/11, and this city and this country, regardless of who did this, comes back from these things very, very strong, and boston will too. i think it s good for america that we have this spirit of comeback. but we to want find out who did this. i have no idea. i ve seen the building down in oklahoma city tied to, yes, it s
8-year-old boy. and more than 100 are in various boston hospitals right now. vernon will never forget this day, he was running as a civilian in the marathon. we re going finish up our hour, and let you do a big part of it. narrate as a good journalist your personal experience today. i ve run the boston marathon ten or 11 times, i have it written down. i can t remember. i love this race. this is an iconic race. everything about it is special. it s been run for 117 years, steeped in tradition, people have to qualify to get in, so really serious runners train and compete for a place in this race all year. and, you know, i even stopped this morning as i was walking to the bus to go to the start line and stopped on the finish line and took in the scene. to think bombs were going off a few hours later is heartbreaking
and i cut the marathon will ever be the same. when you look back at the pictures, do you feel what you were through? i m sorry? the pictures we re watching over and again, was that the experience? chilling to watch. because to see those people, you know, approaching the finish line. it s an incredibly joyous moment, you ve been out there for three or four hours, 26.2 miles, almost at the finish line, to see them knocked off their feet or stride for a runner is really chill. it was me out there 30 minutes before. and it s such a great day here on patriot s day. the stay is closed, the city comes out for the marathon like you wouldn t believe. so whoever did this hit a special target and knew what they were attacking. why do you want to compete so hard to get into the marathon? why kill yourself to be able to
direction. so even with today s tragedy, there s great reason for optimism, great reason to believe that our republic, which has its roots in boston and philadelphia, is going to prevail and succeed. so it s been an interesting and terrible night, but i do believe as we proceed as a country, this will not be the norm, the norm will be how we respond. michael, your last words about how the investigation goes down? slowly, methodically, and find the people who did it. and? and americans have to understand that the threat of terrorism domestically and internationally is with us. doesn t have to change the way we live. we re going to experience some hits like this, but, again, next year, we re going to have the marathon. we ve got to grieve with the families who lost people today, and find the people responsible. what we saw today with 9/11, not quite as dramatic, fire