and eye lifts and other face surgeries looked younger and more restment. that is if it's done right. >> see you back here at 6:00. on this sunday night, game on. >> i'm running for president. >> hillary clinton begins her race for the white house. but are the challenges this time even bigger than '08? the investigation after the beating and a wild police chase. tonight, focus shifts after what was heard on the police dispatch radio. the heist. thieves seen stealing tens of millions in precious jewels. how in the world did they pull it off? and back to basics, a school that has kids doing the dirty work and learning valuable lessons.

good evening. she surprised exactly no one. this afternoon, with a 16-word tweet and two-minute video, hillary clinton managed to electrify the race for president among her political supporters and her political opponents. she is running for president and says next stop, iowa. tonight both sides are braced for what comes next. for clinton, it's about raising cash and trying to build from the lessons of her 2008 defeat with a more approachable image. for her opponents, it's looking to define her by benghazi and personal e-mails. we have two reports starting with kristin welker on how it unfolded. kristin, good evening. >> reporter: lester, good evening. hillary clinton posted her announcement online late this afternoon. her message, she wants to fight for the middle class as she tries once again to become the first female president.

>> everyday americans need a champion. i want to be that champion. >> in an online video, hillary clinton announced her highly anticipated second bid for the white house. i'm running for president. >> her strategy convincing voters she is the right person to address economic inequality and aims to court democrats who claim she's not progressive enough. >> the deck is stacked in favor of those at the top. >> reporter: the video stands in contrast to her online announcement in '08. >> i announce today that i'm forming a presidential exploratory committee. >> reporter: instead of an on-camera speech, this message is about the voter. clinton doesn't appear until half way through the video. it's about americans of different ages, races, sexual orientation. >> i'm getting married this summer to someone i really care about. >> it's a turnaround from her last campaign a that portrayed her as the inevitable nominee. clinton quickly updated the social media pages today trading

in the well-known shot of her on her blackberry with fresh images on facebook and twitter. minutes later, daughter chelsea posted, proud of you mom. >> i think she would be an excellent president. >> reporter: republicans launched preemptive strikes, passing out information outside her headquarters in brooklyn. they released their own video jab today. >> hillary clinton represents the worst of the washington machine, the arrogance of power, corruption and cover up. >> we must do better than the obama clinton foreign policy that damaged relationships with allies and emboldened enemies. >> does america want a third obama term, or are we ready for strong conservative leadership to make america great again? >> reporter: and the republican national committee released a statement. meanwhile the clinton campaign announced her first stop will be in iowa tuesday, a state she lost in 2008. now, polls show her over all her

democratic challengers there and across the country. lester? >> kristin welker, thank you. now that she's in the race, clinton's team is focused on keeping her the front runner, the challenge avoiding the pitfalls of last campaign with a new array of obstacles. we get more from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: hillary clinton 2.0 won't be holding huge rallies in iowa at first like last time. >> i'm running for president, and i'm in it to win it. >> reporter: but her promise today isn't that different from what she promised back then. one-on-one conversation. >> reporter: this time she says she means it. it will be about you, the voter, not her. >> after five years of raising my children, i am now going back to work. >> bye, guys!

>> reporter: she's promising a more down-to-earth campaign, smaller events focusing on the middle class, up close and personal. >> people will come with questions. she needs to be prepared with answers. >> running as a mom and grandmother, warm and approachable. >> i am still in the grandmother glow. >> reporter: last time, she downplayed her gender. now, after four years as secretary of state, aides say she doesn't have to prove she can be commander-in-chief. this time, she hired former obama aides, including the image maker credited with michelle obama's shopping trip to target, let's move campaign and mom dancing on fallon. how do you recast yourself when you're the best known political figure in america? >> i think the real thing people are watching and listening for is how she talks about why she's running for president. >> reporter: but in politics, all things are easier said than done.

clinton's book tour was widely panned for errors. >> we came out of the white house not only dead broke but in debt. >> reporter: recent speeches, flat. her e-mail policy criticized as too little too late. >> i thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and personal e-mails instead of two. >> reporter: she's still facing questions about benghazi. congressional hearings won't let up. then there's bill, a huge political asset that produced bad headlines this time around. this time, he says he'll be a backstage advisor for now. but hillary clinton's biggest challenge is not image but substance. what's her vision for the future? how does she explain why she wants to be president? lester? >> andrea mitchell, thanks. there's questions tonight about the wild chase through the desert, specifically what was heard on the police dispatch radio. nbc's halle jackson has our report. >> reporter: new details today about the violent end to this bizarre police chase through the san bernadino desert.

francis pusok kicked and punched again and again by sheriff deputies. now his attorneys say an open police mic captured all. two women that heard the exchange on a police scanner heard this. >> there's an open mic warning officers that they were being recorded. >> reporter: the sheriff's office could not confirm that took place but says dispatches are taped. the officers involved were also wearing audio recorders. >> that will all be part of the criminal investigation as well. >> reporter: ten deputies are on paid administrative leave during that internal inquiry into the chase, caught on our camera by our los angeles station knbc. pusok has a criminal history including attempted robbery and resisting arrest. his long-time girlfriend, pregnant with his fourth child, says the last few days have been stressful and frustrating. >> i'm excited to see him for

the first time, although i'm also nervous at what i'm going to see. i think it's going to be quite emotional. >> reporter: the fbi is pursuing it's own civil rights investigation as the family considers a lawsuit. >> it's going to be hard to explain those actions, especially in the case the person seems to be subdued and you're kicking him in the head. >> reporter: pusok is due in court on charges including felony evading and horse theft. halle jackson, nbc news, los angeles. the sheriff's department in tulsa, oklahoma, has released video of what it's calling a deadly accident. the department says volunteer deputy accidentally grabbed his gun instead of a taser. he fatally shot a suspect in an undercover sting. he is seen pinned down by deputies heard hearing expletives. he later died at a hospital. the reserve deputy could face charges. such videos continue to raise questions about whether more officers should be outfitted with body cameras, especially after the fatal encounter in south carolina that

was partially caught on tape. tonight, we have a look at one city where they're already being put to use. nbc's joe friar with our report tonight from from seattle. >> what initially unfolded was captured on a police dash cam from charleston, south carolina. it documents officer slager stopping walter scott. it shows walter scott bolting. now the ending was recorded by a bystander on his cell phone. what happens in the precious moments between? was there a scuffle? what prompted walter scott to run? we might know if the officer had been wearing one of these, a body camera, like the ones now worn in seattle. >> it's been a positive experience. >> reporter: corey george is one of the dozen seattle officers testing out the technology as part of a pilot program. how easy it is to turn the cameras on? >> really easy. like that it's on. just to advise you you're being

audio and video recorded, okay? >> reporter: they're turned on for most interactions with people who might be breaking the law. >> it's okay to panhandle, but you can't sit. >> reporter: officer george welcomes the new technology. >> i argue for myself personally, i want my actions to be recorded, because i want to be able to stand up and say this is what happened. here's the video of it. >> reporter: seattle is one of at least 20 police departments investigated by the obama administration for alleged bias. after finding a pattern of excessive force, the department added body cameras as part of the reform. seattle is going one step further, posting on youtube for the public to see. dozens of clips now online, most fairly mundane. >> the thought is don't judge it. just put it out there and let people see it. >> reporter: the challenge, balancing transparency with privacy.

many of the videos are blurred, citzens can request unredacted versions. just a few days ago, this confrontation was released. during an arrest, officers found one teenager carrying a loaded stolen handgun. >> is that a bb gun? that's a real gun. >> this is where the future is going to lead. >> reporter: the future in this city and perhaps some day providing answers in others. joe friar, nbc news, seattle. we turn overseas now to syria where top u.n. officials are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe. tens of thousands, many of them children, living in the refugee camp under siege by isis militants. though it's on the outskirts of damascus, those at camp are cut off from what they need to survive. our chief foreign correspondent richard engle has more for us. >> reporter: the yarmouk refugee camp in damascus, or what's left

of it, blockaded and bombed back to the stone age, punishment for those that rose up and demanded democracy. no power, no food or water let in two years as the u.n. describes conditions as beyond inhumane. and now, it's gotten even worse. isis moved in earlier this month, releasing this video, claiming to show how they've pushed out local rebels and taken over. the u.n. has now launched a hashtag campaign, #saveyarmouk. its website shows residents burning clothing and furniture to stay warm. this week the security council met. it is said it has become a death camp. one human rights activist told us his group was forced to evacuate yarmouk. >> the children inside yarmouk are hungry. they're eating from the grass of the street. there is no clean water. there is no medical help. there is nothing there. >> yarmouk's 18,000 residents are palestinian refugees driven here long ago by war.

now they could become refugees again. >> nearly 10 million syrians have already been displaced from their home. that's almost half the country's population. many have escaped to neighboring turkey, only to find themselves homeless and unemployed. the u.n. is calling for humanitarian access to yarmouk. but aid workers say they can't work in yarmouk as long as isis is there. the campus is miles from the presidential palace. the assad government is pounding harder to keep isis back, while the people of yarmouk try to hang on. richard engle, nbc news, istanbul. isis has released a video which it claims shows destruction of the ancient city in northern iraq. militants are shown using sledgehammers and electric drills to destroy artifacts at a 3,000-year-old city before leveling it with explosives.

the ruins of the city were one of the most famous archeological sites in the world. when nbc "nightly news" continues on this sunday, remembering two soldiers who hold a sad distinction in america's longest war. and later, thieves make off with tens of millions of jewels. they're caught, but only on tape.

the pentagon has identified the american killed last

year as 22-year-old army specialist john dawson of massachusetts. several others were wounded when their escort mission came under attack wednesday. specialist dawson is the first american military death there in over three months when u.s. declared the war officially over. until his death, we thought perhaps we thought the last americans to die in the conflict, something even their loved ones told us they didn't dare believe. their names are somber footnotes to america's longest war. 37-year-old sergeant ramon morris. >> very loyal, dedicated and, of course, very handsome. >> and 22-year-old specialist, wyatt martin. both were killed in an ied attack december two weeks before the flags were lowered in kabul and this war was declared officially over. it was sergeant morris' third combat deployment. >> the e-mail i got, he said he was a couple of weeks from coming home. and i got that thursday, and it happened on friday. >> christina strange, an army reservist, was morris' fiance. how do you put that together that he ultimately, along with another soldier, were

the last soldiers to die in the war as we know it? >> i don't agree, i guess. i don't know how to say it. the war to me is not over. >> reporter: nor is it for 9800 american troops still serving in afghanistan. just last month, president obama announced that troop levels would not go down this year as planned. >> as long as our men and women in uniform are serving in afghanistan, there are risks involved. >> reporter: wyatt martin's family understood their son would not be the last to die. >> our soldiers will be wherever they need to be. when you say they're the last ones, they're really not the last ones. >> and they weren't. last week's deadly attack, a reminder the war and combat mission are over in name only. sergeant morris' fiance was just 12 when the war began. >> whose favorite color is blue? >> daddy. >> daddy's. >> reporter: today,

she's a mom to their daughter, and for all intents, a war widow. how do you explain to a 3-year-old what's happened? >> i don't have an answer to that one. i don't think that she understands that he's not coming home. >> reporter: more than 2300 americans have paid the price in afghanistan. >> we thought he was over there helping us, protecting us. >> this is from his helmet. >> two anguished families whose wish is that until the last american comes home, we don't forget. >> knowing what we've been through and knowing what he went over there for, i wouldn't really feel like it was right to say that it's over for another family that might go through this. >> because it could very well happen again. >> i'm sure it will happen again. >> the president says the u.s. military mission in afghanistan remains on track to ends at the close of 2016 leaving only an embassy security force in place. still ahead, for one group of kids, a very different kind of score.

we are getting a

closer look tonight at how a brazen group of thieves made off with tens of millions of dollars of jewels from london's district. >> reporter: four minutes after hatten gardens' safe deposit closed for the long easter weekend, burglars were at the side door in full view of a security camera. this weekend, police released nine pictures of men pulling off the audacious good friday heist. the gang dropped down an elevator shaft from the second floor into the basement, pried open the shutter doors, drilled through seven feet of reinforced concrete, and raided the vault. >> the scene still remains chaotic down there. the vault is covered in dust and debris. the floor is strewn with numerous discarded safety deposit boxes and tools. >> reporter: when the vault opened in 1949,

it was billed as bomb and burglar proof. >> nearly a thousand are contained in this enforced concrete. >> reporter: and protected by an alarm. it went off three hours in the heist. the security guard checked the front door and found nothing while a diamond core drill like this was cutting concrete under his feet. what's more remarkable is that the thieves came and went through this door for nearly 12 hours and no one noticed. they even came back for a second all-nighter, finally leaving with their loot early easter morning. the gang cleaned out 60 boxes, $100 million of jewels, owned by individuals and businesses. >> this is not a joke here. this is people's livelihood. >> reporter: police are still combing the crime scene more than a week later. these pictures may help them track down the thieves. experts say by now the jewels are likely long gone. nbc news, london. when we come back, a school where part of learning is doing the dirty work.

finally tonight, if you've ever gone to battle with your kids over their messy rooms, then this next story is for you. a school in tennessee has students doing the work of custodians, vacuuming, mopping,

even taking out the trash. this has parents, let's face it, swept away. here's nbc's harry smith. >> reporter: every school day, something unusual happens at brentwood academy in tennessee. without a word of instruction or admonishment, students there clean up. yes, clean up, just about everything. >> it's our hallways, our lunchroom, and the places we socialize. >> reporter: it's not always pleasant. >> i definitely appreciate not having to clean the toilets. >> reporter: it's not always easy, but it's what they do. >> we really don't fuss about it. it's like an everyday thing now. it's like a routine. >> reporter: what started as a cost-saving measure decades ago has become part of the school's culture, and that's a good thing says the headmaster. >> it would be possible to hire someone to do these jobs. we believe it helps kids give of themselves and serve, sometimes even learning to suffer is

an important part of growing up. >> reporter: parent, terry schoenwald, says go for it. >> i love the fact the school is going to instill in our kids what we as parents are going to instill daily responsibility. >> reporter: her son, brock, has bought in. he even tidies up in the school weight room. >> there's a joy making your campus more beautiful and knowing you had a part in that. >> reporter: if there's trouble getting your kids to clean their room, this must seem like a dream. >> my parents like it. they mess with me. >> reporter: after all cleanliness as they say -- >> looks like something out of a movie -- >> reporter: is next to godliness. harry smith, nbc news.

that's "nbc nightly news" for this sunday. fw evening everyone. >> thank you for joining us. it is official hillary clinton is now jumping into the race for president of the united states. nbc bay area kimberliterry joining us with how the former secretary of state made the announcement and how things might be different the second time around. kimberly? >> the big announcement came through video released on hillary clinton's own website where she said in part quote everyday americans need a champion o, and i want to be that champion. >> i'm running for president. >> clinton appears on camera toward the end of the video which features americans talking about the future. saying she is