power to give her those rare moments of joy. there are many heart warming story during the london games but none of them could hold a candle to rick. quite an extraordinary man, athlete and father. that's all for us tonight. "a.c. 360" starts now. we begin tonight with breaking news. at least 70 wildfires are burning west of the mississippi. this is a canyon fire in washington state that's already destroyed at least five dozen homes. nearly 25,000 acres are burning. weather conditions in the northwest could produce explosive fire growth. that's how forecasters are describing it. explosive growth over the next few days. south in california, 8,000 firefighters are battling a dozen fires there along the nevada/oregon border. a single fire covers nearly half a million acres in smoke and flame. as we mentioned, weather could hold the key to what happens next. chad myers is tracking that for us.

chad, what does the forecast look like? >> it doesn't look good for tomorrow for sure. it gets hotter. the heat wants to rise like a hot air balloon. when the air goes up, air has to rush in to fill where that air no longer is. that makes wind. the fires across the pacific northwest will get bigger tomorrow for sure. today was a good day to get a handle on it. they did get a little bit of containment. just not enough. they need so much more. temperatures tomorrow, redmond 98, pendleton 98. this is going to be another hot day especially over northern california where a couple days ago redding was 112, tomorrow 106. not sure you can tell the difference if you're on the fire line. that's going to be hot. another big day tomorrow for explosive fire development as you said. >> that's terrible. all right. you know what's interesting, we talked a lot about the drought in the midwest. you think about the northwest, there's not really a drought there. >> no.

it has rained as good as you can imagine up there. normal. not above normal precip but it's okay. what we'll see for the next couple days is this hot weather right here over the top of an area that the problem isn't that it hasn't rained but there are so many dead trees out there. there are pine beetle els. if you live in the northeast you have no idea what i'm talking about. if you live in the west, you can tell half of your hill isn't green, it's brown. these pine trees are standing but they're dead and they're dead and they're dry and they will catch on fire with a lightning strike, with any kind of spark, and when you get these trees that are dead in a fire line, they go off like a cannon. >> like kindling. thank you for the update. appreciate that. we're going to go back to those fire lines live in just a few moments. we're going to get to raw politics now. president obama and paul ryan on the campaign trail tonight. the president in davenport, iowa. the congressman in oxford, ohio. the tone getting ugly on both sides over the last couple days. we're focusing tonight on substance. namely the romney campaign's

difficulty explaining its own plan for dealing with the budget mess. listen to senior romney adviser ed gillespie on "the situation room." >> how many years would it take for the romney budget to become a balanced budget? >> i'm not sure of that. myself, actually. i'll get that to you. i'm sure it's on our website. i'm embarrassed that i don't have that number on the top of my head. i didn't know we were going to talk about that today. >> we'll get the number and tell our viewers. >> i didn't know you were going to ask. >> that was a few hours ago on "the situation room." what makes it all the more interesting is that last night in his first solo interview, mitt romney's new running mate was no less stumped. listen. >> the budget plan that you are now supporting would get to balance when? >> well, the budget plan that mitt romney is supporting gets us down to 20% of gdp government spending by 2016. that means get the size of government back to where it historically has been. what president obama has done is he's brought the size of

government to as high as it hasn't been since world war ii. we want to reduce the size of government so we can have more economic freedom. >> what about balance? >> i don't know exactly when it balances. >> there are no specifics on the romney website as mr. gillespie suggested or in the romney budget plan about when that budget will be balanced. back in june mr. romney said he would try to balance the budget within eight to ten years. back in march he admitted that the budget lacked enough specifics to say for sure just when or if it would be balanced. listen. >> i haven't laid out all of the details of how we'll deal with each one of the deductions and exemptions. i think it's interesting for the groups to try to score it because frankly it can't be scored because those kind of details are going to have to be worked out with congress. >> just a few days ago his top adviser said no new specifics would be forthcoming whether that's good enough for voters really to decide and not for us to decide. it does raise the question over whether or not the romney

campaign has a messaging problem. joining us this evening, ari fleischer, the former bush white house spokesman and unpaid occasional adviser to the obama campaign and robert reich. the author of "beyond outrage." ari, we'll start with you. i was surprised that ed was surprised considering the interview from last night which was a very similar question about balancing the budget. why did they not know the answer? why was ed not able to answer that question? >> well, it's funny. i feel for ed. these things happen. every spokesman will have a memory lapse from time to time. governor romney all you have to do is roll tapes. he said repeatedly he anticipates it will be balanced in eight to ten years. sometimes staffers forget the basic facts. it happens. >> robert, mitt romney said a lot of budget details will have

to be worked out in congress. you worked for president clinton. you know you can propose something and then of course what you actually end up is very different than what was proposed. isn't that a reasonable answer. if they can't commit to specific details, some of that is because some of this is going to be worked out by congress. >> it is reasonable under normal circumstances but when you are running for president of the united states and the budget deficit and budget and how you're going to actually balance it and how you're going to -- who you're going to pay in terms of tax cuts and everything else when this is very much at the center of the entire debate, you can't just say i'm going to leave it up to congress. you really do have to have some specifics. >> so ari, on cbs earlier, it was clear to me at least that mitt romney was in some ways keeping congressman ryan's budget at a distance. he basically used the phrase his campaign is my campaign. we're on the same page now. basically he's the vp. i'm the ticket. i'm the guy in charge.

i guess that to me is wasn't he brought in for his budget acumen. that seems contradictory. doesn't it? >> i think the whole thing about the vp's position is debate without meaning. it always happens. dick cheney for example under george bush was for same sex marriage, bush wasn't. joe biden under president obama biden voted for iraq war at the same time obama was against it. biden said it was a terrible mistake to negotiate with ahmadinejad without preconditions. obama said he was for it. there's always differences between the veep and the president and that's why the president makes the decisions at the end of the day. what's strikingly similar between romney and ryan are their approaches to how to save and protect the entitlement programs so we don't bankrupt the country. they're both willing to make changes for young people, for future generations while making no changes for seniors. a lot of similarities there.

the exact details, the presidential candidate always prevails. >> robert, there's been lots of conversation about ryan's budget plans and ryan's medicare plan and some of that is because mitt romney's plan, the 59-point plan are not really detailed. is that fair? when you think about it is it fair to pin ryan's plan on mitt romney? >> well, when you have a president running for office who has been very vague about all of these plans, when asked what specifically is he going to do to balance the budget or to -- what is he going to cut or what loopholes is he going to close, mitt romney has sidestepped all of the answers. he's also brought on as a vice president someone who is not only not sidestepped most of these answers but has had a very specific set of budget plans. in fact, one of the reasons mitt romney presumably has brought paul ryan on is because paul ryan's very specific budget plans have been so attractive to a portion of the electorate particularly very conservative

republicans. therefore, it seems to me entirely appropriate that romney be attributed with the ryan plan. >> ari, let's talk about those specifics. you say eight to ten years in balanced budget. when you look at the details i don't see that figure? >> roll your tapes and you'll see yourself that governor romney has said -- when asked how long he anticipates it would take to balance the budget. he said 8 to 10 years. i think that's aggressive when you look the budget hole we're in. in we were able to achieve 4% growth it could come into line. >> he also said he can't be scored. >> president obama and his budget, which has been scored, never, ever balances the budget. paul ryan's budget eventually comes into balance. president obama's never does. mitt romney if it hasn't been scored it's because he's not a senator or congressman. cbo doesn't score candidate's

plan. they only score congressional plans. >> he has said that it cannot be scored because details have to be worked out with congress. he hasn't said it's not scored because i'm a candidate. >> the only thing cbo scores is legislation. legislation comes from senators and congressmen and you have to have all the details. presidential campaigns are never about and should never be about writing all of the specifics of a piece of legislation. they are about the big picture and big ideas about where to move the country. that's the big difference between the candidates here. president obama seems to have no openness anymore to making any changes in our nation's entitlement programs. even though in the negotiations with john boehner over the debt bill he did suggest he would be open to raising the medicare eligibility age making it go from 65 to 67. so these specifics typically come at a later point but as far as what we have heard from governor romney more specific than most campaigns do engage in. >> robert reich and ari fleischer, thank you. appreciate it. >> thanks, soledad.

one other political note, president obama telling "people" magazine he will not be taking vice president biden to task for his remarks the other day in danville, virginia. mr. biden telling the crowd that mitt romney and paul ryan are going put you all in chains if elected. we were talking about that yesterday. mr. obama tells "people" magazine, joe biden has been an outstanding vice president. he said that mr. biden's words needed to be considered in the context in which they were said, which was talking about wall street regulation. let us know what you think. we're on facebook or follow us on twitter @ac360. coming up, a live report from the fire lines and we'll speak to a woman who lost her home and nearly lost her life. that's coming up next.

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and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! we're back with breaking news. the latest on the wildfires now sweeping across the pacific northwest. this is video from cle elum, washington. where firefighters have been struggling to contain the inferno. dan simon is on assignment. how is it going? >> reporter: for those who battle wildfires, the challenges are always the same. lots of dry terrain, lots of wind and heat and in this community east of seattle, you have an abundance of all three.

that's what caused this wildfire to spread very quickly. at this point they're looking at about 10% containment. if the winds kick up, they're concerned that more structures could be lost. at this point they don't have an exact tally but they think about 70 homes have been lost in this fire and about 22,000 acres have been scorched. that's a slight downgrade from what they told us earlier but a lot of challenges remain, soledad. >> a slight downgrade. does that mean firefighters are making progress? are evacuations continuing or slowing? >> reporter: the evacuations are continuing ap at this point about 900 people have been evacuated. in terms of the amount of acres scorched, they were able to get better estimates from the air. at this point in terms of resources, they have a lot. they have 900 firefighters on the ground. several helicopters. several air tankers and they are really doing the best job they can. one thing that we heard repeatedly just a short time ago at this community meeting is how people were very thankful for

the initial firefighting efforts because in this small community as i said east of seattle, most of the firefighters are volunteer firefighters. in the dead of night last night and when this broke out on monday, they risked their own lives to try to put this fire out and of course they don't get paid. >> dan simon, appreciate it. we'll talk to one of the local residents. rosemary putnam's house was on lookout mountain, about 10 miles away from where you just saw dan simon. she lost her home. i'm so sorry to hear about your home. was anybody hurt? are you okay? >> nobody was hurt. i'm doing fine. i'm a survivor. i'm luckier than most because i do have an apartment in town, a small apartment where i could go to and have food and clothing and all that right there. what other people need are basics. i was lucky.

>> tell me what happened. did you have enough time to grab anything and save some things? the fire started at 1:30 in the afternoon and we were 13 miles from our house in town at work. by the time we knew what was happening, the winds were 40 miles an hour, and it just overtook the mountain. and by the time we even knew about it, we were lucky enough to get our horses out, let alone stuff for us. we got our horses out by the skin of our teeth basically. the fire was bearing down on us and we were running as fast as we could with the horses and threw them in the trailer and off we went. we had four horses. we were very, very lucky there and no pets in the home so we were good. >> horses must have been absolutely panicked obviously. they are herd animals. that must have been a scary experience. it sounds like the fire was bearing right down upon you at the moment. >> it was. we were petrified. you could hear it. you could hear the swoosh of it and it was coming down the ridge a couple hundred yards from us

as we ran as fast as we possibly could run and the horses -- i had to run about 200 yards up into the pasture to get them because they were freaked out and then we came back down and got them in trailers. i had help down there and we got them out of there. >> my goodness. >> it was crazy, but wonderful people all offering pastures that are safe from the fire for all of us who were evacuating animals. >> i was going to ask you that of what's the plan once you move your four horses you can't move them into the apartment. there's been an opportunity to place your animals in some place that's far from the fire. >> many people who were out of danger of the fire to the north where the fire never went, big pastures of hay and that kind of thing came forward and even helped haul people's horses so they're safe and being taken care of. >> sounds like your neighbors are all pitching in. while you're talking i got to tell you, i'm looking at some of the pictures of the fire. the pictures are stunning.

what happens to your neighbors? you have place to go, what happens to everyone else? >> well, our centennial center, which is a senior center and the community center that my husband built here is a red cross shelter. and we have families there. the firefighters are staying at the school. and others are housed by neighbors and friends who live out of the area. all of those people are going to need little things. simple things like pillows and blankets and sheets and household items. a place for pets while they're at the shelters because they can't take their pets there. >> right. >> our animal rescue is working hard to place all of these pets in foster homes and some of the large animals like horses and cows are being taken to the fairgrounds. pet food for the displaced cats

and dogs and other small animals and then horse feed is needed and all of that can be donated and taken to the local veterinarians or to the fairgrounds. there are many ways to help. >> a long list of things that people need. rosemary, good luck to you. i'm so sorry for your loss but it sounds like you're rebounding a bit. i'm so glad to hear your horses are okay as well. >> we're one of the lucky ones. >> thank you for being with us. >> we had a place to go. we're praying for the others. and there are 13 structures on the top of lookout mountain where we live. we're the only ones that live there full time. but everyone else lost their cabins and homes there. all of them. >> rosemary putnam joining us by phone. thank you. appreciate it. today the mayor of dallas declared a state of emergency triggered by mosquitoes. that city is facing an outbreak of west nile virus as cases surge nationwide. chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta joins us with how to protect yourself and your

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the singer beyonce is hoping to inspire you to do something good for others. she sat down with anderson to talk about her special mission. that exclusive interview is coming up. [ male announcer ] does your prescription medication give you the burden of constipation? turn to senokot-s tablets. senokot-s has a natural vegetable laxative ingredient plus the comfort of a stool softener for gentle, overnight relief of occasional constipation. go to senokot-s.com for savings.

there's growing concern tonight about the spike in west nile virus cases across the united states. 693 human cases have been reported in 32 states. 26 people have died. texas has been hardest hit. as you probably know, the disease is carried by mosquitoes. there's no vaccine or treatment. health officials in several cities are trying aerial spraying to stop the virus from spreading. our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta joins us now. sanjay, great to see you. it's spreading and spreading quickly. how worried should people be when they hear about the disease and the spread? >> on the macro level you are right. you have heard the numbers.

this is the largest number of cases they've had by the second week of august ever. this could be the worst outbreak if the numbers don't start to decrease. having said that, you know, for the individuals, soledad, the vast majority of people who get a west nile infection will either have no symptoms or just mild systems they don't even though they have the infection. the vast majority of people are not going to be dramatically affected by this. people who do get more ill than that, they'll have fever, they'll have swollen lymph nodes perhaps, they'll feel sick, but even though symptoms are vague. and in a very small percentage of people, they'll develop the neuroinvasive form of west nile. that is exactly what it sounds like. it invades the area around the central nervous system. people can develop coma. they can develop lethargy. seizures even. and that can lead to death. it's hard to know, though, for sure if you have it. the incubation period can be 14 days.

you get sick and it can have a long incubation period. if you develop these type of symptoms and if you have been in a mosquito ridden area, you need to get it checked out. >> what's the best way to protect yourself or is it regular mosquito protection? >> it really is. it's funny. we've been reporting on this for years. i know you have as well. we wish we would have had a vaccine for this by now. there are a lot of scientists working on it. there is no vaccine. they are doing the spraying that you talked about. but for individuals even in hot states wearing long sleeves and long pants is a good option. dusk and dawn are going to be the worst times for mosquitos as you know. and standing water around your house are the breeding grounds. >> cdc says spraying is perfectly safe assuming it's done the right way. for people when you hear about getting sprayed, how do i pick the lesser of two evils? >> i think about this a lot. i've done a lot of research and

investigations into potential toxins in america and i also like you have small children. i think about it on a personal level as well. this particular spray named duet, because it has two particular chemicals in it has been around since 1987. it's pretty well studied. it's been studied by the epa. it's been used as i say for a long time. we're hearing about it more now because of the context but it's been used in lots of communities for a long time. i think, you know, as far as children, pets, certainly adults, it appears to be pretty safe. there are certain rules that still do apply in areas that have just been sprayed that are still wet there will be potentially more problematic. you want to avoid those areas. one of the bigger things that people can do for themselves is not bring these potential toxins into the home. i think simple principles like that can make a huge difference. >> dr. sanjay gupta, thanks. appreciate it. >> thanks, soledad. there's lots more than we're following today.

susan hendricks joins us with a "360" bulletin. hi, susan. >> hi, soledad 37 a terrifying day at the headquarters of the family research council in washington. a security guard was shot in the arm and then helped detain the gunman. a law enforcement official says the suspect made comments about the conservative organization before opening fire. the guard is hospitalized in stable condition. across america, long lines as young undocumented immigrants seek work permits and apply for deportation waivers. president obama signed an executive order in june creating the temporary program. the pugh research center says up to 7 million children may qualify for the waivers. a test flight of an experimental jet crashed destroying the hypersonic aircraft according to the u.s. air force. two previous tests of the wave rider like the one seen here were successful though. a fascinating photo from mars. that blue smudge right there is

actually nasa's curiosity rover. the snapshot taken by nasa's high tech device in the area. the mars recognizance orbiter. amazing shot from space. >> that is an amazing shot. that's incredible. susan, thank you. the singer beyonce has a new music video out that was recorded for world humanitarian day and she says she hopes it will inspire others to do good. anderson's exclusive interview with beyonce is just ahead. >> i feel like we all want to know that our life meant something and that we did something for someone else and that we spread positivity no matter how big or how small. ntg abigail higgins had...

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a young man shot to death in the back of a police car was it suicide or homicide?

police conduct a reenactment of what they say happened. does it prove anything? what does the man's mother say about it? we have details when 360 continues. ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network.

u.n. human rights investigators issued a widely

anticipated report today finding that the syrian government and pro-regime militia members have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity including a massacre of more than 100 civilians in the village of hula. the images are hard to forget. back in may the syrian government blamed that slaughter on armed terrorists. to be clear, the u.n. report says opposition forces have also committed war crimes but investigators found them to be less severe. across syria today, fighting was fierce. this explosion was in the capital damascus where u.n. emergency relief coordinator valerie amos arrived yesterday. opposition forces say more than 150 people were killed throughout syria. our ben wedeman has been in the area of aleppo which has been pummelled by strikes from opposition forces. we have to warn you that some of the images in ben's reporting are very graphic and hard to watch but we think it's important to show them so you can see exactly what's happening in the streets of syria.

>> reporter: 12-year-old mohammad screams out in fear and pain. shrapnel ripped through his leg in an air raid. three passersby were wounded the in attack. the task of treating the wounded here harder by the day 37 half of our equipment no longer works he says. for almost an hour, syrian government jet bombed the area. twice striking the clearly marked hospital. out of view rebels fired back fruitlessly at the plane. in an entranceway across the street from the hospital, the blood is still wet where mohammad wounded took cover. nerves still on edge at the

possibility the plane will strike yet again. >> go in! >> the humanitarian crisis in syria is one of many around the world. world humanitarian day this coming sunday is meant to focus attention on those in need and honor those who lost their lives assisting them. this year beyonce has joined the u.n.'s campaign to encourage people around the world to do something good for others. she made a music video. anderson sat down with her and the u.n. emergency relief coordinator, valerie amos, in this exclusive "360" interview. >> how did you get involved in world humanitarian day? >> i was definitely attracted to raising awareness of this day of recognition. i found out that 22 people lost their lives helping people. >> in baghdad? >> in baghdad, yes. and, you know, i thought it was an incredible thing to turn that into something positive and try

to include the world into doing something great for someone else. >> the song that you're dedicating to this, what's the message of the song? >> "i was here," it says, i want to leave my footprints in the sands of time. it's all of our dreams and that's leaving our mark on the world. i feel like we all want to know that our life meant something and that we did something for someone else and that we spread positivity no matter how big or how small. the song was perfect for humanitarian day. >> is that what you want to spread positivity? >> absolutely. i feel like we all have our purpose and we all have our strengths and i don't know if it's selfish or unselfish but it feels so wonderful to do something for someone else. and i think for the u.n. to want to include the whole world was something important, and i feel like that's what i represent.

>> valerie, you are trying to reach a billion people on world humanitarian day. what are you hoping to accomplish? what's the idea behind it? >> well, there are millions of people around the world who need help and part of my job is to get the message out there about this, but i could do media for the rest of my life and we wouldn't reach as many people as beyonce can. so this partnership -- >> don't sell yourself short now. >> well thank you for that. >> you work very hard. you travel all the time. >> i do but this is really about saying to everyone out there that this is a day that's both a commemoration because there are a lot of people who lose their lives trying to help people, but it's also a celebration of the things that people do. there's an amazing amount that people do every single day that goes unrecognized. so this is about the big things and it's also about the small things. >> people watch the news and they see the slaughter in syria. they see the humanitarian crisis there now. they see what's happening in eastern congo where millions of people have died over the years

and a lot of times people feel hopeless and helpless. valerie, how do you counteract that? >> that's the whole message that we're trying to get across today which is that you can make a small contribution, which will make a huge difference but let's not forget that there are people right here in the united states, there are people across the world who are doing things every single day helping people who are homeless for example, lots of little things that people do and one of the messages at world humanitarian day is that we can make a difference. we can make a difference through a small act. >> on august 19th you're both hoping that people around the world will do whatever they can and will volunteer in their communities and will donate money, will donate time, whatever it is. >> absolutely. >> do you know what you hope to do on that day? >> well, i thought of many different things. i know one thing i'm going to start working on now every day i'm going to try to do something and basically give examples of

act of kindness that i think people will gravitate toward and feel they can do even if it's as small as feeding the homeless or giving your coat to someone that needs it or helping the elderly across the street. >> it is inspiring. in the wake of hurricane katrina, you had a foundation which tried to help people. >> the survivor foundation. >> you had food drives with your concerts. >> yes, i did. >> it's amazing in new orleans to me the example of what happened after katrina. we have seen it in haiti as well. the power of individuals stepping up. so many church groups and ngos and individuals have gone down to new orleans and the gulf coast to lend a hand to build a house, to do whatever they can. it's really inspiring. >> it really is. we built transitional housing for a lot of the survivors in katrina, which i think was important because people need to get on their feet and it's more than just one day. it's something that people need help all the time and i feel like one great thing about the video hopefully people will see

it and it will be a reminder that every single day the smallest thing helps. >> when i was a graduate in college, i thought about being a relief worker. i realized i didn't have the stamina to live in a tent for years at a time in the kind of situations that a lot of these people -- you have seen how these people work around the world. it's extraordinary what they do. >> it is. i have the utmost respect. you know, everyone doesn't have the time or everyone sometimes feels a little overwhelmed. you have nothing but respect for people that risk their lives. i feel like if we all realize that if we do something small and if all of us on one day do something effective, it will be so impactful. >> coming up next, new details about the video that claims to show how a man in police custody in handcuffs shot and killed himself. ealth as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite.

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videotape reenactment. carter's mother believed police killed him. randi kaye has been reporting this story and joins us now. walk us through the video reenactment. i know you visited the police department. you talked to the chief. what exactly are we seeing when we look at that video. >> if you take a look, soledad, the police put together this video with four different officers. the first as you see here is about the same size and weight as chavis carter, that's the victim in this case. now, the video shows the officer as you can see maneuvering in the tight quarters of that squad car's back seat grabbing a gun from the seat it appears or possibly from behind him and then putting it to his right temple. he gets it high enough to shoot himself right at his shoulder. the reenactment video shows videos of other officers able to maneuver themselves into the same position. this is what police believe chavis carter was able to do in that back seat. >> we know that chavis carter's mother has questioned the police version of events from the very start. what's been her reaction when she see this is reenactment?

>> his mom was shown the video yesterday by a reporter from our affiliate in jonesboro. she called it flat out bs. she still doesn't believe that her son shot himself or took his life in the back seat of that police car. i spoke to her lawyer today about the police video and he told me this. "there are still a lot of questions to be answered. we need to see evidence and not just police theories and videos of what they think happened." now, soledad, the chief told me today some in the community actually accept what they saw on the video as the truth but others actually were protesting last night. they got together at a church demanding answers, charging racism on the part of the two white police officers who by the way are on paid administrative leave right now while this investigation continues. >> so let's go back to that videotape for one second and reenactment, four people pick up a gun from the back seat which suggests then that carter could have done the same thing. where did the gun come from? >> that's the big question. we know that police say it was a

stolen gun. stolen about a month ago. but how it ended up in that back seat of that police car is a mystery. if chavis carter had it on him and police missed it in the first search, it is possible that he hid it in the car, perhaps between the seats when they put him in there the first time not handcuffed or he may have still had it on him when they searched him a second time and police missed it. either way police say he got ahold of it in that car either out of his pants or his clothes or from the seat. it's still unclear at this point. >> i know there have been people who have seen this reenactment who said when you look at it, the videos and handcuffs you see in video are unusually loose which would be relevant if you're trying to maneuver to not only grab a gun, but position it so you could shoot yourself in the head. >> we're seeing it here. hands are certainly a distance apart here. i asked the chief about that today. we were in touch several times today and i asked if the officers in the reenactment

video had more leeway than perhaps the suspect. he told me this. the cuffs were placed in a manner common to law enforcement. they could be loose or tighter but the same thing could be done if motivated to do so in either case. in fact, when we spoke with him in his office last week, he told me how easy something like this is to do. listen. is it even possible physically to be handcuffed behind your back and somehow pull the trigger on a gun that you weren't holding when handcuffed? >> the average person never been in handcuffs or never been around inmates and people in custody, would react exactly the same way that you just did about how can that be possible? well, fact of it is that it is very possible and it's quite easy. >> so, randi, now that you spent a lot of time talking to law enforcement and talking to chavis' mother, what sticks out to you? what seems like the big unanswered parts of this

unanswered story? >> there are so many questions here. first of all, how could two veteran officers search a suspect twice, not once but twice and not find a gun? you have chavis carter mother's saying her son was left handed. if this was suicide, why was he shot in the right side of the head as she says he was. the police would only say he was shot in the head. why would he kill himself if he did over a small amount of marijuana? $10 worth of marijuana and an outstanding warrant from another state and why would police kill him? and a key question, why did he call his girlfriend from that traffic stop and tell her that he would call her from jail, if he was planning to kill himself at the scene 37 none of it makes sense. >> randi kaye, thank you. time to get back to susan hendricks. she's got the "360" news and business bulletin.

susan? >> soledad, the court-martial is on hold of major hasan. because it violates army regulations. he's accused of killing 13 people at ft. hood, texas, in 2009. we have learned that general ward, the first four-star general to command u.s. military operations in africa could face demotion. officials say an investigation by the pentagon's inspector general found that ward spent thousands of dollars on inappropriate travel expenses. powerball fever has gripped the nation. tonight's jackpot is worth $320 million. powerball is played in 42 states, washington, d.c. and the u.s. virgin islands. in 2008, i voted for president obama with no reluctance.

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anderson has a criminally good ridiculis now. take a look. >> it's time for the ridiculist. tonight we're adding a toilet caper that's been perpetrated upon the good citizens of the denver metro area. a guy has been arrested for allegedly stealing toilet parts from 18 businesses in and around denver, colorado. police say the guy hit office buildings and movie theater it grocery store, restaurants including a taco bell. take it away, kdvr. >> reporter: back to business as usual here but the thief did inconvenience customers needing to take care of business. >> we started calling him the crapper scrapper. >> the crapper scrapper. how much fun do you think police had coming up with that nickname? i would have gone up with yieldy

tank yanker perhaps but crapper scrapper works too. when toilets start disappear, those guys from "jackass" are usually the prime suspects. >> come on. you [ bleep ]. >> that's disgusting. >> leaking into the [ bleep ] tub. >> there's nothing you can do. you can't [ bleep ] in the hole. >> youth. seems kind of funny when it's a made for tv prank. not so funny when you're at taco bell in denver and just scarfed down four chalupas and you're concerned you've been foiled by the world's worst comic book villain, the crapper scrapper. at this point you may ask why must he steal those toilets? for the toilet metal of course. it turns out the guy is a

plumber so he knows exactly what he's doing. >> police say he shuts off the water and then steals the metal plumbing from toilets and urinals selling them for scrap. the money he got was little. perhaps 30 to 40 bucks at a time compared to the cost to his victims. >> yes. the high cost of holding it. not to mention the cost of replacing all of those toilets. so much paperwork. this toilet plundering spree went on for almost two whole months. toilets all over the metro area were rendered useless. the people of denver seem to be taking it in stride. >> people say it stinks. >> going to the bathroom you can't flush is bad. it's bad enough he's stealing the toilet paper too. >> it would be inconvenient at best. >> i wouldn't be too happy. because i need to use the bathroom. >> so in a perfect justice system meets septic system moment in crime fighting, the crapper scrapper was arrested when someone saw him leaving with toilet parts in his bag.