Witness to 9/11: In the Shadows of Ground Zero (2020) - full transcript

- All news, all the time.

- This is 1010 Wins.

When you give us 22 minutes,
we'll give you the world.

- Good morning.

- 64 degrees at 8 o'clock.

It's Tuesday, September 11th.

I am Lee Harris, here's what's happening.

It's primary day and the polls
are open in New York city

- Uptown FDR
drive is backed up from

the Brooklyn Bridge to Houston Street

with an accident blocking two lanes.



Another accident further
north, at the 70's is cleared.

- Not like
this is any big surprise,

but anything Michael
Jordan does makes big news

and this morning, it appears at age 38,

He indeed will be coming
out of retirement again.

- What's
up with Whitney Houston?

Certainly not her weight.

The painfully skinny singer was no-show at

Michael Jackson's anniversary
concert last night

A friend says blame it on drug abuse.

Breaking news now on 1010 Wins.

- This just in to our newsroom,

a plane has crashed into
the World Trade Center.

They just played the tape again.



It is horrific.

A second plane, the
size of a passenger jet

flying into the second tower
of the World Trade Center.

- What happened?

- I dunno, your guess is as good as mine.

- Two airbuses evidently
were taken from LaGuardia.

Yeah, yeah.

My father's got ABC on and he said

that they've got footage of the airplane

actually hitting, hitting the towers.

And...

They said that there's some...

There's a report that they, hi dad.

Sorry.

I know a lot of the cell phone towers

are on the World Trade Center.

That's why this keeps cutting out.

Some people don't have any service.

What do they know about LaGuardia?

- You guys know what happened?

- Hm?

- Do you know what happened?

- Two planes crashed there...

- Hijacked planes, two hijacked planes.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- You guys see it?

- Huh?

- You guys see it?

- What do you think happened?

- Hijacked plane, what you can do.

It's suicide, suicide bombers.

- How does it make you feel?

- Terrible, like, I've never
seen something like this.

- I know, I got a feeling,

like that very like, surreal.

I don't know how to feel.

- Is now being evacuated

so this phone call will be cut short.

All of the public
building as you've heard,

probably on your news.

All of our rails and all of
our bridges have been closed.

The debris is blocked from the

World Trade Center as it exists right now.

Literally as we're speaking, people are

either jumping out of the building

from 60, 70, 80, 90 floor up...

- Whoa!

- Oh shit!

Holy shit!

People are jumping out of
buildings on the 80th floor.

People are jumping out of the
buildings on the 80th floor.

- and obviously this emphasizes

the horrendous personal toll.

- Oh

- As many
as 50, perhaps even more

we onboard on one of the
planes that crashed so...

- So that means, if that's true...

- It had to be a hijack,
50 people were on board.

- a lot of these things

that are coming into the newsroom,

but that indicates a
possibility of a hijack.

- The FBI had said that

they were investigating a possibility...

- Holy Christ.

- A hijacking

just before the crash occurred.

So that may be part of the story there.

And it looked to me,

watching the video of the second plane,

it looked to me that, that was a 737

or at least a comparable size...

- Two planes.

To a 737 aircraft...

- 737.

- 172 and 182 and it was moving

at least 300 miles an hour
when it hit the building.

Now you have to believe...

- That had to be the explosion we saw.

- Live shots

and somebody might've
gotten a shot at that thing.

So we could identify it

because we don't know
if that was an airliner.

We don't know right now, all we saw

was just a shot of it
hitting the second tower...

- That is horrible, people jumping

out of the freaking windows.

- This plane, who was on

at least the second plane,
the one that we saw.

- It sounds serious,

as you heard Commissioner
Jerry Demorada there,

abandoning the emergency service...

Set up exactly for these
kind of emergencies

because of the danger that comes their way

and others who are in nearby buildings

surrounding the World Trade Center.

We just got a report in

that unidentified persons saying as well

that American airliner, 767 from Boston

that were coming in from
Boston, with the plane.

But again, they're unidentified sources

on the second plane,

that is the second plane that came in

and flew into one of the towers.

- All you saw was a huge
explosion, just now.

A huge explosion.

Part of the plane just actually
fell inside the building.

The other part of the plane

went through the building.

And some of the plane exploded

and fell onto the street.

- Smoke came out.

People were saying that
there was there.

And the second building was fine.

And then 15 minutes later.

You get a good view way down there.

- What a view, yeah.

- You see that up close?

Yeah it's so bad over there.

- Oh yeah?

- I was one of the carpenters
that worked on that building.

- It's the only way they're
gonna get to that building.

- Did you leave a message
on Ilene's machine?

- I spoke to her, I left a message before.

It's was just an answer,
it was almost nonchalant.

You know?

And then she goes, "I
have to call you back"

I go, "Yeah", you know?

- I just heard it right
here, subways are down

- The airports are closed.

- Yeah, everything's down.

- How will you get back?

The freight's closed, that's it.

I was told the security of the building

was the main concern.

- I'll tell you one thing.

But if it is, it was sabotage.

Once and for all, you know,

we have to do something
about it, you know?

- What you gonna do?

- What do you think?

- How are you?

- You think it's a bomb?

- What?

- You think it's a bomb?

- Yeah.

Yeah, the same thing.

- You guys ever
see anything like this?

- Of course, unfortunately the first thing

that comes to your mind is one thing.

Not us.

Unfortunately, maybe it's unfair.

You know what they say, that Bin Laden...

- Bin Laden, Bin Laden.

You know how many lives,
that's a helicopter.

- Those people didn't have a chance.

- Not a fighting chance.

- I'll tell you one thing.

Including was 848, that
there was, you know,

a lot of people, that
didn't have a chance to go.

- Some way the missile at
the Woolworth building.

Where's the Woolworth building?

- It's downtown.

- Down the N2, they're saying before

the second one impacted,

a possible missile was fired
at the Woolworth Building.

- The ladies say they hear it.

I don't know yet.

But you know, they're gonna be people

trapped under the rubble, all of them.

- The fire that is being reported

at this hour at the Pentagon

and associated press reporter

saying that he saw the the tail end

of a large airliner
plunge into the building.

Of course, this is
essentially what happened

at the World Trade Center,

both towers hit by aircraft this morning.

- Oh my God, that's crazy.

- Five minutes ago, 10 minutes ago.

- Did they just
say the Pentagon was also hit?

- The Pentagon was also hit.

- The west
wing of the White House

has been evacuated as a
possible precaution as well.

President Bush was not there,

When this occurred he
was in Sarasota, Florida,

where he made this remark today.

Today we had a national tragedy.

Two airplanes have crashed
into the World Trade Center

in an apparent terrorist
attack on our country.

- You investigated the Pentagon

and the White House?

- Yeah, I just recorded it.

- You got anything on there?

- It's high quality HDTV.

- I've walked on the streets.

And I just figured why
not take some images.

- All right, okay.

- What do you think?

- It's just a terrible act.

It's shameful, it's really disturbing

And I feel for the people
who are in this building

as we watched the floors burn one by one.

Now I'm picturing them trying to escape

and run down the stairs and sort of,

what's gonna happen next?

We just heard that the Pentagon

was hit by an airplane and...

- How does that make you feel?

- Awful, I have just,
this pit in my stomach.

- Two planes crashed into

the Trade Center.

A plane crashed also into the Pentagon

and the White House.

- They also?

- Crashed into the
Pentagon and the White House.

- All the, crashed into them?

At the same time?

Oh my God.

There were four planes?

- They had four freaking planes.

- Four freaking planes and...

- It could be more down there.

That's what I've heard on the radio.

What about, what are the planes?

Did they fell down?

Fell down?

- I bet they're hitting every
city, the major landmarks.

- There's
a very serious situation

underway in New York City this morning.

- What are you thinking, man?

- Pretty unreal.

- You know about the Pentagon?

- I just heard about it.

So this is a little taste of the Mid-East.

- What do you
think they'll do though?

- That's a frightening
thought, with Bush in office.

- We were watching people
jump to their death.

And my coworkers saw how it went through.

We saw how it went through

and we were watching people jump.

To their death, one and
another and another.

- A co-worker saw the plane...

And he thought initially
that it was a missile.

And then we heard that it was an airplane.

And then like eight, 10
minutes later, a second one.

And that's how you...

And all those people above
it, they're gone too.

This is just the beginning.

- It's a lot, we're just, like in a daze.

- We are here,

live outside of City Hall.

The entire, as you can imagine
it is absolute chaos here.

The entire city has come to a standstill.

Everyone just standing,
looking at the smoke.

Pouring out of the World
Trade Center at this moment.

- The Capitol and the treasury

are being evacuated, this in addition

to the White House and to the Pentagon.

Apparently being hit by
a plane this morning,

like the World Trade Center twin towers.

- What are you thinking?

- I feel like Pearl Harbor happened again.

- I did too, man.

- It's just, I feel like...

Speechless.

- How do you feel inside?

- I don't know.

- And of course a plane

had crashed into the World Trade Center.

And saw a second plane
crash into the second tower

of the World Trade Center.

- It's not like I can call anybody.

- They're sending everybody home.

- What happened?

- You okay?

- Who do you know that was there?

- Nobody, just...

- The idea.

- Just turn around and go home.

- They sending everybody home.

- I live all the way uptown.

- Oh boy.

- You gonna be okay?

- This is horrible.

- I've got a question.

My brothers over at the truck.

They're gonna send
everybody down here, huh?

- Yeah, everyone.

- I tell you,
man, I feel very strange.

Hope my brother didn't
have to go down there.

- Hope not.

- Oh my God!

- Oh snap!

- Oh shit!

Oh my God!

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

- Can I hear on your radio?

Can I hear your radio?

Can I listen yo your radio?

You see that?

It's gone.

One of the towers is gone.

- Please don't film me.

- What's happening?

- Oh my God, oh my God.

- There's people so far away from home.

They hit the Pentagon,
that's the serious thing.

I mean...

- I wasn't gonna take the train.

- The only superpower
left in United States,

left in the world, right?

Let's attack it.

- Unbelievable.

- I heard about Pentagon.

- The White House, I was told was hit too.

I don't know, this is unreal.

And you wonder how quickly

could they have gotten those people out?

Because it did happen
a half hour ago or so.

- They got some people out.

- But on the ground, everything is...

- You know what?

All the buildings...

I just, I see it.

I can see him from here.

But at least I'm not involved in anyway.

- Go out of your way to get to it.

Well you can, I'm talking about her.

- I heard some other
stuff about the Pentagon.

I said goodbye.

- Something else, we saw
a cloud of white smoke

coming up 5th Avenue.

I don't know if that was...

- The Pentagon also...

- This is shady, shady, shady.

- I heard it was too damn low.

Shit hit the first building and by time

I got to 54, my building,
the other one went off.

- You work at the center?

- No, I can see it from where I'm at.

On the train, I was like,
why is this thing so low?

- Because she's stuck on a train

where a lot of people didn't come out yet.

- They closed down the
bridges and they closed

all the tunnels and all the bridges.

- Jesus, is that low.

- Yeah.

- It was low all right.

- Are you making a movie?

- Looks like it.

Where were you?

- I was on the train.

I was on the floor and
somehow I skipped over

my stop at Fulton.

I don't know if I didn't notice it

or if the train didn't stop.

And then I saw this woman
crying on the uptown side

and she was in the Trump
center tower and she saw it.

She saw the helicopter and
the other plane crashed

into the building.

She was scared and sad.

And I'm gonna go give blood somewhere.

- Oh my God!

- It wasn't an explosion, was it?

- I mean, it's bad enough they did it

but the fact that it collapsed.

The fact that it collapsed, that just like

taking the flag and wiping it.

- Oh my God.

- Did you catch it?

They just bombed the
mall, five minutes ago.

- They just bombed where?

The mall, the Washington mall

and the Supreme Court.

- Oh my God.

The Pentagon, yeah also.

- We gotta watch out.

They might hit the Empire
State building or something.

Everything's evacuated, right?

- Yeah, I mean...

- Evacuated.

Everything's evacuated right now.

- Oh my God,
I'm freaking out man.

- Yeah, everything's evacuated right now.

They got the, they got the Pentagon,

they got the, Supreme court, the DC.

- They bombed the Supreme Court?

The Supreme Court, DC.

Pentagon, the back, the back wing,

the tail end of the plane smacked into,

got pretty far into the Pentagon.

And it blew up, 767, they said.

That's what they sent so far.

They're expecting more.

- I can't, I still can't believe it.

I see it.

But it's very hard to believe.

I mean, the Pentagon was bombed.

- It was?

It's unbelievable.

- So they say in Chicago, was it two?

What buildings?

- I don't know.

- I don't know, I don't know.

What I am hearing, it was
a car bomb of some sort.

I'm not sure.

- They bombed Chicago too?

I mean, New York, obviously.

It's right on the fucking coast.

- Pentagon, Supreme court and supposedly

there's eight planes were hijacked.

Four of them, four or five
they've accounted for.

Two here and two in DC.

One in Detroit or Chicago,

but there's still two or three more planes

that were hijacked.

- Are these fuckers kidding?

Who would do it?

- Why?

- What's gonna happen after that?

But who?

Where?

- I saw, I was on the Manhattan Bridge

when the second plane
went into the building,

it went directly in and exploded.

- You saw it?

I saw it, it was on the Manhattan bridge.

Our train was. the
first tower was on fire.

A second, big plane, a
second big, great plane.

Commercial airliner came like this

and straight into the side of the building

and exploded, the second tower.

- You saw it on TV?

- No, I saw it.

- He was on the train across the bridge.

- It was the train on
the Manhattan Bridge.

We were stuck there.

- How many people do you
think were in that office?

- My, everyone, my brother worked with.

My brother's whole company's gone.

He's in our LA, thank God.

But I don't know what's going on in LA.

They're not gonna be any
stock market or anything.

There's nothing.

And Pentagon, there's nothing.

I've been sitting here
for an hour and a half.

I have no idea what to fucking do.

- What do we do?

- I have no idea.

- I can't, I wanna get out of Manhattan,

but I can't go back to Brooklyn.

- You can't go anywhere.

- I can't get outta here.

- You're stuck on the rock.

This is the last place
I want to be right now.

- We just hairlines away
from surviving right now.

It's amazing, I really don't understand.

- They said in, what is it?

St. Vincent hospital?

They had more than 200 in there already.

- Yeah?

- In critical condition.

- You all right?

- The plane came by and it looked,

it looked like it was gonna
hit the first building.

And it looked like it
intentionally tried to hit it,

but it missed and it just clipped

the outside of the second building.

It looked like a movie.

Oh, I gotta change station.

- I've never shot
anything like that before.

What did you shoot?

Did you actually get
part of it coming down?

- Yeah, I got the first building
coming down all the way.

- Where were you?

I was standing about five, six blocks up.

There was an explosion
out of the left side

and it just just kept on coming down.

The worst thing I've ever seen.

- How you feeling?

- I'm feeling horrible right now.

I don't think there's anything
you can say to describe that.

I mean, you know, I mean everybody,

I got friends in a financial center.

I wonder how many of the buildings

were affected around it.

You know, when I hit
the, when I hit the deck,

I got to believe that there's,

10,000 people dead down there.

Gotta believe that.

At least.

- The people were hugging

and crying over here in the street.

Strangers were hugging and crying.

That's a rare thing in New York
city, having stranger talk.

- There's four more
planes still in the air

that they don't know where they're going.

- Well, I hope, I hope
that what I heard was jets.

- Yeah, there are F-14's.

I've seen them all over
the place or flying around.

I mean, you can hear them

and then you see them way ahead of you.

- Truth.

They're off, they're
flying all over the place.

- Ready to go.

Well, you know, what are you going to do

if you're, if you're like
a civilian on that plane?

I guess, I guess you're done, right?

- You're done.

You know, when you think about it,

what's it, 300 people or 3000 people?

- No, 40,000 people.

There's 40,000 people that work there.

- No, this is incredible.

Walking down here, headed
to the Trade Center.

Taking pictures.

- Where are you from?

I'm in LA, I flew out
here just for this show.

The Jackson show.

- Yeah.

Coming down here, sightseeing

and buildings falling down.

It fell around 10:29.

- How'd it make you feel, man.

It's just taken all the
press away from Michael.

You know, they did a
great show last night.

Then this shit happened.

- I was there, I just
saw it all falling down.

It was, when I got out of the subway,

it was people just screaming bomb

and didn't let us out.

And when then we went out

and we saw this huge black smoke

and people were screaming
and moving in the street.

And suddenly the police were screaming

that the building's gonna fall.

That was when the first
plane crashed into it.

And somebody grabbed me
and we ran in the street.

And then I went to my building,
which is across the street.

And then the second building

and then the second crashed

and then it all just all fell down

and we were trapped in the building

with smoke and smog all around us.

I was not in the twin towers.

I was across the street.

I was on Broadway, I saw it all happening.

And then when the, when the
first building just fell,

I just was talking in the phone

and people were screaming and yelling.

We just like, it just fell and collapsed

with huge, huge cloud.

And it was horrible and,
and amazing and horrible.

And, and people were screaming

and we evacuated the building

and we were trapped because
there was so much smoke.

We couldn't even, we couldn't
see, we couldn't breathe.

They let us, they gave
us rags up to 20 minutes

full of water to get out

of the building.

And it was just so horrible.

People were screaming
and crying in the streets

and people coming out
full of dust and smoke

and police officers.

Do you know if there's
any way out of the island?

- No.

There's no way?

- Not right now.

- No, no, no.

You can't walk across the bridge.

- The US emphasis on Bin Laden.

And it's been Bin Laden,
Bin Laden, Bin Laden

said the United States is
only one focus at a time.

And in terms of somebody
involved in terrorism,

there's the intelligence community

falling in love with the notion

that only Bin Laden can do this.

- By the grace of God,

I came down from 44.

Only by the grace of God.

- How you feeling?

- I don't know what to say.

It's kind of strange.

Overwhelming.

- Doesn't feel real.

- Yeah.

Still doesn't feel real to me.

- Yeah.

- I was down there when it
happened, the first one.

I watched the plane go in.

And I've just been walking
around with my phone ever since.

The World Trade Centers
right in front of us, just...

- Like a missile.

- Just swooped right in.

- Just like a missile, going right in.

- It's unbelievable.

I can't believe it.

The explosion that came out was just,

it was just like a mushroom cloud.

- It was just, boom.

- Can you believe that view?

That's view is, the worst
view I've seen, ever.

- I was supposed to leave,

moving out of Manhattan yesterday.

My flight was canceled.

So, there must be a reason
why all this is happening.

I'm a appalled.

- This is like a war.

- Yeah.

I think more people died
here today than Pearl Harbor.

- I bet you're right.

- Yep.

- When it started to come down,

people started running
in the streets, back

then running towards this way.

Nobody knew why, it's just like crowds

of people running, everybody
just started running.

All of a sudden, like, when
we got far enough away,

everybody stopped, turned back

and the second building came down.

There's eight hijacked
planes in the air right now.

Well minus the two that crashed already

and another one that
crashed in Pennsylvania.

So they said there's five
of them still in the air.

- And I got my camera.

I think I tried to call you guys.

And I've been out walking on
this street, it's so freaky.

Yeah, did it blow up though?

Or it's just a fire?

It collapsed?

Oh, shit.

- What do you hear on the radio?

- They're just talking about more crashes.

- Where?

- One plane just crashed into Camp David

- Camp David?

This is crazy.

- Yeah.

- Where else?

They're talking about a plane

that just crashed in Pittsburgh,

but I can't hear what they're saying.

- Eye witnesses say,

it looked like a US airplane.

And that appears to have
been the modus operandi

of these terrorists.

That's what we saw with
the World Trade center,

apparently hijacked airliners flying

into the twin towers this morning.

Another plane reportedly
headed for the Pentagon.

US fighter jets are assembling
to track that aircraft.

As we mentioned, just a moment ago,

a large plane has crashed
in Western Pennsylvania.

The officials at Somerset County airport

outside Pittsburgh say the plane went down

just North of the airport.

It would be about 80 miles
southeast of Pittsburgh.

- It looks like a terrorist attack.

That's all I can say, I don't know.

- I got stampeded on, I had
things fall on top of me.

I saw a guy, I feel bad for this guy.

He's a big guy. he was on the floor,

had blood gushing out of his head

and everything was really bad.

- We're not close, we
continue walking this way.

And then we heard, oh my
God, the building is gone.

So we look, and the building was gone.

So we stand up into corner,

I'm just looking at all the tower.

And then we saw the
tower just disappeared.

The second tower was just gone.

- Collapsed from underneath itself.

- And then we just continue walking

and we don't know what to do now

because everything is closed.

We live in New Jersey.

So, just continued walking the street.

- Wondering around.

We don't know what to do, how to get home.

- You know, you look down low,

this is how you know where
you are in Manhattan.

And you would just look there

and there would be the
two blinking red antenna.

And they're just not there.

How you guys feeling?

I'm pretty blacked out right now.

- Remember the movie Siege?

- Yeah.

- It came out two years ago

and all the islanders protest,
because there was like

this coordinated attack around New York.

This is...

It's like everybody thought that they

can't shut the city down

and they shut the country down

because people aren't flying.

Incredible.

- They got the fighter jets up in the air.

You got to be over here.

I went down there with like 50 guys.

- When?

- Just now.

See how far I could get.

To see if they needed volunteers.

They're going to need a lot
of volunteers down there.

- You gotta try something.

- Right.

So I was down there, we got down,

we got down two blocks below Canal Street

back to Newport and they stopped us all.

He got my number and
they're going to need,

you know what I mean?

Thousands of people are dead.

- I know, I know how many firefighters

and rescue people are here.

- Yeah, right.

- But it hit, people who
were hit below the 74th floor

may not have been affected

because there was some

people, some guy told me
he managed to get out.

But if people were hit
maybe above the 74 floor,

- They were probably
targeting around 45th floor

because that's the mechanical floor.

They did structural
damage because the plane,

when I was working, the
plane almost hit my crane,

right over here, the plane tilted.

It came about 50 feet from the plane,

went straight into the building.

I saw it hit the building.

- Did it go to the, the surrounding areas?

Like little Italy and Chinatown?

- Well, there was like an implosion

because the building came...

The second building...

- So it didn't attack that area, right?

When you had a reporter on the street

and I heard that was right there

in the street and saw the two.

And it was the FBI and the
police actually saw it coming.

But I saw the first one

and the second one over here.

- Did it affect my, I
live in Little Italy.

So did it...

- It may not have gotten that far,

but I heard all the subways

and all the tunnels that I heard,

somebody has a radio on ma'am.

- Probably bridges or a Metro...

- Everything is targeted right now.

- The UN building, the federal plaza.

- I mean, don't you wanna take a subway...

- I was on the subway when it happened,

people were telling us.

You know they attacked the
Chicago Sears building also.

- I believe...

- No, they, they evacuated that building.

- If they're after the entire system,

and I think they are, right?

You don't know what might be next.

That's the whole thing.

- I'm worried about the...

- Well, now we're, but
now we're in, you know...

- My neighborhood's okay, Little Italy.

I'm gonna go down and see my dog.

- I can't comprehend it.

It's madness.

- Most shocking thing
I think I've ever seen.

Or probably will ever see.

- Do you know about the Pentagon

and all the other places?

- No.

- No?

The Pentagon, there was
a plane crash there too.

- Seriously?

- Seriously.

In Pennsylvania, another plane crash.

- Oh my God.

- There was one in Chicago.

- Do they know anything about...

- Yeah, Camp David,

where the president hangs out.

That's where they bombed.

- Really?

- They've also...

- When we woke up this morning,

we were like, we were gonna go and visit.

- We had jet lag because
we got here yesterday.

- We were gonna go and visit the building,

we were like, yeah if we
had gone up a bit earlier

and gone, we would have been.

We were gonna go see the
Statue of Liberty first,

we would of been down there.

If we left an hour earlier.

- We were gonna be downtown
even earlier this morning.

- This is mad.

- Can you
imagine the skyline there?

- Yeah, that's totally what I was saying.

- New York is just a different place.

I can't believe that something that big

is just gone and like...

I mean, I don't even know what to do.

I dunno what organization sort of did it

but I just can't understand.

Just can't go around why
anyone would wanna do it.

It's honestly like a huge bit of history

that we've witnessed but I wish

it's a bit of history I wish

that didn't have to happen anyways.

It is a big thing, in a lot of ways

and it's weird that we've seen it

but you know, I didn't wanna see it.

I didn't want anyone to see it.

I just wish it hadn't happened.

It shouldn't have happened, it's bad.

- Do you know anything about
the death toll or anything?

- Those buildings hold

something like, 50,000.

- Did they manage to get a
lot of people out though?

- I don't know.

- Even though we know it won't work,

we tried this from on about 10 payphones

and it hasn't worked.

So it probably won't.

- It's working.

- Is it?

- No.

It's not working.

Oh just work for me.

- Borrow me another one.

- I'm just kidding, this is amazing.

- You can't believe it?

- I'm sorry.

You can't believe it, right?

- I can't..

I'm in shock.

- Everybody like that, man.

- When that second, when
those towers came down,

I, I dunno, I think everybody,
so many people were crying.

- Okay, everybody cry you know why?

Because I'm very close
to my brother there.

He was right there, but
everything's all right.

He called me a few minutes.

- You talked to your brother?

Yeah, no, he called me by
another number on the phone.

He gave me the answer on the machine.

- Oh good.

Everything's all right.

- I'd rather smoke less
than smoke a lot of smoke.

- everything, you know,

is that a fume, got smoke like this.

The ash is through like rays.

You can see it right there.

- My daughter walked around there too.

- She okay?

- Yeah she called, she
took a lot of smoke.

You know, she can't see that side.

- You can't see everything there.

Everything is dark over there.

They tell them, the TV in the report

that's between 5,000 people and 10,000.

Between five and 10,000 killed today

I don't know.

- Buddy, you all right?

You all right, buddy?

- Yeah, I'm fine.

- Were you close to that?

- Yeah, eight blocks away.

- You all right?

- Yeah.

That was the Trade Center
bombing too last time.

Hopefully that doesn't
mean anything else too.

- How do you feel?

- Fine.

Just the people getting out there.

It's crazy out there, man.

- Do you know if any
city workers were there?

- We have no stats on anything yet.

We know there's a lot
of garbage down there,

a lot of, a lot of damage.

People are jumping outta windows.

A lot of weird shit going on.

- Do you know if we can
get to the Brooklyn Bridge?

I'd walk down the Manhattan bridge.

Where do you wanna go?

What train?

- Uh, Brooklyn.

- You want to take a train?

Because the train services
supposedly working,

not here, but if you go
down to Spring Street

or maybe up to, what's it?

28, should be working, they
said the A was working.

- What's going on?

You can't walk anywhere downtown here?

- Yeah, that's for the FDR.

- Pardon?

- For the FDR to cut across.

- Okay.

Is this line going North?

- Right now, it's been,

When they decide they're moving
further north, we'll talk.

- Everybody's gotta move
down, down past Ward Street,

We're moving the line down,

everybody down past Ward Street.

- Is that south from here?

Yes, everyone move south.

Everybody down past Ward
Street, past the scaffolding.

- What happened to the building?

- They are, from the explosion.

And they have to check now
for the structural soundness

of the surrounding buildings
that were hit by the debris.

A lot of the glass windows were blown out.

Some of the buildings have
airplane parts in front of them.

So, the big concern now is making sure

that everybody got out of those buildings.

- And did all your colleagues get out?

- We believe so, yeah.

- Where are you going?

- I'm going home, I live
on West 10th street.

- Perfect.

- Walking seems to be the best
course of action right now.

- I think it's the only.

- Yeah.

- I looked over to my left

and I saw a big jet coming and I was,

I couldn't believe it.

I'm like, we gotta get outta here.

- You could actually feel the heat

from the explosion through the window.

- Really?

So, did you see the other plane hit?

- Not the first one, the second one, yeah.

Second one, we were just looking
out the window when it hit.

- Was it just horrifying?

- Yeah, cause I mean just seeing it.

And then it was like
in suspended animation,

you saw the jet engine and
then the jet engine just like

went into the building and disintegrated.

It was unbelievable.

- I'm feeling kind of strange right now.

I'm feeling like I'm
getting over it, you know,

it doesn't really, I don't know.

I guess it will come
in waves, but it's just

a bizarre, bizarre feeling.

It's just so surreal, I don't think,

nobody, it's like, nobody's
really excited about it.

It's just insane.

- Just insane man, unreal, unreal.

- We were watching when the
second plane hit the building

and it just, you know, it
rammed into the backside of it

and this huge explosion
came out the front.

- How do you feel?

- I feel awful about it.

I feel awful about it.

I dunno what to say, much beyond that.

I've always sort of
thought that this country

was wide open for terrorist attacks.

- But this is the wake up
call and it's a harsh one.

- And CNN kept going on.

Kept saying, one of the
landmark buildings of New York.

It's like, landmark buildings of New York.

It's the fucking landmark
building up the planet earth.

I mean, come on.

- It's the most famous structure
in the world practically.

- You could show that picture
to somebody in a cartoon.

They'll know it's the World Trade Center,

it's in New York.

- What kind of retaliation do
you think that there'll be?

- I don't know, it's really tricky, man.

I'll tell you something.

Well, I mean, there's
always a lot of, sort of,

a lot of people who are not

particularly sympathetic with Israel.

Not criticizing Israel
for being too harsh,

going after terrorists.

And you know, but people
here, it's easy to criticize.

Nothing was happening here.

Now when something like this happens here,

we'll see what our attitude is
and what our retaliation is.

And it probably will be very severe

and the suffering has just begun

and I'm sure there's
gonna be a lot of bombs

and stuff going off in other countries.

- You don't know where to be?

- I'm telling you, I
don't know where to go.

- You guys, okay?

- Yeah, I'm okay, thank you.

- This is horrific, it's horrific.

- It's like the end of the world.

We don't know which way to go.

- You don't know which way to go?

- This was planned boy, very well planned.

They won't even give you a
chance to catch your breath.

- They're can get hitting
us left and right.

We have to retaliate,
we have to do something.

We can't let them get away with murder.

- Who is they?

They, the terrorists.

- That desert storm
bullshit in plain English.

Why didn't they do it then, that's all.

Get rid of them.

Oh, am I talking now?

- No, I'm with you.

- Okay.

- I'm totally with you.

You know, I just...

- They better crack down.

- It's just too easy to get
in and now all round murder.

- Everybody gets away with murder.

- They gotta stop the
people from coming in,

that's the trouble.

- We're too lenient.

- We are, I think this is gonna change..

- Other countries, the security,

you can't get in and around...

- But yet everybody..

All the foreigners are here,
there's more here than there.

- Are those people foreigners

or are they just different Americans?

- Well, whatever you want
to call them, you name them.

They're not familiar to me.

- Mind our own business and
get out of the middle East

and mind our own damn business.

Worry about this country for a change.

Worrying about every other damn country.

Keep peace, keep peace.

Meanwhile, their people
don't believe in peace.

- All we have to do is pray.

God listens to our prayers.

It seems like they end
of the world, really.

- This is very troubling.

- Fucking no twin towers.

- No twin towers.

The view is like never gonna be...

- Unbelievable.

- You guys, you guys work around here?

- We work downtown.

- You work downtown?

Where'd you work?

- 40 Wall Street.

- How close is it?

- Gosh, we saw the building
right out the window.

We were on the 45th floor.

Saw the building right out the window.

- You get the fuck out?

- Yeah, we went down the stairs

when the second one went,

- What do you think we're gonna do?

- You mean punishment?

I'll get all fucking
wrecked and bomb everybody.

That's just what I would do.

- Gotta do something,
we can let this happen

and not do something about it.

- I feel like the ground has
just evaporated underneath me.

Like everything is an illusion.

You saw those things fall down?

- Yeah.

- They were like, just like nothing.

Just those, huge buildings.

Just like dust.

- This is horrible, this is horrible.

- People will divide
their lives around today.

You know, before the World Trade Centers

came down and after.

Nothing will be the same after this.

I just hope there's no
war as a result of this.