good tuesday morning. coming up on "early today," it happened again, 12 victims dead as washington and the nation mourn another horrific scene. the shooter, aaron alexis is among the dead. why did he do it? how did he get into a secure military facility? plus, torrential rainsnd devastating floods continue to wreak havoc in colorado and new mexico. "early today" starts right now. very good morning to you. i'm richard lui. we'll show you live pictures of the capitol and the white house this morning where flags are flying half-staff. it's been almost 4 hours since the mass shooting in washington, d.c. and we're still getting new details on the tragedy. now 7:00 a.m. local time.

it was in washington's navy yard just a little more than a mile from capitol hill which we just showed you at least 12 are dead and eight others injured. officials late monday revealing the alleged shooter had legitimate access to the navy yard. a shelter in place now lifted in the surrounding neighborhood. >> we feel comfortable right now we've exhausted all means to eliminate that possible last suspect, so we do now feel comfortable that we have the single and sole person responsible for the loss of life. >> more thon that suspect, aaron alexis in just a moment. this now joining the shootings in ft. hood, texas or aurora, colorado and in types of scale and depth and death toll. jim miklaszewski has more for us. [ sirens [ report morning rush hour pierced by the wail of sirens. 8:15, the first reports the

gunman was on a shooting rampage crackling across fire dispatch radio. >> we had a report on the fourth floor a male with a shotgun, multiple shots fired, multiple people down. >> reporter: patricia ward was in line at the navy command's cafeteria when suddenly the first gun shots rang out. >> three straight in a row. pop, pop, pop. and then seconds later more. it was pop, pop, pop. a total of seven gun the shots and we started running. >> reporter: for sean carroll, it was surreal. he couldn't believe what he was hearing. >> i was running and i heard gunshots. holy cow. that's -- i don't know. it could have been way above me. i wasn't stopping to think what was going on. >> reporter: eyewitnesses report that the shooter took a position on the fourth floor overlooking a massive atrium in the center of the building. from there he reportedly opened fire with an automatic fire on a

breakfast crowd. witnesses also report the gunman confronted a man in the fourth floor corridor and shot him at point-blank range. but most of the victims never saw their attacker, a man walking right next to jim juris was cut down. >> saying there is a shooter in your building. i heard two more shots. one hit him. he was shot in the head. it did not look like he made it so i ran from there. >> reporter: 12 people were killed in the shooting spree. several injured including a police officer. the gunman, identified as a former navy reservist, aaron alexis was also killed in a shootout with authorities. >> the response by uniform police officers from both the metropolitan police department and united states park police was absolutely nothing short of heroic. >> reporter: the chaos paralyzed the city. nearby schools were locked down, highways shut down, the capitol

closed and the nationals baseball game postponed. air traffic suspended while med de vac lifted the wounded to hospitals. as the navy yard's employees streamed out of the complex, many colleagues were helping each other to safety. at the white house president obama paid tribute to the fallen. >> they're patriots, and they know the dangers of serving abroad. but today they maced the unimaginable violence that they wouldn't have expected here at home. >> that was nbc's jim miklaszewski. now, of the 1 victims 7 are identified. officials are trying to notify the families of the five other. d.c.'s mayor says the victims range in age from 46 to 73. the candlelight vigil was held late monday in their honor. a number of the victims were civilian employees and contractors. officials say none of them were known to be active duty military personn personnel. among the eight injured, three were shot including a police officer. they are expected to survive. now more on the accused

gunman, aaron alexis. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington for us. what can you tell us about alexis. >> reporter: we can tell you that the fbi is and will be digging into his background. here's what we know based on what authorities told us of the he moved here about four months ago. apparently bought a handgun at a virginia store. brought that gun here yesterday along with other weapons they believe he may have cons sophisticated on the scene inside the navy yard. prior to that he was at ft. hood, texas, working as a contractor and prior to that he lived in washington tate in the washington and texas area he had run-ins with the law over guns. they're looking into his background to see what the motive is. also, when it comes to access he did have proper access to get in because he was a contractor, but that does not answer all of the questions. lawmakers here want a closer look at an investigation that was already ongoing by the pentagon inspector general. they were looking at access and

risk at this facility, another nearby in virginia and norfolk, virginia, whether or not the government may have cut corners in implementing the access systems here. that may or may not affect the investigation of what happened here, but it is certainly something they want to take a closer look at in light of what's happened. >> tracie potts in washington, d.c., thank you so much. of course, we'll continue to follow that story for you here on nbc news. and turning now to colorado and the unprecedented flooding west. right now across the state, the search for the missing continues by air, water and land. as the skies finally clear, rescuers are hoping to get into those towns cut off by the rising water. nbc's lee anne gregg joins us from hard-hit boulder. leea leeanne, good morning to you. what's the latest you're hearing? >> reporter: that's right much the office of emergency management puts that number of unaccounted for at 650 people.

that's half as much as yesterday morning. they expect that number to decrease dramatically again today as more and more are able to access phones, computers and contact their friends and family members. 17 different counties across the state are flooded. that means thousands of people have homes that are damaged or have been destroyed. more than 30 bridges have been wiped out along with more than 100 miles of roads. those numbers are rough and those numbers are also expected to increase. eight people are confirmed dead and that number too, unfortunately, may rise as officials say when the waters recede they will do extensive ground searches. that's when they are concerned that more people will be found dead. so today the emphasis will be in the air, those searches in the remote areas where people have been stranded with no power, no roads and no phones. they're hoping to make a lot of progress. yesterday there were a thousand people stranded.

they got a few hundred people out. so they're hoping with the good weather this will be a good week for them to make many more rescues. that's the latest from boulder. >> leanne, thank you. beyond colorado torrential downpours have caused flooding. in new mexico. some areas have broken records receiving nearly 10 inches of rainfall in just the past week. officials say one person has been killed. in southern mexico, manuel and ingrid are responsible for 40 deaths and the forced evacuations of tens of thousands. bill karins, nbc meteorologist joins us right now and, bill, although the weather is getting better as you were telling us, midweek, you have the after-effect. we'll see cresting, respect we, of some of these waterways. >> one or two rivers still has yet to crest. the platte river up in nebraska. all in colorado have crested and all coming down so hopefully re-open the roads.

threes dozens of roads impassable because they were destroyed when the water hit its peak with the flash floods. now, as far as yesterday went it was a nice day there in colorado as i mentioned, doesn't look like rain today, the west, near record heat, 106 in phoenix. it is cooler in the northwest and continues this morning, temperatures there in the 60s, that's not horrible. still very warm in the desert area. expecting another hot day today. clouds moving through the west, weak storm system trying to kick through. it's a little cooler. the onshore flow continues with it. there's not a lot of wet weather with that system. warm in california. barely mig on the radar in washington tate but you will have hit and miss showers today. most areas will remain dry, maybe a trait thunderstorm there around medford and still hot in california in many areas of the desert southwest. that's you in

pendlet pendleton, oregon, with a high of 65. it's good to see they have the cleanup weather they need beautiful, dry october. they don't need a snowy early winter in colorado. >> knock on wood on that one. thank you so much. gaming thrill seekers, rejoice. "rolling stone" saying grand theft auto 5 will blow your mind costing $130 million to create. it's got 240 licensed songs and a rock star, the company behind it expects to clear hundreds of millions of dollars before -- >> did you get your copy after midnight. >> i'll be part of that 240 million. 9 end of the year, by the way, they expect to clear that much by the end of 2013. with that we'll be right back.

it's something we've never

seen before. massive effort to raze a modern-day cruise ship. the "costa concordia" is standing up since it wrecked 20 months ago. nbc's claudio lavanga is at the site. >> reporter: richard, the "costa concordia" was finally rolled back to its upright position at about 4:00 in the morning. well, there was a piece of engineering of titanic proportions. it was announced by a log fog horn that sounded across the bay, look at it now. it really looks like a ghost ship that re-emerged from the seas. well, the starboard side is badly damaged. it shows two enormous cavities caused by the giant spurs of rocks over which the ship has been lying upon for the past year and a half. the salvage operation is not over yet. the diver will have to look for the bodies of the two missing and will fix the hull and add flotation tanks before can be

towt towed away for scrapping. >> claudio, thank you so much. straight ahead, the loudest stadium in the world and the rest of your sports highlights next.

and welcome back, the tragedy in washington was felt by many in sports on monday. the nationals game against

atlanta was postponed. they will have a split doubleheader today. a moment of silence last night before the nfl "monday night football" game. members of the bengals and steelers honored the shooting victims. later in the game, the score tied at 10-10. bengals quarterback andy dalton connecting here. touchdown there. cinci takes it 20-10. talking about after-burners, it was as loud as a jet taking off from an aircraft carrier. that's during the 49ers at seahawks game. 131 decibels, a new guinness world record just short of you feeling your eardrum shake. by the way, the game's two quarterbacks, colin cape girardeau and russell wilson made a bet in an ea sports commercial. the lewder here, cape girardeau, had to shave an eyebrow. he did that in another commercial. tim tebow has a new offer. a team in russia wants to give him $1 million to play two

games. meanwhile, fans in jacksonville, florida, staged a rally. they're keeping the hope alive that the jaguars will sign tebow. the a.p. top ten list. alabama, number one after the win over texas a&m, which drops to number ten. number two is oregon, clemson, ohio state. stanford is there and nebraska falls out of the ranks. bmw championship. zach johnson subpoena having a great september. some great putting finishing 16 under and earned $1.4 million. baseball going to the dogs. the white sox in minnesota held the bark at the park. that was in chicago. the special doggie tickets sold out. thaefr very popular. the poochies were happy especially this guy here, he's eating cheese fries. >> announcer: just for men, autostop.

just ahead, carrie underwood as you've never seen her before. she may not be able to turn back time but how this diva is taking on russia. you're watching "early today."

the point is america's economy is back. the dow is reaching record highs. the housing market is rebounding, the auto industry exists, and even young people

are finding good jobs in construction. >> poor miley. what did she do wrong? who hasn't been half naked on a wrecking ball? as far as your forecast, if you're doing anything outdoors, i don't think too many need the umbrella. light shower activity especially during the afternoon hours in the north. not a lot will fall from the clouds. city very hot in the desert southwest. the construction workers itching for the cool season to arrive. tomorrow will be better. 93 in vegas, we drop you down to bearable levels but still 102 in phoenix. poor miley, you know. >> getting a lot of news as of late. >> you don't feel bad for her at all. >> i'll look at the entire video when i have time. miley's reps confirming thatter and liam hemsworth have split after four years. was it because of what's been happening lately? according to an interview with canada's "mclane's magazine" cher will not be singing at the

so much think olympics due to russia's anti-gay laws and, yes, she had been invited to that. in an interview with "the australian" says he loves lady gaga but cannot get through to her. he says "when your persona begins to take over your music and become more important you everyone ter a dangerous -- >> doesn't see want to be more of a performer? >> that's kind of who she is. >> jerry seinfeld will be announcing the mets game on the sports network's sny. >> that should be pretty interesting. >> he'll be the only one listening. >> but the jokes will be good. an interview with "elle" canada. katy perry said i think rihanna looks so fresh. how do you do that? we all know how you pot smoke so much or how much pot you smoke is what she was saying. very clear -- >> maybe a little too much knowledge. she always does look fresh. alexa ray joel following in

her father's footsteps. ♪ i took the good times i'll take the bad times ♪ ♪ i'll take you just the way you are ♪ >> sounds good, my friend. >> she can do it. >> the hills are live again. carrie underwood stars as the singing nun in nbc's revamp of "the sound of music." >> i hope it's good. >> set to hit the small screen december 5th. >> big risk redoing that. i hope she knocks it out of the park. >> there might be a generation who has never seen it. i'm richard lui. this is "early today." we hope it's just your first stop of the day on nbc.

leading the news in "the san francisco chronicle," brazil looks to break from u.s.-centric internet. this follows allegations that they hacked a state-owned oil company. and in "usa today," for millions insurance will cost less than $100 per month. a new government report saying the lower premiums would primarily apply to insurance customers who buy so far-called silver plans on exchanges that open october 1st. topping our news the deadly mass shooting at washington's navy yard a mile from capitol hill, 12 between 46 and 73 were killed. eight others were also injured. more about the accused gunman, aaron alexis was killed after exchanging gunfire with police. officials say alexis had

legitimate access to the navy yard. alexis served in the u.s. navy between 2007 and 2011 when he was discharged. finally to what's being called an extraordinary show of character and honesty from a homeless man in boston, the police commissioner gave glen james a plaque and high praise for finding and returning a backpack full of nearly $42,000 of cash and travelers checks. good man, that guy is. glen james. in texas it looks like this little piggy is going to jail. police were called to take action when a potbelly pig was seen wandering around the streets in austin. they dropped it off at an animal shelter so its owner could take the little guy wee, wee, wee all the way home. >> i don't mean to swine -- i don't know if we should have done that story. come on. work with me.

jersey sandusky returns to court. he is trying to get a reduction in his prison sentence for sexually abusing boys and the miami beech mansion once owned by gianni versace will be auctioned today. he was murdered in 1997. happy birthday to jimmy dotsdo johnson who is 38. remembering the victims. natalie morales is in washington, d.c. and family and friends honor those killed. tom brokaw celebrates his wife's fill anthropic work in africa making a big difference for women. i'm richard lui along with bill karins. thanks for watching "early today." have a good one.

>>. >> we start off with breaking news out of oakland. crews are right now battling a three alarm fire engulfing a pair of homes. it's 4:30. i'm jon kelley. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. the fire is burning on 24th street at the intersection of market near interstate 980. christie smith live at the scene. what can you tell us? >> reporter: we just got here about 20 minutes ago. oakland firefighters have the streets blocked, they are battling a stubborn fire in west oakland at 24th and marketment it started around 3:30 this morning. when we arrived we could see smoke pouring from the top of that blue building and also flames. we could see the smoke from as far away as the freeway. we're told that it's two buildings