tv NBC Nightly News NBC June 21, 2015 5:30pm-6:01pm PDT
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oken. the board has unofficial measurement of 42 feet. the world's largest surf board 39 feet. >> congratulations to everyone back there. hope to see you back here in half an hour. on this sunday night, show of faith. the church reopens just four days after that deadly massacre and we're learning more tonight about what drove the shooter to kill. >> the manhunt for those escaped killers heats up. police say a credible witness claims she spotted the pair along these railroad tracks. a former white house top chef dappears. cancer risk, a once common pesticide now linked to breast cancer. why exposure could still pose a threat. and going to extremes. ditch the golf clubs. why business people are bonding over extreme sports. "nightly news" begins now. >> announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt.
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>> good evening. we're learning more tonight about the gunman who opened fire on that church in charleston and what may have driven him to kill nine people. >> what may have driven him to kill nine people. experts describe him as a radicalized by the internet. as the investigation continues in charleston today, the mother emanuel church opened for the first time since wednesday's massacre. it was an emotional service with parishioners leaning not just on each other for support, but on a community that filled the pews. and spilled out into the street. nbc's ron allen is there tonight. ron, good evening. >> reporter: good evening. just an absolutely extraordinary day here. a very emotional sunday worship service. a moving tribute to the nine would lost their lives. people have been coming from near and far to line the streets here out in front of the church. they're still gathering here tonight to pay their respects as you can see. many say this is a time when the community must come together to stand as one.
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♪ >> reporter: faith and hope as mother emanuel's church family returned home. in the heat, the sanctuary packed with worshippers. praising their god and mourning the nine faithful members tragically killed at a bible study. >> no evil doer nor demon in hell on earth can close the doors of god's church. >> reporter: they shouted and sang and wept and embraced. the governor and senator and charleston's mayor among a diverse gathering. officers stood watch. >> i want to say thank you to law enforcement. i got no problem in doing that. >> reporter: the spirit of the sanctuary soared to the streets. hundreds gathered in a show of unity. >> we have a different community here. we have a family community. a strength. i think we bond together.
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>> reporter: 10:00 a.m., bells tolled throughout the city's renowned churches. nine minutes. one for each person who perished. the solidarity comforting to grief-stricken families. the simmons mourn reverend daniel senior. >> my grandfather loved charleston. to see what an example they have been to the nation, his heart would be so full. >> they called it a service of healing, a celebration of lives lost, with so many bringing their sorrow to mother emanuel hoping to find peace. and tonight and in the days ahead, there are more events planned to solidify that feeling of unity and
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togetherness. and later this week, the funerals beginning on thursday. they like to refer to as sending their loves ones home. this comes as more disturbing details about the shooter continue to emerge. we're learning more about when and how he first became radicalized. mark potter is in lexington, south carolina for us tonight. mark, good evening. >> reporter: good evening. tonight investigators are analyzing a website that could give important clues into how dylann roof was thinking and how he turned into a young man now behind bars accused of mass murder. experts say the many pictures and inflammatory words on the website featuring 21-year-old dylann roof reveal a lot about him and his recent embrace of white supremacy theories. >> the writing seemed to add support to the notion that he was a lone wolf. >> reporter: the fbi believes it was indeed roof who maintained the website. he referred to himself
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as being alone in a fight against blacks, writing, the event that truly awakened me was the trayvon martin case. saying that's when he started his research on black and white crime. >> the charleston shooter fits the classic profile of someone who radicalized not by going to hate group meetings, but by being on the eco chamber that's the internet. >> reporter: roof adopts poses and uses symbols favored by supremacist groups. >> it seems like not until the trayvon martin controversy did he start to have seriously darker thoughts about race and came across white supremacist websites on the web that fed those and built on those and helped him turn himself into a monstrous killer. >> reporter: experts say roof does not appear sophisticated and tried to cast himself as someone taking a stand, writing, someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world.
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i guess that has to be me. >> he saw a world, a world of white supremacy where he could do something heroic for the cause. >> reporter: meantime, two of roof's friends who say he often let them stay with him say they last saw him on tuesday, the day before the church shootings. when he dropped them off at this lake. >> he was in a rush. a really big rush. >> reporter: the friends say the next time they heard of him was when he showed up on a wanted poster after the nine murders at the church. the website was publicly uncovered three days later. perhaps an important glimpse at why he opened fire. now, one of our experts believes the website was designed to be found after the shootings. another says that if any of the clues there were seen earlier, they should have been reported. carl? >> mark potter, thank you. tonight, authorities may be closing in on the two killers who pulled off that daring escape from a maximum security prison. with the search now in
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the third week, officials are pursuing a hot tip out of a small town in western new york. john yang is live for us in friendship, new york. good evening to you. >> reporter: good evening, carl. hundreds of state and federal officials descended on this town after a fresh, new lead. a woman reported seeing two men who fit the description of david sweat and richard matt, these two killers who have been on the run. in this tiny town 350 miles from the clinton correctional facility, roads were blocked, cars were searched, after a fresh lead in the manhunt for david sweat and richard matt. >> female reporting that she saw two males possibly matching the description of the fugitives. >> there was two people -- >> reporter: brandy thompson reported this sighting along these railroad tracks yesterday afternoon. >> i immediately got my cell phone out of my pocket and headed
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towards the house as i called 911. >> reporter: authorities quickly set up a secure perimeter. >> aviation, canine and special operations teams were called in to assist with the search. >> reporter: many residents stays indoor and are on edge. >> i got a shotgun and a rifle out actually, the handgun. >> reporter: officials believe they may be getting closer to a capture. last weekend, two other possible sightings in a nearby county. three now in just the past week. >> the woods are dense. you could walk through. some of the back roads lead straight into pennsylvania from there. >> reporter: it's been 16 days since the convicts' daring escape from the maximum security prison. joyce mitchell has been charged with providing them with the tools they used. the investigation of prison workers is expanding with several guards now under investigation.
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one of them, gene palmer is on administrative leave. clinton county district attorney andrew wily spoke to nbc affiliate wtpz. >> he has a potential charge of facilitating the escape and promoting prison contraband. >> reporter: his attorney says he is cooperating. >> he plans on being completely forthcoming. any information that can help in the capture of mr. sweat and mr. matt. >> reporter: meanwhile, matt and sweat have been added to the u.s. marshall most wanted list. >> that list is the worst of the worst. that means the marshall service and all its resources are being thrown at this. >> reporter: as authorities vow to exhaust every lead. >> we will search behind every tree and structure until we are confident that that area is secure. >> reporter: just about an hour ago, the new york state police pulled out of this town and took down all the checkpoints surrounding it.
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they have put out a statement saying the primary focus of this search remains the area around the prison in northern new york. carl? >> john, thanks very much. a man accused of killing a new orleans police officer is under consider tonight. officials caught the suspect trying to board a bus this morning. the broken handcuffs from his previous arrest were still on his arrests. he allegedly shot veteran officer daryle holloway in order to escape from the back of a police cruiser. a search effort is underway in the mountains of new mexico tonight. it centers around a former white house top chef who served under two presidents. he disappeared more than a week ago, and now authorities are following any leads that could bring him home. >> reporter: for more than a decade, walter was the
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white house executive chef, dazzling the bushes and clintons with his american cuisine. but now the 61-year-old is missing after going on a hike in new mexico over a week ago. authorities have launched a massive search as friends hold onto hope. martin was the executive chef at camp david when walter served at the clinton white house. he said he always has a backup plan. >> i know this guy is cunning. he's not an average person and he's not a quitter. >> reporter: authorities say he set out on a hike by himself last saturday 70 miles from santa fe. when he didn't return, a loved one called police. >> he did enjoy being outside. i believe the word was used that he was probably an amateur hiker. >> crews searching by air and land locating his car on tuesday at the base of a popular trail. they say cell phone signal suggest he may have hiked near a popular peak. >> so we're looking
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for the terrain itself being very rugged, steep canyons and very high mountains. >> reporter: hireed by then first lady hillary clinton has appeared on "today." >> whatever the family wants, it's their home, they'll have it. it will happen instantaneously. >> and became a star >> reporter: and became a culinary star after leaving pennsylvania avenue winning an iron chef competition. >> and the winner is -- >> reporter: he even talked about his experiences with jon stewart in 2007. with time passing and no fresh leads, friends are increasingly concerned. >> i refuse to talk about him in the past tense. i know him personally. he's not going to give up. >> reporter: flou according to officials, there are about 60 searches in all, including some
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volunteers. they say there are some water sources in the area. tonight, it's still being called a search and rescue operation. hundreds of firefighters are on the front lines tonight trying to get control of massive wildfires out west. it's a battle being waged in multiple states thanks to the historic drought gripping that part of the country. more from nbc's joe frier. >> reporter: in the dark of night firefighters can make the most progress, but this is still a slow, grueling battle fighting flames on california's steep mountains. the so-called lake fire has now devoured more than 16,000 acres. nearly 2,000 firefighters are trying to stop it. many of them away from their families this holiday. >> happy father's day daddy. >> reporter: aaron humphrey got a video message from his kids. >> it chokes you up, but it also puts a smile op your face. you get to see families when they go back in their homes.
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>> reporter: so far, no homes have burned but 5 owe are threatened. the scene playing out this weekend across the western u.s. where the land is dry and the weather is hot. in alaska, 38 new fires started yesterday alone. and near lake tahoe, this wind-driven wildfire is burning in a place so remote firefighters must hike long distances or hitch a ride from a helicopter. it's just the beginning of what's expected to be another long fire season. last year in california, more than 7,800 fires burned more than half a million acres costing the state upwards of $270 million. this year, the drought has only grown worse, which means more land, homes and money could go up in flames. joe fryer, nbc news, los angeles. when nightly news continues, a chemical that was once widely used now linked to cases of breast cancer. and later, forget
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contributing factor in the development of breast cancer. here's nbc's ann thompson. >> reporter: ddt, hailed as the miracle pesticide. >> today's target for this b-25 is rock ford, illinois. a peacetime mission to spread 500 gallons of ddt. >> reporter: liberally sprayed on inside houses, ddt has long been a suspect in the risk of breast cancer. a connection scientists have been unable to make convincingly until now. a new study shows that the daughters of pregnant women with ddt in their blood were four times more likely to get breast cancer. this doctor says before they were even born ddt increased the daughter's risk. >> it isn't just simply that it changes the level of hormones, but it changes the tissue of the breast itself. the cells that eventually can be the source of cancer. >> reporter: the research was done using blood
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samples more than 50 years old collected from pregnant women in the oakland, california area between 1959 and '67. 9,300 had daughters. one is jenny singleton's mom. both had breast cancer, but not the genetic mutation for the disease. >> it left me with questions about why >> reporter: until the doctor called and ask asked jenny about her breast cancer. now will is another possibility. >> it's an interesting association and it could be a key to unlocking information about why i got breast cancer. >> reporter: information she wants for her daughter. though the u.s. banned ddt in 1972, this doctor calls the study critical because it may show some of the unexplained breast cancer is related to ddt. this tells us just not just the exposure to the chemical -- >> it's a timing. it's really a combination of many things. what you're exposed
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a spectacular sunrise at britain's stonehenge this morning where more than 20,000 people gathered. a festival that dates back thousands of years. it celebrating the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. if you're afraid of sharks, this next story might not be forlife guards have begun using drones to track sharks near a popular beach. just last week, more than ten young great whites were spotted off the coast. each was five to six feet long. officials say they weren't dangerous. it's hoped this new technology will monitor bigger sharks that could pose a bigger threat. it's usually hard enough for one person to stand on a surfboard, let alone, 66 of them. that's exactly what happened in huntington beach, california yesterday.
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extreme sports are exploding in popularity across the country. perhaps most of all among the tech crowd of silicon valley. one sport has become the setting for a place to network and do deals. here is our story set in the blue waters off of maui. >> try steering through the water at up to 65 miles an hour. this is kite boarding. and at the end of these kites are some of silicon valley's movers and shakers. >> a person who wants a startup likes to think they can take on anything and when. >> bill is a prominent venture capitalist. susie is one of the top kite borders in the world. >> it's the ultimate feeling of freedom
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that you are in control of. >> together, they're the force behind a part extreme sports camp, part network of the top minds in tech and investors. >> if you're going to invest with someone, the fact that they've gone through the trouble to learn this says something about something. >> persistence. >> the other thing about extreme sports is it's about confronting fear every day. there's some element of risk that you're taking. >> it scored melanie, the ceo of an online graphic design company, $12.5 million in investments. it seems weird that to make it in this business, you got to learn to do this thing that's completely unrelated and actually kind of dangerous. >> yeah, but it's better than golf. >> they make it look easy. >> just to show you the power in this kite. like, it's got a lot of power. >> that's awesome. trust me, it's not. >> let go, let goe, let!
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>> failure here is part of the process. whether on a kite board or in a startup. i can envision a fewer at home thinking just how do you pitch a meeting in san francisco? don't pretend this is work. >> in a pitch meeting with slides in san francisco, you can fake your way into looking good. you can't do that here. this is a great way to filter whether an entrepreneur is really what they say they are. >> looks like these techies have got the world on a string. >> for more on the rise of kite boarding and other extreme sports, watch the new high tonight on cnbc at 10:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. that is nbc nightly news for this sunday. lester holt will be here tomorrow night as the official anchor of nightly news. we here on the weekends wish him well. for all of us at nbc news, good night.
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==peggy/2-shot== and i'm peggy bunker. thank you for joining us. ==peggy/ots== the "eman good evening everyone. i'm terry mcsweeney. >> i'm peggy bunker. mother emanuel church held its first service today since the massacre. many came together to sing and pray. organizers called it a healing service. despite the hate that motivated the gunmen few today were willing to condemn him. more rallies and vigils were held around the country this weekend. in oakland tonight another rally is getting under way. this one has a very special message. nbc bay area's ch
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