up next on a second look, jones town 913 people dead in the jungles of south america. victims of this man jim jones a charismatic leader who took his people's temple from san francisco to gayana. tonight his victims including a bay area congressman, the survivors and the grieving family members. all straight ahead on a second look. good evening and welcome to a second look. i'm julie haener. this month marks the 35th

anniversary of the worse mass murder and suicide in american history. the deaths of 913 people at jones town gayana. jim jones started his people's temple in san francisco and eventually moved it to gayana. but scandals led most of his followers to gayana in 1978. congressman leo ryan led a small delegation to gayana to investigate complaints. his constituents said some of their family members were being held against their will. the congressman and four other people died as they attempted to board jet planes to leave. >> reporter: november 17, 1978 congressman leo ryan and a

group of journalist arrive at a tiny airstrip in jones town. they have brought with them some bay area people who fear that their family members are being held against their will in this remote place. some of these visitors will die here. a 40 minute truck ride brings them to jones town where jim jones has told his followers they must make a good impression. >> i got off the jet and i thought this is a viable community. they had a clinic, they looked like a thriving community in the jungle. >> i think that all of you know that you are here to find out

more about your operation here. i can tell you right now that from the few conversations i've had with some of the folks here this evening whatever the comments are there's some people here that believe this is the best thing that they've had happen in their whole life. >> the next month jones banters with reporters but he appears pail. then harris confronts jones with some news. >> last night someone came and passed me this note. >> well, that's who we're talking about. jones town say -- >> the visitors don't know it but jones has warned people against them calling the visitors evil, saying they will try to trick the people into leaving so that they can be thrown into prison back in the u.s. >> are you happy here? >> oh, i can say i am. i've never been any happier in my life. >> reporter: cob came to gayana

to try to persuade her mother and two sisters to go back home. with no luck. >> i am trying to convince my family i'm not being held here against my will and i'm not trying to return at this time because i know i'm happy here and i know my mind. >> reporter: over the course of the day a dozen people gather their courage and say they want to leave. ryan's assistant jackie spier interviews the parks family. >> if i understand you, you two say you want to leave the jones town? >> yeah. >> reporter: jones feeling his power slipping away tries to talk the defectors out of leaving. >> i have no problem. even some that have lied they've come back. >> reporter: as the deif de --

defectors throw their belongings together, the atmosphere turns tense. some defectors are leaving family behind. most are unaware that the congressman has been attacked by a man attempting to stab him. at the airstrip the plane is waiting along with a second smaller plane ordered by ryan to help carry the defectors. what no one knows is that one apparent defector larry latent is carrying a concealed gun. he is on a deadly mission and is about to be joined by others. people look back uneasily as a tractor hauling a trailer pulling up at the end of the airstrip. armed men in the trailer stand up and begin to fire. that's when camera man bob brown was hit and went down. there is no more video tape. and if there were we would not want to see it. but survivors tell us what happened. >> the guns kept going off. i was lying on my side with my

head down pretending i was dead. and then all of a sudden, my body was hit. and i remember looking down and just seeing the right side of my body just blown up. bones kind of coming out of my arm. my leg just kind of obliterated. >> reporter: jackie spier and other wounded people managed to crawl away. >> i had my face down, i had my arm over my face, the way you go to sleep as a baby kind of way. i don't want to move because i know they keep shooting. next thing i heard they're walking toward us. one of the men. and somehow one shot hit bob brown in the leg i believe. i don't know what part of body.

he screamed, ouch. and next thing i know the guy came close and blow his brain off. and next thing i know i said next one will be me who gets killed right. so i just didn't think about it. i just thought about my little daughter. next thing i know i had a tremendous pressure explosion right next to my head and my arm feels like falling apart. but i don't dare to move one single muscle. that's what i think saved my life. and the thing that saved my life was i had my hand over my head so the bullet hit my arm and not my brain. so they probably thought i was dead. >> don harris the nbc reporter died on the spot. so did his camera man bob brown. >> don harris and doug brown

were two of the most dedicated, hardest working and most conscientious and creative. there was such a level of creativity between those two guys it's devastating. >> and i are remember dough brown from here on ktvu. he and i worked together every day for months covering the riots in san francisco in the 60s. he was a good man and a good friend and we're all going to miss him. >> back at the compound jim jones knew he was finished. he told his followers to drink kool-aid mixed with cyanide. the history of the people's temple. how it went from a dream of social justice and equality to a synonym for cult murder and suicide. >> the recordings that offer a grim insight into the final hours at jones town.

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welcome back to second look. as we move closer to the anniversary of jones town in gayana many have forgotten the history of jim jones and the people's temple before they moved to san francisco to a place called jones town where more than 900 people died. jim clancey prepared this report on november 19, 1978 as news of the murders and suicides reached the bay area.

>> reporter: the people's temple and jim jones made their headquarters here north of san francisco in the 1960s. in 1971 jones began to spread out. keeping the eukeya property but moving to san francisco. his religion was a mixed of prayer healing. he became known among liberal politicians as a man who could create instant support with buses and an obedient congregation he flooded political events like this one like after the sheriff was released after a five day jail

stint where it appears he had the support of the poor black community. they arrived on buses, cheered on cue and with several nods, loaded the bus and turned to their temple. the stories were almost unbelievable except that all of them seemed to be saying almost the same thing. jones was praying on the poor they said. jones was intimidating the congregation with beatings and threat. jones was reducing their thinking capability by not allowing them to sleep properly. former member jenie myrtle describes who even though wanted to leave the temple were afraid. >> we were really frightened to leave because all traitors had been threatened with death.

jim often said that those who left the group would have been killed. not by himself but other members. he quoted 100 members will stay back. so we were terrified and our children were so mind controlled they believed that jim jones was an omnipotent person that he was a prophet. we were even afraid to tell them we were leaving because they would turn on us and tell jim jones we were leaving. >> reporter: he took with himself his followers. his former secretary said he helped fake miracles with jones as one of the many techniques to get more and more money from the congregation. >> money was buried. there were checks from all over san francisco. he had total control of those accounts and of course everyone who was a member signed a statement saying he could take all of the money and do with it

whatever he wanted. there were thousands and thousands of thousands i would even say millions of the dollars. >> reporter: temple members have little time to worry what is done with the money. reports from inside the church say they were always made to be ready for an attack. temple lawyers have confirmed this. as far back as when the church was in eukaya, jim jones has been predicting some kind of confrontation. he even ordered that they play out dramatic scenes on thetemple's stage. scene that is were made to terrify the older black members that a war was coming. >> four days after the massacre at jones town. people gathered in south san francisco for congressman ryan's funeral. among those in attendance was

san francisco mayor george masconi who himself would be shot and killed by dan white less than a week later. after the funeral the procession moved to the golden gate national cemetery in san bruno. there ryan a navy veteran of world war ii was layed to rest. [taps playing ] leo ryan had just been elected to his third term in congress when he was gunned down. he had previously served as a city official. the 53-year-old democrat was one of the most popular congressman in california. earlier this year he accepted

an invitation from green peace foundation to go to new finland and monitor the harp seal kill. he opposed a dam because he said it was not earthquake proof. they served together on the education committee. >> it's a shame to lose man like that. he was very dedicated to go all over the world to find how things to do. >> was he really as dedicated to the area. >> he spent several days it may have been more than a week behind bars as a felon in order to know what it was like. in order to know what it was like at fulsome prison. >> reporter: ryan had just been

reelected to congress by an overwhelming margin. he was on the house elections elections committee. and his frequent trips aside were part of his reelection. he leaves behind five children. >> i don't know if i had been more worried than i was and i tried to express it to my son it would not have done any particular, had no particular effect in keeping him from doing what he thought was necessary to do. when we come back, on a second look, a former member talks about the suicide drills at the people's temple. and a bit later he was the pilot of one of the planes on the runway when the shooting started at jonestown. how he survived and saved others.

jim jones has rehearsed his followers many times on a ritual that would eventually take their lives. he would round them up in the middle of night and have them drink flavor-aid he said. only after they drank would they learn there was no poison. a former member of the people's temple described the ritual to amber luno after the massacre in jonestown. >> 1975, jim jones handed us all a drink which we -- and he had been talking about suicide, suicide, suicide. we were primed to die. we were supposed to want to die. life was no good. society was to evil for us to live in. the best thing to do was to die for the cause. we were only living for the cause and we were waiting to die for the cause. so in 1975 he gave us all a glass of wine.

and he was talking kind of funny while he was giving it to us. just throwing out little hints i personally thought it was poison and i personally was delighted. i thought at last i won't have to go through this anymore. and i drank it. and then afterward it wasn't poison. and he said this is just a test. one of these days i might have a little surprise for you. >> on november 18, 1978 they performed that suicide ritual one last time. this time the drink did contain poison. and more than 900 people died. ktvu's bob mackenzie continues our look back at the worse mass murder and suicide in american history. >> there is no video tape of what was happening back at the compound. perhaps that's a blessing. but there is a sound recording of jim jones telling his flock it was time for them to die. >> i cannot live that way. i've lived for all and i die

for all. lay down your burdens, and i will lay down my burdens down by the river bed. please forgod sake let's get on with it. we've lived like no other people have lived and loved. we've had as much of this world as we're going to get. let's just be done with it. let's be done with the agony of it. >> among those who got to record the catastrophe was tim jones, jim jones's son. 900 believers lay where they had fallen. their bodies swelling in the jungle heat. evidence would show that almost all of them had taken the poison. though it might never be known how many were forced to take it. several had been shot including jim jones. >> many were god loving people who wanted to help others, some were individuals who needed help from others. so it created a strong and useful dynamic. anyone who says, this could never happen to me or could

never happen to my loved ones is sadly mistaken. >> i will never get over it. >> reporter: in this east bay cemetery you can find a head stone with fred lewis entire family. his sister, wife, three sons and daughter all died in jones town all on the same day. fred lewis still looks at their pictures still aches for them. >> yesterday seems like it just happened. >> the pain is still there. >> the pain is still there. >> have you been able to explain it to yourself? >> no. and no one else can explain it to me. when we come back on a second look. the pilot of the one of the planes at the gayana airstrip talks about his narrow escape. i love watching tv outside.

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rethink possible.

tonight on a second look jones town 35 years later when members of the people's temple opened fire on the runway in gayana kills a congressman and four other people one of the pilots loaded survivors on to his plane and took off. not long after ward, ktvu's john fowler talked to that pilot about what happened and how he got out of there. >> tom fernandez was piloting a small plane you see in the background. just before take off, shooting suddenly erupted in the backseat of his own airplane as well as all around them on the airstrip. he stopped his plane and leaped out to help his passengers one of them was wounded. >> a little girl got out and ran into the bushes and then a lady got out and ran. one of these guys rushed out of the plane with a gun. he sprinted behind her and she was really hollering in terror. then i heard a shot in the bushes above the other gunfire you know. we found her later with two shots in her. and they were on the outside of

the gsc. it was facing north. they were under the right wing sort of standing around me and the crew. i only saw people laying on the ground. they were firing at the other end and the bullets would just ricochet. i got an idea that there were some people down there. i could barely make them out. these guys were bullets ricocheting around these bodies on the ground. >> reporter: hernandez said he then filled his airplane with as many survivors as he could and flew to james town. >> i'm julie haener. thank you for watching.

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