this is new york's number 1 news, channel 7 eyewitness news with joe torres and sandra bookman, laura behnke with sports, and jeff smith with the exclusive accuweather forecast. now eyewitness news at 6:00. a couple gets an early lesson on the meaning of for better or for worse when their boat capsizes just moments after their engagement. the accident is sent nearly 20 people into the east river. but first, the pope makes history in cuba. he shakes hands with fidel castro, an informal meeting after celebrating mass in havana's revolution square. as we take a live look inside havana cathedral, right now pope francis is participating in evening vespers. good evening, i'm shirleen

allicot in for sandra bookman. >> and i'm joe torres. a busy day in cuba for pope francis. the evening vesper started just a few minutes ago but earlier today you could see the pontiff celebrated mass in front of hundreds of thousands of people in havana's main public square. following that mass, a meeting castro. tonight. kemberly richardson has the latest on papal preparations right here in new york. but we begin with abc's aaron katersky who is in cuba right now. aaron. >> reporter: jubilant pilgrims packed into this sprawling plaza cheered pope francis who arrived in his pope mobile to celebrate mass before hundreds of thousands. some waiting since 3:00 in the morning to see him. the pageantry of catholic worship was on full display in a state declared atheist since 1959. president raul castro attended

the mass and francis later met fidel castro. the vatican said little about their conversation but these two veteran latin american leaders had much to discuss. the diplomatic break-through with the u.s. and the pope's desire for more freedom for the church. >> i think it's the moment of the healing, reconciliation, a moment to move forward and not get us stuck in the past. >> reporter: in his homily the pope said the pursuit of power should be set aside to serve the poor, perhaps a gentle review to the government of a long suffering papal. before mass began, security guards tussled with -- three people were detained. our camera caught one allowed a moment with the pope before he was pulled off. the vatican revealed one detail about the francis/fidel meeting. the two men exchanged books. the pope gave castro a copy of his latest insick call on the environment and castro gave the pope a book that includes a personal dedication and a welcome from the cuban people. >> and joining us now from havana, cuba, abc's aaron katersky. aaron, thank you for making

time for us. aaron, let me ask you about the pope's message. how was it received from the public perspective and perhaps from the government perspective? >> reporter: i think the pope's message was really well received. just his presence here gives the cuban people hope that things are going to get better on this island. but as powerful and popular and even influential as he is with the government, raul castro was joking that the pope may inspire to get him back to the catholic church. we have seen a number of arrests of dissidents since the pope landed in havana. >> civil rights there in havana. let me ask you this, exactly what the pope did today is exactly what's on the minds of so many security officials here in new york, an off the cuff mingling with the crowd. how did security in havana handle that today? >> reporter: going on the open interacting with the crowd is

that especially new york police officials have worried about. they have said it's going to be hard to guard a pope who just wants to be with people, much more than any diplomate who usually comes to the city and pope today was met by demonstrators. one was actually brought over to the pope, had a moment with him before he was dragged off. i think we will see security much tighter in new york than it's been here in cuba, joe. >> the pope of the people, for sure. abc's aaron katersky from havana tonight. aaron, thank you for the time. safe travels. >> as aaron just mentioned, security will be tight here in new york for the papal visit. today we are hearing from both commissioner bratton and cardinal timothy dolan about the pope's trip. eyewitness news reporter kemberly richardson is live at st. patrick's cathedral with that part of our coverage. >> reporter: over the next couple of days you're going to and tighter. one of the biggest changes you will see is right here in front of st. patrick's cathedral. a big fence is going to go up

5th avenue, only those invited to prayer service thursday evening will be able to pass through. this is the first stop for pope francis here in new york city, where, again, unprecedented security is now in place. >> we like having company, so we got a great visitor this week. >> reporter: something cardinal timothy dolan spoke about sunday morning during mass, come thursday evening he will be side by side with pope francis here inside st. patrick's cathedral. the special prayer service in front of 2400 invited guests including governor cuomo and mayor de blasio. >> there's a wonderful sense of enthusiasm and hospitality. this is the church most visited by popes outside of italy. is that phenomenal? >> reporter: the weeks and months of planning in terms of security now put to the test. its from here inside police commissioner bill bratton's mobile command vehicle that he will be able to monitor everything. this is a look at new york city's joint operations center,

5000 officers will be on duty, seven helicopters and 42 boats from the harbor unit. >> most of what he will be doing in washington will be somewhat replicated here, so a good learning experience from us. >> reporter: the papal visit happening at the same time at the u.n. general assembly. president obama will also be here. mayor de blasio says he's confident the fbi, secret service and nypd are where they should be in terms of personnel and equipment. >> my concern is simply that there's a lot of moving parts but we know how to bring them together. we have over 170 world leaders and his holeness, never happened before -- holiness, never happened before at the same time. the nypd is absolutely ready. >> reporter: and even now in the last hour we brought several motorcades with tight security with those leaders from all around the world arriving for the u.n. general assembly. now things in place, commissioner bratton admits that in terms of this coming week and all the security that's in place, he says it's the biggest security challenge

ever for himself and new york city. we shall see. for now we are live on the east side, kemberly richardson, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> kemberly, thank you. another live look inside havana cathedral as evening vespers are taking place. the pope will hold a similar prayer service inside st. patrick's cathedral on thursday night and you can find everything you need to know about the pope's entire schedule on our website, abc7ny.com/pope. other news now, some scary moments on the east river this afternoon when a boat capsized tossing 19 people into the water. >> yeah, it happened this afternoon by the whitestone bridge near the college point yacht club in queens. eyewitness news reporter cefaan kim is live with new details. >> reporter: this was a dragon boat racing team, it is a very windy day. take a look at this river. you can see that water is choppy, but believe it or not,

capsizing in this river and having to be rescued by the fdny, that is not what these teammates will remember about this run. >> flipped us. we were in the water. >> reporter: lewis describing the moment when the boat he was on suddenly capsized, sending everyone on it into the east river near college point. 19 teammates from a dragon boat racing team, competitive rowers who were out for a run when just before 2:00 p.m. they ran into trouble. >> i saw a boat passing by at a good clip and the wake when it was coming towards us, we were paddling and that was on the right side, i could see it, it started coming for the boat. >> reporter: that's when their boat suddenly flipped. the rowers were all wearing life jackets and they say there were only about -- they were only about 50 yards out from shore and they probably could have swam back to land but decided to stick together for safety reasons and that ended up being the smart decision because fdny rescue teams arrived within minutes.

>> everyone kept their cool and i think that's really what kept us together, everyone keeping their cool. nobody panicked. >> the water was rough? >> a little rough. it wasn't that cold but it was cold enough that we were in there long enough it was starting to get cold. >> reporter: just before they found themselves underwater was the moment they will really remember about this day, one of their teammates proposed to his girlfriend. >> you said yes, right? >> yes [ laughter ] >> it was really hard not to but i would say yes anyway. man. the rowers say they were about two hours into their run, they had launched off from the field. the whitestone bridge was the halfway point. they were on their way back when this happened. everyone is okay. nobody had to go to the hospital. in college point, cefaan kim, channel 7 eyewitness news.

>> thank you. new at 6:00, police have just released video of a suspect wanted in a triple murder in brooklyn. take a look, the shooting happened at the raymond ingall sole houses -- ingersoll houses in downtown brooklyn this morning. the victims were identified. neighbors say the deaths may be part of a turf war over the sale of drugs, cigarettes and illegal alcohol. >> want to say this to the shooter directly. if you are who i think you are, out of respect to your family, turn yourself in. >> while there is no word, police have not made any arrests on -- but the investigation is now continuing. we turn now to the race for president. a new poll shows former computer executive carly fiorina gaining ground after wednesday's republican debate. the cnn poll out today shows donald trump remains the front runner with 24% support among

republican voters. fiorina there, 15%, followed by 14%. florida senator marco rubio and former florida governor jeb bush aren't too far behind. trump is actually down eight percentage points from the previous cnn poll. >> i'm surprised because other polls have come out where i actually picked up after the debate. debate. i'm in first place in every poll but gained substantially in a couple of them so i'm surprised but it's a poll. >> the people who watched the debate, more than half were -- that were polled thought fiorina won. still ahead, six people including a baby are in the hospital after a man opens fire inside an alabama church. the latest on the investigation. and a new york lawmaker cracking down on the online sale of synthetic marijuana. his call for action next. and a breezy beauty out there today. temperatures dropping into the

middle 70s in new york city. breezes coming in from the north about 10 to 20 miles per hour. busy week ahead. we got the first day of fall and we got the pope visit. i will let you know if weather will cooperate in your full accuweather coming up --

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police say 26-year-old jane junior mentor opened fire during services this morning shooting his girlfriend and their baby. the church's pastor was shot when he tried to intervene. all three of them are in the hospital. mentor was captured by police less than a mile away. he now faces attempted murder charges. new york senator chuck schumer is taking aim at online sales of synthetic marijuana. today he called on the d.e.a. to create a special unit to investigate dealers and customers on the web. he says that drug rings and some bodegas are using the sites which are mostly based in china. right now senator schumer says there are no resources to stop them. >> unless we find a way to choke off their supply, synthetic drugs are going to keep delivering very real and very painful consequences. >> schumer's plan, police the vendors and notify payment and credit card companies to overturn the transactions. according to the senator, federal statistics show that

2300 emergency room visits over two months were related to synthetic marijuana use. say it ain't so. the sun sets on the last weekend of the summer. coming up on eyewitness news, a

we take you back live to cuba and another live look inside the havana cathedral where hundreds of people are right now listening to pope francis during tonight's evening vespers there.

and soon he will be making it here. >> yes, for sure. >> he will be making his way here and he's got some nice weather in store for him. >> i like what you said earlier, if the pope would just stick around for a while longer, maybe we could keep this nice weather because i think he might have a connection to it. i don't know. it was a beautiful day today for a parade. head up to harlem, this was video taken earlier, it's a celebration of culture at the 46th annual african-american day parade in harlem. this year's focus, the african- american business community, of course it was held here in new york but people came from all over to participate. bands actually came from 12 states. it was like a party out there. nice day for that. people coming from all over the place to enjoy this nice weather here in new york city. and look at that shot right down past the empire state building all the way to lower manhattan. crystal clear skies out there. temperature 74, humidity down at 33%, the wind northeast at 8. it's the northerly component to the wind that helped to bring in that much lower humidity overnight into today. 74 is your normal high.

still above average but it definitely a fall feel in the air. 93 the record back in 1983 and the sun going down at 6:57. that, of course, getting earlier and earlier as we head toward fall, first day of fall being wednesday. 75 right now in newark and at jfk, 69 at white plains, you have temperatures in the low to mid-60s in places like monticello and well north and west it will get down into the 40s overnight tonight, likely the coolest morning of the season so far in those areas. front moved by this morning again behind that we got the northerly wind helping to bring in the less humid air mass. there is an area of low pressure well offshore. this will try to back into the coast a little bit during the day on tuesday and as that happens our cloud cover will increase. so tuesday the cloudiest day of the next seven days but not expecting any rain from that system. that will stay well offshore. lows tonight in the meantime, getting down into the 40s like i was saying, even low 40s places like sussex and monticello, comfortably cool upper 50s here in new york city, highs tomorrow only getting into the lower and middle 70s, even staying in the

60s right along the jersey shore with that wind coming in off the cooler waters of the atlantic, so clouds and sun tomorrow, 73, probably more clouds later in the day, tuesday a much cloudier day with that low offshore. 75 but again the rain from that staying well offshore and then look at this, by the first day of fall on wednesday, high pressure builds back in and we will have widespread temperatures five to 10 degrees above normal getting back up to the 80-degree mark. accuweather forecast for tonight, mainly clear, we are down to 58, clouds and sun tomorrow, more clouds late, up to about 73 for a high. mostly cloudy tomorrow night we are down to 60. mainly cloudy on tuesday, mid- 70s first day of fall, 80, the first full day of fall is thursday, 80 degrees and then 77 on friday for the pope, cooler air mass comes in as the pope exits on saturday, 69, 72 by sunday and -- >> is this a coincidence? it can't be, right?

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nfl season week 2, here's laura. >> rough one for the giants. the road not kind for big blue in their season opener last sunday in dallas. today, though, another opener as the giants returned home to kick off another year at the meadowlands hoping to finally put last week's loss behind them. not so much. new york clashing with the

kevin pullman crunches it in from 1 yard out. 7-0 atlanta. second quarter. no surprise, o'dell beckham, jr. leading the way, 67 yards for the score. he had six receptions for 139 yards in the first half alone. after the break new york extending its lead. elinemaning to larry -- eli manning to larry danell. gets it over the goal line, 24- 20 atlanta with 1:14 to play. giants needing to drive down here for the touchdown but on fourth down preston parker can't make the catch. 24-20 the giants with a heart breaking loss. >> disappointed again, this time we put together 17 straight points and, obviously, it didn't -- wasn't enough. >> i don't know if catch phrase is going to work at this point.

it's a matter of playing four quarters. there's been the patriots and everybody else which likely upsets no one more than rex ryan who may have switched teams but he kept the same mission, beat new england. today's bills hosting the pats. the bills would strike first. tom brady doing what he does, he had an answer. 8 yards, that tied the game. brady absolutely no troubles for the air today. he tossed three touchdowns including this one to rob gronkowski. brady finishing with 466 passing yards. the bills make it interesting with 19 points in the fourth. 40-32, the patriots winning a wild one. also this afternoon was the bears and cardinals, jay cutler would get knocked out of the game with a hamstring injury but not before he did that. there's tony jefferson with the pick six. carson fowler threw for three touchdowns. 48-23, the cardinals with the big win. and the jets must wait an extra day to try to do something they haven't done in four years begin the season with a perfect 2-0 record. the team traveled to indianapolis today ahead of their prime time clash with the colts tomorrow.

are you ready for football? you can catch it all, all that monday night action between gang green and -- kickoff set for 8:30 tomorrow night. subway series rubber game baseball. before the game girardi a hamstring strain. the team is hopeful only miss one start. the playoff implications abound in this weekend's series and for both teams powered their way to a win to split the first two games. the nationals now won earlier today so the mets magic number still sits at 8. the blue jays lost so the yankees enter the ninth three games back. the playoffs include just the best of three series. so after the top seed liberty loss game one, today it was a must win against the mystics in game 2 of the eastern conference semifinals. rogers. the long three, she had 15 points off the bench. then tina charles taking over in the third, step back jumper

that quarter alone. in the fourth parsons, ice it, 88-68 your final. so a decisive game 3 is set for tuesday @ the garden -- tuesday at the garden. if they make it, finals would start thereafter. >> thank you, laura. that is the news for now. we thank you for joining us. i'm joe torres. >> and i'm shirleen allicot. eyewitness news returns tonight