04-19-2013 | MSNBC | "Eyewitness shares bird's-eye view of crime scene" said:
HOST: I want to bring back in Andrew Kitzenberg who is an eye-witness to that violence in Watertown; he saw the whole thing from his own apartment window. Andrew, can you re-cap for me what you saw this evening?
KITZENBERG: Yeah. At around 12:45, 12:50, I heard a couple of gunshots outside -- what I thought were gunshots -- outside of my apartment and I went to the window and right outside of our apartment there were two shooters in between a sedan and a black Mercedes Benz SUV, and they were in between these two cars taking cover behind the black SUV, shooting down our street, which is Laurel Street, and they were shooting westward towards what looked to be about six-to-ten Watertown Police Department vehicles, and they were shooting about what seemed to be about 70 to 80 yards down the street, utilizing handguns. And while they were engaging in gunfire they were also using explosives, what seemed to be maybe, maybe grenades, that they were throwing towards the officers, and the gunfight...gunfire, took place for at least a few minutes while they were utilizing explosives and when it comes closer towards the end, they used what seemed to be a larger bomb. From my view, from my bedroom window on the third floor of our building, it was about...I was about thirty-five, forty feet away, and it looked to resemble a pressure cooker -- what I've seen from other pictures online in the last few days. And they...I saw them light this bomb, and the picture you're showing right now is actually the site where the explosion was, and they lit it -- and that would be the bomb squad who was kind of inspecting the site -- but they threw it towards the officers, and it only got maybe fifteen to twenty yards down, so it wasn't very close to the officers but it really...it created a significant decoy, and there was smoke that covered our entire street, and at that point one of the shooters ran towards the officers whilst still engaging in gunfire, and while he was still shooting at them, a few seconds later the second shooter got back into the SUV and turned it around and went full speed into the police officers. Just before he started charging at the officers in the vehicle, the first shooter that was running at them was taken down, and I didn't have a clear view into how that happened, I couldn't tell whether it was...he was shot, or whether he was tackled. The footage may seem like he was shot, but I couldn't see clearly. At that time, the second shooter was basically charging into the officers' vehicles at full speed, and went right in between them, and went right in between two or three officers' cars taking out their doors and windows and side-swiping them, ultimately getting through them and moving past our block and out of my view.
HOST: And you mentioned earlier when we spoke that you saw what looked like a bomb detection robot on the scene. Is that piece of equipment still there, still surveying the scene looking for explosives?
KITZENBERG: Actually, if you hold on one sec, I can look out this window, and basically...
HOST: [Unclear] ...love to see the scene as you're seeing it in your home there.
KITZENBERG: Yeah, I can...So it is actually right there still at the vehicle, and I'm going to walk my...I'm going to walk my computer here.
HOST: Okay, and while you do that, let me just explain to our viewers what we're seeing: Andrew Kitzenberg is an eye witness. His apartment overlooks the street where this fire fight and these explosions took place, and so he's going to try and show us a little bit of what he's seeing. So is that the vehicle that they were using for cover during that fire fight?
KITZENBERG: Yes. This was the smaller sedan.
HOST: Can you open your window, Andrew? It'll provide us with a better view because we're getting a...[unclear]
KITZENBERG: You know what? The bomb squad robot is there, I don't feel comfortable doing that.
HOST: That's okay. We definitely want you to be safe. Okay. Continue. So...
KITZENBERG: So it is right now inspecting the back seat, but it seems like the back left passenger door, and I just took some pictures and put 'em...put one picture on Twitter of the robot, which is at AKitz, and right now it's inspecting the other side of the car. The car has been completely untouched. Right next to the car there are a few backpacks, either two or three backpacks, and that's what it looked like the shooters were carrying ammu--... what I assume would be ammunition, explosives. And those backpacks are still on the ground next to the sedan. They have been untouched right now. It seems like the officers and the bomb squad are proceeding very cautiously in inspecting the vehicle.
HOST: [unclear, distortion] ...see from your view that we saw from your window, you're very close to that car and everything that's taking place. Have you heard anything from law enforcement to you and to other residents in the area about evacuating or staying towards the front of the building? Anything at all about your safety?
KITZENBERG: Yeah, we had...we had -- seemed to be Army personnel -- and they knocked on our door, told us to lock up all the doors in the house, go to the back of the house, and don't come out, and stay low. And that was probably...
HOST: Is that where you are...are you in the back of the house now? Because you seem very close to the activity.
KITZENBERG: Right now I'm with a few of my roommates here, and we're in living room. This is our one TV here, so I'm kinda watching what's being televised so I can stay on spec with you.
HOST: And you posted some photos on Twitter, and again you said your Twitter handle is AKatz, that's -K-A-T... [correcting herself] K-I-T-Z, I'm assuming, right?
KITZENBERG: AKitz.
HOST: AKitz. A-K-I-T-Z. And you just said you posted a photograph of the bomb robot, and earlier this evening you posted some photos of some bullets holes in your home. We're just going to put them up, can you just describe what you photographed and what was taking place at that time?
KITZENBERG: Yeah, so, we actually -- my roommates and I -- didn't even notice the bullet hole until at least an hour and a half later, and then we saw the significant hole through the westward wall in our house and it went right through my roommate's calendar and then right through...right through the chair -- his computer desk chair -- and the slug, which we haven't touched, is still sitting right at the foot of his bed.
HOST: And, Andrew, do you know if anyone has been injured? I mean, you mentioned that one of the suspects may have been shot, but aside from him, do you know if there have been any injuries in this?
KITZENBERG: I don't know. Thankfully all three of my roommates and I are safe right now. We're a little shaken-up, but we're all safe. I have no idea about anyone else on the street in our block.