we were coming out of the theater and there was a big stampede everyone thought there was a shooter coming down the street and i thought i was going to watch my daughter get shot down in front of me. >> panic athe cross roads of the world. chaos and stampeding after a loud noise and heard and there are multiple injuries. we'll have the latest. we continue to learn more about the mass shootings in ohio and texas and in california. held in officials are investigating whether the gilroy garlic festival shooting was a case of domestic terror. outrage over the shocking photos of police officers on

horseback leading a handcuffed man with a rope. this morning, new fallout. we'll look back at the incredible life of noble prize winning author toni morrison. and who let the dogs out we'll take you to pup night at the ballpark where these stars were off the field "early today" starts right now good morning i'm melissa ray burger i'm fran is rivera we start with that breaking news chaos unleashed in times square after a motorcycle backfires sparking a massive sam paid. stampede witnesses say people were screaming and climbing over each other after confusing the loud sound for a gunshot. one mother was separated from her daughter in the chaos. >> my daughter was pushed up against the door and i was on a pile of people inside the door i couldn't reach her everyone thought that there was a shooter coming down the street

and i thought i was going to watch my daughter get shot down in front of me. >> the nypd assured people there was no active shooter. there were a number of bumps and breaking news but no one was seriously injured. about a week before the deadly shootings in dayton and el paso unfolded, three people were killed and more than a dozen were injuredt the garlic festival in gilroy, california federal prosecutors have now announced they're treating it as an act of domestic terrorism our pete williams has details. >> reporter: the fbi says that the motive behind the shooting is still a mystery, but investigators say searches of the gunman's electronic devices turn up a list of places and organizations that might have been other potential targets police say the 19-year-old gunman was wearing a bulletproof vest and caring an ak-47-style assault rifle and six high-capacity ammunition clips one holding 79 round they say he fired 39 time, killing three people and

injuring 13. he was shot several times by police before killing himself. the fbi says they found a list he had drawn of up potential targets. federal buildings, courthouses, churches and political organizations both conservative and liberal. he was exploring a mix of different violent beliefs. >> we have seen a fractured ideology the shooter appeared to have an interest in varying competing violent ideologies >> reporter: but it's too early to know, the fbi says, whether he should be considered a white supremacist. investigators say the gunman did not leave behind any kind of statement or essay and there was no sign that he was inspired by other mass shootings. as the communities of el paso and dayton continue to mourn for the 31 lives lost, there is a rallying cry across the country for stricter gun control. nbc's winnie wilfolk is following the story from el paso. >> reporter: as the constant flow of mourners continues

outside the walmart where 22 innocent shoppers were gunned down, survivors vividly remember what happened inside >> when i opened my eyes i saw him shoot a lady in the head. >> reporter: garcia was shot twice in the leg her husband still in a coma fighting for his life. el paso's mayor anticipating a controversial visit from the president. >> i will ask president trump to support our efforts with any and all federal resources that are available. >> reporter: and in ohio, family of a gunman who shot nine people including his own sister in a popular entertainment district in dayton making their first statement. >> they ask that everyone respect the family's privacy in order to mourn the loss of their son and daughter and to process the horror of sunday's events. >> reporter: those events prompting ohio's republican governor to call for new laws requiring background checks for nearly all gun sales and allowing courts to restrict access to firearms by anyone

perceived to be a threat something the president stopped short of calling for in response to this weekend's massacres. >> mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun >> reporter: rhetoric dayton's mayor says isn't helpful for her community. >> i think that people should stand up and say they're not happy if they're not happy that he's coming. >> reporter: two cities forever bound by tragedy looking for help to heal >> all right that was winnie wilfolk reporting. president trump will be making his way to both of those communities today. he announced plans to meet with first responders and some of the victims of last week's mass shootings. tracie potts joins us now from washington, d.c. tracie, it doesn't sound like many are happy about the president's visit. >> no, melissa he may get a chilly reception in dayton and el paso where he had a bit of a twitter fight with beto o'rourke of texas overnight. the president saying in a tweet

that beto o'rourke should respect the victims and law enforcement, and as he put it here, and be quiet o'rourke on the other hand adding that 22 people in his hometown have died el paso will not be quiet and neither will i the president visits both el paso and dayton today. in dayton, the mayor seemed less than enthusiastic about the president's visit. simply saying, well, he sets his schedule and i set mine. then there is this, the fact that senate leader mcconnell has ignored calls to bring lawmakers back to washington to deal with gun control. >> this bill has bipartisan consensus. the experts, the groups, everyone all believes it's the right thing to do. i call on senator mcconnell to just let it come to a vote just do the right thing. just let it come to a vote on the senate floor and let the chips fall where they may. >> that vote that he's talking about is legislation to deal with universal background

checks, something that, by the way, ohio's governor says they're going to do. ohio's republican governor >> all right tracie, thank you. the growing outrage over a pair of widely viewed photos of police officers leading a man down the street with a rope after arresting him in galveston, texas nbc's ron mott has more. >> reporter: the viral photos and the video posted to snapchat show two white galveston, texas police officers on horseback appearing to lead a black man down the street by a rope attached to handcuffs. the man, 43-year-old donald neely, whose family says suffers from mental illness and was homeless was arrested for misdemeanor trespassing and being led to a police staging area nearby. authorities say a police vehicle was not available at the time. neely's brother says the family wants the officers fired. >> what they did was real inhumane it was real degrading. >> reporter: galveston's african-american police chief

apologized to neely and called the incident an unnecessary embarrassment, adding this is a trained technique and best practice in some scenarios but that the officers showed poor judgement in this instance the chief also said the officers did not have any malicious intent and that the policy detailing the technique was immediately changed to prevent further use. >> they had so much interaction with him in the past, they know that he's mentally ill i believe that's why it was malicious and i believe that's why galveston's apology is inauthentic and insufficient >> reporter: a picture drawing words of outrage and disbelief ron mott, nbc news anticipation is building in tennessee this morning for the release of cyntoia brown she's been behind bars since the age of 16 and is scheduled to walk free today. brown has been in prison for 15 years. she says she shot a man after he allegedly paid her for sex because she feared for her life. kim kardashian west publicly called for brown's release, announcing in 2017 that she'd

ask her attorneys to help. in january, cyntoia was granted clemency she's scheduled for release today and will remain on parole for ten years. some staggering climate change numbers from greenland. scientists from denmark's meat logical institute say greenland 10 billion tons of ice melting in one single day. scientists are proposing building ice making sub-marines that would pop up icebergs in polar waters to help replace ice flows. some skeptics cast doubt why not try it >> nbc meteorologist phil karins is here. >> big airport problem day in the northeast. of course ripple effect from that we have a lot of people at risk of severe storms not everyone's going to get hit. but we've got 11 states, portions of this them included in this about 53 million people.

baltimore got hit hard yesterday with very heavy rain philadelphia, new york city, right up through the hudson valley could even be an isolated tornad tornado, especially into the hudson valley and parts of new england. hit and miss storms out there this morning the significant storms, the ones that can have really severe weather with them and cause the most airport delays could hit around 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. boston, you're okay today. it will be later tonight that somef th oe e triggered. could each see isolated storms in areas of wisconsin and also the midwest. besides that, it's also very hot in the south

we'll talk about that coming up. >> all right thank you. the private plane carrying the management team for singer pink crash landed in denmark officials say the incident happened after the aircraft caught fire on landing after a flight from norway pink was not on board, but all ten people were safely evacuated. a picture of queen bey, beyonce, that is, is headed to the national portrait gallery. the gallery says it's acquired a shot by photographer tyler mitchell that appeared in "vogue's" 2018 fashion issue. "90210" is back. the show will run for six episodes struggle. there's an easier way. try mr. clean magic eraser. just wet, squeeze and erase tough messes like bathtub soap scum and caked-on grease from oven doors. now mr. clean magic eraser comes in disposable sheets. they're perfect for icky messes on stovetops in microwaves and all over the house.

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princeton review also look at which schools smoked the most weed they say the university of vermont, pitser college and university of rhode island are the best schools for getting buzzed. >> i'm sure parented are thrilled. >> know exactly where, quote, their tuition is going. the fbi's former head of the counterterrorism division peter strzok is suing the agency and the department of justice for what he claims is wrongful termination. he alleges the bureau caved to unrelenting pressure the veteran fbi agent became famous for a string of anti-trump texts back in 2016. he was fired last year by robert mueller after being part of a team involved with the russia probe and more than 20 years as a special agent. strzok wants the fbi to reinstate him and is seeking backed pay and damages the justice department declined to comment to nbc news about

that lawsuit. katrina lynn dan forth could face ten years in federal prison according to her plea agreement, danforth sought to hire a hit-man to kill the father of one of her children. danforth was busted when she met with an undercover police officer and arranged to pay 5,0$5,000 for the hit her sentencing is in october. you may have heard warnings about showering during a thunderstorm actually, i hadn't until today maybe you have this might want to make you sa void the bathroom all together lightning struck a florida septemberic tank, igniting sewer gas and causing this family's toilet to explode. it was accompanied by a deafening boom and sent pours lane shards flying into the wall like shrapnel. thankfully no one was in the water closet at the time of this very freak accident. >> i'm sure they could smell it wherever they were iatn house. all right. still ahead, find out what happens when a kid orders pizza by calling 911 and how the most

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the house and senate are now on summer recess, and a few members of congress have released statements about how they're spending their free time for example, representative don bacon said i love recess i wake up every morning and make myself a plate of crispy, well, my last name dan newhouse said it's good to

have this time off because my wife and i are trying to buy, well, my last name susan wild was like, me and the girls are going to head to vegas, chug margins and get, well, my last name i'm taking to the beach and lining up some dank, dank, well, my last name. >> well done very clever. j.j. watt and the houston texans are in green bay for a joint practice with the packers. watt is honoring a tradition there by riding a boy's bike to the staple but he winds of breaking the seat. j.j. makes it up to him by buying him a new bike. that was earlier the 288-pound lineman got the message by riding a more appropriately sized bike for his 6'5" frame before riding autographs >> when you're j.j. watt, everything looks small. nfl star tom brady is opening up about father hood in the august edition of "men's health," the patriots quarterback said he had a tough time realizing his son benjamin

just wasn't into sports. brady said he would try to get him to do things and he just wasn't interested. the dad of three said, quote, it was hard for me, he's a boy. he should do all these things i should do. brady says it took intervention from gisele bundchen to realize he just has different hobbies as all. one of them is watching dwayne "the rock johnson" movies. well all know there is something funny and magical about the innocence of kids. here is a perfect example of that with this florida boy when he calls 911 for a pizza emergency. he's got to have it. police in sanford were responding to that call when dispatch informed them that the boy had called for pizza three officers stopped by to make sure everything was okay and to teach the kid about when to properly call 911 later, though, they came back with a large pizza hut pie that he ordered a nice picture i'm sure some good friends, too. >> well, who hasn't had a pizza

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buy a ticket, the team donates a portion of sales to animal shelters how brilliant is that? >> probably sold out on hotdogs, too. >> bill karins is tracking some heat advisories in the southern plains do tell. >> hot for cats and dogs everyone from texas to oklahoma to kansas, all the way back to southern louisiana and arkansas. even a little slipper there in mississippi under heat advisories for today it's been hot. last week we were near 100 every day. add some humidity to it. that's why we have all the heat advisory amarillo, 101. oklahoma city, 104 possibly. some pretty hot stuff out there today and with the heat index in some spots, as i mentioned 100 to about 105 we talked about the severe weather threat in the northeast. the northeast will probably be 9 big weather story of the day >> all right anyou. >>hen we come back,

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in today ace quick hits, victoria's secret has welcomed a new model. the first transgender model to work with the lingerie brand she stars in the upcoming pink campaign. a du dock series on the way about the life of late rapper tup tupac shakur and his mother athena it will tell the story of mother and son by the people who knew them best. former first lady michelle obama will offer college advice as part of a youtube series. it will be a ten-episode crash course for viewing in september. well, she was a beloved

american novelist whose pros touched the hearts of generations and today we mourn the loss of author toni morrison the noble laureate was a literary titan whose powerful novels encapsulated the african-american experience in this country tributes have been pouring in. former president barack obama called her a national treasure nbc's rehema ellis takes a look at her life and legacy >> reporter: from the start, tony morrison was exceptional. she remembers being the only black child in the first grade and the only one who could read. she went on to write classics illuminating the black experience, including "song of solomon. >> we not only survived, we produced something so valuable, so irreplaceable, and that's what's worth celebrating. >> reporter: born chloe waufrd in 1941 in ohio, she studied english at howard university

where she picked up the nickname toni a divorced single mother she wrote her first novel into 1970 after work when her two sons were in bed. 18 years later her novel "beloved" won the pulitzer prize and was made into a movie. the story of a black woman who kills her own child to save her from slavery >> ain't no love at all. >> reporter: oprah winfrey whose book club made morrison a household name said she was empress supreme among writers. long may her words reign in 1993, she became the first african-american awarded the noble prize in literature. later honored with the nation's highest civilian award. >> i could never be happy if i thought there was going to be another void, another huge historical silence about the experience of black people >> reporter: toni morrison, a descendant of sharecroppers who changed the face of american literature rehema ellis, nbc news.

>> what an incredible body of work. >> the impact those words made to so many people. we thank you for watching "early today. i'm frances rivera >> i'm melissa ray burger. keep it right here mo news is straight aheared.

it's wednesday, we'll take you out to the bay bridge toll plaza where things are slowing down a bit. that's not the bridge with all the problems. good morning. thank you for joining us. i'm scott mcgrew for marcus washington. >> i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia. we have some breaking news in the traffic department. >> this sounds dramatic. the san mateo bridge, a tow truck overnight went off the bridge it sounds dramatic, but the san mateo bridge touches land and there's a marshy area as you approach the h