was approached by police in a parking lot where he shot and killed himself. our live coverage of the shooting at ft. hood, texas, continues. shooting at ft. hood, texas, continues. good thursday morning. right now on "first look" -- ft. hood shooting, four dead including the shooter. a scene reminiscent of five years ago. powerful aftershocks of that 7.6 quake hits chile last night. tornadoes and heavy snow. bill karins is a busy weather guy today. plus an emotional outpouring to honor america's bravest. and bill clinton reflects on being president. good morning. it happened again. a horrific mass shooting at ft.hood, texas. four service members are dead

including the gunman. 16 others are injured. right now the main question is why again. it comes 4 1/2 years after 13 people died in a shooting rampage at the same base. jay gray is outside ft.hood. what is the latest? >> reporter: it's the second time in almost five years that there's been a deadly shooting here at the nation's largest army post, which stayed locked down until late last night. all clear, but still far from okay this morning at ft. hood. >> walked into one of the unit buildings opened fire. got into a vehicle. fired from a vehicle. got out of the vehicle, walked into another building and opened fire again. >> three people were killed and 16 injured in the attack before the suspected gunman, identified by military sources as 34-year-old ivan lopez, apparently turned his weapon on himself. >> we don't know a motive. we do know that this soldier had behavioral and mental health issues and was

treated for that. >> reporter: lopez was also undergoing diagnostic testing for post-traumatic stress disorder. officials say in 2011 he served four months of combat duty in iraq. >> you never know who you live next door to. >> reporter: zandera morris said she was with the wife of the suspected gunman when she heard the news. >> she wasn't able to say anything. she just broke down. she was hurting and it was in disbelief. >> shock and pain felt in central texas. >> we all feel indebted to the men and women that serve our country and put themselves in harms way and it's heartbreaking to be so close so such a tragic event as this. >> reporter: a tragedy that affects the entire country. >> we're heartbroken that something like this might have happened again. >> reporter: in 2009 major nadal hassan opened fire at ft. hood the nation's largest army post killing 13 and injuring at least 30. >> in 2009 i was here and this

happened again. it's unbelievable. >> reporter: and unbearable for the families and friends of those lost and injured. the commander here at ft. hood said this was not an act of terror like the attack here five years ago, but investigators still aren't sure what may have sparked the shooting rampage. back to you. >> thank you. chile is still dealing with the aftereffects of the massive 8.2 earthquake. the powerful 7.6 aftershock rocked the country's northern coast. it swayed buildings and shook rattled nerves. there are no reports of major damage. a tsunami alert along the neighboring coast of peru has been called off. meanwhile, new amateur video has surfaced from the 8.2 quake showing the fear and panic inside a restaurant moments after it struck. you can see lights swaying, furniture shaking and people running for cover. six deaths are blamed on tuesday's quake.

>> the tension between the united states and russia over the crisis in ukraine is now effecting our space agency. president obama prepares to meet with top lawmakers about the situation in ukraine, nasa announced it's suspending its work with russia. the only contact between russia and nasa will pertain to the international space station. nasa employees aren't going to russia and they can't e-mail or call their counter parts. toronto mayor rob ford is blaming a sore back for two controversial votes. the colorful, crack-smoking mayor voted against congratulating canada's olympic and paraowe olympic athletes yesterday. and naming a toronto street by nelson mandela. he said he was stretching and hit the wrong button twice. he asked for a revote a half hour later but was denied. he said we all make mistakes.

and ford's brother doug came to his defense saying no one in this city supports the black community more than rob ford. no one. bottom line. zing. done. and no one supports the olympic athletes more than rob ford. mayor ford is seeking re-election this year. former president bill clinton ran the gamut of topics on late night, but his thoughts when being asked about being the first black president were interesting. >> do you miss being the first black president? i feel like you were cheated out of that. that was taken from you. >> yeah, well, i consider it -- i was incredibly fortunate that i was born in a little town of arkansas and raised by my grandparents largely and my great uncle and aunt when my

widowed mother went off to become a nurse and my grandparents were poor white southerners who as a class were among the most racially prejudiced people in the south, and they weren't. my grandad ran a country store and the vast majority of customers were african-american. i was raised in a different way. at home in the culture and it was such a gift to me that i grew up free of that. i deserve to no credit for it. it was the way i was raised. i love being called the first black president. >> that's a first. let's get the latest in sports from richard lui. good morning. >> good morning. derek jeter and that year-long retirement party keeps on going. houston former teammates, roger clemens and andy pettitte honoring the captain. they gave him a hat, custom made boots, golf clubs. thanks but no thanks is what

jeter was thinking. after jeter handed the yank theyanks their second win. 3-1. >> we have another walk-off win. >> that's right. walk-off win made it a 2-1 win over kansas city. it's the first time detroit won two in a row with a hit in the final inning. nfl scouts salivating over south carolina's clowney at his pre-draft workout. he weighed in on expectations, 266 solid muscle. critics question his work ethic. most say this defensive end will be the draft's number one pick. congratulations to nba referee bravetti. this was the 2,633 game officiated by him. his streak is one game longer than cal ripken's consecutive game streak. he is 74 years young.

>> impressive. >> good for him. >> no tiger, no good, at least when it comes to ticket prices at the masters in augusta. tiger woods withdrew because of back problems. like mother, like son. tennessee's legendary coach pat summit won eight national titles. now her son, 23, is coach of texas tech women's team. a super cell dumped golf ball sized hail on a casino parking lot denting cars and smashing windows. there are no reports of injuries. today is shaping up to be another severe weather day. meteorologist bill karins has the details. you guys are watching it closely. >> we had damage as you saw there but no injuries or

fatalities from last night's severe weather. today is a much more dangerous day. we only had one tornado officially yesterday. we could have a dozen, two dozen today. we'll consider this our first severe weather outbreak of the spring season. already this evening, thunderstorms are rocking and rolling. three to four inches of rain across central missouri. flash flood warnings along i-70. 20,000 lightning strikes in this region alone over the last half hour. the midwest is the active area. in the yellow, a slight risk. strong storm, cold air behind it, warm, humid air out ahead of it. that area of red is the major concern. tornadoeses will be moving forward quickly as they form. those overnight tornadoes that are the most dangerous there. we watch these storms, you know, during the daylight hours. we can see them, we get more details. at night, it's more scarier.

>> especially when you want more rest. reason to watch. thank you very much. are political campaigns about to run amok? and the u.s. is spending millions in the search for malaysian flight 370. and fire forces hundreds of poor from their homes. details next. scott: seems there's a wee bit of confusion out there when it comes to grass seed. "what if i forget to water it, scott? will it still grow?" roll the clip, jimmy. scotts wraps each seed in a brilliant coating that feeds, protects, and holds in moisture. so growing thicker, healthier grass is easier - even if you miss a day of watering. now let's spread your newfound knowledge!

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welcome back. gm's chief executive testified for a second day on capitol hill before the senate. >> i think it's likely inappropriate that gm will face prosecution based on this evidence. >> i don't see this as anything but criminal. >> someone at general motors had switched out the unsafe ignition switches in several car models and covered it up by using the same part number for the same switch. >> barra remained apologetic and contrite, but it's little solace for the 32 crash members

families. hobby lobby's 401(k) plans include mutual funds that -- hobby lobby is challenging president obama's obamacare requirement that approved forms of birth control be available to employees. fire tv could cause quite a surprise for some people. the name fire tv happened to share the name of a porn site that spells fire f-y-r-e. some stories making news this morning a deeply divided supreme court removed restrictions on the amount of money any one person can contribute to federal candidates for office.

wednesday's decision was 5-4 in the court's dissent. justice breyer says the ruling ef eviscerates the campaign laws. thousands of firefighters from across the country came to boston on wednesday to honor the two fire fighters called in an inferno last week. the search for malaysian airlines flight 370 continues with the united states this week contributing a ping locating device and an underwater vehicle. the pentagon nearly doubled the budget allowance to 3.3 million already spent and 3.6 allocated.

and a date has been set for the vote that may change college athletics forever. on april 25th, northwestern football players will vote on authorizing a union representing them at school. bill clinton weighs in on alien life and the democrats are setting their sight on a specific voter block. ...return on investment wall isn't a street... isn't the only return i'm looking forward to... for some, every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. everything looking good. ♪ velocity 1,200 feet per second.

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reputation. 30% see it as a fair and unbiased investigation. senator marco rubio says he will make a big decision this time next year either to run for president or seek another term as a senate republican. two party favorite senator ted cruz has a new book deal that his agent says is worth close to 1.5 million bucks. and unmarried women are an important group for a project. it's just one example of the party's growing focus on single female voters who lean heavily in favor of democrats and could spell the difference between making gains in the house and losing control of the senate in november. an 8-year-old girl's dreams of having a woolly mammoth become the official fossil of south carolina, here's the problem. a legislator is getting in the way. a bill that passed the state

house has stalled in the senate. that's after a republican state senator added two versus from the book of genesis seeking to give god credit for the state fossil. and is anyone else out there? bill clinton tells jimmy kimmel how he would feel if we were visited. >> we know from our fancy telescopes that just in the last two years more than 20 planets have been identified outside f f our solar system that are far enough from suns and dense enough that they might support some form of life. it makes it increasingly less likely that we're alone. >> oh, you're trying to give me a hint there are aliens. >> i'm trying to tell you i don't know. if we were visited some day, i wouldn't be surprised. >> from president bill clinton. that's your first look at scrambled politics. joining me now from washington, bob franken. good morning. >> good morning.

of course i don't think this is a mystery. how many of our politicians are clearly from out of space. >> there you go. let's talk about this so many facets in the supreme court ruling, 5-4, striking down a limit on donations to political candidates and campaigns essentially meaning these limits are an unconstitutional violation of our first amendment to free speech. essentially did buying elections just get easier? >> well, exactly. we are becoming more and more of an oligarchy. will rogers said we have the best government that money can buy this has deteriorated into the worst government that money can buy. in the process just about everybody is pulling away from the idea of participating in the government. >> some people say, you know what? this is democracy in others. others say freedom of spree speech there. we'll see what it does when it comes to the midterms. speaking of the midterms, those who see obamacare and the goal met as something that candidates

need to embrace and not walk away from. here is bill clinton on jimmy kimmel. >> i was delighted we had over 7 million people sign up on that health exchange. now we have 14 million, 15 million -- we have 14 million, 15 million people with insurance who never had it before. it happened while the percentage of our income going to health care dropped from 17.8% down to 17.2% which is a big deal. one of the reasons no americans got pay raises for a decade is health care costs were going up at three times the rate of inflation. a lot of employers had nothing left to give their employees a pay raise this will have huge, positive economic benefits if we stay with it and keep working it. >> bob, you got the obamacare coattails. should they ride on them? >> well, you know, don't you love when he goes into his wonkish mode. there were so many statistics involved there. but part of the charm with bill

clinton was that he is really basically a wonk. as for obamacare there is a bit of a victory lap going on right now. there are any number of places to stumble along the way between now and the election and thereafter. so, it's going to be interesting to see what happens from this point on. but the republicans clearly can only have sour grapes when they talk about what was an accomplishment, that was getting the 7 million sign-ups. >> we will keep watching. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> stick around for "first buzz." we're talking about the lawnmower of every guy's dreams. matt and al are getting into the sharknato craze. that are powered by the moon. ♪ she can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge.

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. we are loving our stories for "first buzz." as a huge cult following, sharknato, you need to watch the first one, because guess what? "sharknato 2" is in the works. you will know the two guys who make a cameo in it. watch. >> ah! >> we're back live. thank you for watching the "today" show. we now resume our regularly scheduled programming. >> so they're not joking around. that's actually what they shot. >> will it make it in the movie? >> of course it will. >> that green thing will be a shark. i wonder if tara reid will be back for that. does it matter? >> al is always that jazzed. always full of energy like that. >> a lot of other cameos i heard are coming. >> reason to watch. >> next let's talk about this the expendable posters.

>> the expendibles wasn't really a big hit here but expendables 3 is coming out. stallone is the big star and co-writes the thing. arnold is there, too. jet li is in this, antonio ben da bendarus, harrison ford, one of the ones that's little strange is kelsey grammer. >> what is he going to do? >> that's unknown. he's in the movie. >> kelsey grammer dundee? >> looks like it. >> what is this lawnmower about? >> this is great. the wife says go out and mow the lawn. i don't want to do this. with this puppy, you'll say say let's go. honda has come out with the fastest lawnmower.

it goes 116 miles per hour, 109 horsepower. 9500 rpm red line. fantastic. still cuts grass. >> you go mow the lawn. >> this is "first look" on msnbc. "way too early" with thomas roberts starts now. events in the past have taught us many things at ft. hood, we know community is strong. we know the community is resilient. we know the soldiers and civilians and families of this fort who serve so bravely in iraq and afghanistan are strong. we will get through this. >> ft.hood under attack by one of its own what triggered a soldier to go on a deadly shooting rampage? and viktor yanukovych comes clean in a new interview. and then the financial free-for-all.

the supreme court gives the green light so more private cash can flow to political campaigns. which party stands to gain the most? this is "way too early." good morning. i'm thomas roberts. this is "way too early," the show that loves a selfie, especially when it's not sponsored by the phone you're taking that with. we have some serious news to start off with. an army specialist is suspected of killing three people before killing himself in a shooting rampage at ft. hood. the dead were active military, 16 are in local hospitals. the soldier identified by nbc news is 30-year-old ivan lopez. he opened fire at one building, then got in a car firing as he drove