on this monday night, the mysterious death of a man dragged into police custody. how was his spinal cord nearly severed? tonight new video surfaces as officers are suspended in baltimore, a city on edge. chasing iran. u.s. war ships on the move tonight prepared to intercept a of iranian ships suspected of carrying weapons to yemen. disaster at sea. a humanitarian crisis unfolding in the mediterranean. another rescue mission tonight as nearly a thousand people presumed drowned on a desperate voyage for a better life. and a cancer blood test. a promising new way for doctors to find out if your canc treatment is working. "nightly news" now. from nbc news

world headquarters in new york, this nightly news." reporting tonight, lester holt. good evening. baltimore police are the latest to fall under the harsh national spotlight a short time ago officials there released security video of the arrest of a 25-year-old whose death from a partially seve spine has raised questions about police actions. like cell phone video, it shows 25-year-old freddie gray being taken into cus placed in a police van a week ago. some time between this moment and his arrival at the police gray's spine was nearly severed. but tonight police still can't say how. gray died yesterday. tonight, as the community demands answers, police are taking action. tom costello was on the story for us. >> tell the truth and stop the lies. freddie gray didn't have to die. >> reporter: for a second day i baltimore, a demand for answers into how 25-year-old fr gray suffered a fatal spinal cord injury while in polic

custody. it happened just after 8:40 a.m. on sunday, april 12th. >> get off me, yo. [ bleep ]. >> reporter: cell phone video provid by the victim's attorney purports to show officers arresting gray, then loading him into a van. police say at 8:42 a.m. mr. gray as for an inh. and about 8:46 a.m., the van's driver radioed that gray was becoming irate. the van stopped and gray was placed in leg at 8:59 a.m., the driver requested another officer come check on gray. and at 9:24 a.m. police called for paramedics him to the hospital where he remained in a coma until he died yesterday. >> our information is that he basica his neck broken and his spine was almost completely severed. >> reporter: friends describe freddie gray as a jokester who grew up in a rough neighborhood but not someone who wa violent. >> freddie w person. it's sad he had to go out like that, what

they did to him. >> reporter: this is only the most case of al brutality here. a "baltimore sun" investigation found that over the past four years more than a hundred people have won court judgments or settlements related to police brutality or civil rights vi. today the mayor was deliberate in he comments. >> he received significant injuries and succumbed injuries. >> reporter: could be homicide at the hands of p >> we will the informat us. >> reporter: late today baltimore po released video of the arrest from st surveillance cameras but they don't to capture that mr. gra injured. >> to mr. gray's family, i exte condolences. to the citizens of baltimore, we will get better. >> reporter: police say that they were not wearing body cameras. they initiated the chase with mr. gray after they made contact with him and he took off. he had a switc on him, no guns though no drugs. they say they'll turn over the full investigative results to the state attor

tom costello, thank you. now to a potentially dicey situation playing right no middle east american war ships including an air carrier sa the coast of yemen positioned to intercept a convoy of iranian freighters suspected of carrying weapons bound for yemen. the possible showdown comes at a sen time in american/iranian relations. jim miklaszewski is monitoring developments for us at the pentagon. >> reporter: the aircraft carrier "theodore roosevelt" arrived today in the north arabian sea and, along with seven other u.s. war ships, is prepared for a possible high seas . senior officials tell nbc news that a convoy of freighters suspected of carrying weapons appear from iran to yemen to arm iranian-backed houdi rebels engaged in all-out war with yemeni military . the convoy is escorted by war ships from the iranian navy a revolutionary guard. in addition to the u.s., a coalition of war ships from egypt,

saudi arabia and united arab emirates have a blockade in place to interdict any armed shipments. a military confrontation between the u.s. and iran could not come at a worse time, as the u.s. is prepared to lift sanctions a iran if iran halts its nuclear weapons program. there's also fear that any miscalculation by military comma either side could lead to deadly consequences. >> test the waters too far, shots across the bow end up actually damaging a ship or killing someone, and we can see how these things could s of control. >> reporter: officials here suspect or at least hope the iranians are playing game of cat and mouse, that the suspected arms shipment is only some kind of diversion or a test of u resolve, b taking any chances. according to one defense official, the iranians are watching us and we're watching them. lester. >> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon, we've seen it before, migrants risking it all for a new life, but what is playing out in the

mediterranean ri now may be anything seen there before. europe-bound migrants from the middle east and africa facing death and tragedy on a massive scal two major accidents in the past 48 hours, one today off the coast of greece, the other late saturday off libya's coast that may have claimed nearly a thousand lives. our chief correspondent richard engel reports tonight from the italian island of lampadusa. >> reporter: as the first bodies recovered off libya's coast were brought ashore malta, disaster struck again, further east. a ship packed with syrian refugees ran aground off the greek island of rhodes. at least three were killed but more than 90 rescued. many dragged from the surf close to shore. those lost off libya this weekend had no such luck. their ship sank in deep water at night miles from shore. only a few dozen survivors have been found. a tiny fraction of the

950 one survivor claims were on board. survivors say when this cargo ship approached, many thought they were being rescued and rushed to one side to be seen. their boat capsized, reportedly with hundreds locked below. just last week 400 migrants drowned when their ship capsized off libya. why so many now? conflicts in iraq, syria and libya and across sub-saharan africa are pushing people to escape economic and political hardship. many are running for their lives. >> people fleeing in desperation aren't fleeing out of c they're fleeing because their lives depend on them finding safety. >> reporter: with libya in chaos, its coast has beco springboard for migrants desperate t escape to europe. thousands of them. this past week alone some 1500 have died trying. equal to the number

who perished on the "titanic." nearly 10,000 migrants have been rescued from the mediterranean just this week. and today there were two more distress calls from boats in trouble. and tonight, aid workers say around a hundred migrants rescued from a rubber dinghy are b brought to safety on this small italian island. lester ? >> richard engel tonight. thanks, six men from minnesota are in federal custody tonight pl to syria to fight with isis. they're all somali americans ages 19 to . four were arrested in minneapolis, t others wer were tryin fake documents to get into mexico th their way to tonigh are keep eye on severe weather with tornado watches in effect across nine states in the threat of severe storms from th northeast al down to the gulf. meteorologist dylan dreyer is monitoring it for us. dylan, what are we >> reporter: there are major east c cities under these tornado watches

tonight. that includes philadel washington baltimore. it stretches all t the situation is setting up like th. we have front moving into some so even after midnight tonight we're still looking at the c of some st then by tomo morning mainly just rain across new england. but in this orange area, th enhanced chanc seeing not only isolated tornadoes b also large hail, damaging wind gusts up near 70 miles per hour and also dangerous cloud- if you're anywhere up and down the east tonig stay tuned to your local nbc statio these storms fire up. be on the al >> dylan, thanks very dangerous weather being blamed for a horrific pile-up a highway in wyoming. this chain reaction crash involving as many as 40 vehic including a tanker carrying hazardo material that erupted in flames. authorities say dense fog and slushy conditions played a role. tonight battle lines are being drawn

in the critical 2016 state of new hampshire where hillary clinton arrived today to a slew of questions about her family's charitable foundation and where some of its money is coming from. nbc's andrea m is on the tr >> reporter: trying to run from a spring storm, hillary clinton ran into a political storm. her coffee klatch campaign sidetracked by campaigns about foreign dona her family f in a new book "clinton cash" by a conservative author. republican candidate rand paul talked about it this weeken hampshire. >> there's on. there's more coming, too. the clinton foundation has been involved in a lot of things so have their donors. there's going to be a lot of con. >> reporter: today "the new york ti wrote about peter schweizer's upcoming book claiming foreign entities hired bill clinton to speak and donated to the family foundae treatment from hillary clinton's state department. in new hampshire she try to brush it

off. >> well, we're back into the season and, therefore, we will be sub to all k distraction attacks, and i'm ready i know that that comes, unfortunate with the territory. >> reporter: the campaign says the example cited of free trade agreement for colombia and reconstruction for haiti were obama priorities not clinton's. but before she was confirmed as secretary of state, the white house insisted t clinton foundation dispose all foreign money for ethics approval while she held office, although in one case, a it didn't. and bill clinton signed an agreemen disclose his speaking fees. hillary clinton resigned from the foundation when she announced for the white house, and last week after criticism the foundation said it will no long money from a countries discrimina women. lester? >> andrea mitchell, andrea, thanks. tonight marks five years since one of the worst environmental disasters in u.s. the 2010 explosion at the deepwater oil rig which killed 11 crew members and

eventually spilled 210 million gallons of oil into the gulf of mexico. as our chief environmental correspondent an thompson reports, some whose liveliho depend on th still haven't fully recovered. >> reporter: the waters of bay adams are where his grandparents pulled >> one, two, three, four four good-sized oysters on one s. >> reporter: but this family business is only harvesting third of w before the spill. >> they used to sp every year no survival. >> reporter: not since bp's crude and dispersants coated these waters. you've had one good week in five years? >> one good we spawn. >> reporter: before the oil spill public reefs proud half of louisiana's oysters, . in 2010 some 2 million and under a million in '13. five years ago it was what he feared. >> like putting a band-aid on a big cut. >> reporter: this is

what p & j oyster company looked like in 2010. and this is what it looks like today. >> oyste through my veins. >> reporter: he says this 139-year-old institution is >> we're running on a wing and a pra >> i care the gulf. >> reporter: in commercials and interviews, bp insists the environmental and economic impac short lived and limited. >> is the gulf entirely bac we have never said so, but we believe gulf has made a strong recovery. >> reporter: there are fishermen back on captain james peters' charter boat, but he still has questions. >> what damage was done? you know, i just don't feel like that's a priority in anybody's eyes. >> reporter: but like the gulf itself, the people are resilient. do you ever lose hope? >> no, ma'am. you know, just looking at this right here gives you hope. >> reporter: bp, which owned the well, has paid $30 billion in claims, cleanup,

response and restoration, and there's more. lester? >> anne thompson, louisiana, tonight, thanks. another milest to mark this one in boston where the city h its second marathon since the terrorist attack on the race in 2013 claimed three lives along the course. it was a chilly, wet day for a run, but it couldn't stop the crowds from coming out. the number of survivors of t bombing ran in today's marathon. still ahead tonight, fighting cancer. the chemo, the radiation, but how do patients and doctors really know if they're winning that fight? in a moment we'l you about what some are calling a ca blood te a promising doctors can tell if your treatment is working. the big change announced tonigh coming soo family din favorite. we'll be coming soon to. the world is filled with air. but for people with copd sometimes breathing air can be difficult. if you have copd, ask your doctor about once-daily anoro ellipta. it helps people with copd breathe better for a full 24hours. anoro ellipta is the first fda-approved

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for patients in the fight against cancer, the wait to find out if th treatment they're getting is actuall working ca excruciating process. undergoing scans or painful surgical biopsies. and that's precisely what makes a n cancer blo welcome news. nbc's rehema ellis has our report. >> reporter: diagnosed with lung cancer four years ago, mary susan sabini knew something was wrong when training for a marathon. a nonsmoker, she had a cough she coul rid of. >> it's very scary when you hear that you ha. >> reporter: even scarier wondering her chemotherapy is working or shoul doctors try something else. now this 55-year-old elementary school

teacher benefits from an extraordinary new blood test that some are calling a liquid biopsy. >> because it's noninvasive, you can do it every three weeks, and you get confirmation that your treatment is w >> reporter: how does it actually wo? >> when tumors are in a patient's body they -- small amounts of them die and they shed dna into the bloodstream. and we now have very sens for detecting those sh >> reporter: the studies so far have been small and limited to particular cancers, including lung colon and blood cancer. still, doctors are a new study published this month involved only 126 lymphom patients, but it found that the blood biopsy could detect c coming back more than three months they were no on ct sc >> i think it's a potentially majo diagnostic breakthrough for our patients. >> reporter: and goal one day for

families and patients -- a blood test detecting cancer cells even before they . rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. today a government panel that's been attacked for its controversial mammogram recommendation clarified its advice for women with an average risk of breast cancer. the panel says women over 50 should get a mammogram every other year. women 40 to 49 should decide what they want in conjunction with their doctor bas their health history. when we me it's been called a real life version of a house from thi classic, but now its fate is up in classic, but now its why are all these people so asleep yet i'm so awake? did you know your brain has two systems? one helps keep you awake- the other helps you sleep. science suggests when you have insomnia, the wake system in your brain may be too strong and your neurotransmitters remain too active as you try to sleep, which could be leading to your insomnia. ohh...maybe that's what's preventing me

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loudest cheers at a street race cour yesterday in long beach, california, were reserved driver sam schmidt who gave the circu test run before the race. the remarkable moment when you consider the very real fear that he would never be driver's seat ever again. here's nbc's harry smith. >> reporter: on a practice track in southern c modified corvette races down the straightaway. behind the wheel is former indycar d sam schmidt. schmidt handles the car like a seaso pro. remarkable because sam schmidt is a quadriplegic. >> driving this car made me feel normal. i'm just in control where i had not been in so long. >> reporter: schmidt broke his spine in a terrible crash 15 years ago. wheelchair bound ever since, he was surprised when technology company arrow electronics contacted him and wondered if he wanted to drive again. >> i thought they're

out of their m but we might as well give it a sh >> reporter: said, it's got to go over 100 miles an hour. >> yeah, that raised some eyebrow >> reporter: thus began a journey in the futu arrow built a car that schmidt can steer using only head movements, a mouthpiece controls throttle and b. last year the corvette around the oval at indianapolis at a speed of nearly 100 miles per hour. >> like walking your daughter down aisle. it's a huge moment in life that i will never . >> reporter: the technology is similar to what's used video games and animated films. but it's nev used to do s like this before. >> piece of cake. >> reporte knows he's b even be alive. but this has given him a new se freedom. >> basically having to rely on other people to do 99% of what i do, you know, the ability to get in that car and take control and do whateve to do is just unbelievable. >> reporter: sam told us his dream now? to get his drive license again.

harry smith, nbc news, fontana, california. that will do it for us on this m night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank watching, and good

lights, camera "access." >> please welcome taylor's mo a very proud mom. >> her daughter shared the sad news of her cancer battle. now it's mom, andrea swift's, turn to talk. i'm billy bush with a full range