on this thursday night, mass murder in the sky. a shocking turn in that air disaster. investigators say the co-pilot deliberately crashed the plane. the captain locked out of the flight deck banging on the door. passengers heard on tape screaming in the terrifying final moments. also, inside the cockpit, the post-9/11 door meant to keep intruders out. but in this case did it seal the fate of everyone on board? the breaking news in new york city. a building explodes and collapses, people critically hurt. hundreds of firefighters battling the blaze. and to the rescue as the season's first major outbreak of tornadoes makes a direct hit in a place that's seen so much heartbreak. the heroes that help so many escape. "nightly news" begins now.

from nbc "nbc nightly news" world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news." reporting tonight lester holt. good evening. it wasn't an accident, it was deliberate. the jaw-dropping announcement that the co-pilot of that germanwings airbus purposely flew the plane along with 149 innocent people into a french mountainside has touched off a ting with why on earth. it may have been the last thing investigators expected to hear on the cockpit voice recorder, the sound of the captain who had briefly left the cockpit pounding on the door as the plane rapidly descending to the ground. and the screams of passengers as they realize their fate. what was the motive, who was the co-pilot and how did he do it? and how was this allowed to happen? we're covering it all. let's begin with bill neely in southern france. bill, we are all left sick over this. >> reporter: yes, indeed. good evening, lester. this was one of the most stunning announcements in

aviation history. what we still don't know is why the co-pilot did it, how he did it is now clear. in total silence he deliberately programmed not just his own death but the deaths of his colleagues and of his trusting passengers. the harrowing search for the remains of the dead intensified today at the scene of what was believed to be a tragic accident. not anymore. this is the site of a mass murder. the french prosecutor blaming this man, the 27-year-old german co-pilot andreas lubitz. his intention was to destroy this plane, he insisted. he deliberately made it lose altitude. his evidence is from the plane's cockpit from the battered voice recorder found in the wreckage that allowed investigators to hear the cockpit sounds. the plane flying from barcelona had reached its cruising altitude when the pilot is heard leaving the cockpit. he tried to get back in, first knocking

then banging the door. locked by the co-pilot who ignored him. he just set the all pilot to descend to its lowest possible setting, 100 feet. for the next eight minutes he breathed normally and said nothing as the plane plummeted, ignoring alarms and failing to answer desperate calls from controllers and from the cabin where people began screaming moments before he smashed the plane into the mountain. the families of the dead were told the news before they began what was always going to be the hardest journey to the mountains near the crash site. they were told the passengers were una i ware of what the co-pilot was doing until the last minute. and that they died instantly. this is as close to the crash site as the families will come. they have no bodies to grieve over. what they do have is the terrible knowledge that their loved ones were killed in these mountains deliberately. facing the mountains

they stood next to their national flags, the stars and stripes among them. the third american victim was named today as robert oliver who lived and worked in spain for a fashion company. the remains of the dead are slowly being removed. searchers still looking for the second cockpit data recorder and more clues to a chilling crime committed by a calculating young pilot. bill neely, nbc news, seynes-les-alps, france. >> reporter: this is katy tur in germany. andreas lubitz was 27, a german who spoke fluent english, grew up in a picturesque town and friends say had dreams of flying. he began training with lufthansa in 2008 including time at this facility in phoenix. he was certified as a co-pilot in 2013 but accumulated only 630 flight hours until officials say he deliberately crashed flight 9525 into the side of a mountain, killing everyone

onboard. no one saw it coming. he had no criminal record, no known terrorist connection. >> he passed all tests because nobody gets into the cockpit without passing the tests. >> reporter: lufthansa says lubitz to break from flight school in 2009. it hasn't said why. but the ceo of their subsidiary germanwings told nbc news he was readmitted a few months later after passing technical, medical and psychological tests. today, investigators searched his parents home in montabaur and escorting out an unidentified person. boxes of potential evidence were taken from lubitz's dusseldorf apartment. those who knew him were stunned. knowing andreas, he said this is inconceivable to me. lufthansa stood by its training and testing procedures. so you're confident in your pilots? >> i wish you understood my german because i said twice and repeat it in english without any doubt my firm

confidence in the selection of all pilots, in the training of all pilots and the qualification of all pilots and the work of all pilots has not been touched by this single tragedy. >> reporter: i confirmed this with the germanwings ceo. they do not re-test for psychological stability. every six months they retest for medical and retest for technical. they only retest for psychological stability when a pilot is first hired at the company, lester, instead relying on self-reporting thereafter. >> katy tur, thank you. and sadly in this incident some of the very safety measures designed to keep us safe in the air after 9/11 may have done just the opposite, sealing the fate of everyone on board. tom costello explains. >> reporter: the airbus promotional video shows its reinforced cockpit is nearly impenetrable with a code pad for crew members to open the door from the outside. but whoever is inside the cockpit can override the code and keep everyone else

out. a post-9/11 security measure that may have been used against a captain and his passengers. >> we created barriers to prevent bad guys from getting into the cockpit, and unfortunately now this type of event shows that the bad guy's already in the cockpit and we can't get to him or her to stop them. >> reporter: in the u.s. the faa requires at least two people to remain on the flight deck at all times. if a pilot leaves to use a lavatory, a flight attendant normally remains in the cockpit. >> if the flying pilot then has a medical problem or anything like that, you have somebody else in the flight deck that can assist them but can also get the door open for the other pilot to return. >> reporter: until today most other nations and airlines including lufthansa did not have the two-person rule. but late this afternoon lufthansa joined a growing number of airlines that said they're now adopting the rule immediately, including airberlin, norwegian air, easy jet, air transat and air canada.

flights ending in mass murder are rare, but they have happened. the ntsb concluded suicidal pilots crashed egypt air flight 990 and silk air 185 killing everyone onboard. and it's among the leading theories in the disappearance of malaysia flight 370 last year. but noticing a pilot has a psychological issue can be difficult. once hired their yearly physicals rarely include a psychological workout. >> a lot of pilots are afraid to actually admit that they have a psychological problem because they know that the faa will deal with that and that they may be grounded for periods of time. >> reporter: the nation's airline pilots insisted they are evaluated every day on the job by their managers and fellow pilots. and they look out for each other because nobody wants to fly with someone who's not stable, lester. >> tom costello, tom, thank you. breaking news late today here in new york city. a building suddenly exploded sending off an inferno and causing it to collapse. there are critical injuries and hundreds of firefighters on the scene tonight. nbc's rehema ellis is

in manhattan's east village with more. rehema. >> reporter: good evening, lester. firefighters say at least 12 people were hurt, three of them critically injured. the mayor says it doesn't appear that anyone is injured -- or i should say that anyone is missing. but the scene is still very active. a frightening scene in manhattan's east village. firefighters were called to a two-alarm fire late this afternoon, but the situation quickly escalated. that two-alarm fire turned into a seven-alarm. >> we thought it was a bomb something and then my manager actually ran into the restaurant. >> i saw the whole store front just on the street. >> reporter: more than 250 firefighters from at least 50 fdny units were on scene trying to control the inferno, but it was too late. the five-story building was quickly engulfed in flames. and less than an hour after it began the building housing more than two dozen

residential units and a restaurant collapsed. >> there was a pretty loud sound, obviously. walked outside and just see no building being there at all. >> reporter: flames spread to neighboring structures. thick plumes of smoke could be seen from blocks away. first responders helped the injured. many of them trying to get away from the area. surrounding streets were closed because of concerns over flying debris. >> fdny as usual is doing extraordinary job handling this very, very difficult situation. >> reporter: gas in the neighborhood was turned off, and numerous buildings evacuated. officials say this could be an active situation until tomorrow as crews continue trying to contain the fire in surrounding buildings. >> we will be here for a very long night. >> reporter: the gas company says it went to the building earlier today to review new construction that did not pass inspection. the company says an hour after the gas workers left the building exploded. this investigation is ongoing. lester.

>> rehema ellis on that breaking news in new york tonight. thank you. oklahoma is under a state of emergency tonight after a deadly outbreak of tornadoes ripped through the state. the destruction a painful reminder of the all-too recent past for the city of moore. here's nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> there it is. tornado on the ground! >> oh, dear lord. >> reporter: moments of panic in oklahoma as fast moving storms sliced through the state. dawn revealed the destruction, dozens of homes west of tulsa leveled, cars flipped on i-35, one person killed. in san springs this donut shop shredded. >> it's hard. it is. >> reporter: a dramatic rescue at a kids gym after the roof collapsed with dozens of young girls inside. >> you feel like your body almost lifting up and your ears popping and you can hear the furniture moving back and forth. >> reporter: firefighters swooped in carrying the girls to safety.

amazingly they all escaped with no injuries. >> every one of them were cold, scared, crying, no shoes. >> reporter: he credits gymnastic teacher jennifer patterson with saving lives by rushing kids to a shelter just ten minutes before the roof was ripped off. >> it's a miracle. it is a miracle. god was watching over every single one of the kids. >> reporter: further south in moore another tornado tore this roof off an elementary school where two years ago a massive ef-5 tornado killed 24 people and injured more than 300. moore has been the bullseye for three major tornadoes since 1999. >> a reason for this being a favored tornado location is the moisture coming in from the south and east. it clashes with desert air from the southwest. >> reporte thousands of people here are without power, but not without gratitude. >> they walked out of there with our babies untouched. untouched. >> reporter: as tornado season is now

under way. it will be another long night for residents here. more than 30 homes are destroyed in this neighborhood alone. there is debris in every direction here. and just to our south national weather service just announced that the city of moore was hit with an ef-1 tornado with winds up to 110 miles per hour. lester. >> all right, gabe gutierrez, thank you. to the middle east now where the chaos in yemen has suddenly expanded into a dangerous regional war with iran on one side, saudi arabia on the other. and as you might imagine, syria's implications all around for the u.s. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel has more. >> reporter: saudi arabia has long been known for getting washington to fight its battles. not this time. these saudi fighter jets are on their way to attack rebel positions in yemen, targeting weapons depots a command center and aircraft used by the rebels who've been trying to overthrow the government. the rebe houthis now control

large parts of yemen. they're backed by iran. to fight them saudi arabia says it's bombing with 100 jets, imposing a no-fly zone and mobilizing 150,000 ground troops. no invasion yet, but that's clearly an option. the saudi coalition of ten muslim nations includes jordan and egypt, which today reportedly sent warships to defend the yemeni coast and offered to send ground forces. thousands of yemenis protested the saudi air strikes. so did iranian officials in switzerland today from nuclear talks. >> we believe that the situation in yemen is a very dangerous situation. >> reporter: the war in yemen has now become a battle between iran and saudi arabia, two old and well-armed rivals. and neither side appears willing to back down. washington is assisting saudi arabia with intelligence, but this time it's letting the muslim world fight its own wars. there is however a

major risk of an escalation if there's a ground war or oil prices spike or saudi arabia itself is in danger, the u.s. might not be able to just sit back and watch. richard engel, nbc news, istanbul. in illinois a national guardsman and his cousin are accused of conspireing to support isis. the fbi arrested specialist hassan edmunds as he tried to board a plane, first leg of a trip to egypt, an alleged attempt to join isis. the fbi also arrested jonas edmunds for allegedly asking an undercover agent to help carry out a terror attack on a u.s. military facility using his cousin's uniform. a dramatic day at the marathon bombing trial in boston. how the bombs were made, what set them off and the big mystery that still remains. and later, some good news on a night we could really use some. making a difference with mouth watering

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crest 3d white. prosecutors are preparing to rest their case in the boston marathon bombing trial. the jury today heard new details about how the bombs were constructed and set off. but as nbc's pete williams reports, one mystery about those weapons of mass destruction remains unsolved. >> reporter: for the fbi it was like a huge and complex jigsaw puzzle taking tiny fragments of bomb pieces, identifying and buying all the identical kinds of

parts and making a mock-up of how investigators believed the bombs looked and worked. both apparently were set off with remote controls from model cars. and the government says tamerlan tsarnaev set off the bomb he was carrying first, and dzhokhar set off his second. each of them using their own remote controls which the fbi said today were not interchangeable. and investigators revealed today that each bomb made in a pressure cooker like this had a backup, an ordinary fuse sticking out that the bomber could light then run away if the remote control didn't work. but it's still a mystery where the bombs were made. the fbi says only minute traces of explosives were found in the apartment where tamerlan lived with his wife and daughter, and in his car. on monday defense lawyers will begin presenting their case once the prosecution rests. the jury could begin deliberating late next week in this first phase of the trial. pete williams, nbc news, boston. we are back in a moment with a heartwarming surprise, the amazing final wish by one of the greatest of all time.

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a scary scene on i-35 today in central texas. a semi truck collided with a bridge under construction causing part of it to come crashing down onto vehicles on the highway below. one driver was killed. three others were injured. north carolina's late legendary basketball coach may be gone, but he's still scoring points with his players. in his will coach dean smith left every player who lettered on his team 200 bucks with a note to enjoy a nice dinner on him. about 180 players in all, which adds up to somewhere around $36,000. when we come back, the celebrity chef whose favorite customers never a pay a dime for his five-star cooking. stomers never a pay a dime for his fi you know, just because your bladder is changing, it doesn't mean you have to. with tena, let yourself go. be the one with the crazy laugh.

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stomachs especially among children. nbc's joe fryer ha tonight's difference" report. >> reporter: of all the meals served at the anaheim white house restaurant, chef bruno serato's favorite is one that calls for 90 pounds of pasta and 15 gallons of marinara. >> this is where all the magic happen. >> reporter: the story behind this massive feast dates back to 2005 when he and his mother caterina stopped by a boys and girls club and saw one boy eating potato chips for dinner. >> she definitely did not like that. imagine italian mom, pasta, pasta, pasta. >> reporter: so mom insisted the chef whip up an italian dinner for the club. >> all the kids are like from one to ten i'm rating you a ten because your pasta's very good. >> reporter: probably the best review you ever got, right? >> the number one ever. >> reporter: he's served nightly meals ever since. now feeding 1,200 kids a day through a nonprofit called caterina's club, named

after his mom. >> very proud. just lost her a few months ago. it was the worst day of my life. >> you do this in honor of her. after ten years they're celebrating 1 million meals served. yet the chef's appetite continues to grow. he's focusing on another problem, families living in tiny motel rooms. >> this is my pantry. >> reporter: liz, her husband and five kids call this cramped space home. >> i've been telling them for years god has something better for us. god has something better for us. >> reporter: so does chef bruno. he started a program gives families money that cover first and last months rent and a security deposit. >> we'll give you a big key to your ne house. >> reporter: they are the 80th family to get help. >> this all thanks to my mom. >> reporter: for chef bruno, the good reviews keep coming. joe fryer, nbc news, anaheim, california.

>> that will do it for us on this thursday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. news thank you for watching and good nigh

lights, camera access. you guys call yourself regular guys right? >> yep. >> zayn's left one direction. >> my god!