"america tonight," christof putzel goes in depth as police shoot down a customer in a walmart aisle. he had a gun but was he a threat? >> and he gave it his all. wall. this is the only way i know how to play. mom this is the only way i know how to play. >> but at what price? "america tonight"'s michael okwu okwu, american player and sad death, major questions for major league baseball . >> and good evening, thanks for joining us, i'm joie chen.

we begin with a story, the ebola outbreak, tonight we are learning more about the liberian patient, the first one to be diagnosed in the united states. tonight we know his name and what he did before he boarded a flight to the united states. while he's being cared for in a dallas hospital there's growing concern and fear as the cdc works to track down the people who may have come into contact with him. >> ebola needs to be tackled here or it will be on everyone else's doorstep and the texas case shows us this. >> a dire warning from the chief of the u.n. mission in liberia, make no mistake. ebola has now reached not just our doorstep but has arrived in american homes. >> we're categorizing his condition as serious but stable. >> the hospital aimed to protect the patient's privacy but the liberian government says his name is thomas eric duncan, he

is being monitored 24-7 and officials taken care of him are not taking any chances. >> surgical masks, gloves, booties. >> september 14th, the new york times reports that night duncan helps a pregnant woman infected with ebola. he rides in the front seat, with the woman and she is turned away from the hospital. due the space. dice hours later. september 20th he arrived in dallas. the centers for disease control reports at that point he is showing no symptoms of ebola infection and because of that the cdc says the risk of infecting passengers on the plane is very low. >> since his arrival on friday

he was not vomiting or having die reand therefore there was no exposures. so we really think there is very little likelihood that any health care worker was exposed on friday and certainly virtually zero exposure starting sunday. >> five days later, september 25th duncan becomes ill and seeks medical care for the first time. >> one of the things we emphasize for any health worker in this country is if you have someone who's been in west africa in the past 21 days and they've got afever or other symptoms that might be consistent with ebola immediately isolate them, get them tested. we've already identified about 100 people who have that level of concern, we have tested five people and that is the first one that tested positive. >> sent home only with a course of antibiotics, even though he

reportedly tells the nurse he has come from liberia. september 28th he runs to the hospital in an ambulance. duncan is admitted and placed in what's called strict isolation. the cdc rushes a team to dallas to not only assist in his treatment but to crack down and monitor everyone duncan came into contact with and three days after he was put into isolation. >> we have a seven person team identifying everyone who might have come into contact and monitoring them for 21 days. >> already officials have identified at least 18 people including children who had contact with duncan before he was hospitalized. >> today we learned that some school age children have been identified as having had contact with the patient. and are now being monitored at home for any signs of the disease. >> we've learned some of those include children who may have visited with him while he was staying with family at an apartment complex in northeast dallas.

even the three paramedics who transported the patient to the hospital were quarantined until their test reports come back negative. >> they had enough information about ebola that they could tie the thing together and had a reasonable amount of suspicious to take appropriate action as we train them to do. >> health officials are confident they can contain ebola before it spreads here. >> ebola is a scary disease because of the severity of illness it causes. and we're really hoping for recovery of this individual. at the same time, we're stopping it in its tracks, in this country. >> but even if the risk is low the fear is real. >> for it to turn up in dallas of all places and especially down the street from where i work and where she lives it's a little shocking. >> i got a call on the cell phone like a recording. something says everyone is okay but if you want to come get your

child it wouldn't be held against you. i came and got mine. >> we got it checked out just to see. >> that's where all of our doctors are, all of our kids's doctors. >> want to be sure that if we have our kids going there it would be a safe place to go, that's my concern. >> only four health workers have been brought to the united states, under strict concern. while all have -- three have recovered the fourth is under treatment. >> we understand now beyond the traveler mr. duncan there may be another person that is under observation for exposure. >> let's put it under perspective. first confirmed ebola case in the nation in the world in terms of the united states. so our issue today is doing contact investigation on those

individuals who were in contact with the patient. right now there's no confirmed second case. what our concern is, is that through the contact investigation, there might be a second case. but there is no confirmation. we would not be shocked if there is a second case. so i want to put it in perspective that when you have a patient who had traveled to the united states, who had spent some time with close family members, we have to put in perspective that we should not be shocked if there is a second case. >> so is this a person that was in contact then with mr. duncan and is it a person you put in observation in hospital? >> no, no observation, no testing. we're just saying in perspective that having the first ebola case in the united states, and as you do your contact tracing, we just want to be clear that to the public, to be transparent, if you hear of a second case do not be surprised. but there is no confirmed case.

no testing being done on a second person. >> all right, so -- but there were we understanding a number of others, about 18 in total in the contact circle of the first person, the traveler mr. duncan, is that a number you're still working with or do you think that circle of contacts, direct contacts may be higher? >> we look at the circle of contacts being the primary family members, close friends. we take in any emergency staff that might have taken the patient to the hospital. so that's what we look in terms of the circle. right now we have the cdc, texas department state health services and dallas county doing investigation on close cawcts, so that -- close contacts so that may range from 12 to 18 people. >> i understand you want to assure the people of dallas and of texas to ensure their safety

and limit the spread of the disease itself. i wouldn't since you've been able to -- i wonder since you've been able to identify the contact, the place the traveler was staying, the apartment building is there a move to quarantine that apartment building or those individuals? >> we're not going to use the term quarantine. we think that the observation of family members, the observation of close friends, may be enough. if that is not the case, we will look at more stringent orders to ensure the family stays in compliance. i think the best approach going forward is to make sure that the family, close friends, anyone who had contact with the patient, understands the importance of woig a lot -- of avoiding a lot of contact with people based on other people's fear of ebola. it's not that anyone has any symptoms. so i want to be very frank. there is not any sign that shows

that any of the individual contacts have ebola. we just dealing with a fear in dallas, as you could see throughout the nation, of the ebola virus. so one way to reduce the fear is to restrict the places that the family members can go. >> understandably, though, you understand that the fear occurs after all the traveler when he arrived in the country was not showing symptoms either. it was a number of days afterwards before that exposure became obvious. and then when he arrived at the hospital there is concern that he was pushed off, turned away, sent home just with antibiotics even though had he identified himself as coming from the liberia area. >> the only thing i speak to is we are monitoring the family members and they have not shown symptoms to date. so that's our role. any other issues that have been identified in terms of this particular case is not in our purview and i'm sure will be looked at but in terms of

monitoring, that's what we're doing each day, monitoring the temperature, monitoring how the family members are doing, and that way we'll be able to determine if they have the virus. to date they have not shown any signs or symptoms. >> mr. johnson we appreciate you being with us. zachary johnson joins thing dallas department of health he joins us today.thank you. >> thank you. >> this echoes for many people across the world wearveg and west africa and the united states. de conte, was the first to sawyer was the first american to die of the disease.

this must have . >> it took me back to the day patrick died and the fear of what could have happened. to me and the girls. >> right, the fear -- the. >> had he come. >> the fear of him coming back from liberia and had been infected there. he died before he could reach home in nigeria. >> yes. >> you know when we hear about this there was also a concern when the news broke that this patients had come from liberia, after all there were people that suggested your husband was at fault for bringing the disease from liberia to nigeria. do you think there's a potential concern in dallas as well? >> do i. because i got blamed by a lot of you know good people, fearful people in nigeria, who were afraid that the virus was going to spread in nigeria. and when patrick died there, you know, that fear turned into anger.

and they needed a target, someone to blame and and i got blamed. my children got blamed for taking ebola the nigeria. i'm afraid that the same may happen to the family members and even the gentleman that is that has ebola but that's not right. you know, that shouldn't happen because it's not our fault. >> i know that you have been very brave in these recent weeks, moved forward as an activist, trying to get involved in helping the spread -- helping to stop the spread of the disease. do you have concern now that that wasn't done and that is why we saw this case come from liberia to texas? >> yes, i'm very dhearnd that wasn't done -- i'm very concerned that that wasn't done. i'm very dhearnd everything that needs to be durks concerned that everything that needs to be done wasn't done.

a lot of that's not being done so i'm very afraid. >> de conte sawyer, we apologize for your loss and the sorrow you must have in these weeks and appreciate your issue. >> thank you. >> later this hour. major league dreams and otragic ending. the ball player whose death raises more questions for the mlb. with a reminder it's not just those football players who take those hard hits. right after the break, the suspect was armed but was he dangerous? >> he didn't point bee bee gun to anyone in the store. no one was in imminent danger. >> police gunned down the walmart shopper. "america tonight's" christof putzel, what happened in the

beaver creek store. another wave of protests against the police. >> the president of estonia rising tensions with russia... >> one country has decided it no longer needs to follow the rules >> european union under stress >> the framework that was set up is not holding anymore >> and building for the future >> i require tough reforms and political will... >> every saturday, join us for exclusive... revealing... and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time... talk to al jazeera, only on al jazeera america

police. >> following. >> following up on an important story we have been following on "america tonight." it was an arguments over loud music. michael dunn, the shooter feared for his life when he shot and killed young jordan davis in 2012. he thought davis had a gun but davis didn't. last february the jury deadlocked but a different verdict comes from a new jury. "america "america tonight"'s sarah hoye reports. >> we find the defendant guilty of first degree murder. >> the fate of michael dunn was once again in the hands of a florida jury. a jury comprised of eight men and four women that found 47-year-old michael dunn guilty of first degree murder for the killing of jordan davis. the verdict was reached after less than six hours of deliberations. state attorney angela cory

called the verdicting gratifying. >> we're very pleased. >> after an argument over loud music in 2012. wearing a suit and tie dunn took the stand in his own defense this week. his testimony and cross-examination lasting just showrt short of two hours on tuesday. it was the day after thanksgiving when undunn and his then fiancee stopped at ogas station in jacksonville, florida, he said he thought his life was in danger when he fired ten times into an suv carrying friends. >> i was in fear for my life. this was a threat on my life. brandishing a weapon and coming at me. >> were you angry? >> no, i was petrified. >> reporter: dunn who admits

shooting davis maintsdz it was in -- maintains it was in self defense. >> i'm in fear of my life. >> but the prosecutor said dunn fired at the suv with malice and ill intent. >> in the end when it came right down to it, jordan russell davis was just that. a kid. and so when he saw a semi automatic pistol pointed at him, he did the best he could. to save his own life. he shut his mouth and he cowered away from the gun. >> speaking without passion, dunn says after the shooting he was so overcome with fear he didn't go to authorities. even after returning home two and a half hours away. >> we had so much sphere. even from the night before. -- so much fear, even from the night before. that day we weren't in our right minds.

>> dunn's former fiancee delivered tearful testimony for a second time about that night. with a white defendant and a black victim the trial generated national attention because of the completelies with the trayvon martin case-d. martin, was shot and killed by george zimmerman, who was white, during a dispute in sanford, florida. zimmerman was acquitsed. like dunn, no rming weapon was weapon was found in davis's vehicle. for parents of jordan davis the verdict goes beyond justice for their son. >> we are very grateful that justice has been served. justice not only for jordan. but justice for

tray von, for the nameless people and children who will never have a voice. >> with this most recent verdict, dunn will spend the rest of his life behind bars. >> with these trials what was the difference? >> the second trial they were really going after michael dunn shooting. if you recall, he left the scene. prosecutors say, guilty people leave the scene. not guilty people wait and help law enforcement. >> this was also a matter of choice. there was a conviction in the first trial, not for murder 1 but in this case, why did the prosecutor and in indeed the family want to continue for second trial, when they could have gotten the same result? >> do you this so you guarantees not something coming up on appeal, that quintessential

first degree murder, in the first trial they were deadlocked on that charge. in this trial they cake came at it and focused and were able to get it. >> "america tonight" sarah hoye, thank you. another case of unarmed black man being shot and killed by police, john crawford, shot and killed in a walmart, after having a beebee gun. an in-depth look into that shooting from "america tonight's" christof putzel. >> what is your emergency. walmart. there is a gentleman with a gun in the store. >> has he got it pulled out? >> yeah, he's like pointing at people. >> on august fowrts, john crawford was buying ingredients

for smores. l. >> he went to the store, to get some items for cookout. >> reporter: "america tonight" set sat down with his mother for her first interview, and her being lawyer. >> he did not point beebee gun at none in the store. especially women, especially children, he made no aggressive movements towards anyone. no one was in imminent danger. >> the 911 caller was this man, rodney richie. he described what he saw to local station who. >> black gentleman walking up looks holding an ar 17. thinking he's either going to rob the place or he's there to shoot somebody else.

it looks kinds of serious as far as he didn't really want to be looked at, and when people did look at him, he was pointing the gun at people and everything, so just really off-putting. >> reporter: acting on that information, beaver creek police officers stormed walmart, raced to the back and shot and killed john crawford. he had the beebee gun pointed to the ground and the cell phone still in his hand. on the other end of the line the mother of his two children and his own mother. >> i heard him struggling to breathe, like that gurg gurgling noiseons.

>> angela williams a mother of two, with a hard condition went into cardiac arrest and died. ronald richie is partially to blame. >> he started this and caused the death of two people. >> is there a way to hold the caller responsible? >> we believe that there's enough evidence and information there that the prosecutor could move forward with some type of charge against richie. >> did the call that they received, does that give the him? >> absolutely not. that may give them a cause to investigate. that may give them a cause to come in and to find out what's going on. if you come into walmart, and there are other people shopping, and nothing seems to be a wry then how is that an active shootser? >> the supreme court has ruled that officers do not have to prove actual threat to their

safety to use deadly force. the special prosecutor said the 911 call gave them reason the believe there was danger. >> are you sure he's pointing at people? yes, that's what the caller says, he's pointing at people. >> a grand jury agreed. he failed to indict the officers for john crawford's death. >> they returned no indictment. they decided that the police officers and the police officer in particular that fired the shots was justified in doing what he did. >> how is this? i was hurt, it was like me losing him, my son, all over again. no one's been held responsible for it. no one. >> the beaver creek police did not respond to "america tonight's" request for an interview. walmart said in the statement that it was deeply saddened about the loss of life that occurred and tuesday it pulled all beebee guns from the shelves

of the beaver creek walmart. >> nobody going to walk all over me. >> reporter: since the verdict protests have gripped the area. supporters of the crawford family turned out. and so did being supporters of the legal carry movement. virgil, an on carry advocate, says he's brought his own gun into this walmart on many occasions. >> you said you were in the store with a real gun. >> a real gun. >> and you don't think there were any issues glm . >> no problems whatsoever. >> this area is very whites, i think folks seem to be afraid of the unknown, they seem to be afraid of especially black men with what seems to be afierming

or rifle in his-d a firearm or rifle in his hand. >> i think with regard to race, this officer probably would have been a little bit more patient had this not been a black man, looking the way he looked. >> civil rights violations, crawford's mother says she's hopeful that the investigation will bring justice into her son's case. but it won't make up for what she lost that day. >> i lost parts of me. i lost my son. >> crawford's two children also lost their father. his one-year-old son is having a particularly rough time. >> very hard seeing him just cry. i mean scream, for like three weeks, every day. he know his dad's not there. you know. something's, something's different.

>> "america tonight's" christof putzel joins us now follow up on the story. christof, don't the officers have some training to know whether this is a chute or no shoots situation? >> yes. just 12 days before the shooting occurred, the officer and a bunch of his colleagues were under some sort of training that was supposed to teach them about situations like this. what's come under scrutiny is the being training itself, they were shown slides saying, if not you, who? when you come to situations like this this is not time to throw up your hands and say, it's a bad day to be a cop, you have to think about your oath, the question is, maybe this hyped up the officers unnecessarily. >> so what about walmart in all this, does it have any kind of

responsibility? they did make a decision i understand as i saw in your report to take those guns off the shelves of that particular store not others. >> that's correct. walmart has released a statement that they are pulling all the air rifles, all the beebee guns from this one particular beaver creek location. it's not anationwide policy but according to the family, family's lawyer michael he says he thinks that decision has come about eight weeks too late. >> "america tonight"'s christof putzel for us. thanks very much. when we return, the hour's top stories and the waiting game in hong kong. with thousands still occupying the streets of central, will beijing kowtow to the protesters demands? also, diving catches hard hits and painful end to a young major leaguer. >> he will say mom, something is wrong with me. i feel like i'm inside a jar.

my brain is not working right. feel like somebody is just pressing my head. >> "america tonight's" michael okwu, with a family whose son raises questions about concussions in baseball and how to protect players. >> investigating a dark side of the law >> they don't have the money to puchace their freedom... >> for some...crime does pay... >> the bail bond industry has been good to me.... i'll make a chunk of change off the crime... fault lines... al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> they're locking the door... ground breaking... >> we have to get out of here... truth seeking... >> award winning, investigative, documentary series. chasing bail only on al jazeera america

>> on techknow. we're heading to cutting edge cal tech campus >> here's a look at just a few of the students shaping the future of science >> see the latest research, discoveries and breakthroughs inside some of the worlds most advanced labs. >> how do you scale somethig you learned from a jelly fish? >> techknow every saturday go where science meets humanity. this is some of the best driving i've ever done, even though i can't see. techknow. we're here in the vortex. only on al jazeera america.

>> primetime new live as isil continues their brutal campaign, nick schifrin reports from the turkey - syria border... >> that's the black isil flag above the town center... >> five days of fear: escape from isil only on aljazeera america

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>> and finally from us, a vision of an art form stepping into the shad owes. you -- shadows. this is the first worldwide ballet day. as it rises for those who hope to save its. it. it's a word hidden for most of us, but by drawing back the curtain of companies on stages across the globe from the bolshoi to the san francisco ballet, dancers and dance lovers hope to make a point on point, that this work of grace should not be allowed to slip from the stage. that's a very real fear even for those who live to dance. jennifer's loved the ballet from her very first first poks t position to

the pinnacle of her art. >> it has a combination of discipline and fantasy. the greatest freedom i've ever felt in my life was on stage dancing to music. so it can be a real sorts of liberation. as well as a really tough physical thing to do. >> years of training brought her to one of the world's most prestigious companies. beginning at the school of american ballet and then a ten year career of grand jetes. she sat down to her second love, history. >> although i thought i would leave dancing, i actually brought the two things together, i wrote a book which was a cultural history of classic ballet, it was a way to understand where this art form came from, when it had been alive and where it had flourished.

>> 400 years of dance. the ballet, she wrote, is dying. >> the question i was trying to raise is what is going to happen to ballet now and are the directions that culture is going today for or against as it were ballet. in an age of rapid speedy communication and instant gratification is that something we're really willing to take the time for? >> determined oto lead way she opened the center for ballet and the arts. a place for scholars and ar tiforts to bring the leap -- artists to bring the leap of ballet. >> they need a place where they can get ideas and where tolls go for ideas but a university? >> 1-2-3 four. >> one more step, one more turn. to bring dance back to all of our lives. >> it's not about, only about swan lake and tutus and you know

dreamy dancers on toe. it's actually an art form that's grounded in a really democratic ideal, it's grounded in the idea of physical transformation and nobility. and that is something anybody can do. >> and make their own futures. dancer and historian jennifer hellman on the ballet's next steps. that's "america tonight." tomorrow, a showdown, as auto makers try to pull the plug on tesla. join the conversation with us on twitter or on our facebook page. good night night. we'll have more of "america tonight," tomorrow.

>> mistakes and how a dallas hospital first dealt with the ebola patient, lead to more than a dozen people being mornltded for the disease. and some discord in the coalition as fighting rages in iraq and syria. i'm antonio mora, those stories and more straight ahead. >> officials are rushing to soothe public anxiety about the first ebola case to emerge in america. >> rest assured our system is working as it should. >> this is not west africa.

the chances for it being spread are very, very small. >> a sea of pro-democracy protesters in hong kong. >> cy lynn has to step down immediately. >> the agent's embattled director julia pierson. >> she believed it was in the best interest of the agency. >> netflix is getting into the movie business. >> crouching tying are hidden dragon on the same way as it hits theaters. >> we have to find way to change the status quo and to discuss. >> preventing iran from being a nuclear power. >> we begin with questions about why the dallas ebola patient wasn't immediately hospitalized when he first sought treatment and questions about what's happening with the people who had contact with him after he developed symptoms of the disease.