CNN Breaking News
The Time Warner Center, where CNN located in NYC has been evacuated with reports of a suspicious device discovered.
There were reports that CNN headquarters at the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle were evacuated over yet another possible suspicious package. A security guard who answered the phone at the 58th Street location told News 4 no one was at their desks. NYPD said to avoid Columbus Circle.
CNN has to break early after fire alarm goes off in the studio. They have transferred their live broadcast to studios in Washington, D.C.
UPDATE: (10:33A.M.): The device found at Time Warner Center was a pipe with wires hanging out of it, law enforcement sources tell NBC 4. 58th Street is closed by the building.
CNN’s Jim Sciutto shared an image of the scene outside the Time Warner Center in New York. NYPD is responding to a suspicious device discovered in Time Warner Center, where CNN is based.
UPDATE (10:43A.M.): Bombs sent to George Soros, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and CNN are pipe bombs.
UPDATE (10:47 A.M): The suspicious package found at the Time Warner Center was addressed to a CNN correspondent, law enforcement sources tell NBC 4.
UPDATE (11:00 A.M): Patrons of the hotels and businesses that line 58th Street outside Time Warner Center in New York are allowed to leave the area, but they will not be allowed back in at this time.
One hotel tells CNN that they have not been told a time in which their patrons will be allowed back in, as the NYPD is still assessing the situation.
UPDATE (11:12 A.M): CNN reports that the entire area of W 58th St, between Columbus and 8th Ave, has been evacuated. Currently, the reporters can’t get closer for more information, either.
New York Police Department has issued an emergency alert urging people to “shelter in place” near the Time Warner building in New York City.
UPDATE (11:20 A.M): CNN President Jeff Zucker sent an email to all employees earlier this morning after learning a suspicious device was found in the Time Warner Center’s mailroom. The CNN newsroom is in the building.
Zucker said the building was “evacuated out of an abundance of caution” and they were “working with authorities to determine the severity of the situation.”
All bureaus around the world are being checked “out of a complete abundance of caution,” he added.
UPDATE (11:28 A.M): The package sent to Time Warner Center in New York was addressed to 10 Columbus Circle, according to two law enforcement sources.
Both CNN and the shops at Columbus Circle, a shopping mall, were listed at that address in internet searches. A Warner Media executive tells CNN’s Brian Stelter the package was received mid-morning, in the 9 A.M. hour, and the company doesn’t yet know who it was addressed to. Warner Media has no information about the sender.
UPDATE (11:30 A.M): CNN’s Poppy Harlow said moments ago that if the potentially explosive cannot be safely defused on-site, it could be transported to a location called Rodman’s Neck in the Bronx and detonated, according to NYPD.
UPDATE (11:39 A.M): The package with an explosive device sent to CNN’s New York offices today was addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan, according to the city and local law enforcement officials, according to CNN.
Brennan, an official in the Obama administration, is a frequent CNN guest and Trump critic whose security clearance was revoked by the President this summer. According to the NYPD website, the department maintains a training facility and firing range at that location.
Another law enforcement official tells CNN’s Evan Perez that the initial examination of all of the devices shows them to be constructed similarly. At least one of the devices appeared to contain projectiles, including shards of glass. The devices are rudimentary but functional.
UPDATE (11:58 A.M): There will be a briefing near the Time Warner Center in New York City at 12:45 P.M. ET, a New York Police official tells CNN. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill will be at the briefing, according to Mayor de Blasio’s press secretary Eric Phillips.
As a precaution, the NYPD Intelligence, Counterterrorism and Bomb Squad teams are increasing patrols at media locations in New York City and other potential areas.
UPDATE (12: 23 P.M): A US intelligence official tells CNN it is too early to tell whether there is a nexus to terrorism at this point regarding the suspicious packages sent to multiple locations today.
The official says the intelligence community is monitoring the situation regarding the suspicious packages, saying it is still very early in the process. Intelligence agencies could become involved later on but at this point, law enforcement is still assessing the facts on the ground.
UPDATE (12: 34 P.M): Officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive (ATF) are on scene at the site of the multiple suspicious packages. They are responding to packages mailed to officials in DC, and are at the Time Warner Center in New York and the office of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida, ATF spokesperson April Langwell said.
UPDATE (12: 52 P.M): Mayor Bill de Blasio, Governor Andrew Cuomo, and New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill are holding a news conference at Columbus Circle regarding the suspicious device found in the building of CNN’s New York offices.
New York Police Commissioner O’Neill said the device appeared to be a live explosive device. An envelope containing white powder was also discovered as part of the original packaging. “Responding officers identified a device that appeared to be a live explosive device and the bomb squad responded, secured the device and removed it for investigation,” O’Neill said.
UPDATE (1:05 P.M): Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking at a news conference, said the device found at the CNN building is “clearly an act of terror.” He said the people of New York won’t be intimidated and will be undeterred.
“We cannot be terrorized if you refuse to allow the terrorists to win,” de Blasio said.
UPDATE (1:15 P.M.): Take a look at the suspicious package that was sent to the CNN building in New York City earlier this morning. It was addressed to John Brennan, the former CIA director, and “Time Warner (CNN).”
UPDATE (2:09 P.M.): An NYPD official says the suspicious package sent to CNN building has been safely removed by NYPD Bomb Squad.