america under fire the survivors, first responders and the rest of us trying to make sense of the past few days. the death toll has risen to 31 in el paso and dayton while the nation decides what to do next >> hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul in one voice, our nation musrac white supremacy. >> president trump reading a statement as he prepares to visit both sites of mass shootings. while the nation grapples with how to prevent more carnage, we'll also look at the rise of white supremacy and hatred both in the united states and around

the globe. plus stocks tanked for their worst day of the year. will today be any better a special edition of "early today" starts right now. good tuesday morning i'm frances rivera >> and i'm phillip mena in el paso, texas. the country is once again grappling with grief after the unspeakable tragedies in dayton and here in el paso where the pain deepens after reports that two more people who were shot at walmart have died. bringing the death toll to 22. authorities now zeroing in on the alleged gunman patrick crusius and how the allen, texas, native ended up 11 hours away here in el paso but one thing is clear this community is not letting this divide them >> in the face of intolerance and hatred and violence, this community is coming together and displaying an extraordinary strength that i don't think this country or the world has ever

known. >> and, phillip, with el paso being your hometown, you've seen that strength firsthand with your family and friends who know people who didn't survive this >> yeah, frances, unfortunately overnight i did learn that one of my mother's colleagues, her sister-in-law and her husband were among the dead, killed here at the walmart behind me it really speaks to the very slim degrees of separation here in the community this is a very tight-knit community who is now coming even closer together. i have never seen the unity that exists at this moment, unfortunately under the st tragic of circumstances. but meanwhile, the same -- similar thing is playing out across the country many unanswered questions this morning in dayton, ohio, authorities there still trying to pinpoint a motive after a 24-year-old man killed nine people in just 30 seconds, including his 22-year-old sisz ter. we are joined now by kathy park who is in dayton this morning. kathy, good morning. what more have we learned about

the investigation there? phill >> reporter: phillip, good morning to you they are collecting evidence here on the ground as well as digital evidence there was only one press conference yesterday and we learned a little bit more information about this ongoing investigation. so officials are saying that the suspect fired at least 41 rounds before he was confronted by officers as you mentioned, it took just 30 seconds for him to stop because he was eventually neutralized. and then as far as the motive, we are still not any closer to finding out exactly why he carried out such a heinous, heinous act. but the police chief had mentioned that he doesn't believe at this time anyone specifically was targeted. as you mentioned, the gunman's sister was among the victims it's still unclear if shewas shot intentionally or if itwas an accident, but we do know that the gunman arrived on the scene prepared to do some serious harm

>> this, all the magazines rerecovered from the suspect, were completely full, he would have had a maximum of 250 rounds in his possession at the time. it is problematic. it is fundamentally problematic. to have that level of weaponry in a civilian that environment, unregulated, is problematic. >> reporter: and nbc news had an opportunity to speak with the ex-girlfriend of the suspect, and they dated for a couple of months she said there were some warning signs, now looking back, considering what has happened. she mentioned that they went on a date to a gun range and he happened to have a fascination with shootings she said he was in a lot of pain and it went unchecked. back here in the oregon district, the community is starting to come back to life and have some sort of normalcy, if you can even call it that some businesses have reopened.

the vigil behind me, the memorial behind me continues to grow as the community continues to heal. phillip? >> 1600 miles away, very similar scenes playing out, both good and bad there. kathy park joining us from dayton, ohio this morning. kathy, thank you president trump is set to visit el paso tomorrow and authorities are uncovering chilling new details about the alleged shooter. police saying patrick crusius allegedly killed people execution style as they pleaded for their life this video of his arrest was taken after the rampage. joining me now once again in el paso is morgan chesky. he's been covering this angle of the story. morgan, he wasn't from el paso how did he end up here >> reporter: phillip, we believe that he was from the dallas area, specifically a suburb known as allen and we're told that he had been living there for quite sometime, specifically with his grandparents we had a chance to heacouple daa

certain amount of time, several months, then he had left, deciding to go out on his own and they hadn't really heard from him since then. it was at that point that we're still trying to learn more about what he did from that point up until when the shooting took place. we know that during that span of time, he did buy that ak-rifle legally. and on saturday or perhaps the day before, made that long drive from the dallas area to el paso, which is about an 8 to 10-hour drive. we heard from investigators today who said that while initially they thought that he may have targeted that specific walmart as his main place of attack, he rather pulled in at a parking lot because he was simply hungry after a long drive. but for whatever reason, he grabbed that rifle, opened fire in the parking lot before making his way inside, causing the chaos, that chaotic scene r scene to unfold and killin therh count from what we've heard from the hospital now, from the investigation standpoint, that scene is going

to remain locked down for at least the next couple ysr cars they're going to have to work hand in hand with the fbi who has taken over the investigation from that standpoint also under investigation, that manifesto that he posted online, at least that's what police are calling it, about 2300 words the rhetoric highly racist very much anti-immigration and they do believe that while they were tipped off as to its posting, they didn't have enough resources on hand to intercept him before he arrived here and opened fire. so he remains in custody here in el paso. he is answering questions, but we don't know what he's saying and he does face the death penalty for certain charges that they are intending to prosecute him for. >> all right morgan chesky, ten hours is a long time. just want to say to think about what you're about to do. morgan chesky joining us once again in el paso thank you, morgan. president trump addressed the recent mass shootings. he delivered a speech where he condemned racism, bigotry and

white supremacy. tracie potts joining us from washington, d.c. tracie, good morning he seems to want to shift to the issue of mental health >> reporter: not everyone is satisfied with that, phillip some people believe the focus needs to be on the guns. president trump laid out a number of initiatives he wants to try to pursue in reaction to these shootings over the weekend and mental illness was one of the big focuses in that speech to the nation. the president saying it wasmen t was mental illness behind an act like this. >> we must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence and make sure those people not only get treatment, but when necessary, involuntary confinement. mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun >> reporter: while there have been bipartisan efforts to try to keep weapons out of the hands of people who are mentally ill,

president trump has rolled back one of the obama-era regulations that did just that and there's been a backlash to what he said, creating concern that there might be fear from people getting help for mental illness as a result of this. the other thing the president said that drew a lot of attention, phillip, was he called out white supremacy, something more directly than he's done before but is it enough and the statement president obama, former president obama addressed that in a statement saying we should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments, apparently referring there to some of the previous statements that the president has made at rallies and in public that many believe have inflamed white supremacists and perhaps even led to incidents like this.

>> and not to mention el paso in the state of the union when it came to crime infested cities, cities infested with crime tracie potts thank you for joining us this morning. frances, we heard the president talking about how mental illness is what pulls the trigger, not the gun, talking to people here yesterday, they also think that hatred is what gives it a target, though. >> it's going to be all important, his message and tone especially when he comes to visit el paso and dayton later this week. all right, phillip, we'll check back in with you in a bit. let's turn now to nbc meteorologist bill karins with a look ahead threat of storms in some parts good morning >> good morning, frances storms rolled through the quad cities they're trying to make a run through the st. louis area they're falling apart. we'll have to watch it the next hour or two. as we go throughout the afternoon, this will spark additional storms, not severe storms, maybe an isolated case

here and there we'll see storms in indiana, also south of st. louis, buffalo then we're going to do this again by the time we get to wednesday afternoon. we expect a good deal of storms to pop up from washington, d.c., to philadelphia, albany, andwil ahead of this front in areas of central pennsylvania to areas of southern new jersey. talk about that travel forecast coming up >> all right, bill, thank you. in today's quick hits, north korea fires two unidentified missiles its fourth such launch in less than two weeks according to south korea's military the missiles were reportedly fired from southern province and splashed down in the sea of japan. some beach goers were

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for a 100% noticeably whiter smile. guaranteed. trust america's #1 whitening brand, crest 3d whitestrips. the world again turning its eyes to texas after an alleged gunman killed 22 people. these were parents, grandparents, daughters and sons who went shopping early saturday morning, only to never return. but with the tragedy also comes harrowing tales of survival. reporter simone, you spoke to one of those survivors >> reporter: yes, her name is a degree ann gonzalez. she walked into the walmt on a routine trip she sprang into action, helping her mother get tstrangers. but she also told me that at one point she feared she would never make it out a live this is her story.

>> yes, i thought i was going to die. i even called my wife and i told her, if i don't make it, i want you to know that i love you. and tell my family and my nieces and nephews that i love them >> reporter: she tells me that she has no clue how many lives she saved, but that l oe beingn someone's presence like that who faced death down and came out on the other side >> reporter: for me it was a reminder of the massive ripplea going through the hardest time right now, but there are also their families who are arguably survivors who are going to be experiencing trauma after this this woman, she told me that the next morning she woke up in bed next to her wife and her wife told her that in the middle of the night she was kicking her legs as if she was still running away from the shooter. that's just an example of the lasting impact that these tragedies have >> it's going to be something that sticks with her and this community for the rest of their lives. simone, thank you so much. just ahead here on "early

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they're bringing drugs they're bringing crime 're rapists. you know what? we're not letting these people invade our country you look at the border and you look at the hundreds of thousands of people that are invading, or at least trying to invade our country >> some of the president's past remarks like those are now being widely criticized and raising concerns about the issue of

violence that is fueled by white nationalism. especially in the wake of the mass shootings in el paso which is now being treated as domestic terrorism. nbc news now reporter dasha burnes joins me. you recently spoke with a white supremacist about this problem >> reporter: that's right, i did. his name is christian and he was recruited at just 14 years old in 1986 and he spent eight years with hate groups but he found his way out and he went on to spend the last 20 years working to get others to disengage from extremism but he told me he believes the problem will get worse before it gets better because of one big difference between how hate groups operate today versus back when he was involved in the '80s and that is the internet take a look. >> i think it's more accessible, the internet really, you know, was kind of the fire that it needed you know, i was a marginalized kid standing in an alley when i was recruited at 14 years old. i felt abandoned

i didn't have very many friends and i was bullied. now those millions of kids are being found in an alley and handed a pamphlet are now living online in a virtual world. >> reporter: and he played that sound from president trump earlier and my conversation with christian, i asked him about what he thinks our government and our leadership can do to curb this problem. and he said first and foremost, stop contributing to it. he does feel that the rhetoric is making things worse and the experts i spoke with also pointed to a connection between the current political climate and the rise in hate crimes >> hopefully we can see more lives, young lives turned around like his dasha, thank you for sharing the story. still ahead, how a grandmother single handedly stopped a mass shoot being plus what was behind yesterday's massive market sell off. you're watching "early today." ♪. so, this is what we say. ♪ so, this is what we say. ♪ bring back the tigers.

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isolated storm wednesday afternoon and evening, the front moves over, it's going to be hot and humid in the area new england through the mid-atlantic, that's where we're going to get significant thunderstorms. may even get a few severe storms with it, too if the i-95 corridor all the airports included, we'll be dodging the storms in the areas of the south, too. the heat is on in the west a very warm month of august already. >> all right, bill, thank you. top stories are up next including a scary story when a boil falls into a manhole. superior to humira® in providing significantly llergic to tremfya®. and may increase your risk of infections. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb. or if you had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya®. get clearer. janssen can help you explore cost support options. janssen can help you explore so you have ten years experience... i do. but no phd?

first kid here's all the numbers, food's in the fridge, oh and lucas likes to pull on jewelry so you might want to lose the nose ring. by their second kid, parents are more likely to choose luvs. live, learn, and get luvs. instagram is changing its name and soon it will be officially called instagram from facebook yeah instagram from facebook. even fast and furious presents -- that's a bit wordy

i told you instagram actually went down for a few hours. instagram went down on a sunday. [ laughter ] everybody eating breakfast looked at each other and said, what's the point, you know [ laughter ] >> in today's top stories, we are learning that a grandmother in texas was able to stop another potential mass shooting. she took her grandson to the hospital after officials say he made threats about shooting at a hotel ang his own life authorities found an ak-47 and multiple knives in the hotel room the boy rented. he was arrested for making false statements to a firearm dealer . monday was a rough day on wall street. stocks had their biggest one day decline after the chinese government retaliated against the new tariffs announced by the president last week. the dow fell more than 900 points at one point before closing down 767

2.9% the s&p and nasdaq also saw steep declines it comes after china let its currency sink to the lowest level in 11 years, prompting the u.s. treasury to designate it a currency manipulator pipe bomb mailer sayoc got 20 years in jail illegal explosives with intent to kill or injure. in court, the 57-year-old sobbed and expressed remorse for his actions telling the judge, i am so very sorry for what i did i feel the pain and suffering of these victims. sayoc was arrested in october after mailing 16 packages of inoperative pipe bombs packed with fireworks, powder and also shards of glass to 13 well-known democrats and to cnn none of the bombs detonated. look at this little boy who escaped disaster in china when he stirred on a broken manhole

cover. he stepped on the cover and falling straight through you see how desperate his family is right there his parents and father quickly jumped into action, safely pulling the son out of the well. the boy only suffered minor injuries police arrived on the scene soon after and made sure the maintenance department f cover you have a story like this story, phillip, about the kid in china who barely, barely escaped with his life from a balcony another instance >> frances, before we go, i just wanted to say how much i appreciate the support of erybody here iev