• At least 51 killed, including 20 children, as tornado tears through Oklahoma, leaving miles of debris

    By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

    An enormous tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs, killing at least 51 people, including 20 children Monday. The twister pulverized entire city blocks, left behind miles of mangled cars and splintered wood, and destroyed an elementary school where seven children were found dead.

    Crews frantically searched the wreckage and were only beginning to get a sense of the destruction when night fell hours later. Officials warned the death toll could climb. At one hospital, 85 patients, including 65 children, were being treated for minor to critical injuries.

    “The whole city looks like a debris field,” said Mayor Glenn Lewis of the city of Moore, which appeared to be the hardest hit.

    At least seven of the dead children were killed at Plaza Towers Elementary School, where the tornado tore the roof off the school about 3 p.m. A teacher told NBC affiliate KFOR that she draped herself on top of six children in a bathroom to shelter them. Officials said the dead children drowned in a pool of water at the decimated school.

    It was not clear how many children still were missing. Students in fourth, fifth and sixth grade were evacuated to a church, but students in lower grades had sheltered in place, KFOR reported. More than two hours after the tornado struck, several children were pulled out alive.

    NBC's Brian Williams and NBC's Al Roker report on the aftermath of a tornado, which is believed to have been up to a mile wide, and left a huge path of destruction as it cut across Moore, Oklahoma.

    The twister was a mile wide at its base, according to The Weather Channel, and a reporter for KFOR said the tornado kicked up a cloud of debris perhaps two miles wide. The National Weather Service initially classified the storm as an EF4, the second-strongest type, with winds of 166 to 200 mph.

    “It seems that our worst fears have happened today,” said Bill Bunting, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Norman, Okla.

    Even before the death toll began to climb, television footage showed a landscape shattered — not the arbitrary damage of a tornado that leaves some homes untouched, but vast and utter obliteration.

    Emergency workers stepped gingerly around piles of wreckage left on the foundations of homes. Other people simply walked around dazed, marveling that nothing was left of their houses — and in many cases that they themselves were alive. Fires broke out in several places.

    “I lost everything,” one man said as he walked through the ruins of a horse farm. “We might have one horse left out of all of them.”

    Tiffany Thronesberry told The Associated Press that her mother, Barbara Jarrell, called her and screamed: “Help! Help! I can’t breathe! My house is on top of me!”

    Slideshow: Tornadoes ravage Plains

    Sue Ogrocki / AP

    A monster tornado hit Moore, Okla., Monday afternoon, leaving scores dead as the threat for more storms continues.

    Launch slideshow

    At one hospital in Moore, cars were “piled like Hot Wheels” in the parking lot, and police were searching them one by one and spray-painting X’s to mark them clear of victims, said Kurt Gwartney, news director for radio station KGOU.

    An Oklahoma emergency management spokesman said a hospital was being evacuated after sustaining severe damage, and 16 ambulances were being sent to move patients. It was not clear whether it was the same hospital.

    The tornado struck at mid-afternoon and tore a 20-mile path, said Rick Smith, another weather service meteorologist. He said it was on the ground for 40 minutes. Much of the storm’s rampage was captured on live television, perhaps alerting people in its path to seek shelter.

    President Barack Obama declared a major disaster, making federal aid available to people in fove counties. Gov. Mary Fallin asked the people of Oklahoma for patience and promised: “We will bring every single resource out that we can.”

    Relief efforts sprang up. The Red Cross said it was opening a shelter, and the University of Oklahoma opened some of its housing for displaced families.

    In addition to Plaza Towers, Briarwood Elementary School was heavily damaged, KFOR reported.

    An aerial view of some of the destruction caused by Monday's tornado.

    Search and rescue teams converged on a staging area at the Warren Theater, which was also damaged, as the tornado churned toward other Oklahoma towns. The storms were expected to continue through the evening.

    Grasping for comparisons, some people said it looked like Joplin, the Missouri town virtually wiped off the map two years ago when a tornado — this one an EF5 — blew through and killed 158 people.

    Joplin city officials said Monday they were sending a team of 10 officers and three firefights to Moore to help. “Giving back in whatever way we can,” the mayor said on Twitter.

    For those living in Oklahoma, the ferocity was reminiscent of May 3, 1999, when a tornado registered wind of more than 300 mph, left 46 dead and damaged or destroyed more than 8,000 homes.

    The tornado Monday also came one day after another cluster of storms in Oklahoma that killed two elderly men in the town of Shawnee. Tens of millions of people from Texas to the Great Lakes — an area covering 55 million people — had been warned to brace for more severe weather Monday.

    The Sunday storms destroyed mobile homes, flipped trucks and sent people across 100 miles running for cover. In Kansas, a weather forecaster was forced off the air as a tornado bore down on his station.

    “You can see where there’s absolutely nothing, then there are places where you have mobile home frames on top of each other, debris piled up,” Mike Booth, the sheriff of Pottawatomie County, Okla., told The Associated Press. “It looks like there’s been heavy equipment in there on a demolition tour.”

    Fallin declared a state of emergency for 16 counties on Sunday and added five Monday.

    Watch live video of storms from KFOR TV

    Jeff Black and Tracy Connor of NBC News contributed to this report.

    Related:

    This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 9:30 PM EDT

  • Six of the worst twisters in US history

    By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News

    The full extent of the destruction caused by the enormous tornado that ripped through Oklahoma was still being determined as night fell on Monday.  At least 51 people were killed, including seven children at an elementary school. Entire blocks of homes were flattened. At one hospital alone 85 patients, including 65 children, were being treated for injuries. And many were still missing. Here's a look at how Monday's horrific storm compares to some of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history:

    Joplin, Mo. - May 22, 2011

    Julie Denesha

    Destroyed homes and debris cover the ground as a second storm moves in on May 23, 2011 in Joplin, Mo.

    Peak winds, roaring over 200 miles per hour, destroyed the Missouri town, killing 162 people and causing an estimated $2.8 billion in damage, according to the National Weather Service. The Weather Channel's severe weather expert Greg Forbes estimates more than 17,000 people were affected. Nearly two years later, the town is still rebuilding.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Tuscaloosa, Ala. - April 27, 2011

    Marvin Gentry/Reuters

    An aerial view shows extensive damage to homes in the path of tornadoes in Tuscaloosa, Ala., April 28, 2011.

    The F4 tornado killed 65 during a record-setting day when 200 twisters spun through the Southeast. The spring and summer of 2011 was one of the most active, deadly and destructive periods of tornado activity in U.S. history. That year there were a reported 551 fatalities and $28 billion in damages, according to the Almanac.

    Worcester, Mass. - June 9, 1953

    Boston Globe / Boston Globe via Getty Images

    Shortly after the tornado struck in Worchester, Mass. The storm shattered homes at left and piled debris in the street.

    Areas outside the Midwest are not immune from tornadoes. In 1953 a cyclone tore through Massachusetts and killed 90, making it the worst in New England history.

    Tupelo, Miss./Gainesville, Ga. - April 5 and 6, 1936

    Hall County Library System via AP

    Offices along South Main Street in Gainesville following three tornadoes that touched down in the early morning of April 6, 1936.

    Two tornadoes merged over Gainesville, Ga., just northeast of Atlanta, on April 6, 1936. The twisters came just one day after a tornado took more than 200 lives in Tupelo, Miss. Overall, the two-day death toll was 454.

    "Tri-State Tornado" - March 18, 1925

    Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    Minnie (left) and Rose Hawkins sit amid the wreckage of their home in Murphysboro, Ill., in the wake of the tri-state tornado in March 1925.

    The deadliest tornado in American history ripped through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, killing 747 people. Particularly affected was  Murphysboro, Ill., where a whopping 234 were killed, according to The Weather Channel.

    St. Louis, Mo. - May 27, 1896

    J.C. Strauss/St. Louis Public Library Archive

    Children stand in the street near Eighth and Rutger in St. Louis after it was hit by a tornado on May 27, 1896.

    The tornado hit downtown St. Louis, crossed the Mississippi River and slammed through East St. Louis. It killed 255 and caused $2.54 billion in damage, when adjusted for inflation. The storm was the costliest twister in U.S. history before Joplin.

     

    This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 10:49 PM EDT

  • Curse or coincidence? Scientists study Tornado Alley's past and future

    National Weather Service

    This map shows the track of a tornado on May 3, 1999, in green; and the track of Monday's tornado in red. The similarity of the paths is coincidental, but the larger patterns of storm activity in "Tornado Alley" are due in part to the region's geography.

    By Alan Boyle and John Roach, NBC News

    Do tornadoes follow well-worn tracks? Where do the deadliest twisters hit? Will climate change make such storms worse? Monday's devastating tornado in Oklahoma raises some questions for which scientists have ready answers, and others that could puzzle them for years to come:

    Was this tornado a repeat of a famous twister in 1999?

    For a time, Monday's storm followed a track that was similar to the path of a tornado with the fastest wind speed ever recorded, 318 mph (512 kilometers per hour), which occurred on May 3, 1999. That twister was one of 74 tornadoes that touched down in Oklahoma and Kansas in less than 21 hours, according to the National Severe Storms Laboratory. The 1999 outbreak of severe weather caused 46 deaths and nearly $1.5 billion in property damage.

    The tracks weren't all that similar, however: Monday's tornado took a more southerly route as it moved east. And there's nothing unique about the area's geography to make it a magnet for super-powerful twisters, according to Bob Henson, a tornado expert with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

    "If there were geographic features, that would tend to cause multiple tornadoes every few years," the meteorologist and writer told NBC News. "Well, why has this been happening only since 1999?"

    The similarity in the tracks of these devastating storms is "a good example for how weather events can be clustered in ways that are striking yet ultimately coincidental," Henson said.

    A classic example of this phenomenon, he noted, is Codell, Kan., which was hit by tornadoes on the same day — May 20 — in 1916, 1917, and 1918. The third tornado killed 10 people and destroyed a part of the community. "That's a good illustration of how sometimes things like this can just happen in clusters," he said.

    NOAA SPC

    The purple streaks on this map from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center stand for tornado tracks from 1950 to 2011. The dark blotches indicate population densities.

    But isn't Tornado Alley more prone to deadly twisters?

    On a wider scale, the geography of America's midsection makes it more prone to tornadoes than any other region on Earth. That's because the Rocky Mountains tend to impede the eastward flow of moist air, while the Great Plains allow frigid Arctic air to stream southward from Canada and meet up with warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico. It's the collision of that warm and cold air that breeds powerful twisters.

    "Tornado Alley" generally refers to the region centered in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and points north, where tornadoes are most frequent — but multiple studies indicate that the deadliest twisters occur to the east, in a region that's come to be known as "Dixie Alley." The reasons for that have to do with geography and demographics as well as meteorology in the southeastern United States: Storms tend to move faster, and they're more likely to strike at night. There are more trees and other obstructions to raise havoc. Population densities are generally higher, and the region has many manufactured homes that lack basements in which to take shelter.

    The United States has the highest incidence of tornadoes, with an average of more than 1,000 every year, according to the National Climatic Data Center. But other regions of the world have twisters as well. Canada is No. 2 with about 100 per year, followed by northern Europe, western Asia, Bangladesh, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, China, South Africa and Argentina. Britain has more tornadoes than any other country, relative to its land area. "Fortunately, most UK tornadoes are relatively weak," the data center says.

    Why do these tornadoes seem to be hitting all of a sudden?

    After a relatively quiet start to the tornado season, tornadoes have been erupting from Texas to Minnesota over the past week. A cold front advancing to the east appears to be to blame. That pocket of cold air has run into warm air from the Gulf, causing the warm air to rise and spawning powerful thunderstorms. "It's kind of like the perfect setup," Jeff Weber, a scientist with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, told LiveScience.

    The earlier calm was due to the fact that jet stream had been dipping farther south than usual for this time of year. That kept the Gulf's warm, moist air from advancing into Tornado Alley. Now that warm air is pushing northward, and the cold front has moved on to Minnesota and Wisconsin. As a result, the storm system that created Monday's big tornado should soon weaken, Weber said.

    Will climate change make tornadoes worse? More frequent?

    "The short answer is, we have no idea," Michael Wehner, a climate researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, told NBC News. For years, Wehner has been studying the climate models for extreme weather, and he's a lead author for the next report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as well as the federal government's latest national assessment on climate change.

    One problem is that the observational record for tornadoes has not been uniform over time. "It has a bias to it, because more people are living where tornadoes occur, and more people are out looking for them," Wehner said. That contributes to the perception that tornadoes are happening more frequently than they used to.

    The other big problem is that current climate models don't have the resolution that's needed to simulate the localized, violent activity of a tornado. Currently, global models are built up from atmospheric interactions on a scale of 100 kilometers (62 miles). Improvements in computer power could soon bring that down to a scale of 25 kilometers (16 miles). That should make it possible for scientists to simulate the weather phenomena that give rise to tornadoes, but not the tornadoes themselves, Wehner said.

    On a larger scale, extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent in a warmer world, Wehner said. "The metric that I like to look at is the daily amount of rain for a storm that happens once every 20 years," he said. "That storm, in a much warmer world, would happen more frequently." For example, if the world follows a "business-as-usual" scenario, he projects that the average temperature would rise 11 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius) by the end of the century, and that a once-in-20-years rainstorm would come around every five to 10 years on average.

    That doesn't necessarily mean tornadoes would be more frequent, however. In fact, the current projection calls for wetter spring weather in the northern U.S., and drier weather in the Southwest — with Tornado Alley right in the middle. "There's some evidence that there might not be a change" in the character of a tornado season, Wehner observed.

    Wehner may sound a bit apologetic about the lack of clear answers in the short term, but in the long term, he's optimistic. "The reason I'm optimistic that we can get somewhere on this is that supercomputing technology is driving this very hard," he said. "We're just getting into the sweet spot for these kinds of issues, with the largest mainframes that money can buy."

    More about tornado science:

    Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with him by "liking" the NBC News Science Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding him to your Google+ circles.

    John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, visit his website. 

    This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 8:20 PM EDT

  • Man kills biggest Burmese python ever in Florida

    View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Just call him Python Dundee.

    A Miami man pulled an 18-foot Burmese python out of roadside brush and wrestled with it for 10 minutes before cutting its head off with a knife.

    The 128-pound specimen turned out to be the biggest Burmese python ever captured in Florida, besting the previous record by more than a foot, wildlife officials said.

    "I was pretty exhausted and I didn't want to get bit," Jason Leon, 23, said of the decapitation that ended his struggle with the massive constrictor.

    For his trouble, Leon got thanks from the the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, which considers Burmese pythons an invasive species that wreaks havoc on the state's ecosystem.

    "I would think a snake of that size could kill a very large animal," said Carli Segelson, a commission spokeswoman. "It could kill a deer, so a person would be comparable in size to that."

    Leon, a college student studying marine biology, said he was riding ATVs with friends in a rural area on May 11 when one of them spotted about three feet of snake sticking out of some brush.

    Leon, who used to keep snakes, had never seen a python in the wild and decided to get up close and personal with this one. It wasn't until he yanked him out that he realized how big it was.

    As he held it by the neck, the female wrapped around his leg once, then twice and then headed for his waist. He kept grappling with it until he became worried it might sink its razor-sharp teeth into him.

    A friend handed him a nine-inch knife and he sunk it into the snake, he said.

    Two days later, Leon called wildlife officials, who took the snake and confirmed it was a record-setter. He agreed to donate the skeleton but has been promised the skin, which he plans to tan and put on his living room wall.

    Officials said they are grateful the python is no longer roaming the wild and that Leon was not hurt.

    "Anytime people are dealing with wildlife, we recommend they use common sense," Segelson said. "If you're going to approach a Burmese python of this size, you should have an understanding of what it takes to euthanize it."

     

  • How to help Oklahoma tornado victims

    Bryan Terry / THE OKLAHOMAN

    Jerry Dirks, at right, hugs her friend Earlene Langley after a tornado hit Dirks' home just south of Carney Okla., on Sunday, May 19, 2013. Dirks was in her cellar at the time the tornado hit.

    By Suzanne Choney, Contributing Writer, NBC News

    The loss of life and stunning devastation in Oklahoma City suburbs after a monster tornado ripped through the area are heart-wrenching. But within hours, relief organizations were getting out the message on how to help.

    American Red Cross
    The Red Cross has set up shelters in various communities. You can donate to the Red Cross Disaster Relief fund here, and the organization also suggests giving blood at your local hospital or blood bank.

    If you want to send a $10 donation to the Disaster Relief fund via text message, you can do so by texting the word REDCROSS to 90999. As in the case with other donations via mobile, the donation will show up on your wireless bill, or be deducted from your balance if you have a prepaid phone. You need to be 18 or older, or have parental permission, to donate this way. (If you change your mind, text the word STOP to 90999.)

    Phone: 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767); for Spanish speakers, 1-800-257-7575; for TDD, 1-800-220-4095.

    Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief
    This organization says donations will "go straight to help those in need providing tree removal services, laundry services and meals to victims of disasters." 

    It is requesting monetary donations (It says clothing is NOT needed). For more information, and to donate, visit Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief's website.

    You can send checks to: BGCO, Attn: Disaster Relief, 3800 N. May Ave., Oklahoma City, OK., 73112.

    Salvation Army
    The Salvation Army is organizing disaster response units to serve hard-hit areas in central Oklahoma, including Moore, where it is sending mobile kitchens that can serve meals to 2,500 people a day, and to South Oklahoma City.

    Supporters can donate online via the organization's website, SalvationArmyUSA.org. You can also text the word STORM to 80888 to make a $10 donation via cellphone.

    If you want to send a check, the Salvation Army asks that you put the words "Oklahoma Tornado Relief" on the check, and mail it to: The Salvation Army, P.O. Box 12600, Oklahoma City, OK., 73157.

    Phone:  1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769).

    United Way of Central Oklahoma
    A disaster relief fund is being activated as of May 21 so that individuals can specifically donated to tornado relief-and-recovery efforts, the organization says on its site.

    "Financial contributions are the best way to help unless otherwise requested." Donations can be made online at

    United Way of Central Oklahoma’s Disaster Relief Fund is open.  Donations may be made online here. Checks, with a notation of "May Tornado Relief" can also be sent to the United Way of Central Oklahoma, P.O. Box 837, Oklahoma City, OK , 73101.

    Feeding America
    Through its network of more than 200 food banks, Feeding America, whose mission is to "feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks," says it will deliver truckloads of food, water and supplies to communities in need, in Oklahoma, and will also "set up additional emergency food and supply distribution sites as they are needed." You can donate online here.

    Phone: 1-800-910-5524.

    Operation USA
    The international relief group, based in Los Angeles, says it is "readying essential material aid — emergency, shelter and cleaning supplies" to help Oklahoma's community health organizations and schools recover.

    You can donate online here. You can also give a $10 donation by texting the word AID to 50555. Checks should be sent to: Operation USA, 7421 Beverly Blvd., PH, Los Angeles, CA 90036

    Phone: 1-800-678-7255.

    Devin Coldewey also contributed to this report.


    Related:

    At least 51 killed as tornado tears through Oklahoma, leaving miles of debris

    'Major damage' as huge tornado rips through neighborhoods south of Oklahoma City

    One dead, 21 hurt as tornadoes ravage Plains states   

    Anchors forced to evacuate during live broadcast

     

  • 7 children found dead at Oklahoma school wrecked by tornado, officials say

    Sue Ogrocki / AP

    A child is pulled from the rubble of the Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., and passed along to rescuers after Monday's tornado.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Seven children were found drowned at a tornado-flattened elementary school where rescuers were searching through the night for survivors as parents kept a heart-breaking vigil, officials said.

    The students killed at Plaza Towers Elementary School were among at least 51 lives claimed by the monster twister that laid to Moore, Okla.

    Several children and staffers were pulled alive from the ruins of Plaza Towers in Moore after the building took a direct hit Monday afternoon.

    A little girl was lifted out by rescuers, while a small boy was carried to a triage area by a woman whose face was streaked with dirt and etched with worry.

    Sue Ogrocki / AP

    A woman carries an injured child to a triage center near the Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla.,

    In another image captured by an Associated Press photographer, a crowd of firefighters worked to remove a woman — her hair and clothes covered in dust and bits of debris — from the pile.

    Those hopeful scenes were soon followed by devastating news as the Oklahoma City Medical Examiner's Office confirmed seven students were found dead in a pool of water.

    It was unclear if any other children were killed or trapped alive.

    Hysterical parents who had converged on the sprawling pile of broken concrete and twisted metal were later taken to a church to await word on the fate of their youngsters.

    “Our hearts are just broken for the parents,” Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said at the briefing.

    “Our prayers are with you. We are working as quickly as we can to get through the debris and answer some questions about where loved ones are.”

    The funnel cloud slammed two schools — Plaza Towers and Briarwood Elementary. There were no reports of casualties from Briarwood, although the building was heavily damaged.

    At Plaza Towers, the fourth, fifth and sixth grades were evacuated to a church about a quarter-mile away from the 440-student school before the tornado touched down.

    Students in kindergarten through third grade sheltered in place, according to NBC station KFOR. Some of those students had been in a hallway when the twister struck, others in bathrooms.

    NBC News

    Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., before and after Monday's tornado hit.

    "I had to hold on to the wall to keep myself safe because I didn't want to fly away in the tornado," one girl told the station.

    James Rushing, who lives across the street, ran to the school to take shelter, thinking the building would be safer than his own home.

    "About two minutes after I got there, the school started coming apart," he told The Associated Press.

    The twister — deemed at least an EF4, the second-highest strength, by the National Weather Service — tore the roof off the building and knocked down its walls.

    A truck that was tossed through the air landed in the spot where the school's main office would have been, KFOR reported. Books were scattered across pancaked slabs of concrete.

    A crying man described to a reporter how he and others pulled a car off a teacher in the front of the building and found three children she had shielded with her body.

    "Good job, teach," the man said, his voice choked with emotion.

    A sixth-grade teacher told KFOR she laid on top of several children in a restroom to protect them from winds that may have topped 200 mph, and all survived.

    Officials said search and rescue efforts would continue through the night.

    Related:

    KFOR television reporter Jesse Wells reports Plaza Towers Elementary school was totally destroyed. Most of the walls of the school have collapsed, and cars were thrown into the front of the building. Emergency crews continue to look for kids who may still be inside.

    This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 7:02 PM EDT

  • Cop in NY shooting that left hostage dead faced split-second decisions

    Sleepy Hollow High School via AP

    Andrea Rebello, as seen in this image from from the 2010 Sleepy Hollow High School yearbook.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Patrol officers confronted with a hostage situation are taught to keep their distance if possible, set up a perimeter and wait for negotiators and SWAT teams to arrive.

    That scenario has a high success rate: FBI data show that in the vast majority of these volatile cases, the victim is released or rescued unharmed.

    Tragically, that's not how it unfolded early Friday on Long Island when, police say, a home-invasion robber holding a Hofstra University student at gunpoint came face-to-face with a cop who fired eight times, killing the suspect and his captive, 21-year-old Andrea Rebello.

    The incident is still under investigation with many details unknown, but experts in police tactics say the chance for a peaceful resolution diminished the moment police crossed the threshold of the Uniondale, N.Y., home and set eyes on ex-con Dalton Smith.

    Nassau County Police Department via AP

    Dalton Smith, seen here in an undated police photo, was holding Andrea Rebello hostage when police confronted him and shot him and her dead.

    "Once they're confronting a suspect with a gun, they have two options: back out and call SWAT or engage in negotiation or deadly force with the suspect," said Stuart Meyers of the police-training firm OpTac. "You can't really second-guess their decision."

    A key question will be why they decided to go inside the house.

    At a press conference over the weekend, Nassau County police said the two officers who first arrived on the scene had no idea a hostage was involved.

    They were dispatched after one of the home's residents, sent out by the robber to get money from a cash machine, dialed 911.

    When they arrived, Smith allegedly ordered Andrea's twin, Jessica, to answer the door and say everything was fine. Instead, she ran from the home, screaming, "He's got a gun."

    When the officers entered they found Smith, along with Andrea and a male student. The male managed to get away, but the gunman kept the young woman in a headlock, training his gun on her as he tried to back out a rear door.

    "When he realizes there is a police officer behind a wall in the hallway, he now moves her even closer to the front of his body," police Lt. John Azzata told reporters.

    Then Smith pointed his gun at one of the officers, who fired eight rounds, Azzata said.

    One shot hit Rebello in the head, killing her. Her godfather, Henry Santos, told the Associated Press the news she was struck down by a police bullet was a "second shock" for the grieving family.

    David Klinger, a former officer and expert on police-involved shootings, said investigators will want to find out exactly what the officer who pulled the trigger knew before entering.

    If he believed the only person inside was the gunman, there may have been no reason to go in without heavy backup, he said. If he suspected someone was being held at gunpoint, waiting for negotiators might have been more prudent.

    But, Klinger noted, if he knew both the suspect and victims were in the house but was unsure of what was happening, going through the door could have been the right move.

    "Let's say there's an armed robber in the house and a woman hiding in the closet ... if I can get in there and help this woman, then I do it," said Klinger, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

     

    View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.

    In this case, it's unclear if the 911 caller, the dispatcher, the officers themselves or a combination of all three added to the confusion.

    Experts agreed that once the cops were inside and saw there was a hostage, their options were severely limited.

    Despite the terrible outcome, the officer who fired — who has 20 years of law-enforcement experience — broke no laws in using deadly force and may not have violated police guidelines.

    "When a gun is pointed at your face, second-guessing goes out the window," said Charles Key, former head of firearms training for the Baltimore Police Department and a consultant in police-involved shootings.

    "Officers are trained to fire as many shots as necessary," Key said. "And you can fire eight rounds in less than two seconds."

    Unlike tactical units who fire 50,000 practice rounds a year, a patrol officer usually has firearms training just twice a year, he said. In Uniondale, cops with the extra training were on their way but didn't get there before Rebello and Smith were dead.

    The officer who shot Rebello is on sick leave. Law-enforcement trainers said it's impossible to predict if he will return to active duty. Even cops who kill criminals are sometimes too shaken to think about firing their gun again.

    As police and prosecutors try to determine what missteps -- if any -- were made, no one will be trying harder to find answers than the cop who fired the eight shots, Key said

    "This officer is going to second-guess himself until it eats him alive," he said.

     

  • Florida mom alleges anti-gay bias after daughter expelled, arrested

    By Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A teenage girl in Florida faces criminal charges for an alleged sexual relationship with a 15-year-old female student in a case the defendant’s family says stems from anti-gay prejudice.

    Kaitlyn Hunt, 18, has been charged with two felony counts of “lewd and lascivious battery of a child 12 to 16 years old” related to conduct with a minor she met while they were both students at Sebastian River High School in Sebastian, Fla., according to an Indian River County Sheriff's Office arrest affidavit obtained by NBC News.

    The younger girl's parents pressed charges against Hunt earlier this year, according to Thomas Raulen of the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office.

    But Kelley Hunt Smith, Kaitlyn's mother, said in a statement on Facebook that 15-year-old's parents “were out to destroy my daughter” because “they feel like my daughter 'made' their daughter gay.”

    Police have not identified the minor or her parents.


    According to the arrest affidavit, Hunt told investigators that she began dating the girl last November, when she was just 14. By December, the affidavit says, the two girls were involved in a sexual relationship.

    In a statement uploaded to Facebook, Smith said that her daughter’s friendship with the underage girl began when they were both players on the school basketball team and was at first platonic, but the two “eventually expressed their affection for one another in intimate ways.”

    Smith said that when the girls’ basketball coach found out about the relationship, she booted Hunt from the team, and then contacted the younger girl’s parents. They pressed charges in February, according to Raulen.

    In her statement, Smith said that an Indian River County judge originally ruled Hunt was not “any threat at all” and could remain at school — but the unidentified girl’s parents appealed to the local school board and had Hunt removed from Sebastian River High School.

    School district officials did not return a request for comment Monday afternoon.

    Authorities arrested Hunt at her family’s home in February, but she was later released on bail, according to Indian River County Sheriff’s Office records.

    The state attorney’s office has offered Hunt a plea deal that includes recommendations for two years of “community control” — a variant of house arrest in which Hunt would be permitted to work as well as attend school and church – followed by one year of probation, according to Indian River County State Attorney Bruce Colton.

    Hunt’s family has launched a social media campaign in her defense, Smith told NBC affiliate WPTV on Sunday.

    “I just put our story out there on Friday,” Smith said. “I wanted people to know what was going on.”

    “Free Kate,” a public Facebook support page started by Hunt’s family, had amassed over 20,000 members as of Monday afternoon while a petition on Change.org addressed to the Indian River County State Attorney's Office had nearly 70,000 signatures.

    Colton, said the signatures did not make much difference saying, "The law is the law."

  • Delayed by war, Class of 1943 finally holds senior prom

    The "senior" prom means a lot more to 88-year-old Tony Pegnataro than most.  Pegnataro and his classmates explain they did whatever necessary to support the war during the 1940s, which meant forgoing their high school prom. But better late than never – they finally formed a committee and organized a classmate reunion all these years later.


     

    By Rehema Ellis and Andrew Rafferty, NBC News

    It took seven decades, but the Hillhouse High School Class of 1943 finally had its senior prom.

    Prom for the members of the Greatest Generation was cancelled 70 years ago when the young men in the Connecticut school — and across the country — were called on to go defend the United States during World War II. But as of last Sunday, the high school rite of passage was no longer something these former high schoolers had to live without.

    But when it's a senior prom for senior citizens, the rules are different. First of all, the event started at noon, everyone could drink alcohol, and the dress code was, well, comfortable.

    Many were dropped off not by their parents, but by their children.

    And with attendees now in their late 80s, dancing was left to only the most adventurous souls.

    Members of the Class of '43 say they did not feel cheated when school administrators told them to stop planning their prom so many years ago. Rather, they felt it was they were fulfilling their responsibility as Americans.

    "Our country had been attacked, and we felt very strongly that whatever we did to support our country, we would do," said 87-year-old Marilyn White Unger. "So we didn't feel any sense of personal loss, because the boys were fighting."

    Unger helped plan the reunion/prom, along with Anthony Pegnataro, 87, then class president who served in Guam and Okinawa during the war. Some of their classmates never came back from the war, and even more have perished in the years since.

    "I open the paper every morning, I look at the obituary page and I see two or three more classmates that have gone up to their maker," said Pegnataro.

    He estimates that of the 1,250 members of their graduating class, prom organizers have only been able to get ahold of about 10 percent of them. The group has been getting together every five years since 1946.

    And like nearly everything else about this prom, he did it the old fashioned way -- no Facebook, just phone calls.

    Just as if the prom had been held during the 1940s, on Sunday the group danced to the likes of the Glen Miller band. Though the music may have been the same, but the moves were different -- with some prom goers in wheelchairs.

    "Time's running out on all of us. Ya know, how many more years do we have?" said Pegnataro. "And we want to enjoy every year we got."

  • 5 killed after church van flips in southern Illinois

    KSDK.com

    A church van that crashed near Vandalia, Illinois.

    By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Five men were killed Monday when a church van carrying 11 passengers rolled over on Interstate 70 in southern Illinois, the Fayetteville County sheriff’s office confirmed.


    It was unclear why the van, which was carrying members of a church group from a gathering in California to Pennsylvania, flipped near Vandalia, Ill., about 70 miles northeast of St. Louis. The van had Maryland license plates.

    No bad weather was reported in the area at the time of the crash, according to the sheriff’s office.

    Several people were taken to the hospital, some by medical helicopter, The Leader-Union in Vandalia reported on its web site. 

    Four of the injured were taken to Fayette County Hospital in Vandalia and were in fair condition, a spokeswoman told The Associated Press. Two were taken to Greenville Regional Hospital in Greenville, Illinois, but their conditions were not immediately available. 

    Eastbound I-70 was closed to traffic because of the rollover, NBC station KSDK in St. Louis reported.

    According to a preliminary report from the Illinois State Police, the white 2002 Dodge 15-passenger van was eastbound on I-70 when it veered off the roadway and rolled multiple times, ejecting several passengers before coming to a stop.

    All of the victims were men, Fayette County Coroner Bruce Bowen told KSDK.

    Bowen told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that nine passengers were ejected from the van, including the five men who died. He said positive identification of the dead may take until Tuesday night.

    The coroner also issued a cautionary note about such large-capacity vans in which passengers often do not wear safety belts.

    “When you get a van loaded with that many people and you run into a problem, the weight shifts and it’s bound to go up on two wheels,” Bowen told the Post-Dispatch. 

    Investigators were on the scene of the accident trying to determine the cause.

     

  • Injured marathon bombing survivors' graduation walk a 'milestone' in recovery

    Daniel Holmes for NBC News

    Brittany Loring, right, and Liza Cherney, both of whom were seriously injured in the Boston Marathon bombings, lead the procession Monday at the Carroll School of Management commencement ceremony at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

    By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Before she was seriously wounded in the Boston Marathon bombings, Brittany Loring didn’t have to give much thought to her graduation walk.

    But on Monday, after ditching the single crutch she had been using during her recovery, she walked with a stiff limp to collect her diploma from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management -- passing a “milestone,” she said, as she recovers from the horrible events of April 15. She was joined by a close friend, Liza Cherney, who was also hurt and was graduating from the program.

    “This is the first step to overcoming it," Loring told NBC News before the ceremony. "It’s definitely showing that the individuals that committed this crime are not holding me back. At least in terms of the goals that I had prior to the event and post event, they haven’t changed.” 

    Loring, who earned an MBA degree on Monday, was cheering on friends in the city’s iconic road race as part of her 29th birthday celebration when the bombs exploded. She suffered a skull fracture and concussion, was struck by BB pellets -- including one in the neck and two in the head, and had wounds on both of her upper thighs, likely from shrapnel.

    After three surgeries to clean and close the wounds, and weeks of occupational and physical therapy, Loring managed to walk for the first time without crutches last week, lasting as long as 15 minutes. She also has begun to venture into crowds again, a daunting prospect for some of the injured, and resumed some of her routines, such as visiting a local café. 

    “I feel better every day," she said, noting she can now bend her knee to 90 degrees. "I seem to be moving pretty quickly in comparison to where I started.”

    Loring’s classmates at Boston College, where she will also receive her law degree on Friday, sprung to action in the aftermath, making sure she wasn’t alone and was getting the care she needed. Cards, meals and flowers also streamed in.

    “I knew that I had a tight group of friends … but I mean there is nothing like an event like this to really give people the opportunity to show how much they care,” she said. “After this event I just, I feel a lot closer to them … and I can see how much they respect and care for each other and for me.” 

    Boston College said it waived Loring’s final exams and last assignments so she could graduate with her class.

    On Monday, Loring walked alongside Cherney, who said she was struck by a lot of shrapnel in one leg. The friends bore big smiles under sunny Boston skies. 

    Daniel Holmes for NBC News

    Brittany Loring receives her diploma Monday.

    “I expect that we will be friends forever," Loring said. "We’re really close and I’m so happy that she’s doing as well as she is and that we will be able to move forward and carry on.” The shared walk in the ceremony “definitely has a lot of meaning for me,” she added.

    Though it was such an accomplishment to achieve the MBA, Cherney said the day took on greater significance after the attacks.

    "It is more special because I feel very close to so many people who are graduating with us today, even closer than before,” she told reporters after the ceremony.

    The pair was among 275 injured in the attacks. Loring will join some of the injured at a local rehabilitation hospital later this week, where she will do outpatient therapy. Eighteen people remain hospitalized after the bombings as of Friday.

    "I’ve been trying to get things back to normal and that’s not always easy," Cherney said. "Just seeing that you can’t do things that you used to be able to do as easily has been a struggle. And also, I mean, from an emotional standpoint every once in a while it’s tough, but I think that ... you’ve got to push through.”

    Doctors haven’t given Loring a time frame for a full recovery, but she plans to walk in her wedding in September and to start her job in international tax in October.

    Reflecting on the attacks, she said she has had her ups and downs emotionally.

    "It is life changing in some ways," she said. " ... but I hope that it will only be in a positive way, and that it will just make me a better person for it.  ... I hope that I will be able to do good in my life because of this understanding.”

    To donate to Brittany Loring, her family has set up this fund. And for Liza Cherney, this fund.

    NBC freelance photographer Daniel Holmes contributed to this report.

    Related:

    Marathon bombing victims adjust to a 'different normal'

    Full coverage of the Boston Marathon tragedy on NBCNews.com

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