tv NBC Nightly News NBC July 22, 2015 5:30pm-6:01pm PDT
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minimum wage. well thanks for joining us here at 5:00. lester holt is next with "nightly news." and we'll be back at 6:00. >> hope to see you then. tonight, what the tape reveals. we go frame by frame. how a routine traffic stop quickly spiraled out of control. the last time we see this woman alive before she was found dead in her jail cell. hate crime charges. a rare move from the feds for the man accused in that church massacre in charleston. air scare. passengers suddenly passing out, oxygen masks dropping as the pilot makes an emergency landing. trump's money. new disclosures tonight about how much he has and where it's coming from. and is a lion on the loose in a big american city? people doubted the panicked 911 calls, until this tape surfaced and stunned everyone. "nightly news" begins right now.
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>> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news with lester holt." good evening. new police dash cam video has begun to answer at least some of the burning questions surrounding how a simple traffic stop landed a woman in a texas jail where she was later found hanged to death. sandra bland's family and others have questioned the official version and how she ended up dead in custody. now there are questions about the new tape which shows what starts as a cordial encounter between bland and the officer who pulled her over. but as you're about to see, things quickly go downhill. john yang reports from hempstead, texas. >> hello, ma'am. >> hi. >> we're the text texas state highway patrol. the reason for your stop failed to signal a lane change. >> reporter: at first the traffic stop seemed routine enough. trooper brian encinia takes sandra bland's license. when he returns after
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about five minutes -- >> you okay? >> reporter: the tone shifts. >> you mind putting out your cigarette, please? if you don't mind. >> i'm in my car. why do i have to put out my cigarette? >> well, you can step on out now. >> i don't have to step out of my car. >> step out of the car. >> reporter: a little more than a minute later after issuing what he calls a lawful order for her to exit her vehicle the trooper pulls out what appears to be a stun gun. >> get out of the car! >> and then you're going to stun me? >> get out! now! >> wow. wow. >> get out of the car! >> reporter: after they move out of the view of the dash cam things get physical. >> you're about to break my wrist. can you stop? >> reporter: in court documents the arresting officer said he handcuffed bland, who "began swinging her elbows at me and kicked my right leg." the episode lasted about 15 minutes. nbc news has edited it in part. cell phone video shot by a bystander shows bland on the ground. >> i'm infuriated and everybody else should be infuriated as well. >> reporter: after watching the video sharon cooper said she understands why her sister was upset. >> when you tell me you're going to light me up, i feel extremely threatened and concerned. >> reporter: cooper
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urged supporters to keep using social media. overnight twitter blew up when "selma" director ava duvernay tweeted "i edit footage for a living but anyone can see that this official video has been cut." seeing moments like this where a car disappears. this morning texas officials said they weren't edits but they were technical glitches, and reposted it. we watched it with houston defense attorney rusty hardin, who's a former prosecutor. he said it's legal for the trooper to ask bland to get out of the car or put out her cigarette but he should have tried to calm her down. >> a lot of things law enforcement will tell you they could have done. ma'am, i'm just going to give you a warning, put out the cigarette, please, just put your hands where i can see them, i'm going to write you a warning and you are on your way. >> you were getting a warning. until now. you're going to jail. >> reporter: another piece of this puzzle we have just gotten the form that bland filled out when she was booked here at the jail. in it she acknowledges she tried to take her own life in 2014 after
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losing a baby. but she also says she did not think about killing herself the day she was arrested. her family today said that was all news to them. lester? >> john yang in texas tonight starting us off. thank you. a major announcement late this afternoon from the attorney general. federal hate crime charges against dylann roof. he's the man accused of gunning down nine african-american church members inside that historic charleston church last month. 33 new charges in all, some carrying the possibility of the death penalty. nbc's kristen welker has details. >> how are you feeling? >> why did you do it? >> reporter: today's indictment charges roof with federal hate crimes, firearms violations, and obstructing religious practices. he already faced nine counts of murder filed by the state of south carolina. roof is accused of opening fire during a church service in a historically black church last month killing nine parishioners including reverend clementa pinckney all african-americans.
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>> roof further decided to seek out and murder african-americans because of their race. >> reporter: in making the hate crime case they said by attacking african-american parishioners defendant dylann storm roof wanted to increase racial tensions across the nation and sought retribution for perceived wrongs he believed african-americans had committed against white people. >> the parishioners had bibles. dylann roof had his .45-caliber glock pistol and eight magazines loaded with hollow point bullets. >> reporter: the june 17th shooting reignited a national conversation about race, prompting south carolina's legislature to remove the confederate battle flag from the capitol grounds. this after roof appeared in photographs waving confederate flags. south carolina doesn't have a hate crime statute, which is one reason the federal government took the rare step of bringing its own hate crimes charges. >> it's a very strong expression of the federal government's desire to make a strong statement that this kind of
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hate-motivated violence will not be tolerated. >> reporter: lynch also said today that federal officials will now begin discussing whether to pursue the death penalty or life in prison and they'll consult with the victims' family members before making a final decision. lester? >> all right, kristen, thanks. in tennessee today the fbi called the gunman in last week's deadly shootings at two military facilities an extremist. the investigation into his motive is taking place on two continents with some family members being questioned here in the states and others detained in the middle east. this comes as we learn more about the attack. nbc news national correspondent miguel almaguer has the latest. >> reporter: he's a homegrown violent extremist. that according to the fbi, who today described mohammad abdulazeez' five
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minutes of terror. >> we're treating this as a mass casualty. >> reporter: after spraying dozen of rounds into this navy recruiting center he plowed through a fence seven miles away ready to kill. >> the shooter exited his vehicle, armed with an assault rifle, a handgun, and numerous magazines of ammunition. >> reporter: we now know abdulazeez took fire from at least one service member as he entered the building where 20 marines and two navy medics scrambled for cover. some helped move people to safety and then ran back into the line of fire. navy petty officer randall smith was mortally wounded inside. abdulazeez killed four marines in the parking lot with a single weapon before he was gunned down by police while trying to re-enter the building. >> the fbi said specifically that he acted alone on that day, which to me indicates that they are still look at potential co-conspirators, people who may have helped him obtain weaponry or helped him in advance of the attacks. >> reporter: tonight the investigation continues here and in jordan, where abdulazeez's uncle remains in custody. his lawyer says he's not a radical and knew nothing of the attack. tonight the search for
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answers as a community looks for closure. a law enforcement official tells nbc news investigators are looking at four acquaintances of the suspect to see if they had any information about the shooting prior to the attack. lester? >> thank you, miguel. if you woke up this morning to those incredible tv images of a massive warehouse inferno in new jersey, smoke billowing for miles, you might be surprised to learn that fire is still burning this evening. and officials say it could continue well into tomorrow. worries across the area about what's blowing in the air. homeowners being warned to stay indoors. nbc's stephanie gosk shows us the scope of this blaze from above. >> reporter: the local fire chief says this is the biggest blaze he has ever seen. smoke from this massive 85-year-old warehouse has spread across the state of new jersey. the fire started
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around 2:00 in the morning and firefighters tried to contain it in the center of the building but it quickly grew and overwhelmed them, consuming the entire warehouse. there are eight businesses that store their products inside including things like household goods, carpets, and car parts. but the biggest concern right now is an area of the building that houses a plastics manufacturing company. plastics when they burn can release an acrid black and potentially hazardous smoke. there were six apartment buildings in the nearby area that were evacuated, and other residents have been told to close their windows and their doors and turn off the air-conditioners. the epa is on the ground with hazmat teams. they're testing the air quality. and when the fire is finally put out, the investigation into what caused it will begin. stephanie gosk, nbc news, north brunswick, new jersey. donald trump is very rich and very successful in business. he's made that clair in between unleashing attacks on his
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republican rivals. but just how much money does he have? trump has said he's worth $10 billion. and tonight federal election officials have released campaign forms, 92 pages in all, that spell out trump's wealth in detail. but they don't exactly clear up the financial picture. nbc's peter alexander explains why. >> reporter: hundreds of millions from real estate, golf courses, and speaking engagements. in a hefty 92-page financial disclosure to the federal election commission, donald trump gave a glimpse of what he's worth. 515 companies and partnerships, 168 listed assets. 23 of which are worth 50 million or more. trump's income last year, at least 362 million. >> nobody knows how rich i am. so now i had to file. >> reporter: trump boasts he's worth $10 billion. this filing shows he's worth at least 1.4 billion. because the form only asks for broad ranges, his maximum worth can't be estimated. we asked independent accountants from markham llp to walk us through the numbers. >> he listed his residence, the trump tower, as, say, 50 million.
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it could be a billion dollars. we really don't know. we only know what he wants us to know. >> reporter: the paper showed trump's golf-related assets are at least 500 million. near 2 million in speaking fees. most of it from marketing firm acn. his best-selling book "the art of the deal" made him up to 50,000. he also collects a $100,000 pension from the screen actors guild. >> the forms were designed to only have to provide ranges and for somebody like himself who is worth apparently a lot of money it might be more difficult for him to fill out. >> reporter: something trump told nbc news two weeks ago. >> these papers weren't meant for me because of the complexity and the bigness of what i have. >> where do you get your money from? >> i made it the old-fashioned way, in real estate.
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>> reporter: trump also has 265 million in liabilities. but he's by far the richest candidate in the presidential race. peter alexander, nbc news, washington. >> the white house said today it is in the final stages of drafting a plan to finally close the u.s. military prison at guantanamo bay, cuba. it said the plan would be presented to congress. president obama made a pledge to shut down the prison in his first year as president. but many republicans in congress have opposed the idea. just this week cuba's foreign minister said the u.s. should return the entire u.s. military base at guantanamo to cuba. from cuba to iran another long-time adversary and thousands turned out in new york to protest the obama administration's recently completed nuclear deal with iran. the administration says among other things that if approved the deal could lead to better relations. but there are other serious obstacles that remain including the fate of americans still being held in iranian prisons. we get more on that from our chief foreign correspondent richard engel. >> reporter: on his way to sell the iran deal to a skeptical congress secretary kerry was asked about "washington post" reporter jason rezaian, an american citizen arrested in
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iran a year ago today. rezaian was taken from his home with his wife, accused of spying, and his brother says subjected to constant interrogations. >> they went through ten years of his e-mail. why did you send this e-mail, why did you send that e-mail? >> he's got to justify every communication he's had for ten years? >> any one they want to ask him about. >> reporter: rezaian isn't alone. two other americans are held in iranian jails. another went missing in iran. critics say their release should have been part of the deal. others say it's not that simple. haleh esfandiari should know. she was jailed in iran in 2007, also accused of spying. the issue, she says, the american detainees are of iranian descent and iran doesn't recognize their u.s. passports. >> when i was in jail, i told them, i said
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look, i live in america, i have an american passport, i'm an iranian-american, i mean, what are you doing? >> reporter: iran insists the detainees ran internal affair. but u.s. officials want them out. >> these are american citizens who should be released and have the opportunity to be reunited with their families. >> reporter: today iran's deputy foreign minister suggested there could be some progress on this issue if and when a deal is finalized. but lester, this is not as straightforward as it might seem. there are many different competing power centers in iran. some want the americans released right away. others don't want them released at all. so in a sense they are caught up in domestic iranian politics. >> all right. richard engel, thank you. a 23-year-old texas man was arrested earlier today, charged with shining a laser at airplanes. authorities say they confiscated a laser from the suspect, austin lawrence siferd. the faa said a bright green light was aimed at eight commercial flights and a police
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helicopter last night. some of the planes were forced to change their flight paths as they approached dallas-fort worth international airport. still ahead tonight, a major air scare. this frightening new images from on board a packed flight as passengers start passing out in their seats. the oxygen masks came down. what happened inside that cabin? we'll take a closer look. also, the zoo says no lions are missing. so what is this? wandering around a neighborhood. a big city on alert tonight.
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we're back with some very scary moments for the passengers and crew on a united airlines flight from denver to los angeles today. pilot had to make an emergency landing after several people suddenly became ill and passed out. united says it's still looking into the cause. we get more from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: minutes after an emergency landing a united airlines airbus a-320 on the runway in western colorado. the passengers evacuated safely. just moments earlier the captain had dropped the oxygen masks and told everyone on board to put them on. the initial report, smoke in the cabin and several sick passengers. the tower told fire rescue to stand by. >> they've got several sick passengers. six passengers passed out, several more are ill. >> reporter: united flight 447 with 156 people on board had left denver at 8:25 a.m. headed for los angeles. but over the colorado rockies several passengers suddenly became ill. five or six passed out. but passenger jeremy kissinger says the plane seemed to be fine.
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>> it wasn't panicky or anything like that. i don't think we felt like we were in a whole lot of danger. >> reporter: the flight had just crossed into utah when the pilot declared an emergency and turned back to grand junction. >> we had five passengers in the back that passed out. we dropped oxygen masks. everybody is on oxygen and they are all feeling better right now. >> reporter: once on the ground, firefighters found the smoke was actually powder from the deploying air masks. paramedics transported a single passenger to an area hospital. united airlines says it's investigating the cause. tonight the fire department says there was a medical event on board that caused a chain reaction of passengers to feel sick and light-headed. the passenger who went to the hospital walked to the ambulance. tom costello, nbc news, washington. we're back in a moment with news tonight of a big warning about something in millions of american homes. also look. a new book from dr. seuss. we've got a sneak peek at a long-lost treasure that's generating a lot of excitement tonight.
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a warning today from ikea after two of the swedish furniture makers' chests tipped over and fatally injured two children. safety regulators say consumers should stop using ikea dressers and chests for children. about 27 million in all. unless the products are mounted to a wall. they're offering a free kit to help you do that. we put more information on our website. one of america's best-known writers has died. e.l. doctorow forged his reputation with such historical novels as "ragtime" and "billy bathgate." in "the book of daniel" he explored the execution of julius and ethel rosenberg as communists in the 1950s. doctorow is one of the most honored authors of our time. on twitter president obama praised him as one of america's greatest novelists and said his books had taught him much. fans of the late theodore geisel, better known as dr. seuss, are in for a real treat. a long lost dr. seuss
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book will be published next tuesday with the first printing of 1 million copies. it's called "what pet should i get?" it includes some familiar characters to seuss fans, including the brother and sister from "one fish, two fish." it's thought to have been written back in the 1950s or '60s. it remained undiscovered until about two years ago. when we come back, the urban jungle. is that what people think it is? roaming city streets.
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started it all. ==raj/vo== and: a hayward police sergeant killed in the line of duty. what we're learning about the suspected shooter. ===next close=== the news is next. finally tonight, the city of milwaukee is in the middle of its own version of "where the wild things are," or at least where they appear to be. the question is is there a lion on the loose? nbc's craig melvin is there for us tonight. >> reporter: the city of milwaukee is officially on lion watch. after a woman captured this video on her phone of what looks like a lion on the prowl in her neighbor's back yard. >> everybody looked at it and said i think this is a lion. then of course your heart skips a beat and you think oh, my goodness, this could be something serious. >> reporter: police have received several 911 calls with residents reporting seeing a lion. >> they think it climbed it and jumped off the fence. >> reporter: police and game wardens were dispatched immediately.
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the milwaukee zoo says it's not one of theirs. all lions are accounted for. today visitors were intrigued. >> would you want to go see that lion walking in the streets? you wouldn't be afraid? >> no. >> wow. grandpa would be afraid. >> just caught him. caught him. so everybody's safe now. >> reporter: the sighting sparked fun on social media. the cat even has its own twitter account. photoshopped pictures imagine all of the fun a lion could have exploring milwaukee. and the hometown basketball team the bucks promised their mascot is on the case. animal control told us today it could be a wild cougar that made its way from the woods into the city. or it could be someone's pet. there is no ban on owning exotic animals in wisconsin. >> we're asking people not to shoot, to actually call 911 if they see the animal rather than try to take care of it themselves. >> reporter: for now the investigation into the big cat in the big city remains open. craig melvin, nbc
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news, milwaukee. that will do it for us on this wednesday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. county...near lake berryessa. a wildfire is is spreading that breaking news we've been following for 90 minutes in napa county near lake berryessa, a wildfire spreading towards campgrounds and forcing evacuations. these are lyeive pictures of the smoke and the flames down below from our nbc bay area chopper. good evening i'm raj mathai. >> and i'm jessica aguirre. we're at about 700 acres and growing, started at 2:30 this afternoon. as the fire grows, so is that response. 250 firefighters are on the front line along with an aerial
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attack. six tankers, 15 truck companies, 11 bulldozers and five water tenders now on the scene trying to deal with this very very smoky blaze that is moving at a very rapid, rapid pace. >> this is off highway 128 and rag canyon road. the cole canyon and mix campgrounds are both being evacuated now. three hikers have also been rescued. keep in mind it was this time last year we had another big fire in this area. that one burned a lot larger more than 3,000 acres. joining us now on our live line is captain amy head from cal fire. that you for joining and being with us. give us an estimation of where you are right now and what the most immediate concern is for firefighters on that front line. >> as you mentioned before the fire is at 700 acres and 0% containment, so our biggest concern is getting some containment on this fire. with the fourth year of drought
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