. this is "nightline." >> hey, can you hear me? >> tonight, ambush at copper canyon. >> where you at? >> stay with me. . >> deputies called to a domestic dispute. met with an ar-15 ambush. automatic caught on officer body cam. plus -- young recruits. this fleet footed 11-year-old already receiving offers from major universities. with intense daily workouts designed to take him from preteen to the pros, but is it too much too soon? and marvel makers. n want to cast a spell like dr. strange? bob woodruff in china with the team creating the real-life weapons of "the avengers." and later, a hunt in the amazon river.

finding the beautiful and rare pink dolphins. here now juju chang. >> good evening, thanks for joining us. tonight we're hearing from a group of law enforcement officers, ambushed by a man armed with a semiautomatic rifle. it seems so often these days body cam footage is used to scrutinize police behavior. but what you see tonight is the loyalty of these men and women to their fellow officers as they put their lives on the line to serve and protect. here's nbc's crayton sindel. j new year's morning in 2017. five officers from the douglas county sheriff's office responding to a domestic call. waiting for them, 37-year-old army veteran matthew reel.

>> matthew, come out. >> he has a history of mental health issues. >> matthew, come out. >> and unknown to them, an ar-15 rifle. >> open the door! sheriff's office! [ gunfire ] >> my name's teaylo telaylo tell i decided i wanted to do more for the community. >> my name's michael doyle. i know i want change the world but i can at least change my corner of it. >> jeff pelle.

something i wanted to do since i was little. >> dave barb. i first got into law enforcement through the military police. i was 19 and i thought it was a good idea. >> their graveyard shift started on december 30th. it was a quiet night. >> i was looking forward to getting in there, getting it done. >> it was a slow night, too, up to about 3:00 a.m. >> what's going on? >> this guy totally freaked out on me. he kept come at me. i feared for my health. >> and what was your name? >> matthew. >> there was a hazard hit saying that he was a veteran with ptsd and possible access to weapons.

>> so that's all you know at this point. >> yeah, pretty much. >> ok. >> lay, how are you? >> good. >> what's going on? >> my roommate freaked out on me. i put a laser in his face and i was like -- >> ok. >> when i got on scene, zach and the other -- the officer on scene was talking to matthew riehl. it was fairly calm at that point. >> why don't you come out? you mind if i come in and talk to you, sir? is he on anything? does he have any mental disabilities? >> no. >> i'm going to get your name and i'm going to get out of here, ok? >> hang on. [ shouting ]

>> we're here because we want to make sure you're ok. are you ok? >> i'm fine. >> what's your first name? >> matthew. >> zach. good to meet you. >> zach's approach to everything was level headed and calm. >> how was it for you guys? >> we knew the roommate was going to work and going back to his are bedroom. >> two hours later, what happens? >> we get a call. from what we get, matthew rie g was involved. >> he was nonsensical. >> when zach and i arrived at the scene s. zach knocks on the door. an argument ensues from inside the apartment.

>> he open the door but been hee does that, what happens? >> ok, open up the door, man, we want to talk to you. >> the way he was talking, he wasn't talking as an authority figure at that point. he was talking like somebody who wanted to help him out. >> can you help me? >> yeah, i can. >> he was saying i want a domestic restraining order. zach said we can help you out with that. >> get that message? >> he just slammed the door in my face. >> we're going to take him. >> for what? >> for an m-1. >> law enforcement is authorized to place somebody on a 72-hour meantal health hold if they

exhibit behaviors that would endanger officers or others. zach described his behavior as the most manic episode of ptsd he'd scene. the team decides to remove him. >> we set up how we were going to approach the apartment with me in front with the shield. zach would be out with his gun for lethal coverage. the others were behind him, hands free. >> we were going to try to put him in custody. [ bleep ]. >> the officers enter the apartment to find that matthew riehl has barricaded himself in his bedroom. they don't know he's holding a loaded rifle. >> he had not only barricaded

the door but the hallway with large objects that were designed to hang us up. >> matthew, come out! >> zach pretty much whispered to me, let's go ahead and kick the door because he's not coming out. >> sheriff's office! [ gunfire ] >> this was never like anything i ever imagined. >> it was probably a 30-round magazine he dumped on us within about 30 seconds. >> he said i'm bleeding out. >> i look to my left and zach's down. my first thought is my friend's down, i need to get him. i started crawling. ids grabbed his i think it's his right boot. i mull i pulled him as far as i could. >> it was clearly an am burke.

>> that's when i got shot. the bullet entered over my vest in my armpit. i saw the blood and said, ok, i got shot but after that, my attention is on him. the sarge started administering -- and me administering aid to jeff. at that point that's when i could tell i'm not good. my lung's collapsed. i was covered in blood. >> stay with us. you're all right. t you're oklahoma. -- you're oklahoma. ok. >> get out of here. >> then you start thinking about taylor because you're looking around, she's not there. the last i saw she went further into the apartment. >> she's inside with him. [ bleep ]. >> i knew she was in the apartment by herself, outgunned in strange territory. >> when the shooting began,

deputy davis was forced deeper inside the second story apartment. >> i ran into the roommate's room looking for some concealment. preparing myself for gun battle at this point. wungsz i was inside the bedroom, i saw a window. so i broke the window and proceeded to jump out of it. >> i'm hit! i'm hit! blooum coming around. >> what was it like to see her coming around the corner? >> i could see the badge. i'm like god, thank you. >> we have one deputy down inside the apartment. i'm not getting anything from him. all of us have been hit at least once.

>> three officers hit and down. we have ems on the way. >> when we come back -- >> you realize zach is inside trapped, you helped really ambushed. >> ambushed, outgunned and under attack. the desperate attempt to rescue deputy zach parrish. stay with us. jimmy's gotten used to his whole room smelling like sweaty odors. yup, he's gone noseblind. he thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this... luckily for all your hard-to-wash fabrics... ...there's febreze fabric refresher. febreze doesn't just mask, it eliminates odors you've... ...gone noseblind to. and try febreze unstopables for fabric. with up to twice the fresh scent power, you'll want to try it... ...again and again and maybe just one more time. indulge in irresistible freshness. febreze unstopables. breathe happy. hey julie, i know today's critica...a sick day. need...

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. a bizarre development in 2 stabbing deaths of two young boys. officials have charged their mother with the murders.

. "nightline" continues. i need swapat right now. i need medical. >> confirmed we have three officers shot, is that correct? >> the team of douglas county sheriff's deputies are under attack outside the apartment of 37-year-old matthew riehl. all three of the deputies with him have been shot. >> bleeding. >> where you at? >> in the chest. >> where in the chest, where in the chest? stay with me. stay with me. >> tahoe was closest. i ran to it and got it. >> get him over here. right in front of us. ready, one, two, three. we got you. back seat of my truck. >> leads go.

-- let's go. >> good. ready? one's got a chest wound. the other's shot in the arm. . >> the deputies are taken to the hospital. >> i got to go. >> meanwhile, sergeant bayer turns back to the apartment complex. >> we're going to try to make another attempt to get him out. >> zach parrish is still inside matthew riehl's apartment. >> with every minute that went by his chances of survival got less. >> he basically took a peek around the corner and came under heavy gunfire again. >> can you hear me? [ gunfire ] >> yeah.

he shot him. he went down. [ gunfire ] >> a swat team made entry into the front door. in the process of doing so, they engaged the suspect. he fired a number of rounds at our officers, hitting one of them. we fired and killed him. >> the swat-team recovers deputy parrish, but it's too late. >> so i came out of surgery kept asking, you know, how's doyle? >> how's taylor. >> when i asked about zach, it was kind of whoosh -- finally they told me. >> he was alone in that apartment. he died there alone.

even though i know i would have been killed, he wouldn't have been alone if i was there. it plagued me. there's not a day i don't think about him or his wife gracie and their two girls. >> i never thought i would be at his funeral with two sweet baby girls who would never get to know him. ow wrote a letter with vows. >> i promise to raise my girls with the lord as the focus. zach was such an engaged father. he loved well and he loved deeply. he loved christmas lights. three or four times we'd get in the car and look at christmas lights. we've done this a lot.

it's likes we've packed a lifetime of christmas lights into this month. we really did, we really did. >> you are clear for end of watch. thank you for your service and rest assured, we have the watch from here. >> it's been five months since the shooting and math a riehl's history and possible motives are coming into foc. >> he had a beef with law enforcement. >> we're learning more and more about matthew riehl, mostly from himself, with his presence on line. >> this is going to flub big-time next election. spurlock. he's a coastline. >> how many firearms did he

have? >> he had 11 firearms. >> sheriff tony schuur lock is now on a mission to try to prevent something like this happen again. >> i'd like to see colorado have an extreme risk protection order law that will give law enforcement and family members a tool to help save their loved ones. this is not an attack on the second e-mailed. -- amendment. it's taking care of people. >> would it have saved zach? >> i know for a fact that he would not have been able to buy the twole rifles that he used to shoot zach. >> for zach parrish's colleagues, the past months have been refocused on regaining their lives as friends, family members, and in the memory of

their fallen brother as officers. >> what do you guys want to remember about zach? >> he was good natured. >> yeah. >> he wanted to be the light that everybody could look to and have fun with and enjoy it. >> zach is a downright hero. no doubt about it. he's the poster child for who you want as a police officer. >> he was all about helping others. that's the cruel irony of it, that he was tried itting to help somebody on that night. >> if you had told him someone's going to die tonight, zach would still go in there. he put his life on the line every day to help people. >> thanks to clayton sande lnks. coming up, too much pressure on preteens? you were done painting... ...you discover paint bleed under your tape...

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. "nightline" continues with juju chang. >> you know, seems like almost every young boy dreams of playing in the nfl, but tonight, we'll meet some preteens who might actually have a shot. they're so good, they've already been contacted by college football recruiters. but how young is too young? here's abc's chris conley. >> the lightning quickness of odell beckham jr. or the precision of straight ahead and the drive and determination of marshawn lynch. >> football makes them special.

>> this is his destiny. >> now colleges are hoping to discover the next football legend on a field like this one. >> the way he move is on another level, a whole 'nother level. >> scouting kids 10 years old and even younger. >> he's a football phenomenon. >> 111-year-old bunchy young doesn't just stand out because of his brightly colored hair of the biblical verses on his arm. it's this -- >> i mean, he's a fast kid. like i can't even describe how fast he is. >> nobody can touch him, really. when he running, people be all behind you and nobody really touch you. >> when we first met him late last year, he hasn't even finished the fifth grade. one day his dad picked up the phone and the university of illinois was on the line. >> he was like, man, your son is amazing.

want to build a relationship with you guys. >> ready, set, go! >> scouting future football stars is starting earlier than ever. >> keep your abs tight. two feet in. >> eager to fuel the football dreams of these super young athletes is this man. >> quick, quick. drive it all the way through. >> mike evans runs a football academy in california. >> drive in here. open it up. >> for the last two years he's provided intensive drills and training to bunchy and other aspiring athletes, some as young as five. >> this will either door or make you average. come on, push, push, pushing. right on -- five, four -- up, up. let's go. move your feet and get here.

>> in the game if you get your lick, you let a dude get a sack on you? answer the question. >> you might sometimes see a kid cry. >> you got to be stronger. two, three! >> at nevada and louisville, evans uses his contacts to get his kids noticed by major football programs across the country. >> everyone in the coach world knows that i'm not going to talk about a kid unless he's a good kid. that's my credibility. >> kids, like bunchy's friend, 10-year-old haven fitty jr. >> we've known each other since we were three. or two and a half. >> he said he got an invitation. >> how did they find out about