going out to dinner. let me plead to yahoo! give the kid something! >> he deserves something. >> i don't care about 10,000. pay for the dinner. >> see you at 6:00. on our broadcast tonight, high school attack. a student armed with kitchen knives goes on a rampage. at least 20 are injured, some critically. tonight, the teenage suspect, the victims and those who stepped in. zeroing in. it looks like they have found the signals from the missing jet. search officials now say all signs point to the black boxes. change your passwords. the warning being issued for anyone who uses the web as a major security threat is exposed online. and about a boy. what just might be the most watched play date of all time. "nightly news" begins now. >> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian

williams. good evening. and sadly tonight again we begin with pictures of sadness and frantic parents outside a school reacting to an attack on their children inside the school. this time it was a knife attack. random and violent and horrendous. a 16-year-old is in custody. at least 19 of his fellow students and a police officer hospitalized. many required emergency surgery to save their lives after deep wounds. and as with all such cases, there was heroism this morning, like the student who had the presence of mind to pull the fire alarm, and the police officer and principal who took down the young man with the knife. this all happened at a high school east of pittsburgh this morning. we have a team on the ground there tonight. we'll start off with nbc's peter alexander. peter, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. investigators say this attack lasted nearly five minutes. the suspect stabbing and slashing fellow students with a pair of knives that police say were eight to ten inches long.

another school, another grim and familiar scene. >> life-threatening injuries. >> yeah. >> reporter: 7:13 a.m., the doors had just opened for the day when the teenagers at franklin regional high school became targets. >> i saw people running and screaming and crying. just blood everywhere. it was very traumatizing. >> reporter: police say a 16-year-old sophomore with a knife in each hand was on a vicious rampage, attacking students. >> the fire alarm went off. i was walking over towards the exit, and there was blood all over the floor. someone yelled, "she got stabbed." >> reporter: that fire alarm was pulled bay student who officials say was trying to warn his classmates of the danger. >> the fire alarm being pulled probably assisted with evacuating the school, and that was a good thing that that was done. >> reporter: the suspect is a 16-year-old sophomore at the school. sources say he faces adult charges on multiple counts of aggravated assault and attempted murder. witnesses say the violence began in the school's science wing, r&r the attacker ran through

classrooms and hallways before he was tackled near the building's main entrance by an assistant principal and a school police officer, who is among at least 20 injured. 17-year-old zack ansler was supposed to be in that hallway. >> you think you're so safe there and then something like that can just happen. >> reporter: the victims were rushed to four nearby hospitals. doctors say a 17-year-old stabbed in the chest is now on life support. >> fortunately for this young man the knife missed his head and his aorta. he had injuries to his liver, his diaphragm, and major blood vessels between the chest and the abdomen. >> reporter: parents waited helplessly to be reunited with their children, frantically trying to find out if they were okay. among them, zack's mom. >> kills you to know that your kids are in there and you can't get them out and you can't do anything about it. it's terrible. >> reporter: the school tucked away in a rural community where some families say they moved to escape urban crime, has no metal detectors. still school officials say they regularly drill for days like

this, hoping they never come, and insist students and staff followed the emergency plan, which helped save lives. >> we have to look at it from the standpoint that what we saw happen here today was a very good evidence that the plan does work and the students are safe as safe can be. we haven't lost a life, and i think that's what we have to keep in mind. >> reporter: tonight that 16-year-old suspect is making his first appearance in court. brian, investigators say it could be several days before they finish collecting all the evidence from this crime screen. >> peter alexander starting off our coverage from franklin regional high school tonight. peter, thanks. and as we mentioned, authorities are crediting some quick-thinking students for making some very smart, very brave decisions as this unfolded. our national correspondent kate snow is on the story for us as well tonight. kate, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. we're at a trauma center here, the nearest one to franklin regional high school. this is where some of the most

severely injured were taken. this is a high school where it's such a tight-knit community that almost everyone seems to know someone who was injured. 17-year-old gracie evans was hanging out at her best friend's locker when she saw someone running down the hall with blood on his hands. >> right after, a kid comes down with two knives in his hand and my best friend stepped in front of me to protect me, and he took a knife in his back for me. >> reporter: a teacher moved them to an empty classroom. that's when gracie says she knew she had to jump into action. >> i said to the other kids in the room, i need to put pressure on this wound, can you get me some paper towels or something, and i just went like this. i was scared. i was thinking maybe this is just a bad dream. >> reporter: her best friend grabbed hold of her hand and wouldn't let go. she rode with him to the hospital. >> i was asking him questions like what do you want to do? what's your life's dream? just so that he would keep talking to me. >> reporter: doctors say her quick thinking in the chaos may have saved the life of a classmate with a stomach wound.

>> she displayed an amazing amount of composure to really help that friend. >> reporter: 19 male students were injured, some slashed when they stepped in to protect their female classmates. among the most critical is 17-year-old jarld ed bosier stad in the chest. his brother carter posted this picture urging friends to please play. at a local elementary school parents reunited with their kids. young people who lived through a horror show today. >> i was just walking into school and people were like running out of the school. at first i thought the school was on fire, but then people were crying when we were up at the parking lot, and then it was just really hectic. >> reporter: nate sinio pulled the fire alarm prompting everyone to rush out of the building. he's recovering at children's hospital and being called a hero. >> there are a number of heroes in this day. students who stayed with their friends and did not leave their friends. cafeteria workers who

automatically just reactively began caring for students who were bleeding. >> reporter: this afternoon, students tried to make sense of it all. >> i'm never going to look at that hallway the same. i'm never going to walk down it the same way again. i'm always going to be haunted by that vision of my best friend getting stabbed right in front of me, taking a knife for me so that he could protect me. >> reporter: today the director of the trauma center here said it will likely be a week before they understand the extent of all the injuries and how long it will take for everyone to recover. this tragedy, brian, comes at a time when students have a lot to look forward to. tickets to the prom set to go on sale next week and everyone was getting ready for spring break. brian? >> kate snow, monroeville, pa for us. kate, thanks. unfortunately, the sad news continues with this story out of florida tonight. police are hunting for the driver of an suv that crashed into another vehicle, sending it slamming through a daycare center near orlando injuring 15. at least a dozen of the injured are children. authorities say several of the

injured are in serious condition tonight. the driver took off from the scene. police found the suv nearby but no one inside. they have identified a person of interest they are looking for in this case. president obama arrived in houston late this afternoon, greeted by president george h.w. bush at the airport named for the former president, who is these days in a wheelchair. it followed an emotional day at fort hood, texas and a memorial for three soldiers killed in last week's shooting spree. it was a sadly familiar scene for president obama and all those gathered at fort hood and nbc's mark potter was there. ♪ >> reporter: under a hot sun, grieving families gathered, brothers and sisters in arms. the boots, rifles and helmets of the three u.s. soldiers killed here last week stood front and center. >> we here in the united states army and the entire nation want

you to know we stand with you, that we grieve with you, and that we will be here for you. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: remembered today, sergeant first class daniel ferguson, carlos rodriguez and sergeant timothy owens. >> it was love for country that inspired these three americans to put on the uniform and join the greatest army that the world has ever known. >> reporter: president obama attended the service with the first lady and met with grieving families before the memorial. the president also came to fort hood after the shooting rampage in 2009 when 13 were killed. >> part of what makes this so painful is that we've been here before. this tragedy tears a wound still raw from five years ago. >> reporter: because the accused gunman, specialist ivan lopez, was under psychiatric care, the need for better military mental health treatment was mentioned by every speaker. >> we must come together to identify the risk factors that lead to violence.

to address the challenges of mental illness. >> reporter: investigators say lopez's shooting spree was sparked by an argument and lasted eight minutes but it will leave people wondering for a long time how this could happen again on american soil. mark potter, nbc news, fort hood, texas. a big headline a lot of us woke up to this morning, search teams off the coast of australia have enough electronic signals from the deep now for experts to be able to say they are likely from the missing airliner's black box. the australian search commander says he believes it could be just a matter of days before they locate the actual wreckage of flight 370, miles beneath the surface of the ocean floor. our report tonight from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: off the coast of australia growing on the miz tham search teams are honing in on the remains of flight 370. the "ocean shield" towing a u.s. pinger locator has detected more

pings that sound something like this. [ pings ] now military audio engineers say those pings are likely coming from at least one of the plane's black boxes. >> hopefully, in a matter of days we will be able to find something on the bottom that might confirm that this is the last resting place of mh370. >> reporter: the area of concentration is along one of the arcs engineers identified as the plane's likely flight path. since saturday the australian-american team picked up four distinct sets of pings all within 15 to 20 miles of each other. but the signals are starting to weaken. >> we are cautiously optimistic. however, it's a race against time. for every day and really hour that goes by, the battery life in the black box diminishes. >> reporter: the plane's cockpit voice and flight data recorders are attached to the aft section near the tail. bolted to the airframe because that part of the plane usually best withstands a crash. the next stage of the search

operation will be to lower the unmanned bluefin 21 submarine down to map the ocean floor, photograph the wreckage and locate those bright orange boxes. then, the recovery becomes even more challenging. >> once they determine where it is, then they're going to have to determine what kind of r.o.v. they're going to send down. because if they have to start pulling wreckage apart at 15,000 feet below the surface, that's going to be very time-consuming. it could take months to recover those boxes. >> reporter: the same kind of operation used to recover air france 447's black boxes from the atlantic ocean. >> they're trying to narrow the search zone with the pinger locator because a surface ship can search an area six times faster than the unmanned submarine can, which really only operates at a walking pace. once that unmanned submarine starts working, it can take days or weeks to thoroughly map the bottom of the ocean in that area. brian? >> some incredible science at work here. tom costello in our washington studios tonight. tom, thanks. in south africa oscar

pistorius was back in court today. for the first time he was cross-examined by prosecutors over the shooting death of his girlfriend reeva steenkamp last year. pistorius calls her death accidental, a mistake. the prosecution vigorously pressed him on that point. and a remind him here, when you hear him say "my lady," his testimony from the stand in this trial is all addressed to the presiding female judge. >> i've made a terrible mistake and -- >> you made a mistake? >> that's correct. >> you killed a person. that's what you did, isn't it? >> i made a mistake. >> you killed reeva steenkamp. that's what you did. >> i made a mistake, my lady. >> you're repeating it two times. what was your mistake? >> my mistake was that i took reeva's life. >> you killed her. you shot and killed her. won't you take responsibility for that? >> i did, my lady. >> now say it then. say yes, i killed -- i shot and killed reeva steenkamp. >> i did, my lady.

>> oscar pistorius in an exchange in court today with the prosecutor in south africa. we'll take a break. and still ahead tonight, a new warning for everybody that uses the web. why experts say change all of your passwords as a huge security risk has now been uncovered. and later, a new first for the young prince carrying out his royal duties.

well, as we might have mentioned there is a new warning out tonight bay massive security flaw discovered in the system widely used in this country to make websites secure. that has experts advising just about everyone who uses a computer to take notice of this and take action to protect your private information. our report explaining it all tonight from our justice correspondent pete williams. >> reporter: for 20 years it's been the sign of a secure computer connection, a distinctive web address and that comforting padlock symbol, but now a huge security flaw is discovered in the system that establishes those links.

it's a bug that takes advantage of what happens when two computers, say, yours and your banks lock together in a secure hookup. when there's a lull and exchanging data, one computer sends the other a pulse known as a heartbeat to verify that there's still a live connection. but hackers have figured out how to send a malicious packet of data disguised as a heartbeat, tricking the target computer to send data stored in its memory. and once connected, a technology expert says, the intruder can try for all kinds of data. >> you can get passwords, credit card numbers, private medical records, bank account information, e-mails, facebook messages. >> reporter: what to do? the experts say change your passwords, especially for sites with sensitive data, your bank, e-mail provider, online retailer, social media. anything where security and privacy are important. but first, check to see the site has employed fixes and then change your password. many post a message.

the irs says the e-filing system is not affected by the bug. the good news, companies are now fixing the problem and there is a solution ready. the bad news, it's nearly impossible to tell how much information has been stolen. pete williams, nbc news, washington. as you may know this week here, we've been chronicling the search. tomorrow night we'll air another report in a series including stories we've received from our viewers. and just this week at least one prominent politician has changed his public position on a life-saving anti-overdose drug. kate snow, who traveled to pittsburgh to help us report tonight's lead story, will be back with us here tomorrow night with her follow-up report. we are back in a moment with a mistake of historic proportions that a lot of people noticed today.

♪ nine instantly recognizable

notes, and there is a whole lot of them after that. arthur smith has died. he co-wrote the song while in the navy back in 1940. it was originally called "feuding banjos," but we all know it as "dueling banjos." and we all associate it with the haunting movie "deliverance." he started at 15, worked in radio, host aid tv show, and owned a studio where james brown once recorded. arthur smith was 93 years old. in atlanta, an unintended consequence of the rockets' red glare. at braves' home opener they inadvertently set fire to old glory. the fireworks team adjusted the fire. the remains of the flag were properly destroyed. with apologies during the dinner hour, this next item will confirm your worst fears about that passenger behind you on a plane who sneezes. well, guess what? high-speed imaging shows what scientists have found and long believed.

that sneeze could travel much further than previously thought. they call it a multiphase turbulent buoyant cloud. it's a great way to get sick. they want to remind everyone, cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing, especially in public places. and the crook of the elbow works very well. the undisputed champions of college basketball, uconn men and women as of last night, both teams in the men women's ncaa f were undefeated and someone had to lose, and that would be notre dame. a 79-58 leveling at the hands of the huskies, who end the season 40-0. right now it's a good time to be on campus up in connecticut. not every day do you see the constitution on the bare back of a beloved american actress. that would be julia-louis dreyfuss on the cover of "rolling stone." but sharp-eyed readers have complained about the john hancock that sits just north of her far southern exposure.

he signed the declaration of independence. the magazine isn't say if they would have done it differently with the benefit of hindsight. when we come back here tonight, what might have been the most closely watched playdate of all time.

today the likely future king

of england prince george had his first royal engagement. there was crying and grabbing, screams and shrieks. but that's to be expected when you and your pals are all nine months old. prince george, you see, went on an official play date in new zealand. we get our report from nbc's keir simmons. >> reporter: it was his first big public engagement, and prince george took the opportunity to get close, very close to his public. his mom said he had never been around so many other babies before, though you wouldn't know it. >> a little man. he -- he took control. went into the middle of toys. he hunted down the biggest toy, propped himself up and yeah, he owned the place basically. >> reporter: it's been almost nine months since george's first public appearance. he's grown a bit since then. today he grabbed his mom's hair, threw toys and generally played well with others, or tried to. his enthusiasm reduced one

little girl to tears. [ crying ] she got a soothing hand from kate. the affection between mother and son was reminiscent of another time. when diana and charles brought young william on their tour of australia 31 years ago, he was carried from the plane by his nanny. this time kate was happy to do the job herself, though george's new nanny, maria boralo, was close at hand. the little prince is used to royal company. this was his christening. but with today's play date, he's learning how to be out among the people. lesson number one, don't steal somebody else's toys. keir simmons, nbc news, london. that is our broadcast on a wednesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

nbc bay area news begins with breaking news i saw the dad pointing to the kids, and the kid's waving his arms, going like help. >> a beach rescue that's not over yet. the father anxiously awaits word after his son slipped into the water at a beach. >> it happened at ocean beach along the great highway. that call came in just before 4:00. our cheryl hurd is at the scene. you've already talked to the teenager that was involved with the actual rescue. now you've talked to rescuers?

>> reporter: i also talked to rescuers. and i also talked to that teenager's father. but right now san francisco fire department's rescue team and the coast guard from still here in the water, searching for a 14 year old boy. i'm told his name is marco. you probably can't see it from here, but there are several small coast guard boats, and there's also a coast guard helicopter in the air. now the rescue effort started unfolding about 3:30 this afternoon. the firefighters say two teenagers were playing in the water when a rogue wave came onshore and dragged the two boys into the water. now the battalion chief marty ross takes it from there. >> father saw him, can't swim too good. he went out to try to help him, he got in the trouble. the surfer got two of them in. >> can your dad swim? he's like no.