that. thanks for joining us here at 5:00. lester holt joins us next. >> hope to see you back at 6:00. good night. on this friday night, blown away. a deadly outbreak of tornadoes. a town with nothing left standing. tonight, the frantic efforts to rescue people trapped underground as we take to the air to see just how much it leveled. nbc news exclusive video of a wild chase through the desert. a man on horseback, police in pursuit catching up and beating him as our camera rolls. late word tonight, the fbi is opening an investigation as ten sheriff's deputies are put on leave. the big announcement from hillary clinton, ending speculation, preparing to jump into the race for president this weekend. and never give up. words to live by from the young woman whose dream to play college basketball inspired a nation. tonight, so many honoring her legacy. "nightly news" begins right now.

from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news." reporting tonight, lester holt. good evening. it was a monster of a tornado of a size they see maybe once or twice a decade in illinois. it killed two people and turned the small town of fairdale into a tortured landscape of misery and devastation. in the destruction zone tonight survivors are still recounting harrowing moments of when it hit, the frantic searches for those trapped and coming to grips with what they have lost. and as we come to expect, there were cameras rolling as buildings were ripped from their foundations and vehicles sailed through the air. nbc national correspondent miguel almaguer is in fairdale where they took a direct hit. miguel, show us what you're seeing there. >> reporter: lester, good evening. tonight in these blustery conditions this is symbolic of what we've found here. at this one property alone this barn was literally ripped into hundreds of pieces. take a look at the main home here. we found pieces of it about a mile down the road.

tonight, there is damage and destruction as far as the eye can see. homes and lives have been splintered. >> we're good. >> oh, my gosh! >> oh, my gosh. >> reporter: this was the killer tornado that barreled through northern illinois. >> he's over! he's over! >> reporter: it showed no mercy. plowing a 50-mile path of destruction across the heartland. wind speeds of nearly 200 miles an hour. >> closer, closer, closer. >> reporter: a monster storm possibly half a mile wide. >> we're talking a tornado in progress. >> reporter: veteran meteorologists say they've never seen anything like it. in the bull's-eye, the tiny town of fairdale. no sirens here. seconds mean the difference between life and death. >> it's just devastating. that's all i can say. unbelievable. >> reporter: today, search teams again combed piles of wreckage. two women, one a grandmother, who were neighbors and friends, discovered inside their homes. >> it was just unbelievable. >> reporter: daniel

and alan chased the storm, then rushed to help the victims. >> we helped as many people as we could until the rescue got there. >> this is the house. >> reporter: 15 miles away the town of rochelle is in pieces. homes stripped off their slabs. memories and keepsakes scattered across streets. this is where the restaurant stood. the owner scrambled 12 people into the basement as the tornado came right at them. >> we were in the basement two to three minutes before it just demolished the building. >> reporter: for 90 minutes they were buried under debris. the landscape here permanently changed. the town before and now after. the view from above heartbreaking. what's most striking from the air, aside from the devastation, is the path of this tornado. it plowed through the middle of these corn fields then suddenly seemed to make a beeline for the homes below. homes like this one where alan wooden's grandchildren would have been playing in

the upstairs bedroom. if everyone was home do you think -- >> it wouldn't have been good. >> reporter: even with all this destruction, so many still thankful. >> we got our family. houses can be replaced. >> reporter: and you got your pictures and memories still. >> yeah. >> reporter: tomorrow, the majority of people who live in this area will be able to return home for a few hours to sift through the rubble and take whatever they find here. but so many will never come back to a place they used to call home. lester. >> all right, miguel, thank you. tonight, we're getting an exclusive look at yet another police chase coming to a violent end on camera. video that even the sheriff who oversees the deputies involved calls disturbing. a man running from police is caught, taken down and beaten by multiple deputies. and our nbc station in los angeles captured it all. tonight, ten deputies have been placed on leave. and we've learned the fbi is now joining the investigation. nbc's hallie jackson has the story. >> i've got this guy on a stolen horse. >> reporter: caught on camera, a bizarre

chase through the southern california desert. >> here we go. here's a deputy chasing him. >> reporter: francis pusok on horseback, san bernardino sheriff deputies on his heels. >> here we go here we go. suspect being tased. suspect being tased. >> reporter: two officers tased the 30-year-old who lies spreadeagle on the ground. then the deputies appear to punch and kick him dozens of times. others eventually joining in. the chase started with police investigating an unrelated case in apple valley. pusok ran when he saw them. it's not clear why, but his mother defended his decision. >> i'm proud of my son. because i'd run from cops too because i've seen too much happen lately. >> reporter: pusok's criminal history includes a 2006 robbery conviction. but the video captured exclusively thursday by our los angeles station knbc has shocked his family, now considering a lawsuit. >> these are a bunch of thugs out here. we've seen this over and over from the taser cases all the way to now from ferguson to apple valley.

>> reporter: pusok was hospitalized, treated and released along with two deputies injured in the chase. and ten officers now are all on administrative leave. the county sheriff calls the video disturbing. >> at the end of the day it appears to be excessive. >> reporter: retired police captain greg meyers agrees it's troubling. >> both officers start using force on him and they're going to have to be answering for that. >> reporter: the sheriff asking for patience through the investigation. which now include the fbi plays out. and the video at the center of it all plays on. hallie jackson, nbc news, los angeles. we turn now to that other story raising serious questions about the use of police force, the deadly shooting of walter scott. scott's family now preparing for his funeral tomorrow while the agency investigating the officer involved says it had concerns something wasn't right even before the video surfaced. here's nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: it was a fateful decision, the moment walter scott decided to bolt from his car leaving officer michael slager

on a foot chase that would end in a deadly shooting. at the time a warrant had been issued for scott's arrest. court documents show he owed more than $18,000 in child support payments. why do you think he may have run away? >> because he didn't want to go to jail. >> reporter: here's an aerial view of the chase. officer slager pulls scott over into this parking lot. minutes later scott runs making a left down the lot and down this street, making a sharp right into this vacant field. he had run about 200 yards before he was shot. a bystander capturing the gunfire on his cell phone from behind this fence. the dash camera picked up the initial traffic stop in the parking lot back there. the cell phone camera captured the actual shooting down there. the crucial question now, what, if anything, happened in between out here? feidin santana who shot the video told lester holt the two men struggled off camera before the shooting. >> i remember the

police had control of the situation. he had control of scott. and scott was trying just to get away from the taser. >> reporter: another person who was there might know more. minutes after the chase started a second officer removes a passenger from walter scott's car, pats him down and speaks with him. in the incident report the officer writes the passenger was also detained and placed in the backseat of my vehicle. that passenger is not named in police documents, but investigators confirm they have spoken with him. questions linger even as scott's family prepares for his funeral scheduled for tomorrow. gabe gutierrez, nbc news, north charleston, south carolina. hillary clinton is about to end years of speculation making it official this weekend ng into the race for president for a second time. and sources close to her impending campaign say things are going to be different this time right from the start. we get details from our white house correspondent kristen welker. >> thank you so much. >> reporter: call it clinton 2.0. the former secretary

of state is set to announce her second bid for the white house on sunday. not exactly a surprise. >> don't you some day want to see a woman president of the united states of america? >> reporter: the clinton plan tweeted out and released a video ahead of a series of small face-to-face events next week. and avoid acting like an inevitable nominee. >> i think humility is the order of the day. and they're getting it right with this announcement. start off from the ground up, ask people for their vote. >> reporter: clinton will emphasize her experience, but she's adding a new tactic. focus on her personal life. >> a new grandchild. >> reporter: today she unveiled a new epilogue to her book writing, after a while bill and i stepped out into the hallway to let them rest. we sat quietly holding hands trying to process the rush of emotions. i looked over and saw a tear in bill's eye. at an nra event this afternoon republicans took direct aim. >> well, i'll tell you if hillary clinton is going to join with

barack obama and the gun grabbers and come after our guns, then what i say is come and take it. >> reporter: but her greatest challenges may be of her own making, like using a personal e-mail account for official business as secretary of state. >> some democrats believe the biggest opponent hillary clinton has in this race is herself. what she needs to do is figure out a way to project a sense of ease on the campaign trail and show voters she understands their economic problems. >> reporter: for clinton it's about finishing what she started eight years ago. >> although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it. >> reporter: another challenge for clinton, her husband, former president bill clinton, who often made the wrong kind of headlines in 2008. he says he'll be a backstage adviser for now, but keeping the man who used to occupy this house backstage may not be an easy feat.

meanwhile, clinton's first stop iowa next week. lester. >> kristen welker tonight, thanks. let's bring in our political director and moderator of "meet the press," chuck todd. chuck, she is rolling out her campaign. what are republicans rolling out in terms of a response? >> well, republicans are trying to do everything they can to hit her and hit her hard. e-mails is something that they want to hit her on. rand paul who of course announced this week used a lot of his speech to try to go after clinton and go after her on ethics and things like that. that's the part of this, that's what republicans in general think is her biggest liability. this issue of being honest and trustworthy. we've actually seen a whole bunch of polling this week that shows the e-mail controversy has actually hurt hillary clinton on that specific issue. >> all right, chuck, we'll see you this weekend. much more on all this sunday morning on "meet the press" with chuck. the fbi today arrested a kansas man. they're accusing him of plotting to set off a car bomb at a u.s. army post. he allegedly said he wanted to commit jihad for isis, but it turns out the feds had him under surveillance for months.

nbc justice correspondent pete williams now with more. >> reporter: just outside ft. riley, kansas, this morning the fbi says agents put handcuffs on a 20-year-old topeka man, john thomas booker, who thought he was about to set off a powerful car bomb. but it was made of material he didn't know was nonexplosive provided by the fbi. >> we face a continued threat from individuals within our own borders who may be motivated by a variety of reasons to take extreme and terroristic steps against our folks. >> reporter: authorities say booker, who'd been in rotc in high school, enlisted in the army a year ago. but the fbi says three weeks before he was to report for duty he posted on facebook, i will soon be leaving you forever so good-bye. i'm going to wage jihad in hopes that i die. agents say he told them a short time later that he wanted to commit an insider attack against american soldiers. hearing that, the army rejected him. for the next several months two fbi undercover operatives say he showed them

isis propaganda videos and said he wanted to commit violent jihad with a suicide bomb attack at ft. riley. after he bought what materials to make it and drove what he thought in a bomb in a van, he was arrested. officials say he was under such close watch there was never any danger and they say he appears to have some mental problems. no comment from his public defender, lester. >> pete williams in our washington newsroom, thank you. it took five years but today the purple heart and defense of freedom medal were awarded to the 47 victims killed or wounded in the 2009 ft. hood shooting. it took years of lobbying to get the benefit the awards come with because the military originally classified the massacre as workplace violence because the shooter was a fellow soldier. still ahead as we continue here tonight, a face of autism you don't often see. parents who do everything to get their children the help they need, but what happens when the kids grow up and that help is suddenly taken away? we're going to take a closer look at that. also the discovery just off the u.s. coast that came all the way from the

tsunami disaster in japan. we'll tell you what they found inside.

incredibly one in 68 children in the u.s. is now diagnosed with autism. they're entitled to services the department of education until age 21 when those services are abruptly cut off. now, after a three-year investigation nbc national correspondent kate snow reports that america may soon be facing a tidal wave of young adults with

autism who need help. and we are nowhere near ready. >> reporter: watching her son walk with his high school graduating class was a joyful moment for lenore. but what was next was terrifying. what are you most afraid of? >> his world is going to collapse. everything that we've spent, the hours, the dollars, is about to go down the drain. >> reporter: federal law says students with disabilities like nick get a free education through age 21, but then there's no state or federal system required to take over. so lenore spent countless hours on the phone navigating a confusing patchwork of programs with huge waiting lists. and there's no instruction manual, right? >> depending on who you got on the other end of the phone. i've made calls to 30 agencies and taking notes like crazy. >> reporter: she eventually got nick into a government-funded program that let her hire aides in her new york home. but when her husband's job transferred him to

florida, she met with agencies there to see what kind of help nick could get. they allowed their conversations to be recorded. and just listen to their message. >> we have nice weather. that is about the level of service that we have here. we always tell people don't move here. >> reporter: don't move here, she said. florida officials say over the past two years the state has been working to reduce a 20,000-person waiting list. >> i think that all governments are grappling with how are we going to do this. >> reporter: sharon lewis is a senior adviser on disability policy at the department of health and human services. there are about half a million people with autism who will age out over the next ten years. is the country ready for that? >> we have a lot of work to do. we're talking about a really broad range of people. some of them who are going to earn ph.d.s at harvard and some of them who are going to need 24/7 support for the rest of their lives. >> reporter: she says

washington is implementing a five-year plan to better coordinate services for adults with disabilities. but for now nick's family is forced to split up. his dad moving to florida without them. >> it leaves nick and my daughter and i here to try to figure out how we're going to be three-quarters of a family. >> reporter: a compromise they never thought they'd have to make. kate snow, nbc news, new york. >> kate will have much more on this issue on a "dateline" hour "on the brink" sunday night at 7:00 6:00 central here on this nbc station.

tonight, officials in oregon say a 25-foot-long piece of a fiberglass boat discovered off the coast appears to have drifed all the way here from japan. more debris from the 2011 tsunami. several live yellowtail jack fish

usually found in japanese waters were found inside the boat. they've been delivered to an aquarium to be examined. are you ever curious about just how much exactly the president and first lady make? we found out today when the white house released the obamas' 2014 federal tax returns showing they paid over $93,000 in taxes on an adjusted gross income of more than $477,000. they also reported to have donated more than $70,000 last year. history was made today by a young american on golf's biggest stage. 21-year-old jordan spieth broke raymond floyd's 36-hole record at the masters, a record that stood for nearly four decades. over the first two days at augusta national spieth posted a 14 under 130. he leads the field by five strokes heading into the weekend. when we come back, the tributes are pouring in for the college basketball player who inspired so many to never give up.

finally tonight, how many of us actually get to achieve our dreams? lauren hill knew what she wanted. and when she was diagnosed with a cancer that eventually took her life this morning, she said anything can happen at any given moment. what matters is right now. her life inspired a nation.

here's harry smith. >> reporter: if you knew your time on the planet was limited, what would you do with that time? 19-year-old lauren hill knew. she would fulfill her dream of playing college basketball. last november when lauren made that basket for the mount st. joseph university basketball team the whole country broke down in tears. determination had a new definition, a college freshman with incurable brain cancer. >> once i commit to something, i'm -- i do it. it's part of my never give up attitude. that's why i'm doing what i'm doing still. and that's why i'm still playing basketball. because i love it so much. >> reporter: lauren's story swept the country. her fans include the game's biggest star. when he learned of her death, lebron james tweeted, until we officially meet again, take care and continue to be that leader we all love. in a youtube video she

made before her diagnosis she talked about why one day she wanted to become a coach. >> to teach and inspire are two of the many jobs are faced as being coach. my favorite other job is to motivate. >> reporter: and boy did she. in a few short months she raised more than a million dollars for research into her rare condition. today at mount st. joseph, lauren's coach spoke of the young woman who taught him and his team so much. >> it's not often you get to celebrate a loss, but today we celebrate a victory of how to live a life through lauren hill. >> reporter: life is short we often say. perhaps only those who truly know that live life to its fullest. harry smith, nbc news. and that will do it for us on this friday night. i'm lester holt. i'll see you a bit later for "dateline." for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching. we leave you tonight

with the beautiful cherry blossoms in washington right at their peak. good night, everyone. nbc bay area news starts now. >> earthquake. duck, cover, and hold on. light shaking expected. >> right now at 6:00 early earthquake warnings. there could be an app for that. you may end up being both the user and the person providing the quake reading. good evening. i'm raj mathai. >> and i'm jessica aguirre. new at 6:00 tonight, california's earthquake experts are testing a program that could turn your smartphone into an actual life-saver. it's not the first time we've heard of the idea of cell phones as quake warning devices. but there is a twist. they would like to use your

phone's data to help locate the quakes. christie smith is live at the usgs headquarters in menlo park with more on how it would work. >> reporter: this team looked at gps and other features and found them quite useful on the smartphone. now one of the ideas that the smartphone might be able to be used in regions that have big earthquakes. >> this from before. that is exactly what your cell phone is good at measuring. >> reporter: sarah is with the u.s. geological survey and among those looking at a system to use smart phones to try and create an earthquake early warning system. >> the hardware on your phone is really good. shockingly good. it can detect movement and displacement with great accuracy. >> reporter: gps is just one key feature. another idea is crowd sourcing. literally uses