>> on our broadcast tonight, a rising death toll after that school shooting in ohio. tonight, chilling new details from the accused gunman making his first appearance in court. national disgrace. a stunning revelation from the pentagon. what happened to 9/11 victims that their families never knew about. tipping point in the fight for the gop nomination. tonight, high drama with michigan hanging in the balance and major implications for the race going forward. new warns from the fda about statins, some of the most popular prescription drugs in america. and all the right moves. breaking barriers, inspiring others to follow in her footsteps. others to follow in her footsteps. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. the only thing that could have made yesterday's school shooting in ohio any worse happened today. two more students have died of their wounds in that attack, an even more crushing blow for a community 30 miles outside of cleveland that's absolutely torn apart. while today was the accused gunman's first court appearance, and while we learn more about him, nothing will bring back what those families and this town has lost, including the sense of safety at school. we begin there again tonight. nbc's kevin tibbles is in chardon, ohio. kevin, good evening. >> reporter: brian, 17-year-old t.j. lane was near tears and here to say "i'm sorry, i'm sorry," after a judge ordered him held in custody for his own sayty and that of this

community. is in chardon, ohio, ribbons in the high school colors and condolences for the town of 5,000, devastated by the loss of three of its children. >> there's a student with a gun. >> reporter: today, police released dramatic 911 tapes recorded as the shooting was taking place. >> we've had multiple gunshots. >> reporter: news today the death toll from the shooting spree had risen. 17-year-old russell king jr. was pronounced dead shortly after 4:00 this morning. then this afternoon, word demetrius hewlin jr. had also died. his family released a statement saying demetrius was a happy young man who loved his life, and his family and friends. student danny parmertor succumbed to his gunshot wounds yesterday after a young man open fired in the high school cafeteria. >> he had no emotion on his face. he was just shooting. >> reporter: this afternoon, t.j. lane, the aone accused of

the shooting, appeared in court wearing a bullet-proof vest. lane rode a bus from the high school to an alternative school each morning with several others who waited in the cafeteria. >> everybody left him alone and didn't talk to him. nobody really bullied him. >> reporter: but lane did come from a troubled family. his parents were divorced and his father had numerous run-ins with the law. >> we never made any jokes at t.j. because we always figured he has a worse life than us. >> reporter: still, those who knew him can't explain the rampage he is accused of. >> i don't think he was bad enough to kill people. i really -- i never would have guessed. >> reporter: while multiple law enforcement agencies continue to investigate, the people who live here simply want to know why. >> we're not just any old place, chardon. this is every place. as you've seen in the past, this can happen anywhere. >> reporter: lane, to date, has not been charged, but with three

dead, he is likely to be tried as an adult. one shooting victim this evening remains in the hospital. a bit of good news, brian. another was released this afternoon so she could return home to her family. brian? >> kevin tibbles, chardon, ohio, again for us tonight. thanks. now to the other major story we're following tonight. the republican primaries in arizona and michigan. that's tonight's big race because it's romney's home state. and a loss for him would be huge. peter alexander is on the trail for us tonight in novi, michigan. good evening. >> reporter: ryan, good evening. at one time or another there have been seven different republican front-runners and mitt romney has had the most substantial organization and the most money but he's been unable to unite the party wind him. once all the votes are counted it could reconfigure this entire race. even as michigan voters were casting their ballots today, mitt romney and rick santorum continued to exchange barbs.

>> i'm running against a guy in this state who's an economic lightweight. he doesn't understand how the economy works. >> he's a lightweight on conservative accomplishments. >> reporter: facing questions about his difficulties motivating conservative voters, even in the state where he grew up, romney today pushed back. >> you know, it's very easy to excite the base with incendiary comments. i'm not willing to light my hair on fire to try to get support. i am who i am. >> reporter: seeking to upend romney's bid for the nomination, santorum, who's conceded arizona to romney, is trying to bring together an unlikely coalition here -- tea party activists, social conservatives and democrats, who are allowed to vote in michigan's republican prima primary. like small business owner herbert howell. why did you vote for rick santorum? >> i feel like he's running on moral issues and i feel the country is getting away with that. >> reporter: santorum reached out to democrats with this

recorded phone call, targeting romney's opposition to the auto bailout. >> that was a slap in the face to every michigan worker and we're not going to let romney get away with it. >> reporter: santorum a opposed to bailout, too. and romney called that appeal to democrats a dirty trick, accusing santorum of trying to kidnap the race. romney's troubles here, analysts say, are partly due to this state's anti-establishment political tradition. >> it's locked into the republican dna here to be a little contrarian, to be independent, to buck the system. >> reporter: this year, michigan's primary is about muts more than michigan, a rust belt state at the heart of america's economic troubles. a romney loss here could throw the race into disarray. speaking to union workers in washington, president obama focused on michigan, too. >> how's it going, uaw? >> reporter: trumpeting his position to bail out the auto industry. >> the other option was to do absolutely nothing and let these

companies fail. some even said we should let detroit go bankrupt. you remember that. >> reporter: and not to be forgotten, ron paul and newt gingrich. while he's not competing in today's primary, gingrich, whose super pac just received another seven-figure donation from its top donor, he's focussing on super tuesday, including gingrich's home state of georgia, where there are more delegates than both arizona and michigan combined. >> peter alexander in novi, michigan, tonight where the big story is going to be. peter, thanks. and in our new york studios and washington as well, we're joined by members of our team, our political director, chief white house correspondent chuck todd along with andrea mitchell in new york. and then down in washington, we have moderator of "meet the press," david gregory. in politics they say a win is a win and walk away. what if it isn't a win tonight for mitt romney? >> well look, then it is -- there's no overstating the importance of this.

it throws the entire nomination process wide open. you will have republican donors to mitt romney calling for a couple of things. number one, immediate changes in the campaign -- staffing, strategy, infrastructure, all of those things. and the second would be possibly start making phone calls to other republicans. again, there would be a full-on panic because you could see santorum, a win tonight in michigan and he could just ride momentum and sweep super tuesday and suddenly romney would be behind. >> and david, the other part, the other side of that question is what would a victory do for rick santorum? >> well, a victory or even a close, a narrow defeat, his team is already preparing for that, to make the argument that they do have some momentum on their side here, that they were able to force a close contest in michigan. they can ride the wave of strong support among ultraconservatives, make the moral case, go into super tuesday in the southern contests. and stay with the rust belt theme, a pitch to working class voters in ohio where santorum

wants to make a big stand. the biggest point, though, brian, is this is going to be a fragile front-runner still in mitt romney. either way, this is not going to slam the door shut, no matter how tonight goes. >> and andrea, as we saw, democrats are just in this to make trouble. i heard one official say we've got 14,000 folks who are going to come to the polls today and vote for santorum, not because they want him to be president. they want to make trouble for the gop. >> there's some indication some liberal democrats may have voted for santorum. it's too early to tell. but it's hard to persuade people, liberals, to go all the way to the right. it's easier as they did, voting for john mccain who they felt was more moderate than george w. bush, to vote for him to try to cause trouble in the republican primary. so it remains to be seen whether enough democrats really crossed over to operation chaos, make trouble for mitt romney and the republicans. >> whatever happens tonight, it will have us talking all the way through tomorrow. thanks to all the members of our team here tonight.

and we'll stay at it tonight, covering the results. one of the most prominent women in the united states senate is leaving. olympia snowe of maine, ranked the most moderate republican in the senate says the partisanship in washington has become too much. she will not run for reelection. this ends over three decades of congressional service for snowe. it is a big blow to the gop. a sickening story came out of the pentagon today, revelation that some of the human remains of 9/11 victims from the pentagon and shanksville, pennsylvania, ended up in a landfill. of course, this follows the revelation the same thing happened to some of our recent war dead. there are a lot of questions at the pentagon tonight. our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski is there. >> reporter: the scandal first erupted at dover after partial remains of american troops

killed in iraq and afghanistan were buried in this virginia landfill. but an investigation released today revealed a chilling discovery. the investigation found that human remains from the 9/11 attack on the pentagon and the downing of united flight 93 in shanksville, pennsylvania, have also been buried in that same landfill. the unidentified remains of the 9/11 victims were first sent to the air force mortuary at dover. nearly a year later, the remains were incinerated and finally buried. army sergeant first class scott smith was killed in iraq, his partial remains also dumped in the landfill. his widow is outraged that victims from 9/11 shared the same fate. >> it's heartbreaking, pathetic and sad and there are a lot of people at dover who if they had any integrity at all would step down from their positions effective immediately. riert. >> reporter: retired general john abizaid led the investigation which found the chain of command at dover was broken or practically nonexistent. >> whenever you put things in staff channels as opposed to command channels, you're asking for trouble. >> reporter: and there was

plenty of trouble. besides improper handling of war dead, in 2006, the partial remains of four navy crewmen, killed when their plane crashed into this georgia mountain were co-mingled and dumped in the landfill. and just last october, the body of an army master sergeant was improperly cremated in a cardboard box. the air force chief of staff today took responsibility. >> you're looking at him. me. i'm responsible. >> reporter: on capitol hill, that's not quite good enough. >> they have to take some steps, some solemn public steps to try to restore the honor that's been lost. >> reporter: the air force has plans to improve command and increase oversight at dover so this kind of thing doesn't happen again, but it's not over yet. there's one more investigation into attempts to fire the whistleblowers who first reported the mishandling of the dead at dover. brian? >> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon tonight.

jim, thanks for that. tonight, more than 1,000 people aboard the cruise ship costa allegra remain without power aboard a cruise ship. no lights, no running water, no working toilets, being towed towards the seychelles islands in the indian ocean. today a helicopter brought food and flashlights. it's not expected to reach port until thursday at this rate. still ahead, as our broadcast continues, statin drugs, lipitor and the like are in the news tonight. specifically, a new warning from the fda. and later, a young dancer blazing a trail, inspiring a new generation to follow in her footsteps.

we're back now as promised with news about some of the most profitable, most prescribed drugs in history. cholesterol druk drugs, statins, like lipitor and those like it. the fda has issued new warnings that these drugs are not, of course, without their risks. and tonight, we asked our chief science correspondent robert bazell to fill in some of these details. >> reporter: brian, about 30 million americans take cholesterol drugs called statins. today's fda safety alert says labels must indicate that statins carry a slight risk of causing memory loss and other brain problems, as well as a slight risk of raising blood

sugar and causing type 2 diabetes. the fda also says that mevacor also known as lovastatin combined with certain antibiotics and anti-viral medications can increase the risk of muscle weakening. there's no doubt that statins save lives by reducing heart disease, but experts emphasize people should not stop taking them without talking to their doctor, but the experts say these latest warnings might make some doctors think twice about prescribing the drug for people who are not at high risk. brian? >> robert bozell, thanks for that. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average closed above the 13,000 mark for the first time since the economic meltdown back in '08. the dow was up almost 24 points, closing at 13,005. last time it was at this level, by the way, may 19 of 2008. nasdaq and the s&p closed higher for the day. when we came back, first came fire, rain and then a little laundry detergent. it was a wild night at daytona.

well, it must be getting close now with 150 days to go until the games. the olympic rings made their london debut, traveling down the river thames by barge. beautiful. some anxious moments at newark airport. a flight from atlanta with front landing gear that wouldn't lock into place, the brazilian made ember air jet had to mack a landing, sliding on its nose. the passengers went down the chutes. the airport shut down for a time. thankfully, all was well in the end. if you follow nascar, you might have thought you've seen it all prior to last night, but this is something we've never seen before. for starters, the daytona 500 was rained out sunday and had to run last night. the jet blower tracks were out on the track clearing debris when juan pablo montoya was

rushing to catch up with the back end of the field. his car became impossible to control. you see there, he collided with the jet engine, the one used to dry the track. then the jet fuel ignited, sending a river of flame down the high bank turn three. it was not unlike fighting a plane crash. they used tide to clean off the fuel from the track when they had it suppressed, but only after it had melted away part of the new $20 million paving job at daytona. they put down a temporary paving service, finished the race. the crowd waited through all of it. a wild race, 25 of 43 cars were damaged. matt kenseth is your winner. danica patrick finished out of the money. lynn "buck" compton has died. for years he was best known as the prosecutor who went after sirhan sirhan. and later a federal judge appointed by president reagan. but when band of brothers came out, we got to know buck compton through his character on the show as a d-day paratrooper.

with easy company of the 101st, a brave and modest member of the greatest generation. judge lynn "buck" compton was 90 years old. well, if you've ever worked in the restaurant business, you got to feel for this waiter. watch german chancellor angela merkel at the table enjoying a beer with her fellow party members when, here chancellor, enjoy a few more beers. right down your back. she shook it off. very stoic. pretended to be having a fine time. by the way, last time merkel's back was in the news was back in '06 when president bush gave her what history will remember was an extremely awkward brief back rub at a g-8 summit in russia. up next here tonight, she's gone from the basketball court to the ballet stage, knocking down some big heavy barriers along the way.

finally tonight, we continue to look at this year's 100 most notable people as chosen by our friend and our partner website that covers african-american news and culture, thegrio.com. tonight, a woman who's breaking down barriers on the most famous stages in this country, and inspiring the next generation of young women to take their turn right behind her in the spotlight. we get her story tonight from

nbc's natalie morales. >> reporter: when misty copeland sees her reflection, she says an artist, a ballerina. >> there, y e. >> reporter: but there are few ballerinas quite like misty. she's the first african-american in two decades to be appointed so low -- soloist for new york's famed ballet theatre. how would you describe about how you feel about ballet? >> i've never been more passionate about something, even though i don't fit the typical mold and i can't open up the book and see someone who looks like me. i still feel this really strong connection. >> reporter: it's a connection that for misty started late, at 13. when most dancers are already veterans. her first lesson, not at a ballet bar but on this boys and girls club basketball court in los angeles. starting late had its own challenges. >> you want to fit in.

i felt like i didn't belong. >> reporter: she didn't have the typical ballerina build. at 5'2" and mostly muscle, she quickly proved to be a forceful presence, winning competitions and scholarships, she turned professional at age of 17, reaching so lowist at the age of 24. >> she doesn't take any of it for granted. she's aware she was given a special gift. >> reporter: misty knows she's bracing a trail as a classical dancer, leading by example. her message on a visit to her boys and girls club where she took her first ballet steps -- >> i just want to be here to give you guys, you know, a concrete image of what's possible. >> reporter: from a 13-year-old dreamer on a basketball court to a soloist dazzling audiences at washington's kennedy center, one mold has been broken, and for those trying to follow in her

dance steps, another created. natalie morales, nbc news, new york. >> fantastic story to end our broadcast here on a tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams, we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night. good evening, everyone. i'm jessica agguire. >> and i'm raj mathai. as a result of a controversial report requested by mayor chuck reed, a recommendation to cut the police force by 400 officers. monty francis has the new details and