that description of domestic terrorism comes from local authorities. the fbi is now on the scene as well. and law enforcement officials are telling nbc news details about this alleged gunman. they say he's a man in his 30s, he was wearing tactical gear when he carried out this attack, he was armed with a single handgun. and right now officials are searching what they believe to be his home, looking for clues about his motive. the 911 calls began at 10:25 a.m. gunfire at the sikh temple of wisconsin in oak creek. worshippers said one service had ended and another was about to begin. families were gathering with small children. >> our officer, a 20-year veteran, was ambushed, shot multiple times. he is currently at the hospital undergoing surgery. we expect him to recover. >> reporter: the officer was rushed to a milwaukee hospital along with at least nine other wounded victims. >> and another officer who was on the scene was engaged by the suspect. our officer did engage that individual, and that individual

is deceased. >> reporter: authorities said they found four people dead inside the temple and two more bodies outside. in the chaos many people hid throughout the building. for hours police combed through it, bringing out survivors of the ordeal. for family members outside it was an agonizing wait. >> well, my mom, she was one of the ladies that was hiding in the pantry, and she called us around 11:00 and she told us -- she called us very quick and she whispered. she said don't come. she's like, there's a shooting here. >> reporter: some of the children attending services were as young as 4 years old. >> my kids are like 5 and -- but we were late today. we were just like 10 minutes, 15 minutes late, you know. otherwise, my kids would be in there too. >> reporter: others in the local community of sikhs, a religion with roots in south ia, rushed to the scene looking for answers. >> the biggest question we have, is this a hate crime? i mean, what did we do wrong? we've had -- since 9/11 we've had small attacks on the

community. >> reporter: there have been incidents nationwide where sikhs have been mistakenly targeted by anti-muslim groups. >> this is such a tragedy. hopefully we can use this event to educate americans about our sikh religion. >> reporter: tonight, for the second time in a little more than two weeks, both president obama and republican presidential candidate mitt romney are expressing their condolences to the families of the victims of another mass shooting. brian? >> john yang starting us off from suburban milwaukee tonight. john, thanks for that. and the man who will be forever associated with one of the worst shootings in america and the near-fatal wounding of a member of congress is apparently close to accepting a plea agreement that would keep him in prison for life. our nbc news justice correspondent pete williams is reporting tonight that doctors treating jared loughner are prepared to say in court next week that loughner is competent to enter a plea.

the shooting in tucson killed six people. it wounded 13 others. including, of course, congresswoman gaby giffords. in oklahoma tonight what is being described as a monster wildfire continues to burn in the northeastern part of the state, one of several that firefighters are still trying contain. dozens of homes and other structures have been destroyed throughout the state this weekend. nbc's gabe gutierrez reports from manford, oklahoma tonight, with the very latest. >> reporter: on the fire lines today cooler weather in oklahoma provided some help but not enough. at least six wildfires are still burning throughout the state. >> we've got guys here that are going on two hours sleep, coming up on 24 hours on the fire line. >> reporter: by mid-afternoon the winds kicked up, fueling hot spots and leaving firefighters with a tough task ahead. in creek county the raging fire has burned nearly 60,000 acres. many are still unable to return

to their homes. about 40 miles away in glenn co. where yesterday a fast moving fire tore through several homes, evacuation orders have been lifted. >> it's heartbreaking. my husband and i when we turned the corner, we saw it was just up in flames. >> reporter: noah and claude ellington are stunned after losing their home, which has been in the family for nearly a century. >> i was a year old when my parents built it. >> i didn't know what to think really. i just thought it was real bad because everything was gone. >> you know, the lord doesn't put any more on you than you can bear. that has to be the only way to look at it. >> reporter: as their neighbors and relatives returned to what was once a place of solace and safety, they looked to each other for comfort and support. >> they have helped us through difficult times, and we're going to help them through this time. >> reporter: here in manford, state officials say more than 50

homes are destroyed. and brian, there's no rain in the forecast until wednesday. >> gabe gutierrez in oklahoma for us. gabe, thanks. and turning to news overseas, we continue our reporting on the civil war in syria. and there are new concerns just tonight that al qaeda may be trying to infiltrate rebel groups battling the syrian government. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel tonight tells us he has found evidence in the rebel group he's been traveling with of the very same thing. >> reporter: rebels from the justice brigade meet at one of their headquarters and head out on a scouting mission for an attack on a syrian military checkpoint. they move to a hilltop. hidden among olive trees, they can see syrian troops on a road below and discuss how best to ambush them, with bombs and machine guns. from here they can see the syrian military positions that they plan to attack, and there appear to be five, maybe six armored vehicles. but the brigade commander, ali

bakran, tells us the mission must be called off. ali and his men are deeply frustrated. it's the second attack they've had to cancel for lack of weapons in two weeks. ali's men don't have enough weapons to fight. and they're dying. we've been ali's unit on two trips for nearly a month. his fighters are secular, welcoming to foreigners, not religious extremists. so we were shocked by what ali told us. al qaeda, he says, has offered his unit money and weapons. and he's willing to take it. >> translator: we will accept arms and money from anyone, even al qaeda. >> reporter: ali's brother and top lieutenant ahmed, who has no interest either in al qaeda, was even more insistent they take al qaeda's offer. >> translator: i will go to them and raise their flag if they give me support. >> reporter: ali and ahmed both say they'd rather have support from the united states, the u.n., or europe, but it hasn't come.

without support al qaeda could make major inroads in syria among rebels so desperate for help they'll take it from anywhere. richard engel, nbc news, northern syria. >> by the way, there was a syrian athlete in the competition tonight as athletics got under way at the summer olympic games. and back here at these games, the big news has to do with the crowning of the title fastest man in the world. that's what you get to call yourself when you win the men's 100-meter. and our look-away spoiler alert warning begins right now. in a race you'll see in primetime here on nbc tonight, here is your winner of the men's 100-meter race. okay. with that safe to look back as we talk about something else. something has happened here that last happened at the winter games in vancouver. the home team is winning. not only that, great britain, team gb, is positively on fire.

third in overall medals behind the u.s. and china. just today, when the brit andy murray beat federer at wimbledon, it was as if the cork exploded from a giant bottle of champagne the size of all england. chris jansing has had the great assignment of covering it all. she's with us here tonight at tower bridge. chris? >> you're not kidding. i was out and about today. the excitement level here in london is absolutely off the charts. this is a team that in atlanta in 1996 won just one gold. so they used the lottery and they funded athlete training programs. tonight team gb has 16 golds, half of them just this weekend, including one from the new national hero. there has never been a moment quite like this for britain. andy murray didn't just avenge his crushing wimbledon loss. he finally had his moment. >> i mean, for me it's the biggest win of my life. that's for sure. >> reporter: an emotional

olympic high for the entire country. >> oh, my god. history in the making. >> reporter: huge crowds had blanketed the lawn of the olympics park to watch the match on tv. awash in union jacks and national pride. >> everyone's just really excited. i've lost my voice. i've been screaming so much. >> reporter: the thrilling victory followed the most successful day in british olympic history since 1908. team gb started saturday with eight golds. then rowers won gold nine. a pair of women rowers shocked with number 10. cyclists broke a world record for 11. >> there's no doubt about it! britain is great! >> reporter: number 12 went to the poster girls for the british olympics, jessica ennis, in heptathlon. >> and the coronation is complete. >> i cannot tell you how amazing it feels to have gotten through the whole heptathlon and come out on top. >> reporter: 13 the unexpected jump for gold by greg rutherford. and capping off the glorious gold rush mo farah won the

10,000 meters. the entire stadium was on its feet. the cheers deafening. off the air even bbc analysts made no pretense of objectivity. the morning newspapers headlines superlatives. and the entire country seems to be on a communal high. >> do you know where you are in the medals standing now? >> the number of medals divided by population, we're top by a long way. >> reporter: even after team gb's woman marathoner pulled out with an injury, rain-soaked crowds lined the streets six deep to cheer. for a country in economic gloom and desperately in need of a lift this could be a transformational moment. >> the roar of the crowd as we got one gold after another, that meant more than anything else. it's so unbritish. and yet we seem to be a country that's changing. >> reporter: unlikely national

hero andy murray, who at 8 went to a scottish school in dunblane where 17 people were massacred, today lifted his hometown and his country to a place of hope and glory and the promise of more to come. in fact, tonight andy murray also played mixed doubles and he had a silver medal. but tonight around britain they are calling these, brian, the golden games. >> it's very interesting. see, it's very american to celebrate great victories, but we were told it's un-canadian and now it's un-british. but everyone's willing to make a little noise around here. >> you wish you had the flag concession. >> it's terrific. chris jansing with us. chris, thanks. a lot more ahead on a sunday night from london. there is high drama coming late tonight and far away. on the surface of mars, in fact. tonight zero hour is approaching at nasa. and later, something we noticed about kate middleton at these olympic games today.

in a couple of hours while millions of americans are fast asleep something will take place that's just as daring in its own way as our original moon landing. overnight tonight nasa is going to try to pull off the equivalent of dropping a car onto the surface of mars. and we should know before too long if it all worked. our report tonight from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: after eight months of traveling through deep space nasa's newest rover named "curiosity" is about to land on the martian surface. and it all begins with a high-stakes maneuver that looks like something out of a science fiction movie. >> is it risky? landing on mars is always risky.

>> reporter: the rapid descent to mars will raise the temperature on the heat shield to 1600 degrees. >> entry descent and landing also known as edl is referred to as seven minutes of terror because we've got literally seven minutes to get from the top of the atmosphere to the surface of mars going from 13,000 miles an hour to zero. >> reporter: the mission made all the more exciting by dramatic animation and storytelling on nasa's website. unlike previous mars missions that depended on inflatable balloons to cushion the landing, this time a giant space crane will take over, descending with "curiosity" and the science lab through the martian atmosphere, then gently lowering them onto the surface. if "curiosity" and the science lab come down too hard, the mission could be a $2.5 billion bust. >> the "curiosity" landing is the hardest nasa robotic mission ever attempted in the history of exploration of mars. >> reporter: the landing zone is in the gale crater. it's about the size of the los angeles basin.

nasa picked it because it's one of the lowest places on mars where water may once have accumulated. already nasa has found more water on mars than it ever thought possible. so did life ever exist on mars? >> so it's not just one thing we're after. it's several things. and we may find one here and one there. >> reporter: they're looking for the building blocks of life -- water, energy, and carbon. "curiosity" will spend two years looking for the evidence. but it must first survive a landing that would be a rough ride for even nasa's most seasoned astronauts. tom costello, nbc news, washington. and we're back in a moment with a check on not one but two tropical storms here on earth.

we've got a lot of weather in the news this sunday night. we have a dangerous line of storms rumbling across the eastern u.s. also as we mentioned we've got a pair of tropical storms to tell you about. weather channel meteorologist kelly cass is standing by at headquarters with all of it.

kelly, good evening. >> good evening, brian. millions of people being impacted by the threat for severe winds better than 60 miles per hour. have those flashlights ready. we could lose our power. we do have severe thunderstorm watches in effect. from philadelphia down toward baltimore and washington, d.c. upstate new york as well. we've had reports of lightning hitting a couple of people at the nascar race at mount pocono here in eastern pennsylvania. that race had to be shortened. and as you can see, severe thunderstorm warnings continue for places like philadelphia. major delays at the airport. ernesto now. 50-mile-an-hour winds expected to brush by jamaica. and we're talking about a tropical storm warning in effect there. florence way out there off the coast of africa, brian. not too worried about that one. >> a lot going on. kelly cass from weather channel headquarters, we appreciate it. at olympic games and for that matter the upcoming political conventions, really any official event, the around-the-neck credential, here's mine, is the coin of the realm. there's no going anywhere without this. at the olympics they are

inspected and scanned everywhere you go. so it was just interesting today to learn that even duchesses have them. kate middleton has been to a ton of events here. a huge cheerleader for team gb. and today we got our first good look at her credential. and while she takes a better than average photo, everyone, by the way, is told not to smile for your credential photo. hers reads simply "her royal highness, duchess of cambridge." notably, it is an all-access credential. those are hard to get. when we come back here tonight, an american champion living her dreams here in london. the incredible sacrifices she has made to compete.

finally here tonight, we've heard a lot about the stars of these games. some of the big ones sign endorsement deals the moment they step off the medal stand. but for every michael phelps or missy franklin there are literally hundreds of young men and women who will never see that kind of fame or fortune. but they're here, they're in the game because it's what they do. and tonight nbc's anne thompson has the story of just one american athlete. >> reporter: silver heels lead sarah robles to london. >> perfect. >> reporter: on this photo shoot to pitch potential sponsors, america's strongest woman hopes to change the image of women weightlifters. >> a lot of people think that

weightlifting will make you masculine or will change who you are. but it doesn't change the fact that we're still women, that we have that side of us. >> you are so comfortable with your body image. has it always been that way? >> no, it hasn't. i was bullied as a kid. i was always taller than everybody else. i was always bigger than everybody else. i stood out a lot. and so i got teased. >> reporter: success in sports gave robles self-confidence and determination. the 24-year-old is now admired. lifting a combined total of 567.6 pounds in this ohio ballroom to earn an olympic berth. she has the glory, not the riches. robles is a three-time national champion. but weightlifting doesn't pull in big-time endorsements. >> i was putting in like $2 at a time, like $3 at a time in my gas tank so i can get to the gym. >> reporter: when she can shop, it's the thrift store in mesa, arizona where she trains. >> jimi hendrix. >> reporter: robles's only

income, a stipend from usa weightlifting. >> you're living on $400 a month? >> i was for a -- for about six months. >> come on. >> reporter: she trains six days a week, two sessions a day, and can't find a job to help pay her bills or her coach. >> between little fund-raisers that we run, me personally giving her money and food, allowance money, she's been able to scrounge, you know, and get going. >> it was really stressful because when you get to the olympic trials, i have to be able to eat, i have to be able to do these things so i can recover, so i can be healthy. like just in there eating the boxed stuff or the canned stuff that's donated, you know, to the food bank. >> reporter: there's never been much money. sarah's mom, joy, remembers living in a car with her husband while she was pregnant. christmas presents were often just pictures of what they wanted to give. >> did you ever think she would be an olympian? >> i still -- it still hasn't sunk in now. >> reporter: sarah had to grow up fast.

but instead of bitterness, she's developed the attitude of a champion. >> and she's never given up. and it's just what she does. >> i'd rather be an olympian and be poor than sit behind a desk all day and not do anything. i want to be extraordinary. i want to be great. and i want to do awesome things. >> reporter: a woman with the ability to balance a lot on her shoulders. anne thompson, nbc news, mesa, arizona. that's our broadcast on a sunday night. don't forget, primetime olympic coverage coming straight ahead tonight 7:00, 6:00 central. i'm brian williams reporting once again tonight from london. and we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

>> shocking. >> just sad day. >> a community is rocked by a shooting rampage at the sikh temple in the midwest. good evening. we begin tonight with more on that deadly shooting at the sikh temple in wisconsin. as nightly news reported, in all seven were killed and three injured. the gun man is among the dead. police say the case is being treated as domestic terrorism. the shooting is also having a direct impact on sikhs in the bay area including some who knew the victims. kimberly tere is in san jose at the largest sikh temple outside of india.

>> reporter: diane, here the news hit close to home because one of the members has a loved one who was wounded in that shooting in wisconsin. as you can imagine, he's deeply concerned about his uncle's condition and calling all day to try to get updates on how he's doing. after the news of the shooting broke, police showed up at the temple to check in hoping to give members some peace of mind about security. while there is no plan to put officers out here extra officers that is, we are told they will be coming here periodically to check in. members of the san jose temple say this is on the heels of the shooting at colorado and that makes it extremely upsetting. they condemn this violence and are praying for the victims and their families. >> whatever the reasons are seems to be mental and whether it's the economy or