at this time, we are reporting and can confirm ten fatalities. >> each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough. it does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. and it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in america. >> terror and heartbreak on one of america's college campuses. a lone gunman opens fire during the morning hours at an oregon community college. police are urging the media, and the public, to focus on the victims and their families, not the shooter. >> i will not name the shooter.

i will not give him the credit he probably sought prior to this horrific and cowardly act. >> we also have the latest on the path of hurricane joaquin, now a major category 4 hurricane that is churning off the east coast. it's friday, october 2nd. "first look" starts right now. well, good morning, everybody, i'm betty nguyen. so once again we are trying to piece together yet another mass shooting. who are the victims? what was the shooter's motive? and what can or should be done? nbc's jacob rascon is in roseburg, oregon, for us. jacob, what have you learned? >> betty, we're at one of two hospitals where some of the survivors are recovering or in surgery. there are four of them here. the community college is only a few miles away. and it was the first week of the fall semester, during the busiest time of the day, about 10:30, when authorities say a shooter named chris mercer

walked in pep was 26 years old and not a student. he had four weapons, including a rifle. and he opened fire in and around at least two classrooms by the time police arrived, and more than 100 of them eventually would, ten people were dead and seven others were injured. several of them critically. there was a shoot-out between police and chris and in the end the shooter was killed, as well. nbc news spoke to one of the survivors. >> right now, i think i'm just in shock. earlier, it was not like this at all. it was worse. i didn't -- i didn't -- there's so many emotions going on right now that i don't -- my -- i don't know. my heart hurts for the people that have passed. i don't know. it's just -- it's a weird feeling. there's so many feelings going on and going around like, i don't know. it's indescribable. i can't. right now i feel like i'm okay. but i felt that way earlier before i got here. >> at a vigil last night where

hundreds of people from the community and beyond attended, i spoke to one young woman who lost her brother josh. he was 23 years old, and studying to become a veterinarian. i spoke to another young person whose brother was a survivor, and she says he watched the shooter as he asked some of the victims whether or not they were christian, and if they answered yes he reportedly shot them in the head. and if they answered no or refused to answer, he would shoot them in the leg. just a horrific scene. the shooter himself is a mystery. there are reports that he left some warnings on online chat rooms about the shooting. but the mystery here still is that motive. the community college is the only college in this city of about 22,000. there are about 3,000 students who attended there. all the way from high school age to students in their 50s and 60s, as they say, the investigation is just getting started. betty? >> yep, that's right. the big question is why. okay, jacob, thank you so much for that. hours after the shooting, a

visibly angry president obama offered this blunt assessment to the nation. >> our thoughts and prayers are not enough. it does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. and it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in america. somehow this has become routine. the reporting is routine. my response here at this podium ends up being routine. the conversation in the aftermath of it, we've become numb to this. we talked about this after columbine, and blacksburg, after tucson, after newtown, after aurora, after charleston. it cannot be this easy for

somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun. have news organizations tally up the number of americans who've been killed through terrorist attacks over the last decade, and the number of americans who've been killed by gun violence. and post those side by side on your news reports. >> all right. so here they are. side by side. on the left the most recent data we have according to the cdc. more than 316,000 people were killed by guns in the decade between 2004 and 2013. this number includes suicides. now in the middle, the number of homicides committed with guns in that same time span. more than 118,000. and then finally according to the global terrorism database the number of people killed by terrorism in the u.s. in that period, just 38. the 2016 presidential candidates, well they reacted on twitter from the front-runners, hillary clinton, she called for, quote, sensible gun control

measures to save lives. donald trump, he offered his condolences to the families. and jeb bush said he was praying for the victims and families. meanwhile, bernie sanders appears on msnbc's "all in with chris hayes." >> condolences aren't enough. we've got to do something. we have to stop shouting at each other. we need sensible gun control legislation. and by the way, we need to significantly improve mental health services in the united states of america. and i'm pledged to do everything that i can in both of those areas. >> umpqua community college classes are canceled until monday. the next press conference is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. eastern, 10:00 a.m. local time. right now hurricane joaquin, it is pounding the bahamas. it is a powerful category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds near 130 miles per hour. meanwhile, an already drenched east coast is bracing for a possible run-in with joaquin. meteorologist bill karins is here in studio tracking the hurricane. and nbc's jay gray live in north

carolina's outer banks. jay, you're in kitty hawk, where dangerous flooding is expected, even before joaquin passes by. >> yeah, no you're absolutely right, betty. that's the major concern right now along the outer banks. some of the islands already evacuated over fears of flooding. and concerns that even just a slight by joaquin could mean some serious problems. they've seen rain in this area for the last several days. there's also been some light flooding here. but today, there is a real worry about major flooding in the area, with joaquin possibly dumping 5, 6, even 7 inches of rain in this area over the weekend. so we'll continue to watch that track. right now steering clear of the outer banks. but could still brush. the effects of this storm could still brush this area. again, it's the water, not the wind, that is the major concern right now. a lot of people in this area boarding up, making sure that they're ready, just in case.

but also making sure that they're prepared with supplies, water, something they can eat over the next several days in case they lose power in all of this flooding. again, we'll continue to monitor things here, betty. for now, though, that's the situation in kitty hawk. i'm jay gray. back to you. >> all right, jay, thank you so much for that. now let's get to meteorologist bill karins. he's here to tell us where hurricane joaquin is headed. a lot of people want to know about that path. >> they do. the spath favorable for the east coast. that's the bottom line. i'm much more concerned about our other storm that's now affecting us than this one. this is worst case scenario for the central bahamas. when we see these pictures, it's going to be devastating. this storm a category 4 is going to sit over that area for another 12 hours. they'll have 24 hours of dealing with a category 4 storm. imagine those people stuck in their homes. the pounding of the wind outside their houses and dealing with that. 130-mile-per-hour wind and it has finally started to make that northerly turn. it will accelerate. and it looks to split the uprights between the outer banks and bermuda off the coast. a slight, slight chance of some

effects on cape cod or nova scotia. that's about it. everyone else on the eastern seaboard, much, much better than the last couple of days. let's deal with the problems now. torrential rains are now moving into eastern north carolina from the wilmington area towards raleigh. you're going to get soaked during the day today. we will start to get some flooding problems. warm, tropical air is flowing in off the atlantic and that's what's going to cause all the problems. flood watches from d.c. down to charleston to atlanta to knoxville. raleigh included. and rainfall totals could be somewhere between up to maybe a foot in south carolina over the next three days. that's going to cause some problems, along with amazingly high tides. we're going to see tide cycles all the way through sunday getting larger and larger and larger and we're going to have major coastal flooding. >> people need to be aware. >> and not from joaquin. it's important. >> that's really good point to make. all right so u.s. military officials, they are confirming that 13 people died yesterday when an air force c-130 transport crashed in eastern afghanistan. it happened at midnight local time, 3:30 p.m. eastern.

as the plane was taking off from an airfield just outside of jalalabad. the transport, similar to the one that you're seeing right here, carried a crew of six u.s. service members, all whom died in that crash. along with five civilian contractors working with nato's resolute support mission to train afghan security forces. and as many as two afghan civilians were killed on the ground. now military officials say there were no reports of hostile activity in the area when that crash occurred. new details this morning on those russian airstrikes inside syria. is it really targeting isis? that's the question. plus a big overtime comeback on thursday night football. you're watching "first look." beyond natural grain free pet food

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this morning tension between the u.s. and russia are escalating over russian airstrikes in syria. russian pilots had been on the attack in syrian airspace. the white house says they're focusing on opponents of president bashar al assad, instead of isis militants.

nbc's tracie potts has more from washington. >> reporter: new this morning the foreign affairs chief for russia's duma, their version of congress, says the bombing may go on for three or four months. russia says these airstrikes have destroyed a dozen islamic state targets. the u.s. doesn't believe it. >> russia is targeting areas where there are few, if any, isil forces operating. >> russia wants to trap up president assad. >> reporter: the pentagon, turkey, the u.s.-led coalition, are all warning russia to stay away from president assad's opponents. their concern? what happens if russia hits opposition forces trained by the u.s.? >> that obviously is going to be a problem. >> reporter: the pentagon won't say if the u.s. would strike back. the u.s. and russian militaries are talking. looking for ways to cooperate. >> so far we haven't seen any indication of confrontation or an issue. but we don't want to cross that bridge if we can avoid it. >> reporter: tracie potts, nbc news, washington. shifting gears in thursday night football we go to

pittsburgh now. ravens looking for the first win of the season. they get into the end zone, but the steelers battle back to take the lead before halftime, as michael vick hands off to le'veon bell who cuts left then goes right and scrambles in for the score. to the fourth quarter now, seven seconds left on the clock. ravens attempt a 42-yard field goal for the tie sending the game into o.t. and after trading possessions ravens' justin tucker lines up for a 52-yarder for the win and he nails it. ravens 23, steelers 20. t-mobile wireless customers they were exposed. experian has revealed info from 15 million t-mobile records were hacked. experian does credit checks for t-mobile. hackers accessed applicants social security numbers, birth dates and other personal information for t-mobile customers who signed up for service between september 2013 and september 2015. no payment card or banking info was acquired.

experian tells nbc news, quote, there is no evidence to date that the data has been used inappropriately. according to a recent economist poll, trump still leads among republican voters. he tops the list at 25%. but senator marco rubio is on the rise. coming in at second at 16%. and ben carson is third at 15%. well on a day that we could all use a little escape here's your daily dose of cuteness. don't you just want to pick that little thing up and hold it? all right so this video is of a two-legged kitten saved by the tiny kitten society. a canadian rescue group. it shows the little guy trying to get out his brand-new wheelchair that was reportedly donated by handycappedpets.com in canada. directly ahead we pull back the curtain on what's really going on with america's debate on guns and freedom. when a wildfire raged through elkhorn ranch, the sudden loss of pasture became a serious problem for a family business.

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it meant a lot to him... yes, ge makes powerful machines. but i'll be writing the code that will allow those machines to share information with each other. i'll be changing the way the world works. (interrupting) you can't pick it up, can you? go ahead. he can't lift the hammer. it's okay though! you're going to change the world. in this morning's dish of "scrambled politics" a look at the history of mass shootings in the u.s. the single deadliest mass shooting in the american history books is the one that happened in virginia tech back in 2007. 32 people were killed in that gun massacre and another 17 were injured. george w. bush was president at the time and since then we have seen mass shootings in aurora, colorado, oak creek, wisconsin, charleston, south carolina, and the list goes on and on. in december of 2012 a gunman opened fire at sandy hook elementary school in newtown,

connecticut. one month later president obama introduced a proposal to overhaul the nation's gun laws. the senate ended up defeating that legislation. accord tolj everytown.org there have been 142 school shootings since sandy hook. that's just about one a week. and this morning we are left with questions and headlines like this one from two senior writers at the huffington post. politicians can't pass actual laws to stop gun violence, so they tweet prayerfully. from speaker of the house john boehner, prayers for the victims, families, students and faculty atom yeah community college and the community of roseburg, oregon. house minority leader nancy pelosi tweeted our hearts ache for families of those killed and wounded in the senseless attack. our prayers are with the umpqua community college family. the daily show's trevor noah was one of few talk show hosts who mentioned the oregon shooting last night. >> you know normally in one of these situations i -- i'll just speak from the heart. but honestly, this isn't a

normal situation for me. i haven't had the time to feel, let alone think, about everything that's happening. and i'm sure it's true for many people out there. so, right now, we can only express our grief for the people who were lost. >> taking a page from his predecessor jon stewart. >> i don't want to get into the political argument of the guns and things but what, what blows my mind is the disparity of response. between when we think people that are foreign are going to kill us, and us killing ourselves. >> stewart made those remarks you just heard about 3 1/2 months ago after the mass shooting in charleston, south carolina. and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." all right 21 minutes past the hour. in washington i'm joined by the hill's kevin cirilli. good morning to you. >> good morning, betty. happy friday on the day after a terrible tragedy. >> yeah. i want to talk about that. because the president was visibly frustrated, and said by all means, this should be a

political issue. will lawmakers finally do something about this? >> you know, betty, i think a really powerful moment yesterday during the president's remarks were when he said, quote/unquote that prayers were not enough. clearly this coming just days after pope francis leaving the united states. but i got to tell you, while we are hearing from 2016 presidential candidates denouncing this senseless act of violence, i'm not sure that there will be a policy change to match the politics. hillary clinton did call yesterday for there to be renewed talks on gun control. but that being said, i don't think that the current political climate is going to have any type of influence on a bipartisan measure. we all remember what happened after sandy hook. >> i'm going to get to those candidates in just a second. but, so wherein lies the problem? is creating new gun legislation to prevent mass shootings that difficult? or is the gun lobby just that powerful? >> you know, betty, i think it's twofold. i think that first and foremost, unfortunately, we're at a print in our political culture where

this type of debate has become so contentious. there hasn't been a -- any way for common ground. if you think back to after sandy hook, when a bipartisan policy measure from senator joe manchin, as well as senator pat toomey, a democrat from west virginia and a republican from pennsylvania respectively, put forward a plan that would essentially not only enforce the laws that we already have on the book, but also take a hard look at enforcing mental health issues and concerns regarding gun control, that failed. and so i think that there is a bipartisan policy area for republicans and democrats to come together on, particularly on the area of mental health. but you look at what they're fighting about, and it's a debt limit or it's keeping the government open, and it's both sides. >> right. >> so it's unfortunately nothing gets done here in washington. >> and i think a lot of people want to hear from these candidates, especially those running for president more than just, they're in our prayers. they want to hear some kind of difference. all right, thank you kevin. we appreciate it.

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from mark wahlberg's ted moment with the holy father to an upside down hot air balloon, here's a look at the week that was. >> truly the voice of an angel, but then he whispered in my ear that he loved the movie "ted." holy father, please forgive me. >> nfl history in the making, this is tom brady's 400th touchdown pass of his career. when he and teammate jonathan papelbon got into a physical argument in the dugout. he had a little trouble catching three balls. said it might have had something to do with the, um, six beers that he enjoyed.

>> that woman he was with was like, i know one guy that's not getting to first base. >> in california, dogs on surf boards. what's not to like about this? >> under certain circumstances, liquid water has been found on mars. >> some people, they were just shocked at what appeared to be, look at that, an upside down hot air balloon he captured this close encounter with a 20 feet gray whale. >> you deserve this as much as i do. you're going to help us walk our daughter down the aisle. >> so they asked rubio, what do you think of bush? oh, he's my dear friend. but it's political bull [ bleep ] do you understand? >> you enjoying your kayak ride? >> as we continue to watch a rapidly intensifying major hurricane joaquin. >> and in the end this leopard got itself in a bind. >> you've always treated me with respect and fairly. and i've always appreciated that. you know that. >> well that's going to change tonight. >> and before we wrap up this week let's get the latest on

joaquin. >> the new update continues the trend being offshore. the east coast looks to be spared. central bahamas being devastated right now. it's still right over the top of them. >> we'll be watch iing very closely. thank you, bill for that. "way too early" starts right now. this is a political choice that we make. to allow this to happen every few months in america. we collectively are answerable to those families. who lose their loved ones because of our inaction. >> a visibly frustrated president obama reacting to the oregon college massacre. ten people dead, including the shooter. and this morning, survivors are beginning to tell their stories. and the other big story we're following, states of emergency declared up and down the east coast, as residents brace for epic rain and flooding, with or without a hit

from hurricane joaquin. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west, and this is "way too early." good morning, a somber one. it's friday, october 2nd, i'm amy holmes. we begin this morning in roseburg, oregon, on the campus of umpqua community college as we learn more about the mass shooting that left ten people dead and another seven injured. we now know the gunman, a 26-year-old man named chris harper mercer is among the dead. police say he was not a student at the school. meanwhile a parent of a student who was in the classroom where the shootings occurred tells nbc news that the gunman asked at least a few people what religion they were before